Guilty-pleasure video games: Which is yours?

Alright clannies, I have a question for you all. Excluding Runescape (Either iteration), which video game would you consider your guilty-pleasure, annually-replayed, cherished, go-to video game? When times are down and you want to play a game you hold dearly to your heart...which game can always pull you out of a funk? What game do you know better than your own Mother's birthday?

I think for me, I have a very big spot in my heart for Yoshi's Story for the N64. I have lots and lots of very fond memories, playing this game to completion with my little brother in our room in front of a ridiculously over-sized CRT TV, reading up about all the secrets like the Black and White Yoshi egg locations, and the completionist aspect of finishing every level on the map and collecting all of the Melons.

Even to this day, whenever I catch a sampling of Yoshi's Story music, I nostalgia very hard and am just overwhelmed with positive vibes. I love that game. But I don't know many who remember that game favorably for some reason. =(

Another good example would be Starfox Adventures for the Gamecube. I remember this game just being the receiving end of some serious internet vitriol when I later discovered forums like GameFAQs. People HATED this game, for the sole reason of it not being what they expected it to be. It came a few years after the major success of Star Fox 64 and people hyped the GCN release really hard. Then, when it came out that it was basically a reskinned third party adventure title and not a 3rd person aerial fighter, people lost their minds.

But at the time of me playing it, I didn't know any of this. I went into that experience blind. I also didn't have a chance to really play SF64 before because it just wasn't a game I owned. And as a kid, $50 for a 64 title was pretty steep.

I really enjoyed Starfox Adventures and can replay that game any time. It's also terrible. Like, REALLY bad at times. There's a button mashing sequence about 2/3rds of the way through the game that is absolutely miserable and easy to fail. It's also necessary to complete the main game. Mechanically, it really doesn't hold up.

This was a topic on my mind earlier and want to see what some of you guys think. What's your game? I really want to know!

Also, special shout-out to Animal Crossing (any iteration, I love this series), Rocket Knight Adventures for the Sega Genesis, and Ori and the Blind Forest. Nothing but love for them too!

The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time on the hubbys 3DS only because I no longer have my N64 and it's the only way I can play it, was the first game I ever played that actually started my love for gaming, also the N64 was my first ever game console that I purchased myself during my first job.

We had an Atari when I was a kid growing up and I loved Pitfall, Breakout and Freeway.

Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon are up there as well, I do love farming games.

Any Grand Theft Auto since Vice City - San andreas, GTA IV, GTA V etc. Can never get enough of the single player modes in these games. I try to get 100% completion in each one that comes out Nice thread idea Mimi.

Skyrim, 2000 hours and counting.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Amazing.

I probably play through the Portal games almost annually, makes me feel good when Im down!
I also turn back and play through the first Fable from time to time!

Other then that I have a thing for old adventure games, and try to beat a few each year.
Made my way through a lot of the Lucasarts ones by now, and have started working my way through the Sierra catalog at the moment!

Oooh and my probably biggest one is Goof Troop for the SNES.

I dont know how many times I have beaten that game. I have played it for as long as I can remember with my Sister and some friends.
Each summer in my early teens a friend and I would sit in his summerhouse and try and beat it as fast as possible.
Our best time was a 23:34 run on the in game timer.
And we still play it together when we meet up!

Knecken wrote:I probably play through the Portal games almost annually, makes me feel good when Im down!
I also turn back and play through the first Fable from time to time!

Other then that I have a thing for old adventure games, and try to beat a few each year.
Made my way through a lot of the Lucasarts ones by now, and have started working my way through the Sierra catalog at the moment!

Oooh and my probably biggest one is Goof Troop for the SNES.

I dont know how many times I have beaten that game. I have played it for as long as I can remember with my Sister and some friends.
Each summer in my early teens a friend and I would sit in his summerhouse and try and beat it as fast as possible.
Our best time was a 23:34 run on the in game timer.
And we still play it together when we meet up!

The Portal games are fantastic, I love them. I've never played Goof Troop but it looks like a good bit of nostalgia The old Aaahh! Real Monsters game and Toy Story for SEGA are nostalgic for me. It's sweet that you still play old games with your sister and friends, I wish I still had access to my old SEGA...

SNES Goof Troop is legit amazing. It also happens to be one of the favorite games (IMO) that the original Game Grumps played through.

Perfect Dark on n64 or 7 days to die on steam.

Been really stuck on XCOM2, makes runecrafting really hard lately >.>

Lokandur wrote:Skyrim, 2000 hours and counting.

I know this is an old topic but I found it while looking for a topic for cat photos (which I did find!). I couldn't resist commenting because I also love Skyrim. According to Steam, I have 1470 hours in Skyrim (979 for LE, 492 for SE) so you've played even more than I have! Unfortunately my old PC can no longer run Skyrim without serious fps drops so recently I started playing Oblivion for the first time and so far have 72 hours in it. Just like with RuneScape, I love the lore behind the games. <3

Spiritika wrote:

Lokandur wrote:Skyrim, 2000 hours and counting.

I know this is an old topic but I found it while looking for a topic for cat photos (which I did find!). I couldn't resist commenting because I also love Skyrim. According to Steam, I have 1470 hours in Skyrim (979 for LE, 492 for SE) so you've played even more than I have! Unfortunately my old PC can no longer run Skyrim without serious fps drops so recently I started playing Oblivion for the first time and so far have 72 hours in it. Just like with RuneScape, I love the lore behind the games. <3

Thanks for reviving this thread with a post @Spiritika !

Loads of games come to mind for me so you're going to have to deal with a list haha, I'll try and categorize them:
N64: Diddy Kong Racing & Pokemon Stadium
Gamecube: Mario Kart: Double Dash, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Wind Waker, Kirby Airride
PlayStation/Xbox: Any and all GTA games, Skyrim and Just Cause 2

Absolutely fantastic thread I look forward to hopefully seeing some more people's answers!

For me it would probably be the Elder Scroll series along with Fallout. Mainly Fallout 3. I remember spending long hours on the game everyday after school. I never really fit in with too many people so it was always sort of my holding grace. Other games could be GTA franchise, Spyro, Crash, Ratchet & Clank, NFL Street 2, Madden at times, some Call of Duty, Star Wars Racers Revenge, Warframe at times along with League of Legends.

But, above all I'm a sucker for games that involve building cities, sandbox mode type of things. For this reason one of my all time favorite games is Roller Coaster Tycoon. I also enjoy playing some Minecraft from time to time along with Conan Exiles.