Round 4, in which we forget the sabbath

[This Old Neon]

Round 4, in which we forget the sabbath

You can vote for 1-3 games in this poll. Vote carefully—you can't change your votes after submitting them. The #1, #2, and #3 ranked games at the end of the week will move on to Round 5.

1986 - Metroid - NES
1987 - Final Fantasy - NES
1992 - Mortal Kombat - Arcade
1993 - Kirby's Adventure - NES
1994 - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Genesis/MD
1997 - Azure Dreams - PS1
2008 - Mega Man 9 - Multiplatform
2010 - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - Vita
2011 - Super Mario 3D Land - 3DS

You are encouraged to discuss your choices and your reasons for selecting the games you did.

[Pluvius]

I'm going to make the reasonable assumption that Danganronpa is the same as the PSP version with some added content.

Rob

[Turai]

Super Mario 3D Land gets my vote as it's the only Mario game so far that I've preferred over Mario 64.

I can't even explain why I like this little sucker so much, it's actually the Mario game I'm the closest to 100% in my life, with only 2 or maybe 3 (tops) coins left to grab.

[Humphries90]

Probably the only one to vote for Azure Dreams. Such a hidden gem on the Playstation (although the price of the game has skyrocketed in recent years). A Pokemon-Like Rouge-Like RPG game where you enter the Monster Tower to seek your fortune, collect monster eggs and try to uncover the mystery surrounding your father's disappearance.

Loved collecting the monsters, upgrading your house and improving the town, helping the population out. You can get like 8 girlfriends at a time which was always hilarious (in the Japanese version you could get a boyfriend!). I could seriously play this game anytime. It has so much depth to it and little gameplay elements/secrets that could totally go unnoticed. Seriously could do with a true sequel, but that's unlikely from Konami.

[The Shoemaker]

Mario 3D Land gets a lot of flack, but I thought it was an excellent handheld title. It was like a mini Galaxy really. I liked the time trials StreetPass feature, really added some replayability to the game. I might prefer it over 3D World for replayability, but 3D World is saved by having the awesome cat suit and great multiplayer.

[VictorViper]

I came close to abstaining here, but I have to give Mega Man 9 the credit it's due. Among the NES MM games, this is the best designed, front to back.

[SkyPikachu]

Super Mario 3D Land gets my vote as it's the only Mario game so far that I've preferred over Mario 64.

I can't even explain why I like this little sucker so much, it's actually the Mario game I'm the closest to 100% in my life, with only 2 or maybe 3 (tops) coins left to grab.

Darn that's high praise. Maybe I will look into getting it after all.

[The Shoemaker]

I came close to abstaining here, but I have to give Mega Man 9 the credit it's due. Among the NES MM games, this is the best designed, front to back.

And it's not even on NES! I thought it was really great that it was a retro game through and through, from the menu's to how the game played, it really felt like it could have been on the NES.

[evildevil97]

Mega Man 9 was the game that really introduced me to the series. I played MM games before, but I never really got into them before 9. It's the perfect retro throwback. It got a vote from me.

I think Kirby's Adventure is probably the best game in this bracket, though. One of the few NES games (that I played, anyway) to have a working save system. It added an element of gameplay to the series that is now a major part of the character and franchise - the copy ability. I never liked the colour palette, but it pushed the NES limitations as it was. Who am I to complain?

[Jordan]

Super Mario 3D Land is one of the few games that made me genuinely nauseous. While it's not really fair I guess, that totally killed any fun I could have had with the game. I played a couple worlds and then never touched it again.

My votes in this poll:

Sanic the Hedgehog 3: This is back when Sanic the Hedgehog was actually a decent game series, and the 3rd game in my opinion was one of the best. I would say the 3rd game and CD are the greatest Sanic games. Everything after that was, for the most part, a gigantic pile of awful. The only other brilliant thing they ever came up with were Chao Gardens...featured in otherwise mediocre games.

Danganronpa: I was reticent to try Danganronpa. It seemed like a creepy series, and it was, but what pushed me over the edge was people comparing it to Phoenix Wright. It's pretty much a very dark Phoenix Wright game, but it was a ton of fun. I really greatly enjoyed it, and it even did a few things brilliantly that I wish Phoenix Wright had done. For example, at the end of cases you have to put together a manga summarizing the sequence of events that took place in a murder, which I thought was goddamn awesome.

Kirby Adventure: What can I say? It's probably undeserving, but I really liked the early Kirby games.

Mega Man 9 is a runner up for me. My enjoyment of it was somewhat killed by the fact that my original Wii bricked at some point shortly after I had beaten all the robo masters. I never finished the game.