Videogames that made you smile!

[DreamcastRIP]

Which videogames do you remember making you smile the most?

I mean in a way that charmed you, i.e. not by making you laugh per se.

Ones that spring to mind for me would include the likes of,

* Crazy Taxi (DC) - the wacky humour
* OutRun (arcade) - grinning like a loon back in '86 due to the game's atmosphere
* Rage Racer (PS) - completing that 'perfect' lap with no mistakes
* Samba de Amigo (DC) - impossible not to love, especially so when looking like an idiot waving the maracas about!
* Sonic Adventure (DC) - that moment when being chased by the killer whale
* Space Channel 5 (DC) - the whole visual and aural aesthetic never fails to make me smile inside
* Star Wars (arcade) - the grin from blasting the Death Star exhaust port that first time
* Super Monkey Ball (GC) - cutesy but oh so charming
* Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - pure crazy riotous fun
* Tempest 2000 (Jaguar) - from the feeling of arcade-esque perfection captured
* Wii Sports - 'getting' what motion controls were all about when playing tennis
* Xenon II Megablast (ST) - seeing Super Nashwan Power that first time

There are plenty more I could have mentioned but that'll do for starters!

[guest4707]

Treasure games often have that effect on me. I find them intrinsically charming, especially discovering Guardian Heroes for the first time, that has lots of moments that made me grin like an idiot. A few of examples:

- realising that you could get Nando, Randy's rabbit familiar to attack enemies,
- the moment when you are beamed up to fight the sky spirits and everything goes totally nuts.
- when the giant trolls go berzerk and the enemy troops panic and run

Also, Jeff Minter's games make me smile a lot. Whether it's the peurile stuff like toilets shooting loo paper at you, or the incredible britishness of it all. Apparently in Jeff's new game Goat Up 2, you can fart on enemies to kill them, but only if the Queen isn't looking. Because you can't fart in front of the Queen, right?

Another one is Rez. Though that is probably more slack-jawed wonder than smiling.

[DreamcastRIP]

Definitely looking forward to Goat Up 2 as I've purchased and mostly enjoyed all of Llamasoft's iOS output so far.

I nearly included Rez on my list but didn't for precisely the same reason you've stated! In terms of a videogame making my jaw drop in awe no game before or since has come close to how Soul Calibur (DC) did that for me.

Another to add,

Lumines (PSP) - smiling to myself after having 'lost' maybe 45 minutes of my life playing it but it having seemed like only a few minutes due to trance-like effect it has.

[guest4707]

I nearly included Rez on my list but didn't for precisely the same reason you've stated! In terms of a videogame making my jaw drop in awe no game before or since has come close to how Soul Calibur (DC) did that for me.

YES! I remember that. "It's better than the arcade!? IT'S BETTER THAN THE ARCADE!" 

That was an incredible moment, and probably one of the defining reasons I bought a DC for myself after moving out of my uni house (my mate had one, so there was no need to buy one until then!).

[DreamcastRIP]

I suppose Soul Calibur (DC) could be said to be a game that made people smile then. Smiling and grinning at the realisation one was witnessing the future, in a manner of speaking.

[TL]

Definitely Llamatron on the ST, seen as Minter was mentioned. That game is so crazy I couldn't help but smile.

Outrun has to go on the list as its impossible to be sad when you see those blue skies and hear that music.

I always found that Lemmings made me smile, sure it can get tough later on but it's just so cute and humerous.

[DreamcastRIP]

I always found that Lemmings made me smile, sure it can get tough later on but it's just so cute and humerous.

I definitely smiled the first time I nuked the little blighters!

[davyk]

Punch out

Worms Armageddon

Parodius

[TL]

Punch out

Worms Armageddon

Parodius

Worms and Parodius definitely!!!!

Also: Pu-Li-Ru-La on the Saturn and arcade

[Tachi]

New York City on the Atari 800xl is the first I can think of.
Then Turrrican 1/2 on C64, Shogo Mobile Armour Division & Blood 2 on DOS, Hexen on PS1 and Bards Tale on the Atari 800xl.

All these bring back happy memories of sitting with my old friends and playing games for hours on end

[TL]

The original Grand Theft Auto, that game was so amazing the first time I played it I had a constant grin on my face. Trying different cars, listening to the radio stations, killing cops, running over pedestrians and crazy car chases.

[guest4707]

Grand Theft Auto

That's a great shout. I remember my mate getting that on his PC, it was so exciting - and I was a cynical teenager by this point. I remember four of us huddled around his PC desperate to get our hands on his joypad (oo-er, that sounded ruder than intended). Shame it wasn't a multiplayer!

Viz on the ST was another game that made me smile. It was never laugh out loud funny, but you've got to crack a smirk at a guy in a running race who has to dump his over-sized nuts in a wheelbarrow in order to keep up.

[TL]

Ah yeah Viz!

Kind of along the same lines - Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Also: Rock Star Ate My Hamster!

[Rogue Trooper]

Slimeys Mine on C64, oddles of speech.

Typing in rude words on games like IK+ (ie wank-sweaty hands make joystick slip), F*ck Off on Tau Ceti (resets game), Alien Breed cheats (aliens are faggots, i wonder if Dolly Partons ahem, is is big as her t*ts) etc.

Armed And Dangerous on Xbox.


The whole:

'Do you know where i can find some sailors?' sequence of DC Shen Mue!

[dougtitchmarsh]

A text based adventure on the ZX Spectrum called Ship Of Doom, when in the reception area my uncle typed in Screw secretary and the game designer had foreseen such peurile  shenanigans and the game came back at you with "There will be plenty of time for that later" or something along those lines. It was so funny. I just had to try that out, results are in...