Which games really defined their system?

[Conn]

[QUOTE=Koopa W.]Wii: Wii Sports (Millions of housewives, senior citizens, and hot chicks can't be wrong)[/quote]
Millions watch American Idol, but you can't seriously tell me it's a good show.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Conn][QUOTE=Koopa W.]Wii: Wii Sports (Millions of housewives, senior citizens, and hot chicks can't be wrong)[/quote]
Millions watch American Idol, but you can't seriously tell me it's a good show.[/QUOTE]

It depends on what you mean by "good".  I am not a cultural elitist, so though I really don't care for that show, I do think it's a good show.

And Wii Sports is a good game both by players and by its content.  It is fun and addictive as hell.

[JustLikeHeaven1]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Donkey Kong Country defined the SNES.  Platformers were the bread n butter of 16 bit days and this one was very important to Nintendo.

Also in regards to my Dreamcast selection - Ready 2 Rumble Boxing...I think it should be Crazy Taxi instead.  I played that game last night and it really does define everything I love about the Dreamcast.  Its fast, frentic, overly cheesy...and balls to the wall awesome.  It such a great pick up and play arcade game and few games could hope to match the addicitive nature of that title.  You are in a race against the clock to earn the most money and in the end you are out of time too soon...and you thought you could have taken 1st if only you didn't make that one last mistake.  To me Crazy Taxi truly defines the Sega Dreamcast. 

Here are a few more games that define their systems

3DO: Return Fire - Much like the console itself many people have never played this classic.  It shows the promise and potential of the system and it comes through with amazing gameplay.  In a time dominated by FMV games Return Fire shone through like a distress signal of what games should be like for the 3DO.  It had great graphics, a splendid musical score and unmatched two player capture the flag action.  Like the 3DO it is a forgotten by most and probably assumed to be a worthless game.  Yet most gamers would be highly rewarded to track down this cult classic.

Gamecube:  Resident Evil 4 - This is the best game on the Gamecube and it wasn't made by Nintendo.  I'm not sure if that had ever happened before.  Nintendo was trying to get third party support and they were clawing there way back into gamers hearts...Sadly the game was announced for the PS2 and many people waited for that version instead.  It was clear that Nintendo couldn't compete in an arms race with Sony and Microsoft and something needed to be done to succeed in the future.  The Gamecube was a capable system with fun games, but in the end there just wasn't room for another wannabe PS2.

[Funkmaster V]

Atari 2600- Space Invaders: The 2600 version is better than the arcades (unheard of at the time) and it seemed to capture the hearts and minds of people more than Combat and Adventure.

Atari 2600- ET and Pac Man: These high profile games were not nearly the worst for the system, but helped the video game crash immensely because of the popularity of those games.

NES- Super Mario Bros: This game saved video game consoles.

Genesis- Sonic the Hedgehog: I remember the first time I saw the Sega logo and hear the chorus of "SEEEGAAA" I about lost my mind and my drool.

SNES- Street Fighter 2: I think this game started the end of the arcades as we know it. It was flawless, and almost on par with the machine.

Gamecube- Super Mario Sunshine: This game was OK, but this release coupled with the weird Zelda game kind of gave the impression that if first party titles would be below Nintendo SNES and 64 quality, the Cube would not be a major contender in the generation.

PS2- Grand Theft Auto III: This started the "sandbox" genre and garnered alot of press (both positive and negative) for Sony's machine.

Xbox- Halo: The only reason the Xbox 360 was able to be made.

FUNK

[Alienblue]

Hey, we are forgetting the lesser known golden agers!

CHANNEL F: VIDEO WHIZBALL! This system was mainly Educational games and PONG clones; VW was a pong game with numbered targets!

RCA STUDIO 2: BOWLING; possibly the only playable game on it!

APF: SPACE DESTROYERS: Good Space Invaders clone!

ASTROCADE: ASTRO BATTLE: Best early SI Clone

Microvision: Block Buster; absolutely MADE for this system

Arcadia 2001: JUNGLER, best coin-op adaptation on it. Unique game, closest relative is Odyssey2's KCs KRAZY CHASE.

Adventurevision: DEFENDER + the 3 other games made for it!

There you go, completists!

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Koopa W.]
SMS: Shinobi
7800: Joust (even though I f****** hate all versions of this giant POS)

[/QUOTE]

Wow, I just noticed this.  It's like you said the thing I could agree with the absolute most and then to cancel it said the thing I could disagree with the absolute least (I'm aware my opinions had nothing to do with your actual writing of the post, before anyone thinks I said they did).

Shinobi is awesome arcade action.

Joust is a POS in the same way icecream is spinich.

[Alienblue]

Joust is one of my favorite games; in 1982 most games were shoot - maze or climb games, Joust was truly different. My favorite versions are:
5200: The graphics are just cut-out shapes but for some reason the feeling of FLYING is done better here than anywhere!
7800: Almost as good. Coin-op quality graphics with easier play.
Coin-op: available on many compilations now
2600: Not bad for the system, just DIFFERENT with floating eggs and enemies that look kinda like moths!

I never played the C =>64 or other computer versions.