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Retro Games That Help With Anxiety


Nintendo64

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I Love me some Pinball!

 

I usually like crazy, evil ragers like Jaki Crush on Super Famicom (Sequel to Devil's Crush on Turbografx (Dragon's Fury on Genesis) so you know it's Awesome), but honestly to just relax with a nice game of chill, ambient pinball, I Totally recommend Super Pinball Behind The Mask on SNES.  The music and style are so relaxing, it's like there's no pressure...I get calm just thinking about it haha...

 

Another seriously No Pressure game is Aquanaut's Holiday on Play Station, though most people don't get it....As I recall, you are piloting a sub around the ocean looking at fish and any other weird thing that pops up...

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23 minutes ago, GoldLeader said:

I Love me some Pinball!

 

I usually like crazy, evil ragers like Jaki Crush on Super Famicom (Sequel to Devil's Crush on Turbografx (Dragon's Fury on Genesis) so you know it's Awesome), but honestly to just relax with a nice game of chill, ambient pinball, I Totally recommend Super Pinball Behind The Mask on SNES.  The music and style are so relaxing, it's like there's no pressure...I get calm just thinking about it haha...

 

Another seriously No Pressure game is Aquanaut's Holiday on Play Station, though most people don't get it....As I recall, you are piloting a sub around the ocean looking at fish and any other weird thing that pops up...

Space Cadet is legitimately awesome. Too bad MS killed it because they were too lazy to fix it. It counts as retro, apparently, too!

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On 2/23/2020 at 10:41 AM, Zoyous said:

So you're trying to match and remove tiles in pairs, and the tiles have to be free on their left or right side to remove them. They also can't have a tile overlapping on top of them.

Image result for genesis shanghai ii

So in this image there is (what I call) a "3 of dots" on the top of the stack in the middle of the screen. You can also see two other "3 of dots" near it, but neither one of those tiles is "free." One is overlapped and the other has tiles on both sides of it.

 

Near the bottom left, there are three "1 of dots" tiles. The upper two are free so you can match and remove those, but the bottom one isn't free yet.

 

In the top right corner there is a Season tile (Winter) which you can match and remove with the Summer tile that is near the middle right of the second level.

 

There are four of each type of tile, and the strategy comes into play when you have to make a decision about what order to remove them - especially if you can't see all four at the same time because some are still concealed under others. If you don't like the mahjong style tiles, you can press pause and go into the options and choose different designs. Also somewhere in the menu you can find a hint about what move to do next. The game will stop automatically if it's impossible to find any more matches.

 

A couple of other notes - I found a setting in the game options where you can choose only a "winnable" layout; confirming that, by default, the game generates random layouts which may or may not be possible to fully clear. Also, over on the right side of the menu, you can find options to change to layouts of different shapes/designs, but I haven't tried many of those yet to see if they are harder or easier.

thanks for such a detailed explanation, i will try this game in the next couple of days for sure. I really appreciate it

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On 2/24/2020 at 2:35 PM, Zoyous said:

For an action game that I've heard several people say is relaxing, try the Sega Master System version of Hang On.

Image result for sega master system hang on

Yes, it's based on a quarter-munching arcade game, but something about the SMS version is pretty meditative... the drone of the engines and a fairly accessible difficulty level (it doesn't really get increasingly difficult, it just kind of cruises at the same level of challenge throughout) make it so that, with a bit of practice, you can enjoy some pretty long and mellow play sessions, as the game cycles through different stage backgrounds and loops overall several times.

I remember the arcade machine as well. I remembering it being really hard at the time. Thanks for the suggestion, i will definitely try it out

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to add super contra 2 mod to the list. It is a really hard game and the concentration involved helps me focus and get lost into the game. It is a really good game, just very difficult, and it helped me relieve some anxiety at times.

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On 1/11/2020 at 9:20 PM, CaptainBreakout said:

Tempest 2000 (PC or Jaguar)

   I know it's not relaxing -more hypnotic.

