Sam's video game collection essentials

Switching platforms for a second, here we have the fifth main installment in Namco’s “Tales” series. There are various reasons why Symphonia is a highly notable entry. The fact that it’s a GameCube is one of them. For years, the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 had been absolutely dominant when it came to RPGs. A lack of support from third-party developers in general had haunted Nintendo since day one of the Nintendo 64, and while this trend did continue into the GameCube era, Nintendo certainly did make some effort to get more third-party exclusives on their platform. Tales of Symphonia represents one of their greatest successes in that regard, convincing Namco to release it exclusively for their console instead of Sony’s RPG juggernaut, and the game was a success on Nintendo’s platform garnering very respectable sales. (Eventually there was a PS2 version of Symphonia, but only in Japan, I would guess because of some kind of agreement between Namco and Nintendo of America) Another reason...

Metal Gear Solid had made a huge splash on the original PlayStation. Then, Metal Gear Solid 2 was a major early title for the PlayStation 2. And Xbox owners would receive a port of the game a year later. But aside from a spinoff Game Boy Color title, Nintendo was missing out on all this Metal Gear action. They wouldn’t be getting a port of 2 (the GameCube controller arguably doesn’t have enough buttons for it), but instead they wound up getting their own exclusive Metal Gear Solid game for the GameCube. The details don’t seem 100% clear on how this game was conceived and planned, but Nintendo helped make sure that Konami made a Metal Gear game for their GameCube. And since they were already busy working on the third Metal Gear Solid title, developer Silicon Knights would step in and do most of the work on this project. This turned out to be Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, which is basically Metal Gear Solid 1 reimagined with the graphical quality and gameplay elements of Metal Gear ...

It feels a bit weird to start the PS2 list with a game all the way down midway through the letter D. It’s not that I don’t have PS2 games that I own and like that start with those first few letters, it’s more that it’s hard for me to give them the “essential” label. For example, I have many Dance Dance Revolution games on PS2, and they are quite good, but I have already covered the original Dance Dance Revolution on the original PlayStation. The PS2 games are generally better, sure, but it’s hard for me to look at one particular installment and say *this one* is specifically essential. There are also many retro game compilation titles on the PS2 such as the two Capcom Classics Collections, which are cool, but it’s hard for me to say that *this specific compilation* is the particular release of these games that I want on my list (though there will be compilations showing up here at some point). Anyways, time to talk about…Dragon Ball Z!! It’s one of the tippity-top most popular and reco...

Wait, didn’t I just talk about the PlayStation 2 yesterday? Why move on to the GameCube without even talking about any PlayStation 2 games?? Well, looking at the upcoming games, I realize that some titles from this generation have some versions and sequels on different systems. If I tackled all my PS2 games, then everything on GameCube, etc., then I would run into some awkward situations where I’d be talking about certain games in an order that wouldn’t make a lot of sense. I am still mostly going to be talking about PlayStation 2 stuff in the coming weeks, but I want to get the competing consoles’ introductions out of the way so I can feel more free to bring up their games whenever I wish. Anyways, about the topic at hand: Nintendo was king of the video game world by the end of the ‘80s thanks to their hugely successful Famicom/NES. In the first half of the ‘90s, Sega gave them a serious challenge with their Mega Drive/Genesis, but the Super Nintendo was still clearly the best-selling...