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For many gamers, summer is the perfect time to revisit their favorite titles. When the weather gets warmer, there’s no better way to unwind than by delving into a classic game (preferably in a nice, air conditioned setting). It’s no coincidence that so many titles have been inspired by the season. From the tropical backdrops of Super Mario Sunshine and Wii Sports Resort to the deep-sea exploration of Endless Ocean and the summertime festivities in Animal Crossing, many of the industry’s best games capture the essence of summer (without any of the unbearable humidity).
Now that we’re deep in the heart of summer, we’d like to know, which summery game do you enjoy revisiting every year? Cast your vote in our poll below, and if we happened to miss your favorite, then be sure to mention it in the comments!
[poll id=”197″]
Not necessarily in summer, but my wife and I still play the original Animal Crossing every so often. This time, I’ve been making my usual observations of how much better it still is than the newer ones, but I have found myself missing the ability to use the d-pad to quickly switch equipment.
Tangent: It’s wild to look back into that brief window where Nintendo considered its 8-bit oldies to be almost freebies, as items in AC or on e-Reader cards. If that path had continued, we’d now be getting N64 games for next to nothing and/or tucked away inside new titles.
The original Animal Crossing was my favorite too, at least until New Leaf was released. Have you tried it yet? It actually evolves the series in meaningful ways rather than just regurgitating the same formula like Wild World and City Folk.
(It also has some neat callbacks to the GCN title, like its great 5 PM theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXG9zU2Lb6g)
I got New Leaf as my final Club Nintendo freebie. Still doesn’t have the magic of the original, but it’s the first truly worthy sequel in my opinion.
I really miss the acre layout and don’t enjoy the rolling-log world, novel as it may be. The original also spoiled me with silky-smooth 60fps and no loading times, happy side effects of N64-fidelity data coming off that cute little fast GameCube disc. My nitpicks about the newer games are all minor, and moot anyway since we keep on firing up the original every few months. :^)
Summer gaming, had me blast
Summer gaming, goes by so fast
Played a game for my Wii U
It was great, you should play too
Summer games, playing all day
Playing, uh, deep into the night
Well-a well-a well-a huh
Play some more, play some more
Till I got really far
Play some more, play some more
On DS in the car
On Splatoon, losing so bad
Playing Mother, on my Gamepad
Luigi’s Mansion, ghosts going down
Xenoblade, really feeling it now
Summer games, playing all day
Playing, uh, deep into the night
I think after summer school is done I will replay either A Link to the Past or Link’s Awakening DX on the original systems. It’s tough to decide, and with the releases of the Donkey Kong Country series on the eShop I almost feel like re-playing those on the SNES. Just too many to choose from really when you have a huge collection and so many good gaming memories. Perhaps even Mario 64. Who knows, but the Zelda games would be first pick.
Pikmin is a great series to replay in general, but I have especially fond memories of replaying them over summer. When Pikmin 3 was announced at E3 a few years back, I played both of the first games back to back.
A few weeks ago I actually bought a Japanese Gamecube along with Pikmin 2. Since some of the treasures are different based on products from that region, I intend to enjoy the new twist on the experience.
The Wind Waker, totally! I have some incredibly fond memories as a kid while playing it near the beach on vacation, and that set the tone so well. I still haven’t gotten tired of playing it in the summer all these years later. I know some people can’t stand the sailing, but I personally can’t get enough of it!