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Your gaming timeline in 10 to 15 games


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25 minutes ago, B.A. said:

 

6. Snake on the TI-85

Yep, here is one out of left field.  I was in high school at this time and got a TI-85 graphing calculator.  It could play rudimentary games which I thought was the coolest because I could get away with it in class.  

Image result for ti 85 games

9. Dragon Age Origins - Xbox 360

This game holds a spot as being the first game I really gave a chance on a non Nintendo system since the sega master system.  I am a huge Nintendo fanboy.  I really liked this game though.  

Image result for dragon age origins

 

DA Origins is my favorite modern RPG too.  Fallout 4 is pretty close behind but DAO was amazing.  DA2 was such a let down though.

On the oddball pick, this game almost made my list too:

Image result for tiger electronics baseball game"

I know I had 2 or 3 but this one got the most use in my driveway amongst us friends.  Everyone wanted a turn with the Baseball Tiger game. 

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8 minutes ago, jonebone said:

DA Origins is my favorite modern RPG too.  Fallout 4 is pretty close behind but DAO was amazing.  DA2 was such a let down though.

On the oddball pick, this game almost made my list too:

Image result for tiger electronics baseball game"

I know I had 2 or 3 but this one got the most use in my driveway amongst us friends.  Everyone wanted a turn with the Baseball Tiger game. 

Hell yeah, I had this one.  Played it so much that I memorized exactly what base you could get to 100% of the time by the 1st dot the ball got to after hitting it with the bat.  

Image result for handheld baseball game

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Moderator · Posted
27 minutes ago, jonebone said:

DA Origins is my favorite modern RPG too.  Fallout 4 is pretty close behind but DAO was amazing.  DA2 was such a let down though.

On the oddball pick, this game almost made my list too:

Image result for tiger electronics baseball game"

I know I had 2 or 3 but this one got the most use in my driveway amongst us friends.  Everyone wanted a turn with the Baseball Tiger game. 

Holy shit, I had that one too. Probably played second most behind a Ghost and Goblins? one. 

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I am at work so no pictures but I would say based on timeline(ish)..


1. SMB/DH. I was super young but I remember everyone at the house gathering around the tv to watch and play.

2. A Link to the Past - I would play this at my older sister's and just got so absorbed into it

3. Link's Awakening - this may be the 1st game I bought with my own money, not sure whether it was that or my birthday but it's just so good.

4. FF VI - I actually played this and decided no thanks originally, but then my buddy told me the Magitech armor part is just in the intro and not the entire game. This is my #1 game.

5. Mario 64 - I actually wasn't that into the game when it was new because my hype was Star Wars Shadows o the Empire (Hoth was sooo good), however Mario is my #1 N64 game.

6. Super Mario Kart - the original. This game invented the genre and is sooo good.

7. Secret of Mana - loved this game when I was younger. I actually created my eBay account back in 2002 to buy this game. Used a money order because I was so young and didn't have a credit card haha.

8. Super Metroid - this was possibly the 1st proper Metroidvania game that I played, and the genre is simply incredible.

9. Ikaruga. This is the best shooter ever and really got me into the genre.

10. Zelda BotW - not my #1 game but I think the best game ever created to this point.

Honourable mentions:

Super C - man, my buddy and I used to play this probably every time we drank and hung at his place. We could beat it using zero continues

God of War (PS4) - best game on the console. Gorgeous and awesome.

Symphony of the Night - you know why it deserves a spot.

Twinkle Star Sprites - am sure other games should outrank this one but it's probably my #1 Neo Geo game, so just wanted to mention it. Nothing else really to compare it to but certainly recommend you play it.

Tomba! - holy crap this is a great game. I only ever played through it the once, but it is one I really wish they would put on a virtual console.

 

I wouldn't say that each one mentioned is THE game as there are many others that came to mind, but these are the ones I decided to mention. My answer tomorrow might have some other choices, but you get an idea :).

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For me it would be

SMB/Duck Hunt - The first real games I could play on my own. The zapper was a great accessory and SMB is a masterpiece. 

Metroid - One of my favorite franchises. The world they created was spooky as hell when I was a kid and I was completely thrown for a loop when I put in the justin bailey code.

Dragon Warrior 4 - Probably my favorite RPG of all time. I loved the whole chapter system and everyone coming together at the end and the story was good at the time.

Mortal Kombat 2 - Me and my older brother would play this all day during the summer with the SNES modem. Good times.

Final Fantasy 3 (6) - I think this is the best RPG of all time. The story, magic system with espers, steampunk type machinery, Kefka, Sabin... this game hit all the right points to be a classic masterpiece and I still play it to this day.

Super Metroid - A step up in every way from the original. I remember we were getting ready for vacation and I was mad because I was damn near the end and I had to wait to get back to beat it.

Metroid Prime - I love metroid what can I say.

Baldurs Gate - For me this was as close an experience to actually playing DnD as it got. The graphics and story were near perfect for the time.

Diablo - Good God what a great game. Just one more chest and I'm going to stop, yeah right.

StarCraft/Warcraft- the only real RTS games that I could get into. Starcraft was so fun when you would have LAN parties with friends.

Elder Scrolls Oblivion - This was my first purchase along with quake for my 360. I like playing dnd and this game is perfect for any fans of medieval fantasy gaming. 

Fall Out 3 - Another great game that me and my buddy would play all the time. This game was good it was entertaining watching someone else play.

Zelda breath of the wild - This game is epic in every sense of the word. I have 120 hours easy between the WiiU and switch versions and I still haven't beaten it.

Therw were plenty more but these are the ones that stick out the most.

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I was Born in 85 in Montreal, but I didn't own a console until 1996. Until then all my gaming was at a friends house.

1991

First tape I played was super Mario world. It was at a friends house. It would later go on to be the first tape I owned.

1992 - 1995

Went to arcades with friends and played a bunch of stuff there. Things that stick out to me was mk3. I played a lot of that.

I played exclusively SNES during this time frame, whatever people had or rented when I was over. Your typical first party good stuff, nobody I knew owner any of that shelf filler garbage.

Donkey Kong country was huge for me when it came out. I would always play that at my friends house and is still one of my favorites to this day.

1996 moved to Vancouver 

A new friend of mine had a tg16 and SNES.  They never used their tg16 so they let me borrow it for 6 months until they decided to sell it to get some more SNES tapes. I had like a dozen turbo tapes to play, all good stuff but number 1 for me was Bonks revenge. I've got a whole bonk merch collection going, it was one of my favorite tapes growing up.

I got a used SNES for my birthday this year with 2 controllers and all the hookups and super Mario world and mk3. All for $40Cad. Two weeks later I picked up B.O.B and dkc1. My brother and i played these games like crazy.

During this time frame a lot of rental stores were dumping their SNES stock and my friends were aswell tonget money for n64 stuff so i got a lot of AAA titles for free or less than $20.

The most significant former rental I picked up was the copy of goof troop I bought from a local rental store.

1996 - 2000 

warcraft 2 on the pc was big for me first rts  game I ever played.

We ended up getting an n64 in 1999 I believe? Got goldeneye with the atomic purple bundle. The two biggest games for me on the n64 were perfect dark mario party 2, and ocarina of time.  Played them both so much in high school.

My first Ebay purchase was in this time frame aswell. I bought chronotrigger and paid with a money order. It took forever to get to me. It was also one of those tapes that really stood out for me at the time. We never really owned many n64 tapes. We just kept buying SNES because it looked better and the tapes were better.

2001 - 2003

Somewhere in there i got a decent PC and really got into warcraft 3. Played ladder games all the time 

My brother and I got an xbox for Christmas somewhere in that timeline. Morrowind and Tony hawk 3 were everything for us back then. Countless hours exploring in morrowind. It took a long time to beat the main quest because the side quests were a lot of fun. It was nice to have such an open world.

We still kept buying up good cheap SNES tapes at the same time.

2004 - 2006

Going to college and working part time. Spent all the gaming time on Diablo 2 until world of warcraft came out. 

WOW became an obsession for 2 years, and was definitely the most influential tape for me in that timeframe. It was a lot of fun and an interesting experience.  Did the whole raiding thing and pvp thing for a long time. I eventually quit when the first expansion came out.

During this time frame I didn't really play any retro tapes but still kept buying them.

2007 - 2008

Didn't play or buy any tapes in this time frame, but did really get into guitar hero 2.

