Maybe it’s through natural talent, maybe through hours of obsessively replaying something. Maybe it’s speedrunning Metroid games, maybe hustling people in Street Fighter. Whatever it may be, what game are you best at, and how did you get that way?
Personally, I tend to find myself playing games as far as my natural skill will take me, and then soon after, moving on to the next game. It’s a habit that’s been exaggerated by the piles of games I go through now that I’m at Kotaku. Which makes me all the more fascinated by people who specialise in one game to the point that they can just destroy it.
Mirror’s Edge, however, was one of those games I couldn’t get enough of. To this day, I’ve probably never re-played an entire game so many times. Each time upping the difficulty, and adding new restrictions, until I could play through on the hardest difficulty without so much as throwing an unnecessary punch.
So what game are you great at? How did you get that way? Here’s the format:
[Game Name]
Why it qualifies: Do you have the highest score of your friends? Some rare achievement? Or can you just play forever on one credit?
How you got started: What sucked you into this game? Were you already good at it and wanted to get better? Did you have nothing else to play for a while? Were you trying to top your friends list?
Tips for the rest of us: If you’ve got any tips, how can the rest of us get better at your favorite game?
Comments
71 responses to “Tell Us The Game You’re Unbeatable At”
Crash team racing. To this day I wipe the floor with everyone.
Okay, my honour, as well as the honour of @tech_knight has been compromised, you’re on.
Cod4 and Tekken. *flex muscles*
What, bring it, what.
Jagged Alliance 2 (the demo).
I can beat it on the hardest difficulty using only one merc, often without taking any damage.
I never made any deliberate effort to get good at it, it’s just a fun game and a great demo that kept me coming back because it was enjoyable.
If you want to get better at something, do it a lot.
None of my friends could ever beat me in C&C Generals Zero Hour. GLA demolition for the win. The resource allocation and how you made money in that game was the key to me sticking with it. There comes a point in the game where you’re making money within your base and no need to fight over resources…. so if you wanted to, you could just defend and accrue wealth/destroy your enemies.
Tips: Only ever play as your favourite general and master that one particular general. You’ll get so good that your mates won’t be able to match you… even if they pick the general that counters you.
I’m forever waiting for a follow up to zero hour.
+1
i was never much a multiplayer with zero hour, but the couple times that i did – definitely gla for the win. pffft power stations – who needs em, just send out a motor bike raiding party straight up and piss em off while theyre trying to build. ha ha ha.
and yes, needs a follow up badly.
Superweapons general would like a word 😉
As long as you get snipers to hold off against infantry, nothing gets through.
Melee on GC
Local only MP im the best out of my peers 🙂
I only play high tier characters like fox/peach.
I had only one friend that could best me at that game.
He said it was because he had less games than me so could spend more time on each one.
He was a pretty nice guy!
Used to be freakishly awesome at Super Mario Kart on the SNES when I was very young. I tried again recently, I sucked.
Same, I used to hammer Super Mario Kart as a kid. Doing time trials on the 1st Mario track and Rainbow Road for hours trying to shave off 0.01 of the best time. Everyone bangs on about Mario Kart 64 but I still reckon the original is the best.
I routinely used to beat Time Crisis 2 on a single credit back in my uni days.
64 version was good but I feel the SNES version had no room for error and was not forgiving like MK 64. I preferred that over the 64 version any day!
Tekken Tag
Why it qualifies: I’m THAT King player. You know the one. The one that knows all the complicated chain throws? Yeah.
I’m also that Hworang player. You know the one. The one that knows all his kick combo’s.
I’m that player – you know the one. The one that you have admiration for that quickly becomes annoyance until you threaten to go home unless we play Mario Kart.
I can’t play Mario Kart.
…screw Mario Kart.
*Armour King has entered the battle*
*cracks knuckles*
Karate Champ. There were machines at a couple of restaurants where my family took their annual holidays when I was a kid. Had the highest score on one and the second highest on the other, scores that stood for a year (in a major tourist resort). Although I enjoy gaming I’ve never reached those dizzy heights again…
I don’t think of myself as particularly unbeatable at anything. Although when multiplayer does come up, I always seem to do quite well among my friends.
Actually what I seem to be best at is having long innings. I might not win all up, but I’ll be hanging around for quite a while.
Super Mario 64. I have finished the game no less that 100 times (still playing weekly) and have completed all 120 stars in a single session 5 times – Usually as a bet. A high paying one.
Goldeneye 007.
4 or 5 or us would often head to one of our homes after school for multiplayer. I usually won. Always sucked at the Caves and the level where you could go through those little air vents (not Facility).
Rockets on Stack – always unbeatable.
