What are your favourite mini-games?

[LancashireLad87]

Over the last 30 years of gaming I have had my fair share of mini-games, some are enjoyable, some are tedious whilst a select few have been so good I wish they were made as a standalone game! I couldn't find a thread relating to this topic so I decided to create one. It's impossible for me to remember every mini-game I've enjoyed, I will get the ball rolling with the ones I can recall. Goes without saying respect each others opinions and mine are in no particular order.

 

1 - Monkey Football (Ape Escape 2)

2 - Mercenaries (Resident Evil 4/5)

3 - Blitzball (Final Fantasy X)

 

What are some of your favourite mini-games?

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by LancashireLad87

[Copanele]

I am usually not a fan of minigames, but there's 3 exceptions that make me go wheee every time I encounter them:

1. Poker - any game. Getting a flush on the River makes me go READ THEM AND WEEP!! Even if it's the AI who reads them  .
2. Mahjong in Yakuza - I simply LOVE this minigame, I do not know why. Even better when Kiryu/Majima acts all smug when I nail a Ron/Tsumo.
3. Karaoke/Dancing minigame in Yakuza - I suck at Karaoke and rhythm games. I love Karaoke. Karaoke is great!

[Squirlruler]

Triple Triad - FF8

Gwent - TW3

[FreshFromThaDeli]

Resident Evil 7 - Imagine 21 but with a twist, a terribly gruesome Resident Evil style twist where you lose a finger every time you lose a round. Lose all 5 fingers and you are dead lose the game. The suspenseful music in the background and knowing that

Spoiler

Lucas

is the one orchestrating this card game makes you feel uneasy even when you are winning.

 

Survival 21+ had you beat 10 opponents in a row without losing 5 fingers! One of the hardest trophies in the game, let alone the DLC.

[ChxpointCharlie]

ConSumo (Bully)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxysoxnPfYE

 

Completely agree with the point about some of them being good enough to be released as standalone games! This one stands out for me. The combination of addictive gameplay, impossible-to-forget soundtrack, plus the notion of controlling a sumo as he eats and grows bigger make it an absolute favourite!

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by ChxpointCharlie

[Lord_Selrahc]

Danganronpa V3's Ultimate Talent Development Plan/Monokuma's Test. They actually made that minigame and expanded it into an entire game on its own, Danganronpa S, which as far as i'm aware is switch exclusive. But man, here I was thinking it was going to just be another version of DR1/2's school/island mode, but nope, this one is insanely in depth and has a whole rpg battle system to it, it's crazy. It's the only reason why V3 is my favorite, because story-wise i think 2 was way better. But damn, that minigame is Yakuza level of fun and depth.

[Glorious Fury]

These are a few of the mini-games that I enjoyed in the past. Probably plently more but these stick out for me.  

 

In no order:

 

Dragonball Xenoverse 2 - Hero Colosseum

Fist Of the North Star: Lost Paradise - Dr. Ken's Clinic

Yakuza series - Dragon Kart, Pocket Circuit, Poker, Karaoke, Disco

Tekken series - Tekken Force

Edited August 2, 2021 by GloriousFury9414

[pogo_loco]

Clank's Time Puzzles from Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time where you program Clank clones to move simultaneously onto different trigger points. 

 

Such a reusable concept for a standalone title, I'd be grateful for any pointers to similar game mechanics elsewhere.

[Redgrave]

Gwent in The Witcher 3. I didn't like it at first but after getting more cards and building a decent deck I found it really fun. If they made it a card game in real life I would have definitely bought cards for it.

 

Triple Triad in FF8. Or at least I like it when it doesn't have those ridiculously convoluted rules in place that are also annoying to get rid of.

 

Pazaak or basically Space Blackjack in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I and II. I accidentally wound up getting into it because I would play it to pass time while my Force power bar recharged so I could heal everybody.

 

I remembered liking Five Finger Fillet in Red Dead Redemption and I'm one of those people that actually did like playing bowling with Roman and whoever else in GTA IV ?