2009 - 2013

Started buying up a ton of old tapes shooting for full sets. Until 2010 when prices shot up. Got into the Wii and just played the typical first party title. Notables were kirby epic yarn, new super Mario bros.

I also bought my first ever handheld the 3ds. Animal crossing new leaf was easily the most influential title for me back then.

2014 - 2016

Got a wiiu but I barely used it, it was more for my wife to play.  I cant really say any tape in that time frame really stood out for me. Pokemon go was a thing for a bit and i had fun but i dont think I'll go back.

2017 - 2019

Cleared out most of my collection, I just didn't enjoy having it all anymore. I had amassed so many tapes up to this point and they all just sat on a shelf never getting played. I only kept the stuff I'd actually consider playing.

We bought a switch in 2017 and have a handful of tapes, but it doesn't see a lot of use from my end. I dont really have any title that stands out for me in this timeframe either, they're just okay to me.

2019+

I'll probably continue to downsize the collection a bit more. I've been at it for so long, I just dont find it as fun as i did when i was younger. I might pick up the odd tape here and there but I'm really picky these days since switch tapes aren't the cheapest. I dont need a warehouse full of tapes when I just dont dedicate the time to play it these days. I'll always have good memories from the tapes I played, but I think the amount of time I spend with it will continue to dwindle as time goes on.

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1. Sonic the Hedgehog - First game I remember playing, I think it was year 1992 and I was 4 years old. My current nickname and some previous ones have subconscious inspiration from it. Who can deny the charm of the blue blur and the game during that era?

2. Super Mario Land - During my early gaming years I played my sister's Game Boy a lot but this game just sticks out, since I could actually beat it and it was among the early titles that I played on the system.

3. Shining Force II - Lent it from a friend and probably had it for at least a year or two. One of my absolute favorite games and a must play strategy rpg. Great accessibility, fantastical storyline filled with mythological races and magical places. Top notch soundtrack by one of my favorite composers: Motoaki Takenouchi.

4. DOOM II - I loved our IBM PC with random DOS games like Mortal Kombat, Creature Shock, Chip's Challenge etc. but most important ones we owned were DOOM and DOOM II, while both are iconic I like DOOM II more and I beat it on 2nd hardest difficulty when I was 8 years old.

5. Tomb Raider - I got PlayStation 1 for my 9th birthday in 1997; It was a complete surprise when I came home from school with a friend that day. The console was hooked up in the living room with Lara Croft proudly standing in the starting cave on the TV screen. Over the following week or two my friend visited me daily and we beat the game.

6. Pokémon Blue - I was addicted to this game, Blastoise was great but Pinsir became my favorite Pokémon. I remember beating the game and leveling some of my Pokémon to 100 even but then I heard about the ominous MissingNo. I can still remember encountering and capturing it and the game getting bugged forever on my save. I wasn't happy with the glitching Hall of Masters and things, so I got another copy on top of the haunted one.

7. Final Fantasy VII - I lent this from a friend of a friend but he wanted it back quite fast; at the time I was stuck in the part where Yuffie does some shenanigans. Fast forward to me being a teenager and having bought a copy of FF VII and FF IX from another friend: I had my niece visiting and I started playing FF VII again and she started watching me play, so we made a deal that I would only play when she was visiting. We beat the game over a long period of time. Good times.

8. Diablo II - I had played Diablo before but Diablo II took my interest to a higher plane. I was 12 at this point in time in the year 2000. I had 90+ LVL characters in softcore, I had 60+ LVL characters in hardcore that succumbed to my PC getting long-ass lagspikes that would conveniently end when my character had died in the game. I had a shared 88 LVL PvP necromancer with a friend. I lost my first account for downloading some sketchy program and it being a keylogger (lesson well learned), and with that account I lost the legendary name "Executioner" that I had gotten reserved in the early days on my barbarian. This game made me get into online socializing, I was friends with 20-36 year old guys and we played HC together and stuff, one of them was the one I shared the PvP necro with, he had 99 LVL HC Assassin too.

9. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead - that's a mouthful, after my Diablo II craze I proceeded to play this first person shooter and got really good at it. My first nickname in there was Viper. One day while playing on a public server I got to chatting with this Danish guy and we decided to make a clan together - I think I invented the name for it: "the Hollow Company". We recruited some friends and some randoms, we just dicked around at first but then got into some competitive playing too but there was clear divide between skill with some of the older Danish guys and some of us younger Finnish guys etc. so at some point it was time for me and some others to move on. Over the years I was in the roster of multiple top clans for a little while; I was in the british fc:uk clan as in fight club uk with the nickname CronoSS, then I was in the dutch KoD clan as in Kill or Die and then I settled with Spinus nickname and joined a stable Finnish clan for a long time (later known as D^Zero as in Damage Zero). Eventually my nick got taken on IRC and I quickly made something more unique called sp1nzoK, it lasted me a long time and while unique still, it felt bit off in the recent years, so I shortened it for my steam few years ago and try to get it in new places now instead of my old version albeit being non-unique. Anyway back to my "career" in MoH:AA:SH - the friend I played through Tomb Raider with was one of the members in the Hollow Company that left with me and eventually we joined 2 of the strongest Finnish clans with kind of a rivalry, he joined GreBer as in Green Berets and I joined D^Zero but it was around a time when the clan had an older name that escapes me. Me and that friend also made a clan that would host a lot of our school friends from the same municipality, we're talking like 10-20 players in the clan. We called it Clan OwlaSala, an antiquated version of our municipality Oulunsalo's name. We were great team in 2v2 with that guy, we let lower skilled members play 2v2 too but still were high rank with the clan in 2v2 ladder. (check uploaded image). I also was member of Team Finland on ClanBase for a while in the game. When I was still playing in D^Zero my "career" highlight was winning bronze in ClanBase Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead 5v5 Objective Realism Europe 2004 Summer Cup. Our bronze match was against KoD and we had to play on their strongest map/our weakest map Bridge in that match too but we pulled it off.

10. World of Warcraft - I think I accumulated over 10k hours in the game:

Vanilla: My first character was a human rogue called Aurelia on Sunstrider realm. I joined some MC raiding guild, name of which escapes me and from there upgraded to a guild named Unknown Entity (still around but nowadays on Sylvanas realm). I was one of the top dps due to my +5 swords human racial the rogue officer at 16~ years of age and was even a raid leader once in Naxxramas 40. Our guild got to 4 Horsemen with other wings cleared before the Burning Crusade was upon us, so we ran out of time to clear vanilla raid content.

The Burning Crusade: I rerolled to freshly expansion acquired alliance Shaman for the guild, a draenei called Crescenda. I started doing PvP with one guildie (our battlegroup was Blackout in Europe) and we got some good results (check uploaded image). Our 2v2 team was Resto Shaman+Arms Warrior, 3v3 was Resto Shaman+Arms Warrior+Rogue (can't remember specc), 5v5 team comp I can't really remember, I think same 3 as in our 3v3 + priest and hunter or something. I got 2 PvP Season 1 Gladiator mounts as in Swift Nether Drake, 1 from 2v2 and 1 from 3v3, so I had to delete the other one from my mail box. I raided until Kaelthas Sunstrider and then took a long break from the frustration with not being able to clear that fight. Unknown Entity proceeded to clear stuff without me naturally.

Wrath of the Lich King: A friend of mine brought me a copy of the new expansion, so my break ended here. I started on Horde this time and joined his guild. I played Tauren Death Knight but not sure what my name was. I took even bigger break than last time quite early on in the expansion. When I came back I migrated the Death Knight to alliance and joined another friend's guild, it was called In Omnia Paratus, here I can remember my nickname was Ascarian and I picked the human race for my DK. We beat the 10 man raid contents and that was pretty fun.

Cataclysm: Played a tiny bit at start with my Death Knight, then got bored and took yet a longer break than before. After that break I joined Unknown Entity again with bad blue gear from 5 man dungeons. They were doing some Heroic 25 Blackwing Descent's, so I joined a couple of raids despite my lacking gear, since I would get upgrades so fast and was "trusted good player" and wasn't doing bad but I noticed instantly how stressful I found hardcore raiding, so I quit shortly after and haven't touched WoW since.

That's a decent timeline starting from me playing my first game and up to me being drafted to Finnish army.

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arena season1 cres 3v3 5th last week.JPG

Edited by sp1nz
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On 11/15/2019 at 11:29 AM, B.A. said:

Snake on the TI-85

Yep, here is one out of left field.  I was in high school at this time and got a TI-85 graphing calculator.  It could play rudimentary games which I thought was the coolest because I could get away with it in class.  

