My Favourite Titles by System

Every console has that one killer app that defines it. Everybody can remember the one game that sticks out for every system that they have played on, the one game that they played more than any other. For this post I have decided to list some of my most memorable games for each console, the few that, for me, define the very system that they are played on. Expect a lot of subjectivity, a lot of opinion, and a lot of geeking out.

Mega Drive: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

My first introduction to gaming as a medium was through SEGA’s 16-bit effort, the Mega Drive, or as it was named in the States, the SEGA Genesis. One of the first true ‘console wars’ that people can remember was fought between this console and Nintendo’s powerhouse, the SNES. Naturally, the Mega Drive had a powerful influence on me, as it was my first foray into gaming.

The one most impactful game series on this console for me, and I suspect many others, was Sonic the Hedgehog. A platforming blast of speed and bright colours, with a cool blue mascot to boot, Sonic saw his heyday in the Mega Drive era where he was introduced. For me, however, the big game that I played the most with my first ever console was Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was just that bit more colourful, that bit more endearing, and that bit more well-designed than its predecessor. It was the true kind of sequel that all should aspire for; the one that improved and iterated, and genuinely felt like a true improvement over the first game. Graphically, the colours popped more on Sonic’s second outing, leading to greater stage variety and a better sense of identity and adventure to the game. Every stage felt unique and eye-popping, and each one had its own unique flavour that was backed up by excellent musical work. The addition of a spin-dash mechanically added a lot to the game, meaning that players would have a quick way to gather momentum. The addition of a ‘sidekick’ character in Tails was enjoyable, remembering that this was in a time when a new character in a Sonic game was something fresh and interesting.

Even though Sonic 1 may have started the series, and Sonic 3 may be the better game with a better sense of progression and adventure, Sonic 2 hit just the right balance of accessibility to keep me coming back, even to this day.

PS1:

The next console that I was introduced to featured a massive jump from 16-bit, 2D graphics to polygonal 3D that offered bright new worlds that could be fully explored. The PS1 was a great system, especially for a wide variety of bright and enjoyable new titles that pushed the envelope of gaming. Sony can be credited with beginning the popularisation of gaming consoles, and this is in big part thanks to the huge variety of excellent titles on offer. Honourable mentions to Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid and some excellent Disney titles as well as the legendary Final Fantasy games.

For me, however, the title of most-important game has to go to Spyro 2. As a 3D collect-a-thon platformer, Spyro faced stiff competition from the likes of Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie. The original title, however, was an excellent game that blew me away. The beauty and design of the world on offer was astounding for its time and the collection of gems was addicting. One of the most important things, mechanically, that made this game stand out was the character abilities that came to Spyro. The use of charging was a great way to make quick progress searching a level, and the glide mechanic made for some interesting variants of platforming challenges. The character of Spyro was equal parts attitude and endearing.

For me, once again it was the second title in the series that offered the most fun gameplay. Being one of the very first games that I completed 100%, Spyro 2 holds a large place in my gamer heart. It was set in a bright and fantastic world called Avalar, and boasted a cast of colourful and enjoyable characters. Though Moneybags was somewhat of an annoyance, the overall menagerie of interesting people that I got to meet along the adventure made Spyro 2 stand out in my memory. The music was wonderful as was the design, I truly felt like I was on an adventure in some beautiful locales.

Spyro 2 was one of the first games that I truly became immersed, and as a game I have 100% completed, holds a huge amount of my attention when I think about the PS1 era. Thanks to recent Crash Bandicoot remakes, I am very hopeful that we will see a HD remake of the original Spyro Trilogy; this will definitely be on my Christmas wishlist!

N64: Banjo Kazooie

Though Mario 64 was a masterpiece that brought 3D gaming to the fore, and Ocarina of Time was another stroke of genius that to this day has been hard to top, for me the main game I played a lot on the Nintendo 64 was Banjo Kazooie. A bright, colourful 3D collectathon, this game was endearing in all the right ways. Like Spyro, Banjo comes from a place of design genius, where every locale feels unique and beautiful. Though not a title I played 100% at the time, I have since returned to the game with the Xbox 360 re-release and completed the game in its entirety, with no less enjoyment.

