Recommend casual games for a new PS3 owner

December 6, 2008 10:24 PM

My friend's husband just bought a PS3. She wants a game like Super Mario Bros.

She's in her 40s and loved the original Super Mario Bros. I had to explain to her that Mario is a Nintendo franchise. Unfortunately, their PS3 is not a backwards compatible model, so that rules out the PS2 library, and I see a very limited number of 2D platformers on the PS3. She is a casual gamer. She has Buzz! for the PS3 but gets bored with it quickly, and they have some sort of poker game. She doesn't seem to enjoy her husband's games, like Ratchet & Clank. She has played my Nintendo DS and liked Clubhouse Games, with the bowling and darts. Can you suggest any Mario-like games for the PS3, or any other titles a casual gamer might like? Easy (non-frustrating) controls would be a great bonus. (Her daughter is getting Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas, so she'll be able to try that out. She does not like to sing, so would not like the SingStar titles.) Downloadable titles through the Playstation Store would also be acceptable. Also, as I understand it, all PS3s play PS1 games?

posted by IndigoRain to sports, hobbies, & recreation (20 comments total)

Your friend wants Little Big Planet, a classic platformer with even more cute than usual.
posted by b1tr0t at 10:29 PM on December 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

It begins and ends with Little Big Planet.
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:30 PM on December 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

PS3s can play PS1 games, so she might like the first two Oddworld games, if she can find them. Also Bionic Commando (available via the playstation network store) is a faithful remake of the classic NES game. It is a platformer, but you swing with your bionic arm rather than jump.
posted by b1tr0t at 10:31 PM on December 6, 2008

I'd recommend pixel junk monsters from the playstation network download store thing.
posted by TimeDoctor at 10:39 PM on December 6, 2008

Does LittleBigPlanet have enough levels that she will enjoy it even if she doesn't want to build her own levels?
posted by IndigoRain at 10:59 PM on December 6, 2008

Yes, there are a ridiculous number of levels available for download once the set that comes with the game are complete
posted by TimeDoctor at 11:02 PM on December 6, 2008

According to the wikipedia article I linked, there are over 84,000 user created levels.
posted by b1tr0t at 11:08 PM on December 6, 2008

If you can recommend more PS1 games, that would be great too. I have Gex: Enter the Gecko, and while it's not highly rated, I think she might enjoy it. The only other PS1 games I have are the Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger games, and I don't think she wants to get into 60-100 hour games, and they might be too complex. (We've discussed them.)
posted by IndigoRain at 11:18 PM on December 6, 2008

PS1:

Crash Bandicoot
Rayman
Spyro the Dragon
Parappa the Rapper
Namco Museum Collections
Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune
Tetris Plus
Bust-A-Move
Puzzle Fighter
posted by AloneOssifer at 11:45 PM on December 6, 2008

also, the best 2d platformer ever, though it is probably too hardcore for your friend, symphony of the night (ps1) It is available for download from the psn store, as well as on disc.
posted by TimeDoctor at 11:48 PM on December 6, 2008

Another good PS1 platformer is Tomba. It might also be hard to find. She might also like Jumping Flash 2 and maybe Ape Escape? Though those are 3D.

I think there was at least one You Don't Know Jack game for the PS1.

There's also a new Mega Man game for download. It's intentionally made in the old school style, but is also intentionally really hard--I mean like Ghosts and Goblins hard. If she never played Mega Man games it's probably not worth it. There's a demo.

Also people apparently go on and on about Pixel Junk Monsters on the PSN store. It's a tower defense type game that I can never get into. There's also a demo so she could try that one too.

Also keep in mind that approximately I don't know 83000 of the over 84000 Little Big Planet levels are mostly crap. Still it's loads of fun and worth getting. The multiplayer aspect is way more fun that I thought it would be--even playing with random people online.
posted by sevenless at 12:54 AM on December 7, 2008

In general, the online Playstation store is your friend when it comes to old-school games, classic games, casual games, or anything that does not involve first-person 3D rendered shooting.

Nthing Little Big Planet, too.
posted by rokusan at 1:31 AM on December 7, 2008

Nthing LBP of course, first off.

My other recommendations would be:
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
PixelJunk Eden
Echochrome
Mega Man 9
SnakeBall
flOw

A little Google/Youtube searching can get you/her some more info on these, and I believe there are demos available for some.
posted by nmaster64 at 3:33 AM on December 7, 2008

Nthing LBP. Also:

Singstar (tends to go over very well with casuals)
Pixeljunk Monsters and Eden
Age of Booty
Echochrome
Bionic Commando (the PSN remake, not the "reinvention" coming next month)

Skip the PSN version of Jeopardy.
posted by Remy at 6:25 AM on December 7, 2008

A few users in Little Big Planet have actually recreated some of the original Mario levels. Which is nothing short of AWESOME.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:43 AM on December 7, 2008

LBP is a lot of fun. The soundtrack is awesome as well.
posted by jasondigitized at 1:36 PM on December 7, 2008

grapefruitmoon: "A few users in Little Big Planet have actually recreated some of the original Mario levels. Which is nothing short of AWESOME."

I thought Sony "moderated" those and deleted them?
posted by IndigoRain at 8:05 PM on December 7, 2008

Indigo Rain: I've played several "mario remakes" in the past week, so the rate of deletion is obviously pretty slow compared to the rate of creation. There are also a ton of Sonic the Hedgehog remakes.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:24 AM on December 8, 2008

Thank you everyone, you all get best answers. :)
posted by IndigoRain at 12:03 AM on December 11, 2008

My friend recommended "Portal" in "The Orange Box". I **loved** it. I'm a casual gamer and generally get tired of long games. It's not long in the story line sense. So if you like puzzles, good writing and first person games, this one's for you.

Simply awesome. And Cheap!!!
posted by Davidissimo at 12:37 PM on December 11, 2008