The best short games ever

While I can see many people might say longer games offer more enjoyment for your money, I'd say that a short but amazing game is so much better than a long but boring game, as the latter becomes a drag after a while. As the old phrase goes 'it's quality, not quantity' and I couldn't agree more.

first...

thing i would like to say is that with consoles getting more powerful there shouldn't really be an excuse for short games so hopefully we should soon see the end of criminally short games

Have to agree on Luigi's mansion, it's a great game. Another 'short' game that leaps to mind is Metroid Fusion. I haven't played it for years, but I used to just play it through whenever I had a boring afternoon, usually cleared it in around 1 hour 40 minutes. It's such an atmospheric game, and even though it's short there are lots of alternate routes and the bosses are nice and varied. I'd also say Zero Mission is a great short game for the same reasons. Pretty much all the 2D sonic games are great short games as well, Sonic 2 and Sonic Advance being personal favourites.

quality over quantity indeed. things like this can also be offset, however, by extensive game modes such as online modes, achivements and other things. personally - i pick metroid fusion, but couldnt see it being any longer, as it has such a good pace to it that it finishes at the right time.

dragging on is a problem games shouldnt have, and if they innovate all the way to the end, everything is rosy and i'm happy.

i cant think of many short nintendo games personally - apart from the ones in the article - i wouldn't count switch force, as its downloadable and cheaper than a full price game, and i wouldnt count warioware, as its kind of a party game, and luigis mansion was a launch title, so you cant expect much from that. i can also think of starfox, but that is very similar to fusion in my regard for it, and you're meant to play it about 30 times.

lots of short games these days are third party and on the ps3 or xbox. nintendo keeps it fun for long.

as for others... not many. there are lots of games for the ds i'd like to have gone on longer, such as final fantasy four and chrono trigger, but thats mainly because they're awesome, and lets be honest, 45 hours or so is not a short game.

however, the story in pokemon black and white and the levelling up was WAAAAY to short, and there is little incentive to come back after. you can look at my save files for that and heartgold, and you get 250 hours or so on heartgold, and barely 20 on black.

thats the only one thats ever been my concern in recent nintendo memory.

P.S wow, while i was writing this someone else mentioned fusion for the sort of the same reasons. awesome.

What about the mercenaries? that was quite short if you played through online

(Apart from Xbox 360 and PlayStation clearly), i can't really think of Ninty games that i've played that i recall short.

Games like Mass Effect for example are something that you have to put some serious time into and its great to have an epic journey...
but sometimes its nice to have an experience that's short, sweet, fun and lives on in the memory and that's why i prefer ninty these days as finding free time is pretty hard so games like MK7 or SM3DL or Starfox are perfect for short blasts and all.

Oh, i've got one, Super Mario Land? First time i've ever played it and loved every minute of it

A mind-blowing game is what it is, no matter the length.
With really great games, I definitely find myself never wanting it to end, (I think this happened with Twilight Princess and Dragon quest IX, the latter turning out to be happily a great length)
The problem I had with Final fantasy XII, well I probably got half distracted, but I got uncertain about what some of the earlier events had been, and uncertain about whether to wander such and such way... some time later, I try return to my old game, and am distinctly out of my depth. Lesson learned, don't stop in the middle of an RPG.

It may not be a Nintendo game, but I feel Limbo is one short game, that was still satisfying and sticks in the memory, even though at one point I felt frustrated at the forces of electricity and gravity.

...Though I think it may be easier to become thoroughly engrossed in the world of a longer game.

lots of short games these days are third party and on the ps3 or xbox. nintendo keeps it fun for long.

(Apart from Xbox 360 and PlayStation clearly), i can't really think of Ninty games that i've played that i recall short.

oh man liek gais, i couldn't agree more, microny games are so freaking sho-

http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/7d/Dragon_Quest_VIII_box_cover_(EU).jpg/250px-Dragon_Quest_VIII_box_cover_(EU).jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/LostOdyssey.jpg

oh

in regard to the actual topic at hand, Ikachan is like 30 minutes long and it's brilliant. Dragon Quest 1 is pretty short aside from GRRRRRRRRRINDAN BAYBEE. it's a pity it's aged so badly

I quite like Doctor Who:Evacuation Earth.I like Doctor Who and I like Professor Layton,so it was like a perfect match for me. The only thing is,I think it was maybe a bit too short. There were only about 5 "chapters".

What about making an article of the worst long games?

Now that's an idea John. Any suggestions?

Surely Lylat Wars has to be up there. If mum was making tea and it'd take about an hour to cook I'd have a go on this on the Nintendo 64.

super mario 3d land.
i finished the game in a week and a half

Harry Potter & the half blood prince, best potter game by a mile but you could clear it in 4 hours!

