Best video game side content

[RedTwoster]

A chat with @TildeGuy~! about side content in the new Yakuza pirate game has inspired this thread. 

What’s your favourite side content in a video game? By the may I don’t mean optional missions - I mean games within games, like Chocobo Racing in Final Fantasy VII, and Suijamon in Like a Dragon.

With that in mind, here are a few of mine…

Puzzle Kombat (Mortal Kombat Deception)

I honestly think this might be better than the main game. It’s pretty similar to Puzzle Fighter if you’ve ever played that, and it’s an absolute belter of a mini-game. I liked MK Deception a lot, but I played this just as much, if not more, than the main game. 

Business Management (Like a Dragon)

The original Like a Dragon has a fantastic business management sim, very reminiscent of the old Kairosoft games. You start off running a sweet shop, and as your profits grow your portfolio can include anything from a massage parlour to a sports stadium. It’s great fun.

Tetra Master (Final Fantasy IX)

OK, so the base game of Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII is better, but they go on and ruin the whole thing be introducing stupid rules like random, plus and combo. They don’t do any of that nonsense in Tetra Master. It’s a simple card game that I spent hours playing, trying to collect every single card. Queen’s Blood in FFVII Rebirth is also ace.

[Chest Rockwell]

Gwent!

I never even finished Witcher 3 because I just got sidetracked with Gwent.

[FLips]

I'll echo you with the business management from LAD, I loved that. Never got on much with the LAD Infinite Wealth side stuff though. Puzzle Kombat was ace too, and though it wasn't as good, Kombat Kart from one of them was OK too.

I'll also echo myself from the retro thread and throw in the Superfrog Fruit Machine which is fairly authentic with Hold buttons, the ability to Gamble your winnings and a really fun interface that seperates it from other in-game slot machines I've seen.

You could also include any of the Monkey Ball games in this too. We definitely spent more time as teenagers playing Monkey Target and Monkey Pool than we did the actual SMB game. Monkey Target especially was a blast.
Also on the Gamecube we were partial to the Home Run Contest on Super Smash Bros Melee which got really competitive.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

Monkey Target is Monkey Ball, everything else is side content.

 

[RedTwoster]

Some others from me…

Tekken Force Mode (Tekken 3)

I’m not entirely sure if this one counts, but the mode is different enough for me to include it. They essentially built a Streets of Rage-style brawler into Tekken 3, and I loved it, playing it for hours, trying to unlock Dr Boskonovich - the hidden character you fought at the end of it all. And what a bastard he was to defeat too. Still though, this was good fun.

The minigames (Super Mario 64 DS)

I’m slightly amazed that Nintendo resisted the urge to release these as a mini games collection, but Super Mario 64 DS comes with loads of great mini games built-in. You have Wanted! (Pictured) which is basically Where’s Wally, and then there’s Memory Master - basically matching pairs. You have Puzzle Panic, a tile flipping game and Hide and Boo Seek, a Luigi’s Mansion-inspired game where you search for boos. That’s just scratching the surface - it’s absolutely rammed with fun minigames, it’s great.

[TildeGuy~!]

Queens Blood in Rebirth for sure.

The score, the rules, the fact that it was the first thing I did when I entered a new town every time.

[Jesse]

Yeah, I'm playing Rebirth right now and Queen's Blood has me in a vice grip. Didn't think a game would beat Triple Triad for me but I'm hooked.

For a much older one, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is a game I've played once through the story, but it's Ancient Cave I've played literally hundreds of times. It's a 99-level dungeon randomly generated each time (within some parameters) where you're dropped down to level 1 and given 10 potions, finding more kit in chests on your way to the final, increidbly tough, boss fight.

It's basically an entire game in its own right and I've played a bunch of that with a friend who is so into it, they now occasioanlly get invited to commentate on Ancient Cave-specific speedrun tournaments.

[theringmaster]

Does poker in red dead redemption 2 count? I have spent easily over an hour some days just playing cards.

I second Puzzle Combat, I have wasted away many hours on the DS playing that.

Likewise Soccer on Street Racer on the Snes. There was also the black ops game which had loads of secret mini games like a text based adventure and top down shooter.

[JLM]

Shenmue I spent far too man yen buying gachapon. Then later in life I went to Japan for real and spent far too many yen buying gachapon. Videogames are a terrible influence. 

Samurai Warriors 2, Sugoroku. Or "a nice relaxing game of sugoroku" to give it its full title in our household. I don't expect anyone to watch this video, but please let the theme song wash over for you for a minute or two. Absolutely delightful: 

Duke Nuke'em 3D and Quake on the Saturn. They had a thing where the game would check to see if you had a save file for the OTHER game on your console, to show you'd bought both. If you did, you'd gain access to a game the developers played in their office called Death Tank. It's essentially Worms but in real time with tanks and it is glorious. It got an Xbox Live Arcade remake many years later, but we spent hours on the original:

 

Edited February 27 by JLM

[theringmaster]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

 

The minigames (Super Mario 64 DS)

I’m slightly amazed that Nintendo resisted the urge to release these as a mini games collection, but Super Mario 64 DS comes with loads of great mini games built-in. You have Wanted! (Pictured) which is basically Where’s Wally, and then there’s Memory Master - basically matching pairs. You have Puzzle Panic, a tile flipping game and Hide and Boo Seek, a Luigi’s Mansion-inspired game where you search for boos. That’s just scratching the surface - it’s absolutely rammed with fun minigames, it’s great.

Super Mario DX (? Think it was called that, the remake of the original game on Game Boy color) had a great selection of side content like pairs card games and unlockable stickers and stuff like that

[RedTwoster]

33 minutes ago, theringmaster said:

Does poker in red dead redemption 2 count? I have spent easily over an hour some days just playing cards.

That definirely counts! I’ve never been able to get my head around the rules of poker though, so I could never enjoy that particular bit of side content.

50 minutes ago, Jesse said:

For a much older one, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is a game I've played once through the story, but it's Ancient Cave I've played literally hundreds of times. It's a 99-level dungeon randomly generated each time (within some parameters) where you're dropped down to level 1 and given 10 potions, finding more kit in chests on your way to the final, increidbly tough, boss fight.

Given that the game turns 30 this year, surely to goodness it’s in line for a re-release. It’s mad that there’s no modern format on which you can play the Lufia games. 

[FLips]

I completely forgot about Pocket Circuit Racing in the Yakuza/LAD games. Absolutely adored it and Pocket Circuit Fighter is my favourite Yakuza character in the whole series. Getting to follow his life through the various games was a treat, but there was always something cathartic in a grown man building a little scalextric car and absolute running riot on a club full of kids with it.

I'll mention Blue Spheres from the Mega Drive Sonic games too, even though I'm not personally a fan there's no denying it was a big part of not just the games themselves but the lock-on technology too. If you attached random non-Sonic games to Sonic & Knuckles you'd get new Blue Spheres levels and if you attached Sonic 1 you'd get a full game of it. Very interesting and deserves a mention.