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Posted (edited)

@bob, Awano is one of the most smug douchebags in all of video games and I absolutely loved wiping the floor with him. Great pick! Yakuza has a number of excellent antagonists and does a great job of writing them in a way which makes you want to throw punches their way. 

But going to have to second @Goafer's pick here. 

Day 4: Favourite Villain/Antagonist

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Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII.

Not sure if I'm quite going to be going through this challenge in Hard Mode, but to specify, I'm talking about Sephiroth from the original 1997 game. 

Awesome character design, intriguing backstory, and some stellar boss battles.

BELOW ARE POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR THE ORIGINAL FINAL FANTASY VII (1997). I had debated putting this in a spoiler tag but I know most here have played it, so it's more a heads-up for those who haven't and are planning on doing so, and I would like to leave it this way for the sake of discussion instead. No spoilers relating to Remake to be concerned about. 

But what made Sephiroth stand out to me above all else is that he was a phantom that, throughout FFVII, we were always a few steps behind, and the opening of the game did an excellent job of turning what was just a name into a nightmarish super-being to be reckoned with: we didn't see him, but the blood trail he left in the Shinra Building after killing the President (perhaps my favourite scene in a video game), and the eerie music which accompanies it sets the scene perfectly.

Then you've got how they expertly showed the difference in class between Sephiroth and Cloud in the flashback when you see Sephiroth's level, equipment, and spells. And then there's the murder of the Midgar Zolom. He was an unstoppable, untraceable force to be reckoned with, and that made him terrifying. 

The flashbacks to the Nibelheim Incident gave more context to this and was excellent because of the questions it raised, and the (not totally accurate) story it told. It was an excellent story point in itself, seeing Sephiroth's descent into madness and having Those Chosen By The Planet circle during his breakdown, coming into full force as he declares his true intentions and leaves the Nibelheim Mansion basement. 

Goafer mentioned One Winged Angel, and while I agree that it is an excellent musical culmination for the game in that final fight with Safer Sephiroth, I much prefer Those Chosen By The Planet as Sephiroth's theme (it is his leitmotif after all!), as it does so much of the heavy lifting in setting up the mystery and danger surrounding Sephiroth's character. 

You hear this intense percussion which corners you, mimicking the sound of a heart beating, accompanied by a foreboding bell ringing out, repetitively, symbolising impending death and despair. It's brilliant.

Not only that, Sephiroth actually has a third theme, Birth of a God, for the Bizarro Sephiroth boss battle, which brings in Those Chosen By The Planet's leitmotif too. In short, Nobuo Uematsu's music almost singlehandley carried and breathed the menace and malevolence of Sephiroth into being. 

Without a doubt my first choice for this category, but shout-out to Kefka from Final Fantasy VI, a close second. 

Edited by Julius
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Posted

Day 4 - Favourite villain/antagonist.

Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Although technically, it should be Majora's Mask itself but just the combination of that michievous Skull Kid and the dark power of Majora's Mask, makes for a truly terrifying villain. Especially when you encounter him at the top of the Clock Tower at the last few moments on the Final Day, the moon looming ominously above you, then Skull Kid lets out that scream, bringing the final act seemingly to a close... it's impossible not to be affected in some way by that, in that moment.

Those who have played the game before will know what I mean, if not though... then just watch the video above and you'll see what I'm talking about. But more to the point, if you haven't played The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask yet, then I'd very much recommend doing so.

Oh and a bonus, let's not forget the quote from the Happy Mask Salesman... "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Majora's Mask is memorable for many reasons, its main villain is easily the most memorable overall though.

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Posted

Best villain was always going to be an easy one for me:

Ganondorf (Ocarina of Time)

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Ganondorf is the best "evil overlord" ever. Oh sure, it's easy enough to have a pig monster waiting in his mountain, or a Shao Kahn sitting in his throne acting all judgemental, but to give that conquering villain the proper development that Ganon had in Ocarina of Time is rarer.

Ganondorf starts as an image, a dream that Link has before the game starts in proper. He looks like your typical Dark Knight, just a fierce soldier with a mean face. His presence is felt from the very beginning. We're soon told that "The King of Thieves" was responsible for putting a giant spider into the Deku Tree, discreetly killing Link's guardian deity from the inside.

