The Top 5 games that defined your childhood

[Xtincthed]

As a kid from the 80's and 90's I didn't have internet or magazines to see what games were worth playing. I just played the games that I got from friends and family. Sometimes these games were horrible, but you had nothing else to play so you just played them.

I made a video to showcase the games that shaped my childhood, and I'm curious to see what games shaped yours. You can be totally honest with your picks, noone will laugh at you for loving a shitty game, we understand!

http://youtu.be/xw0VqMHOcOE

[gepeto]

The first one was a arcade machine that had a parascope. It was a sub game I cannot remember the name but it was on the good ship lolipop and I was so fascinated by it. I loved it I mean I had never seen anything like it. I am talking old I was a kid and this I believe was before the arcade era. If someone could tell me the name I would be grateful.

The second was the atari arcade era space invaders \ asteriods Because in the arcade you knew you at least got your quartes worth and wasn't killed off fast.

3rd was dragons lair. When me and my friends first heard the voice over and seen it was a cartoon we knew it was something special

4 gorf which was frog spelled backwards. It gave us different types of gameplay and i was fascinated by the gorf head at the begining spitting out all those enemies.

5 Breakout because up until that point pong was it it had an intense strategy and you could change the objectives 2 balls etc.


Honerable mention Combat

[substantial_snake]

In order by date:

-Ghouls & Ghosts (Master System)

First game to really freak me out somehow, I remember a disappearing devil and a slime-like level distinctly when I was young. Also first game I can recall staying up late with my older brother watching him try to beat the next level.Still my favorite entry to the series on nostalgia alone. We didn't have many permanent master system games at the time but this one always suck out to me as something special.

-Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Sonic CD close second)

Always loved the Sonic series but Sonic 3 blew me away at the time and was the first Sonic I recall beating on my own, the soon to be released S&K doubled the fun with the game and discovering the lock-on feature blew my mind even further. lol Ended up picking up Sonic 1 and beating that soon after and running through that easily but even today I still have issues with the Sonic 2 final Robotnik boss. Still it cemented the love I have for the series that wouldn't really be matched until Sonic Generations as I more or less skipped the Sonic Adventure----everything else until Colors really, reputation alone coupled with not owning a Dreamcast for more then a couple of months drove me away from most of the interm titles. Still I love the blue blur and it always takes me back to my childhood and the general feel of the early-mid 90's.

-Crash Bandicoot 2

i remember this as my first PS1 game distinctly because I told my parents again and again that I wanted Warped and not Crash 2 that holiday season. :p Upon opening presents I realized that it was the game I didn't want but a little dejected I popped it in a fell in love with it anyways. i remember being blown away from the graphical leap that it took from my old Genesis with its full 3D graphics, voice, and everything was such an astounding leap from what I had experienced before. I played that game for hours and hours that day just soaking in everything. It ended up becoming my favorite entry to the series and cemented the PS1 as something really special to me.

-Xenogears

Xenogears was the first JRPG that really sunk its teeth into me. Wasn't aware of the genera really until FF7 became as huge as it did and although I would watch my older brother play that one it didn't really interest me on its own until a while later. Xeno however immediately brought me into its massively convoluted story with genetic memory to giant mecha, I was entranced at that age and ended up actually beating the game before my older brother which was a huge accomplishment at the time. It was the game that both set the bar for the genera in my eyes and also made me really care for characters outside of the next life or continue. I still cherish it to this day despite its flaws because I've not really played a JRPG since that has gotten as high and fascinating at the same time as low and dumb as Xenogears can be.

-Metal Gear Solid

In the same way that Xenogears taught me that Videogame characters can matter and you could care for them, MGS taught me that it didn't have to be in a stilted RPG setting for games to do so. This game completely blew me away at the time in very category from voice acting, to graphics, to general gameplay. Your mission was relatively simple, stop the terrorists from launching a nuclear weapon against the United States but the insane characters and relationships that unfolded over the course of the game really stuck me at the time. That and the gameplay was superb, never played anything really like it in where your objective was to get somewhere or some item without being detected. MGS's emphasis on both gameplay and story let a huge impression on me and influenced what games I would be interested from then on. It blew me away in every way at the time and still to this day IMO stands up fairly well unlike most of the games of its era.

Thats about the cap too, went through a phase where I wasn't much into gaming for several years until the later years of highschool, I would later learn to love a ton games on the SNES but I didn't own one at the time so the rare instances that I got to play them was at a friends house for limited stretches. There are a lot of other games I like from each perspective generation but I would say that these are the ones that most influenced my gaming preferences for years to come. I went from the Master System>Genesis>PS1 so my gaming influences follow that line too, though always seemed to be the outlier to whatever my friends had at the time. lol

[brainerdrainer]

In no particular order...

Super Mario Bros
Pac-Man
Goldeneye N64
Contra
Tecmo Superbowl

[bigbacon]

i can't even put any console games on this list. For all the consoles I owned, the PC was really the one that defined my childhood.

[BricatSegaFan]

Had to be

Mario bros 3 : First NES game I REALLY wanted.

Sonic the hedgehog : First Genesis game I owned and played till I did speed runs in my sleep.

Megaman 3 : Imho best music and gameplay of the entire series. I would play this the second I got home from school.

Tmnt hyperstone heist : Used to play this with my sisters and friends all the time.

The King of fighters series because street fighter blows :p

Kof ate all my quarters from middle school all the way into adulthood. SNK nailed the fighting genre with this one.

[Xander]

In order

Adventures of Lolo
Super Mario Bros 3
Final Fantasy
Super Mario World
Final Fantasy 3 (6)

[PreZZ]

1-AD&D Treasures of Tarmin
2-Gargoyle's Quest
3-Metroid
4-Super Mario Bros 3
5-Rampage on SMS

[Ro-J]

1. King's Quest, the original in all of it's CGA glory. The first computer game I REALLY got into.

2. Bubble Bobble (C64). A friend and I used to play this for hours when we were young. Now my kids and I play, albeit on the NES.

3. Super Mario Brothers. I remember stumbling upon this randomly while wandering around a mall in Australia. The owner of a toy store had a TV and a NES set up in front of his store. I had never heard of either the game or the system before that moment. Wow.

4. NHL '94. I can't think of another game I've logged more hours playing as a kid.......

....except for Tetris, my #5.

[Aussie2B]

Super Mario Bros. - My first console game and the beginnings of my love for games. Beating 1-1 for the first time was a huge accomplishment.

Castlevania - First game that really captured my imagination in terms of the world. The graphics, the music, the atmosphere, it all drew me in. This, and to a lesser extent, Metroid, really solidified my love of games and their possibilities.

Donkey Kong Country - The first time I got hyped up for a game. My purchase of a Super Nintendo was to get Super Mario All-Stars and recapture the fun times I had with the Mario games on NES, but I was pretty clueless about brand new games. Thanks to the promotional VHS tape direct from Nintendo, I couldn't wait to get my hands on Donkey Kong Country and finally took interest in learning about future games.

Chrono Trigger - My new interest in being an informed gamer lead to picking up strategy guides and Nintendo Power, and seeing Chrono Trigger beat out my much-loved Donkey Kong Country 2 in their yearly awards convinced me that it had to be something special. I bought it based on that, and I was blown away by its quality. It became my new favorite game, and it started my love affair with RPGs.

