This Old Neon Forum

Welcome to the #BGE2020 Elimination Round of 256!

Each game is seeded based on its performance in the two opening rounds of pools. Every game in the Upper Bracket has defeated multiple other games in 1-on-1 polls to get to this point. These are still the best of the best.

Polls are updated weekly, typically on Sunday or Monday. Check back throughout the week to make sure you don't miss a vote!

HOW TO VOTE

This is easy. You only get one vote per poll. The game with the most votes wins. In the event of a tie, the higher seed advances, so don't get complacent!

As much as I adore the Pinball Arcade and think it's an important game in the sense that it preserves very inaccessible physical media in a faithful and playable format, I have to give the tip to the original Legend of Zelda here for fearlessly helping to spawn a great genre. And bonus points to the OG, it did so without giving you training wheels—it literally dumped you into a world where you could do anywhere, and clues were very sparse. Take notes, draw a map, and figure it out! Love that.

I was well into my twenties or even thirties before I played Zelda and was surprised how well it had held up. One of the few Zelda games that actually resonated with me. Good times.

Sharecrow wrote: ↑15 May 2023 15:49 I was well into my twenties or even thirties before I played Zelda and was surprised how well it had held up. One of the few Zelda games that actually resonated with me. Good times.

Its simplicity really helps it in the "holding up" department. You start on screen 1 and your whole set of instructions is basically "go beat the game"

Of course, that doesn't mean that the world or process of beating the game are simple. Just that it's very focused in what it asks of you. Refreshing.

Zelda is such an influential game that, beyond the things already mentioned above, the very sounds of the game are lodged in the collective video game subconscious. The cascade of notes when you uncover a hidden passage, the labyrinth music and of course the main theme which is - maybe? - the most recognizable ever (save maybe SMB), and is better than SMB's. And the cartridge was gold (colored)! Zelda was the first game I ever played that could be said to have a real story with character progression (I didn't get a PC until 1996 and have had to work my way backwards w/reference to the classics of that platform).