Image result for ti 85 games

 

 

 

Nice pull! I had the slightly more primitive TI-82, but I remember being so proud of an ascii-graphics pac-man game I programmed for it.

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1982) Parsec (TI-99/4a) - I was pre-school aged, when my dad bought us a Texas Instruments home computer. This was the first game I played. (this cover artwork is gorgeous btw) We had the voice synthesizer module that converted the text-to-speech, so you could hear a slightly muffled woman's voice saying things like: "Press fire to begin" or "Enemy ships approaching." I continued to play our collection of TI games up through 1990.

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1987) Superman (Atari 2600)- My older cousin Mark gave me his Atari along with the small box of games. He was going through his teenage punk phase and I guess he had lost interest. Graphics and sounds were more primitive than what I was used to on the TI, but these games still managed to hold my attention for countless hours playing, Frogger, Asteroids, Berzerk, or flying randomly through Metropolis as Superman, totally lost. 

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1988) Bubble Ghost (PC/DOS) - This was the first game I purchased for our new IBM-PC 286 clone. I recall walking into Egghead Software and carefully scrutinizing the back of the boxes to make my decision. I was torn between getting this or The Last Ninja. (which I ended up receiving a few months later as an Easter present). Bubble Ghost was also one of the first games I ever completed. (no easy task!)

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1989) Super Mario Bros (NES) - My friend Chris got the NES Action Set for xmas the month before. I would spend a lot of time playing NES games at his house.  Prior to that we would play his C64 and his Action Max (the VHS-tape+Lightgun game system) He had an impressive NES collection, but SMB was always one that really stuck with me. I used to fantasize about playing it on one of those portable TVs they used to advertise in the electronics catalogues. (Little did I know that handheld gaming was going to make this possible very soon)

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1990) Knight's Mission (Tomy Pocket Arcade) - I remember I really wanted to get a Tiger electronics LCD handheld game to take with me on car trips and to swim meets. What I got instead was this wind-up toy. I still played the hell out of it, but this was really typical of my parents. I asked for NES, they told me I should be happy with my computer. I asked for Transformers, they got me Converters or Go-bots. I asked for Voltron, they got me Dynaman. They were very frugal people, along with a small dose of "kids won't know the difference". I was always happy to have something to play with, but there was still a twinge of disappointment that I didn't get the thing I had originally hoped for. In retrospect, I think this mechanical toy is a lot cooler of an artifact, and something I'm very happy to have in my collection.

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1992) ZZT (PC-DOS) From the makers of Fortnite! Around this time, I was really into the BBS ANSI art scene as well as video game design. This game perfectly scratched both those itches. Plus its just really well made. Even the pack-in sample game, Town of ZZT, was brilliant. And the community of home grown ZZT worlds is amazing. 

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1994) Mortal Kombat II (Sega Genesis) - I always felt I was too late to the SFII party to ever stand a chance, but Mortal Kombat was my opportunity to get in on the ground floor. I thought the digitized photo graphics looked so cool, and the violence made it seem badass.  My friend recorded himself reading the moves list onto a cassette for me. (not sure why he didn't just write it down) (Nirvana - Nevermind was on the other side). Mortal Kombat II came along and improved on this with more of everything. More characters, more finishing moves.. to me it was the pinnacle of this concept. I studied the moves in Electronic Games Monthly, arbitrarily deciding to make Kung Lao be "my guy".  My friend Ryan owned it on Genesis, and I have many memories of my high school clique hanging out at his house, playing this (or Mariokart 64, or Goldeneye)

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2003) Eyetoy:Play (Playstation 2) I have typically been a late adopter when it comes to game systems. PS2 had already been out a few years at this point, and the price for Xbox and PS2 had just dropped to $149.99 (PS2, also came bundled with a network adaptor and ATV Offroad Fury). I was looking at these at Best Buy, but the real deciding factor was that Eyetoy had caught my attention and I was really intrigued by it. You know what? It was awesome as hell. Especially at parties.

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2005) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS) - I was about to go to Thailand to get married. The flight (with transfers,was a little over 24 hours). My friend who had experience flying to Japan recommended I bring a handheld game system. So I stopped by Gamestop and picked up a DS (the original phat) along with a copy of Mario 64 DS, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. What made me pick the latter, was that it had just gotten a glowing review on X-Play. (I watched G4 all the time back then.) The game was a great mix of the adventure games I loved from my early PC days and an interactive novel. Its amazing how exciting it could when you correctly say "Objection!" at the right moment and the music starts to get all intense.

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2014) Legacy of the Wizard (NES) - I had been emulating NES games on my computer for years, (Nesticle!) and would often think about what games I would have wanted, if I had NES. In 2014, I had just read Console Wars by Blake Harris and the classic gaming bug bit me hard. I went and bought a NES, joined nintendo age, and starting collecting. One of the first games I got for my collection was one the I had actually never played before (or even heard of), Legacy of the Wizard. This guy on Craigslist had a few games I wanted, and this one was thrown in with it. When looking for some information about it, I discovered a video of it being played for the Japanese show, Game Center CX and I was very intrigued. This game really hooked me in hard! I went on to create this guide for it: http://bit.ly/legacyofthewizard

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2016) Beamrider (Atari 2600) - After a couple years of collecting NES, I had gotten most of the games I wanted to get and was starting to look at what to collect next. When my friend Matt learned I was a classic game collector, he gave me his 7800 along with a small collection of games (he was downsizing and decided to just play everything on emulator) This kickstarted my renewed appreciation and collecting for Atari, and it would go on to become one of my favorite systems. Of all the games in my Atari collection, one of my favorites is this shoot-em up called Beamrider. It is played on grid that scrolls off into the horizon, and the bad guys move along the lines of the grid. It is somewhat like a flattened out Tempest.

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2019) Major Havoc (Arcade 1up) - and to bring this timeline up to the present, my current interests tend to emphasize a lot of classic arcade games, Missile Command, Tron, Joust. Major Havoc was one that I had been wanting to play for a long time (but the machines are somewhat rare). When Arcade1up came out, I finally got a chance to own it! (along with a lot of other great games). The game itself is a really awesome vector game with a lot of variety. The main game is very similar to the Quest of Ki on the Famicom. I would love to build a whole home arcade and get the MK2, Rampage, Star Wars, and TMNT units, but my space and finances are too limited at the moment. (Maybe if I can snag one on clearance for $75 bucks like I keep seeing on Reddit)

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Edited by G-type
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Moderator · Posted

In deciding how to write my gaming timeline, I found myself needing to go the full 15 because just writing this out has opened other memories and games that I have to highlight.

1. Frogger (Atari 2600): I was born in 1987, and for the first few years of my life, my exposure to gaming was limited to my parents’ Atari 5200 that had an adaptor for Atari 2600 games and the shareware my grandpa let me play so I wouldn’t be bored by the grown-ups talking whenever we visited (damn I wish I could remember some of those games; one was concentration with car logos, and another was a pretty simple helicopter game that went in infinite loops as you shot up a cityscape). Anyway, my folks had a fun set of games like Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., some “adult” games I wasn’t allowed to touch, and their favorite: Frogger. It was the most immersive game that I could understand and play reasonably well. I only really knew how to play their 2600 games because the controllers on their 5200 never worked.

2. Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt (NES): Somewhere around early grade school, my mom and I went to our church’s fall fair (which I came to love more than the other fairs my town’s churches held because mine was the only one that included video games for some reason) and she decided to buy me an NES that came with the ever-common dual cart. My dad was pissed because maybe he felt that I’d play outside and socialize less, or not be as good in school, or both. I think at the heart of it, he was worried to give me something I could easily retreat to. As much as I liked playing my parents’ Atari, it felt like something they shared with me and so it didn’t feel like a part of my world. And my NES did feel like something for me alone. And I did retreat to it, a lot. I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up and I was teased often. My NES sometimes felt like the only place I had fun that lasted. I could score a run in kickball and get picked first for a team the next day, but a week later I’d step up to the plate and everyone would yell “move in”. I think my family picked up on this and tried to make games a family activity, as I’d sometimes learn we had another game when I walked into the family room and found my parents trying to play Bart vs. The World.

3. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (Macintosh): Sometimes my dad would get me educational games to play on the computer to hedge against whatever he was afraid would happen with the NES. I definitely wasn’t showing much potential when I needed a cheat sheet to understand some clues, then again what 6 year old New England kid knows what flaxen hair is or can identify what genre of music Willie Nelson plays? I think his trust that I hung onto some brains despite gaming came here, where (I’ve been told years later) I somehow hacked his PC at age 6 and was fooling around with whatever files he kept. Oops. Everyone knows this game generally, but anyone who has played this version can tell you it is so much creepier, especially when you get to the final city in each case and you get death threats. I used to be so happily creeped out playing this game in the evening in my dad’s office with the lights out.

4. Dragon Warrior (NES): About a year or two after getting my NES, I was at my church’s fall fair again, and there I picked up Dragon Warrior. I liked playing video games before, but I’d never felt so immersed as I was in the world this game created. I never paid attention to a game’s music as much, or craved playing again as soon as I turned the console off. Even when I wasn’t playing, I was thinking about what I needed to do the next time I played. To this day, I still mispronounce the character you are told is your ancestor: Erdrick by calling him Eed-rick (maybe I didn’t see the r, maybe I just thought it sounded better). I remember being ecstatic then disappointed when I saw in my local Funcoland’s listing that this game had sequels, but each one more expensive than the last. The hours of play went on and on when my parents gave me Dragon Warrior II for Christmas one year. By now, my parents were a little nervous I was going overboard and told me I could only play video games on the weekend, and when they saw how I’d get up early to go downstairs and play, only after noon on the weekend. I’d save coins I found on the ground and go to Funcoland once in a while to see what they had, but that church fair was my Super Bowl. I’d eventually pick up other gems like Maniac Mansion. If I got a good report card, my parents would get a movie from the local video place New Age of Video, and I could get a game for the weekend too, which was usually North & South, Godzilla 2, or Wizards and Warriors.

5. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis): A few years later, I was meandering about at my church’s fair once again (St. Mary’s Fall Festival for the win!) and my mom got me a Sega Genesis and Sonic. My dad complained about that slippery slope again, but I think I was a good enough kid and rarely asked for anything, that they indulged me. They were still worried I’d pay less attention in school, but I always got glowing reviews from my teachers, and I wasn’t glued to a Gameboy like a lot of their friends’ kids (really predicted staring at cell phones, eh?) so they weren’t too worried.

6. Eagle Eye Mysteries (PC): Around now was the height of AOL and the never-ending stream of discs that came in the mail, including free games and demos. My folks would get me a mix of educational stuff from the catalogs to play as well as brain-melting games. There were quite a number of PC games I dove into like Dark Forces and TIE Fighter out of the Star Wars universe or Sonic CD and Ecco the Dolphin (both of which I would eventually buy again when I got a Sega CD, and Raptor: Call of the Shadows (the first shmup I felt remotely able to play well), but head and shoulders above them was Eagle Eye Mysteries, a point-and-click adventure in the spirit of the Monkey Island games that mixed silly adventures with history and puzzle solving. What was really interesting was that once you solved all the mysteries, there was a new mode that would replay all the same cases but would subtly change a few details and the answer, and you had to do it all over again and fight your memory reminding you of clues from the previous version that no longer applied. Every once in a while I look to see if someone tried to port this game to Sega CD, but alas.

7. Super Mario 64 (N64): I’ve said a few times already how much my dad resisted getting new consoles, yet simultaneously rewarded me with games when I did well on my report cards. At the end of middle school, my dad decided I was doing well enough that he got me an N64. It was a little outdated by then, but the point was that this was the first console I didn’t get second-hand and it came from him. I was not good at this game though I loved it anyway because it was so new to what I’d played before. Eventually the other classics of the N64 came my way like Goldeneye and Mario Kart, but Super Mario 64 was the first game on a first-hand console. Around high school I decided to test breaking my parents’ rules limiting game time. By then I was consistently making high honor roll while performing in the marching/concert band, the concert choir and madrigal singers, the fall dramas/spring musicals, and eventually holding down a part time job, so when my mom pointed out I was breaking the rules, I said “hey I’m doing all these things and everything is going great, so maybe you should trust my judgment in what I do for my own well-being,” and she said “you know what? I think you’re right!” Game on!

8 & 9. Dragon Warrior III & IV (NES): When I left home for college, I decided I wanted to go after games I hadn’t pursued before. I realized that between having some of my own money with the job I had at my local dry cleaners at the end of high school and the new job I’d have at my college’s main library and being out of the bubble I’d lived in at home, now was the time to go after those games that seemed too expensive as a kid reading Funcoland’s price sheets. So I got Dragon Warrior III and IV and played the hell out of them that first summer back from college. The worlds were bigger, the monsters cooler, the variety of just everything was greater, and all this in a series I already loved way too much.

10. Swords & Serpents (NES): I’d gotten a Game Genie years before and it came with the book of codes. I was such an RPG fan because of my love of Dragon Warrior that I went through the code book and made a note of every game that referenced hit points, thinking ooh this must be another fun RPG. I eventually bought those games and realized how far off my well-meaning younger self was. But I decided to make the most of it by bringing them to my friend’s house during the summer when we were both home from college so we could laugh at them. We went through the pile and had a good laugh, but when we popped in Swords & Serpents we laughed but still decided to play it anyway because it let us use the Four Score and my friend’s brothers were around and some other friends had also dropped by. The next thing we knew, we were getting together several nights throughout the summer to work our way through this ridiculous game. My friend would write down the long passcodes in a tattered notebook and we’d argue over what letter/number he was trying to write in his terrible handwriting. I don’t think my friend is here on VGS but he does live streams of old games on YouTube if anyone wants to check him out (his user name is KarmaJolt). At this point in my life, gaming wasn’t the safe retreat I used to need. I’d “come out of my shell” and made friends and felt more confident about myself. Gaming now was…just a fun way to spend time, lose myself from regular stresses, and spend time with friends who liked these old games too.

11. Phantasy Star (Sega Master System): Fast forward even further: I’ve graduated law school and have moved to DC. There’s no longer a series of steps for some plan for my life, I’m now “out there.” I’d never really stopped buying games, but the past few years I left them all at home and would dust them off when I visited my parents. Now I took them back with me to DC and wanted to build out my collection and get all those games that every self-respecting owner of X console should have. So I got the Contras and the Streets of Rage games, and eventually decided I wanted to expand to other consoles as well. I would eventually finally buy an SNES and Super Game Boy as well as a Sega CD, 32X, and most recently a Saturn, but my first priority was the Power Base Converter so I could buy Master System games. At some point in high school, my folks gave me a brief subscription to Game Informer. The issues were mostly not useful since the issues I received focused on more modern consoles than anything I had. But one issue was their hundredth issue and it featured their Top 100 Games of All Time list, and you can bet I was keeping track of what looked good on consoles I had. Except for one that stuck out: Phantasy Star. The description called it the game that inspired Dragon Warrior, so you can imagine how much I was foaming at the mouth to play it. Once in a while I’d wonder if I should get a Master System, but usually decided I wouldn’t buy a whole console just for one game, and anything else on the Master System worth playing seemed to have a port to another console. But when I learned about the Power Base Converter, all bets were off and I got that game I’d been dying to play for years.

12. Haunted Halloween ‘85 (NES): I’d mentioned that around the same time I was looking to build out my collection and have the essentials so I could have a well-rounded library and experience the best of my consoles. At some point while researching “the essentials” I came across an article about new games made for old consoles. What is this homebrew? I had to know more. I dove into a number of the games mentioned in these articles, which also ultimately led me to NintendoAge, such as Star Versus and Battle Kid, but if I check my e-mails, Haunted Halloween ‘85 was the first one I went ahead and bought. It looked and played great, and as much as I liked the collecting I’d been doing to build out my collection, this was maybe the first game since Dragon Warrior III that gave me that child-like feeling of joy I got playing my games as a kid.

13. Larry and the Long Look for a Luscious Lover (NES): By now I was just starting to poke around in the homebrew scene, but still focusing on my wishlist of licensed games. But in my curiosity I was learning more about what was out there and how to get a copy of it. I was such a newbie, I remember e-mailing morphcat in 2017 to ask if he had any copies of Super Bat Puncher! But NA had a couple of threads specifically discussing what homebrew games out there the community recommended. I made a list of what piqued my interest and started surfing eBay. Larry was the game that marked when I started really focusing on my homebrew collection more than anything else, because it seemed timing was everything when it came to finding myself a copy of a game in limited supply that seldom changed hands. I was hooked.

