Good Introductions to Game Genres

I've recently gotten my sister-in-law a 2DS, a copy of Animal Crossing (of course I'm giving a copy of the game to her husband too), and a $50 eShop card for her birthday. I would like to give her a list of recommended titles for her to spend that $50 eShop card on.

I would like to have this list include some titles that'll let her get tastes of different genres. She has played some games in the NES days, and seems to enjoy platformers somewhat judging from her response of "I just like Mario games" when asked what kinds of games she enjoys.

If she can get a good idea of what a genre is like from a free demo or even a freemium game, then that would be great. If she can get the same from a game I already have for one of the various Nintendo consoles I already own (Got an NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii U, as well as things that let me play gameboy and gameboy advance games on the SNES and Gamecube), that would also be nice.

Remember, I am not looking for the best games for each genre. I'm looking for games that are good for that first step into the genre. Will you guys help me introduce a girl to the many flavors that gaming has to offer?

For the Zelda series, A Link Between Worlds is probably a good starting point. Maybe for the adventure genre too. The game probably takes twenty minutes at most to get the ball rolling, and as flexible as exploration is there's still a clear path to follow if you don't want to venture into the unknown too much.

Any Pokémon game works for RPGs, I'd think. Complex metagame aside, the core formula is simple as can be and when playing other RPGs down the road a lot of Pokémon's mechanics will carry over.

You can't go wrong with Mario Kart...

Old games tend to be good introductions to ongoing genres in genre, since older games tend to be simpler mechanics wise ([[even those that are extremely difficult). New games in certain genres tend to be made for people who are already familiar with the genres first and foremost, and companies do sometimes make games nowadays that are built towards bringing in new fans, but since older games also tend to be cheaper it might be better to look in that direction - especially in genres were pretty much all the games are based off of an older model.

For example, for someone getting into the TRPG genre I'd suggest something like the old Shining Force games before moving on to the modern Fire Emblem games.

Though that's not across the board, of course. I'd suggest SFIV or KOFXIII for getting into fighting games in general. Or Civilization IV for Civ-style turn based 4Xes. And some genres you only really have the most complicated game for getting into it.

If prefer it cheaper than the New Super Mario games, Shovel Knight or Kirby's Adventure 3D is a good re-introduction to platformers.

For beat-em-ups, Streets of Rage 2 3D.

For first person shooters, there's either Moon Chronicles or Steel Diver Sub Wars.

For spectacle action games (like devil may cry), can't go wrong with Kid Icarus Uprising.

For roguelikes, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon then Etrian Mystery Dungeon.

Bravely Default is the best among traditional JRPGs on the 3DS family of games.

Note that the system in question is 2DS, though fortunately SF4 is on it.

edited 5th Oct '15 9:02:13 PM by Malco

Mario Kart 7 would be an alright racing game to start with, but if you can get it cheap then Ridge Racer 3D is a lot of fun too.

Etrian Odyssey isn't a rogue-like though, it's purely a dungeon crawler.

Whoops. I meant EMD. Fix'd. Thanks!

edited 5th Oct '15 9:02:26 PM by Malco