Graphically, Banjo one-upped Mario in every respect, as it did musically and with character designs. Perhaps the peak of 3D platformers, the theming of the title is wonderful. Like Spyro you meet a whole cast of quirky characters along your adventure and delving into each and every level felt like a mini-adventure in its own right, each one being its own sizeable sandbox of experimentation and exploration. Freezeezy Peak is a standout for best winter-themed level of all time.

SEGA Dreamcast: Sonic Adventure

The swansong of SEGA’s console efforts comes along with perhaps the most obvious of picks. Sonic Adventure was the biggest game on the console and the most important release for the system as a whole. I was mesmerised by this game, being a lifelong Sonic fan, and to see my hero rendered in 3D graphics, with full voice acting and a whole storyline was enchanting.

The game didn’t disappoint. Although many look back to Sonic Adventure with a critical eye, I am one of those that find enough nostalgia and enjoyment in the title to consider it one of my favourite games ever. The Casino Night level was among my favourites for the sheer level of interactivity and optional exploration (in particular I loved looking around the pirate ship area), not to mention the fun pinball levels. I particularly enjoyed Tails’ whole storyline; an endearing tale of a young side-kick learning to become independent from the hero he has been following all his life.

Each character in the game had their own tale to tell and this was perhaps what I found most interesting. Though I was essentially playing the game 6 times over, I really enjoyed being able to see each different perspective. In spite of some weak links, such as the Big the Cat segments, overall Sonic Adventure was a treat. A beautiful game with plenty of spectacle and plenty of replayability, with one of the best pet-raising simulators to come out in gaming (everybody loves Chao!).

Ty The Tasmanian Tiger Review

I went into the Steam edition of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger wanting to love it. I had fond memories of this game that I played as a teenage boy on the Gamecube. I loved the bright colours, the look of the character, the locations and the style of the game as a whole. Not to mention the fact that, as a 3D collect-a-thon platformer, it harkens back to a nostalgic time in gaming that I wish we could see more of today. With that in mind, it is a shame that I found the experience not nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped. While not a bad game, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is disappointing considering its initial promise.

Cutscenes are made with high CGI production values, but they aren't up to scratch on PC resolution. Screenshot from in-game.

To start off with, the game’s presentation, at first glance, looks beautiful. Colours are bright and locations are inspired by the flora, fauna and geography of the land Down Under. Levels usually take the form of areas built based on the look and feel of Australia and Tasmania. The character design, at first, seems interesting. But on the second look you start to see the cracks; Ty himself looks like a strange rendition of a Sonic fan-character, and the character art can at times leave a lot to be desired. It seems there was some inspiration taken from Sonic in the design of Ty and his friends, but I feel in this case the developers would have been better off distancing themselves from that particular segment of internet infamy.

Most of the characters in this screenshot veer too close to looking like Sonic the Hedgehog fan-characters for my liking.

The graphics do, however, benefit from the crystal-clear resolution overhaul they were given for the PC edition; the game looks crisp and runs smoothly. The graphics themselves were designed for the PS2 era, and for the time I have to say they were just as excellent as I remember. The aesthetic design and colours, especially of the beautiful levels themselves, are spot-on. The cutscenes, however, are still rendered in their original resolution which leaves the image looking blurry and occasionally stuttering; a shame, considering how well the rest of the game has been remastered.

At times, the game looks legitimately great and uses some lovely colours.

Presentation-wise, I feel that this game could do with more polish. There are certain rough edges to be found here, from some occasionally-odd character designs to some strange animations and general wonkiness throughout. This was a game that could have done with some more in the way of editing. There’s even a Shadow the Hedgehog style nemesis character who feels bland and cliché the minute you see him, and his storyline is about as predictable as one would expect given the game’s plot.

"I'm your angsty dopple-ganger, Shadow-er-I mean Sly!"

The sound design lets the game down in a bad way; the voice acting is worthy of derision. Ty himself speaks in little other than mildly-annoying catchphrases and the music is so repetitive that it wastes the Australian inspiration that went into the tracks. Other sound effects vary from ‘good enough’ to being below average and sometimes weird.

The gameplay is an interesting case; as a collect-a-thon platformer, Ty is about what you’d expect from a genre that evolved from Banjo-Kazooie and Crash Bandicoot. In fact, this game plays like a fusion of the two; you have theming and controls similar to Crash, and the collection gameplay of Banjo, in that the game takes place in sandbox-style levels with a list of objectives to be completed. It is just a shame that Ty offers so little to improve upon the formula. While the camera is somewhat difficult to get under control, I found Ty fairly easy to manoeuvre, his jumps high and his movement speed well-balanced.

