Games that left lasting impressions on you.

[elvis]

Final Fight (arcade): huge sprites not seen before was pretty mind blowing at the time

Street FIghter II (arcade): as above, plus with the depth of the control system. I was hooked instantly (and still am). I've put more money into that arcade than anything else.

Altered Beast (Genesis/MD): First 16bit home console game I'd ever laid my eyes on. As a jump from 8 bit it was incredible. Looking back now it's utterly shit, but at the time it was mind blowing.

Sonic (Genesis/MD): The speed!

Contra III / Super Probotector (SNES/SFC): Balls out run and gun with incredible music to match. I played this for the first time while my SNES was hooked up to my parent's HiFi system, and the audio was huge.

Secret of Mana (SNES/SFC): First RPG I'd ever had exposure to (I'd managed to miss everything until then). Once again, the audio did it for me.

Ridge Racer (PSX): Incredible 3D for a home console. The dawn of a new era.

Wolfenstein 3D (PC): My first FPS. Heaps of blood and guts, and shit-your-pants moments every few minutes.

Vortex Blaster (Sega SC-3000):
http://www.stickfreaks.com/sc3000h.php
My first video game of any shape or form ever. A very simple (and in retrospect, boring) shooter. But it was my first taste of video gaming, and left a huge impression.

[BoringSupreez]

Half Life 2: That was the first time I had ever seen a game with such realistic characters, and such an awesome atmosphere.
Call of Duty 4: This game was an epic roller coaster. Near constant thrills.
LoZ: OoT: Definately the best Zelda game, IMO.
MGS 2: That game is just awesome, with awesomer cutscenes. It takes the best of B movies, action films, videogames, and cospiracy theories and fuses it together into one great package. My first, and favorite, MGS game.

[jfe2]

Contra, Super Mario World, Super Smash TV, Chrono Trigger, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Grand Theft Auto III, Halo, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, all in that order.

Those are pretty much the video game milestones in my life. Not saying they are my favorite games by any means, although some of them are. They are just games that I remember being "big" games for me at certain points in my life. I'm sure I missed a ton, but those were off the top of my head, and I'm tired right now.

[the7k]

Darkstalkers was one of the first times I looked at a cast of characters in a video game and said, "Whoa." Such imagination. Such beautiful animation. Considering Arc System Works' games and many doujinsoft creations pretty obviously draw inspiration from it, I'd also say it also had a much great impact on the 2D Fighting genre than anyone will give it credit for.

Metal Slug 2. I played it 'til I beat it without getting hit. I'd say that's a lot of hours I threw at a game that I'll never see again.

Ragnarok Online and Shin Megami Tensei Imagine Online taught me that its easy to get sucked into an MMO, so long as you get into a good guild.

Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament taught me that not all masterful VG music is made by people with Japanese names. Both games were great independent of that, but DX and UT99's soundtracks get played more than any Final Fantasy in my house, I can tell you that.

Shin Megami Tensei series taught me that a traditional RPG can still be fun, so long as you focus on making a gripping atmosphere.

That's all I can think of right now. I need sleep.

[Luke]

Probably every game I've ever played. Seriously.

I grew up without emulators. Getting a new game was always a big deal, as new games were still about $50.00+. As a kid, as soon as my parents would load up the van, I'd get the game out of it's bag, stare at the box art for a while, open it up, and damn near memorize the instruction booklet by the time we got back home.

Even now, sometimes when I go to GameStop and pick up a game, I'll crack open the case and read the instructions in my car before ignition. As i look around the gameroom, with over 650+ games, I've got a memory for each, even Rampage on the NES.

Albeit, not every game has left a huge impression. Some games just remind me of sleep overs, or a time a friend and I just played it and had fun. Other games, like Madden 07 on gba have had a bigger impact on me. My Grandfather passed away on New Years 2007, and I played Madden 07 gba on the plane ride to and back from Chicago. The game, although no where near a great game, helped me take my mind off things. Well, the airport bar also helped.

But, yeah. You could pick any game out of my backlog, and I'll have some memory attached to it.

[classicgamer5]

DOOM (saturn)- First game my dad and I played through together

Super Metroid- When I was little I made my dad play it non-stop. It brings back good memories of when I was little. It was the first game I ever beat and It's still my favorite

[jfe2]

DOOM (saturn)- First game my dad and I played through together

Super Metroid- When I was little I made my dad play it non-stop. It brings back good memories of when I was little. It was the first game I ever beat and It's still my favorite

I actually remember sitting and watching my dad play through Super Ghouls and Ghosts when I was younger. That game was seriously hardcore! To this day, I suck pretty bad at it. My dad was a beast when it came to that game though, and beat it quite a few times.

[weasels]

As a kid, as soon as my parents would load up the van, I'd get the game out of it's bag, stare at the box art for a while, open it up, and damn near memorize the instruction booklet by the time we got back home.

Even now, sometimes when I go to GameStop and pick up a game, I'll crack open the case and read the instructions.......

i can relate to this. i did this myself, when i was younger my family was struggling to get on it's feet so getting game was, like you, usually a big deal. i did the very exact same thing as you did and i can still be caught doing it still as well. i sometimes even go through the manuals at home knowing full well i could just play it right then and there.

[Original_Name]

Final Fantasy VII - IT TAUGHT ME HOW TO READ.

THATS IT! THAT WILL BE THE WAY I TEACH MY KID (if i have one) to read. i can see it now. "can you say cloud", "red 13, that's a color and a number!" can you say one winged angle?..that right sephiroth!"

Hahahaha, it worked for me and now I'm considering English as my profession. I don't understand why my professors give me such weird looks when I talk about my friend who are sick.