Games of your childhood

[MrNikoni]

Just curious, what are the most memorable games of your childhood?

 

Mine are...

 

The Simpsons Hit & Run: Most Memorable and the closest thing I had to GTA at a young age

TOCA Race Driver 2: Got me into racing in the first place

Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2005: First experience with customization, music and rivals

Test Drive Unlimited 1: First experience online and in a massive open world

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3: Got me into the creative industry (even if it was creating a theme park)

 

That's my gaming memories as a child, what games bring you a nostalgia trip? I'd be glad to hear which games and why!

Edited January 25, 2015 by MrNikoni

[RyanBurnsRed]

Crash Bandicoot (PS1)

Spider-Man (PS1)

Gran Turismo 2 (PS1)

Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (PC)

The Sims (PC)

 

Those are the ones off the top of my head. There are some more I can remember playing but I can't remember their names. That doesn't mean they aren't memorable for me though.

[Dottie]

NFS Hot Pursuit 2

Simpsons road rage and Hit n run

Crusin Exotica

Super smash bros series

Tony Hawks underground 1 and 2

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

Edited January 26, 2015 by Winning001

[MrNikoni]

Great choices!

 

I remembered some other childhood games

 

Tony Hawk's underground 2 (Got me into skating)

Midnight Club 3: Dub edition (This got me into GTA and other Rockstar games)

The Sims 3 (Last of the childhood games, making a virtual family was awesome)

[Pavle]

NFS Hot Pursuit 2

NFS 2

NFS Underground 2

GTA Vice City

Santa Claus in Trouble

[Sean O'God]

SimCity 3000 Unlimited - I spent hours messing around creating intentionally sh*tty cities. I could never manage to build good cities with skyscrapers and all that so I just destroyed everything lol

PS1 era Crash Bandicoot games - they were difficult and didn't know how to save my progress so every time I'd play, I'd restart from the beginning. I had no problem restarting each time.

Steel Reign - probably the hardest game I've played in my life, but I played the hell out of the first 3 or 4 levels. This game got me to love tanks. The music on the first level is especially badass

Ace Combat 2 - the first flight game I played, it was on a demo disc that came with the PS1

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 - introduced me to all kinds of crazy exotic cars. The Murcielago, Diablo, F50, CLK-GTR, F1 and still remain some of my favourite supercars

Gran Turismo 3 - was my first realistic-ish racing game, also introduced me to the Nissan Skyline R34 which I immediately fell in love with

Red Faction 2 - my first FPS. I used to play against the bots for hours

Need for Speed Underground - first car customization/street racing game. Probably my favourite racing game of all time

Ace Combat 4 - first full flight game I played, introduced me to the aircraft world and got me to love Sukhois

GTA San Andreas - first GTA game I played. My best friend had it and let me play it whenever I went to his house. Holy sh*t the memories. The map in particular felt infinitely large.

Need for Speed Most Wanted - I don't like this game as much as Underground, but I loved the music and the car selection was pretty sweet. This game was just too damn glitchy and it prevented me from beating Razor. Still, it was really fun

Halo 3 - My brother and I played this splitscreen co-op when it first came out. Holy sh*t I've never had more fun with an FPS. I played the sh*t out of this game. I did all the glitches, found all the skulls, easter eggs. Good times.

GTA IV - my brother rented it when it came out. He didn't like it, so for a week I got to play it uninterrupted. I've never had more fun with a game than when I first picked up IV.

[Aby]

Resident Evil 1-3, and Team Buddies are the games I really remember most. Really sucks that I don't know where my Team Buddies disc is because the game is incredible rare, so you cannot get a copy for under $60 at this time.

[darthYENIK]

Super Mario Bros. (NES)

Sonic and Knuckles (Genesis)

Batman Returns (Genesis)

Earthworm Jim 2 (SNES)

Super Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi (SNES)

Super Mario World (SNES)

Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past (SNES)

Street Fighter 2

Mortal Kombat

 

It seems like that SNES/Genesis era just had so many excellent games. It felt like when you went into a game store or video rental place, you didn't have to know which games were good, because chances are if you picked at random, you'd get an enjoyable game.

[N7Operative84]

Arcade era in my case was 1989 to 1998. In 1998 arcades were dead, at least in America. It was very sad walking into arcades in 1998 and 1999 and seeing no one there. I never thought arcades would die when I was young.