 

As far as mini-games in the Yakuza series go I think I can say I consistently liked Cee-Lo the most since it's not really difficult to understand or play compared to the others and I never felt like the AI did funky RNG stuff where it would just decide I lose 9 out of 10 times. I also laugh every time I hear the sound it makes whenever someone gets a bad roll ?

[Lava_Yuki]

I hate most mini games so there are very few I like, but the ones I did were...

 

Sphere Break in FFX-2, especially when I dug up a bunch of rare butt kicking coins and beat everyone in Luca. 

Triple Triad in FF8- Just with normal rules. I didn't like it when the rules got all mixed with random and what not. 

Poker in Tales of Vesperia and Xillia 2- Played these a lot to farm money in these games for the trophies and paying the debt. They were pretty fun. 

In the Pokemon games, I liked the berry blender in Sapphire and the making Poffins in Diamond. 

 

[RadiantFlamberge]

Swimming in Trails of Cold Steel 1 & 2 - Mashing the buttons doesn't get it. Instead, you tap the buttons rhythmically to keep your speed up.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Fishing. HIt the button shown by the prompt, or spin the joystick to keep the fish from getting away.

Street Fighter II & Super SF II- The falling barrel bonus stage.

[Monochrome]

1. Triple Triad - Final Fantasy 8
2. Fishing - Stardew Valley - Honestly fishing in any game. I know people tend to find them tedious or annoying, but I love them.
3. Super Dunk - Final Fantasy 7 -  I remember spending hours at the golden saucer playing this when I was a kid.)
4. Lockpicking / Hacking - Fallout -  I dunno what it is, but I find them relaxing. Especially the hacking, I always go for it.
5. Pool Hopping / Volleyball - Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 - I just think they're fun and the series in general is fun. I wish I could play the third. Went ahead and bought Scarlet since I was reminded of it.

 

Edited August 9, 2021 by monochrome

[MidnightDragon]

The fishing minigame in Ocarina of Time is my all time favorite minigame.

[Jelly Soup]

Triple Triade. Full stop.

...will accept Terra Master if that's all that's available.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Jelly Soup

[mecharobot]

I think FF XV's fishing was rather involved, but it's pointless to actually try to catch all fish. I think they tend to be a bit better outside JRPGs, though and I certainly won't complain a game from missing them. Many of my favorites work just fine without (Valkyria Chronicles games, Valkyrie Profile 1&2, classic FF games, Vagrant Story and most SRPGs in general). I did somewhat enjoy doing the Koi-koi trophy in Sakura Wars this year. It was more relaxing than I thought, with cute and funny reactions from the characters, although this has no real gameplay reward. Maybe I could go back to doing the FHA Koi-koi quest with my newfound Hanafuda powers...

[LancashireLad87]

2 minutes ago, mecharobot said:

I think FF XV's fishing was rather involved, but it's pointless to actually try to catch all fish. I think they tend to be a bit better outside JRPGs, though and I certainly won't complain a game from missing them. Many of my favorites work just fine without (Valkyria Chronicles games, Valkyrie Profile 1&2, classic FF games, Vagrant Story and most SRPGs in general). I did somewhat enjoy doing the Koi-koi trophy in Sakura Wars this year. It was more relaxing than I thought, with cute and funny reactions from the characters, although this has no real gameplay reward. Maybe I could go back to doing the FHA Koi-koi quest with my newfound Hanafuda powers...

 

Vagrant Story is a blast from the past. I played it many years ago, fantastic RPG shame they never remastered/remade it for the current generation of consoles because it deserved it.

[DrBloodmoney]

I always liked the Bioshock hacking mini-game - the connecting the pipes thing 

 

Also, Nier Automata had some fun hacking minigame stuff too 

 

 

Twin Mirror - a pretty recent, rather middling Dotnod game - allowed you to play original Pac-Man in it - and original Pac-Man is way better than any of the rest of that game… so that might count too ?