RF Generation Message Board

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

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

http://youtu.be/xw0VqMHOcOE

Pirates!
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Warcraft II
Myth II: Soulblighter
Star Wars: Dark Forces

Marathon (Mac)
Escape Velocity (Mac)
Double Dragon (SMS)
Sonic (MD)
Micro Machines (MD)

Mega Man
Mario 3
Metroid
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy Tactics

Tough, and I'm sure after I put these down I will want to change them later, but here goes:

Zork (C64)
Castlevania (NES)
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Final Fantasy III(VI) (SNES)
Phantasy Star II (GEN)

All Genesis titles.

1. Shining Force
2. Shining Force 2
3. Phantasy Star IV
4. King's Bounty
5. Shadowrun

1: Legend of Zelda (NES)
2: Super Mario Bros. series (NES)
3: Sonic the Hedgehog series (Genesis)
4: Earthworm Jim (Genesis)
5: Final Fantasy VII (PS)

I didn't own a great deal of games when I was a kid, so my list is pretty generic.  Part of my collecting obsession now is getting games I wish I had when I was little :D

In no particular order:
Super Mario Allstars + World - SNES (came with my SNES)
Toe Jam and Earl - Genny (one of the few games i had as kid played with brother and mom all the time)
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - Genny (another one of the few games i had. was my babysitter afterschhol guess that explains me now....)
TMNT Fall of the Footclan -Gameboy (only game i had besides Tetris for quite some time)
Pokemon series preCrystal verion - Gameboy (not really "childhood" per se but it ate away literally thousands of hours of my life.)

Super Mario Bros. - The first video game I ever saw.
Mortal Kombat - I'm not sure how much time I invested in this and the early sequels. Not sure I want to know.
NBA Jam - See Mortal Kombat. Thanks a lot, Midway...
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - There was a time when a friend and I played this every single Saturday. Probably for a year or two.
Super Metroid - The best.

Only 5?  Tough call.

1.  Super Breakout (2600) - My brother and I played it more than any other game.
2.  Kung Fu (Arcade) - Ah yes, the trips to Papa Tom's pizza were awesome!
3.  Xevious (7800) - Came with the first console that was mine.
4.  Super Mario Bros. (Arcade & NES) - Possibly the most influential game to any 80's kid.
5.  Mortal Kombat (Genesis) - The blood code was the epitome of childhood defiance back then.

No particular order

1. Metroid - One of the first games I remember watching someone play When I was really young. I didn't play it myself until 12+ years afterwards. I've must of seen it beaten as well as I've seem to always known Samus was a woman.
2. The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past - We use to watch my cousin during the summer and this is one of the games we spent months on months playing. With no guide or internet this was one we really had to band together in order to beat.
3.  Star Fox 64 - Same story as last time. Still an all time favorite.
4. Pokemion. - Some much time spent with the first 2 generations. Really was the first RPGs I got into and after some time with this one I went back to play FFIII, Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger.
5. Kingdom Hearts - High School was a pretty rough time for me, with a major death in my family and being skipped ahead in science and math, which meant I was stuck in a classroom with a handful of people who didn't appreciate a freshman being there. Kingdom Hearts became a favored weekend activity for me and a few of the friends I had at the time, even though I rejected the "silly Disney" game at first and focused on more "mature" RPGs like Star Ocean and Xenosaga. It's a series I'd really like to get back into

no order:
1. super mario bros 3
2. mario kart 64
3. super mario 64
4. star fox 64
5. Jurassic park the arcade game (this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-m9Wj-IEZY )

Rewinding back to the '90's

Sonic 2 (Gen)
Goldeneye 007 (N64)
Alfred Chicken (GB)
Star Fox (SNES)
NHL '94 (GEN)

Hmm, just the five. I guess the most defining games from my childhood would be newest to oldest:

Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast)
Final Fantasy VII (Playstation)
Snatcher (Mega-CD)
Dune (Mega-CD)
Phantasy Star IV (MegaDrive)

Really glad you posted this on RFG (too much to type on my phone).

