Short games that can be beat on the FIRST run-through

[isiolia]

There's gonna be a bunch of 8 and 16 bit era games listed.

In that regard, probably most arcade collections and such that allow for credit feeding, versus home conversions that limit continues or something.

[AppleQueso]

TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan (Gameboy)
Kirby's Adventure (Gameboy)
Aladdin (snes)
Starfox, easy path (snes)
Vectorman (Genesis)
Golden Axe (Genesis)

Ahem, that's Kirby's Dream Land.

[Luke]

Technically Contra can also be beaten in a hour, even without the konami code, just stick with the spread gun and you're ready.

In a half hour actually.

[Luke]

Ahem, that's Kirby's Dream Land.

*checks library* So it is.

I'd recommend looking at the 2013 Games Beaten thread. My list is chock full of games that don't take hours to finish. Not all of them are easy enough to beat on the first run, but are still fairly quick games.

[AppleQueso]

Ahem, that's Kirby's Dream Land.

*checks library* So it is.

Kirby's Adventure (NES) might actually qualify here though.

It's fairly big, but it's Kirby, so it's not like it's really difficult or anything, and you could probably get through it in a single big 3-4 hour play-through without too much trouble.

[pierrot]

No troll:

Castlevania (NES)
Mega Man 1-3 (NES/Mega Drive)
Little Nemo (NES)
Ristar (GEN) —maybe


Also: 8/16-bit Disney games. ie Quackshot, Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion, Little Mermaid, Aladdin, etc.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Gorf

[dogman91]

Oooo Gorf. Love the suggestions so far. Definitely opened my mind to stuff I haven't considered (edutainment games, Xardion, the indie games, SML, all that). Does anyone have anything in mind that is exclusive to handhelds (besides the GB/GBC) like the Nintendo DS or PSP? Dark Void Zero seems like a contender.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Dark Void Zero is challenging enough that you won't beat it on your first try. Cool game though.

Pretty much any arcade-style game will be short enough to beat in one sitting if you play well. I don't know too many super-easy arcade games though, those wouldn't make any money The only other super-easy games I played were RPGs or adventures.

Space Invaders Extreme 2 is quick and not that hard. Bust A Move Universe on 3DS is easy, short, but pretty good. It'll take longer to get high scores of course.

Shinobi 3DS is really easy if you play on Easy or Normal - you get unlimited continues. I'm playing on Hard though, haven't even bothered with those modes. It's a short game if you don't die, but my sleep schedule doesn't agree with me and I'm making progress way too slowly

On PSP, the Mega Man remakes are way too easy. You'd probably enjoy music games with no real story too - Parappa is short, but bigger games like DJMAX, Rock Band, and Project Diva are great for short bursts.

If you like visual novels - which I usually count as books rather than games - Narcissu 1 is free and very good. The sequel is longer, but also worth your time.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Shinobi 3DS is really easy if you play on Easy or Normal - you get unlimited continues. I'm playing on Hard though, haven't even bothered with those modes. It's a short game if you don't die, but my sleep schedule doesn't agree with me and I'm making progress way too slowly

Shinobi (3DS) on normal is about as easy as Ninja Gaiden (NES). You get unlimited continues in that game too...(BTW, Shinobi (3DS) is an awesome game. It is a must-have for any red-blooded, 3DS-owning member of this forum.)

Also - and while I appreciate this thread - I think it would be more interesting if we limited the discussion to games from the 32-bit era forward. (In my experiience, almost every non-RPG 8-bit and 16-bit game can be completed in a single sitting.)