Which Games Were Just The Perfect Length?
We’ve all watched films that could have stood to lose 30 minutes from their runtime. That whole last act of Bad Boys II? Should’ve been left on the cutting room floor, mate. It’s the same with many a game. Alien: Isolation is fantastic, but how much better might it have been with a little tightening, to remove some flab in the middle?
Our video producer Felix-from-Nintendo-Life — yes, that’s his legal name now, for sure — has explored a good handful of the games that, for him, had the absolute perfect runtime. Not too short and, crucially, not too long, the games he looks at in the video above struck the perfect Goldilocks balance.
Inspired by his musings, we on the editorial side of Team Nintendo Life have been thinking about games that we believe stuck around for just the right amount of time — plus some to which we wish someone had taken a pair of scissors. Feel free to let us know your thoughts and nominations in the comments!
Gavin Lane, editor
Apologies for starting this off in the most vanilla way possible, but Portal is right up there, isn’t it? Valve gets in, lays the foundations in the most entertaining way imaginable, exploits every avenue and puzzle gimmick, lets you have a little play around, and then gets out. You’re left feeling immensely satisfied, with both the smile on your face and your ol’ grey matter having been stretched over a few short hours.
On the other hand, Paper Mario: The Origami King just wouldn’t stop. To be fair, it wasn’t the story’s fault, but the game’s battle system, which felt more perfunctory than ever. I’ve said it before — I would have loved an option to strip out the battles on that one, because the characters, the interactions, and the world itself were fantastic. It’s not an enormous game, but I just wanted it to end.
Alana Hagues, deputy editor
I struggled with this initially because RPGs are my favourite genre, but so many of them waste a lot of time. But then I realised that the answer is so obvious — Chrono Trigger. That’s a game that goes down so smoothly every time I replay it. It doesn’t waste a second of its playtime, you don’t need to grind, and it’s just a delightful adventure. More recently, I think indies have been carrying this torch — A Short Hike, for example, is not only short, but it’s perfect. It’s a game that knows what it’s trying to do and just does it, no questions asked.
My go-to game for the opposite end of this scale is Okami. Okami is beautiful, stunning, and fun, but I’ve never totally gelled with it outside of the aesthetics and paintbrush mechanics. It’s also about 10 hours too long. The Ark of Yamato is a cool idea, but refighting basically every boss right at the end just felt like a chore. Sorry, Okami fans — I respect this game a lot, I promise.
Jim Norman, staff writer
Okay, I’ll bang the Outer Wilds drum again. That’s a game where it being the perfect length is kinda the whole point, right? I’ve said too much. If you haven’t played Outer Wilds yet, you should play Outer Wilds.
In less spoiler-laden picks, I’ll throw Minit in there, too. It’s a bite-sized little game, I’ll admit, but the ~two-hour playtime left me beaming. Any longer and that tight time loop would have started to grate on me. Probably.
Please don’t hurt me for putting Sea of Stars at the opposite end of the spectrum. It was one of my games of the year last year, but I couldn’t help feeling like it outstayed its welcome just a little in its later acts. I’ll definitely play this one again down the line, but I do wonder whether it will be left half-finished next time.
Agree with those? Pretty safe bets, all around. Got some better candidates? Let us know your personal picks below.