If the game were better designed on Ty’s abilities as a character, it would be a lot more enjoyable. However, many times I have been frustrated by annoying platforming where the designers of the game seem to have misjudged the level of forgiveness that a jumping puzzle should give the player. This happened on more than one occasion where I was frustrated by the strange way in which Ty’s gliding mechanic seems to work (often times I would hit the ground faster than I would have if I had just jumped and let myself fall).

Other sections don’t make enough use of the game’s plethora of interesting rangs that offer some cool ideas as to puzzle design. I didn’t use the ‘Zappyrang’ once in the game and never found myself wanting to use it, and many of the games ‘rangs’ didn’t have any real use at all. It is a sad disappointment to see this potential go to waste.

Given the interesting possibilities of the 'rangs, they seem under-utilised.

As far as collection goes, Ty is a middle-of-the-road experience; the game’s story has you simply collecting items to move onto the next set of levels. These items (called ‘Thunder Eggs’ in the game) are received from completing map objectives like Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie. I will say that the game did offer somewhat of a progression in giving Ty access to elemental ‘rangs’ with different abilities, such as a Flame-Rang that melts ice. As a result, it seems that Ty does progress along with the game.

The challenge is oddly set; for younger gamers I think that the challenge is set at just the level that it makes progression slow enough to be uninteresting, and it is set too low for most of the older crowd who grew up playing these kinds of games, so Ty offers a strange package that suits nobody in this respect.

Really, there is not much to be said about Ty that hasn’t been said about other 3D platformer games; players who enjoy the likes of Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon will find some entertainment here. However, one thing I will say that I loved about this game is that the underwater controls are a lot better than other 3D platformers. Camera wonkiness aside, there just seems to be a smoothness of motion to Ty’s swimming abilities that I feel is a true improvement on what 3D platformers had previously achieved in their own obligatory swimming levels. It helps that the levels where this game’s swimming took place were some of the more well-designed ones, and were gorgeous to look at with the beautiful sandy beaches and crystal-clear Great Barrier Reef water.

While other games' water levels are their downfall, Ty's water levels are some of the high points of the game.

The storyline is where the game is really poor, in my opinion. Boss Cass, the game’s main villain, is a walking cliché and annoying in every respect, especially his voice acting. The same can be said of Sly, the obligatory nemesis/rival character that 3D platformers seemed to love at the time of Ty’s original release. 

Unusually, most of Boss Cass' cutscenes feature awkward close-ups of his face. Between his Dr. Evil laughter and mistreatment of minions, this is the least of his problems.

Thankfully, the latter isn’t as prominent, only appearing in a few cutscenes, but his inclusion makes me wonder whether or not he was just there to fill a slot as the rival. His presence seems to be an afterthought and is not well-followed-through, given his minimal status as a mini-boss in a single level, and a convenient, though unnecessary, Deus Ex Machina at the game’s climax.

The storyline as a whole is fairly inoffensive, though it is cliché and cringeworthy at times. Lacking in any originality, though not beyond what anyone would expect for a mid-2000s platformer. It feels as though the game’s unique premise and aesthetic goes largely to waste in a storyline that wouldn’t be out-of-place in a 90’s Saturday Morning cartoon. I wasn’t expecting Citizen Kane, but I was hoping for something better than Sonic Adventure 2.

There's even a platypus in a bikini. Cringy references to 'that internet thingy' are extra.

Ty is a story of lack of payoff from a good effort. While the game is good, and enjoyable at times, with a bit more polish, it could have earned a place next to some of 3D platforming’s greats. Sadly there was just lack of that special ‘spark’ that could have made the game special; a tiny bit of polishing, a bit more editing, and this would be a great game.

Erm...I'm not sure if this is a catch-phrase. But at least Ty says it enthusiastically enough!

As a 3D collect-a-thon, there is certainly nothing wrong with Ty the Tasmanian Tiger; for both kids and nostalgia fans there can be a lot of enjoyment here. But in a world where such pioneers as Crash Bandicoot and Banjo-Kazooie exist, this is a somewhat average title that is a case of sleeping, rather than crouching Tiger.