We soon meet Zelda, who tells us that Ganondorf is a menacing (but still unassuming) presence in the kingdom, who's on the look for the sacred Triforce. So far so decent, evil man wants valuable thing, that's a summer blockbuster. This evil man does things like blackmail Gorons, or poison a water deity (and kidnap the fish princess? Unclear if that part was planned). Point is, he's the bad adventurer, Link's the good adventurer, you're both on equal standing, looking for the thing.

Except you're not. The moment you see him on his horse, looking down on you, you know this man's a king. He swats you aside, too powerful to face. But you can at least outsmart him by grabbing the Triforce before he does... except you can't, he outsmarted you first, dummy. He succeeds, and your merry adventure ends in failure.

You wake up from your seven year sleep to see how much Ganondorf succeeded. The castle town lays in ruins the death mountain looks like its own name, the ranch is owned by an evil sycophant, the lake is dry, your hometown is filled with monsters... Ganondorf won, and you're reminded of it with every place you visit. He wasn't an evil overlord at first, but you saw him become one before your very eyes. All you can do is stop him and save what's left, but you can't undo him.

And the first time I played it, I kept wondering "If he's so smart, why's he letting me run around and kill his servants, huh?", but then he eventually answers me: "I let this kid run around to weed out Zelda. She matters more than him". You thought you were playing a game, but Ganondorf's been playing you, too. It's obvious this overlord is proactive in its evil, and not just some ugly bloke waiting in his throne.

When the fight finally comes, it feels like the entire game was building towards that moment. Ganon never lets that grin down, he's always in control. He always has the face of someone who knows what he's doing it, why he's doing it, and doesn't regret a single thing. He MUST be stopped, and no other action will do. After a gruesome tower climb, a fight that spans two floors, a 3-step strategy needed to even touch him with the one sword that can damage him, a wrecked building, him rising from the ashes to become a mangoatpig, briefly losing your sword, pinning him down with magic, and then stabbing him repeatedly in his open mouth... he is finally defeated. It feels like we toppled the largest beast in the world. And he's not even dead, banishing him to a hell of his own creation was the best the characters could do.

I appreciate that Wind Waker gave him some introspection, but his role there is to be an old relic that clings to a long-gone past. I appreciate villains like Symphonia's Yggdrasill, who have fleshed out backgrounds and sympathetic motives behind their villainy. I even appreciate the simpler villains like Bowser or Robotnik. But to have an unapologetic evil character, depict his growth into power, allow the player to feel his actions throughout the entire game, and then still make it a struggle to beat him in the end... None have done it as well as Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time.

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Posted

Wow, this is legit hard for me to choose. I have, like, 5 different candidates for favourite villain, and all for completely different reasons.

Gonna have to give some thought.

Posted (edited)

Day 4 - Favourite villain/antagonist

Sarah Kerrigan - StarCraft series

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This needed some thoughts as well as there are plenty of baddies, but a lot of them are pretty cliche. Sarah Kerrigan though is a deep character, who starts out as one of the good guys but gets infected by the Zerg. Through the stories of StarCraft, Brood War and StarCraft II she goes from being the good girl to the bad girl under control of the Zerg to the bad girl controlling the Zerg but ultimately redeems herself.

I cut some corners here as she is technically not always the antagonist since you can control her in one of three story paths in StarCraft. But for a big part of the StarCraft series she is evil reincarnated.

Edited by Vileplume2000
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Posted

For favourite villain I think I'll go with, Uncle Rupee:

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A conniving and unbelievably greedy character who also happens to look hilarious. :D Although I'd also quite like to use him for best boss battle too, so I may have already failed on hard mode unless I can come up with something else for that category. :hehe: 

BTW, for those not familiar with Uncle Rupee, please enjoy this 12 year old YouTube video presented in glorious 240p quality: :heh:

:laughing:

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Posted

Starting a bit late but I'll try to catch up:

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Day 4 - Favourite Villain/Antagonist

I actually thought I would have an obvious one here but apparently I don't care about villains as much as I thought I did. I think I'll give this one to the Joker from the Arkham series for what an amazing job Mark Hamill did with him as usual.

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And I guess a special mention for this fucker:

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Posted

This might come as a shock but my favourite has always been Mario’s number one enemy.

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Especially his appearance in Super Mario World, I think I beat him up so many times as I loved that fight. 