UFO! (Odyssey ^2): First game that really grabbed me (I couldn't have been more than four or five)

The Arcades:  Huge cop out, I know, but I can't even begin to explain just how big a part that arcades played during my childhood.  From my first visit (1983?) to my final farewell when ticket redemption and large "spectacle" machines took over it has always had a special place in my childhood.  Also, thanks to Michigan for the ten cent bottle return (and a big "eff-you" to the 7-11 jerks who denied me because of "dirty" bottle).  Tempest, DK, Victory Road, Berzerk, Contra, SamSho 2...  The list goes on and on.

Super Mario Bros. (NES):  The game that got me dreaming about getting out of the arcades and into a home console.  Before this I could count the number of home console exclusive games that impressed me with one hand, but when I saw this game BOOM!  Not my fav, but because of it I get all weepy when I see a bunch of NES black box games displayed on pegs.

Dune 2: The Battle for Arrakis (PC): The game that made me realize that there were actual games on the PC.  Weird thing is that the person who showed me never let me touch it.  I didn't get my mits on it until 1994, when I bought a Genesis and played it on there.  Just one game, but the curiosity helped get me interested in PC gaming.

Final Fantasy III (SNES): While I haven't picked this game up in years (I still do annual playthroughs of many other of the FF games), it made a huge mark on me back in 1994.  I went to the store with some money, thinking I would get Illusion of Gaia, but was surprised to find Final Fantasy III!  The sheer amount of hours I spent on this game, leveling up characters and Espers...  If only I could have bought a Retrode back in 2005 to backup the save before it died...  Oh, well.  And one more thing:  This game will always be known be Final Fantasy III to me.  Final Fantasy VI will always be a game that was released for the PSX and sucked.

This was an impossible task, given the amount of games that I played and loved over the years.  This was simply the first five that I could think of.

heyyyy, I WANT TO TYPE MINI REVIEWS AS WELL

In no particular order.

The Legend of Zelda (NES)  Great memory of first seeing it at my cousins house. My brother and I begged mom & dad to get this game for us. We finally got it as a surprise in our Easter basket and played it to death.

Sim City (SNES)  Borrowed this game from my friend all the time. I would play this game sooo long that I would l stay up all night playing it.

NHL 94 (Genesis) Me, my brother, my best friend and his brother would have tournaments all the time.  Great memories of us all hanging out and talking smack.

Off Road Challenge (Arcade)  The small town I grew up in opened a kids/teen center.  My best friend and I would spend tons of quarters trying to "Beef up your truck"  

Man this is so hard to pick the last one.  So many games that meant alot to me over the years.  How do I pick between SMB, SMB 3, Castlevania, NBA Jam, Double Dragon, NBA Live, Mike Tyson's PO, Sonic, TMNT Arcade, Mortal Kombat, Contra, Final Fight Arcade, Link to the Past.

But I think I'll have to go with Tecmo Super Bowl.  Just like NHL 94, we would have big tournaments, we would make up snacks and drinks.  It was like my Super Bowl Parties are now.  LOL

In no particular order:

Pokemon Series - The first game I owned was Pokemon Red, and I played that game for countless hours.  After Red came Yellow, Gold, and so on.  This game was easily my favorite game as a child, and I looked forward to the rare occasion that my parents would let me play it.  The series also has a huge amount of sentimental value as well.  My brother and I played every generation together up until Black/White, and they are some of the fondest memories I have of him.  I miss you, Jon.  :'(

Animal Crossing (GC) - This was a game that my entire family played.  The GameCube would be running for hours a day as we ran through our daily chores in own towns.  It was fun helping each other out by getting Tom Nook's store to it's final expansion, trading items, etc.

Fire Emblem/The Sacred Stones (GBA) - I picked up the first game out of chance at a GameStop a couple years after release and immediately fell in love with it.  After hundreds of hours, I had to pick up TSS and liked it just as much.  They remain two of my favorite games to this day.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) - Another game that my entire family played.  My dad beat the game while my brothers and I looked on in awe.  I was ~8 years old when the game came out, so my brothers and I weren't able to beat the game completely by ourselves back then.  Years later, we have all played it through again and loved it even more.

Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube) - I'd be willing to bet that I've logged well over 500 hours in this game.  Not only did my brothers and I play the crap out of the game at home, we would always play it over our cousins' houses as well.  We still play it to this day.


And there are so many titles I've left out, like Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario & Luigi series, Metroid series, Star Fox 64, Super Mario Bros. series, etc.  I have so many great memories of playing games with my family as a kid.