One Jaguar game I find to be relaxing in that hypnotic trance sort of way is Breakout 2000.  I find that there's sort of a repetitive pace to the ball bouncing back and forth that could be a low anxiety fun.  Sadly it's not that cheap of a game - Songbird lists it at $100 US to buy on top of the high cost of a Jaguar.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just found another game that helps ease anxiety, Mario golf 64. Theres something really relaxing about this game. It reminds me of a more modern golf game along the same lines of NES golf. I really liked playing NES golf as well, but this is a more recent title that i feel helps me relieve anxiety.

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Have you ever tried any of the Harvest Moon games?

 

I recently played Deiland on PC (it was free on Steam) and it's quite a nice mindless time waster. Has enough complexity to keep me active, but not so much that I have to think too hard about it.

 

Also, if you like Castlevania SotN, definitely check out the Castlevania games for GBA and Nintendo DS.

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2 hours ago, Newsdee said:

Have you ever tried any of the Harvest Moon games?

 

I recently played Deiland on PC (it was free on Steam) and it's quite a nice mindless time waster. Has enough complexity to keep me active, but not so much that I have to think too hard about it.

 

Also, if you like Castlevania SotN, definitely check out the Castlevania games for GBA and Nintendo DS.

Was never really into the harvest moon games because i only like a few amount of RPG's, but I will try playing those castlevania games for the gba and Nintendo DS. Thank you for your suggestions, I really appreciate it.

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Just want to add another game to the list. Although one would seem like it would cause allot of anxiety, Resident Evil 2 for the PS1 has been a good game for me to help relieve some anxiety. I think its because of the constant puzzle solving and roaming around in the game. I believe it should be played with save states on a ps1 emulator, at least for me, because that helps me feel not as stressed out as it would if i were to play it without save states.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just want to reiterate, Fire n Ice for the NES is a great game to help relieve anxiety. Some of the puzzles are very hard and may take some time but if you use save states and go back to them later on, it can be a great way to relieve some anxiety by constantly trying to figure out each puzzle. I think its because there are so many different types of puzzles, it helps keep the mind focused on trying to figure out the best way to solve each and every puzzle. So far Fire n Ice is the best retro game I have found for relieving anxiety, and I hope this information helps someone out there with anxiety problems as well.

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I'm going to add another game to the list, Tony Hawk 2 for the Dreamcast. I like doing the career mode to help open up the new levels by completing the different tasks on each level. I guess any of the Tony Hawk 2 games will do on the multiple systems that they are available on I just have only played the ones on PS1, PS2, and Dreamcast. I feel that this game is a good way to relieve anxiety because its fun and challenging, and it keeps your mind focused on trying to complete the different tasks while racking up points by doing some cool tricks along the way.

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9 hours ago, bluejay said:

Does "way to complicated that you forget that you were anxious" count?

I dont know, I guess for me it depends on the game. I mean, i like to use save states so some games that are extremely complicated, are actually much easier when you use save states. What games are you talking about?

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6 hours ago, Nintendo64 said:

I dont know, I guess for me it depends on the game. I mean, i like to use save states so some games that are extremely complicated, are actually much easier when you use save states. What games are you talking about?

You know, the little minigames in Swordquest.

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52 minutes ago, Nintendo64 said:

what system is it for? Dont think ive ever played it.

You've never played Swordquest? It's for the 2600. It's a frustrating game because it was so difficult, but it's might help forgetting about anxiety.

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48 minutes ago, Nintendo64 said:

I'll have to try out Swordquest if I'm able to obtain the game. Thanks for the suggestion.

You're welcome. They're quite common and cheap. Should be a dime a dozen on eBay or even here on Atariage, and your local game store should definitely have it if they carry 2600 stuff.

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On 4/17/2020 at 11:25 PM, bluejay said:

You're welcome. They're quite common and cheap. Should be a dime a dozen on eBay or even here on Atariage, and your local game store should definitely have it if they carry 2600 stuff.

I actually didnt realize i had this game because i have the atari anthology on ps2. I will give it a try and let you know if it helps relieve some anxiety.

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Just want to add another game to the list. Tiger Woods 2002 for the PS2 is very calming game to play. Actually most the Tiger woods games for the PS2 would be a good choice to relieve some anxiety in my opinion. For some reason i feel like those were some of the last good golf games, and most of the games that came out after that were not so good. I also like Golf for the PS4, but there is something more fun about the Tiger Woods games from the PS2 generation that I feel helps alleviate anxiety and are more fun to play.

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