The Top 5 games that defined your childhood

[c0wb0y]

My first games were on the Odyssey2.
I would choose Thunderball as a defining game for me, though I also liked Bowling and Pick Axe Pete.

Then the NES...
Duck Hunt - I found out recently my parents would put me to bed and my dad would stay up late playing Duck Hunt. LOL! That's where I get it from!
Super Mario Brothers - I've always been awful at it, but I love it all the same.
Tetris - I dreamed of falling blocks after finding Nirvana in this game.

I fell out of consoles and gaming for quite a while, but did spend many hours engrossed with Tie Fighter on the PC. I was 17-18 by then. I loved the radar and full 360 degree space combat. I loved every opportunity to fly the Tie Advanced or Tie Stealth (?). X-Wing was good too, but I've always loved the look of the Empire's ships.

[Key-Glyph]

[*]... that "fish eating" game whose name I can't remember that taught me the value of memorizing patterns and weaknesses

Odell Down Under?

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

[Gunstar Green]

2. One Must Fall 2097 - PC: I still kind of like this better than Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter 2 and other fighters from the era. It's extremely playable and unique with both the standard story mode fighter and a cool tournament mode with RPG elements. The latter really fascinated me and I set forth maxing out every robot on the hardest difficulty.

3. Wing Commander 2 - PC: The first time I encountered a really epic, well written story in a video game and the first game I ever played that you could consider a cinematic experience. Not only that but the sci-fi space opera setting was cooler to me than even Star Wars. It was my introduction to Wing Commander as well which became one of my favorite video game series.

3. Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries - PC: My introduction to the Battletech universe which I really love today. Everything about this game was cool from the crapsack future with giant robots to the cynical attitude of the game's characters to the glorious bastardry required to pull off its missions. I wasn't able to do the economy mode when I was a kid bit as I got older I understood it better and was able to beat the game the right way.

You just defined my childhood even more! One Must Fall still to this day ranks incredibly high in my all time favorite games, one that I still play to this day. I loved it! The Wing Commander series, especially the first really showed me an interesting and exciting world. The Sega CD version was the first I played and it really popped!

With Mechwarrior, that was a game my brother's played religiously and, in my youth, had no idea what I was doing, but loved it none the less. Such a great game!

Thank you for sharing that man. good to see people still remember some of these more forgotten titles.

No problem, I love hearing from people who cherish the same games I do. It seems like a lot of old DOS games have really been brushed off to the side these days which is a shame, especially Wing Commander and MechWarrior which were titanic franchises in their day.

Both of those have active fan communities though and MechWarrior might be making a comeback (it has made a minor one with MechWarrior online already). Wing Commander is also making a spiritual return with Chris Robert's new game.

One Must Fall 2097's story is a bit of a sadder one though, Rob Elam put together a sequel called One Must Fall: Battlegrounds which I got into the credits for beta testing the demo. However it was rushed and frankly bad and after that OMF dropped off the map for good. At least the original game is freeware and can still be enjoyed via dosbox.

[johnny turbo]

Ys book 1&2- turbo
Alien Vs predator-Jaguar
Dragon force- sega saturn
Nights-Saturn
Resident Evil- saturn
Majora's mask-64

What's funny is i didn't pick up any playstation console until 05 when i picked up a psone.

[marlowe221]

I was born in 1982 so while I played some 8-bit games, the 16-bit era was really my wheelhouse growing up.

My top 5 Childhood-Shaping Games:

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - This is my nursing home game. My deserted island game. I have beaten this game more times than I can count and I have purchased this game every time Nintendo has seen fit to re-release it. If they re-release it 3 more times, I will buy it 3 more times. And yes, I know where all the heart containers are

2. Super Mario World - For me this is the Mario game by which all other Mario games are measured (and keep falling short). 2D Mario raised to an art form.

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time - If I have beaten Zelda 3 the most, this game would be a close 2nd place. Donatello rules.

4. Star Fox - Flying through the guts of a starship to blow up it's reactor core and zoom out as it explodes around you just like the Millenium Falcon = AWESOME. Bizarre final boss notwithstanding.

5. Sim City (SNES) - For some reason building a city up to 500K people, saving the game, and selecting all possible disasters at once never got old. Never.

Yeah, it's all SNES. That's what I had growing up so that's what I played. Unfortunately I never got to experience the glories of Super Metroid and Final Fantasy 3(6) until years later. I still haven't played Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger (don't shoot me)...

[sevin0seven]

i guess i'll bite..

When i was under 13 yrs old these are the top 5 games i've played the most repeatedly:

1. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

2. Castlevania 3 (NES)

3. Super Mario World (SNES)

4. Super Castlevania IV (SNES)

5. Street Fighter 2 (SNES) / Star Fox (SNES) *Tie

Honorable mentions:

Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt (NES), Contra (NES), Super C (NES), Mike Tyson Punch-Out (NES), Mario Bros. (NES), Bubble Bobble (NES), Friday the 13th (NES), Darkwing Duck (NES), Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers (NES), Legacy of Wizard (NES), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game (NES), Double Dragon (NES) and Double Dragon 3 (NES).

yes, when i was a kid my parents only bought me a NES and a SNES. I got a Genesis (model 2) a year later from my parents. Your also probably wondering why you don't see any Zelda game on that list. I didn't play them until after I turned 13 of course.

[Cronozilla]

No particular order ... but the definitive 5, specifically for childhood. My "teenage" list (jesus, and 20s list) would be different.

Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES
Chrono Trigger - SNES
Mortal Kombat - GEN
Yoshi's Island - SNES
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers - NES

[Kidpanda]

Hola! I'm new here but figured this would be a great topic to introduce myself and give my top 5

I'm an older gamer that got to play alot of the OG systems i.e. 2600, intelly, SMS, etc. back when they were new. Needless to say there were tons of really great games I got to play back then!

In no paticular order these are my top 5 from my childhood...

1. Gradius - NES : easily the game that got me into shmups in general, still play my copy at least weekly

2. Phantasy Star - SMS : this is the first video RPG I ever played and was totally blown away by it, still am to this day

3. Thunder Force III - Genesis : One of my top all time shmups, rented it so much I ended up buying the copy from the shop...twice lol

4. Seaquest - Atari 2600 - another shmup-esque type game, 1 screen game and a bit hard to explain, but just love it

5. Streets of Rage II - Genesis : I'm sure this needs no introduction, simply Beat em up bliss

[J T]

I'll do a top 5 of my childhood broken down by system. These were defining because they were my favorites of the games I owned, or that were in a nearby arcade/grocery store.

Colecovision
Zaxxon
Venture
Popeye
Lady Bug
Frogger

Arcades
Black Tiger
Gauntlet
Spy Hunter
Asteroids
Goonies

Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Mario Bros
Ninja Gaiden
Battletoads
Cobra Triangle
Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode


After that, my adolescence was largely defined by Street Fighter II.

[garrett123]

1. sonic 2
2. pokemon
3. mario kart ds
4. zelda link to the past
5. startwars battle front


Later
1. advance wars
2. rocket slime