Super Mario 64 - The Nintendo 64 is the only system I've ever got really hyped up for and got at launch. Super Mario 64 absolutely floored me, since I had basically no exposure to 3D gaming prior to that, and I was glued to the store displays in the month leading up to launch. It really was a magical time in gaming, brimming with innovation.

[The Adventurer]

I'm going to consider 1990 - 1999 as 'my childhood' or at least my formative years when it comes to my development as a fan of video games. I got an NES in 1989 and a Game Boy in 1990. I would never get a Super Nintendo, my next console the N64 in 1996. I wouldn't get another one until after 2001, the year I graduated High School. So the NES, the Game Boy, the N64, and the PC are my defining consoles.

Game wise I rank these as the most important to me...

5. Mega Man 5 - Mega Man 4 was my first Mega Man game, but Mega Man 5 was the first Mega Man game I actually beat. Also I prefereded its Robot Masters over 4. Played the heck out of this game, and made me a life long Mega Man fan.

4. Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land / Kirby's Dream Land 2 - Going to put two here and break all the rules. In my opinion the best Game Boy platformers ever made. I got a lot of play time out of both of these and 100% completing them. Figuring out how to get to Dark Matter in Kirby 2 was one of most memorable secrets of my youth.

3. Blast Corps - my all time favorite puzzle game. I dumped so many hours into this game it's crazy. Some of those platinum metal challenges are impossible.

2. The Secret of Monkey Island (PC) - There was a period in my youth where I would find any excuse to visit a friends house just so I could spend 10 more minutes trying to make progress in this game. Eventually I'd finally be able to get a copy of my own, but those days when I was trying to squeeze in every possible moment I could to play Monkey Island were pretty amazing. After that I was an adventure game fan for life.

1. Super Mario Bros. 3 - When I got my NES the hype for this game was through the roof ("Mario! Mario! Mario!") I got caught up in it pretty bad. I got to rent it before I got a home copy, but to say I was obsessed with it and all its secrets would be an under statement.

[SpaceHarrier]

1. Super Mario Bros. 3 - As a child I drew my own designs for an airship level, spanning multiple 8 1/2 X 11 sheets of paper that I'd line up on the floor. I loved the art style and graphics from this game so much I bought the strategy guide just to look at the pictures.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog - The game that finally made me step outside the Nintendo realm. I still play it regularly, along with Sonic 2, which I like even better, however it was the first one that 'sold me' on the Genesis.

3. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - After the first two Zeldas, I thought I had had enough. Out of curiousity I rented this one, and it blew me away. This was the first time I'd ever felt a sense of atmosphere in a game.

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) - This was my reason for going to the arcade, or the local pizza place. Also the reason I never had any impression of licensed games being junk when I was younger.

5. Space Harrier (Arcade) - I only had one opportunity to play this game - in an arcade - as a child, but it stuck with me to the point that is actually became a deciding factor in getting the 32X years later. No regrets. Even though I played this game on only one occasion as a child, and somewhere around 1990, the visuals and action still impressed the heck out of me. I wasn't even into shooters before that day.

Many other games just missed this list because I consider them more part of 'adolescence' rather than childhood.

[Atarileaf]

Hmmmm, I'll have to give this some thought, maybe do a video reply. I subbed too BTW :)

[kupomogli]

-Final Fantasy.

At the time I liked Dragon Warrior, there was nothing else that I played like it on the NES, but then my parents got Final Fantasy as a Christmas gift for my brother. After he finished the game he didn't play it again, so gave the game to me. I instantly fell in love with this game and it's what got me into the RPG genre becoming my favorite. I played some PC RPGs around this time and a few other NES RPGs, but other than that nothing until I got a SNES.

-Super Castlevania 4 and Final Fantasy 4.

I didn't get a SNES when it first came out, but these were the SNES games I got with the console when I did get it.

-Suikoden and Vandal Hearts.

Suikoden and Vandal Hearts were my first two PSX RPGs and Vandal Hearts is my first TRPG. I don't consider King's Field an RPG and while I owned Ogre Battle on the SNES, I consider SRPG and TRPG two different genres. Which it was SRPG until all the Tactics games which I broke all the games like Vandal Hearts, FFT, Tactics Ogre, etc, into their own genre.

At the time I heard how good the Shining Force games were but didn't play them, so Vandal Hearts was a new experience for me. The same RPG genre I loved but actually required strategy during battle. Both games also had a much better storyline than the best NES, SNES, or PC RPG I've played at the time. After that the RPGs kept rolling in. It was actually around this time that I dropped all PC games other than a few games, I've mostly stuck to console.

[GhostDog]

It's hard to pick just five since I'm sure I'll remember more later. In the meantime, here it goes:

My early gaming years:

Super Mario Bros. series (NES)
Sonic series (Genesis)
Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)
Strider (Genesis)
Street Fighter 2 and its sequels (arcade and consoles)

Honorable mentions of the games that defined my early teenage years:

NFL Blitz (arcade, N64 and Playstation)
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Playstation)
Mega Man X4 (Playstation)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (Playstation)
Virtua Tennis (Arcade and Dreamcast)
Shenmue (Dreamcast)
Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast)

[treismac]

Wow. What a difficult list this is to make. I'm just gonna shoot these right out of the ol' subcon:

Double Dragon (Arcade)- One summer my cousin and I would ride our bikes to the local Circle K to play this game every morning for a few weeks.

Contra (NES)- Beating this game was what you did when you spent the night at a friend's house.

Tetris (NES/Gameboy)- This game owned me.

Secret of Monkey Island CD (PC)- I was a freshmen in high school, but, whatever, Ron Gilbert's masterpiece is so damn magical it brings childhood to any period of a gamer's life.

R.B.I. Baseball (NES)- One of the reasons I couldn't wait for actual real life baseball practice to be over- that and summer in the South sucks.

[Scissors]

The first one was a arcade machine that had a parascope. It was a sub game I cannot remember the name but it was on the good ship lolipop and I was so fascinated by it. I loved it I mean I had never seen anything like it. I am talking old I was a kid and this I believe was before the arcade era. If someone could tell me the name I would be grateful.


Was it Sea Wolf?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNzXIiYnFqg

[Player_01]

1. Shinobi (Arcade) - I enjoyed this game vicariously as a kid. I used to watch an older kid (teen maybe) beat the game on 1 quarter 1 life. Blew my mind as a kid and showed me the difference in just playing and skill. Also I puked on this cabinet while sick once.

2. Mega Man 2 - First NES game I remember playing. Kicked off an obsession from there.

3. Golden Eye / Mario Kart 64 - So much fun was had with multiplayer games on the 64. This system really brought my friends and I together. Had to narrow it to these 2 games though.

4. Final Fantasy VII / MGS - Another Tie . I received both of these one Christmas and honestly cannot remember devoting more consecutive time to console gaming than with these two.

5. EverQuest - Played this game from launch til the 3rd expansion. Opened up online gaming, computers and MMORPGs for me.

