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[George Oscar Bluth II]

Seeing that thread about the PS1 Spider-Man game got me remembering other licensed games... specifically Harry Potter.

Edit: LEGO games!

I used to play those first three games all the damn time. The first on PS1, the next two on PS2. They were surprisingly decent, especially with the fact that they're licensed games. It had a nice atmosphere to Hogwarts which was really boosted by a good soundtrack by Jeremy Soule (of Elder Scrolls fame).

Of course, these games were multiplatform, which means that all of you will be thinking about very different games depending on which platform you played. I know that the Gameboy versions were RPGs that were also quite well regarded. The PC versions of the first three games were also quite different, though I don't know how they played. I'm only familiar with the home console versions, but I liked 'em a lot (barring GoF and the post-Phoenix games).

So... let the discussion begin.

 

[Santiako]

Harry Potter 1 and 2 for the Gameboy Color were absolutely amazing. I played through them so many times.

 

[The Technomancer]

When I was young I really enjoyed the first game on PC, but I'm pretty sure that's because I was young.

I hear that GBC RPG is really good though, I need to check it out

 

[Tizoc]

What are the best HP games or ones that are worth playing? Apparently some Gameboy Color games are good and hold up well?

 

[blurr]

Played until the fourth game. Good memories.

 

[CountAntonius]

Damn shame we never got an Open World RPG set in Hogwarts.

 

[Omega Kirby]

Flipendo!!!!!

 

[Hopeford]

I was a huge, huge fan of the first 3 games(played them all on the gamecube) but after that the games just lost me. Didn't seem like they had the same charm as the last ones.

 

[delSai]

I played the second one and liked it. Exploring Hogwarts was kinda cool.
The 4th game was a fun multiplayer game.

Damn shame we never got an Open World RPG set in Hogwarts.

Yeah, that would be amazing.

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

My wife never plays video games, except for when she played the first HP game on her old crappy netbook. She said she could never figure out the end boss so she stopped.

I downloaded it a year ago and showed her how to do it. It took about 6 years but she finally got to see the end.

 

[cheesekao]

Prisoner of Azkaban for the GBA was breddy great.

 

[CreeperBlocks]

I remember renting the first Harry Potter game on PS1. It was okay.

 

[Charlie0108]

I loved the first two on the PC and on the Gameboy Advance. The second one was pretty good on GameCube too.

 

[crazyjah2003]

1 and 2 for GBC were the best they had. I wish they'd have continued with that format.

 

[Roldan]

I really liked the first one back then. I only played the GBC version of the second game, but it was equally great.

Also, obligatory criken video.

 

[Dragonslayer_023]

The early games were great, especially Chamber of Secrets. Eurocom really did right by them. Shame they went off the rails by four though. I liked when OoTP tried to do with the recreation of Hogwarts but it just wasn't very fun.

 

[ibyea]

I played Philosopher's Stone for PC and Prisoner of Azkaban for GBA, they were pretty great.

 

[Horohoro]

I'm actually replaying all these right now atm. Playing 1-4 on GC and 5-7.2 on PS3.
Got the GBC games as well I plan to go back to them. The gba games idk if I will or not...

 

[DekuLink]

Really love the music for the first HP game on PC.

 

[WadiumArcadium]

I think I've played all of those up to Order of the Phoenix. If I remember correctly it actually had a really good open world Hogwarts. I also have fond memories of getting Chamber of Secrets for what would have been my 11th birthday (apparently).

 

[Sagely]

I adored the first three games, especially Prisoner of Azkaban. It let you switch between the three characters and use their unique abilities to pass obstacles, and although it was pretty shallow I really liked the concept. I also enjoyed one of the later ones....possibly Order of the Phoenix. There was a lot of exploring the castle and chatting to other students, so it felt quite low-key and relaxing.

The world of Harry Potter really deserves a great game, like an MMO or a Persona-style RPG; but as a Potter fan I still enjoyed the licensed games.

 

[Gvitor]

Oh, my. The first 3 PC HP games are so good. The 4th one I played in the Gamecube (but this one in particular is identical in every platform), but it's also great. Can't comment in the others.

I remember being stuck for ages in the second quidditch game in the first game, and only years later, when I rented the game to a friend, I tried this part on his PC and managed to pass...

In fact, early HP games are pretty good. I barely touched the PS1 versions, but GBC and GBA versions of the first two games are solid as well.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

What are the best HP games or ones that are worth playing? Apparently some Gameboy Color games are good and hold up well?

I've heard lots of good things about the Gameboy games here on GAF. I think there was maybe an appreciation thread around a year ago? One of the devs dropped by.

Order of the Phoenix on the consoles was a pretty fun experience since it allowed you to explore the majority of an accurately recreated film version of Hogwarts. You could also fix stuff and do pretty mundane things with magic for discovery points, which feels kinda rewarding if you're a completionist.

 

[GokaiMarvelous]

I played back then the first 3 games in the ps1...good memories, fun games.

 

[MulderYuffie]

Played the first one a lot back in the day on PC loved it never got around to playing the others should give the game boy games a try.

 

[addik]

I remember renting the first Harry Potter game on PS1. It was okay.

I remembered the PS1 game vaguely. It was full of secret hallways and chambers, so that was the cool part of it—going around Hogwarts looking for hidden trinkets.

I also played the PC version (of the first game), but I oddly don't remember much of it. I remember using a cheat code that allows for Harry to do a huge jump at one point because I just couldn't get over one point of the game.

 

[mclem]

Damn shame we never got an Open World RPG set in Hogwarts.

Rockstar: If you want to make a Bully 2 without it feeling like a retread, there's your in.

