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Top 10 Videogames to Play with Your Girlfriend Josh Adachi's List 10. Super Mario Bros. 2 or Now, I've never tested this game out on a girl, but I'm using it in my list to set a precedent. We must not condescend to our better halves if we wish to build a long-term gaming relationship with them. A misconception that many girls have is that video games are easy, and/or for kids. Give her a couple minutes on this monster to remind her just how challenging a basic video game can be. She'll probably already know how to play the game, since it has the same mechanics as the SMB games she snuck in as a little girl. She'll be drawn in by the familiar gameplay, and aggravated by the sheer difficulty. Something tells me, that she'll do better than you expect, only to commit a simple mistake and scream. This is gaming pleasure at its finest. Because of the difficulty level she'll be doubly impressed if you can do well at all at this game. Then, when she realizes how much time and energy you've been spending on a pointless video game, you can remind her that due to the increased automation of our society, your talents are completely useless and video games allow you to pacify your primitive need to perform feats of skill. She'll be so impressed with your answer that she will smile inwardly as she continues to scold you. 9. Soul Caliber Series I know in my last entry I said we shouldn't condescend to girls, but let's be fair and point out that everybody needs a button masher sometimes. If you're someone who has invested a significant amount of time to this game, this entry is not for you. However, if you are one of the teeming masses (myself included) who is as surprised by your character's dazzling combos as your enemy is, this game will provide you lovebirds with a few minutes of solid fun. You and your girlfriend will have a blast piling up 7 hit combos while playfully nudging each other on your sofa-futon. Now just your being male, means you will probably have had a bit more experience with this genre if not this title, so you will probably beat her too much to be any fun for either of you. Just choose someone you suck with, one of those big slow guys, and let her choose one of the cute chicks who's combo chains seem based on the sheer sincerity with which the buttons are mashed. Bonus tip: show her how to choose between the alternate
costumes. If knowing what type of lingerie choices she might enjoy if
she were to ever learn the katana isn't saucy enough for you, watch her
reaction when you 8. Tetris Somehow I feel like choosing Tetris is almost cheating. Like... It's not really a video game. It's more of a mathematic idea that plays itself out on a video screen. Perhaps that is why this is one video game that girls actually like way more than guys do. I've had this conversation countless times: girl: I don't like video games. Don't ask me what it is. I have my theories on the matter, the first one being that it has something to do with their love of organizing things. I have another theory that the way the blocks fall into place subjugates their need to fill the emotional gaps in their lives that they are so acutely aware of. Whatever the case, somebody needs to do a study that measures a woman's changes in breathing and heart rate as she slides the red brick in for a tetris. Only then will we know the truth. 7. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 The CIA has banned the interrogation technique in which they force suspected terrorists to play as the second player in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis. Playing as Tails is the video game equivalent of being crucified. You spend most of the time trying desperately to keep your sprite on the screen while Sonic dashes and bounces impossibly fast through the level. Furthermore, the fact that Tails is invincible takes away any "game" aspect of being Player 2. When you are commanded to take out the boss by standing in the lava, you start to feel sort of used. Trying to synchronize your movements during the bonus rounds can be a powerful bonding experience, but those stages are few and far between. Sonic 2's second controller is what you force on your kid brother before he learns to spell, and even HE gets bored. However, I encourage you to convince your girlfriend to play as Tails for ulterior reasons. If she patiently sits through the game with you, guess what, she loves you and just wanted to spend time with you. Break up with her immediately, or better yet, quit collecting those gold rings and go find a diamond one, buddy. It's over for you (congratulations). 