[Xtincthed]

2. Mega Man 2

this one dropped out of the list for me by an inch, the Gameboy version was the one I played as a kid

[Player_01]

this one dropped out of the list for me by an inch, the Gameboy version was the one I played as a kid

Mega Man 2 had this great polish that a lot of other NES games at the time didn't have. It was the first in the series for me so probably why I hold it so dear. Being able to choose the stage you wanted to play was epic. That said 3 is probably superior to 2 but nostalgia makes 2 shine brighter for me.

[outsider]

Contra
The Legend of Zelda
Super Mario World
Super Mario Kart
Chrono Trigger

[Dashopepper]

I was born in 1984 and I'm not sure what age I started playing Video games, but I seem to have done a lot of gaming before even the Super Nintendo was released.

1. Oregon Trail IBM PC.
2. Bubble Bobble IBM PC
3. Prince of Persia IBM PC - I still remember vividly the cleevage on the cover Of the instruction booklet and the blood and the bone crunching sound of the chomper cutting you in half. Much more gruesome then the NES version, for a 6 year old anyhow.
4. Super Mario Brothers- My first real game I was addicted to, either at the pizza hut on a red tent or at a friends house.
5. Midnight school rescue? IBM PC - Maybe you could help me out with this one. It was a mystery game and you were in a school at night and you had to read a lot. All the bad guys were paint related spray cans and such. I wasn't very good at this because I could barely read.

[Emperor Megas]

Fantasy Zone II (SMS) - I played this game faithfully almost every day from start to finish over and over again for the span of several years. I can't really explain why, but I was hopelessly addicted to this title, and I love it til this day. It's still of of my all time favorite games, easily in the top 5.


Space Harrier (various) - I played the SEGA Master version more than any other, but I've loved and played this game thousands of times over in every installment I've gotten my hands on. SMS, Arcade, 32X, Saturn, MAME...I just love this game, and it was a huge part of my childhood.


Super Mario Brother (NES) - Pretty self explanatory, yeah? I was always more of a SEGA kid than anything growing up, but SMB was just a flagship classic that got more play than every other NES game I've ever played combined, including SMB3 which is my favorite of the entire series.



Rygar (arcade) - This was my most played arcade game back in the day. It's not that I spend hundreds of dollars worth of quarters in it, because I didn't. I could always end it on a single credit and it was long enough so that just one play per arcade visit was enough. I used to go to the end on a single life sometimes and when the game was over the second player would have long since left. LOL!



Street Fighter II (arcade) - I was one of the few who played the original Street Fighter extensively and for years before part II released, so it was some kind of special for me and my circle of friends when this game released. It's tenure (including all of it's variations and subsequent releases) was long, and the arcade friends I made over the years in competition spanned over a decade.


Others that I had a REALLY tough time cutting:

Black Tiger (arcade)
Final Zone II (TG16 CD)
Gaiares (GEN)
Gondomania (arcade)
Ikari Warriors (arcade)
OutRun (various)
Mystic Defender (GEN)
Phantasy Star (SMS)
Phantasy Star II (GEN)
Rolling Thunder (arcade)
R-Type (arcade)

[markusman64ds]

1. Spyro: Year of the Dragon - This was my favourite game for years. It pretty much got me started with 3D platformers. Still one of my favourites, but unfortunately I wasn't very good at taking care of discs. Gonna need to buy another copy.

2. Rayman 2 - This got me hooked on PC gaming. I loved it so much that I had 2 copies.

3. Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble - This was my favourite handheld game as a kid. Kirby rocks :rocker:

4. Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, and Tetris - These were given to me by some of my older relatives, and I played them quite a bit. Pretty much got me into retro games

5. Sega Smash Pack 2 - This was another fun PC game, and got me into Sega and Sonic.

[Player_01]

Fantasy Zone II (SMS) - I played this game faithfully almost every day from start to finish over and over again for the span of several years. I can't really explain why, but I was hopelessly addicted to this title, and I love it til this day. It's still of of my all time favorite games, easily in the top 5.


Space Harrier (various) - I played the SEGA Master version more than any other, but I've loved and played this game thousands of times over in every installment I've gotten my hands on. SMS, Arcade, 32X, Saturn, MAME...I just love this game, and it was a huge part of my childhood.


Super Mario Brother (NES) - Pretty self explanatory, yeah? I was always more of a SEGA kid than anything growing up, but SMB was just a flagship classic that got more play than every other NES game I've ever played combined, including my part three with is my favorite of the entire series.



Rygar (arcade) - This was my most played arcade game back in the day. It's not that I spend hundreds of dollars worth of quarters in it, because I didn't. I could always end it on a single credit and it was long enough so that just one play per arcade visit was enough. I used to go to the end on a single life sometimes and when the game was over the second player would have long since left. LOL!



Street Fighter II (arcade) - I was one of the few who played the original Street Fighter extensively and for years before part II released, so it was some kind of special for me and my circle of friends when this game released. It's tenure (including all of it's variations and subsequent releases) was long, and the arcade friends I made over the years in competition spanned over a decade.


Others that I had a REALLY tough time cutting:

Black Tiger (arcade)
Final Zone II (TG16 CD)
Gaiares (GEN)
Gondomania (arcade)
Ikari Warriors (arcade)
OutRun (various)
Mystic Defender (GEN)
Phantasy Star (SMS)
Phantasy Star II (GEN)
Rolling Thunder (arcade)
R-Type (arcade)


I cant believe I left off Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. If you visited an arcade in the early to mid 90s this is what was going down.

[SpaceHarrier]

I cant believe I left off Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. If you visited an arcade in the early to mid 90s this is what was going down.

Same here. For me though, it was a self-imposed debate as to whether childhood 'ends' at 11 or 12.. but I think I played Zelda: LttP at 12 anyway so... argh#%$#^ 5 slots isn't enough anyway LOL

[Aussie2B]

You don't count any of your teens as your childhood? :? I included a couple games I played in my mid-teens, and I almost included a game I first played when I was 17.

[Bubble_Man]

The Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros 3
Final Fantasy VII
Suikoden 2
Lunar

[Flam]

Ok, I'm going to have to cheat

Pitfall/Combat
Super Mario Bros/Legend of Zelda
Double Dragon/Mike Tyson
FIFA 93 (?)/NHL 94 (?) (SEGA)
Mario Kart/Golden Eye

The NES years were my prime gaming years, but I spent countless hours in college playing Mario Kart and Golden Eye. The N64/Dreamcast were the last (current gen. systems I owned, I never really gave the Dreamcast much of a chance)

[Steven]

Excellent topic! Love it. Man, I have so many titles that qualify for defining my childhood, but if I could only select 5 they would have to be...

-Contra (NES)
Back in 1989, my brother, uncle and I used to 30-man code rotate turns this sumbitch up the wazoo. It was a game that was larger than life and I loved it to death

-DooM (PC)
I was so addicted to this game (and its various clones, Heretic, Corridor 7, etc.) it's not even funny

-Street Fighter II (Arcade/SNES)
The main reason we bought the SNES back in 1992

-King of the Monsters (Arcade/SNES)
My first arcade game beaten, and my first SNES game purchase, courtesy of a generous mother Christmas 1992

-World Heroes (Arcade/SNES)
Played both the arcade and SNES home port to death with my old best friend, Nelson. How we loved this silly little fighting game... even more than the mighty SFII... the SNES port is pretty amazing and IMHO never got the credit it deserved. It really brought home the arcade experience!

