My Kind of Video Games

My hardcore gamer friends may laugh at me, but there's one particular variety of game that I like, when I have time to play them. I like happy games. No - I like games with cuteness. Or beauty. I like games with cute characters or cute situations, or games that involve beauty, with lovely characters or music or worlds.

I list here, therefore, the video games that I like best, with a link to the Wikipedia page for each. I know you love Wikipedia links.

• Frogger. When I was a kid, we had an Atari gamestation of some kind, and we had a decent variety of pixel-tastic games for it, including Frogger. Eventually the Atari broke, and if I missed any of the games we had, I missed Frogger. So, when Frogger came out for the Playstation, of course I was elated. My brother and I enjoyed the two-player option (where he played a green frog and I a pink frog), and the different maps and levels. This was not just Frogger anymore. This was intense, complex, Frogger in 3D. It was awesome.
• Spyro the Dragon. This was another of the games I played with my brother on Playstation when we were younger. I don't think we ever beat the game, but it was still crazy fun. And Spyro was just so cute!
• Crash Bandicoot. The third of the Playstation games that my brother and I used to play. Although, we actually had both Crash Bandicoot 2 and Crash Bandicoot Warped, and I don't supposed I actually ever preferred one over the other. I especially liked playing as Coco Bandicoot and riding a polar bear.
• Final Fantasy IX. I have enjoyed much of the Final Fantasy Series in pieces, but the only one I've beaten - twice - is Final Fantasy IX. I also have all of the soundtrack, the art book, and a wall scroll featuring Garnet and Zidane. I don't think I can explain what makes this one so much better than all the rest. I think it helps that the male protagonist isn't so moody, the gameplay was never aggravatingly difficult, the graphics were good, there was no complicated system of orbs and things, and the overall theme was actually "fantasy." One of my cousins showed me the game and I fell completely in love.
• Pokémon Red, Yellow, Silver, and Crystal. When I was a kid, and Pokémon was ridiculously popular, it seemed like everybody had the GameBoy game and I didn't. I finally got Pokémon Red, started with a Squirtle, and have felt an affinity towards the franchise ever since. My brother got Pokémon Blue. Eventually I also got Yellow. Later, when Gold and Silver came out, my brother got Gold and I got silver, and eventually I also got Crystal. That's where I stopped obtaining the games, but I kept playing them (and exploiting their glitches) for years.
• Mario Party 7. My boyfriend and his brother introduced me to this. At first I got aggravated when the game would cheat me out of something, but then I learned to accept that after you do all you can do, it is mostly a game of chance, and I decided I loved it. This was my first real exposure to Mario (since we had a PlayStation, not a Nintendo), and it prompted me to start playing versions of Mario World online.
• Super Smash Bros. Melee. I was only introduced to this in the last few days, and I have decided that I adore it. I love that you can play as all these adorable and lovely characters, and throw Pokémon at each other, and play in different Nintendo worlds. It's just so cute. It's like Mortal Kombat except even more fun because it's adorable. Also, the combo moves aren't completely insane feats of button-hitting like they are in Mortal Kombat.