What 5 games define you as a gamer?

[shwisha]

This isn't about best games of all time or defining games. What games represent you as a gamer?

[shwisha]

I'll get it started...

1. Quake 2 - This redefined what a game was to me. It was my introduction to online gaming and is a series a still play today.
2. Shadow of The Colossus - This game combined art and gaming before the conversation even started.
3. Tony Hawks Pro Skater - As a skateboarding fanatic this game was amazing and the rest of the series just built upon it's greatness. The EA Skate series went on to trump it from a skate simulator perspective but THPS put action sport games on the map.
4. Castlevania - This was the first NES game I fell in love with besides Super Mario Bros and I'm still trying to complete the series today.
5. Intelligent Cube - This game was on a demo disc that came with my Playsation 1. It was something I instantly fell in love with and never forget. It was a decade later I finally owned it and still play it today.

[ElkinFencer10]

1. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 - My trademark weeb JRPG

2. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - This was my first introduction to the Fire Emblem series and remains my favorite

3. Gal*Gun: Double Peace - I legit can't think of a more distinctly "This was made specifically for ElkinFencer10" game ever made

4. Civilization VI - Take your time with turns, be as aggressive or diplomatic as you want, and build giant robots in the endgame. It's perfect.

5. Earth Defense Force 4.1: Shadow of New Despair - EDF! EDF! EDF! 'Nuff said.

[Reprise]

1. Shenmue - No, not the best game of all time and sure attracts its fair share of 'haters', but if I can think of one franchise that has defined much of my gaming life and has followed me much of the way, it is this. Shenmue was the most hyped I had ever felt for a game and it came out on the console I had felt the most hype for. The Dreamcast was the first home console I saved up all my own money to buy myself and finally got one in the year 2000. I was so excited to finally buy a Dreamcast and even more excited to finally own Shenmue once it came out.

I was a huge Sega fan growing up and Virtua Fighter was my favourite 3D fighter back in the day. RPGs and Action Adventure games were my favourite genre though, so a mixture of the aforementioned 3D fighter and a brand new, unique take on the Adventure/RPG genre sounded amazing to me. I had been following Shenmue's development obsessively since the very early days of when it was known as Project Berkley and always loved reading previews of it in the magazines back in the day. When it was finally released at the end of the year 2000, my mum picked it for me for Christmas. I remember she was worried it wasn't going to live up to the hype and that I would be disappointed, because she had seen stuff in the media saying it was a disappointment and when she picked it up in the shop to buy it, someone (I can't remember if it was someone who worked there or a random member of the public) warned her that I might not like it and that it could be quite boring. Regardless, I absolutely did love it and loved everything about it.

I remember I spend nearly a whole day in the game's time not even leaving the house and just spent ages investigating every little detail and exploring every inch of the home. Once I first stepped outside the home, I was blown away by the world and characters that were open to be explored. And the story was just immense. I was just awestruck experiencing the game for the first time.

Then I followed the hype train for Shenmue 2, but didn't manage to pick it up, as I was waiting for the price to go down. It never did (PAL land person here talking about the Dreamcast version). A year or two later, I borrowed the Xbox version off a friend and got about 70 or 80% of the way through before giving it back. Eventually my girlfriend back in around 2004 or 05 bought me the Dreamcast version and I completed it (unrelated note, I off course ended up marrying that girl).

I had been following, searching and hoping for any news of Shenmue 3 ever since the release of Shenmue 2 and I of course put hundreds of dollars into the Kickstarter once it finally was announced. Here I am, an adult, probably 20 years later after I first heard about the first game, still excited as fuck for another entry in the series, which I had been waiting for since 2001.

[Gunstar Green]

It'd be easier for me to group some things up in their general categories than it would to just name five specific games. I suppose this is more of a list of what I gravitate towards as a gamer and why.