So many honorable mentions, like Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Super Mario Kart, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, X-Men arcade, World Heroes 2, Super Bomberman, NBA Jam, Mega Man 2, etc. but when I think of my childhood, those 5 games pop to mind first

[GamerTheGreek]

I would say the top 5 games would be the following:


1.) Blue Max ( XEGS ) Its the first game Ive ever played that held my interest even at the age of 5.
2.) Legend of Zelda LTHP ( SNES)
3.) Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. I like the game play the fight sequence. After this and hearing how the other FF games were it drew me in to many of the other NES and SNES games.
4.) Super Mario AllStars ( Since I never had a NES this gave me the chance to play the games I missed out on earlier.
5.) Madden 95. (SNES) What is a good game list without a madden someplace in the mix. Only madden to keep my interest.

But I have to say to pick 5 games only is hard to do.

[VG_Maniac]

Tough question...there were so many games that shaped my childhood. There are even a few games that aren't very good, but still bring back strong childhood memories. Here's my top 5...the games that bring back the most memories, and dominated my childhood the most:


Super Mario Bros. 3:

This game alone could almost define my childhood. The first time I ever set my eyes on it was not in "The Wizard", but my parents were watching a news show one night, and they had a special where they were showing some of the latest games, and some footage of Super Mario Bros. 3 came up. I freaked out and went nuts when I saw it. My mom bought it for as soon as it came out. At the time, it was by far the biggest game I had ever played.


Mega Man 3:

This is the first Mega Man game I ever played. I didn't know anything about the Mega Man series at the time, so I never bothered renting them whenever I would see them at the store. But then a kid at my church told me that some of the best games on the NES were the Mega Man games, so the next time I went to the store to rent a game, I rented Mega Man 3. I rented 3 over 2 because it was a new release at the time, so I figured because it was the latest one, it would also be the best. While most people consider Mega Man 2 to be the best, Mega Man 3 has always remained my favorite. Just hearing the music in this game like Snake Man's theme, Spark Man's theme, or Magnet Man's theme, really brings back memories.


Metroid:

After I got my NES for Christmas, this was the very first game I rented. I didn't know anything about it, I just rented because the cover drew me to it for some reason. I obviously had no idea what I was supposed to do when I first played it, but I loved it. A short time later, my mom bought it for me from a video rental store that was going out of business and selling off their games. The game just completely dominated my life for months as I tried beat it. I had no Nintendo Power at the time, and no maps to help me. I finally beat the game one morning, right before school.


Blaster Master:

One of the best games on the NES in my opinion...very underrated. I went over to my neighbor friend's house one day when I was around 7, to play his NES. I originally went over there to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which he had just bought...but I ended up not liking (surprise, surprise). I started going through his games, and I saw Blaster Master (once again, I was drawn to the cover). He told me not to play it because it would be too hard for me. So I watched him play it for a little while. I didn't care how hard it was, the game looked awesome and I wanted to play it, so he let me borrow it. From then on, I would borrow it all the time from him, right up until his family finally moved about 3 years after I first played it. I was actually borrowing it at the time they were moving, and I was crossing my fingers and hoping he would forget the game was at my house, but he remembered at the very last minute and took it with him. I wouldn't get to play the game again for another 3 years, until a used video game store opened up in the area and I was able to buy it there.



Sonic the Hedgehog:

Even though I like Super Mario World more, and I have WAAAAAAAY more memories with the SNES than I do the Genesis...Sonic the Hedgehog still really stands out. This was the very first 16-bit game I ever played. Up till then, I didn't really pay any attention to the Sega Genesis or anything 16-bit...until I started to see commercials for Sonic on the TV, and was blown away by the graphics and bright colors. I obviously could not afford to buy a Genesis back then, but my mom surprised me by renting one with Sonic the Hedgehog, and I was officially introduced to 16-bit gaming for the first time. After playing Sonic, I wanted to get a Genesis...but that all changed shortly afterwards when I found out about the new Super Nintendo that had just come out...and my friend down the street had just got one. I also first got my subscription to Nintendo Power around this time, so I saw all these games coming out on the SNES that I wanted like Zelda, Street Fighter II, TMNT IV, Contra III, etc. So I quickly lost interest in getting a Genesis, but I still loved playing Sonic. I would rent a Genesis whenever I had a chance, just to play that one game...even long after I got my Super Nintendo.

[needler420]

In order.

1. MGS - I made a whole thread detailing it's influence with me see posting history "Anyone have any significant video game stories to share thread" Too lazy to say anything else about it again.

2. Sonic 2- This was the first video game I ever played on my dad's sega genesis. Till this day I own the original box it came it.( the sega genesis)

3.Halo- when this game first came out my friends from my crew who had an xbox got it and in not too long the halo parties started. It wasn't till halo 3 that I ever played online which was only for a day. I always played for the campaign and offline multiplayer. It also probably sparked my prime in gaming where I became a competitive player. Also my nickname came based on this game and a construction job I use to have.

4. SSBM- I skipped school almost a third of my 7th grade year to play this with friends. I failed two school years to basically skipping school and smoking pot and playing this and phantasy star online episode one and two for gamecube. I really hope to own the game again. Price has gone up since it's phantasy star and JRPG fanboys eat that stuff up like hotcakes.

5. WOW- I been playing the games for over a decade since before even having my own computer I would play at my friends house as a kid. Was awesome building up cities and armies and farming gold to attack each other. I stopped playing for a long time then came back once the game had subscriptions. I think I played from like burning crusade to lynch king in the course of about two years. I had about 45 day of play time. I quit because of the amount of time it sucked away from me and subscription cost.

I actually got pretty deep into the game. I became a high ranking member of my guild and near the high end guilds on my server. For 25 man raids I was either 2nd or 3rd tank. My role became big enough that I progressed large amount of people. That's because I got addicted to the game and spent more time theny any one should with a video game.

Every time I see a MMO I look down on them because WOW has monopolized the MMO genre. It's a game that makes a boy into a man and puts hair on your chest. It will make a girl into a woman once she rides her mount and it pops her hymen.

[Daltone]

Granny's Garden - We had a load of BBC Micros in primary school. It was a pain in the arse to get it to load, but it was worth it.

The Secret of Monkey Island - I used to spend hours playing this at a friend's house. I now have SCUMM installed on almost every device I can get my hands on.

Doom (shareware) - Came on the family 486. It was a toss up between this and Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, but Doom tops it. I finished that shareware version many, many times.

Sonic the Hedgehog - Came with my Megadrive. Addictive.

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - I never had a SNES when I would younger. I played LTTP at a friend's house and though it was amazing. I got bought this and The Secret of Mana on a ferry on the way back from France (spoilt, I know). Link's awakening just about edges it though. Surely that must be due some sort of expanded re-release?

[GhostDog]

You don't count any of your teens as your childhood? :? I included a couple games I played in my mid-teens, and I almost included a game I first played when I was 17.

I included games from my childhood as well as my early teen years.

