"Junk food" gaming

I saw a review of X Men Arcade call it "junk food gaming at its purest". It's easy to see why: the game is ludicrously simplistic, if you die you come back to life on the spot with NO PENALTY (not even score), and have infinite lives, since it's literally an emulated arcade game with infinite credits. Which means anyone can beat the game without trying.

Of course, the fun comes from playing in a group, and thanks to the magic of online play with Drop-In-Drop-Out Multiplayer instead of the stupid Game Lobby system of other games (if you want to kill multiplayer, that's how you do it), you can easily get a good group going. I've played the game on a lot of weekends - just hop into a good-sized group, play until the game is beaten (there's an achievement for beating it under 25 minutes, which says it all), and I'm done for the day.

To me, "junk food gaming" refers to when a video game is ludicrously easy and/or mindless, but still fun anyway. Note that EASY must be a part of the equation. Kirby Super Star, which I played with my brother a few weeks ago, would be junk food gaming - at least the first half of the games in the collection. Call Of Duty would not.

What are your favorite "junk food" games? And what would you recommend? After playing X Men Arcade together, my brother said that he wanted to find more games like it, especially with online Drop-In-Drop-Out Multiplayer.

edited 1st Mar '11 7:40:43 AM by BonsaiForest

Which means anyone can beat the game without trying.

Most hardcore arcade fans would have a bone to pick with that (see: "1CC", "credit feeding" ect). Not that X-men Arcade is a particularly fair (or good) arcade game.

After playing X Men Arcade together, my brother said that he wanted to find more games like it, especially with online Drop In Drop Out Multiplayer.

Final Fight: Double Impact?

^^... You consider Kirby Super Star junk food gaming?

I can understand maybe the first 3 games in the collection, but the latter half? No way. Not even by a long shot.

And that's not even going into Ultra...

Well, yes and no. You're right about the second half. I guess I should have been more clear on that.

ANY arcade game would count, what with the emulators' infinite credits.

Believe me, I know about that one. I have a coworker who sometimes brings her kids in to work and asks me to entertain them, and I have a ton of emulators and games on a flash drive, so I just put on the arcade emulator and so far, we've played Dungeons And Dragons Shadow Over Mystara (which, due to its optional depth in terms of collecting money to buy better weapons, searching for secret areas, and using spells to assist teammates, is pretty substantial and more than just "junk food"), and several other beat-em-ups, and some of the Metal Slug games. And Boogie Wings/The Great Ragtime Show. They're junk food alright. At least some of the games have depth.

edited 1st Mar '11 8:49:00 AM by BonsaiForest

The only thing that really resembles "junk food" in gaming is social gaming. The games on Facebook and whatnot.

edited 1st Mar '11 9:00:52 AM by Shichibukai

The Super Smash Bros. series is probably the easiest fighting game series there is, and unless you WANT to get hardcore with editing the settings and stuff, then it's pretty much drop-in, drop-out...

edited 1st Mar '11 9:00:12 AM by chocoboxxx

Shadows over Mystara was essentially what Diablo II would've been if it was a side-scrolling arcade beat-em-up. And that's AWESOME.

But this still depends heavily on how you define "junk food" or how far are you willing to go with the food metaphors. Minesweeper? Dragon Age? Contra 4?

Easy, and with Death Is a Slap on the Wrist tendencies. Not complicated.

Social gaming indeed. I hate those kinds of games. But how much depth do they have? I had a certain definition in mind when I used the term.

Contras and Metal Slugs comes to my mind.

Duke Nukem 3D is probably the most triumphant example of this(sort of).

edited 1st Mar '11 1:37:45 PM by ThatOtherGriffin

Wouldn't most puzzle games count?

And a lot of games on XBOX Arcade.

Duke Nuken 3 D is nowhere near the king of it. It's more complicated than a good number of these examples, and it doesn't totally lend itself to pick-up-and-play.

• cough* Is the presence of a decent save system considered "Death is a Slap on the Wrist"?

All gaming is junk food, unless you're playing an education game that actually teaches you something, or you're playing a game that helps you get in shape.

Given that it actually has a fair amount of depth and exploration to it, I don't think I'd call Super Star "Junk food." Especially given the bosses, which are—well, they're bosses in a Kirby game; what else would they be?

Also, I don't think "easy" is necessarily a part of my "junk food gaming" criteria. I'd definitely consider Eternal Eyes one of my "junk food" games, as I would Ty The Tasmanian Tiger, but neither is particularly easy—EE has grind and some fairly complicated tactics stuff, and Ty has a lot of stuff to find (missions, collectables, the works) and some fairly tricky platforming bits. Though I will say that the platforming in that game is sometimes tricky for the wrong reasons.

I think it's sort of an amorphous term and means different things to different people.

@Indirect Active Transport

Woo, that's a long name. Anyway, games all teach you in one way or another if there's a choice involved. For example, take Black Ops, the fast reaction shooter that "man childs" play. The fact that you've got to pick your gun (and attachments, and equipment, and etc), tackle different kinds of objectives online, and work with others quickly forces you to adapt, see what your opponents are doing, and counter with an effective strategy. All under a hard time limit. It's not say "What's 2 + 2", but it teaches you how to handle timed, stressful problems, and it's fun.

And that's not getting into the "brainy" games like strategy, RPG, and so on.

As for junk food games according to this definition, I found Super Mario Bros. Wii to be hilarious with others. Granted, it's not easy, but it's not exactly difficult when you don't get booted to the map when someone dies. It's just a matter of "Wait guys, I think we need to work together to get past this part." "Le gasp! Let's work together in the most painful and hilarious of way!".

Games with optional depth such as most but not all games in Kirby Super Star (there's definite, undeniable depth in Great Cave Offensive, and Milky Way Wishes, so the game's "turn off your brain" factor varies depending on what you're playing in it) and New Super Mario Bros Wii, might partially count as "junk food". Mario on the Wii definitely would if you're talking multiplayer, and have plenty of lives.

Once depth becomes required, it's changed the tone considerably.

My favourite junk food game this gen has to be Splatterhouse. It's got gore, black comedy, an evil Jim Cummings, and a hardcore metal soundtrack. Makes me sad nobody else bought it because it was silly and fun instead of being brown, overly serious, and either part of a brand name or by EA/Activision.

River City Ransom. This thing with a friend is glorious. Absolutely glorious. INTO THE PIT YOU GO MWUAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!! TAKE MY FOOT TO YOUR FACE MWUHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!

I wouldn't call "junk food" games easy, just simplistic and shallow.

@Bickle - Blame the reviews savaging its gameplay.

I like most arcade games... pure junk food at its finest.

I'd call them games that are simplistic and shallow or ones with hidden depth that you ignore said depth in favor of the simplistic shallow joy of just rushing through it and being a tard.

edited 1st Mar '11 4:52:45 PM by Aondeug

In other words, the games that you can clear far more effectively with strategic use of skills and abilities but you can play anyway using button mashing.