This Old Neon Forum

Round 5: Dunder's Bracket

You can vote for 1-4 games in this poll. Vote carefully—you can't change your votes after submitting them. The top 4 games at the end of the week will move on to Round 6.

1983 - M.U.L.E. - A8B/C64/NES
1983 - Juno First - Arcade
1991 - Mega Man 4 - NES
1994 - Pulseman - Genesis/MD
1994 - Doom II: Hell on Earth - PC
2001 - Luigi's Mansion - GCN
2003 - F-Zero GX - GCN
2004 - Cave Story [+] - PC
2008 - LocoRoco 2 - PSP
2008 - Mount & Blade - PC

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

Hmm, I haven't played Juno First, and I haven't spent a lot of time with Pulseman or LocoRoco 2. Doom II gets an obvious first vote from me in this bracket, for basically embodying what was to become a huge staple genre. I like Cave Story well enough, but I don't know if I'd put it on Doom II's level. I may yet. I wish I had had more time to spend with Mount & Blade, because it seems like a game I could get sucked into for years.

Mount & Blade has been over the last decade one of the go to games for me. It has been consistently entertaining, and being there with a thriving community before the game ever released in full was simply inspiring. As it is, M&B remains one of those games that I always install on every computer I can, especially if it's not mine. I can tear myself away, but once I start hitting the mods for this game, I usually get lost in it. I game/system hop quite a bit, and to be completely frank, this game has single-handedly been the cause of friends actually deleting me from their contacts list, from Xbox to Playstation to even Steam.

Doom II and F-Zero are returning votes for me, but I'm thrilled to see that Juno First got some love in this contest. For whatever reason, this one seems to have faded into obscurity over the years, but for me, it ranks among Galaga and Robotron in terms of shooting excellence. A very easy choice for my third vote.

F-Zero GX will get my lone vote in this bracket. I thought about casting a vote for MM4 or Pulseman as well, but I think they're actually right about where they should be in the overall standings if they don't advance.

GX, meanwhile, is a Top 10 game in my book.

Only one I've played is F-Zero GX, luckily it's also one of the best games ever so I don't feel guilty about voting for it.

Seriously guys, look at that freaking GIF. F-Zero GX is goo-goo-bananas.

Cave Story was my only vote. I adored this game. Everything felt right about it right from the start.

Drauks wrote:Mount & Blade has been over the last decade one of the go to games for me. It has been consistently entertaining, and being there with a thriving community before the game ever released in full was simply inspiring. As it is, M&B remains one of those games that I always install on every computer I can, especially if it's not mine. I can tear myself away, but once I start hitting the mods for this game, I usually get lost in it. I game/system hop quite a bit, and to be completely frank, this game has single-handedly been the cause of friends actually deleting me from their contacts list, from Xbox to Playstation to even Steam.

Agreed. Lost many hundreds of hours to M&B, especially The Last Days and, in Warband, The Eagle & The Radiant Cross. It's as varied and open as Pirates!, but much more fun and strategic. I'm really happy I got in on it early and got to see so many of the changes as the wider community made suggestions.

Kong, is M&B: Warband in separately? I might feel bad voting for M&B if the vastly improved version is also in the bracket.

Niahak wrote:Kong, is M&B: Warband in separately? I might feel bad voting for M&B if the vastly improved version is also in the bracket.

It is indeed going to be making an appearance in a later round.