Pokemon Snap
The Aus Nintendo Magazine (NMS) had a high score bit in the back where you could send in scores. My high score on Pokemon Snap was higher, but I never bothered to take a photo and send it in.
Yes! i use to be a pain in the ass when it was rockets and proxys in 007.
I am the best in the world at Supreme Commander 2 360 version because I was the only person who didn’t cheat, and yet I still managed to beat people who did cheat.
“Player of many, master of none”
that’s me \o/
Ha yeah that sounds like me too, we might be just denying overall mediocrity though…
Yep. Exactly the same here. Completed many games but never “mastered” any
i tend to do… OK… but there’s always, ALWAYS someone that’s better then me 😛
but that just goes in line with my mantra of having “fun”…
i’d rather do something absolutely ridiculus that ruins me but causes heaps of laughs, then get all invested and competitive… i don’t like the person i become when i’m competitive so i’d rather just aim at messing around 😛
Show my age now:
The following games I was able to complete on a regular basis on one credit (20-40 cents) back in the old arcade days.
Black Tiger
Willow
Bubble Bobble
and the great Double Dragan
Trialsss!
@FatShadylive > me > everyone else :3
🙁
I’m still better than Serrels though! 😀
golden eye, license to kill mode , facility.
Quake 3 Arena. Haven’t played in about 8 years though. Never beaten by my mates on a LAN.
Bust-A-Groove on the PS1
Nobody could beat me at that game
NOBODY!
I’m pretty skilled at Marvel vs Capcom 3.
Not like, pro league or anything, but I will not lose any two player matches to my friends, and they always quit after the first round, cause it’s not uncommon for me to get a “PERFECT” against them. Amaterasu, Dante and Akuma are scary awesome.
Other than that I used to be scary good at Resistance 1, 2 and 3 multiplayer. I once got just under 100 kills in less than 15 minutes in one of the huge custom matches on Resistance 2 :3
Shipment MP level in COD4 modern warfare, with a shoty I would hear grown men cry like little babies through the head-set,
I’ve gotten to that wonderful time in life where I get my ass handed to me regularly by my own offspring in basically every game. So depressing.
Maybe if I ground them from games for a few months and practice real hard I can reclaim bragging rights in my own house.
I used to be the absolute king of UT03 among my mates
Bouncing disk thrower headshots :o)
Any arena shooter.
And dawn of war. Unbeatable.
I am terrible at everything.
I used to be quite good with Battle mode on mario kart 64, i was ok at racing, but one of my friends who owned the game used to beat me on the tracks. i thought i did awesomely for not actually owning the game.
also – xmen vs streetfighter on PS1.
right back in the day when i was a kid playing mario kart on snes, i got to the point where i could evade red shells in the open too, and i used to think that was impressive.
(i alos used to yell at the tv regularly while watching ‘amazing!’ coz the kids couldnt play mario kart for peanuts)
and Mario party 6 and 7 on gamecube. people didnt want to play with me coz i used to win most of the mini games. but these were average non gamers, id probably get smashed by serious mario partiers.
(i alos used to yell at the tv regularly while watching ‘amazing!’ coz the kids couldnt play mario kart for peanuts)
haha I’d do the same
Operation Flashpoint (Ooh yeah, OFP page get!)
Give me a LAW or RPG7 and I’d have 80% chance of landing a round on a moving BMP at a range of a kilometre
In any other arena I’d say Trials Evolution as well but we’ve got some actual good players here…
There’s no game I could say I’m unbeatable at, but there are a few that I know none of my friends could beat me or where I’ll win the majority of the time. Tends to be turn based games like Civilization; slow real time strategies like Anno 2070; or games where I can pedantically see my mistake and repeat, like Trackmania.
Rygar and Bombjack. A Rygar score up towards 10 million and Bombjack level around 150.
Outrun 2 SP (Special Tours) the sit down arcade cabinet. I am an unstoppable freak at that machine. so addicted to heart attack mode.
NBA Street 1 I was king at that game to the point where i would give my mates a 19-0 lead (first to 21 had to win by 2) and would still win the game. Only ever lost twice once was in the 19-0 situation and another was when a mate begged me to let him win.
Rochambeau when I get to kick first.
I am still great at Carrier Airwing – able to beat the game on a single credit, or in worst case make it to the final boss in his final stage.
Duke Nukem 3d. I used to own when we’d set up LANs – it carried over well to playing quake when I hit uni. Around this time I put down the FPS for about 10 years and so I got all kinds of rusty.
Tony Hawk 1/2/3…. basically just the earlier ones. We’d sit there for HOURS and play… stoner kids would come and go and I managed to floor all competition !
