Let’s discuss Cousin Video games – Polygon

Are you ordinary, or are you a Cousin Gamer?
by Patrick Gill
I’ve a reputation for the forgotten, forgettable, off-brand, off-axis video games of our youth. I name them: Cousin Video games.
One of the simplest ways to get within the Cousin Recreation mindset is to think about being dropped off in a home that smells totally different from the way you assume a home is meant to odor and also you go right into a room with a man who’s like a bizarre model of you, and he’s taking part in Nintendo — which you perceive — however while you take a look at the display, it’s like… What’s that?… What the hell is that?
(It’s Iggy’s Wreckin’ Balls.)
A Cousin Recreation is a sport you don’t personal, and don’t essentially need to personal. However “Cousin Recreation” just isn’t a euphemism for “unhealthy sport.” There are many unhealthy video games that aren’t cousin video games.
Right here’s a fast record of Cousin Video games:
Cousin Video games aren’t “normie” video games. Madden just isn’t a Cousin Recreation. It’s only a sport your cousin performs. That is true for many sports activities video games, however not at all times true in excessive sports activities and motorsport.
Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater just isn’t a Cousin Recreation, however Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 is. AirBlade is a Cousin Recreation.
A sport with Spider-Man in it has a 75 % likelihood of being a Cousin Recreation. Eighty % for Wolverine. Ninety % for Taz.
Generally, licensed tie-in video games have the next likelihood of being Cousin Video games.
First and third-party mascot video games are hardly ever Cousin Video games, however there are numerous exceptions within the Sonic franchise. First-party Nintendo video games are by no means Cousin Video games. Apart from Geist, which is certainly a Cousin Recreation.
PC video games may be Cousin Video games, however are way more more likely to be Uncle Video games, which we don’t have time to get into.
The Cousin Recreation is outlined by a thriller. How did this sport come to be on this wrong-smelling home? Was it a present from a guardian, plucked arbitrarily from a Babbage’s shelf? Or did your cousin imagine in BattleTanx 2? Do they nonetheless consider it fondly right now? Is it as candy and acquainted of their reminiscence as it’s unusual in yours?
And if you happen to see any of the video games talked about right here and stated, “that’s not a Cousin Recreation,” you might have to think about the troubling risk that you are the cousin. Assist is offered.
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