Top 5 Favorite FRC Games

FIRST General Forum
21
  1. Stronghold
  2. Rapid React
  3. Aerial Assist
  4. Destination Deep Space
  5. Aim High
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22

You simply could have removed the two oldest games. Not doing so gives us the impression that you might have a special (and incorrect) opinion on whether or not lunacy was a perfect FRC game.

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23

I feel like the general consensus from the people I talk to are that no matter how ‘bad’ the games are, the whole experience is a blast anyway.

I don’t know, I’ve only played Rapid React. And these couple of months were the best I’ve ever had. We may have lost really badly at TXCMP but I loved it anyway.

1 Like
24
  1. Ultimate Assent
  2. Rapid React
  3. FIRST Frenzy
  4. Rebound Rumble
  5. Triple Play

I know people love 2006 and 2014 but i found 06 boring from day 1. It was only exciting because it was the first true shooting game, but the game never really developed deep strategy and at the highest level of play it didn’t get better.

14 was soo boring to watch for the most part. Auto was fun to watch when you had 2 teams going against each other and playing the guessing game. But again match strategy was straight forward and the game didn’t really evolve or get better as time went on. I felt there were maybe 2-3 robots worth watching the entire year, robot design convergence was huge, and any game where a team can literally sit there and not really participate and just have the game piece thrown at your robot it bounce back to the HP and then repeat 15-20 seconds later doesn’t have good design or rules.

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25

For me its:

  1. Rapid React
  2. Ultimate Ascent
  3. Aerial Assist
  4. Power Up
  5. Logo Motion
1 Like
26

No recycle rush, sad

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27

Aerial Assist (best robot interaction game ever)
Stronghold (great theme and robot game play)
Power up (loved the time based scoring)
Infinite Recharge (just loved the game play and the trench run. I always wanted to fly an x-wing through the Deathstar trenches.)
Rack-n-roll (my first game. sentimental pick)

1 Like
28
  1. Ultimate Ascent
  2. Stronghold
  3. Rapid React
  4. Power Up
  5. Aerial Assist

2012 would make the list without the coop bridge and 2005 would probably make it with today’s technology. My opinion has also gone done on 2014 recently, rewatching matches and remembering how trivial it was to get the ‘bounce assist’ at offseasons.

1 Like
29
  1. Deep Space*
  2. Ariel Assist
  3. Rapid React*
  4. Steamworks
  5. Overdrive

*I was a part of these games

30
  1. Ultimate Ascent - I would say this was a marvel of game design is the best design ever. It is the only game ever where there are several meaningfully different strategies and designs that were viable.
  2. Rapid React - Benefits a lot from recency and context, but it was generally great to play and worked for spectators.
  3. Aim High - Definitely biased by nostalgia but I like it as the only ball launching game without game piece limits.
  4. Triple Play - Benefits from nostalgia and also a genuine appreciation of the complexity of the gameplay.
  5. Lunacy - People will say this game is borderline unwatchable, generated a bunch of miserable technical issues for teams, and had way too much human player interaction. And to those people I will say, you are correct. But Lunacy is among the most accessible games ever made and I found the game is actually fun to play. This is the game I would love to revisit more than any other.
3 Likes
31

My profile picture shows my Number 1.

32

If Lunacy was on the poll it would have been my vote. I wasn’t there for it (or most of the challenges on the poll since Rapid React is my rookie year) but it’s such a cool challenge in so many ways. I also think Ramp N Roll (1995) and Double Trouble (1999) were cool too, although I understand why they weren’t on the list. Ramp N Roll had a really unique field, Double Trouble had an interesting game piece and the goals (pucks) moved, and Lunacy paired low-friction field with basically chasing the other bots to score! I can’t wait to see what games FIRST comes up with in the future.

1 Like
33

I would have voted for Recycle Rush. It was my most fun season as a designer and machinist, even though our robot wasn’t super competitive until the offseason.

