I’m gifting my friend’s child a handheld emulator and loading it up with games. It’s capable of playing things pretty much up to Nintendo GameCube (It’s even running Twilight Princess, though it studders in some areas).
I’ve got pretty much everything that exists for NES, SNES, N64, as well as a couple dozen games for Genesis. I never had a Sega Saturn or a PS / PS2 growing up though and I’m wondering what I should grab for those, as well as some more obscure GameCube titles if there are any I should know about.
Here’s your chance to wax nostalgic about some old games and help ensure they make it into a kid’s present. Even if I have the game already, I can still throw suggestions into the “favorites” list and make them easier to find.
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Roughly what age is this child?
Don’t sleep on handhelds - the GBA had a pretty solid library.
The three Fire Emblem games on GBA (Binding Blade [Japan-only, but has a solid fantran out], Blazing Blade [“Fire Emblem” outside of Japan], and Sacred Stones) are all great and relatively easy to get into. I’d recommend the SNES/SFC ones maybe for an older teen, but they’d be tricky for a younger player.
Oh I forgot to mention but I have nearly the entire library for Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and GBA as well, including the hacked fan translation of Mother 3.
The kid is 12, so as much as I’d like to throw San Andreas on this thing, I would like to avoid being strangled by his mother.
Yeah, you can library dump a bunch of the classic consoles, so I’m trying to rack my brain for special stuff that has a heavier file size or cool Japan-only games that have a fan translation or don’t require language skills.
Can Chibi Robo run on that handheld? It’s GCN, so kinda in the iffy area for handheld emulators.
The kid is 12, so as much as I’d like to throw San Andreas on this thing, I would like to avoid being strangled by his mother.
Yeah, that’s the age where they have to figure out how to get a hold of it if they really want to play it lol.
Yes, there are so many good games for GBA and even GBC and they’re small so you can go for the whole library approach like NES/SNES.
I don’t know that much about the Playstation, having also never had one growing up, but the top shelf classics that come immediately to mind are Final Fantasy VII and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. There are also tons of kid friendly mascot platformers like Crash and Spyro
Even the original GB had bangers, like Donkey Kong '94
The original Pokemon R/B/Y games were technically GB games, even though Yellow did do some colors if you played it on a GBC. Metroid 2 was also a GB game.
Link’s Awakening, too, but the DX version was a little better
Edit: Totally forgot about Kaeru no tame no Kane wo Naru “For the Frog the Bell Tolls” - it’s a strange Japan-only GB game that’s roughly a more puzzle based Link’s Awakening. There’s a fan translation out for it.
You can’t go wrong with the ratchet and clank games, imo
Spyro is a PS1 classic
I’ll probably think of more, I’ll edit when I do
Edit: Okami
Depends on the child’s age, but some safer ones for younger kids might be:
PS1 - Ape Escape, Mega Man X4, Mega Man Legends 1 & 2, Parappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy, Tomba!, Klonoa, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Harvest Moon Back to Nature
Depending if cartoon-ish horror is okay, then MediEvil 1 & 2
PS2 - Dark Cloud, Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2, Klonoa 2, Parappa 2, Super Monkey Ball Deluxe
Saturn - Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes, Saturn Bomberman
GC - Billy Hatcher, Chibi-Robo, Cubivore, also don’t sleep on Kirby Air Ride or Wario World. I also liked Lost Kingdoms 1 & 2
Yeah again the age of the kid would help a lot but as far as PS1, Spiderman, Parappa The Rappa, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot 1 & 2, Grand Turismo 2, Ridge Racer 4, Tekken 3, Twisted Metal 2, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metal Gear Solid
If they’re old enough to be interested in RPGs it’s never to soon to start them on the eco-terrorist path with FF7, Star Ocean 2, Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, FF9, Vagrant Story, Breath of Fire 3
Whether it runs Android or Linux, put Doom on it with all the WADs
Make sure you have Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, and Dynamite Headdy on Genesis. Get the translation of the JP version of Dynamite Headdy because the US version was made brutally difficult for no reason.
