Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Hill
This includes not only high levels of play, but at the regional qualifying rounds as well. This is mostly a ranking on what games were most fun not only to participate in, but to watch as well.
My top 5 would have to be in this order:
1. 2013 (Ultimate Ascent)
2. 2012 (Rebound Rumble)
3. 2016 (FIRST Stronghold)
4. 2006 (Aim High)
5. 2004 (FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar)
*Node: My active FRC years include 2004-2007 and 2012-Present
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I don't think you missed too much from 2008 through 2011; Overdrive was fun but not GOAT status, Lunacy was a fun design challenge but imperfect as a game, Breakaway was a snoozer and every robot other than 469's looked the same, and LogoMotion was an improvement over the two prior but still imbalanced.
Coming into this year, my personal #1 remained Aim High, because it had a fantastic autonomous period, no possession limits (which I think makes the design challenge more interesting) and while the game was skewed enough towards offense to let you
just light up the goals it did it with relatively few rules to protect teams (mainly, the backbot rule and the usual no-damaging stuff). Sure, the endgame wasn't much to phone home about compared to the other three on your list--but I was willing to overlook that one.
My #2 was FIRST Frenzy, because it packed perhaps the most diverse group of competitive robots on the field we've ever seen. The ball dumps added excitement, the scoring was balanced perfectly, and really the main knocks were that few played the straight autonomous game and it did rely heavily on human players.
#3? Rebound Rumble. It's always a dogfight between it and Ultimate Ascent because they're so similar, but I think this one had the better endgame (more risk-vs-reward) and the game piece recycling kept kept it lively (where the high levels of play saw lots of bounce-outs the following year.)
#4: Ultimate Ascent, for all the reasons above.
#5: Many old-timers (and I mean older-than-me-timers here) swear by 2000's game, Coopertition FIRST. From the videos I've seen on YouTube, it also had that great balance across the board between balls and the central ramp/bar. It would be an interesting game to play with today's hardware; remember that there was no autonomous mode until 2003.
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So, where does Stronghold fall? I don't want to judge until I see Einstein and IRI, but it's got a great shot of being my new #2. The autonomous action is exciting (if not interactive, but I've resigned myself to FIRST not doing that anymore), the set of effective robots is diverse (maybe a touch less at the top than 2004, but 2004 also had a lot more BLTs as the last of the pre-Kitbot era), and there's just constant action to be able to achieve the breach and capture. It's easy to tell who's ahead and behind in the game (generally, who has more lights on?), and I really think they nailed the look of the game as a kicker. I'm hoping the highest levels of play prove me right on this one.