If you play a single game of simon until the battery runs out, do you win?

Papers Please is a great example where the entire game is both a tutorial and a difficulty ramp. As the game progresses you are gradually, day by day introduced to new UI elements which each add a new function to the game and new challenge.

The game is constantly teaching you how to use the new elements while simultaneously adding more for the player to process and stay on top of. It's not actually a hard game but it feels hard throughout. The player always feels like they are just barely on top of the challenge while never burying the player.

A truly excellent example of managing the player's engagement, never frustrating but immersing the player in both a great story and strong mechanics.

The best tutorials are the tutorials that don't feel like a tutorial

super metroid had one of the best tutorials. you may be thinking to yourself "what tutorial?" and to that i say, exactly. it was hidden in the early level design.

"cmon you wimps,  simon is so badass it can't be beat"-Dan

I think it's funny that this episode brings up Pokemon, because the past couple generations are an amazing example of how not to do tutorials.

I think Half-Life 2 is a good example of a game that teaches the player well. Whenever a new weapon or mechanic is introduced, the only hint that is given is which buttons do what thing. This means that it's up to you, as a player, to both test and analyse the usefulness of that mechanic, and how it fits into your style of play.

Does Subnautica have the most depth?

deep + world of goo = good game

Watches friendly NPC perform wall-jumps, slides, etc
"Ok so I CAN do that."

Holy penny pinchers he brought up ToonTown.

Actually, now that you mention it God of War is a good example of how a game can have a tutorial level that flows perfectly into the rest of the game and showed the player what kind of an experience they were in for. The one thing I hate is when a game locks an ability until it comes up in the tutorial especially when the tutorial is mandatory when you start a new game. I remember one game when the NPC leading the tutorial level would say "You've done this before" if you did something they hadn't shown you yet which was a nice touch and it allowed you to get through the tutorial quicker because you know what to do and the tutorial level for people who don't know the controls yet.

Super-relevant. One of the biggest killers of mmos is the skill gulf between 'noobs' and 'seal-clubbers'. While I understand that this is commonly a dynamic that encourages some to invest real money in getting past that 'noob' hump, esp. in free-to-play...it seems the vast bulk of players enjoy it right up until they hit that wall the GMs put there to encourage spending, and then they don't spend. They walk away.

Legend of zelda ocarina of time is a great example of good tutorial, they give you an item and you have to use it to get out of the room.

Super Metroid's hidden tutorial is amazing

A great example of tutorials from a 2016 game is in We Happy Few. I find it funny that some people complained about it lacking tutorials when it has some of the best tutorials I've ever seen.

In WHF, tutorials were presented in the form of side-quests that by the time of completion had placed the players into simple relatable scenarios, presented them with the game mechanics necessary for overcoming the focal problem and then rewarded the player with some resources to replicate the game mechanics when they needed to use them again in a less staged environment (exactly what a tutorial is supposed to do, but under the disguise of an OPTIONAL quest, for people who know their stuff and just want to rush through instead of spending an hour in tutorial hell).

My favourite side quest from this game involves an NPC requesting that you clean up a polluted pond, only after a few seconds of standing in filth you've suddenly caught the plague! While the adrenaline and panic from your unforseen predicament excites you, you're quickly informed how a plague antidote can be formulated.

Short, exciting, informative and rewarding. This is how tutorials should be made. The fact that it's skippable is a bonus to replayability.

An easy game is one where you still have the option to go in guns blazing, or try other things like other items/weapons or stealth, but there's no point in trying these other things because the first option is the fastest/easiest and punishment for doing otherwise either doesn't exist or doesn't matter (eg arbitrary point system that gives your score at the end of the level/game).

The depth is still there, but because of the enemy AI, enemies with low HP or DPS, or level design, there's just no point in using the other mechanics.

Examples:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
If you just want to get through the game and don't care about doing well, just upgrade your pistol, take cover, and go for headshots.
Similarly. some areas in previous MGS games allow you to just run through them gunning everybody down, and then wait for the enemy to go out of alert mode because they're all dead, or just find a good hiding spot near where you need to go.

Blinx the Time Sweeper is one of the great examples of a platformer with a lot of depth, especially when it comes to how the player can use certain time powers to solve any kind of problem that they might face while defeating all of the time monsters just to beat a stage.

James' mom beat Portal? My mom could barely get out of Chamber 1 :/

Someday, someday.

the metroid games have amazingly subtle tutorials.