 

Arcade:

 

Mortal Kombat 1

Mortal Kombat 2

 

Mortal Kombat 3

 

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

 

Mortal Kombat 4

 

San Fransisco Rush

 

T-Mek

 

Time Crisis 2

 

Aliens Vs Predator

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade

 

Street Fighter 2

 

Daytona USA

 

 

NES:

 

Rad Racer 2 - Fun, but very hard at times. Good music btw. Looking at videos on youtube, the game had a nice sense of speed.)

 

Super Mario Bros 3

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 (yuck)

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (good times)

 

Friday The 13th - I hated this game.

 

Double Dragon 2 (Good Times)

Double Dragon 3 -Too hard, but ok

 

Darius Twin - I purchased this game randomly on my birthday in the early 90s. I disliked this game. It was way too hard.

 

 

 

 

SNES

 

Hyper Zone - ok

 

Smash TV - Good times with my brother, this game had a crazy amount of enemies coming at you. It was so much fun.

 

WWF Arcade Game - (Good times)

 

Mortal Kombat 3 - A good port for its time, but the PlayStation version left me with envy, back in 1995.

 

Super Mario World - A great experience.

 

Killer Instinct - As someone who played the arcade version very little, this version was pretty good considering the generation gap between hardware. The game took me away from the MK series for like half a year, back in 1995.

 

 

Genesis

 

Mortal Kombat 1 - A decent port , but the SNES version was better and closer to the arcade , even without the blood. SNES > Genesis with this game.

 

Mortal Kombat 2 - Again , the Genesis sucked when compared to the SNES version. I rented the SNES version. I was mad that I didn't get the SNES, again. The SNES version was damn good.

 

Streets Of Rage 2 - Amazingly good times in the early 90s.

 

Spider-Man Maximum Carnage - A good 2-D beat-em up.

 

Street Fighter 2 Championship edition - Fun, but I only had the three button controller.

 

Sonic 1 (good times)

 

Sonic 2 ( good times)

 

Sonic 3 (good times)

 

Sonic and Knuckles (good times)

 

X-Men - Underrated classic . Back in 1993, it was so much fun playing it after watching the new animated series came on. The whole "Press The Reset button " was classic.

 

X-Men 2 The Clone Wars - Ok, sequel

 

 

N64

 

Mario 64 - A amazing experience back in 1996. I stayed up late night , until 3:00am playing during the summer of 1996 playing that game at times.

 

Crusin USA - What a let down compared to what we were promised the N64 could do. The pop up was a half mile away , which to me ruined the experience. Overall, it filled the void left in the early days on the N64.

 

Mortal Kombat Trilogy - Again the PlayStation version had better sound and more characters.

 

Star Wars Shadows Of The Empire - Sure, it had bad controls and camera, but wow.The graphics were amazing. The Battle Of Hoth and the SkyHook battle was great!! The game was tough, but that was ok. I rented this game dozens of times back in 1997 and 1998. For the first time, Star Wars videos games for home consoles were a lot closer to the movies for the first time in 1997.

 

Star Wars Rogue Squadron - An amazing great Star Wars flight game. It was very fun mastering those levels. I remember my mother getting me the N64 4MB pack back in 1998. It improved my experience with better sharper graphics. Christmas of 1998 was unforgettable.

 

Star Fox 64 - I rented this game dozens of times on Friday after school. classic.

 

Star Wars Pod Racing Episode 1 - I have mixed feelings about this game. Back in 1999, Star Wars Episode 1 (film )hype was in full throttle even after the movie. The game was fun , but the levels weren't as fun as others. I rented it and enjoyed it.

 

San Fransisco RUSH - A good port to a vastly superior game. I hated the flog though. I spent countless hours playing it. I couldn't get enough.

 

 

Resident Evil 2 - Unforgettable experience.

 

RUSH 2 - I can not believe, I waited for this game. To me, the tracks were to boring. The well designed, creative, massive air maps from the original RUSH were nowhere to be found. The tracks were plain jane boring.

 

RUSH 2049 - After all these years after the arcade version (14 years), there has NEVER been a arcade version NOR arcade perfect version released. The one on the Dreamcast , N64, and Midway Arcade Treasures 3, didn't close to the arcade experience. Like RUSH 2 the tracks were boring. Someone needs to be hanged for this(joking). I have the N64 version and it is BORING. It was ok, but not something I care to experience again.

 

Mortal Kombat 4 - Decent port from the arcade unit.

 

Goldeneye - Good console FPS, I rented this game countless times.

 

Perfect Dark - This blows Goldeneye out of the water. I loved everything about this game.

 

Spider- Man - The first 3-D spider man game was amazing and I loved it. A real comic book story come to life. It's far better than any of the GTA Spider-Man games ( Spider - Man 2 to present).

