So, as the title says, this pretends to be a thread where we can share our "comfort games", the ones that we pick up and play/complete every now and then, even if we have completed them a thousand times before, just for the sake of enjoyment, just because they keep being fun to us. Maybe that way we can get recommendations from others and discover new games that make us feel great whenever we need that nice feeling of going back to something so familiar, but so nice and fun, that doesn't ever get boring.
I suggest picking up short games (5-6 hours max.), the kind that you can complete in one, two afternoons, and move to other things until the need to play them comes back again =)
For me, in recent years I've found myself coming back to 3 particular NES titles that have become so familiar that start playing and going through the whole game feels extremely easy and natural. Ironically, these are 3 games usually considered very difficult/cryptic, but after playing them so many times they have turned up to be really pleasant experiences. I'm talking of The Adventure of Link, Castlevania II and, more recently, The Battle of Olympus.
Maybe it is because they're so similar gameplay wise that I've become used to the shared mechanics, but whenever I'm tired of these long, dense games of today, I just pick up one of these and get my gaming needs instantly satysfied. Moreover, as I said previously, these are short games that you can complete in about 2 to 5 hours, maybe a little more in the case of The Adventure of Link, what makes the experience of playing through them in one day feel complete and self-conclusive. And, contrary to popular belief, when you understand enemy behavior/patterns and identify the more "controversial" difficulty spikes, you learn how to easily deal with them: for exaple, Iron Knuckles, Dairas or Fokkas in Zelda II, usually considered very challenging by most people, can be easily defeated after you discover that well timed jump attacks always hurt them; or that the combination of Sacred Flame + Whip in Castlevania II paralizes and destroys even the strongest boss; or that, similarly, to Zelda II, well timed jump attacks can destroy in seconds the much feared Amazons in The Battle of Olympus.
So... this is my take and these are my picks for "short, fun "comfort games" you keep coming back to". What are yours? What short/satisfying games would you recomend to pick up an play in just one afternoon? =)
