If you're a fan of the competitive gaming scene, you definitely know about Twitch.tv. Twitch.tv spawned from Justin.tv in realization of what a huge niche gaming is in the streaming community. Watching people stream games is entertaining. If you're up at the weirdest hours (like I am), it's an interactive and live source of entertainment that makes you feel involved in the experience.

There are certain games that you'd imagine are watched the most on Twitch: League of Legends, StarCraft II, Dota 2, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, etc. Though they may be the most popular, there is a lot more to watch. Let's look at gaming as a spectator sport, and I'll share with you four of my favorite not-so-popular games to be watched on Twitch.

Super Mario 64

Of all games in the Mario series, I think that Super Mario 64 is probably the most watchable and entertaining.

Super Mario 64 is a game beloved by the speedrunning community. By nature, it fits the mold for being a perfect game to competitively run in a single-player format. If you had a Nintendo 64, you probably owned this game. It's one of the best 3D platformers of all-time, and it took the Mario series to the next level.

On Twitch, you can find casual plays and world record attempts. Most people who speedrun the game go through a full 120-star completion, but there are also 70 and 16-star runs. Watching a casual stream is an immediate hit of nostalgia. Watching the competitive speedruns of this game will blow your mind and make you feel like a fool for spending 30 hours beating it.

I Wanna Be The Guy

There are so many reasons to love I Wanna Be The Guy. And then, there are even more reasons to hate it.

You're probably in the majority if you've never heard of this game. As the title suggests, I Wanna Be the Guy: The Movie: The Game is the kind of game that seems hard to take seriously at first. Then you start playing, and you realize it isn't exactly a joke. This is by far one of the hardest games I've ever played in my life. Not hard because it requires an insane amount of skill. Hard because of how unorthodox and torturing the gameplay is.

The game is awesome because it's designed to an 8-bit style and mimics so many classic games that we all know and love. These would include The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, Mega Man, Metroid, and more. The entire game is a parody of some of our favorite 8-bit and 16-bit games.

Why should you watch someone else play this game? For me, that's simple. I'm not good at it. I can't see the majority of the game because it's so excruciatingly difficult. It's so much more enjoyable to see someone else suffer through it, or to see one of the game's few masters pass an insane level that I've failed hundreds of times.

Final Fantasy VII

Now is the perfect time for me to go on about how much I love this game.

I've talked about this game here on MUO quite often. When Square-Enix re-released this game on the PC several months ago, I was all over it. Just a few days ago, on the 4th of July, Final Fantasy VII actually came to Steam! That's a huge audience of new gamers who are going to get to experience a game that came out more than 15 years ago. Hopefully these new players will be up to stream their experience, because I'd love to see a first-time run through the game.

Final Fantasy VII might be my favorite game ever, but I've come to realize that I might even enjoy listening to the game's soundtrack or watching others play the game more than I enjoy playing it myself. The storyline and the pace is perfect for a lazy, late-night watch. It took me beating the game once and watching several streamers play through the game before I felt like I had absorbed the full experience and understood and accepted the story behind the game, so I really appreciate that others are willing to stream the game for viewers.

Most notable of FF7 streamers on Twitch is the current world record holder, CarNage64. This guy is crazy about FF7. His current world record is just a little over eight hours in time, and he still plays this game every other night. That's eight hours, playing the same game, every night for you and I to enjoy. He always interacts with his chat and watching him play through the game means you're watching the best FF7 player in the world. He even does a "blind" playthrough, where he covers his screen and plays the entire game lead by the direction of his Twitch stream chat. He's really worth checking out.

Banjo-Kazooie

Just like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie is another of the all-time best platformers that happens to have been on the Nintendo 64. Still today, it's played by Twitch streamers.

As a former player and now a viewer, there is a lot to appreciate about Banjo-Kazooie. The first thing I'm able to notice so many years later is the soundtrack. It is one of the most awesome and underrated of any game I've heard. The entire atmosphere of the game is incredibly bright and lively, and it's just a game that will make you smile. It's one of the more unique platformers, and it added lots of depth to the genre.

Twitch is home to many of the Banjoe-Kazooie speedrunners. Platformers are definitely the best type of game for the speedrun format, and the state of the Banjo-Kazooie speedrun is extremely competitive right now. There are world record attempts made every week. There are also 100% completion runs, if you're interested in all those Jinjos, Mumbos, and other goodies.

Conclusion

Just take a look through the Twitch.tv Directory when you've got some time. Don't think that streaming is limited to the most popular titles. Every day, there's several games that are on the rise because a popular streamer or speedrunner is giving them some love. Thanks to the power of emulators, you'll be able to again enjoy some of your favorite SNES, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and other console games.

Do you have any memories or stories about the four games on my list? What are some of your favorite games to watch on Twitch streams? Let me know in the comments section below!