[T]

1. Dig Dug Arcade
2. Ms. Pacman Arcade
3. Centipede Arcade
4. Defender Arcade
5. Pong Home version

[IHatedSega]

Zelda 2
Spyro The Dragon Trilogy
Ape Escape

[Griking]

Adventure
Zork
Wizardry
Ultima IV
Alter Ego

[Tron 2.0]

The Legend of Zelda
SMB
Ys book 1&2
Arkanoid
Galaga

[LordsOfSkulls]

For me was Super Nintendo that was sent to me from my mom in USA to Poland (I live in USA now)

and the games that made my childhood were...


1) Mario RPG (First RPG, and when i have a son/daughter it be first RPG i give them to play/beat, because it made me appricate RPGs so much i started collecting games especially RPGs because of this one game)

2) Zelda: Link to the Past (i still considered the best Zelda Game ever created)

3) Donkey Kong Series 1-3 (My favorite platformer/first game i beaten on Super Nintendo)

4)Killer Instinct (Best fighting game i still considered my favorite to this very day, next being first mortal kombat their was something special about it)

5) Settlers for PC ( I still love to the death Settlers I and Settlers 2, next to Warcraft 2, they were my favorite strategy games, that made me fall in love in strategy games) I hunted down for copy of this game back in 90s... for good couple years before finally being able to own a copy of my own =)

[dukenukem]

The first 2 would be stampede and pitfall for atari.Then super mario brothers,duckhunt for nes.Ninja turtles the arcade game and mortal kombat in the arcade:)

[Damaramu]

I'll say the cutoff point for me, age-wise, is 17. So here goes:

Streets of Rage 2
Time Pilot
Operation Wolf
Street Fighter II
Secret of Mana

Honorable Mentions:

Rush n Attack
Alien Syndrome
Yie Ar Kung Fu
Off Road
Cadash

[Atarileaf]

Finally got a video response up to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL3n4wB1HKA

[LordsOfSkulls]

this thread made me.... rebury my SNES from dark recesses... of ym closet...

but cant find power cord ;p

T.T

[aryoshi]

In no particular order:

Super Mario Bros. 3
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Mario World
Sonic the Hedgehog (all of the Genesis titles)
Mortal Kombat II

[Yago]

The original post said "games" so I am going to bend the rules a bit and say that Dungeons & Dragons was a huge part of my childhood. Even in Junior High (Mid 80's) the school let us hold a game session after hours once a week. As far as video games go...

Pitfall! (Atari 2600)
King's Quest series (PC)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Quake 2 (PC) - If anyone remembers this was around the time OpenGL came out. It was the end of pixelated games. When I got that graphic card installed the first thing I did was load up Quake 2. WOW! The graphics were unlike anything we have seen to date.
Dragons Lair (Arcade) - By all means not my favorite game but holy crap was it a breakthrough as far as technology goes. The game was talk of the town for a long time and just getting to stand there and watch people play it in awe at the eye candy it was. A game far ahead of its time.

[Akito01]

1 - Space Invaders

As a child, I remember seeing this machine outside a store of a local mall. I wasn't tall enough to really see the game properly, especially when someone was playing, so I watched the monochrome upside down image on the mirror that projected the game from the monitor. When I first encountered the Commodore Pet at school, I became fascinated with the idea of recreating that game, and led me down the path of studying computer science later on.

2 - Astrosmash

My friend had an Atari, and I definitely wanted a home console of my own. One summer, Pepsi had a contest to win an Intellivision by collecting those rubber seals under the bottle cap that had graphics from Astrosmash -spinners, rocks, the UFO, ect. I didn't win, but I suspect my obsession with that contest led us to getting an Intellivision after all. Like Space Invaders, it was the iconography of the graphics I found fascinating, and still do. It was also one of the first games I was ever really good at, and now am at the point where I can easily break a million during two-plus hours of play.

3 - Defender

The arcade game was tough, but tantalizing by virtue of its complex controls and amazing sound. I did get an Entex handheld version of this game, which was awesome. I also used a ream of computer paper (with the punch holes on the edges) to create a Defender comic.

4 - AD&D Treasures of Tarmin

Having played the pen-and-paper game, I was thrilled and entranced by this wonderfully complex version of the game. It was my first console RPG experience.

5 - Minestorm

I was very lucky to have a Vectrex, and I was really entranced by the vector display. What made Minestorm notable for me, was that it was the first game where I was good enough to encounter the 'kill screen'. This was a huge point of pride, as you can imagine.

[spman]

Super Mario 3
Legend Of Zelda A Link to the Past
Maniac Mansion
Final Fantasy 7
Mortal Kombat 2

[evildead2099]

Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)

The Goonies II (NES)

Battletoads (NES)

I regret wasting so much of my time (and patience) playing that last game during my childhood.

[Namakubi]

this thread made me.... rebury my SNES from dark recesses... of ym closet...

but cant find power cord ;p

T.T Why would you have it buried in the first place? SNES is still the greatest video game system of all time, all time.

[thom_m]

- Missile Command (Atari 2600): The first game I played on my first console. From that moment, I was hooked forever.

- Mega Man 4 (NES): The first game I struggled and really dedicated myself to finish; it tought me that challenging games are good! Also, that game introduced me to the Megaman franchise, which I love deeply to this day (I even have a Megaman tattoo).

- TNMT 3: The Manhattan Project (NES): The number one game to play with my friends and cousins back then. I had countless hours of fun with that one. Every afternoon playing that game was like a party to us all.

- Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive/Genesis): The first time I played it, I was in awe. The sound, the colors, the graphics, the speed...the game that opened my eyes to the 16-bit era. I definitely wanted a Mega Drive after that; Street Figher II for the SNES itself didn't have that effect on me.

- Rock'n'Roll Racing (SNES): When I first played this game, I was already a teenager (does it count?)... the isometric perspective finally made a racing game actually appealing to me. Add the weapons, the music (I'm love rock'n'roll), and the insanely fun multiplayer mode, and you have one my favorite games, ever. It was one of the few games that made me want a SNES back then - and I was a HUGE Mega Drive fanboy.


Pac-Man (2600 - yes, THAT game!), Pitfall (2600), H.E.R.O. (2600), Contra (NES), Super Mario Brothers (NES), Street Fighter II (SNES) and Skullmonkeys (PS1) deserve honorable mentions.

[FrankSerpico]

-Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure-Was one of the first two games I was given with my genesis and was the first 2D platformer outside of the arcade I put major time into.
-X-Men: Children of the Atom-I'd played plenty of fighters before this one, but this game was really what started my lifelong love of 2D fighters.
-Starcraft-First RTS I played, still possibly my favorite storyline in any game ever, and the first game I played online with and against friends.
-Oregon Trail-Played this all the time in the computer lab when I was supposed to be doing schoolwork.
-Konami's first TMNT coin-op-Used to drag my Mom to Aladdin's Castle every time we went to the mall because of this game. It was probably the first arcade game I learned to be legitimately good at.

[eskobar]

Adventure - Atari 2600

This game was one of the first contacts with a deeper game. I played too much Atari but most of the games were very simple games, this game offered more to me, and I considered it my first dungeon crawler-alike game.

Super Mario Bros. - NES

This game was like the change from black and white TV to Color TV, because I switched to NES after the 2600 ... the games were much more than the stuff the Atari had. Great level design, great secrets.