14 & 15. Spook-o’-tron & Cowlitz Gamers Second Adventure (NES): Both of these games were on my wishlist, but it seemed I had just missed out on them when I found this community. I messaged Beau on Kickstarter and he was so nice. We talked a bit about his new game and the next thing I knew we were chatting on NA about just about everything, all because I was some bright-eyed n00b asking about his game that I had just missed the Kickstarter to buy. Meanwhile, I found Chelsea’s e-mail in John Hancock’s thread that said to reach out to her about getting a copy of Cowlitz. Unfortunately she said she was holding them in reserve for the upcoming 2018 PRGE. We emailed back and forth a bit and became friendly, she mentioned that if I attended PRGE and looked for her, she’d have a copy for me. I thought to myself, hmm it would be cool to visit Portland, but I don’t want to visit just for an expo (I’d never gone to one before so I didn’t know whether it was something I could make a day of) so if I can find something else to do there, I’ll go. Bells went off in my head, something was telling me that I’d already made this deal with myself about Portland. What was it? Oh! Not far outside the city was one of the only places in the continental U.S. where you can do scenic, off a picturesque bridge bungee jumping. I planned the trip right as I lost my job, but you know what, I hadn’t had a real vacation in 7 years, so I was going to enjoy this. I told Beau, and he told me that he was planning on going too and would sell a few copies of his game to pay for the trip and I should look for him at the NA booth. To add some hilarity to the story, I was reviewing the back catalogs of Metal Jesus and friends’ videos for recommendations of other gems to seek out, when I came across a video by Radical Reggie’s friend Joe titled “Scam Alert: Sean Robinson” WTF? Apparently someone with my same name was at the center of the Coleco Chameleon kerfuffle. You can imagine how nervous I was to attend now. Did anyone think I was that Sean?? As I learned later, Chelsea originally sold me the game but withdrew the sale because she thought I was that Sean, but in our back and forth emails realized we couldn’t be the same person, and, feeling bad about making that assumption, set a copy of Cowlitz aside for me. John Hancock, who was standing next to her when she told me this, said “oh yeah we hate that guy, but you’re not him so don’t worry, we’ll tell everyone you’re ‘the good Sean Robinson.’” Which he absolutely did, when I met Jeffrey Wittenhagen, we were talking about  all the games I tagged with stickies in his recent homebrew book when John walked by, waved at Jeff, and said “I see you’re talking to the good Sean.” It was the dumbest little inside joke, but it made me appreciate what a fun community this is. So I got to meet Beau and Chelsea, as well as John Hancock and Jeffrey Wittenhagen, got a few games off my wishlist, and had the best time I’d had in ages, visitng great restaurants, going bungee jumping, and just exploring a beautiful new city, all because I reached out to a couple of people about trying to find a couple of homebrew games.

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On 11/15/2019 at 8:57 AM, jonebone said:

Image result for tiger electronics baseball game"

I know I had 2 or 3 but this one got the most use in my driveway amongst us friends.  Everyone wanted a turn with the Baseball Tiger game. 

Holy shit I haven't thought of Tiger Baseball in I can't even imagine how long. I completely forgot it existed and yet I used to play the living shit out of it. I still remember the sound it made when a pitch was thrown. B-B-B-BEEP!

Edited by Jono1874
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44 minutes ago, Jono1874 said:

Holy shit I haven't thought of Tiger Baseball in I can't even imagine how long. I completely forgot it existed and yet I used to play the living shit out of it. I still remember the sound it made when a pitch was thrown. B-B-B-BEEP!

IMHO, the best Tiger games were the sports ones, or any title that would basically fit well on one screen on the NES.  Games that had a lot of scrolling for a console didn't translate well at all.

I wasn't a kid into sports titles but I wore out Tiger Baseball because it worked, and it worked well for what it was suppose to do.  I also had N.A.R.C. and Batman.  They were fun for their time, but they didn't hold up at all like Baseball. I even kept playing that one from time to time when I already had a Game Boy and Game Gear, with World Series Baseball.  It was simple, but fun.

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Here's mine-

1- Red Dot puck bowler.   Found out years later that my Dad carried this behemoth to our basement BY HIMSELF.   He got it for free from a pool table store because it wasn't working.32011501.png.33b90c89bfd39a9e790fe558855c6bd4.png

2- At school on an Apple - Oregon Trail, Lemonade Stand, and Picadilly.  

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3- Our home Commodore 64 - games that were in Run! or Compute! magazine that you had to type in yourself.   Got some "real" games for it eventually, but not until middle school.  *Just remembered- our uncle got us a "game" called Injured Engine with it.   Pretty much you ran this motor until you blew it up and had to diagnose it.

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4- Wildfire pinball- my Dad either found this somewhere or somebody gave it to him because it was broken.  Either way, he fixed it up and hooked an external battery to it.

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5- Our Commodore 64- real games!   Made some friends that could copy disks and had a modem, so pirated shit galore.   Some faves were Jeep Command, Out Run, Jungle Hunt, Break Street, and Park Patrol.

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6- Our Atari 7800.   I wanted a Nintendo, but we got this for Christmas because the games were cheaper.   I cleaned up at school snagging unwanted 2600 games for a buck each.
Played lots of different stuff, but probably enjoyed Desert Falcon the most.

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7- NES.   Finally!  Snagged one with Christmas money in 1989.   Played lots of MTPO on it; I remember skipping to him with the code and just seeing if I could not get knocked out.   Went from there to practicing trying to beat him.

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8.  SNES - Snagged one of these on my 16th birthday (1992).  Saved my Christmas and birthday money for it.   Borrowed Madden, F-Zero, and Final Fight from one of my friends.   Rented Top Gear a bunch then my Dad got that for me for my 17th birthday.

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9.  Packard Bell PC- I played the SNES until I got this over the summer of 1995.   Then over the next few years played Mega Race, Need for Speed, and NHL 96 or 97?

10.   Playstation.    Bought one in college, sent it to California with a $50 money order to have it modded, and then picked up a CDR of Japanese Tekken 3 for 10 bucks on ebay.   Played the living shit out of that.   Then when I moved back to my hometown, played tons of NCAA Football with my buddy/roommate.   Also Need for Speed High Stakes playing as the cops.

11.   PS2 - Played GTA III at said buddy's house (he had since moved in with his girlfriend), and that made me decide to buy a PS2 then and there.

12.   Xbox 360 - got a bonus check at work, and picked up a used one on ebay that had a decent bundle of games.   Need for Speed Most Wanted, Burnout Revenge, and Cabela's African Adventures (along with more NCAA Football) got the most play.  Also  PS3 - grabbed one more or less for the Blu-Ray player.   Didn't pick up anything significant for it until GTA IV came out.

13.  DS Lite- got one just for Touchmaster.    Lots of Touchmaster.    Probably still the game I log the most hours on handheld.

14.  Wii- of course for Wii Sports Bowling.

15.  The current gen consoles.    The PS4 made me discover the Yakuza series, which make me wish I had played them as they came out.

HONORABLE MENTION- Potty Yahtzee.   Had several over the years, played them until they wouldn't play anymore.   Before smartphones were a thing, would play this on the shitter.   I think my best game I had 4 Yahtzees.

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Here is my list, roughly in order of experience:

  1. Super Mario Bros./Legend of Zelda: The first two games I ever played and I was in love immediately.
  2. Mega Man 2: Found this game for $5 at a flea market and fell in love with the series.
  3. Super Mario Bros. 3: Mario 3 took everything I loved about Super Mario Bros. and expanded upon it.
  4. Kirby's Adventure: Oh man, one of my all time favorites. I played and 100%ed this game many times over.
  5. Super Mario World: It goes without saying, it took the Mario 3 formula and further expanded upon it. And introduced yoshi...
  6. Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Great gameplay, great music, a fantastic sequel.
  7. Blast Corp/Star Fox 64: The Nintendo 64 was my first system after the NES.My first N64 games. I played them so much and love them to this day.
  8. Super Mario 64: The pinnacle of 3D platforming, what a fantastic game. When I first got it, I played it for hours on end and the first encounter with the piano scared the crap out of me.
  9. Banjo-Kazooie: This game took everything great about Mario 64 and expanded upon it. While I still love Mario 64, Rare took the Mario 64 blueprints and expanded upon the genre. This game establish my enjoyment of Rareware games.
  10. Mario Kart 64: Had a ton of fun in single player and multiplayer. The best Battle Mode in any Mario Kart, in my opinion.
  11. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Like Mario 64, this game brought another classic to 3D
  12. Super Smash Bros: Played this soooo much. Had a great time and enjoyed messing with gameshark codes to play as Metal Mario, Giant DK, Master Hand, and the fighting polygon team. Word of warning, those codes had a side effect of forcing you to play as Mario, no matter what character you chose, unless you wiped the game save.
  13. Yoshi's Island: I was really late to the party, but the wait was worth it. Beautiful graphics, great music, and great gameplay made this game a true gem.
  14. Metroid Fusion: This is the first game I played of the series and made me a huge fan of the series.
  15. Rhythm Heaven Fever: What a great game. This game got me into the series and I now have beaten all of the games. I even imported the physical copy of the 3DS version before it was released in English and made my way through the original GBA release.

