Gour, you fascinate me, man. Where do you find the time to be an expert/well-versed on every topic brought up on RCF?
It's funny, but I consider myself an expert on very few things (certain areas of science and math are the only two).
But video games.. well. I used to own a video game store in Cleveland Heights. We had tournaments regularly; one of which was called King of Games which was focused on single player games or single player portions of multiplayer games.
KoG tourneys were basically old school speedruns, with preset conditions.
We also had regular Halo 2, among other, tournaments, so this was literally day to day life for me for almost two years.
Games I consider myself to be able to compete, but not necessarily win (there are some really great speedrunners online) with basically anyone would be:
I bolded those games where I feel I would have a strong advantage in almost any random encounter.
1) Mario 1,2,3, SMW
2) Yoshi's Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon
3) Sonic 1,2,3 & Knuckles
4) Ninja Gaiden 1,2,3 NES
5) Kid Chameleon
6) Double Dragon 1,2,
3
7) Bad Dudes
8) TMNT: Hyperstone and Turtles in Time
9) Metal Slug 1,2,3
10) Ikaruga
11) Radiant Silvergun
12) Metroid
13) Zelda 1,
2,3
14) Castlevania (all NES)
15) Super Castlevania
16) Castlevania - Dracula X (Turbo Duo)
17) Bonk's Adventure
18)
Ghostbusters SMS &
Genesis
19) Phantasy Star I & IV
20) Final Fantasy I, IV, VI,
VII, VIII, X, & XII
21) Chrono Trigger
22) Chrono Cross
23) Star Ocean I-III
24) Xenogears
25) PSO
26) Halo 2, ODST, Halo Wars
27) Doom 3
28) Strider (including PSX version)
29) Mirror's Edge
30) Street Fighter (any and all, and at the
highest levels of competitive play).