Klonoa and Tomba! for PS1
Whether it runs Android or Linux, put Doom on it with all the WADs
thatcher’s techbase
metal gear solid / mgs vr missions - ps1
All the tony hawk games -ps1 and 2
Gran turismo- ps1
crash bandicoot, 3 was my fav also the kart game crash team racing is good - ps1
tekken 2 and 3 - ps1
parappa the rapper and um jammer lammy - ps1
Gta 1 and 2 - ps1
Army men air attack - ps1
Air combat / ace combat - ps1 and 2
Twisted metal 2 - ps1
Spyro the dragon - ps1
Worms Armageddon- ps1
crazy taxi - ps2 or dreamcast
Sonic 2, 3, & knuckles - genesis
zombies ate my neighbors - genesis
jurassic park and jurassic park rampage edition (2 different games) - genesis
vector man 2 - genesis
ultimate mortal kombat 3 - snes
Jellyfish: The Healing Friend
If PS2 is runnable:
- Ratchet and Clank
- Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
- Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal
- Ratchet: Deadlocked
- Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
- Jak II
- Jak 3
- Star Wars Battlefront
- Star Wars Battlefront 2
- Sly Cooper
- Sly 2
- Sly 3
PSP
- Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
- Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (English translation patch)
- Phantasy Star Portable 2nd Infinity (English patch)
- Star Wars Battlefront Elite Squadron
- Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron
- Lumines
- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
- Locoroco
- Locoroco 2
- Patapon
- Patapon 2
- Patapon 3
- Resistance: Retribution
- WipeOut: Pure
GCN
- Pikmin 1
- Pikmin 2
- Phantasy Star Online Plus (has a singleplayer only mode that is the entire game)
- Sonic Adventure
- Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
- Sonic Heroes
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Dreamcast
- ChuChu Rocket
- Hydro Thunder
- Crazy Taxi
- Jet Set Radio
Also a recommendation that you don’t have to take- don’t dump entire romsets onto the kid because it might overwhelm him. If you do decide to do this at least give him a list of games you think he should try on that console or point him towards something online that tells him the best games on each console so he isn’t just lost.
didn’t see em:
snes - ogre battle
n64 - ogre battle 64
ps1 - final fantasy tacticscould give em the various ogre tactics games too but maybe do that later, fft is way better
I used to play Ogre Battle 64 and FF7 with my childhood best friend every time I went to his house. Fun times lol
All three of these games still make me feel excited when I think back on them. Absolutely phenomenal.
GCN:
Pikmin
Metroid Prime 1&2- fire emblem 4: genealogy of the holy war: story isn’t exactly family friendly (though i wouldn’t say anything in there is too bad for a 12 year old, i was reading worse shit in 6th grade), but it’s all medieval fantasy and snes sprites so you can get away with showing more to kids. pain in the fucking ass to get through, so only if they’re stubborn enough to stick with it
- shenmue
If it can run PS2, Psychonauts would be awesome
For Genesis: There’s the Sonics (Sonic 1, 2, 3&K), Rocket Knight Adventure, Gunstar Heroes, Contra: Hard Corps (get the JP version since the US version is a lot harder), and Shining Force II.
If there’s a way for you to get Neo-Geo, you could add the Metal Slugs (1, 2, 3) plus a whole bunch of fighting games as well. GBA games like Pokemon, Fire Emblem, and Advance Wars are also good.
The N64 Kirby side scroller was a lot of fun
Rogue Squadron was a good time if the kid likes Star Wars
Can’t go wrong with Ocarina of Time or Paper Mario either. If they like Paper Mario you might be able to get them into classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger and FF7
You mention you also have GBA games, I dug out my ‘legendary’ list from when I was a kid and downloaded and ranked a pack of 1100 GBA ROMs over a lonely summer holiday -
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced
- Fire Emblem + Sacred Stones
- Harvest Moon (FoMT / MFoMT)
- Kirby (Amazing Mirror/Nightmare in Dreamland)
- Pretty much all the Megamans including Zero and Battle Networks
- Metroid Fusion + Zero Mission
- Monster Rancher 2
- The Pokemons
- Riviera the Promised Land
- Summon Night Swordcraft Story 1 + 2
- Sword of Mana
- Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis
- Zelda games