I would have to go with

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II for nes (First game I ever played and beat with my dad)
Excite Bike (Me and my brothers played this one all the time)
Final Fantasy (First RPG I played pretty much all over from there)
Ridge Racer for PS (also beat this one with my dad)
Final Fantasy VII for PS ( I have played through this so many times)

Had to add Tony Hawk's pro skater (played this non stop)
                   And Soul Calibur 2 (awesome)

i don't know how i forgot about metroid series...i would have to put metroid prime instead of the jurassic park game for me.

You should! It's a lot more interesting than just seeing a bunch of random little lists.

you're welcome :p I didn't expect I would learn about new games in this topic :o

1) StarCraft (and all expansions) (PC)
2) Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World (SNES)
3) Mohawk & Headphone Jack (SNES)
4) Glover (N64)
5) Star Wars (Arcade)

Okay mine goes #5 is Great but not something that Defined me that much  ---> #1 which is HOLY BALLS!!! THIS CHANGED MY LIFE!!!

5) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (Atari 2600) - this brought back so many memories of going to my grandmothers house and playing video games, I remember I was about 4 or 5 when I played and I remember getting stuck in that pit and end up just rage quitting. :3

4) Pitfall (Atari 2600) - I used to love the 8-bit music when you swing on the vines... and I loved the Indiana Jones series so, being a 5 year old I thought playing pitfall I was pretty BA.

3) Killer Instinct (SNES) - The first Game I beat all by myself :3 and I remember that moment when i got to the final boss my sister was cheering me on and my bro was like "HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!!!" (I was 7 years old at the time of this)

2) Mortal Kombat II (SNES) - This was a game I never attempted to beat yet, but the memories of my bro KILLING me at this game are fond memories I wish I could do again with my bro.

1) Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) - This was my first Experience with the SNES ever ... before this all I ever played was the Atari 2600... and well this is the game that made me have a phobia of zombies which still lasts today... how it started was my bro told me "if you die in the game they'll come out and get you" me being a 5 year old took it seriously, so I played it and SUCKED terribly at it... and the game didn't scare me... but the Little angel sprite that comes up when you see a zombie get someone SCARED THE HELL out of me... :paranoid:

So now those are the games the Changed my life.

Games that almost made it on the top 5
Total Carnage (Arcade)
Rampage (Arcade)
Bloody Roar (PS1)

Street Fighter II is the game of my childhood without thinking too much. I still remember clearly back in 1991/1992 the many nights i spent playing it with my brothers, cousins and friends till dawn and the many times we fought during these matches because some can't stand to lose or take a joke :D

The rest of my top 5:

2) Super Mario Bros. (NES)
3) Mônica no Castelo do Dragão (know as Wonder Boy in Monster Land in United States) (SMS)
4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (NES)
5) Alex Kidd in the Miracle World (SMS)

You mind if i do a top 10? There are other games that were special to me too when i was a child:
6) Road Rash (3DO)
7) Samurai Shodown (NEO GEO)
8) Fatal Fury 2 (NEO GEO)
9) World Heroes 2(NEO GEO)
10) Night Trap (3DO)

If 'childhood' is determined to be birth 'till around 14 or so...

5. Crossroads I & Crossroads II Pandemonium (C64)  The games that sealed my love for the hobby.  Fast action, a dash of simple strategy, Enemies with different behaviors that would even attack each-other, power-ups, the ability to set up traps, two player co-op/competition, and still hardly known as it was a 'Compute! Gazette' exclusive.  I never really got tired of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_VMgQ5NQqM

4. Necromancer (C64)  Superb atmosphere developed with so few tools.  Everything about the game, from the graphics and animation, gameplay, sound design, inventive enemies, and the odd vibe of pervasive harshness make this largely missed gem a game that still impresses me, then and now.  The fact that it plays across three completely different scenarios where success in one is dependent upon how well you did in the previous one makes every playthrough intense.  If you've just seen/played the opening scenario, its easy to miss how forward-thinking and unique this game is, especially since it has an ultimate boss at the end, and despite getting VERY close, I have yet to beat it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg-XP-4LbVo

3. Gate of Thunder (Turbo Duo)  I always enjoyed shmups, starting with the C64 version of Threshold.  That title almost got this place, but Gate of Thunder edges it out because it took the outlying interest I had in the genre and stomped it permanently in the ground.  It plays so smoothly, the enemies are interesting, varied, and (on highly difficulties) full of well animated tricks.  It's more accessible than the earlier Thunder Force prequels, with Normal able to be conquered by novices, and the Devil difficulty still giving this old pro a challenge.  Also, my favorite game soundtrack.  Ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEKM77ahwik

2. Tetris (Gameboy)  I still track down a version for every system, and while the GBC DX version is the best one IMHO, the old brick one went with me everywhere for years.  Once in the hospital, with an IV in my good hand, I played Level 9 High 5 on B type with only my free hand.  Took three days, but I beat it one handed.  Still one of my proudest gaming accomplishments.