Now that's an idea John. Any suggestions?

not really such a good idea, as if i dont like a long game, such as final fantasy x2, i decide it becomes a very short game. by throwing it in a cupboard, and crying over my wasted money.

but Final Fantasy X-2 is a good game

I'd say another shortie would be Splinter Cell 3D. I bought it and it took me like 6 hours to complete. I think a good game should be worth it's money. Games should be at least as long as a day or two. Maybe even more. A great game should last an entire week not including multiplayer, but multiplayer does increase the length of the game until you get bored and have to buy a new game. Super Smash Bros Brawl took weeks to finish. I had to complete all the achievements, get all the trophies, stickers, characters, stages, complete adventure mode, and defeat all the events. It even lasts longer because of an awesome multiplayer. This game is the longest Nintendo game I've played.

Pikmin!

Definitely agree with Luigi's Mansion and Warioware... they're great but short games but since they're the kind of ones you just pick up when you're bored, that doesn't matter. They're just fun.
Another one for me is Rayman 3, it only had 9 levels (admittedly they were quite long) but the storyline and the fun I still get out of replaying it makes it one of my favourites

When I usually think of short but sweet video games, the first two that spring to mind are Luigi's Mansion(as Tom has already mentioned) and Pokemon Snap. I loved Snap as a kid, seeing the 'mon in their natural habitat going about their business... until I chuck an apple at a Charmeleon, knocking it into a pit of lava, which in turn evolves into a a fire-spewing Charizard! That blew my mind as a kid.

Honourable mentions go to Dead Space Extraction and Excite Truck.

The length of the game is rarely determined by the content available anyway. Different people look for different things in the same game, and are of varying skill levels. A game like the original Mario platformers might take a beginner many fun-filled and challenging hours to complete, whereas just look across the web and you'll find people boasting record times close to just five minutes. It's the same with lengthy games - if you're looking to do absolutely everything in a huge RPG like Pokemon or Final Fantasy, you'll pour hours and hours into it over many weeks, and revisit it often. For those just playing through the basic story though, twenty hours will suffice.

BINDING OF FRIGGUN ISAAC!!!!! also i agree with everything that you, Thomas East said about Luigi's Mansion. and PIKMIN!!!!!

Now that's an idea John. Any suggestions?

Perhaps My Fireplace as it does not have an end, it just keeps going? Who honestly wants to switch on a TV just to watch some burning logs, just get some logs and have a real fire!

I remember when the GC launched and Nintendo were focusing on games been shorter as they felt not many gamers got to see the end of games which is one of the reasons Luigis Mansion was so short. If Nintendo hadn't taken this approach perhaps Luigis Mansion would have been a much longer game.
The only other decent short game I can think of is Pikmin.

Completly see where you are coming from about Silent Hill Shattered Memories as if it had been longer it could have potentially ruined the experience. I would much rather have the SH game that was released than a game that was 4 hours longer but those 4 hours didn't add anything extra to the game.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories first rented game i'll complete, then! yeah, the only thing i dislike about short games is spending loads on them, then it feels like a waste cuz youve completed them so quick!

I've been playing games since I was 7 and I'm 21 now... Some of these games like New Super Mario Bros. DS I couldn't even complete in a day and for that, it made me angry. The problem is, instead of having difficulty cleverly implemented, it's just made hard for the sake of it. A game should be planned and the difficulty should be implemented because of a certain way the game plays and not just "throw enemy here and place item here to make it hard". Skyward Sword made me happy because the challenge came from the amazing control mechanics which cleverly complimented the enemy fights and it wasn't just "to make it really hard". It's about technique and not level of difficulty and that's how it should be.

I loved WarioWare SmoothMoves on Wii, it worked so well - proving that you don't have to have a realistic looking HD game with violence or even dull graphics and polygonal models, for it to be great. Whereas, playing the GBA version left me with a bitter taste, playing with just buttons doesn't work for me and it was harder just to be difficult, instead of the Wii version being a challenge due to the simple clever control scheme.

I'd say the origonal Pikmin was quite short, and kinda goes hand in hand with Luigi's Mansion as Nintendo's gamecube games that started something different.

Dead Space: Extraction - Never played a Dead Space game before this, but from the word go, I was hooked by the gripping story and the excellent lightgun gameplay

Soul Bubbles - Despite being one of the first games I bought for my DS, it's still one of the best that I own to date. One of a select group of games that I go back to periodically, despite the fact that I've completed it multiple times through

Dementium/Dementium 2 - It took me less than 10 hours to complete both of these games, but they were some of the best (and scariest!) hours of my life!

Ghost Trick - there are no superlatives that can truly describe the sheer brilliance of this game. The gameplay, while brilliant in its own right, blends seamlessly with a story that has your full attention from start to finish. I consciously played this game in short bursts so as to make it last for as long as possible!

Any ideas for the worst long game... not really, just a joke. My name is Tobz for future reference, my account name is John...
Worst long game though? The longest game I've played that I have not enjoyed much is Mass Effect, thing is though usually when you play a game that's long, you never finish it, so you don't know if it's long at all...
Best short games ever though? Kirby. Easily.