And now for the more recent:

  1. Puyo-Puyo Tetris: Always been a big fan of Tetris and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, so this game was a no brainier. We still play this at family gatherings.
  2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: My dream came true with getting Banjo and Kazooie in this year, so the rest it just icing. I have reached smash nirvana and I have nothing but best wishes for the characters you desire.
  3. Undertale: This game came out of the blue when someone recommended it to me and I loved it. It was an interesting experience playing Earthbound and Undertale simultaneously.
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1. Night Stalker: Intellivision - I was that 'one kid' in the neighborhood that didn't have an Atari but had the Intellivision instead.  I still don't understand why this console didn't compete better, I think it's infinitely better than the 2600 but anywho....my first console and although I didn't have a stone cold favorite, I still wanted to choose something from the library.  Going with Night Stalker here, still fun to this day and the first time I can ever remember being scared playing a video game.  The way the music speeds up when the robot is closing in got this little 5 year old's heart rate going.

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2. Yie Ar Kung Fu: Arcade - I spent many a birthday party at Major Magics, a Chuck E. Cheese clone in Toledo, OH.  Tokens were limited of course so when I was running low I had to find a game where I could make them last.  So I'd look for this trusty Konami cab whenever I only had a couple tokens left.  I could usually cycle through all the enemies twice before finally giving in, I only learned later on that most people considered this game hard.  Not the most popular game ever, but looking back it was instrumental in establishing the 1 v 1 fighter.

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3. Super Mario Bros: NES - I know, crazy right?  Moving on.....

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4. Zelda II The Adventure of Link: NES - We had a cottage up in Canada on Lake Huron where we'd spend roughly half our summers.  Activities were primarily consisting of 'beach stuff' but after a couple of years of begging, my mom finally agree to let us take the NES with us.  But each trip we were only allowed to take one game (I can only assume she thought that would limit our time on the machine).  Outside of one terrible decision to take Racket Attack, Zelda II was always our choice.  At the start I imagine we were trying to choose a game that was the longest, but after a while it kind of just became our 'Canada game'.  This was long before game hours got logged in any meaningful way but I'm betting I've spent more time on this one than any other Zelda game.

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5. Dungeon Explorer: Turbografx-16 - Another example of being 'that one kid' in the neighborhood, I was the only one I knew that owned a turbografx when it was released.  Made for a lonely time in the lunchroom but that probably (irrationally) enhanced my resolve and love for the console.  One of the games we got for Christmas in 1989 was Dungeon Explorer.  For the first time ever there were 4 of us playing a game together at home, just like TMNT in the arcade.  Which, if you weren't around for the arcades at that time you really can't underscore how much fun the teamwork/urgency part of those games were.  It's similar to Gauntlet for sure but to lazily describe it as a such does it a disservice.  Still the best chip tunes on any game I've ever heard.

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6. Street Fighter II The World Warrior: Arcade - I once heard a guy say "people who can't play Street Fighter, play Zelda".  Ridiculous on the surface but there is a bit of truth to that.  When SFII dropped in arcades it was kill or be killed in a way that had never really been done before.  You weren't just playing to beat the other guy, you were playing to keep playing.  Lose and you could kiss your quarter (and your turn in line) goodbye.

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7. Kings Quest VI Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow: PC - one of 2 computer games to make the list.  I loved the Sierra point and clicks, Kings Quest, Quest for Glory, Police Quest, LSL, etc...  I played this one more than any of them.  The alternate solutions to the puzzles upped the replay value considerably.

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8. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: N64 - Probably my favorite game ever?  Hard to say for sure but the big N absolutely nailed the transition to 3D in this straight up Masterpiece. The thing that's become my favorite part of the Zelda series is the transition from one phase to the next that allows you to view the same world in a new way.  Light/Dark world in LttP, Big/Small in Minish Cap, and Young/Old in OoT.  This game nails it in every possible way.

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9. Civilization II Gold Multiplayer Edition: PC - The sweet spot between rts and a management sim, now with multiplayer!  My college roommates and I spent hours playing this one in 'hotseat' mode.  Basically one player would take their turn, hit end, and then leave the room so the next guy could come in and take his turn.  Sounds cumbersome but when some broke college kids couldn't do the lan party thing this was a welcome option. Anytime we were too broke to hit the bars we would stay in and play this....so you know, all the time.

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10. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild: Wii U (that's right, Wii U) - A game I fully expect to take the top spot in my all time list a few years from now.  There's just so much awesomeness packed in here, I could never relay how good it is in a paragraph or two.  The little nods here and there to the past games in the series are probably my favorite part and I could spend forever just looking at the map.  If it was a little bit harder (or maybe if deaths were more penal) it would be a perfect video game in my book.  If you've yet to play yet, do yourself a favor and grab it asap.

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1. Combat (Atari 2600) - 1991

My dad had (and still has) a 2600. Once I was old enough to know what I was doing, he started getting me to try different games. One that really stood out to me was Combat. We spent hours trying to shoot each other's tank or airplane. There are other games that I remember playing with him, but it seemed like anytime we had a gaming session, we always came back to this one.

Related image  Combat Atari 2600 Tank combat with walls and reflective shots Combat Atari 2600 Biplane combat

 

2. Tiger Electronic Bowling - 1992

My very first handheld was Electronic Bowling. My parents have been league bowlers all my life. When we were little, my younger sister and I would tag along on bowling nights. I thought it was so cool that I could bowl while they were bowling.

Image result for tiger electronic bowling

 

3. Super Mario Land (Game Boy) - 1994

The first Nintendo product I owned was the OG Gameboy, and I loved that thing. I took it with me anywhere I could. I haven't played the game in several years, but I can look at these screenshots and still hear the music and sound effects.

Image result for game boy mario landSuper Mario Land Screenshot Super Mario Land Screenshot

 

4. Top Gun (NES) - 1994

My uncle had left his NES with my grandparents after he moved out. So naturally all of us grandkids would gather around the basement TV during family events over there and play the few games that they had. One of them being Top Gun. They had an Advantage Stick and we would set an old school desk in front of the TV to be our "cockpit". We had a lot of fun taking turns playing through the first stage. None of us really knew how to land, so we almost always crashed. And mid air refueling? Fuhgetaboutit. lol

Image result for top gun nes Top Gun NES Taking them from behind. Top Gun NES Landing sequence.

 

5. Apple II Educational Games - 1995

My earliest gaming experiences at school came around 1st grade. The first machine I remember using was the Apple II and I'd be hard pressed to name specific games, so I'm just going to lump them together for my number 5. If you all are interested in seeing what the library looks like, follow the link. (It was a major blast from the past looking through these)

 https://archive.org/details/apple_ii_library_4am?&sort=-downloads&page=3 

 

6. TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (SNES) - 1995

I got my SNES as a Christmas gift in 1995. Along with the pack in Super Mario All Stars, my parents got me this absolute gem of a game. It is THE best version of this game and for those who want to argue in favor of Hyperstone Heist, or the Arcade game, I'll shoot you down at every turn. My sister and I loved the head to head sparring mode and it was a big deal to get her into playing games with me. She button mashed and kicked my ass in the sparring mode, but she wasn't all that great at the main game. lol

Image result for turtles in time snes box art Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time SNES Choose your turtle: who's gonna win? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time SNES The Foot Soldiers cause trouble even at B.C. 2 500 000 000

 

7. Sid Meier's Civilization (PC) - 1996

My first taste of turn based strategy came in the form of Sid Meyer's Civilization. I became obsessed with this game. Playing it as soon as I got my homework finished, and trying my best to ignore my mom's repeated request to come eat my dinner, I was determined to rule the world. I'm not even sure how or when we got the game. I think my dad actually got it for himself, but once I discovered it, I was hooked.

