This Old Neon Forum

Round 5: Dasher'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.

1980 - Pac-Man - Arcade
1986 - Castlevania - NES
1990 - M.U.S.H.A. - Genesis/MD
1998 - Pokémon Trading Card Game - GBC
1999 - Space Channel 5 - DC
2001 - Lufia: The Legend Returns - GBC
2001 - Pikmin - GCN
2009 - Red Faction: Guerrilla - Multiplatform
2013 - Grand Theft Auto V - Multiplatform
2014 - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - Wii U

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

Tough bracket. I'm going solely with the classics on this one. Pac-Man's influence is indisputable. The reason I voted for Castlevania is because it's one of those infamously hard classic platformers that actually makes you feel like you're getting better at the game every time you fail. Each time you progress a little farther, you learn more about the level, and your skills and ability to deal with the enemies and obstacles in your way improves. The music is also fantastic, and I like the whole overall design of the game (the palette, the mechanics, and the boss fights).

I was also close to casting a vote for M.U.S.H.A.—it's a user-friendly (which is not to say "easy") shooter with interesting mechanics. But I simply haven't spent enough time with it, and I don't put it in the same league as the two I mentioned above.

I enjoyed Pokémon Trading Card Game, but I don't think it's BGE material.

Stewing on this one, but leaning towards a (perhaps unexpected) non-vote.

[EDIT] Screw it, I can't abstain from a bracket with Pac Man. MUSHA gets a generous second vote from me for legitimate but ultimately soft reasons.

Castlevania is a game I consider perfect. It gets my vote without hesitation.

I also voted for Space Channel 5, one of my nominations, as well as Pikmin. Both are interesting, quirky space games of (obviously) wildly different genres, but genres that, at least at the time, were not very abundant in the console space. I have a lot of love for both.

Claytone wrote:Castlevania is a game I consider perfect. It gets my vote without hesitation.

It's getting mine, too, for the same reasons.

Also giving shouts out to Pac-Man and to the mighty, MUSHA - the second best shooter on the Genesis and among the best from that generation.

Sticking with Pikmin and DKCR:TF.

Also adding Pokemon Trading Card game to it, what a little gem that was. I'd love to have a newer version.

Pac-man and DKC:TF

A great bracket imo. A lot of these games are amazing.

Pikmin appears to have pretty long legs. I wonder if its sequels will be as loved here.