My Desert Island (Video Game) Discs

One of my favourite video game podcasts, Final Games, is to video games and its industry what BBC’s Desert Island Discs is to music and celebrity. Each episode, a different guest details the eight video game choices they would take with them to a hypothetical deserted location for the rest of their days. After inexplicably listening to all the episodes within little over a week (welcome to my brain), it eventually got me thinking about what video games I would pick to take to my own desert island.

There are many iterations of Tetris, but all pale in comparison in quality, simplicity, and sheer importance to video games than the Nintendo Gameboy version. The tile-matching puzzle titan was the original mobile gaming phenomenon that brought gaming to the masses. It helped launch videogames into the mainstream and many of its derivatives appeal to those who even don’t consider themselves a gamer.

Back in 1989/90 when physical console multiplayer connections were a requirement, I would often challenge local friends, visiting each other’s homes to spend hours on linked battle mode via the included (yes, included) link cable.

Tetris is the perfect pickup and play game, whether it’s a bus journey, your lunch break at work, or simply the need to engage your brain for any amount of time. And when you have plenty of it, what better way to pass the time.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was the first video game I’d ever bought second-hand back in the ninties. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is a game I make a time-honoured tradition of playing through each and every year. Like Super Mario World, it was another masterpiece released around the launch of the Super Nintendo, and remains simply timeless. From the dramatic opening, essentially a tutorial which serves as a perfect insight into the themes of discovery and survival the game brings, Link to the Past is simply one of the best adventure games ever to be coded, and a journey I implore everyone to take at least once in their lifetime.

The supergroup collaboration of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Hori, Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama plus script writer Masoto Kato simply created a masterpiece in role-playing and storytelling. Despite its standard JRPG appearance, Chrono Trigger is bolstered by its time travel mechanic, resulting is a story that transcends thousands of years and consists of love, tragedy, and friendship, with thirteen different endings on offer. Neither the SNES or the PS1 versions were released in Europe, and it wasn’t until around 2001 that I managed to import a decent boxed copy – but it set me back £92. Once it finally got it’s 2008 DS release, my dream was realised. Thirteen years of hype and it did not disappoint.

If I’m going to live out my days alone in a deserted location, then I’m going to need my football fill. Since its release in 2006 I have spent hour upon ungodly hour challenging the incredible Master League mode; easily the greatest single player football mode in any football game ever made. As the game’s title suggests, Master League mode evolves as you progress, players develop to become better and better. Memories of a Liverpool FC fully-developed front line of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Adriano and Lionel Messi still resonate today.

The beauty of the Pro Evolution Soccer series is that as you raised the bar, so did the challenge and learning curve. A joy to play, difficult to put down, PES 6 is the football game I would take to my grave.

Bayonetta 2 is simply a masterpiece. Yusuke Hashimoto’s sequel to Hideki Kamiya’s incredible Bayonetta achieved what few sequels do: not only replicate what made the original a success, but also improve every element. The combat is simply a masterclass, the art direction is stunning, the pacing tighter, truly improving what was already a perfect original. Despite the main campaign taking around ten hours, there is so much more to perfect, resulting in a title that could possibly be played forever, with secrets to find, scores/grades to beat, combos to create and perfect. Simply put: Bayonetta 2 is simply incredible.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is simply the most incredible video game ever devised. Enjoy Oblivion/Skyrim? Dark Souls/Bloodborne? The Witcher? OoT is the blueprint for all of those and many more. It was released two weeks before Christmas in 1998 during my college days, and in truth I did little else in the advent lead up that year than sample its delightful open world, fall in love with the combat mechanics, savour the magnificent soundtrack, and surrender myself to the contentment that the game delivers.Following its Nintendo 3DS remake and release in 2011 I once again stepped into Link’s shoes and it is as much a joy to play now as it was almost 20 years ago, and I’m sure I could say the same in another 20 years.

Cloud’s journey to stop world-controlling corporation Shinra from draining the world’s life essence for fuel resource has everything: friends, enemies, love, tragedy, death, and one of the greatest antagonist’s in video game history in Sephiroth. ​The beauty of Final Fantasy VII is its pacing, the turn-based combat, the incredible backdrops, levelling and materia systems, and so much more. The sprites may look a little outdated by today’s standards, but the rendered backdrops really capture the mood and condition of the slums people must live in, and the open world is truly a feast for the eyes. Final Fantasy VII is the only game in the series I’ve gone back to, having finished it twice, and still desire to go back to on a regular basis. When the time comes, it is a journey I would gladly take once again. And again.

With a main campaign clocking in a little under ten hours to complete, Shinji Mikami’s exhilarating third person action shooter may seem an odd choice for seeing our the rest of my days on a desert island. But the beauty of Vanquish is far more than that. Several difficulty levels result in a different experience each time, the highest of those providing a genuine challenge.

But the real deal sealer for the Resident Evil creator's frantic, futuristic forming of breakneck tactical action is its challenge mode. The completion of which remains the most elusive PlayStation trophy yet to be obtained for my collection. It is incredibly challenging, requiring almost perfect precision and resilience. Seeing out the rest of my days on a desert island would allow more time to practice and maybe, just maybe, finally beat it. One of Mikami’s very best.