6. Wii Sports- bowling Nintendo is brilliant sometimes. With Wii Sports they really have put bowling in your living room, or at least a cute facsimile of it. The skill curve is not as high, sure, there are no greasy bowling balls and the smell of shoe disenfectant is oddly absent, but everything else is there. At least, almost everything that girls like about bowling is there. The time between turns, and the act of standing up to bowl make you feel that you're at a social event more than actually playing a video game. Make your girl a cocktail, you can't do that at the bowling alley. Bowl barefoot. Cop a feel. Eat a steak. Whatever you can do at home, you can do in the Wii bowling alley. The game is simple enough to improve at that both of you will have fun challenging yourselves even if your skill levels are vastly disparate. Plus, winning at this game gives a person real-life props. It's not that you memorized any complicated series of buttons to win. The winner was actually better at flicking their wrist just so (What that implies I won't go into). Bonus Tip: design your Miis together. Your Mii will basically be a cuter, edited version of you, based on her internal image of you. Thus, every time your digital doppelganger appears on screen it will reinforce all the things she likes about you in real life. In this case, Nintendo is not only a great video game company, they are a good wing man- they are making you look good. 5. Puzzle Bobble or As with Tetris, this is one of those videogames that
your girlfriend will inexplicably like more than you do. Cuddle up in
front of this machine and feel yourself disappear from her peripheral
vision as she stares lovingly at the screen. Now, if you are any sort
of gamer, you are probably pretty good at this game, and have wasted
more time on this game then she ever will, despite the intense
excitement she feels over it. So, let's just play down a little, shall
we? Give her a good fight, and try not to blow her out of the water if
you can help it. Let her win a round, the look on her face will be a
greater reward then beating her ever will be. Besides, you don't really
want to be known as the master of 4. Super Mario Bros. 3 Now you're working as a team! Once again the simple, tight mechanics of this gameplay will appeal to someone who doesn't believe that video games should require 2 hours to assimilate a new control scheme. She has probably played this game with some success in her childhood, so it will have a nostalgic quality for her, causing a bundle of synapses to fire off for the first time since she memorized the lyrics to Ice Ice Baby. Oddly enough, every time I've played this game with a girl she has shown me some secret that I didn't know about, much to both of our surprise. This game is great because it really feels like you are on an adventure together, as jingoistic as that may sound. Bonus tip: let her be Mario. Luigi has the underdog appeal, and if you're throwing the smackdown on her, it won't feel as oppressive. 3. Wii Play As an introduction to the Wii controls, this was a
great game. None of the games went very deep, except perhaps Tanks, and
after playing it we either marveled or were disappointed by the Wii's
control potential. For our purposes though, these neat little games act
as something of a county fair, as you and your date wander around
different 2. Kororinpa- Marble Mania With so many Wii games up here it only makes sense that
the game with the very best Wii controls would occupy such a high slot.
Kororinpa takes literally under a minute to pick up, but it's harder
levels will have you ripping out your teeth. The controls are so
intuitive that my mom called me one day to ask me how to start it.
That's right, getting through the menu screens (which aren't bad at
all) are more confusing to her than the actual gameplay and THAT'S
RIGHT my Mom wanted to play it. Just watching my sister and mother go
at it on this game was worth the price of my Wii. As for you, young
stallion, the best thing about this game is that, not only is it fun
for girls of all ages, you can both simultaneously play the same level
at different difficulties. Assuming you have already played this game a
few times, you can choose a ball like 1. Dance Dance Revolution Without a doubt, girls are better dancers than us. There is, at least, some anecdotal evidence to explain this phenomenon. While we were learning to shoryuken on our SNES controllers, they were dressing up and dancing to TLC in their full length mirrors. They of course, had a purpose. They knew that someday they would be at a high school dance, and would have to look cool in front of everybody that matters to them. We just wanted to hurt our friends' egos and/or keep them from jump-kicking our faces. Little did either of us know that their body gyrations and our button bashing would one day be pitted against each other in a no-holds barred battle of the sexes. Enter DDR. The concept of this game is deceptively simple: push the buttons with your feet when you are told to. The great thing, though, is it requires full body coordination to do so. Will you look like an idiot trying this thing out? YES. Will you fail miserably? YES. Will she be charmed by your willingness to deface yourself for the sake of fun? DING. Who knows, maybe you two will get really good and become some sort of local arcade super couple: switching controllers mid song, incorporating blown kisses and hi-fives into your choreography... Actually... actually, please don't do that. Anyways, in case you're truly not convinced that this belongs on top, consider the following equation: dance dance = bounce bounce
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