 

 

Myself, I consider my childhood ended in 2002, when I graduated High School ,Spring 2002. I will include the games, that released during my senior( graduation ) year to Christmas 2002, with the Gamecube.

 

 

Star Wars Rogue Leader 2 - Amazing!!! Short, but still amazing.The graphics blow my mind even today.

 

Wave Race - I played the N64 version back in 1996 or 1997 and wasn't a fan at all. Once I saw game play videos, I bought it. I didn't like it at all. It was way to hard, going back and forth between those balls. I sold it.

 

Spider - Man : The Movie game - I loved it. The levels were amazing, the variety in gameplay was great. I don't understand why people liked the half assed "GTA" Spider-Man games (Spider- Man 2 to present).

 

Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance - Pretty good relaunch of the series, considering it was a new fighting engine. This game was release during my first semester of college which was Sept of 2002.

 

Splinter Cell - Good game on the Gamecube, though not as graphically amazing as the Xbox version. For me, the game is very depressing. More so when you find out what happened to the two missing agents. Darkness, death, war, guns, mass murder, and stealth , rolled into one game.

 

Resident Evil Remake - Purest form of survival horror. I loved it. The best in the series to me, next to Resident Evil 2.

 

Metroid Prime - This was my first Metroid game, I loved it. One of the best adventures games, I've played. I regret , I've never played Prime 2 or 3.

 

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 - Great!!!! I've played the demo of Tony Hawk 2 on my Dreamcast but thought nothing much of it, but THPS3 is so much fun. It doesn't even have that many levels, but it never gets old. Also, I loved the sound track. The Darth Maul cheat was great.

 

Star Wars Jedi Outcast - AMAZING story + FPS + great lightsaber battles + lengthy storymode + robust multiplayer = Outstanding game

 

I owned a PS2 for a short time.

 

GTA 3 - Landmark game - Even after I beat the game, I had to go back NYC. Having a open box as you playground, made the game almost never get old.

 

GTA Vice City - The first GTA 3-D game, but only in the 80s. I liked the whole feel of the game.

 

I miss the 90s and my youth :.(

Edited January 28, 2015 by N7Operative84

[gunziness]

The Sonic series from Sega Genesis (16 bit console) I had every single one of them except Sonic Pinball, it was the only Sonic game I didnt like at all. The rest of them were awesome. I never heard about Sonic CD back then, I played it via emulator on PC a few years ago, fantastic game.

 

Another Sega classic for me is Vectorman 2, amazing graphics and animations for being a Sega game, very smooth, played it a lot back then.

 

Then for arcade games, my favorite saga it has to be Metal Slug, it was pretty much the only game I played when going to the arcade places back when I was a kid. I still have all of them installed in my PC, even Metal Slug 6 and XX that I never got the chance to play them on arcade machines (XX its impossible since its for psp only)

 

And finally GTA, the first one I played was VC, but interestingly it was the one which bored me the quickest, played GTAIII later in my old sh*t pc at 20fps and oh boy, how I enjoyed that game, there wasnt a day I didnt play it for pretty much one year or more, really, its one of my fav GTA's so far.

 

Other than those games, I played plenty of SNES (or 'family' in my country, the cheap chinese version) and Sega games back then, but while most of them were awesome, none of them sticked to me like the ones I named before.

 

The sucessor of the Sega for me was the PC, never had a Playstation, never appealed me to have one, found games in 3d kinda weird and ugly looking back then.

 

TL;DR:

 

Sonic games for sega

Metal slug games

GTA

 

My three favorite sagas of games

[Osho]

Baldurs Gate, Betrayal at Krondor, Ultima Underworld, Wizardry 8, Deus Ex, Jagged Alliance, Commandos, Hidden and Dangerous, Thief 1, System shock 2, GTA 2 ... and many more classics.

These games quite simply are masterpieces.

I still play them on PC due to the dedicated community who still care about these games and working hard to keep them alive with fabulous mods, and improvements.

Also, thanks to GOG that I now have a nice collection of so many of those beautiful memories, including those games that I missed to try and play.

So much better than the sh*tty casual mainstream and consolized crap of todays.

[Vertighost]

Sorry for the long list this is everything I can think of that I found great, from first game ever played, to my 64 years (it was my family's console but I was the one buying all the games). after which I had a PS2, GameCube, PS3, and now a PS4.

