Perfect games

[Zap!]

Some I forgot:

 

Atari 2600: Adventure

Genesis: Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion

Neo-Geo: Magician Lord

Wii: Resident Evil 4

[+wongojack]

 

I guess it depends on what you're into. In my case, TRON has survived the test of time. And of course I'm talking about the arcade cabinet (since I've yet to see a setup other than the arcade units that actually works properly as an interface). That machine puts me into the zone, and after I hit around 200,000 points, it continues to be almost an altered state.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by two of the mini-games being the same though. ?

 

Arcade games aren't just trying to be so tough that they make you lose quickly. They're intelligently designed to be difficult enough to get coins out of you but not so difficult that you give up and play something else immediately. There's a fine balance there, and the good ones achieve this. Plus, the coin-per-play approach does influence design considerations and has resulted in some truly great games. Consider that, ultimately, you're expected to pay money for home games too. $60.00 buys you a lot of quarters.

 

Excellent Points!

 

Regarding Tron, I agree that the arcade and it's control layout is essential. I've recently been playing the Xbox 360 version quite a bit and while it works, it isn't the same. I don't know if I've ever broken 30k on any Tron version ever though. The tanks give me problems on higher levels. I guess I need to work on my pattern recognition.

 

MCP Cone and Grid Bugs are virtually the same stage. That is what I meant by two of the mini-games being the same.

[Nebulon]

 

Excellent Points!

 

Regarding Tron, I agree that the arcade and it's control layout is essential. I've recently been playing the Xbox 360 version quite a bit and while it works, it isn't the same. I don't know if I've ever broken 30k on any Tron version ever though. The tanks give me problems on higher levels. I guess I need to work on my pattern recognition.

 

MCP Cone and Grid Bugs are virtually the same stage. That is what I meant by two of the mini-games being the same.

To me, the MCP cone is essentially Breakout and the bugs are more like Robotron. So in my mind, they're quite different.

 

As for patterns, give these a try:

 

Tanks 1 - Above teleporter, shooting down.

Tanks 2 - Above teleporter, shooting left up, shooting up, and then shooting down. Tip: Pull down into the teleporter a tiny bit to duck cross-fire.

Tanks 3 - Moving to upper left corner and shooting left, then shooting up to the right, shooting down.

Tanks 4 - Above teleporter, clearing out the area above the teleporter on the way there. Defend that position.

All additional levels are either moving to the top left corner or above the teleporter.

 

And for Light Cycles level 4, try simply pressing the stick to the left without pressing the fire button.

 

Going to the MCP just before going to the Grid Bugs will give you extra shot speed on the bug wave.

 

Last but not least, you can skip levels by opening the coin door, switching to test mode while in-game, and pressing the Player 2 button to go to the level you want to start at.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Nebulon

[BydoEmpire]

Cassic:

Tetris

Ms. Pac Man

Asteroids

Defender

Star Raiders

Joust

... a whole bunch of others

 

Modern:
Phantasy Star Online

Resident Evil 4

[high voltage]

Spycraft The Great Game by Activision.

An underrated classic.

[BillyHW]

Close to perfect (basically no complaints, no bugs):

 

Sega Genesis: NHL '94, Sonic 2

Atari 5200: Star Raiders

Atari 7800: Joust

Colecovision: Super DK Jr, H.E.R.O., Galaxian

Atari computers: River Raid, Frogger 2

Commodore 64: Raid Over Moscow, Maniac Mansion

 

NHL '94 is loaded with bugs. One of the buggiest games ever. Still perfect.

[Lentzquest]

It's really difficult and subjective to claim which games might be perfect. Thinking back on the games that have truly blown me away in every regard I'd have to go with:

 

Secret of Mana

Soulcalibur 3

F-Zero

Tempest 2000

Eve Online

SimCity

Link's Awakening

Juno First

Outrun

[high voltage]

Gunstar Heroes, actually Treasure did perfect games almost all he time.

[Blazing Lazers]

Hockey for the original Channel F, Galaga, Blazing Lazers for the TG16, Sonic 1 and 2 for Genesis, Super Mario Bros for the NES, Super Smash Bros Melee, Super Columns for the Game Gear, Time Pilot homebrew for the Vectrex, Unreal Tournament 2004 for PC, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2.

[Shawn]

Wii: Super Mario Galaxy

Gamecube: Mario Kart Double Dash

N64: Goldeneye

SNES & GENESIS: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

NES: Duck Hunt

7800: Pacman

2600: Smurfs

Pong Machine

[roland p]

Shadow of the beast III and Lethal weapon. Both amiga. The controls are spot-on. Lethal weapon has some really smooth, camera-like scrolling.

[Zap!]

Wii: Super Mario Galaxy

Gamecube: Mario Kart Double Dash

N64: Goldeneye

SNES & GENESIS: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

NES: Duck Hunt

7800: Pacman

2600: Smurfs

Pong Machine

Duck Hunt is perfect?

[Kurt_Woloch]

I guess those games are perfect, or nearly perfect, that I regularly come back to (if I have time to play)...

 

Arcade:

Joust

Gyruss

Q*Bert

Burger Time

Pooyan

Frogger

Donkey Kong Jr.

Time Pilot

Turtles

Mario Bros.

 

Atari 2600:

H.E.R.O.

 

C-64:

Dino eggs

Street Surfer

 

TI-99:

Frogger

 

I can't find many home games I'd find "perfect", but there are several arcade games I'd slap that label on. This list is not complete, however, since I can't remember all the games I've played in the last years.