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Posted
  On 7/4/2020 at 9:06 PM, BowserBasher said:

This might come as a shock but my favourite has always been Mario’s number one enemy.

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Especially his appearance in Super Mario World, I think I beat him up so many times as I loved that fight. 

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Funny you went with the Mario World depiction of Bowser specifically.

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He, uh... Ain't looking so hot here.

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Posted

Day 4 - Favourite Villain / Antagonist

GLaDOS (Portal / Portal 2)

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Luring me into a false sense of security, pretending to help me through all those training areas.  I should have guessed your true intentions by the messages scrawled on the wall.  They were right, the cake WAS a lie!

Forcing me to destroy my favourite companion cube then trying to lure me to the same firey fate, you never truly cared for me.

I should hate you, but your hilarious dialogue made that so difficult, and even after supposedly condemning you to your own fate, hearing your voice singing how you were still alive brought a smile to my face.

GLaDOS how I hate & love you! 😄

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Posted (edited)

OK, I'm never going to be completely satisfied with my answer because I like quite a few villains for completely different reasons, but in the end, I'd have to go with the one that had the most impact on me really.

I'm gonna put this in spoilers, because I wouldn't be totally surprised if this got some kind of remake in the future and I'd hate to spoil it for any of you who would be interested in playing it blind. I highly recommend playing it blind if you're remotely interested.

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The second PMD game is still the best story you'll see in a Pokémon game. And I know @Julius will back me up on that.

Edited by Glen-i
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Posted

Bloody hell this is a tough one... Now I have several different favourite villains for several different reasons... ( Just so you know I made this SOOOOOO much harder for @Glen-i ) 

I've deliberated on this for a little and as much as this was a difficult choice I've decided on...

 

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The Ashford twins ( from resident evil code Veronica ) 

 

In particular I am talking more so about Alfred Ashford! 

Two twins separated from a young age based on their intellectual differences, Alfred left to idolise his sister, though being of higher then average intellect, his sister was a genius. Alexia given the priority of the two graduated from university at the age of ten. They both were moved to the Antarctic base where Alexia conducted her tests on the T-virus.

The two children discovered the truth about their origins after gaining access to Alexander's lab. Disgusted by this fact, the two forced him to take part in a human trial of t-Veronica, and then left him sealed in a hidden compartment beneath the facility director's office. Soon after, Alexia found out how to properly control the viral corruption, but the process involved fifteen years in cryostasis. Alexia left this task to Alfred, and with no choice Alfred aided Alexia in her Complete mad dream of Godhood. 

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Alone, in the world Alfred's mental state shattered and with that a dual personality developed within him closely resembling that of his sister. His mental state eroding so far as to dress and having conversations between each dual personality. 

In there is a tragic irony... We learn of Alfred's tragic mental erosion and at the brink of death he makes his way to the cryogenic pod where Alexia is stored. And finally the twins are reunited, though Alfred passes away as Alexia strokes Alfred's head as he lays dead in her lap. Leading to one cut scene that still gives me goosebumps to this day.

( Warning, tasteful nudes ahead! ) 

 

Oh... And this is an extra little clip because Alfred's voice is just amazing and it makes me smile every time.

 

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Posted

Day 5 - 3D Platformer

Despite being one of my favourite genres, I've not found one I've truly loved since the N64 - that is until recently, when Super Mario Odyssey captured the feeling I had playing Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie.

There's so much to do in the game and (apart from 2 moons) every moment is a joy to play. The levels are varied and interesting, with lots to do. It's fairly easy to "finish" the game, but that just opens up more difficult stuff for people who want to complete it.

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Posted (edited)

3D Platformer

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Jet Set Radio Future

Probably the only platformer that I've completed 100%. Spent ages collecting absolutely everything. Plus that soundtrack.

Edited by Goafer
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Posted

Day 5 - 3D Platformer

Right.....I know this isn’t necessarily even a good game, let alone a good 3D platformer but anyone who I chat with in the retro thread knows I have some weird obsession with Croc Legend of the Gobbos. For some reason that game just stuck with me over the years, much more than all the shitty Mario games you’ll all be posting today 😝

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Posted

3D Platformer

I think with this one I could have gone for any of the main line Mario games. I have played every single one of them to completion and more often than not to 100%. They’ve all added a unique thing that seems perfect and, to me, I’d happily pay for a Nintendo system just to play the Mario game for it. 

