Question Wednesday #2: Therapy Games

[moon_hotel]

Sorry I missed last week, it completely slipped my mind! I'm setting myself reminders to keep up on QWednesdays though. 

This week's icebreaker is kind of a your-mileage-may-vary question, but here goes: do you have any "therapy games?" That is, are there any games/genres that you like to curl up with when you're feeling down, or help you burn off stress? And, as always, what are you playing right now?

Comments

[softchassis]

Hm, I have a tendency to play Doom when I'm stressed out or need to unwind. All of the pieces of that game just fit together really welly for me, even though it can get pretty hard later on. I've played so much Doom that I have dreams about new levels, and the swaying motion of the camera sticks in my mind pretty well, like that thing where people close their eyes and see Tetris blocks.

Though sometimes there are periods where I choose a hard game and try to master it by playing it every day. For example, there was a two week period where I played and beat Mr. Gimmick every day! Finding a hard thing and fidgeting with it until it works is really relaxing to me. Other hard games I've done this with are Spelunker, Battle Garegga, Xevious Arrangement, and Pac-Man (which I guess isn't hard unless you're trying to get a high score in it).

ETA: Oh and obviously Sqoon since I made a whole post about it!

[chocomarsh]

I do this too! I find difficult games relaxing because of the way I have to think patiently and rationally about them. Honestly, I even prefer less pleasant hard games when I'm feeling down; ones that are "too fair" like Battle Garegga just make me upset that I'm not giving them my best.

I've enjoyed Metal Storm, Castlevania I, Gradius III for SNES, Bucky O'Hare, and (in the past (oh god)) a handful of Super Mario World & Super Metroid ROM hacks.

[softchassis]

I remember spending a week or two grinding through that Super Mario Bros Frustration (Super Mario Bros. Forever I think is its real name) romhack once. I got nearly to the end of the first level!