The Legend of Zelda - NES

Another gem, and this was a game that I dreamed of when I played Adventure on the 2600. Just amazing gameplay and to finish it without a guide was no easy task, the first time I moved a stone, burned grass or opened a secret dungeon was the best gaming moment I have ever had. :puppydogeyes:

Dragon Warrior - NES

The best example of an EPIC GAME ... the game got me from the first time I was dead, brilliant music !.

Altered Beast - Genesis

I played the arcade version and had the chance to play it on the Genesis .... mind blowing experience

[aryoshi]

Why would you have it buried in the first place? SNES is still the greatest video game system of all time, all time.

haha for serious! i love the SNES, can't get enough of it.

[M.Buster2184]

Okay, answer time.

Super Mario All-Stars(First game I got for SNES back in the day, also my loophole for not being able to choose between SMB 2 and 3.

Mario Kart 64

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Super Bomberman 2

Pokemon Red/Blue

[MachineGex]

I got an Atari VCS when I was 10 or 11 yrs old. I was very disappointed when Asteroids was released. It was one of my favorite arcade games, but the VCS version lacked the same magic. Luckily, some of the best arcades games did make a good showing on Atari like Missle Command. Here are some games that I spent some quality time with.
1. Indy 500-Atari VCS (the pure joy of head-to-head races made this game truly exciting)
2. Slot Racers-Atari VCS (didn't have the speed of Indy 500, but the head-to-head was tops)
3. Maze Craze-Atari VCS (pure head-to-head maze racing fun, see a pattern???)
4. Adventure-Atari VCS (this game really was bigger than the pixels that were on the screen. I really felt like I was in a dungeon and dragons were chasing me.
5. MLB baseball and Burgertime-Intellivison/ (I work up every morning one summer and went over to my neighbors to play baseball and burgertime on his intellivision. After a few hours of gaming heaven, we would all go out to the backyard and jump in the pool for a swim. "Marco??? Polo!!! Marco??? Polo!!!" "Fish outta water!!!!!"
This summer was one of my fondest memories. I would love to go back to that time.

Arcade was pretty much the same time and really belong on their own list.
1. Pacman
2. GORF
3. Vangaurd
4. Wizards of Wor
5. Atari Football

[TheGam3r]

Pokemon Silver
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Tony Hawk's Underground
Mario Kart Super Circuit
The Legend Of Zelda A Link To The Past

[jammajup]

You guys are making me feel old with your choices,i am 41 and my childhood was defined by hand held magnet and then battery/DC games like Galaxy invader 1000,Demon Driver,Missile Invader,Munchman and Astro Wars lol,but after that Seeing Frogger and Astro Fighter in a local shop when i was little was the start.
My first Machines (Atari 2600 and ZX Spectrum) would offer most of the games that spring to mind.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark - A2600
Halls Of The Things - Zx Spectrum
Jetset Willy - Zx Spectrum
Ghost House (SMS)
Sonic The Hedgehog (MD)

[Genesaturn]

Childhood hmmm....

1 - SMB - Come on...I know it may be a cop out, but this was the first home console game I ever played. It will always be on the top of my list. I will never forget the hours I spent with my dad sitting on the couch playing it!

2 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - I played this before 1 since it was packaged with the system. As my first experience playing on the Genesis....it always stuck with me as one of my favorite games of all time. I'm still a huge fan of Sonic today thanks to that game.

3 -- Streets of Rage 2 - When my dad bought my genesis for me I played this all the time. I was an outside/sports kid even though I had an NES before, but it wasn't until the Genesis that I stopped putting up with bullies and played more games than played outside. I used to take out a lot of anger on the bad guys in Streets of Rage 2!

4 - Final Fantasy VII - I was a freshman in high school so maybe that doesn't count as childhood, but it was the first game I played that dealt with more mature elements such as death. Also it is what spawned my love affair with RPG's.

5 - Xenogears - With a much darker tone than previous games...if FFVII got me introduced to RPG's...this game solidified my love for them.

[DDCecil]

These 5 definitely:

Adventure
Super Mario Bros. 3
Mega Man 3
Super Mario World
Final Fantasy II/IV

[ncman071]

ok the ones that stand out in my mind right now:

mortal kombat 2 (snes)....omg...i remember i used to be astounded by the arcade version...i was 13 at the time...then christmas 94 i finally got the snes version and to this day it is the best christmas gift i ever got videogame related.....i was totally into gijoes @ a young age and those were awesome @ christmas as well
i'm still completely impressed by how close the snes version is to the arcade.

tecmo bowl (nes)....my brother and i played this game religiously from the time i was like 7 until 10 or so....along with blades of steel

nba jam (snes)....loved it loved it loved it....my brother was in college @ the time but i remember when he'd come home for random weekends and summers we would play the crap out of that game

nhl stanley cup (snes)....i thought and still think that is the greatest 16 bit hockey game created ever...including nhl 94

so yes, i was a sports freak...still love those games even today

[buzz_n64]

Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns - Atari 5200
This was the first video game to be etched into my early memories as a small child. This was the first game I played that I could keep playing for an extended period of time without any repetition. It was a thrill every time I got closer to beating the first level, then beating it. I finally beat the game a couple years ago and met the creator David Crane who signed my childhood copy of the game.

Super Mario Bros. -NES
This game built upon everything I enjoyed in platformers before it. It had secrets, methods to obtain multiple lives, and the infamous negative world that was always a hard area to access as a kid. I wanted an NES because of this game, and received my very first game console with this game in the Action Set.

Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES
This was the ONE game that every kid anticipated. I remember my brother bought it for around $60 at the Nintendo store in the center of the mall. I miss those m-82 systems. Anyways, my brother and I used to battle each other all of the time in the over world map, I found that even more entertaining than playing the 1 player game sometimes. No NES collection is complete without SMB3!

Sonic the Hedgehog - Genesis
I was blown away when this game came out. It was the coolest, fastest, and best looking game to me. It was looked better than anything I had on my NES, unfortunately I only had the chance to play it by going over to friends houses. I never owned a Sega system until the Dreamcast. Sonic had a great soundtrack, and a lenient difficulty system for a kid who often found himself getting hurt. Jump up somewhere, pick up a single ring and you're protected from death yet again.

Street Fighter II - Arcade
Lines upon lines of kids for this revolutionary fighting game filled my local pizza parlor, mall arcade, and it was appearing everywhere. I remember waiting forever to play with my one quarter, to just lose less than a minute latter to some expect kid or teen who was whooping everyone one. I don't think there will ever be an experience like it ever again.

[ProjectCamaro]

Castlevaina II: Simon's Quest (NES)
Tetris (Gameboy)
Goldeneye (N64)
Sonic (Genesis)
Kid Chameleon (Genesis)

[ZP3]

I was born in '95, making me fairly young for a retro game enthusiast. The first console I ever owned was the Gamecube, but my Grandmother owned an N64 that my brother and cousins played religiously. I had a Gameboy Color, which got the crap played out of it. Man I love the game boy....

#5. Pokémon Colosseum
Today, this isn't even in my top 25 games, but this was the very first console game I owned. I always had played Gameboy, but I didn't own a console until the third grade. My Dad won $10,000 in a contest, so he bought me a Cube with Pokémon Colosseum. Though I was a noob, I played this game till the cows came home. I will never forget firing up my OWN gamecube for the very first time...

