CHIMING IN! is sporadic feature here at Cheap Boss Attack, in which I link to a video, podcast, or written discussion and provide my own thoughts on the matter. Sure, it’s a bit like letting someone else do the work for me, but I’m doing it because I’m inspired by their content — I’m not looking to thrive off of it.
Today’s post is inspired by the 105th episode (more specifically part 4) of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, which uploaded to their official YouTube channel on February 2nd. During the episode, Tim, Colin, and Greg discuss their unpopular game opinions, from Greg’s stance on Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater being overrated to Colin’s belief that Mario Sunshine is superior to Mario 64.
Unpopular game opinions are commonplace on Twitter, but rather than confining myself to 140 characters, I wanted to share my laundry list here and see what your controversial opinions are down in the comments.
Here goes!
–Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite numbered entry in the long-running RPG series.
-I hated The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword…
-…but I thought the Wii was awesome. Tons of great games on that thing.
-I also had a lot of fun with the Ouya micro-console.
–Super Mario Bros. 2 is my favorite of the original NES holy trilogy.
-Likewise, Simon’s Quest is my favorite NES Castlevania.
–Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, while not my favorite, is an underappreciated game in the series that deserves quite a bit more attention.
-I picked Bulbasaur as my gen-one Pokemon starter, because battle lettuce.
-I play Call of Duty every year. For the campaign.
-I enjoy “walking simulators.”
-I enjoyed the Batmobile segments in Batman: Arkham Knight.
–Dragon’s Dogma was my favorite open-world RPG of the last console generation, not Skyrim.
-I love the Assassin’s Creed series, even the highly criticized Unity. Unity’s Dead Kings DLC was also fucking awesome.
–Mass Effect 3’s original ending was fine.
-I love Destiny. It’s one of the best co-op gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time.
–Metroid Prime is better than Super Metroid.
-I don’t like Minecraft.
-I enjoyed what I played of Final Fantasy XIII. The linearity was fine, the characters weren’t awful, and the turn-based combat is the best it’s ever been in the series.
-Speaking of Final Fantasy, Type-0 is criminally underrated. Particularly the soundtrack.
–Grand Theft Auto is boring. GTA4 had its moments, but I’ve never been in to the series as a whole.
–Fable 2 is the only enjoyable game in the series. The original was just okay, and the third game was pretty awful.
–Animal Crossing has never been appealing to me.
-I hate Tetris. Actually, I just hate puzzle games. Puzzle platformers? Fine. Puzzles inside of more interesting games? Also fine.
I’m sure there’s more clanking around up in the ol’ noggin, but this is what I could come up with over the last few days.
What about you folks? Have an unpopular gaming opinion?
Cheap Boss Attack 
I can see your thinking for a few of these, but one I picked up on is SMB2. It’s actually a pretty great game! But I get why people don’t like it.
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I liked it because it was so different (for obvious reasons), which is why many didn’t.
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I’m with you on Minecraft. I’ve just never seen the point.
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I get the appeal, it’s just not for me. I never grew up playing with Legos or anything, so being creative in that sense isn’t my thing.
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I definitely agree with you about SMB2, but we’ve talked about that a few times already!
What I won’t and never will agree with you on ins FFVIII. There wasn’t an ounce of me that enjoyed that game. Not even a smidgen of me.
My unpopular opinion is that old RPGs are the best RPGs. Most stuff that would make many people scream in frustration keeps me wanting to play more and get in the heads of developers. They’re quite fun, and I like them better than new RPGs!
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VIII doesn’t hold up well at all, however it’s the first FF that I played as an adult with a better understanding of emotions, like love, jealousy, etc., whereas before they were just words that furthered the plot. I’d never in my life say VIII is the best FF, just my favorite. The best will always be FF Tactics =D.
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:D One of these days I’ll play it again. I played it in my late teens, so it would probably be worthwhile to take a spin through it with my adult brain too.