Yeah it wasn’t fun to watch any matches before elims, and the ranking system was bad, but for that thin sliver of matches where the cans went both ways and everyone in the field was good, it was an impressive showing.

254s match in SVR Qual 88 that year was my favorite: https://youtu.be/0AeAlPZG-68
They were against the 2nd, 7th, and 11th seeds if I remember correctly.

3 Likes
34

Ok, I have to ask, are we all just memeing on 2014 being amazing? What metrics do people use for their favorite games?

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35

While not exactly imperical, I have a couple criteria. A good game should

  • be easily explainable to someone not familiar with FRC. 2018 was great for this, 2019 was not.
  • be playable by all levels of teams
  • be exciting to watch from week 1 quals to Einsteins
  • have multiple viable robot designs. 2022 climb is a good example, 2018 cube scoring is a bad example.
  • have “good” field layout. This one is pretty subjective, but I never liked 2019 for scouting, spectating, or driving for it’s obtrusive field elements. this is something I miss from 2014 era games.
3 Likes
36

  1. Rapid React '22- Simplicity works. By far the best game in the FRC-as-a-sport category. The more stripped down concept also had the effect of even the most mid-tier caliber matches exiting. Gameplay at anywhere between regional quals and Einstein finals was just total bliss.

  2. Power Up '18- What I love most about this game it that any spectator, regardless of their involvement in FRC will understand the point of the game and the scoring (this is why I’m not a fan of 2014 btw). Usually paired with that aspect is the fact that this game was a strategic treat. More than almost any other game, match strategy could make up for an (on paper) weaker alliance. Also, even at low levels of play, the battle of the switches was fun to watch.

  3. Ultimate Ascent '13- The game piece was fresh and exiting, the matches were fun to watch, and the endgame was crazy. The varying designs of the robots to fill different strategic roles on an alliance was also something this game has on its side more than most other games (ie there wasn’t one perfect robot concept).

  4. Rebound Rumble '12- Again, this game is just easy to understand for those in and out of FRC. Endgame concept was unique and cool as well. The only thing that keeps infinite recharge out of this spot is the color wheel, which was an over complicated and annoying game mechanic. CC Infinite recharge would have this spot if we were allowed to pick that.

  5. Arial Assist '14- just because its a bit difficult to understand at times doesn’t mean this game sucks. At high levels this game was some of the best competitive robotics on the planet. At low levels, its a no-go, but the strategic depth and amazing game play of high caliber teams is a treat to watch.

4 Likes
37
  1. recycle rush
  2. aerial assist
    3.ultimate ascent
  3. power up
  4. triple play
  5. lunacy
    cant beleive you left them out :frowning:
38
  1. Rapid React
  2. Aerial Assist
  3. Ultimate Ascent
  4. Stronghold
  5. Destination Deep Space

I highly value games where there is a high emphasis on floor-pickup and lots of room for strategy. Rapid React was in my opinion one of the best games in recent memory for strategy with cargo hoarding and defense.

I also value open fields.

I did not choose anything before 2012 because that was my rookie year.

1 Like
39

I’m so glad Aerial Assist is getting the respect it deserves. Those Einstein finals are unbeaten.

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40

Aerial assist was amazing because of the scoring mechanism. With only 1 ball per side, and scoring coming in ‘chunks’, the lead would see-saw back and forth in every match that wasn’t one sided.

This is in direct contradiction to games like ‘power up’ where the rich get richer at a rate that makes the game uninteresting (and difficult to watch, because scoring individual cubes just weren’t that valuable).

To a lesser degree, games like this years and 2013 that are fast scoring are neat, but you really can’t keep tracking of who is winning and losing without staring at the scoreboard. That takes away a lot of the excitement factor.

Overdrive was another example of a game that (played well) see-sawed back and forth. If that game was played again now, I think it would quickly move into one of the higher ranked and more liked games.

10 Likes