A single game to revive your interest in gaming

[thom_m]

That happened to me, fellas. I wasn't playing my games anymore; for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to...it felt too much of a hassle, you know? Plugin it in, choosing a cart, etc, etc, etc.

So after a few months like that, I finally find an affordable copy of Super Metroid (they're expensive around here). And it rekindled my interest for gaming again...after beating it (in shameful 8h30m), I felt like playing again! Now I'm taking on SMB on the NES with my daughter again, giving Gunstar Heroes a try on hard mode, dusting off my PSX to resume my Skullmonkeys game. All thanks to Super Metroid!

Has something like that ever happened to you? Has a single gamed ever revived your interest in playing?

[DreadIsReal]

Turtles IV: Turtles in Time.

[Steven]

All thanks to Super Metroid!

Has something like that ever happened to you? Has a single gamed ever revived your interest in playing?

Heh, somehow I had the funny feeling before clicking on this thread your answer would be Super Metroid. For me, it was World Heroes Perfect on the Saturn in 1999. At that point, I was starting to not really care about gaming any more. PS1 was still dominating and other than a few select titles, I really rather lost interest in the hobby. WHP brought me back though, and I would go on to LOVE Saturn 1999-2005.

Then in late 2005 I burnt out (er, I prefer to say max out, on 2nd thought) on the Saturn, and didn't care about the current day consoles. I was once again on my way out of gaming when I suddenly developed a serious SNES urge. That "resurrection" has brought me back full time, and continues to this day. So it wasn't one particular game, but rather the system itself. And all the memories I wanted to revisit, and all the gems I missed out on back in the day (including LTTP and Super Metroid). In some ways, I'm enjoying my current SNES run as much as I did in the early-mid '90s, if not more. I certainly never had this many games to pick from to play readily available 15 years ago!

[SpaceHarrier]

Sonic Adventure

Arguably without this game I'd never have given the Dreamcast a second look. Gosh, how I would have missed out on so many great titles! Likely I might have moved on to another hobby, at least until Gran Turismo 3 came out. Instead I found the gap bridged by an epic playable cartoon starring my favorite franchise character.

[Cobra Commander]

Probably no one will believe me, but it was Super Mario Sunshine. After the PS1, I had pretty much decided to give up on gaming. I saw a demo of SMS on ZDTV(Tech TV/G4). I remember in particular Mario fighting on that large mirror. I thought it looked beautiful.
I had to have it, when I finally bought the game and the Gamecube, I was a born-again gamer!

[KingYoshi]

Whenever I begin to lose touch with my gaming side (which doesn't happen often), I'll pop in either Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World, or Resident Evil 2. Those three games never fail at reminding me of why I fell in love with video games in the first place.

[SuperOstrich]

For me it was picking up a GBA SP at a garage sale for $10, followed by Metroid Zero Mission for $4 at Value Village. I didn't actually play it until I took a trip to Cali several months later, finished Zero Mission during that trip, loved every minute of it. Since then I've been chewing through my backlog with a renewed passion.

[heybtbm]

Zelda: Wind Waker.

I didn't have much time or interest with games while I was in college. Even though I had been gaming non-stop since '82 or so, the current releases couldn't hold my attention...my general interest in video games was tapped.

The only gaming I did during this time was occasionally on PC (Age of Empires 2 and Diablo 2 were pretty much all I played for 4 years). You could say I essentially stopped playing games from 2000 to early 2003.

Then I watched a preview of Wind Waker in February 2003 and saw you could get a free copy of Zelda: OOT for pre-ordering (I had sold my copy and N64 years previous). I marched down to Best Buy and bought a Gamecube, Mario Sunshine, Rogue Squadron II, and Resident Evil 0 that same night. Haven't stopped since.

[kedawa]

I went away to university in the fall of 98 and I was already pretty sick of gaming. My father passed away about a month after school started, and I started spending most of my time just moping around and didn't feel very social, and I was bored as hell. One of my friends in residence bought Ocarina of Time the day it came out, and it was the first thing that really brought joy back into my life. I bought an N64 and a copy of the game shortly thereafter and I've been playing pretty steadily ever since.

[retroman]

Goldeneye 007 wii got me back into being hooked playing online..

[PentiumMMX]

After losing my interst because I knew I could never talk my parents into buying me a Gamecube, my discovery of Sonic 3 & Knuckles got me interested in gaming again and also got me more interested in playing the classics.

[Nesmaster]

Megaman 2

[jammajup]

I think this is a great topic,i think even the most hardened of retro enthusiasts can have these low moments.
For me i play something old like an Atari VCS or Sinclair Speccy game because this is where it all began for me personally as these were the first systems i owned back in the day.

[DuckTalesNES]

Super Metroid brought me back too. Then Final Fantasy XIII drove me away. Then Mass Effect brought me back again.

[NaturalChemical]

Earlier this year, I was in a bit of a slump, not much interest in gaming. Two games pulled me back in.

The first was Super Meat Boy, for its fantastic retro-inspired gameplay. Coupled with the sheer amount of levels, I was hooked.

The second was an obscure SFC game called UFO Kamen Yakisoban, which I picked up at an expo. The fun of blindly purchasing a game I knew nothing about brought back vibes of mid-90's gaming. I guess it kind of spurred the gamer in me to start again.

[The Old School Gamer]

Back in the mid-90's I gave up on console games, I still would buy an occasional PC game but that was it. I had gotten a 32X that was totaly unsupported, and watched the 3DO, CD-I, Virtual-Boy, and Jaguar all fail. I had no intrest in Sony's new system and was pissed at Sega so I was done with consoles. Then the N64 came out, I played Mario 64 a bit and really liked it, so I started debating if I should get the N64. The next summer I learned my favorite arcade game (and pretty much the only game I was playing) was coming to the N64! I went out and bought the N64 with Mario and the game that got be back into gaming... War Gods. Ugh what was wrong with me? I loved that game and it just sucks so bad now, and it did back then too. But if it wasn't for War Gods I doubt I would have ever gotten back into gaming.

[hellraiser]

I was 100% done with games. If I was in AA I would have earned quite a few chips by now.Put it this way the last system i owned was a ps1.

Then a buddie sent me a email about super mario crossover....
I was hooked. It all came back to me. I got most of the games i onced stupidly got rid of and have played a ton of classics for the first time.

Its funny but the game that got me into playin nintendo snes and sega again is a game that never really existed untill recently.

[sebastiankirchoff]

For the last year, I was not able to play video games because I was living at my grandparents temporarily and did not have access to my stuff. Then, when I moved (yet again), I thought I was done with games completely. Then, my friend introduced me to Team Fortress 2. I purchased it about a month ago, and since then, I have been playing nearly every day for at least two hours. Now I want to buy Counter Strike Source, Half Life and several other Valve games, when for the past year I had no desire to play a video game.

[AB Positive]

I had a bit of a slump for the past year - dove through the amiga catalog with glee then after beating quite a few I just kind of rounded off.

Then I got a PSP which I modded for travel classic gaming... but then got a cheap copy of Disgaea for PSP and while I never finished it on PS2, I ran right through it like a starving person at a buffet. Dove right into Azure Dreams after, while playing lots of MSX games on my PSP

[Zing]

For me, it was Phantom Hourglass.