neurological dryer lint

slashdot has a link to an article about comfort games - not necessarily your all-time favorites, but the old reliables that you pull out when you want to blow off steam or reminisce or cheer yourself up. some pull out that photo album or CD, i fire up a console or emulator and tear into one of these:

 [5] tetris (NES): i prefer the NES port over all, specifically the Nintendo-created version (i.e. not Tengen's), mainly for the music and visual style. i feel like i can almost play this game while doing something else as a tool to keep my mind focused... even though i've got a personal strategy that makes most rounds look the same, every one of them still feels new.

 [4] unreal tournament 2k4 (PC): you plus fifteen bots in a small map with insta-gib is a fantastic stress reliever. you don't really mind getting fragged a hundred times in a round like this - because you're scoring so high you don't even think about it. people at work seem to enjoy team-based strategy FPS a whole lot (counterstrike, RTCW, teamfortress) but i definitely prefer fast-paced pure deathmatch.

 [3] jedi knight 2 (PC): you have to start this a few levels in so that you have force powers + your lightsaber, and then you roll to the coruscant level and just start wasting people - throw them off cliffs, pull their weapons from their hands and mow them down with their own gun, kick on force speed and cut a dozen dudes' arms off in ten seconds.

 [2] zelda 3 (SNES): the first really deep game i played through - finding every heart container, hidden room, item upgrade, etc... while it spans two vast (at the time) worlds, i feel like i know every inch of both the light and dark maps. and the music! soaring orchestral anthems that match the mood of every scene. actually, i haven't played all the way through this one in a few years, i think it's about time for another run before twilight princess next month.

 [1] mega man 3 (NES): i felt the sentiment of the article's author - i could play through this with my eyes closed. surprisingly it doesn't take that long anymore - maybe an hour and a half start to finish - but every few months i'll pick this up and blaze through the first eight just for old time's sake.

honorable mentions: lumines (PSP), mario 3 (NES/SNES/GBA), castlevania 4 (SNES), marvel vs. capcom 2 (DC)