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There’s an interesting fan theory that the protagonist actually dies at a specific part of the story and the remainder is just a wild fever dream. Explains a lot, but also feels like fan justification for a plot full of holes and questionable storytelling. I’m in this conspiracy camp though! Makes for a great time.
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I’m right there with you with most of these! Zelda II was actually the first Zelda game I ever played (that was the one my parents bought us), and it really is a pretty solid game. I also agree that Mass Effect 3’s original ending was okay (although I liked the additional story info from the extended cut, because… more story info, c’mon). And I suppose I can see why you don’t like Tetris… :)
An unpopular opinion of mine…? I think the Wii U is a good console that was just misunderstood. Another unpopular one is that I thought Skyward Sword had it’s really great moments, even though it was overshadowed by, well, everything else (haha?).
Cool post!
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I thought Zelda 2 dared to be different and it worked out well. The transition to a 2D action RPG was a nice touch! I’m also happy with the extended cut of ME3’s ending, but that whole fan backlash thing was a bit much.
I think the Wii U as a console wasn’t very good, since Nintendo drastically underutilized the GamePad and fumbled harshly with its lackluster virtual console offerings throughout its lifespan. I hope the Switch gets more VC love. However, I think it had a pretty great library of games. Going an entire console generation without a new Metroid or Zelda was rough (since BotW will also be on Switch).
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Ugh, the fan backlash… I agree that the GamePad was not utilized well. That’s why I stand by it being “misunderstood.” No one really knew what to do with it. Hopefully the Switch will learn from the WiiU’s mistakes! Now that I think about it, you’re right that the entire generation went by without a Zelda or Metroid; hopefully that means BotW will be that much better (and a Metroid game will, you know, be released)!
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I think that’s the problem with console gimmicks. Nobody really wanted to utilize Kinect on Xbox One or downscale third-party games/utilize the GamePad on the underpowered Wii U. So we were left with basically just Nintendo keeping it afloat… and they seemed far, far more interested in the 3DS (with good reason).
But man… Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Wonderful 101, Mario Maker, Splatoon, Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Xenoblade, both Zelda remasters, SM3DW, Bayonetta 2.. some great stuff on there.
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“Because battle lettuce” lol I had a good laugh at that. :P
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Poor, useless Bulbasaur.
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You honestly think Metroid Prime is better than Super Metroid? I only have one thing to say about that: I totally agree. It’s an amazing game, and it stands out as one of the decade’s finest efforts.
I think Skyward Sword is my least favorite 3D Zelda title so far. I still ultimately think it’s great, but I get where you’re coming from.
As for my own unorthodox opinions… well, I have more than a few, but for starters, I didn’t think The Last of Us was that good. Compared to other story-heavy games I’ve played, it comes across as a rather weak effort.
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I remember being salty as hell at the announcement that Metroid Prime would steer the series in to the realm of first-person shooters. Then I played the pre-launch demo at a Wal-Mart and was blown away. It never pays to be stubborn! I felt the same way when Ocarina of Time took Zelda in a (then) new 3D direction… then I played Ocarina and fell in love.
Skyward Sword isn’t a bad game by any stretch of the imagination. It just has the most agonizingly slow start of any Zelda game, even Twilight Princess. I also ran in to a lot of trouble with the motion controls, having to recalibrate every 10 minutes or so. Not everyone had that problem though, apparently just those of us having to play in cramped spaces.
I’d still like to go back and give Skyward Sword another shot, since I gave up on three separate occasions around the 10-hour mark. I was crossing my fingers that we’d see a normal-controlled HD release on Wii U, but at least we got stellar remasters of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.
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SMB 2 was my first favorite game and game obsession! To this day it’s my favorite Mario game.
FFVIII is unfairly hated. It as my favorite card game.
I don’t like FPS games. That’s the only controversial one I can think of 😊
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I would say SMB2 is either at the top of my list of traditional Mario games, or battling it out in a three-way dance with Mario World and Yoshi’s Island. I love and respect SMB3 and it’s perfectness though.
