What was That One Big Game for you?

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Idk about anyone else, but a lot of people I know seem to have that one big game that they were just hooked on growing up. For me, it was Metal Gear Solid on PS1. When I first got it for Christmas one year it blew me away and I was hooked immediately. It was the first game I ever finished, and I became a total nerd for it. I wound up getting a PS2 just to play Metal Gear Solid 2. And 3.

People tend to not look back on these games as fondly as others, sometimes, saying there's too many cut scenes, but if I remember, back then, these games were RAVED about. The first MGS is my favorite, it blew me away when I first played it, the gameplay was suspenseful and addicting and fun. The storyline was mind-blowing, too. And I can really say nowadays that it wasn't just the storyline that hooked me it was the gameplay too, cuz I can play the VR missions and really get into it. Amazing game, it desserves what praise it does get, you have to play this game if you haven't already. And if u enjoy it, u should play 2 and 3 as well.

I also loved the music, the way it gets real quiet when u hiding and a guards rite there, with the low beat, the startling sound when a guard spots u, its all just so masterfully done.

[The Adventurer]

Super Mario Bros. 3. I'd just gotten my NES Christmas 1989 and the hype for that game was unreal. I followed everything I could about it, and I made sure to rent it as soon as it came out. And then I got it the next Christmas. I played that game to death.

I was also really high on The Secret of Monkey Island for a while. A friend had a copy on their PC and I would make every excuse to visit just so I could plow deeper into that game. It was definitely my gateway to more Adventure games. Which have largely defined my video game tastes my entire life.

[Tanooki]

Is it too much saying it's showing my age that it was Super Mario Bros back for Christmas of 1985? :) Sure Duck Hunt and Gyromite in the box were fun, and then so was the extra cart of Hogan's Alley too. But damn SMB was the one that got the time and use, the exploration, the game play, the audio and visuals that helped drive the imagination. It went from a game of static screens into fluid motion which I had rarely seen other than the arcade and now that was on my TV. That thing opened a door that has still not been closed nearly 30 years later.

[FieryReign]

Is it too much saying it's showing my age that it was Super Mario Bros back for Christmas of 1985? :) Sure Duck Hunt and Gyromite in the box were fun, and then so was the extra cart of Hogan's Alley too. But damn SMB was the one that got the time and use, the exploration, the game play, the audio and visuals that helped drive the imagination. It went from a game of static screens into fluid motion which I had rarely seen other than the arcade and now that was on my TV. That thing opened a door that has still not been closed nearly 30 years later.

You lived in one of the test markets? I got mine christmas of 86, the year it was released nationwide. Obvious answer would be SMB for me but I'll take a different route...

Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis. I got it the day after christmas of 89 with some cash I received for the holiday. I played the original arcade game but this thing was completely different. It was all sorts of cool adding so much to the gameplay with sick tunes. The intro/title screen alone lets you know of the awesome in store. I played the hell out of it and it took me awhile to beat it but it was a blast nonetheless. Some people criticize it for it's difficulty, I say they just suck at games. If you grew up with Nintendo then you know what "NES-hard" means. The double jump also gets alot of flack, I say learn the timing. Timeless classic and showed what the Genny was capable of.

How about the first PlayStation demo disc in the purple sleeve? I already had a Saturn and was kind of skeptical at what Sony was capable of. Their Imagesoft line of trash didn't raise any hopes. But when I played the Wipeout demo on a Montgomery Ward kiosk, I was amazed. I splurged a week later and spent my entire Taco Bell paycheck on a PS1. Wipeout still wasn't released yet but damn if I didn't play the hell out of every demo on that first disc. As well as watch every video. I still have it and boot it up from time to time to get that tingly nostalgic feeling...

[wizardofwor1975]

I think it was Christmas of 1984. My brothers and I got a Colecovision along with Frenzy, H.E.R.O., and last but not least Donkey Kong. Frenzy absolutely hooked me on console video games. I'd played Berzerk on my dad's 2600 and I absolutely loved it but Frenzy took it to another level. The Colecovision was such a great machine. I also remember being a freaking Coleco addict with Tutankham, Turbo, and Venture.

[Nebagram]

Probably Sonic 1 & 2- the Master System versions. Still brilliant even to this day.

