There are a lot of celebrity deaths that barely even register in my mind, but losing Robin Williams is a shame. He was funny and talented… and unusual in that he wasn’t among those in the media who would slam our hobby, but instead supported and celebrated it. Some of the stories linked have mentioned the Williams family wants to be left alone right now, but some of us (Soviet, among others) have pondered ways to remember him. I think watching one of his films or playing a game he liked would be fitting, with a partial list of both below.
Films on Netflix: He had a variety of work beyond what’s listed here (Aladdin, for example), these are just what I could find for immediate viewing.
Popeye
Hook
Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The
Jumanji
Birdcage, The
Get Bruce! (Documentary, primarily about Bruce Vilanch but Williams does appear in it)
Anything after this point in his career tends to be less common; after about the 12th ‘not on Netflix’ result in his filmography from 2001-onward I presumed most of the rest of his later works aren’t on there either. Even outside of that, there are some major gaps (no Aladdin, no Mork & Mindy episodes, etc.) on the service. Still, there are a few decent choices in there as it is.
Video Games/Tabletop Games he (definitely or likely) Enjoyed: Mr. Williams was pretty open about enjoying games. The following were checked against a list of interviews linked from his Wikipedia entry and seem to be legit. Since some of them are a little hard to find today, I’ll also try to list places you might be able to get them.
Legend of Zelda, The (series) (various Nintendo platforms) - He was an ongoing fan of the series, and even did commercial work for Ocarina of Time 3DS as late as 2011. Virtually any game in it would be appropriate.
Wizardry (PC series) - Steam has several installments of this series available. GOG might also have it; I can’t immediately get on their website to check.
Half-Life 1 (Multiple systems, most known as a PC game) and assorted mods - Robin Williams seemed to enjoy various FPS titles too. He not only played HL1, but also mods for it (such as Day of Defeat) and spoke highly of the creative teams involved. Black Mesa (free fan remake) would probably be an acceptable substitute if you can’t immediately find the original Half-Life.
FPS in general - He seemed to like a mix; classics like HL1 are obvious, but he went for more contemporary ‘military-themed’ FPS too.
‘God Games’ in general - Mr. Williams did presentations on Spore, and was at least aware of Populous and Black & White.
Warcraft 3 - One supposes other RTS titles would be fine too.
Final Fight 1 (Capcom, originally an arcade release but available through Virtual Console, XBLA, etc. ports today) - Speculative; it isn’t proven that his naming Cody Williams has anything to do with this game, but since he named Zelda Williams after the Zelda series and loved a variety of games it isn’t totally far-fetched.
Smash Bros. (Series, various Nintendo systems) - By association; Zelda Williams reportedly likes it. It’s not immediately clear how direct a link Robin Williams had to Smash, though.
Dungeons & Dragons (Tabletop RPG franchise) - He played it at least as recently as 2006, which would coincide with the “3.5 Edition”; I suspect 3.0, 3.5, Pathfinder, 4th Edition, or even playtest-format 5th Edition would be relatively in line with his interests.