#4. Star Wars Battlefront
Again, not a game that today I consider to be one of my favorites in my collection, but as a child with a cool grandma who owned a PS2 AND a N64, I got to play some sweet games with my brother and cousins. This happened to be one of them. We would sit around Grandma's TV for hours killing rebel scum on hoth, or defending the ice caves from the separatists (anyone who played this game will remember this map). This was my first shooter ever, and though I am not particularly fond of the genre, as an adrenaline pumped pre-teen, this game was literally bad ***.

#3. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
This was my first experience with Sonic. The Easter Bunny brought this to me one fateful Easter, and I never looked back. I was addicted to the Chao component of the game, maybe because it reminded me of Pokémon, or maybe because it was just cool. Whatever the reason, I loved this game. I recently revisited the Chao world armed with knowledge of how to make really awesome looking Chao, and the game was 1000x better. Another solid title in my childhood Gamecube library.

#2. Pokémon handheld series
I really had a difficult time putting these at #2. Pokémon Blue was the very first game I owned, passed down with a Gameboy color from my awesome cousin who pwned at every video game he picked up. I remember myself as a noob kindergartener playing Pokémon Blue, having no idea what I was doing, but yet still having the time of my life. I later received Pokémon Silver; this was to be the first video game that I was "good" at. I have great memories with this game: when my Feraligatr reached level 100 (my first level 100 Pokémon), catching Lugia with a heavy ball, discovering that I could play through Johto AND Kanto, and the greatest memory of all, beating Red for the first time. I loved Pokémon Silver, it still ranks in my top five video games of all time. I then played through Ruby and Sapphire, and while fun, lacked some of what made Silver amazing. I then remember hearing the rumors of remakes of Red and Blue; I feverishly awaited the release. When I got Firered, it was glorious. I completed the Pokédex, played literally non stop with my best friend, pitting my Charizard vs. his Blastoise countless times, and spending countless hours perfecting my team. These games were great, and I can proudly say that I own every Gameboy Pokémon with the exception of Gold. I truly love this series. On a side note, if anyone has a Gold that they don't need, hit me up;)

#1. Super Smash Bros. Melee
Like I said earlier, I had a very hard time putting this game at number 1. However, there are a few reasons that I believe this trumps all. First and foremost, this is still my all-time favorite game. My buddies and I still to this day fire up my Gamecube and stay up till 4 a.m. battling to our hearts content. Secondly, this game rocks because I believe that it is the epitome of the Smash Bros. series. No game that I have every played has the ridiculous level of re-playability and multiplayer fun that Smash Bros. Melee. Finally, my third reason. As a kid, my awesome cousin would literally destroy me with Ness. I never could touch him. It wasn't even funny. Though I got owned every time I played him, this game taught me the value of being skilled at a game. He showed me the awesome power of being truly skilled at a game. This is why this is my number one game of my childhood. It taught me that no matter how good I thought I was, there is always someone better. It taught me that I need to be the better gamer.

If you are still reading, congrats. You have finished my childhood manifesto. I applaud you. Now go clean out your collections and send me copies of Pokémon Gold. ;)

[homerhomer]

Asteroids, still dig the controls
Super Mario Bro's VS. played it in the arcade, while not amazing. Once I saw how perfect the home translation was, I was saving my paper route money. I still prefer the arcade controller to the nes pad.
After Burner Arcade, I use to play the 1$ arcade cabinet that moved. So amazing! I got good at it too and was able to beat it on 1 credit.
R-type - Couldn't believe how amazing this game was looked and sounded. I use to wonder when it was going to come out for the NES because the arcade machine had a Nintendo logo on it.
Street Fighter II Champion Edition, so much fun trying to beat the guy hogging the machine.

Hard list to make, but I spent a lot of time in the arcades as a kid.

[A Black Falcon]

Hmm... childhood? Where should that stop... there's no obvious line. I would have to start from when I first got a system at home that could play games (PC, in early '92), but I guess I'll go to '95, when I turned 13... good enough I guess.

In no order:
-Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons (PC) - Probably the first PC game I unreservedly loved, Keen 1, and then 1-3 after I was given the full game, is still one of my favorite platformers ever. It's just a great, great game... and it has a lot of nostalgia value too of course. :) Incredible game.

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) - Easily my favorite arcade game of the period, I thought this game was so, so great, just like the Turtles in general of course. And yeah, it's still good.

-The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB) - I got a GB for Christmas in '93, but I didn't get this game until about a year later, maybe two (I forget if I got it in late '94 or late '95... probably late '94 though). I'd played, and liked, Zelda 1, but this was the first Zelda game I owned, and I thought the game was incredible. This game is still my favorite handheld-system game ever -- it's just about perfect across the board.

-Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero (PC, VGA remake) - This was the first RPG I owned, or Action-RPG-Adventure more appropriately, and I liked it a lot. This game is definitely still one of my favorites, and it's in a tie with QFG4 for my favorite Sierra game ever. It's a fantasy adventure like you rarely see, with monsters, adventure game elements, exploration, a good sense of humor, and more... just exceptional.

-Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (PC) - The last game on this list, I got WC1 for my 13th birthday, and it was one of the defining games of my life. This was the game that introduced me to real-time strategy games, and they quickly became my favorite genre. I haven't played the genre nearly as much in the last few years as I did from 1995 until the mid '00s, but still, I do love the genre, and I still love Blizzard RTSes. I got Warcraft 2 in 1996, and played that game even more, but this is the game that started it for me, and I like a few things more about WC1 than the second game, too, even if WC2 is better overall. Warcraft 1 was a very special game, and even if I was going later, I'd have to include this game on the list because it converted me to being a Blizzard RTS fan.

Honorable Mentions: SimCity 2000 (PC; Still the best Maxis game ever made.), Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB; my favorite GB platformer), Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby's Pinball Land (GB), The Lost Vikings (PC), Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Dark Ages, Hugo's House of Horros, Castles and its expansion The Northern Campaign, and surely more. Maybe also Street Fighter 2 in arcades.


If we went into later years, like mid-late teens (up to late '01, so before I got a GC and new PC), then I could add plenty more for sure... a few come to mind from that period that I'd like to mention: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (got in 1999, best console game ever), Starcraft (got right after it released, best game ever), San Francisco Rush 2049 (got in 2001, best racing game ever), Super Mario 64 (of course), and Civilization II (still one of the best games ever designed). Number 6, and I have to mention it, would be Baldur's Gate, the first turnbased RPG I loved. I could continue, but those are certainly the top ones for me from that period, and probably are the top five. Honorable mentions might go to Heroes of Might & Magic 2, Lords of the Realm 2, The Curse of Monkey Island, F-Zero X, and Grim Fandango. Maybe also Warcraft 2 and Pod.


Of non-arcade games I did not own in the '90s, but I played and affected me, number one would surely be Sonic the Hedgehog. I did get a GB of course so I could play some Mario games, but until I got the PC version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles in 1999, I didn't own a Sonic game, but did love the Genesis Sonic games quite a lot.

[Compute]

WWF Raw - Sega Genesis - Until this game, I only was ever able to buy new games at bargain prices. One day I decided to sell off a bunch of games I didn't want (managed to get at least $3 for Bulls vs. Blazers..suckers). Then off to TRU to see what other bargain bin crap I could get. Lo and behold, this game was $40, and my mom let me get it! To this day I can play this game for hours. I don't understand the hatred toward these titles.

