What would $20 get you in your preferred gaming genre?

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Most of us can probably rattle off crazy expensive examples of some of the best and most hard to come by games in our preferred genres of games, and gaming itself has a bit of a reputation for being an expensive hobby. The question here though is to pick something that can be had for not a lot but still might interest people in your given genre, or get them started in it (though you need not do the "gentle introduction" approach for this -- suggest Dark Souls if you want to introduce someone already versed in gaming to the Souls approach to the world). It still wants to be active in some capacity if you are suggesting a multiplayer game. For instance many would hold up the Sega Saturn version of Bomberman as one of the finest ever made, however even assuming someone has a working Saturn then a non Japanese copy of that game frequently clocks hundreds. Far more agreeable would the XBLA versions of Bomberman, or maybe Bomberman 2 on the DS if you can get past the gangly beanpole bombers.

This is part of a series on GBAtemp where we contemplate various game industry concepts, aspects of computer game culture, discuss ways games might improve, share interesting technical concepts and otherwise ponder things that are of interest to games but not necessarily news, reviews or analysis of current events.

Previously we discussed games you play by your own rules.


Or if you prefer "What hobby can you pick up for not much money, gaming genres/gameplay styles edition?". Name a genre/gameplay style and a game someone might be able to pick up for it for fairly common, or easily emulated, hardware, and give a few lines on why you picked that one. What might they progress to afterwards if they like it? If it is a free game by all means suggest a good controller for it instead.
 

Mythical

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If you're using G2A, you might as well just pirate the game... You're already using a stolen copy of the game.
Yes, there have been stolen keys that have been revoked, but that's not usually a problem (has never happened to me and if it did it's on the seller not what they're selling). Also they don't just pull the keys out of thin air. They buy them, then resell.
 
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MarkDarkness

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Deus Ex can definitely be bough for under that price. In fact, you can get it together with the awesome Human Revolution for that much money.
 

Taleweaver

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It depends on my mood, obviously, but right now I'm leaning to board game apps on android (on discount, usually), and /or proven quality indie titles. In total, 20 bucks would net me between 2 and 4 gamesof the following :

Android games by asmodee, digidiced and (especially) temple gate games (perhaps nomad games as well, but have only one example)
PC games by drinkbox games (guacamelee is their flagship), klei entertainment, zachtronics, or any game starting with the word 'steamworld'. Oh, and one that goes by the name 'draknek'.

Edit: okay, some examples :
Patchwork (abstract racing /management game)
Isle of Skye (not unlike carcassonne, but with bidding)
Shards of infinity (best deck builder ever)
Onitama(note : a free tactics game)
Onirim (also free card solitaire game)
A good snowman is hard to build (best sokoban type game ever)
Guacamelee 2(puzzle /brawling)
Steamworld dig 2(platformer)
Opus magnum(puzzle /building game)
Mark of the ninja (2d stealth game)
 
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kuwanger

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God forbid users resell the codes they legally own, the developer should get paid twice for the same code for some reason, that sounds fair. :lol:

If only people could resell the codes.. Instead it's either people who buy games with stolen credit cards or they're like me and have bought several bundles with a lot of games they don't. The latter is why I joined a Steam group just for key trading (and gifting), and overall it's been worth it even if I've only played and enjoyed ~10% (or less) of the games. That follows Sturgeon's Law well enough. :)

To the question, the recent Steam sale actually got me to finally directly buy Steam games. I ended up buying several games from several genres. The gist of it, though, is the following. For $20 I could get 3-4 Action RPGs (Ys I&2, Oath in Feighana, Ark of Napishtim), 3-4 Shoot'em/Cute'em Ups (eXceed Trilogy, Raiden IV, and Trouble Witches), or 1-2 Metroidvanias (Iconoclasts and Blaster Master Zero were slightly more than $20 together). That doesn't include the soundtracks/dlc I bought.

Overall for genres, I'd say Shoot'em Ups are probably the best bang-per-buck (trilogies frequent enough costing $10). Metroidvanias are the worst. Bundles are almost always the best value overall, though, if you get enough of a certain genre and trade the rest for that genre. That's not generally practical, though.
 

Maq47

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A somewhat hard to find game that got me into its series at an early age is the SNES version of Ultima VI: The False Prophet. It has a very non-linear storyline like the original, and there's quite a few ways that you can do very EVIL things and still complete the game, albeit in a more 'fun' way (sort of like Skyrim, you can kill random people, and there's a 'Karma' system where the more bad deeds you do, the more difficult the game becomes). The game can be found at my local Disc Replay store for $11.99 last time I checked, and is actually quite a good deal, since I've seen the game before elsewhere for $30.
 

8BitWonder

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Hollow Knight is easily one of my favorite metroidvanias to date, it costs $15 (sometimes less if there's a sale) and I've spent over 100 hours in it.

If you're into metroidvanias or want to play your first (other than Metroid or Castlevania for some reason?) then definitely give this one a try.

https://www.gog.com/game/hollow_knight
 
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Ryccardo

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vertical Wii with all the basic accessories - 20 €
medium-capacity SD card - you probably own one already, or "free" when the employees are distracted
real glass curved screen TV - free from the classifieds or outside trash cans in holiday towns at the start of summer
batteries for the wiimote - damn, those push the project over the budget

Pokemon White, Black2, Mario 64 DS, NSMB, Tomodachi Collection, (Everybody's Golf 1 + 2 + Crazy Taxi) combined for the PSP, and my entire PS2 collection combined all cost less than 20 € each at the time of purchase (all in the past 4 years) :)
 
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TheRealNGB

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Game: Hearthstone
Genre: Digital Card Game
Cost: Free - $5000

What does $20 get you:

The game offers free single, and multiplayer content to earn in game currency, and rewards, combined with the dusting system you should be able to make a couple of competitive standard format decks from the start without a problem.
 
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Viri

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Crusader Kings 2 base game, and a few DLC, lol. But, I bought the game and pirated all the DLC.

I'll pay money for the game, but I won't give you a dime for your scum bag DLC practice.
 

Fugelmir

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Spelunky. The amount of time I've put into the daily challenges must be in the 1000s of hours. Masterful platformer.



16.99 steam

12.99 psn (ps3/vita/ps4 crossbuy)
 
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enderer

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my favorite games (and couldn't believe how cheap) are mega man 9 & 10.
i'd never played a game as hard as mega man 9, with the intention of winning. sure i played super hard games as a kid on NES, only beating a few levels, and never even dreaming of completion.

every level of mega man 9 i continued from game over, several times. it was so hard, but in an intelligent way. the game introduces you to enemies that follow a pattern: first in a safe environment, then in a dangerous one. once you interact with an enemy once, you know how that enemy will behave throughout the game.

this game made me fall in love with old (retro) hard-ass games and the achievement of conquering something so difficult.

anyway, these games retailed for $5 apiece, but now that the wii eshop is down i suggest getting a wii or wii u and "historically" searching the "archives" to play them

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

favs in the retro (platformer) category would be
adventure island ii: $18
super mario bros lost levels: $5? (eshop)
snake rattle & roll: $7
mega man 2: $18
teenage mutant ninja turtles (the first one): $6
ducktales: $12
bubble bobble: $12
blaster master: $8

all easily emulated
 

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