Image result for sid meier's civilization 1 Sid Meier's Civilization Amiga Europe, 1 AD Sid Meier's Civilization Amiga Disturbing some barbarians

 

8. Age of Empires (PC)- 1997

I first discovered this game while staying over at a friend's place and had to have it. I was like Civ on steriods (minus the modern tech advancements). My strategy game experience to this point had been turn based, so the "real-time" aspect was highly intriguing and I saw it made sense to me as the next logical challenge. I loved it. 

Image result for age of empires 1 box Image result for age of empires 1 screenshot Related image

 

9. Diddy Kong Racing (N64) - 1998

I didn't have a N64, but my cousin did. When my sister and I would stay over at my aunt's house, we would take turns trying to make our way through the story mode, or play several rounds of the airplane/egg mini-game. I'm sure a lot of you know, but for those that don't, the object was to capture dino eggs 1 at a time and bring them back to your nest to hatch. Hatch 3 eggs and you win. The catch was that they didn't hatch right away, and other players could steal them if you didn't protect the nest. It was a to of fun, and we still talk about the game among my cousins. (I'll have to have them over to play again sometime)

Diddy Kong Racing Nintendo 64 Front Cover Diddy Kong Racing Nintendo 64 Fire Mountain is a capture the flag-type game, the first to hatch three eggs wins Diddy Kong Racing Nintendo 64 This shield will protect you from enemy attacks for a short while

 

10. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PS1) - 1999

Playststion 1 was my next home console. I got it as a gift after completing 5th grade. My first game for the system was Spyro, which was ok. But I also had a demo disc that had the warehouse stage from THPS on it. I played that demo until I heard Goldfinger's Superman in my sleep. As soon as I could save the money, I bought the actual game. Although the 2nd THPS is my favorite installment, the first game holds this specific place in time.

Image result for tony hawk pro skater ps1 Image result for tony hawk pro skater ps1 warehouse Image result for tony hawk pro skater ps1 downhill

 

11. 007 Agent Under Fire (PS2) - 2003

Ok, I know most people will call upon GoldenEye as the quintessential Bond multiplayer game. But THIS was it for me and my friends at the time. It was released late 2001 and I'm pretty sure I didn't pick it up until I saw it discounted the following year which may put that around late 2002 or early 2003. I graduated HS in 2006, so this game reminds me of the summer between my freshman and sophomore years. It was our go-to. I'd pack this game, 4 controllers, and a multi-tap anytime I'd stay over at a friend's. Many a late summer night were spent at my house with neighborhood friends coming over to play this game specifically. If my dad was awake and not working, he'd come up to hang out with us and join in on the fun. This game spawned so many inside jokes and too many hilarious memories to count.

Image result for agent under fire ps2 Image result for agent under fire ps2 screenshot Image result for agent under fire ps2 screenshot 

 

12. ATV Offroad Fury 2 (PS2) - 2005

My dad and I taunt each other to this day about this game. Sure, the races are fun, but the hockey mini-game is the main focus of our trash talk. I'd normally get the better of him, but he would squeak out a win once in awhile. It never deterred him from running his mouth. 🤣   Offroad 3 and 4 had soccer and basketball mini-games added to them, and we tried those, but nothing will top the hockey in ATV Offroad Fury 2. We have spent hours upon hours playing this game and made memories I'll keep with me forever. 

Image result for atv offroad fury 2  aof2_edited.jpg.70b9076a8d4daceb980b786b4eb2a0f4.jpg aof1_edited.jpg.75786d34cfa1ba221988321a50dd35d1.jpg

 

13. Guitar Hero 2 (PS2) - 2007

This game was a party fad for my first couple years of college. If you had to play on anything lower than Hard mode, you didn't get a turn. Drinking and playing GH2 was the dorm room go to.

Image result for guitar hero 2 ps2 Guitar Hero II PlayStation 2 You'll need Star Power to get past some sections. Believe me, you will. Guitar Hero II PlayStation 2 Star Power Ready! Know what that means?

 

14. Tiger Woods 2012: At the Master's (PS3) - 2013

The last game I had a legit obsession for was this particular Tiger Woods installment. I played it to an unhealthy level and eventually platinum trophied the damn thing. If you look into the number of hole-in-ones, double eagles, and ridiculous other tedious tasks required to do this, I'm sure you'll think less of me for sinking that much effort into a golf game. 🤣🤣

Image result for tiger woods masters ps3 Image result for tiger woods masters ps3 screenshot Image result for tiger woods masters ps3 screenshot

 

15. Crash Team Racing (PS1) - 2018

Yeah, I know, it seems odd that this would be on my timeline so late. I assure you, though, it's in the correct spot. I met my girlfriend in winter of 2017 and we got together in 2018. My collection has remained pretty much unchanged for about 5 years now (aside from some homebrew additions). So when I asked her if she wanted to pick a game to play, she had plenty of options. To my surprise, she picked CTR, my favorite cart racer of all time. She surprised me further when we fired it up and proved immediately that she was stiff competition. lol   It's remained a go-to if we're spending a night in and can't agree on a movie.

Image result for crash team racing ps1 CTR: Crash Team Racing PlayStation A shield is a useful thing, it also is a very soothing shade of green. CTR: Crash Team Racing PlayStation A tribal head explains the rules.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Midnight Rescue (PC) - 1989

Another game I recall from my elementary school days. Anyone else know about this one?!

Image result for midnight rescue dos Related image Related image

 

Wacky Wheels (PC) - 1994

My dad had this on his work laptop once upon a time, and I'd always bug him to play it. My guess it, he got it for himself to goof off with. Eventually he broke down and installed it on our home PC. Many hedgehogs were hurled. lol

Image result for wacky wheels pc game box Image result for wacky wheels game Image result for wacky wheels game

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Moderator · Posted
38 minutes ago, Br81zad said:

1. Combat (Atari 2600) - 1991

My dad had (and still has) a 2600. Once I was old enough to know what I was doing, he started getting me to try different games. One that really stood out to me was Combat. We spent hours trying to shoot each other's tank or airplane. There are other games that I remember playing with him, but it seemed like anytime we had a gaming session, we always came back to this one.

Related image  Combat Atari 2600 Tank combat with walls and reflective shots Combat Atari 2600 Biplane combat

 

2. Tiger Electronic Bowling - 1992

My very first handheld was Electronic Bowling. My parents have been league bowlers all my life. When we were little, my younger sister and I would tag along on bowling nights. I thought it was so cool that I could bowl while they were bowling.

Image result for tiger electronic bowling

 

3. Super Mario Land (Game Boy) - 1994

The first Nintendo product I owned was the OG Gameboy, and I loved that thing. I took it with me anywhere I could. I haven't played the game in several years, but I can look at these screenshots and still hear the music and sound effects.

Image result for game boy mario landSuper Mario Land Screenshot Super Mario Land Screenshot

 

4. Top Gun (NES) - 1994

My uncle had left his NES with my grandparents after he moved out. So naturally all of us grandkids would gather around the basement TV during family events over there and play the few games that they had. One of them being Top Gun. They had an Advantage Stick and we would set an old school desk in front of the TV to be our "cockpit". We had a lot of fun taking turns playing through the first stage. None of us really knew how to land, so we almost always crashed. And mid air refueling? Fuhgetaboutit. lol

Image result for top gun nes Top Gun NES Taking them from behind. Top Gun NES Landing sequence.

 

5. Apple II Educational Games - 1995

My earliest gaming experiences at school came around 1st grade. The first machine I remember using was the Apple II and I'd be hard pressed to name specific games, so I'm just going to lump them together for my number 5. If you all are interested in seeing what the library looks like, follow the link. (It was a major blast from the past looking through these)

 https://archive.org/details/apple_ii_library_4am?&sort=-downloads&page=3 

 

6. TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (SNES) - 1995

I got my SNES as a Christmas gift in 1995. Along with the pack in Super Mario All Stars, my parents got me this absolute gem of a game. It is THE best version of this game and for those who want to argue in favor of Hyperstone Heist, or the Arcade game, I'll shoot you down at every turn. My sister and I loved the head to head sparring mode and it was a big deal to get her into playing games with me. She button mashed and kicked my ass in the sparring mode, but she wasn't all that great at the main game. lol

Image result for turtles in time snes box art Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time SNES Choose your turtle: who's gonna win? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time SNES The Foot Soldiers cause trouble even at B.C. 2 500 000 000

 

7. Sid Meier's Civilization (PC) - 1996

My first taste of turn based strategy came on the form of Sid Meyer's Civilization. I became obsessed with this game. Playing it as soon as I got my homework finished, and trying my best to ignore my mom's repeated request to come eat my dinner, I was determined to rule the world. I'm not even sure how or when we got the game. I think my dad actually got it for himself, but once I discovered it, I was hooked.