 

Friends Atari:

Mario Bros

Duck Hunt

 

friends PC?:

Jill of the Jungle

Prince Of Persia

 

School PC:

Ski Run

The Lost Vikings

 

Sega Master System II:

Alex Kidd in Miracle World

Chuck Rock

 

Super Nintendo (pal):

Super Mario All Stars

Yoshi's Island

Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country 2

Super Metroid

Earthworm Jim

Uni Rally

Bubsy

Clayfighter

Claymates

Stunt Race FX

Super Bomberman

FlashBack

 

Gameboy Pocket:

Super Mario Land

 

Nintendo 64:

Goldeneye 007

F Zero X

Mario 64

Banjo Kazooie

Donkey Kong 64

Jet Force Gemini

Blast Corps

Mario Kart 64

Perfect Dark

Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil

Shadowman

Zelda The Ocarina Of Time

Lylat Wars (StarFox 64)

Cruisin USA

Top Gear Overdrive

Extreme G

Duke Nukem 64

Space Station Silicon Valley

Clayfighter 631/3

Yoshi's Story

San Francisco Rush 2

Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Diddy Kong Racing

Super Smash Bros

Mission Impossible

Star Wars Pod Racer

Star Wars Rogue Squadron

Banjo Tooie

Edited January 26, 2015 by Vertighost

[Kiffster]

Oh god, too many. I've been playing since the early 90s

 

Original Prince of Persia (first game I ever played)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (side-scrolling multiplayer. LOVED IT!!!)

Adventure Island

Every Mario game I played in the 90s

Sonic the Hedgehog

Elevator Action

Battle City

Tekken

WWF

Quest for Glory

Classic Sierra/Lucas Arts adventures like Monkey Island

Theme Hospital

Dungeon Keeper

Carmageddon

Tomb Raider

Half Life

Baldur's Gate

GTA

 

The list goes on...

Edited January 26, 2015 by W2B

[BrownBear]

I bought the first God of War on PS3 the other day, hit that takes me back, one of the first games I played properly.

[icecoldkilla1467]

PS1

i used to play alot crash 2,3,bash and ctr and i still play them

tekken 3

gran turisimo

tony hawk pro skater 1 and 2 then i switched to ps2

PC

gta 1 & 2

one of the tomb raiders i dont remember which one

midtown madness

PS2

gta 3 vc sa lcs vcs

tony hawk pro skater 3 4 underground 1 and 2 american wastland and jam

the warriors

bully

driver parallel lines

tekken 5 and tag team 2

wwe svr 2008-2010

call of duty 3

soccom

guitar hero

[ChrilLe]

Grand Theft Auto (III, VC:S, LC:S, SA, IV)

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Ratchet & Clank (Gladiator, original, 2, 3)

Sly Cooper (never owned the game myself, but many of my friends had it)

Wii Sports

Lego Racers

Lego Star Wars

 

[.Ryan.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Landotel]

 

1. Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies

 

SOCOM US Navy Seals

 

GTA: San Andreas

 

ATV: Offroad Fury 3

 

Burnout 3: Takedown (Best Burnout for me personally)

 

[Ciarán]

-GTA I, II, III, VC, SA, IV.

-SOCOM, US Navy Seals

-Conflict: Desert Storm

-Driver

-Lego Star Wars

-Tony Hawk Pro Skater

-Die Hard Trilogy

- COD 1, 2 & 3

-Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

-NFS Underground

-Halo 3

[Phaamie]

FF1 (NES)

Rygar (NES)

Metroid (NES)

Zelda (NES)

Contra (NES)

Roger Rabbit (NES I think)

Kings Quest series (PC)

Oregon Trail (MAC)

Sim City (MAC)

Ultima Online (PC)

Quake 1 Team Fortress (PC)

Super Smash Bros. (N64)

Edited January 27, 2015 by Phaamie

[Femme Fatale]

Army Men Sarge's Heroes 1&2

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series

Goldeneye

Super Smash Bros

Paper Mario

Super Mario 64

[RavingWithJesus]

as a kid these were some of my favorites:

 

Pokemon Blue/Silver (don't judge me I was young)

Grand Theft Auto I-III, and Vice City

Resident Evil 1 and 2

Every Mario game ever

Zelda Ocarina of Time

The Sims

....and the list goes on and on.

[a20characterusername]

I'll just do the first 20 that come to mind. Played a lot more as a kid than nowadays.

 

 

Frogger (Atari)- One of the first games I remember playing.

Zelda 2 (NES)- One of the first games I remember beating on my own (I had some help with Zelda 1).

Pinball (NES)- Simple game, but I've always liked actual pinball machines so this was a good substitute.

Arkanoid (NES)- Even my mother played this.

