Greatest Mini Games in Games

[CriticalGaming]

So as you guys know I'm currently plowing through the Yakuza games, and one thing those games are really known for are their side games and mini games. Yakuza has a shitload of mini games you can play from crane games, to full on other Sega titles like the full version of Virtual Fighter 5. So it got me thinking, what other games have great mini games in them?

Off the top of my head I struggled a bit to come up with anything that wasn't a Yakuza game. But them some came to me.

Gwent - The Witcher 3, a mini game so good it became a standalone game that wasn't quite as good. Go figure.

Machine Strike - Horizon Forbidden West, a chess-like tactics game that is actually pretty good if not very deep.

Racing - GTA-V, the arcade driving in GTA is just hectic enough to be fun without being overly frustrating and it can make for some crazy fun racing.

Chocobo Racing - FFXIV, a deeper experience than in FF7 and expanded enough to be a true game where you have to micromanage stats and breeding to make the best bird you possibly can.

Triple Triad - FF8, the card game that everyone who's ever played Final Fantasy loves. Easily the best thing about a shitty entry in the series.

What about you guys, what are some of your favorite mini games?

 

[BrawlMan]

Seirei Senshi Spriggan - The score attack & time attack mode. You can play these before being the main campaign, but they are so addictive. They provide a nice little bonus after completing the main campaign.

Tekken 3 - Tekken Force Mode & Tekken Ball. Namco really needs to bring these back for Tekken 8. There was no reason to remove them.

MadWorld - Bloodbath Challenge and the 2 player competitive multiplayer variation is surprisingly fun.

DMC's Bloody Palace mode. I mainly prefer the DMC 5 version.

Evil Within 2 - The Target Practice and Bejeweled mini game. Both are fun, but the latter is way more fun than it has any right to be. Doing these actually net you high rewards for getting the highest scores. So they shouldn't be skipped.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Bayonetta also has a combo training thing during load screens IIRC. But I never understood how it worked since the game would just load anyways whenever I pressed a button.

 

[thebobmaster]

>_> <_< Karaoke in Sleeping Dogs.

 

[BrawlMan]

Bayonetta also has a combo training thing during load screens IIRC. But I never understood how it worked since the game would just load anyways whenever I pressed a button.

You're supposed to press either the minus button (Switch, Wii U), back button (360, OneX, Series), or select button (all the Playstations). Doing so lets you train as much you want in the loading screen. The third game just allows you to do training mode separately if you want. Took them long enough.

 

[meiam]

Man, fuck FF8 card game, getting every card was a nightmare with the dumb rule system.

Xenosaga 1 card game was way better anyway, with three different playstyle.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Hmm in twilight princess there is a minigame involving clawshots. I love the sound it makes whenever i pass through rupee holograms. It’s also fun to figure out which direction and angle to take, once you unlock two clawshots

In both smash bros melee and nier automata, the end credits became a space shooter. I loved both as it makes the credits more interactive, and i dont have to sit there and watch the hole thing.

Both red dead redemption games have amazing poker, but i swear they are rigged.

Persona 5 has so many minigames, and while love the variety they are also basic. Dtill, great ways to raise your social stats and hang out with friends.

In dead rising 2, the zombie game show was also fun. Tons of fun memories competing with friends.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

 

[mirbrownbread]

Does Gwent counts as a "mini game" lol?
The horseshoe-throwing in RDR was surprisingly fun, too

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Well as the self-proclaimed resident Witcher 3 greatest fanboy, I'll go ahead and praise Gwent. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it as good or better than the main game (frankly, that's insane), it is good.

I do not like card games. I mean, I like playing actual IRL cards, with, you know, cards, and humans. But in a video game, I find it tedious- like, I'm playing a video game not a card game, why are there so many video games with virtual cards, so annoying. I have tried- Slay the Spire, etc. Booorrriiing.

But for some reason, I get mad into Gwent. It started with just wanting to complete all the quests and getting all the trophies, which requires Gwent mastery. I think for me it helps that it's just so easy. Once you get in the habit of the basic strategy of winning one round, allowing yourself to lose the second and going into the 3rd round with more cards, it's all about just going around kicking everyone's butt and taking their cards.

In the replay I just started (next-gen, baby) I feel confident I will be able to collect all the cards again without even having to use web sites or note-taking to keep track of all the players and cards anymore, that's how much I memorized this game.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

The undeground fossil mini-game in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Triple Triad - FF8, the card game that everyone who's ever played Final Fantasy loves. Easily the best thing about a shitty entry in the series.

I loved Triple Triad. I sometimes booted up FF8 just to play the card game.

Man, fuck FF8 card game, getting every card was a nightmare with the dumb rule system.

Yeah, the way rules spread was kinda nerve-wracking, but the fundamentals of the game itself are solid fun. If you could actually choose the rules each time you played instead of them randomly rolling into different areas, it'd have been way better.

OT, fishing in Ocarina in Time took up an exorbitant amount of my time for some reason.

 

[SilentPony]

I remember the first Rage game had a surprisingly fun and interesting combat card game. I remember enjoying it and going out of my way to find new, rare cards.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I remember the first Rage game had a surprisingly fun and interesting combat card game. I remember enjoying it and going out of my way to find new, rare cards.

Rage did have that little mini game in it. That was good, and i remember liking the races too.

 

[BrawlMan]

​

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

It's never not entertaining to think on how beloved Gwent was right up until it was made into its own standalone game. They thought they were on to a sure thing, like squeenix were with Avengers, like Sony were with rereleasing Morbius into cinemas, but it seemed everyone responded with a collective sigh and agreed it's better where it's already at.

Is it cheating to say Yakuza series? Am gonna say it anyway. Banjo Tooie. And Donkey Kong, uhhhm, *cough* 64!

 

[SilentPony]

Rage did have that little mini game in it. That was good, and i remember liking the races too.

Yeah those were good, and the little TV battlezone minigame was fun too. Come to think of it, I should replay Rage...

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Let's take a moment to acknowledge how engaging the Chao Gardens in the Sonic Adventure games were. There was such a weird amount of depth to them. It's weird that Sega never brought them back in any later Sonic games or, hell, turned them into a standalone spinoff.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Ah, Banjo-Tooie also had the FPS mini-games. I call it one of the greatest because all the maps used the layouts of Golden Eye multiplayer levels, which was a great callback. I also remember getting really addicted to the card game in Digimon World 3.

 

[Worgen]

Surprised no one has said Mercenaries mode in Resident Evil.

I guess also Zombies in Call of Duty, even though I don't like it.