1. Wing Commander and MechWarrior: The sci-fi simulator genre in general, you could group X-Wing/TIE Fighter and Earthsiege in here as well. These were some of my first PC games and they left a big impression on me, letting me live the dream of flying space fighters and giant robots. I remember my first time launching from the carrier in Wing Commander and thinking, "it's like I'm playing Battlestar Galactica." The genre has remained one of my favorites and despite a pretty long dry spell it's currently enjoying a strong comeback. Even so I never get tired of replaying the classics every few years.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man: Again, 2D platformers in general, you could also include Mario and a host of others here. Sonic and Mega Man have remained my favorites though both have gone through their rough patches. This strictly refers to their 2D iterations. This is one of the only genres where I feel confident saying I'm "good" at it. It's the genre I largely played as a kid and the one I'm just pre-programmed to excel at. Lucky for me we're kind of living in a new golden age of 2D platformers thanks to indie games. Sonic 3 and Knuckles and Mega Man X are the two specific titles that I'd point to as having the biggest effect on me.

3. Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D: Just like sci-fi sims, another prevalent genre on PC was the nascent first person shooter and these early titles are near and dear to me. You could extend it to Quake and later FPS of the decade. I greatly prefer my shooters to be arcadey and unrealistic which made 2016's DOOM such a treat. This also extends to third person shooters like the delightfully over-the-top and absurd EDF series.

4. Metroidvania: Could probably be tied in with the 2D platformers but it's distinctively its own flavor and not always 2D. It's a formula you can argue has been over-used in recent years but if something isn't broke, don't fix it. The basic design philosophy (if done correctly) gives you a perfect blend of exploration and character progression that makes these type of games so satisfying and addictive. Sometimes I feel like it's over-used, or used in cases where more basic level progression might have been a better choice, but when these games are good they easily become favorites.

5. Golden Age of Arcades and beyond: The pick up and play games. The kind of thing I can play indefinitely and yet for only a few minutes at a time, trying to best my previous scores. Simple yet addictive. It's where I started gaming with my parent's Atari 2600 as well as playing random cabinets in restaurants and department stores. It extends into later arcade gaming as well throughout the 80's and 90's. Sometimes I want a deeper, story driven experience, sometimes I just want to have fun with pure gameplay.

[8bit]

My games are so cliche.

Super Mario Bros 3 - My childhood in a box. 2D Platformers were king.
Super Mario 64 - Welcomed a world of 3D gaming to me. I was a Nintendo fanboy early on and got one at launch. N64 vs PS1 vs Saturn debates raged on at the lunch table at school.
Metal Gear Solid - Realistic games were in. Sank hours upon hours into this game and it officially converted me into a Playstation believer.
Halo Series - I still love playing Halo to this day. Definitely my go to game if I am unsure what else I feel like playing at the moment.
Uncharted Series - I love Naughty Dog games so much. First time I felt like I was watching a hollywood blockbuster while gaming.

[Reprise]

2. Sonic the Hedgehog - The first Sonic the Hedgehog game was probably my first introduction into video games in general. My cousin had a Mega Drive and I was at their house when I was young, playing on Sonic, whilst our parents were doing other stuff. I loved everything about it - the look, the graphics, the music and the immense speed. It was this game that began my obsession with video games, with Sega and with Sonic. For the longest time, the Sonic series was my favourite gaming franchise and it stayed that way for much of my childhood. I bought the comics, watched the television shows, bought the books and bought all the games I could, including crap like Sonic 3D Blast.

My parents got a compute in the early 90s and I played a lot of MS-Dos games, but I was always annoyed I couldn't play console games. Eventually they bought my brother and I a Mega Drive and it, of course, came bundled with the first Sonic the Hedgehog.

1. Shenmue - No, not the best game of all time and sure attracts its fair share of 'haters', but if I can think of one franchise that has defined much of my gaming life and has followed me much of the way, it is this. Shenmue was the most hyped I had ever felt for a game and it came out on the console I had felt the most hype for. The Dreamcast was the first home console I saved up all my own money to buy myself and finally got one in the year 2000. I was so excited to finally buy a Dreamcast and even more excited to finally own Shenmue once it came out.