Hard Drivin' / Race Drivin' - all platforms - Dude, you can jump a draw bridge. AND you can drive through a loop. The cockpit arcade cab on this is awesome, although the Genesis version of RD has a track editor. Loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, turn, loop, loop, loop . . .

Word Zapper - Atari 2600 - You know, this game isn't even that great, but I played it a lot because I was an exceptional speller in grade school.

Grand Theft Auto - Playstation - This came out about the same time I discovered teenage angst.

MS Flight Sim - PC - In the earliest times I played this game, I didn't get it at all. It still fascinated me, and years later I picked it up when I had my own pc. I love fancy controls, and flight sim enthusiasts go nuts building their virtual cockpits. I can't imagine spending hours in front of a screen doing my scheduled "flight" for a virtual airline, but the amount of detail the community brings to these titles still amazes me.

[Sneak613]

Tough call, but ironically some are the same as many others previously metioned.

Legend of Zelda (NES)
-The original. I played the hell out of this game when I was a kid with my neighbours. I rememember renting it, and upon returning it to the video store, re-renting it, trying to make it further into the game. Then we'd rent it again a few weeks later and see if our saved game was still there (usually it still was). It's interesting, as I don't really like any other RPG type games... So this one stands out.

Super Mario Kart (SNES)
-Love the original SNES version. I know some argue that they like the N64 version, but this version was one I played all the time back in the day.

NHL95 (SNES) / NHL94 (Genesis) / "NHL Hockey" (PC)
-Love me some sports games. I had many intense games/tournaments amongst friends with these two gems back in the day. I'm Canadian, so I'm a bit biased when it comes to my love of hockey, but many competitive games were played with these. Honorable mention also goes to "Tecmo Super Bowl" (NES). Big improvement on the first one, adding the NFL team licences. Had some fun seasons with this one too.

Super Mario Bros. (NES)
-The game that started it all. After playing Atari for so many years, a side scroller like this blew my mind as a child. Loved it. i can still remember my sister waving the controller up and down trying to get Mario to jump... Or as he jumped, "jumping the controller". ;) Good times. Honorable mention also goes to SMB3 (NES) and of course "Super Mario World" (SNES) Great games.

Sierra Online Games (PC)
-Hard to choose from these, as there were so many great ones. Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest... So much time invested in these games back in the day. Thinking back, and while still on the topic of PC gaming - I had many fond memories of Star Control 2, Sim City, Sim City 2000.... some of the shareware type games too - Commander Keen, Duke Nukem (original non-FPS version).


I guess that's a bit more than 5 mixed in there.. ;) Hard to decide. So many others didn't make my list, but hold a special place in my memories.. :)

[crazyjackcsa]

I'll extend the scope a little to the five games that defined my love of videogames.

Sonic 2. It was my first videogame. It was the "Genesis" of my love of videogames.
Sega Rally. It's my favorite racing game, I know every course like the back of my hand.
Virtua Fighter 2. The only fighting game I've ever bothered to learn all the moves to any one character, and became proficient at many.
Shining Force 3. Introduced me to my favorite RPG genre.
Rayman Origins. After going soft on games for a while (Kids, House Job) it Single handily rekindled my love of games. I was tellaported back to a time when I would play for hours.

[marlowe221]

I was an SNES kid growing up so, in no particular order.....

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Mario World
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
Sim City
Super Castlevania IV

[deku]

1. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - This is the first game I remember playing. I spent many hours playing this game and honestly, I don't think I got past the first few levels.
2. Pokemon Blue - I asolutely loved this game. Easily the best game I have ever played.
3. Tomba
4. Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
5. Mario Kart 64

[SpaceHarrier]

You don't count any of your teens as your childhood? :? I included a couple games I played in my mid-teens, and I almost included a game I first played when I was 17.

Heh, I guess I counted adolescence separately from 'childhood'.

Street Fighter II would safely overtake Space Harrier for the #5 spot if I were to include all the years up to turning 18. And perhaps Suikoden would be #4, the RPG that finally made me love RPGs.

[Solo_Skywalker]

As a kid of the late 80's early 90's I'm going to have to say, in no particular order

1. The Legend of Zelda (Predictable I know)
2. Turtles arcade game (NES)
3. T2 judgement day arcade game (the arcade machine)
4. Golden eye 007
5. WWF Attitude or WCW vs. NWO (Can't decide)


Honorable Mention

6. Bomberman (NES)


Ohhhhh memories....... :)

[The Clonus Horror]

I'm going to have to totally cheat and do a top five for Arcade and Atari 2600/NES/Genesis/Turbografx-16 (the systems I owned during my "childhood," ie. up till age 18.

Arcade:
-Pac Man: I remember the first time that I saw a tabletop Pac Man in Columbia Falls, MT with my mom. I was absolutely fascinated by it.
-Speed Buggy: Was in Feits Bowling Alley in Park Falls, WI.
-Xenophobe: Also in Feits Bowling Alley.
-Mat Mania: At Flambeau Lanes in Park Falls, WI.
-Duck Hunt (the original, with the giant screen and the metal gun): This was at some tiny bar between Butternut and Glidden, WI, I want to say The Black Bear, maybe?

Atari 2600:
-The Empire Strikes Back: My Grandma and I would play this a lot.
-Worm War I: Freakin' LOVED this game.
-Berzerk: Could play for hours.
-Combat
-Breakout

NES:
-Super Mario Bros: At the time, I had never played anything quite like it.
-Sky Kid
-Golgo 13: I remember buying graph paper and mapping out all of the "3-D" sections, as well as writing down every bit of dialogue in the game. I would love to still have that "homemade strategy guide." I also remember consuming copious amount of Cheddar & Sour Cream Flavored "Tato Skins" chips dipped in Dean's French Onion Dip while playing this game. You know a game defined your memories when you remember what you were EATING while playing it!
-Mike Tyson's PUNCH-OUT!
-Zanac: I used to be super-awesome at this game. I bet I would be destroyed if I revisited it now.

GENESIS:
This was the first system I ever bought with my own money, back in 1989. I literally shovelled deer shit at the Wisconsin Deer Park 40 hours a week for $3.80/hour that entire summer. That was my first job. Awesome.
-Altered Beast: What can I say, it came with the system and looked and sounded amazing at the time.
-Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl: This was a multiplayer staple in high school, and the sound effects were hilarious.
-Arch Rivals: Also a multiplayer favorite.
-Herzog Zwei: Borrowed this from a friend when it first came out and absolutely loved it.
-Golden Axe: What more can you say?

Turbografx-16:

I'm not sure why I even bought this system, maybe it was my first "nobody else that I know has one, and it looks pretty eccentric, so, why not?" gaming purchase.
-Cadash
-Alien Crush
-Devil Crush
-Vigilante
-Keith Courage in Alpha Zones

I have to mention some games on systems that I didn't have, but were played at friends' houses:

-Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)
-Triple Action (Intellivision)
-Night Stalker (Intellivision)
-Super Star Wars (SNES)
-Rambo (Sega Master System)
-Oregon Trail (Apple IIe, Park Falls Elementary School)