1. Final Fantasy II/IV (SNES)  Ah, my favorite story in a video game.  The music is still in my top three gaming soundtracks (next to Shadow of the Colossus and Gate of Thunder.)  First game I played with characters that developed, and not just leveled.  Before FFII, my RPG knowledge was the first Dragon Warrior and some old PC dungeon crawlers.  FFII opened my eyes to gaming's narrative potential.  FFIII/VI had great characters and was far more refined, but FFII was the first to dig the well deep enough for everything else to fit in.

A whole lot more then and since, obviously, but those are probably the most defining ones for me from my youth.

In no particular order, I chose 5 games from age 5 to around 12 or 13.  Teenage years were a whole other story with gaming.

Super Mario World (Snes)
Tecmo Super Bowl (Snes)
Robot Tank (Atari 2600)
After Burner (Sega Master System)
Star Fox (Snes)

Tempest (arcade Vector cab) - small general store near my great-grandparent's lake house had this cab, among others. Use to walk to the store with my cousin to play it. It's the reason I am addicted to the Vectrex now.

Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior (C64) - A buddy of mine had a C64 with several games and luckily his dad also owned a video rental (VHS) and NES rental store. Needless to say, we hung out a lot. We played a hell of a lot of 2-player Barbarian. Decapitating your opponent with that spinning sword was so cool....and then a goblin would come punt their head off the screen (see 1:30). Mortal Kombat whaaaaaaaa? ? ? ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ORMf6SjTc


Grand Prix (2600) - My cousin had an Atari 2600 growing up with about 30 games (not something to thumb your nose at, at the time. My grandmother would take me over to her house to play and it was the only game my grandmother played with us. She would scream when she crashed and it made those electrocution sounds.

Metroid (NES) - Got a telescope from my grandparents one Christmas. They bought it off the display since it was the last one and "unfortunately" it didn't work. Took it back and pissed my parents off by coming home with an NES. Ironically, I bought the pack with the Official Nintendo Player's Strategy Guide....yeah, no Mario...no game at all.  Went to Roses that weekend and put a copy of Metroid on layaway and had to wait to pay it off with my meager allowance before I even had a game to play.

World of Warcraft - consumed my life for 3 years and even almost distanced myself from my wife. When my daughter was born, I gave it up completely and haven't looked back since. I replaced this part of my life with collecting NES/2600 games. BOING!

I'm going with childhood, I'm talking 10 and under, which would be 1984-1994. Sooo in no particular order...

1) Maniac Mansion. I have such fond memories of my friend and I trying everything and anything we could to try to beat this game. We had no idea it was a bastardized version of a much better computer version. Just the idea of moving a panel, finding a cassette tape, and listening to it etc was awesome. Trying not to get caught by Aunt Edna was thrilling and learning the secret brick trick blew our minds at the time. We finally beat the game without and internet, Nintendo Power etc and couldn't be more proud to this day.

2) Dragon Warrior. This is the game that got me into RPGs, simple though it may be. I played for hours upon hours searching every single space, fighting as much as I could. I remember a Nintendo Power Howard & Nester comic that showed were to get Erdrick's Armor and I was so happy lol. To this day I love playing through this game. I remember playing Dragon Warrior in real life with my friend, we would use random toys as treasures and "explore" the neighborhood, fighting Slimes etc.

3)Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project. THIS was the game. A lot of people loves TMNT II but THIS GAME. This was the game we stayed up as late as possible playing, then left the NES on overnight hoping it didn't freeze so we could continue in the morning. This was the game that really made us fall in love with the NES and made me personally fall in love with the bet em up genre.

