The "Peak" of a series?

[Yackom]

What about Mario games? I like the new one for the DS quite a bit

[racketboy]

The Mutant Power button was one thing that was different from the Simpson and TMNT games.
Nothing major, but it was a special attack that you could use a limited number of times per life.

There was a bit of strategy and cooperation needed - especially in multiplayer in order to use your mutant powers efficiently.

Also, I thought the soundtrack to the X-Men Arcade game was one of the best for brawlers.
Maybe you actually have to hear it on a real machine.

And 6-player widescreen can't be beat:
http://www.racketboy.com/gamerooms/2006 ... binet.html

[marurun]

Oh, I think it can be beat by an original 3-screen, 2-player Darius arcade unit. Not beat by much, but by some.

[The Apprentice]

Road Rash: Road Rash 3
Sega Rally: Sega Rally: Championship
Tony Hawk: Tony Hawk's Underground

[pocket]

Gradius - Gradius 3

[racketboy]

Oh, I think it can be beat by an original 3-screen, 2-player Darius arcade unit. Not beat by much, but by some.

Well yeah, but I was just referring to the world of X-Men games

[GagaMan]

Bust-A-Move: Bust-a-Move 4.

I have to say pt 3 was the peak.
I think the funky combo system in 4 ruined it.

I have yet to pick up Bust-a-Move 3, but 4 has definably been my favorite. The combo system made things more competitive and unpredictable for me, sort of like Puyo Puyo. After that, though, the games sort of went a bit down hill. The Wii one is alright though, except the multi player mode is crap and it's far too easy. BAM4 has beautiful high res sprites (at least in the DC version) too.

[Gamerforlife]

Well, here's my two cents

TMNT-Turtles in Time(S-NES version)
EASILY the best turtles game. None of the NES games even come close, and Turtles in Time on the S-NES was actually BETTER than the arcade version. Compare this to TMNT II on the NES which couldn't even come close to matching the arcade original(though in fairness, it was a good game on its own merits).

X-Men-X-Men Legends I and II
Count me in the X-Men Arcade is overrated camp. It was GOOD, but somehow it just didn't seem as fun or inspired as some of Konami's other arcade games and Capcom did better things with the X-Men License in the arcades. The X-Men Legends series is far better. Clone Wars IS pretty cool though, as is Mutant Apocalypse on the S-NES

Batman-The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the S-NES
It's not the only good Batman game ever made, but I think it outclasses all others. It's 100% faithful and accurate to the show, which is the BEST version of Batman in film and tv to this day.

Final Fight-Final Fight 3
Frankly, the only Final Fight game on the S-NES that anyone needs to play. The first one was a lousy port and the second added NOTHING to the formula. Bonus points fo Final Fight 3 for not having any of the censorship issues of the first two.

Simpsons-Simpsons Arcade
Best Simpsons games to this day, and much more fun than the overrated Simpsons Hit and Run

Megaman X-MMX 4
The last one in the franchise to make significant improvements to the formula and more inspired than all subsequent entries

[durkada]

I _really_ like this thread. I hope someone can muster the strength to make it to the Racketboy frontpage. One of the frustrating things about hitting alot of these retro games is finding the best representative for a series.Woe unto he who starts with Bomberman 64. Megaman, for instance, I'm fairly clueless about -- but always wanted to dig into them.

[racketboy]

I _really_ like this thread. I hope someone can muster the strength to make it to the Racketboy frontpage. One of the frustrating things about hitting alot of these retro games is finding the best representative for a series.Woe unto he who starts with Bomberman 64. Megaman, for instance, I'm fairly clueless about -- but always wanted to dig into them.

I would like to develop it into an article once we get it going.
If you want to expand on WHY you think a particular installment is best, that will give me more to work with.