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DarkbeatDK

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Top 10 AMERICAN games (A 4th of July special)

I'm from Denmark and American culture has attributed to a lot of my life growing up in the 80's. We used to be glued to our TVs, watching shows and movies about all the cool stuff the American kids had and the massive houses they lived in. Movies were all about living the American Dream: Working hard and going places.

I still get nostalgic when I think back on those days, before we all grew up to be cynical adults and American culture got turned into this massively ironic parody, where it seems like the only people left who really believes in America are either treated as hillbillies or soldiers. We see a lot of this games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, but what are some games that offer genuine appreciation for America?

Here's my top 10 and here's the soundtrack:

List items

  • Like Saints Row IV, you take the role as the President of these great United States of America, this time played completely straight. Rather than fighting a foreign threat, you have to save America from itself as the vice president performs a coup d'tat and seizes power. Despite being fully English voiced, this never made it out in America and can only be played on the Japanese Xbox.

  • In my opinion, many of the best games ever created are Japanese games based on American cinema and it doesn't get much more American than the Rocky inspired Punch-Out!! series.

    As the underdog Little Mac, you get to go up against the greatest from around the world, occasionally going for a New York run before facing off against one of the greatest American athletes: Mike Tyson, which you must defeat to absorb his America powers and become the ultimate american dream!

  • OutRun has always been about driving a fast sportscar from A to B (or C or D or another ending), but Coast 2 Coast is all about driving through the country that offers the most diverse and exciting scenery: America! Unlike Ubisoft snorefest "The Crew" you get all things you want to see in OutRun and not all the boring fields and factory areas that nobody cares about.

  • Saints Row IV might intentionally go overboard on the American patriotism, but remains incredibly self-aware, playing up to all the traits we all find incredibly corny about being overtly American.

  • From my home country comes Freedom Fighters. In a game heavily inspired by the 80's film classic Red Dawn, a couple of hardworking plumbers end up becoming hardworking freedom fighters fighting off Russian invaders. The simple tactical gameplay still holds up today and it's a little baffling that nobody has yet to create a game with similar mechanics.

  • Ninja were all the rage in the 80's, but Data East reminded us all who was badder than ninja: American Dudes! What objective could possibly be more important than saving the presidents daughter? That's right; saving the president himself and getting a cheeseburger afterwards!

  • In this rather obscure NARC clone for MS Dos, you're not only fighting the war on drugs, but also saving the presidents daughter. It's hardly the first game about saving the presidents daughter, but she IS insanely hot in this one. Also; Winners Don't Use Drugs

  • From the minute you start out on your bike in New York, it's all about beating up thugs and getting to the top. It was the American Dream for a kid like me to clean up those Brooklyn streets to the latest rap sound... Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't even let me take break-dancing classes.

  • Two movies that got me interested in the stock exchange as a kid was "Trading Places" and "Wall Street". Having a sharp wit a large mansion and lots of money seemed like the American ideal back then, but once you grow up and see how those money are earned on the backs of the working class, the narrative becomes a bit more grim.

  • While you can track pinball way back to the late 1700's, modern pinball is pretty much an American invention. Top that off with another star-spangled layer of fun and you get Patriotic Pinball for the PlayStation 1. Okay, so it's kinda bad, but it's heart is in the right place with it's two tables: One about the Armed forces and one about going on a cross-country road trip.
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