After I finished watching the Game Dungeon episode on Phantasmagoria 2 and it won the award "Coolest Game I've Played", a thought that keeps cropping up in my head even long afterward is: What IS the coolest game I've played? And what would others say is their coolest game?
I know it isn't Phantasmagoria 2. I can completely see why others would see it as cool, but it doesn't do it for me. So what is the Coolest Game to me?
When I tried to identify what is the Coolest Game I've Played, the problem I ran into is I think that most of the games that I really enjoy are cool and/or awesome in some way. Sonic, Sam & Max, Doom, Psychonauts, Resident Evil 2 (1998), Devil May Cry, Pac-Man: Adventure in Time, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Spy Fox, Mischief Makers, Viewtiful Joe... it's hard to narrow it down. I was initially going to go back to my childhood in what I considered really cool, which was going to be either Sonic Adventure or Psychonauts. But today, while my love for those games burns ever brighter, I wouldn't say they're the "coolest games" to me today. They're still cool, but I think I can go even cooler.
And so, with some thought, I think I've decided the Coolest Game I've Ever Played is Shenmue 1.
I'm not quite sure why, but I think it's simply due to the game basically fulfilling my ultimate fantasy: being a badass teenaged martial artist wandering around Japan on a epic quest. And all of its fine, insane level of details, while perhaps not making it the most perfect simulation of the real world in 2020, draw me into its world like nothing else and fully immerses me in the role of Ryo Hazuki. It's a life simulator where you play the role of a martial artist, but it's even better than real life, because every location has a music theme, there's colorful characters wherever you go, and there's wrong alleys and shops to go into filled with excitement, ruffians, and sailors. My town doesn't have those things, it just has Walgreens. And this game has bar fights, martial arts, having to tangle with the seedy underbelly, Chinese mafia, Space Harrier, magical mirrors, all sorts of Japanese and Chinese culture and folklore, cats, soda, and having to unravel the dark secrets of your family as the situation grows far beyond a simple drive for revenge.
So I guess I am just be a massive weeaboo after all.
Just a shame my copy of Shenmue 1 had a damaged 3rd disc while appearing fine on the outside, always freezes sometime into the game, and the replacement disc I bought on eBay ended up being cracked in shipment.
Anyway, if anyone would like to share their Coolest Game They've Played, I'd be interested in what you choose. You'll probably make it a lot briefer than I did. I think this would just be a fun topic, so please share.