4) Sonic The Hedgehog 2. I didn't get around much, and I didn't even know what Sega really was. This was when I was REALLY young, so I wasn't even really checking the magazines out. I was shocked to see a video game at my cousin's house that wasn't an NES. I was even more shocked when I played Sonic 2. It was so fast, so colorful. I practically begged to go to my cousin's all the time after I found out they had this machine. I remember the first time I beat this game and it was epic.

5) Super Mario Brothers 3. I don't really need to say much. This game shaped my childhood. Without this game, I don't know if I'd be on this site right now. I've beaten it over 100 times guaranteed. I have every little secret memorized, I know how to get every white mushroom house, the best levels to use the P-Wings, and god I wish I could use the SHOE in the whole game! How did a code never come out for that?!

Legend of Zelda gets honorable mention for being another game I played for hours on end.

In no particular order:

Super Mario World
Tecmo Super Bowl
Final Fantasy II
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Pitfall (Atari)

Here we go:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Super Mario 64
Pokemon series
Goldeneye 007
Twisted Metal series

1. Tecmo Super Bowl
2. River City Ransom
3. Mortal Kombat
4. Tetris
5. Super Mario Bros. 3

No Bad Dudes? :P

I'm surprised you people can remember this so well. I have a hard time thinking of any game I really enjoyed before my teen years. And I guess a game I first played at 15 doesn't really define my childhood.

Anyways, a try:
Paratrooper (PC, first pc game I played, loved it!)
Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Master System)
Railroad Tycoon
Wolvenstein

That is all...

1.Pokemon Silver
2.Animal Crossing
3.Super Smash Bros. Melee
4. Spyro the Dragon
5.Final Fantasy IX

These are in no real particular order

1. Mega Man 2 (NES)
- This defined my childhood by frustrating the hell out of me, and at the same time I couldn't stop playing and torturing myself. It defined my childhood by showing me I don't have to beat a game to feel accomplishment.

2. Final Fantasy I (NES)
-This defined my childhhod by being my gateway drug into RPG video games. I remember not liking it at first because of the turn based style, but it grew on me.  It was because of this game, that later me and my little brother would for several summers rent rpgs from the game store, play from the afternoon until the sun came up the next day. Those are memories I hold dear to me.

3. Castlevania (NES)
-This was a game I never owned, I did own the sequels but I remember my god-sister had a copy of it and brought it over on X-Mas the day I got my NES, and just being astonished at the action, the excitement of the game.  I from this day on would always love the Castlevania franchise. Yes, even Simon's Quest.

4. Guerilla Warfare(NES)
-This is another game I shared with my brother.  When we went to the video game store, and everything was checked out that was new, this game would always be sitting there, waiting for us to rent. it was our go to game. I am not sure how many times we rented that game, probably enough to have owned it, twice. Me and my brother had lots of laughs playing that game, working together each time, to beat the hell out of that game.  We beat the shit out of that game a lot, beating it several times in an overnight rental.

5. Pitfall (Atari 2600)
-This game was the first game I ever saw, and ever played. I was really young at the time, but I remember playing Pitfall, on this tiny ass TV. The sounds, and the graphics just played with my eyes, and hypnotized me. I am sure even if I didn't play this game as a kid, I would have eventually played another game, that would have got me hooked on video games, but I am glad it was this one. I do know that the adventure elements of this game are the reasons I love new games like the Uncharted Series.

Hard to come up with just 5 so I am keeping to games from before my 12 birthday.
1. Simcity (SNES)
2. Mario Cart (SNES)
3. Railroad Tycoon (PC)
4. Zelda 2 (NES)
5. Mouse Trap (Atari) (fav game until I was 6)

Blue Max (A8)
Super mario world ( SNES)
Zelda LTTP ( SNES)
Missile Command ( A8)
Madden 95 (SNES)

1. Super Mario Brothers - Came with my NES (Action Set)
2. The Legend of Zelda - Paid $20 for a cart only copy and played it for hours and hours and hours.
3. Dragon Warrior - Recieved it for Christmas and began my obsession with JRPGs/LRPGs.
4. Zelda Link to the Past - Bought it right before Thanksgiving break and finished it before Christmas.
5. Metroid - Saved my allowance and had a choice between this and Kid Icarus. Thanks to Nintendo Power I was able to really enjoy this game.

Little Nemo
Skate or Die 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Donkey Kong Country
SMB/ Duck hunt