[Tanooki]

Yeah and I really wish I could remember or know how or why, but my mom got it and hid all that somewhere for Christmas. I have no idea if we asked for it, but I'd find that hard to believe since it wasn't really much on display at all at that little point between October and December. We lived in Orange Co which borders LA county where one of the launches was, so she drove a little or it was spread a little wider than strictly within LA county limits. I had not had home games before that, very limited experience with a Fairchild Channel F at my mom's best friends house when we'd get stuck over there at times but it wasn't anything totally awesome, even then. Up to that point my gaming experience was the Showbiz Pizza Time Theater on rare occasion randomly or with birthdays.

I never got the Genesis. All the negative ad pure lie ad campaigns Sega ran in the late 80s into the first half of the 90s kept me from buying let alone barely using the thing out of pure spite. My brother was a turncoat in 90 or 91 I forget, it was his he got with allowance along with Sonic and some other stuff and fro that moment, exceptional rare points aside he never used the NES. I ended up with the SNES the day it came out, was to be a gift but I couldn't stand it so when my mom went out to pick it up I raided my mailbox safe and the rest of the room, not sure how, but I had more than enough to cover it, literally tossed the cash at her and I was gone on that TV for 2 weeks straight until Mario World got completed entirely (soon after got ActRaiser and Gradius III.) The Genesis I only got originally as the nomad along with a few games. Later as a gift from an aussie girl/gf? long distance thing in late 2001 I got a model 3 version with a box of like 25 games, she kept like 5 and got me to mail her a Gamecube she paid for to dodge customs and overseas pricing. I can appreciate either 16bit system, but ultimately aside from a select few third party games Sega did nothing for me aside from a few of their own as the system even in the early 90s felt dated to me and the 3 button pad I thought sucked.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I had played plenty of NES and Genesis before the Ps1, but my parents didn't allow us to own video games until the Playstation was out, so as it turned out Metal Gear was one of the first game I owned and played hardcore. I played a lot of Sonic and SMB on my uncle's systems in the really early 90s, but like I said, I didn't own my own. Around 2000 he did give me his Genesis and NES, and I still own them to this day, and the games. They were kind of a starting point for when I decided to collect games and waste all my money on retro games. The Genesis model 1 he gave me still works, altho I use a model 2 hooked up to the Sega CD and 32X, but I retired the NES and now use a Retron 2 for NES games.

But yea, Playstation. I still have the original collection of games I had back then too, which was about 25 or 30 games, along with a ton of other games I've accumulated, but it's still great to still have those originals.

The only ones I'm missing is Time Crisis and Point Blank, which I had sold about 12 years ago, along with the Namco light guns. I'll prolly pick them up again sometime, eventually. For now Idc.

[ProjectCamaro]

For me it was GoldenEye for the N64. A friend of mine always got the new consoles as soon as they came out, my family didn't have the same resources so we normally got the. Well after price drops came into play. After playing GoldenEye at his house I was hooked, I was about 14 at the time so I didn't have any real income coming in but was able to save up enought for the game and an extra controller. (I didn't have the console yet). I then asked for it for Christmas as I knew my parents couldn't afford the console and the game and sure enough I got it. That is still my favorite Christmas as a kid and the best gift I have ever received. It is also the reason I have so many games today as before that I was a casual gamer but shortly there afeter got pretty hardcore into it.

[kupomogli]

The one game I've been playing and replaying since my childhood to today is Castlevania.

[Casati]

For the NES, Super Mario Bros 3. For the Sega Genesis, it was usually Sonic the Hedgehog or Shining in the Darkness. Earlier in the decade, I usually played Space Duel in the arcade, Pitfall or Donkey Kong on the Atari 2600. In the 70s, I usually played Space Invaders in the arcade.

[retroman]

For me I would say it was TMNT 2 The Arcade Game for the NES or Golden Axe 2 for the Sega Genesis.

[SpaceFlea]

I would have to say Shining Force II.

[Emperor Megas]

Probably Fantasy Zone II. I owned an NES and a Master System, but I played the Master System way more, and Fantasy Zone II was he game I loved and played the most.

In the arcades though, it would have to be Rygar.

[bioshockfan]

Being an older than most (in my 40's) there are MANY games that have really got me going. Here are a few for each system that kept that fire burning of playing and collecting games.


