Console-type game recommendations?

[wtg]

Anyone have good suggestions for PC games that have console-like play and only require a joystick?

I'd like my PVR to play double-duty as a game machine for the me and the kids, but so many games these days require keyboard & mouse and wouldn't play well from ten feet back on the couch.

I've already picked up a wireless joystick in anticipation of your suggestions.

[Ted the Penguin]

there are plenty of games out there, probably every arcade game ever, you can run them in mame, or ports of such games to consoles

go here to find emulators
http://www.emulator-zone.com/

and you can use google to find roms for them

[fuzzweed]

you can use the my programs plugin (check the wiki out - the latest release candidate from reven's site is stable under 98.13) to launch MAME roms from within GBPVR, which adds a nice slick touch to the whole process....

[wtg]

Thanks Ted and Fuzzweed. I'm aware of MAME and the like, but am somewhat reluctant since for the most part the rom's can't legally be distributed. Plus my kids find the old games much less exciting than I do since they don't have the fond memories of playing them when they came out.

I'm hoping people can suggest a few modern commercial or freeware/shareware games. It doesn't seem to me like there's much that can be played with just a joystick anymore, but I'm sure there's a lot I'm not aware of because I'm not 14 years old.

[reven]

when i was trying to just use my HTPC as my gaming rig, i found only a few that worked really well with only a gamepad, heres a few i remember

- Prince of Persia Sands of Time
- Prince of Persia Warrior Within
- TMNT ( a few of them, i cant remember which)
- Fantastic Four (this was perfect for HTPC, any resolution and full gamepad control)
- Need For Speed Underground (had to use a hack to display at custom resolution)
- Need for Speed Most Wanted
- Top Spin (i dont think you could exit the game with a gamepad though, everything else could be controlled via gamepad)

No EA Sports games worked via gamepad that i found, they all needed a mouse for the menus.

[wtg]

Thanks for that list Reven... that gives me a lot to go on. I smell a trip to Electronics Boutique comin' on.

[nitrogen_widget]

The x-men game works good on a TV & so does the lord of the rings: return of the king from experiance.

I would say that any x-box game that has a PC counterpart would work.

you can set-up madden to work the menus with a game pad however it's very clumsy.

I have a radeon card.
In the driver settings you can force games to run at the frequency of the display.
Madden does not like this feature so you have to set-up madden within itself.
It was just too big a pain for me.

[Ted the Penguin]

Thanks for that list Reven... that gives me a lot to go on. I smell a trip to Electronics Boutique comin' on.

EB-Games now:p
that is always a good idea when looking for games, go there, talk to employees (go on off hours) they probably play alot more games than most of us, so they will be able to give you a better idea of what would work. I have found that the gamecrazy near me has the friendliest employees, but its probably just due to location (in a mini mall (GC) not the 2nd biggest mall in NY (EBG)).

good luck

[amckee]

Also, Eragon is playable with only a joystick.

[Mister Slimm]

Outrun 2006 Coast to Coast is a terrific arcade racing game and the entire game supports gamepad navigation and control (as well as keyboard navigation). It's also not too hard on system specs and has nice crisp fast graphics.