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[Pedigree Chum]

I'll start:

Katamari Damacy - Got this infectious charm that doesn't quit.

Frequency/Amplitude - My personal crack-game, this is like tetris to me, I start a game and before I know it it's been 5 hours.

SSX Tricky - Showoff mode is sublime, trying to get high scores on levels and linking air/grinding is tons of fun to practice.

Now it's your turn, go.

 

[Speevy]

-Super Smash Brothers Melee
-Sega Soccer Slam
-Top Spin
-Jet Set Radio Future
-Animal Crossing
-Super Monkey Ball

 

[Raw64life]

Super Monkey Ball 1&2

 

[neptunes]

GTA? maybe

Animal crossing.

 

[Dyne]

I feel shameless when I say I pick up and play the Sonic/Shadow levels in SA2:B often.

JSRF/JGR is great too. VF4: Evo. PSO Episode 3 sometimes.

 

[Miburou]

Ridge Racer V: I'm still playing it 4 years after launch. I can just pick a car, a track and a song and race around for an hour.

GTA 3 & GTA VC: not the main quests, but rather causing mayhem and raising your wanted level and just messing around is a lot of fun.

 

[SolidSnakex]

GTA3/VC. I can pick these games up and spend hours driving around the city finding things to do. Basically the first games I think of when it comes to pick up and play.

 

[Insertia]

GTA3.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

Shit, yeah I forgot GTA3. So much fun to be had in that game.

 

[aoi tsuki]

Wario Ware. Seriously, i've gotten three people at work to either get this game or the game and a GBA because of the simple, yet addictive games. It's one of the few games i can play for a few minutes and put down, including the time it takes to power up and start the game.

 

[={<SMOKE>}=]

donkey konga followed closely by street fighter anniversay collection.

 

[jedimike]

Pick up and play... I guess means games you can play for 5 minutes or 5 hours and not a lot of controls to memorize.

Burnout 3 is great. It only takes a few minutes to do a crash. It's really the only one I can think of right now.

I was going to say Kung Fu Chaos, but there is some control memorization... Oh, Fuzion Frenzy fits the bill perfectly. Quick and easy.

 

[DSN2K]

SSXtricky

 

[shpankey]

Outrun 2

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Dynasty Warriors - No thinking, just slashing.

Amplitude - I loved the music change...FREEZEPOP!

SSX3 - Better in many ways than the Tony Hawk series for this, though THUG 2 has some honest to goodness virtues for "pick up and play" including classic mode and a great soundtrack. I'm not very good at it anymore though

ESPN NBA 2k5 - 24/7 mode. Crack-like whenever the mood strikes me.

DOA 3

Halo. Such a joy to play through favorite parts.

 

[seismologist]

Pure Pinball
Outrun 2

 

[MrAngryFace]

Guilty Gear XX Reload
Dynasty Warriors 4

 

[Trevelyon]

Super Smash Bros. Melee by leaps & bounds.

 

[Drinky Crow]

Gradius V
Dynasty Warriors 4 and/or Empires
Hot Shots Golf Fore!
GGXX #Reload
VF4 Evo

 

[miyuru]

Timesplitters 2 for the Arcade League!

 

[Prince of Space]

Katamari Damacy

Wario Ware

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Frag-Ops: A UT2004 Conversion
SOCOM II - Best online game for consoles!
Star Wars Galaxies - It is so fun looking for rare pets or getting buffed and doing some Janta/Mokk missions on Dant.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Wario Ware

 

[Hurricane_Chris]

Mawaru: Made in Wario
Animal Crossing

 

[Lazy8s]

Crazy Taxi is crack.

OutRun 2 and Rez get honorable mentions. The Box Game in Panzer Dragoon Orta can also be addictive. Soul Calibur is always fun. And even though NiGHTS and Saturn Bomberman were last generation, they're still played quite a lot.

 

[captainbiotch]

counter-strike - tactical arcade gameplay, and killing.
pgr2 - slick skillful racing.
wario ware - twitch nintendo gaming bliss.
soul calibur 2 - beating down the computer with nightmare or asteroth.
pokemon - obligitory level grinding.
and lately...
joust/robotron (midway arcade collection gba) - pure old school gameplay.

 

[Ronin]

Gitaroo Man
Crazy Taxi
Super Smash Bros. Melee
THPS/THUG
Wario Ware

 

[Bristow]

Wario Ware (probably the best pick up and play title)
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Monkey Ball
Animal Crossing
Donkey Konga

 

[Quadrophenic]

Advance Wars 1 or 2

 

[aoi tsuki]

i know this is going to open up a can of worms here, but there's a lot of games here i wouldn't consider pick-up-and-play. My definition is a game that anyone, who's even mildly familiar with the concept of pushing a button to make an onscreen action occur can play.

Therefore, Wario Ware, Super Monkey Ball, qualify. WW is a no-brainer, most games involve the D-pad and a button, so it's really down to reflexes and comprehension of what's required. SMB uses only the D-pad, albeit in an analog fashion. But once you get that simple gameplay mechanic down, it's easy to get into the game. And various challenges like stage designs and obstacles are presented in an incremental fashion, so you

By that simple rule, Halo does not apply. Ditto for Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game that requires attention to analog control in combination with to pull off moves correctly, and the understanding of a number of items and enemies to play.

When i think of pick-up-and-play, i instantly think of Nintendo, who pretty much nailed the formula for these games with the Game and Watch and the NES. See Also: Wario Ware.