Atari 2600 Dig dug
NES Castlevania
C64 - Bard's Tale Series
SNES Final Fantasy series
Genesis: Shining Force Series
N64: Golden Eye
PS1: Final Fantasy 7
Dreamcast: Skies of Arcadia, Blue Stinger, Resident Evil, Grandia 2
Saturn: Dragon Force
Ps2: Any and ALL RPG's
x-box: Halo
Gamecube: Mario Kart
Xbox 360: Assassins Creed, Halo series, Bioshock Series
Ps3: Uncharted series, Last of Us, Borderlands series
X-box 1: Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare
PS4: Thief, and Hopefully Destiny (next week)

Each system has had at least one game where it keeps me interested and wanting to game and play more hard to pinpoint just one. But Atari got me started with Dig Dug and the addiction continued from there hehe

Bioshockfan

[kamakazi5]

I would have to say MGS as well. I played SNES/Genesis a lot before but never really got into a game like that. 1 and 2 are some of the only games I've actually replayed multiple times. It's weird that I loved those so much but then never finished 3 or even played 4.

[ZeroCool]

Super Mario Bros. 3

[homerhomer]

After Burner II was that game.

Honorable mentions go to
R-Type
Space Harrier

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

For me it was GoldenEye for the N64. A friend of mine always got the new consoles as soon as they came out, my family didn't have the same resources so we normally got the. Well after price drops came into play. After playing GoldenEye at his house I was hooked, I was about 14 at the time so I didn't have any real income coming in but was able to save up enought for the game and an extra controller. (I didn't have the console yet). I then asked for it for Christmas as I knew my parents couldn't afford the console and the game and sure enough I got it. That is still my favorite Christmas as a kid and the best gift I have ever received. It is also the reason I have so many games today as before that I was a casual gamer but shortly there afeter got pretty hardcore into it.

We played this a ton also. I remember sleeping over a friend's house in jr high playing this till all hours of the nite until his mom came down and yelled at us. I had a Playstation at the time, since I was into action type games, but for some reason wanted to play this game a ton. I remember renting the N64 from Blockbuster just to play Goldeneye.

I also remember when Perfect Dark came out, and me and my friends thinking it was BETTER then Goldeneye. Not too many people I hear thought this tho, but it really was better. Nowadays Goldeneye sells for $20 and Perfect Dark for $5, but I still think Perfect Dark is > Goldeneye.

[tom]

It has to be Star Raiders, one of the most important 3D space shooting games, which is a nowadays a classic and is, as we all know, the first gaming ''killer-app''.
Seeing that 3D starfield on a running A8 was ground breaking, nothing like that was never seen before. It sold hardware.
One of the greatest games ever to this day.
Star Raiders is and always will be one of the greatest classics out there.

[gunswordfist]

Sonic 2. My little brother and me played it so much that we could get Super Sonic during Act 2 of Emerald Hill. When we first started, it took us until like Aquatic Ruins to get all of the emeralds. Honestly, I played the Sonic 1 and 2 mod a week ago and still have some of the Special Stage ring patterns memorized. I was calling them out in my head before they came.

[PreZZ]

Metroid. this game was groundbreaking, it had platforming, exploration, game saving (with a horrible code you had to input each time!), bosses, weapon upgrades, and to this day one of the best soundtrack for a videogame ever. The atmoshpere of this game was so different and awesome.

[Querjek]

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

When I was little, it taught me the importance of reading in-game text.

As an adult, I've come to appreciate its themes of non-violence and friendship.

[Atarileaf]

I gotta go with one of the granddaddies - Space Invaders on the 2600. This was the game that made me and millions of others take notice of the Atari VCS. The first killer app of video games was also my "it" game.

[otaku]

super mario world growing up on my cousins snes played a lot of goldeneye and wrestlemania and mario kart/party on the n64 to

[jammajup]

As we always `growing up` at least until we are twenty one or something it is hard to narrow down any one moment in game generation for me so I will name a couple of games which occupied my time back then.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark On Atari 2600 did take up a lot of my time as an 11/12 year old but I did eventually complete it , I reckon after that two ZX Spectrum games for those that know of the system Jetset Willy and Halls Of The Things. In the 16 Bit era in my twentys`s age wise most my time would be spent on the Amiga games Carrier Command and Turrican I/II ,not forgetting Super Mario Kart on SNES.
After that Doom and Tombraider games which have most likely used the most of my gaming time overall