I understand why the dark and brooding thing didn’t win people over, especially those that aren’t in the Team Squall is Dead camp. But c’mon, Zell loves hot dogs. It’s adorable. I also had a huge crush on Quistis and Selphie, so that didn’t help. I do think it’s hilarious that Selphie used a camera at the end.. and her name is basically selfie. She even had a blog!
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I played Super Metroid for the first time ever some time last summer. I absolutely loved it (as I do all the side-scrolling Metroid games) but I gotta agree that I find Prime so much better. To be, it’s just Super Metroid on steroids. It plays better, it looks better, the environments are just incredible, and the music to go with them.. I still listen to the soundtrack while at work for hours on end, because they’re such beautiful compositions.
Also, Animal Crossing feels more like a second job than an actual game. Tried getting into it but I don’t see what the fuss is all about! Minecraft is a great outlet for creativity, but it grew old for my friends and I who had an awesome private server. Also it’s hard if you’re not creative (like myself!).
I like this article format BTW – just bullet points of stray thoughts! :)
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The exploration, world design, and gameplay of Metroid just worked out so well in first-person. What an incredible trilogy of games.
I get the appeal of games like Minecraft, they’re just not for me. I don’t like building things in games… hell, I was the guy who bought Mario Maker just to play other people’s levels lol.
Thanks for reading!
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Ah man, same here. Mario Maker sounds so cool but I know I’ll just end up making a few terrible levels, not wanting to spend the time testing them, and then never touch it again!
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Yeah, I could either spend 6 hours making a single good level or spend 6 hours playing something else. I just stuck with running the community uploads, which never gets old.
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Okay here goes:
-I don’t like JRPGs. I think they’re dense and kinda ridiculous
-I think the PS4 is pretty meh
-I think PC gaming is overrated. Gaming PCs are fairly rare anyway
-I absolutely loved Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort
-I think the last Mario game that was worth buying was Super Mario Sunshine
-I didn’t see the point in the WiiU
-Pokemon is… ugh
Also, I agree with most of what you mentioned to be honest.
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The Wii U as a console was mostly bad. The GamePad had potential, but when even Nintendo doesn’t want to bother with it most of the time why should any third party care? Solid library of exclusives, though.
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It had a good first party library, but weak hardware paired with a lack of third party support doesn’t make for a successful console.
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The Wii U was definitely anything but successful, that’s for sure.
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I strongly believe that the Mario and Zelda games are overated borefests that Nintendo rely on FAR too much. This is the only one I could think of, for now. Oh and Bulbasaur was brilliant – lettuce and all!
Excellent post.
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Whoa, wait… You DON’T hate Final Fantasy XIII? I always considered you an awesome blogger, but now you’ve just crossed into super awesome territory :)
I agree with most of your other opinions too. I love Assassin’s Creed! Unity was my least favourite but I still enjoyed playing it. Nintendo really need to make another Metroid Prime game by the way. I’ll have to disagree with you on the GTA series though. The satirical humor entertains me greatly, and San Andreas is near the top of my all time favourite games list.
My biggest one is that I love the entire Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy, and Lightning is my favourite video game character. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen me rambling about that enough already though, lol.
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Nope, I didn’t hate it. I’ve yet to finish it, although I’ve tried twice. Furthest I’ve made it is getting Fang in to the group. I don’t hate the characters, love the combat, and was fine with the linearity.
I don’t think the GTA games are bad at all. I dicked around in San Andreas with friends when it released and had a lot of fun in GTAIV, but those were the only ones that grabbed me. I had GTAV sitting on my shelf since launch and just sold it last month since I knew I’d never touch it.
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Same page with you in regards to Minecraft. Also my roommate in college logged in 120 hours into Dragon’s Dogma, he played it so often in front of me, I felt like I put 40 hours into it haha.
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Dragon’s Dogma was so awesome though! I was kind of hoping we’d see a sequel instead of the Japan-exclusive MMO failure.
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