R-Type (SMS)- Used to play this one with my friends a lot.

Destiny of An Emperor (NES)- One of my first RPGs, my grandparents had this game, and I'd play it when at night when I couldn't sleep. Never actually beat it though-- years later I found out it was because of a rare glitch. Same thing happened to me with Dragon warrior literally at the very end of the last boss fight. Still annoys me a little when I think about it.

Mario 3 (NES)- I liked the others but this was my favorite. Used to play it almost every Friday after school.

Tetris (NES)- I still play it every now and again to this day.

Oregon Trail (PC)- Pretty much the go-to game in school whenever students would finish class assignments early.

Sonic 2 (GEN)- I still play it once in a while. Better than whatever the hell Sonic turned into these days.

Starfox (SNES)- A friend got this for his birthday, and I was over his house and we wanted to play so bad that we pretended to be sick so we could stay inside.

Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing (GEN)- Used to be addicted to this one.

Sim City 2000 (PC)- First 'sim' game I ever played. Still kind of holds up, too.

Doom 1&2 (PC)- The games that got me interested in level design.

Secret of Mana (SNES)- First Squaresoft game I ever played.

Full Throttle (PC)- The art style always stood out to me. Still one of my favorite games.

Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)- Still one of my favorite SNES games.

Twisted Metal (PS1)- One of my first PS1 games.

Soulblade (PS1)- I lost interest in the later titles, but I used to love this game.

Tekken 1&2 (PS1)- Played this with pretty much everyone when I could. Always liked the music too.

 

 

 

 

 

[scrublord]

I remember playing the hell out of Abes Oddworld, Gran Turismo, and Spyro on the PS1 as some of my first games when I was around 4 years old.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itKCe5e1UPM

 

From the N64 game Glover. That laugh haunted me as a kid.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Lagful

[Bessie_23]

I remember playing The Last Express - one of the most atmospheric games ever made, notable for its use of real-time action and incredible attention to detail; Starcraft - I was lierally addicted to the races; The Curse of Monkey Island - a perfectly fitted cartoon world brought to life and of course the evergreen Mario. I guess if you ask my daughter the same question ten to fifteen years down the line she will list a couple of these reading games, candy crush saga and plants versus zombies, alongside some others. But I'm glad for once - her list will also include Mario for sure. She's as big a fan of the game as I was at her age.

[Zondar]

I started with a Spectrun 48k. The highlights on this were

-Manic Miner

-Jetset Willie

-Horace Goes Skiing

-Horace and The Spiders

 

 

Then I moved on to a Commodore 64.

-Ghostbusters

- Daly Thomson's Decathlon

-Spy Hunter

 

A few years later I got an Amiga 500

-Rainbow island

-Kick off 2

-Wings

-Axels Magic Hammer

-Sensible Soccer

-Lemmings. Although by this point I was barely a kid.

 

Do I win an old bastard award?

Edited January 29, 2015 by Zondar

[Miekka]

My introduction to the gaming world started in 2000 when I was 7 years old.

On top of my head I remember "Spider-Man" for Playstation 1,

and we used to also play WWE (then WWF) games which on the other hand introduced me into the world of pro wrestling.

"Digimon World", "Demolition Derby: Raw" & "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" were also the top games to play.

I remember trying the N64 and Gameboy too, then came the PS2 and the rest is history..

Edited January 29, 2015 by markwey

[Virtual-Antics]

Sega:

 

Sonic 2.

Streets Of Rage.

Revenge Of Shinobi.

Desert Strike.

Robocop v.s Terminator.

Super Hang On.

Alien Soldier.

Comix Zone.

 

 

PsOne:

 

Syphon Filter.

Tenchu 2.

Rollcage.

Quake 2.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

Apocalypse.

Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver.

Metal Gear Solid.

Medal Of Honor: Underground.

 

Ps2

 

Tekken Tag Tournament.

Mercenaries.

Time Crisis 2.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty.

Max Payne.

Gran Turismo 3 A Spec.

Extermination.

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2.

SSX Tricky.

Zone Of The Enders.

[Tikhung]

Road Rash

 

[LongHairedFreakyGuy]

I remember playing the hell out of Abes Oddworld...

 

Abe's Oddysey was, and still is, a fantastic game, spent many hours on that when I was younger. Shame it costs so much these days though.

 

For me, I grew up with the N64, so the likes of Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye 007, Zelda: OOT, Banjo and all the rest are the ones that I recall so fondly from my childhood. The PS2 was my teen years and the console I spent most time with, but all credit goes to the N64 for getting me so into gaming.