In the end I’ve gone for Mario Galaxy, really fit the Wii controller well, great music, and just an awesome gameplay experience.

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Posted (edited)

Day 5 - 3D Platformer

Of course it's going to be a Mario, but which one? I never owned the N64 so I don't have any particular love or feeling for that Nintendo generation. My first 3D experience was Super Mario Sunshine which I really liked. Later I played Super Mario 64 on the DS, and of course Odyssey is an amazing game as well. But the most magical one for me is Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. Galaxy 2 may have the better levels, but I prefer 1 because of the Observatory hub and for introducing the planet concept. For me that's the pinnacle of 3D platforming. Bring on the remaster Nintendo!

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Edit: so yeah I agree with @will' who posted it minutes before me. :p

Edited by Vileplume2000
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3D Platformer

Easy: Ratchet and Clank (PS4)

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Blows all other 3D platformers out of the water. Funny, great characters, wonderful gameplay and a joy to play from start to finish.

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Posted (edited)

Hey guys, bit late to the party, but what the hell! I'll chip in with some of my own memories!

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There we go! All caught up!  BTW, good shout for Alfred Ashford @Ugh first aid, I would've thought he'd be forgotten in the shuffle; so I'm glad that he got his dues! (not within the context of the game though, that's actually pretty sad what happens to him).

Edited by Dcubed
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Posted
  On 7/5/2020 at 9:18 AM, Happenstance said:

Day 5 - 3D Platformer

Right.....I know this isn’t necessarily even a good game, let alone a good 3D platformer but anyone who I chat with in the retro thread knows I have some weird obsession with Croc Legend of the Gobbos. For some reason that game just stuck with me over the years, much more than all the shitty Mario games you’ll all be posting today 😝

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It probably stuck with you because it was originally a Yoshi game before Nintendo rejected Argonaut's pitch ;) 

Posted (edited)
  On 7/1/2020 at 8:11 PM, Nicktendo said:

90s School kids, can I get a hell yeah?! 

It's our planet, it's our place, we must save the human race, eaaaaaarth warp, we must save the woooorld! 

Definitely remember playing Earth Warp on the BBC Mirco in Mrs. Hill's class (year 4) at Woodthorpe Primary School. Ollie the Alien, what a guy.

+ 10 internet points for remembering "Through the Dragon's eye". Also had a BBC Micro game as far as I remember...

 

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Bugger me! Someone else remembers Through The Dragon's Eye!?

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I bloody LOVED the BBC Micro game and the TV show as a kid!! I had the game in my old school and played it TO DEATH as a little one! :D 

Edited by Dcubed
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Posted (edited)
  On 7/1/2020 at 10:34 PM, nekunando said:

With Human Interactive sadly no longer in business, there doesn’t appear to be any possibility of this ever appearing on the Virtual Console at any point, but we'll always have Christmas '93!

Super Soccer Cart

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It's available on Switch's NSO SNES Selection RIGHT NOW! Go re-live your Xmas 93 memories you fool!

Edited by Dcubed
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Posted

3D platformer

When I got my first ever console, the N64, the two games I got with it were Mario 64, and Banjo Kazooie. For some reason, Mario 64 never quite clicked with me, but Banjo Kazooie was a different story.

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Banjo Kazooie seemed more lively, colourful, crazy and fun to me, with fantastic music, characters and more interesting levels.

Since then, I've played a few more 3D platformers, but they all seemed fairly forgettable compared to BK.

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Posted

3D Platformer

Controversial choice for me, the Galaxy games or Odyssey are typically considered the pinnacle of 3D platforming, and I couldn't argue too much, but I'm going with Super Mario 3D World. Much maligned at first by fans for what it wasn't (similar to The Wind Waker)the game ended up being just incredible, at least in my opinion. Lovely, cohesive visuals, everything was just so colourful and fun. The platforming was pitch perfect (something I felt was lacking Odyssey) with each level having its own brilliant concept. The Captain Toad levels spawned one of my favourite games ever, and the soundtrack was incredible. The whole thing was dripping with polish and charm. Would love to see Nintendo go back to this sort of obstacle course type 3D Mario at some point. :bowdown:

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