 The 90s were all about bigger, faster, stronger, more intense, more colors, more sprites, more everything. So if you wanted to just sit down with a game and chill out for a while, you didn't have too many options. But they are out there, so I thought I'd make a quick video about a few games that come close to fitting that criteria. So here's a list of relaxing low-stress games that you can just sit back and have a beer while playing. I understand that something like this is gonna be entirely subjective, so I'll just throw out my suggestions here. Feel free to disagree and call me a monkey's uncle or whatever and throw your own suggestions out there as well. The most obvious pick is Harvest Moon. It's a game where you build, maintain, and organize a farm. In real life, that's really hard work, but in video game form, it's low stress and relaxing. There's no combat, no enemies to worry about. You just take care of livestock, go fishing, go finding items, and, you know, farm. Sure, there is the goofy relationship side quest, but for the purposes of this video, that's just in the way and not at all necessary. And hey, if you think this game is a little too dated, there's always Stardew Valley, which is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. And of course, there's also SimCity, and this is another case of a game where the mechanics are pretty dated and have been made much better and more user friendly in later iterations, but the original Super Nintendo port is still such an easy-going playthrough. You build your town however you want, and you just hang out and watch your town develop, all while listening to this soothing soundtrack. Yeah, SimCity may be a bit dated, but it doesn't matter because the overall vibe here is so well executed. Another Sim game that's a pretty laid-back playthrough is SimAunt. Yeah, it's a bit of a goofy premise. You're an ant and you have to build a colony to take over this guy's yard and drive him out of the house. You fight red ants for territory and for food, but it's not exactly contra-three level carnage here. SimAunt is just an oddball unique game that's almost got a happy-go-lucky vibe to it. I mean, there's this huge encyclopedic section all about ants in here. It's actually kinda cool. So yeah, this is an unexpectedly pleasant playthrough. Of course, there's gonna be a bunch of single-screen puzzle games here, and I'll start with Mario Super Picross for Super Famicom. This one never left Japan, although its predecessor, Mario's Picross, was released for Game Boy in North America. This is pretty much the same thing. You use a chisel and hammer to reveal pictures, and you use the clues provided on the edges of the grid. The numbers there show how many squares go in each row or column. It's kinda like Minesweeper in a way. Only instead of bombs, there's a time limit. Hit the wrong square, and you lose two minutes. Hit another wrong one, and it's four minutes, and so on. The time limit may seem stressful, but it's not at all. This is a classic case of a game that's easy for anyone to play, but it can be tough to master. That sentiment also applies to Tetris Attack. This game can get a bit intense, especially in versus mode, but man, you just can't beat that relaxing music. Also, the story mode playthrough that stars Yoshi is definitely doable. It can get challenging, but again, the presentation here is what makes this game like taking a Xanax. Another single screen puzzle game is Busta Move. Just shoot bubbles and match colors, shoot groups further up to create a cascading effect that gives you more points and speeds the game up a bit. Again, two player versus can get Harry, but the single player campaign is pretty laid back. I could probably just list every Super Nintendo puzzle game, but I'll finish that category with another game that never left Japan, Kuan Pa. You're a colored block, rolling around a grid, matching colors. This is kind of the inspiration for this video because I keep coming back to this one when I'm burnt out. There's something satisfying about being able to just shut your mind off and roll a block around and hear the cool sound effect when you match something. Moving on, there's Arkanoid Do It Again. And I guess this is kind of a puzzle game in a roundabout way. It's pretty much just breakout, but with enemies appearing in an occasional boss fight. I know I've praised the music in other games in this video so far, but I really like that this one doesn't have any music. There's something so peaceful about just hearing the sound effects echo. It's also worth mentioning that this one is compatible with the Super Nintendo mouse. When you talk about low stress activities, of course, there's fishing, but 16-bit fishing games really aren't that great. One that's at least decent, though, is Bassin's Black Bass with Hank Parker. There's some strategy here with picking lures, finding the right fish for the right part of the lake, and you learn that each fish fights differently when caught. I admit there's not much about the gameplay itself that's all that peaceful or relaxing or whatever, but hey, it's fishing. Fishing is great, and this is the best fishing game on the Super Nintendo, so I gotta point it out. Another odd choice you might not think of is the video game adaptation of Clue. I don't play that many board game video games, so I don't know how well these usually turn out, but this one is enjoyable. Just like the board game, the goal is to find out who killed Mr. Boddy, where, and what weapon they used, and the verdict is different every time. It works with up to six different players, although, you know, you'd have to have everyone look away at certain times, which is kind of silly, but still, Clue isn't a bad way to kill 30 minutes. Casino games are in a similar boat. I mean, you're just playing poker and blackjack and slot machines without much variation or without much else going on at all. Vegas Stakes tried something different, though. You show up in Las Vegas with four of your friends, there's five different casinos you can go to, and you run into all sorts of different characters that can either help you or rip you off. Best of all, Vegas Stakes has a really laid back atmosphere to it, so if this seems like it could be up your alley, it's well worth checking out. Some of you, okay, maybe a lot of you probably think golf is boring, but as a big golf dork, I've always loved golf games. Unfortunately, it's slim pickings on the Super Nintendo, but the best of the bunch is arguably the original PGA Tour Golf, not to be confused with European Tour or PGA96. This is the better game on Super Nintendo anyway. There's multiple courses to play. It's a three-click swing system, and it's a quickly paced game without a ton of loading time. I always thought this was a good beer drinking game, although, to be honest, it's probably better played on Psygogenesis. Here's kind of a weird one that I used to do when I was a kid. When I was sick of all my other games, but was too restless to go do anything else, I'd play NHL 96. Not a regular game, though. I'd go into practice mode and switch the options, so it's just one-on-one. There's just something very serene about one-on-one hockey, especially when you play against Tampa, and the goaltender is Darren Pupa, who for whatever reason is absolutely terrible in this game. But yeah, I really enjoy being able to use this option. Alright, I guess I should get back to more traditional stuff like pilot wings. This game can definitely get stressful the further you progress, but in the meantime, for the first few levels at least, this one is another great beer drinking game. Not that you should ever drink and fly, of course, but this is another game that has just a calming vibe to it, from the music to the presentation to just fly on a plane around, or even jumping out of a plane. Another one of my favorites over the years I've done this channel is Del Ramey Fantasy, and that's because it's such an easygoing platformer. Sure, there's great games like Mario World and Donkey Kong Country and the like, those high-velocity platformers that demand perfection, born of pattern recognition and flawless timing, but Del Ramey Fantasy isn't really like that, while still remaining a great pure platformer. The overall pacing of this one just hits the perfect note, and the music really helps the atmosphere as well. This is definitely one worth checking out if you haven't. It only came out for Super Famicom, but it is English friendly. Finally, I'll finish off with Might and Magic 3, Isles of Terra. Wait, what? Yeah, this might be a PC port of a first-person dungeon crawler, which is always dicey, and of course you're better off playing it on PC, but it's actually a reasonably good game on Super Nintendo, and what surprises me the most about it is how calming this game is. Right away in the first town you get this soothing music while these blue colors just wash over you. Some might consider the pacing here to be too slow, but I think it's just right, especially for the purposes of this video. Alright, that's all for now. I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.