Image result for sid meier's civilization 1 Sid Meier's Civilization Amiga Europe, 1 AD Sid Meier's Civilization Amiga Disturbing some barbarians

 

8. Age of Empires (PC)- 1997

I first discovered this game while staying over at a friend's place and had to have it. I was like Civ on steriods (minus the modern tech advancements). My strategy game experience to this point had been turn based, so the "real-time" aspect was highly intriguing and I saw it made sense to me as the next logical challenge. I loved it. 

Image result for age of empires 1 box Image result for age of empires 1 screenshot Related image

 

9. Diddy Kong Racing (N64) - 1998

I didn't have a N64, but my cousin did. When my sister and I would stay over at my aunt's house, we would take turns trying to make our way through the story mode, or play several rounds of the airplane/egg mini-game. I'm sure a lot of you know, but for those that don't, the object was to capture dino eggs 1 at a time and bring them back to your next to hatch. Hatch 3 eggs and you win. The catch was, that they didn't hatch right away, and other players could steal them if you didn't protect the nest. It was a to of fun, and we still talk about the game among my cousins. (I'll have to have them over to play again sometime)

Diddy Kong Racing Nintendo 64 Front Cover Diddy Kong Racing Nintendo 64 Fire Mountain is a capture the flag-type game, the first to hatch three eggs wins Diddy Kong Racing Nintendo 64 This shield will protect you from enemy attacks for a short while

 

10. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PS1) - 1999

Playststion 1 was my next home console. I got it as a gift after completing 5th grade. My first game for the system was Spyro, which was ok. But I also had a demo disc that had the warehouse stage from THPS on it. I played that demo until I heard Goldfinger's Superman in my sleep. As soon as I could save the money, I bought the actual game. Although the 2nd THPS is my favorite installment, the first game holds this specific place in time.

Image result for tony hawk pro skater ps1 Image result for tony hawk pro skater ps1 warehouse Image result for tony hawk pro skater ps1 downhill

 

11. 007 Agent Under Fire (PS2) - 2003

Ok, I know most people will call upon GoldenEye as the quintessential Bond multiplayer game. But THIS was it for me and my friends at the time. It was released late 2001 and I'm pretty sure I didn't pick it up until I saw it discounted the following year which may put that around late 2002 or early 2003. I graduated HS in 2006, so this game reminds me of the summer between my freshman and sophomore years. It was our go-to. I'd pack this game, 4 controllers, and a multi-tap anytime I'd stay over at a friend's. Many a late summer night were spent at my house with neighborhood friends coming over to play this game specifically. If my dad was awake and not working, he'd come up to hang out with us and join in on the fun. This game spawned so many inside jokes and too many hilarious memories to count.

Image result for agent under fire ps2 Image result for agent under fire ps2 screenshot Image result for agent under fire ps2 screenshot 

 

12. ATV Offroad Fury 2 (PS2) - 2005

My dad and I taunt each other to this day about this game. Sure, the races are fun, but the hockey mini-game is the main focus of our trash talk. I'd normally get the better of him, but he would squeak out a win once in awhile. It never deterred him from running his mouth. 🤣   Offroad 3 and 4 had soccer and basketball mini-games added to them, and we tried those, but nothing will top the hockey in ATV Offroad Fury 2. We have spent hours upon hours playing this game and made memories I'll keep with me forever. 

Image result for atv offroad fury 2  aof2_edited.jpg.70b9076a8d4daceb980b786b4eb2a0f4.jpg aof1_edited.jpg.75786d34cfa1ba221988321a50dd35d1.jpg

 

13. Guitar Hero 2 (PS2) - 2007

This game was a party fad for my first couple years of college. If you had to play on anything lower than Hard mode, you didn't get a turn. Drinking and playing GH2 was the dorm room go to.

Image result for guitar hero 2 ps2 Guitar Hero II PlayStation 2 You'll need Star Power to get past some sections. Believe me, you will. Guitar Hero II PlayStation 2 Star Power Ready! Know what that means?

 

14. Tiger Woods 2012: At the Master's (PS3) - 2013

The last game I had a legit obsession for was this particular Tiger Woods installment. I played it to an unhealthy level and eventually platinum trophied the damn thing. If you look into the number of hole-in-ones, double eagles, and ridiculous other tedious tasks required to do this, I'm sure you'll think less of me for sinking that much effort into a golf game. 🤣🤣

Image result for tiger woods masters ps3 Image result for tiger woods masters ps3 screenshot Image result for tiger woods masters ps3 screenshot

 

15. Crash Team Racing (PS1) - 2018

Yeah, I know, it seems odd that this would be on my timeline so late. I assure you, though, it's in the correct spot. I met my girlfriend in winter of 2017 and we got together in 2018. My collection has remained pretty much unchanged for about 5 years now (aside from some homebrew additions). So when I asked her if she wanted to pick a game to play, she had plenty of options. To my surprise, she picked CTR, my favorite cart racer of all time. She surprised me further when we fired it up and proved immediately that she was stiff competition. lol   It's remained a go-to if we're spending a night in and can't agree on a movie.

Image result for crash team racing ps1 CTR: Crash Team Racing PlayStation A shield is a useful thing, it also is a very soothing shade of green. CTR: Crash Team Racing PlayStation A tribal head explains the rules.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Midnight Rescue (PC) - 1989

Another game I recall from my elementary school days. Anyone else know about this one?!

Image result for midnight rescue dos Related image Related image

 

Wacky Wheels (PC) - 1994

My dad had this on his work laptop once upon a time, and I'd always bug him to play it. My guess it, he got it for himself to goof off with. Eventually he broke down and installed it on our home PC. Many hedgehogs were hurled. lol

Image result for wacky wheels pc game box Image result for wacky wheels game Image result for wacky wheels game

Oh shit, that’s my favorite Bond multiplayer by far as well! When you had 4 solid players that knew how to use the Q-Claw it was awesome!

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Super Mario Bros. - While I had seen video games before, my very first console was a NES and of course this came with it.

The legend of Zelda - The reason I asked for a NES in the first place was to play this game.

Super Mario Bros. 3 - Rented it over many times, played this for hours with my family.

Mega Man 3 - Favorite Mega Man, the jaw dropping moment after defeating the 8 robot masters is one of my most memorable video game related memories.

Street Fighter II - Became obsessed with this, played on the arcade, then on the SNES with my brother since the day we got it for Christmas.

Super Mario Kart - Played long days after my brother and I got it around Christmas along with our SNES.

TLOZ A Link to the Past - Loved Zelda, first text heavy game I finished on my own (English is my 2nd language).

Mortal Kombat II - I played this a ton at the arcades, unlike SF2 I was able to hold on my own Vs other good players.

TLOZ Link's Awakening - For the longest time I've considered this my favorite Zelda game.

Final Fantasy III - Absolutely mind-blowing, I hadn't experienced anything like this before, this is my favorite game of all time.

Chrono Trigger - Absolutely fantastic, time-travel, multiple endings, lovable characters, I only wish it were longer.

Killer Instinct - The hype for the Nintendo Ultra 64 went through the roof after this.

Final Fantasy 7 - We all know the story, Square went with Sony and the N64 was not as powerful as shown in the arcades so I picked up the Playstation to play FF7.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night - I liked Castlevania games but this was something else, Castlevania with RPG elements? A+++

Final Fantasy 8 - The last game I invested a good amount of time before taking a long hiatus from video games, I got bored with it at around the 3rd disc, one day was the last day I played it without realizing it, after that I took a long break from video games but eventually I was drawn back because of my interest in retro gaming.

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2 hours ago, doner24 said:

Oh shit, that’s my favorite Bond multiplayer by far as well! When you had 4 solid players that knew how to use the Q-Claw it was awesome!

The claw was the shit. It was our preferred equipment as well. We tried some rounds with the jetpack every now and again, but it was mostly claw. Once we learned you could stick to the ceiling and still aim/fire, some really interesting camp spots developed. Lol

Love that game

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