Ikaruga
S++ ranks on the first 2 stages and managed a single continue clear once.
spent longer on each level of that game than on most full titles
got into the top 100 on the gamecube leader boards before they closed
Money Idol Exchanger, I was unstoppable (amongst my friends at least). High point of my gaming career :-p
Diddy Kong Racing on The 64 I unlocked everything played it for years no one could stop me. back in the days where I only got $5 a week pocket money games took a long time to come by.
Darius Twin on the Snes I could get through the entire game without losing a single life. until the last level where I would lose them all. I never finished that game.
Solitaire. Come at me.
fifa ’09
greatest among all friends
Theyy even called me coach :'(
tried newer ones online and realised how bad my friends must have been, because i got whipped…
Darkstalkers
Soul Calibur
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Sonic Adventure 2
At least against my friends.
Was also in the top 10 for every leaderboard on Shenmue for a while. So that was pretty cool. =D
DARKSTALKERS!
ahhh, warm feeling right in the childhood.
It’s actually one of my skills listed on my C.V., ‘Unbeatable at Mario Kart 64’
Snow Bros. arcade.
My high scores laugh at your feeble attempts at glory.
UFC 2009 Undisputed. i am undefeated.
I stupidly clocked up 782 hours on Modern Warfare 2. My favourite match type was FFA (much lighter on campers). I had a rush style of play and mostly either won the matches I played or came in second (often without using the bigger kill streak rewards, which I didn’t particularly believe in or like as a mechanic) … I didn’t do too badly at the other modes as well (beside FFA). Call of Duty went downhill after Modern Warfare 2, though 🙁 It’s a shame because I enjoy the faster pace and smaller maps over the Battlefield games (wasn’t interested in Battlefield 4 at all).
I had the highest score in Australia in collision effect on ios last time I checked
And I had the highest score on Tetris friends survival mode for about two weeks, still ranked third in the world iirc.
I’m not too bad at Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f, I got an excellent ranking on an extreme level song the other day.
Also rating mentions are Remember Me (rhythm-based combat FTW) and Skylanders SWAP Force (beating the speed run times by a fair whack on some levels).
Connect 4. Amongst my friends, but I haven’t really played against others other than them.
Guitar Hero 3 : Legends of Rock (plus other titles)
Why it qualifies: People in my circle of friends don’t bother anymore, they have tried matching “their other friends who are pretty good at the game” against me but I still wipe the floor with them while playing expert with only 3 fingers. I could also play La Grange without being in the same room as the TV.
How you got started: One of my friends told me I would be bad at it and I thought it was stupid till I picked up the plastic guitar
Tips for the rest of us: play on the difficulty one higher than what you are good at until you are good at it, then bump up the difficulty.
A close second would be final fantasy 8 but it doesn’t really lend itself well to competitive play
Soul Calibur 2 as Mitsurugi was always a bit of fun as well.
Nothing at the moment.
Used to be pretty good at cod4. Played it heaps and loved it, that is untill people started whinging about claymores, noob tubes and so on. I didn’t mind them. I liked the extra challange except for noob tubes at times were just too much. The clay traps were really cool at times. The game doesn’t even exist anymore there’s all these better versions of it with mods and banned rubbish like flash bangs.
Now I seem to like very atmospheric games. If it doesn’t have a deep/good atmosphere, I’m not gonna play it. Really gotta stop with that and pick up something, but there’s barely anything I enjoy playing anymore. I don’t know why.
Dota 2. If it wasn’t for me continually getting 4 bad players on my team, I’d have a 100% win rate :p
Jokes aside, I’d probably say Wii Tennis. Does that even count?
Many moons ago I was a demon at Quake 3. I remember on q3dm17 i used to be able to hit a flying player while I was also airborne and we were heading in different directions from across the map with the railgun no worries.
Buzz.
Never been beaten in ANY of it’s incarnations [PS2 and PS3].
not once…
No one will play with me any more 🙁
Point Blank 1 & 2 on arcade, used to dominate that shit @ Unimelb Arcade…
Recently played it again @ Box Hill arcades, still managed to clear it after 10 year hiatus
In my group of friends, i used to wreck in Halo 1, pistol headshots all day boy.
Jedi Knight 2 ~ OutCast
I could take on 20 or so of you guys, and still get somewhere around 300 kills to 20 deaths.
Sony All-Stars Battle Royal
God I love you Sly Cooper
oh and Mario Kart Wii… 3 stars on the Rainbow Road tournament proves it.
WWE 2K14 I’m Unstoppable With Undertaker (Retro) Everybody Knows That Undertaker (Retro) Is A 94 Overall Rating
Midnight club 3 dub edition remix
VIB RIBBON.
no CD has defeated me. like, ever.
I used to work in a music store too so I’ve played through rather a few cd’s.