 

[Brofield]

Philosopher's Stone I played on GBA, couldn't figure out how to sneak past Snape after the midnight duel with Draco, so I gave up

Played Chamber of Secrets on Gamecube, couldn't get past the vine plant to give Hermione a book she wanted, so I gave up.

Rented Prisoner of Azkaban for Gamecube, don't know where I gave up but the save file said not even 10% completed, so I just said fuck it to the rest of the series.

Quidditch World Cup was fun, though. But it aged HORRIBLY.

 

[stryke]

I remember having a lot of fun playing philosophers stone on GBC. I played the PC version as well but it was a horrible experience for about half the game until I upgraded.

 

[The Smoking Bun]

Why did the games based on the Book 7 movies go full on GEARS OF POTTER?

 

[Leafhopper]

That Quidditch game is the best of all of em.

 

[Musolf815]

Chamber of Secrets was my first PS2 game, I think I've done everything you can do in that game. I also played the GBC Sorcerer's Stone a lot.

 

[Wanderer5]

Some good times with games of the first three films. Played through the PC and PS2 version of all three, along with the gameboy color games, and GBA of Chamber of Secrets. Too bad that RPG setup that the gameboy color ones had didn't expand on beyond the GBA version of prisoner of Azkaban (which I never played surprisingly enough despite enjoying the PS2 and PC version). Tried Order of the Phoenix on the Wii later on, and well that was pretty crappy lol.

 

[Doffen]

This game:

 

[privitsan02]

The original on PS1 was a great Zelda ripoff that followed the book very well. The second and third games were great Zelda ripoff's as well albeit extremely short, (3rd being about 4 hours long if you just go through the missions in haste). I also played the 2nd on the GBA and it was a fun and long adventure game.

That being said, the games became abysmal after the 4th. I did hear that the 5th game was fairly decent but by then the quality had dipped severely and the quality of AAA games last generation was significantly higher at the same price.

But if you really want to play the games, I'd suggest playing the first three on PS2.

Best wishes.

 

[koutoru]

The first 3 games (both console and handheld) were very good.

The first two really captured the essence of being a student at Hogwarts and I like how the handheld version of the 3rd game actually a legitimately good RPG.

This game:

As to why they haven't made a sequel to this, I have no idea. Favorite spin off Harry Potter game hands down.

 

[WadiumArcadium]

Why did the games based on the Book 7 movies go full on GEARS OF POTTER?

Probably because they saw the success of Gears and other shooters at the time and wanted to emulate it. Why, I don't know. The best Harry Potter games are based around exploration not shoot-outs.

 

[delSai]

Oh right, Quidditch World Cup was also a really good game.

 

[Drayco21]

Chamber of Secrets on the PS1 was awesome when I was a kid. So were the gameboy games. Outside of that, I only remember playing a little co-op of one of them on PS2 (I think it was Goblet.) and thought it was pretty dull, and never got around to trying anything else.

They really should make an original create-a-character RPG set in Hogwarts; that shit would print money.

 

[N0VAM0D]

Oh man, playing Philosopher's Stone on GBA and Goblet of Fire on PS2 were some good memories.

 

[Olengie]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on the GB was really amazing. Probably replayed that game more than a dozen times.

Quidditch World Cup was also a fun game for me.

 

[khaaan]

I own and love Philosopher's Stone on the GBC and Chamber of Secrets on the Gamecube. I remember a thread talking about one of the handheld games and how it did some technically interesting things, I think it had to do with displaying more colors or was it a fade in/out effect? bah, I can't remember. I'll do some digging but maybe someone else has better memory.

I feel like I should play the rest of the games, maybe they wont be mind blowing from a gaming perspective but it could be fun as a fan of the books. I remember there being a bit of hype around the Wii version of one of them because there was a bit of motion controls + physics for throwing stuff around. My brother got Chamber of Secrets PC a long time ago but I never played it, I'd like to give that one a shot but my PC doesn't have a disk drive

Edit: You've convinced me OP, I'm going to track down the console, handhelds, and early PC games.

 

[Off-Kilter]

These were pretty good imo

GBA ones are still king tho.

 

[DownGrader]

My first experience with the first Harry Potter game was on a friend's PC with glitched mouse. As a result, I couldn't even complete the tutorial on drawing spirals for spells. Then my father bought me this game (again, on PC) and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I haven't beaten it.

Is PC version worth playing today? I still actually have the disc. In fact, I'm holding it right now, ready to be installed.

 

[Christof]

The Lego Harry Potter games were great.

Was fun to explore the world and that LEGO brand humor was great through out.

These were pretty good imo

.

 

[Jonboy]

Loved SS and CoS. OotP wasn't too bad either, but the rest of the console releases were just terrible. I almost forgot about the LEGO games. Those are actually pretty decent as well, but standard LEGO mechanics.

As a huge HP fan, I consider this to be one of the most untapped properties in all of gaming. So much potential for more. An MMO for this world could be insanely awesome if someone gave it the proper care.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Loved the first one on PS1 as a kid but I don't think it'll hold up well today it was a very odd game though thinking about it. Chamber of Secrets on PS2 was like miles above and beyond what I expected when I first played it coming from the PS1 game a year or so earlier. Never played any of them beyond that though.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

These were pretty good imo

I don't even know how I could forget these. I played them just a month ago (finished the first to 100%)! They were a lot of fun. Going to add to the OP.

 

[KanameYuuki]

I had so much fun with the first 2 for PS1, played them a thousand times each, I wish I could buy them on PSN and play them on my PS4.

 

[BulletBees]

I remember most of the games having SOMETHING okay about them. My GF is a huge HP fan and I used to watch her play them. Yes, some of them were downright terrible (Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2) but Half blood prince was alright.