I was a huge Sega fan growing up and Virtua Fighter was my favourite 3D fighter back in the day. RPGs and Action Adventure games were my favourite genre though, so a mixture of the aforementioned 3D fighter and a brand new, unique take on the Adventure/RPG genre sounded amazing to me. I had been following Shenmue's development obsessively since the very early days of when it was known as Project Berkley and always loved reading previews of it in the magazines back in the day. When it was finally released at the end of the year 2000, my mum picked it for me for Christmas. I remember she was worried it wasn't going to live up to the hype and that I would be disappointed, because she had seen stuff in the media saying it was a disappointment and when she picked it up in the shop to buy it, someone (I can't remember if it was someone who worked there or a random member of the public) warned her that I might not like it and that it could be quite boring. Regardless, I absolutely did love it and loved everything about it.

I remember I spend nearly a whole day in the game's time not even leaving the house and just spent ages investigating every little detail and exploring every inch of the home. Once I first stepped outside the home, I was blown away by the world and characters that were open to be explored. And the story was just immense. I was just awestruck experiencing the game for the first time.

Then I followed the hype train for Shenmue 2, but didn't manage to pick it up, as I was waiting for the price to go down. It never did (PAL land person here talking about the Dreamcast version). A year or two later, I borrowed the Xbox version off a friend and got about 70 or 80% of the way through before giving it back. Eventually my girlfriend back in around 2004 or 05 bought me the Dreamcast version and I completed it (unrelated note, I off course ended up marrying that girl).

I had been following, searching and hoping for any news of Shenmue 3 ever since the release of Shenmue 2 and I of course put hundreds of dollars into the Kickstarter once it finally was announced. Here I am, an adult, probably 20 years later after I first heard about the first game, still excited as fuck for another entry in the series, which I had been waiting for since 2001.

[Blu]

I think I'm all over the place. But these are games that I think define me.

1. Diablo 2 & Phantasy Star Online - Hack n' Slash goodness, great atmospheres, combined with addictive gameplay. These games were all about playing online with people you met.
2. Animal Crossing (GameCube) - It may seem mundane to some, but I love running errands for the cute little animals. Their personalities are great. Collecting and arranging furniture, a game that continued playing while you weren't was something so novel to me. There was just something so charming and lighthearted that it is a defining game to me.
3. Sonic the Hedgehog & Super Mario 3 - Both games are the capstones of platformers to me. Each are remarkable in their own right, with some great depth to gameplay, lots of secrets to explore and discover. Plenty of challenge too. They're games that really set you into a groove; playing them today is like riding a bike.
4. Shenmue - Exploration games were never the same to me after experiencing the world of Shenmue. Everything was so interactive. The characters were immersive and followed routines. They plugged actual weather data into the game. This game had so much attention to detail and personality, even if the voice acting could be considered the opposite. Like Reprise shared, it's one of my defining games because it changed how I saw games entirely.
5. Pokémon Silver / Final Fantasy VIII - both games gave me a sense of starting an adventure in their own way. Developing a team was really awesome, going on journeys together. Deciding who might be best to join my battles in the journey was really cool. They each have their own merits of storytelling and gameplay. I loved the sense of accomplishment that you get from seeing them through to the finish.

[pierrot]

Hmmm. I won't be able to answer this in a traditional manner. So, I'm going to take a few liberties with the format, but here goes:

1) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - The Genesis, with this game packed in, was the first console that I actually owned. Giving it to me as a Christmas gift was my parents' way of trying to mask our relative poverty. I was still young enough that another Dollar Tree Christmas would have still been the best thing ever, to me, and I still probably wouldn't have caught on. In retrospect, it's funny to think that my dad was more serious about beating the game than I was: One day I came back from school to find out he had been grinding extra lives on Wing Fortress Zone, and was up to almost 50 lives! (A practically inconceivable number to me, at the time.) I'm pretty sure we ended up losing all of them to Mecha Sonic.

2) Galaga - Whenever my dad saw this arcade cabinet, he would immediately stop what he was doing to play it. I would usually just watch in amazement, but occasionally I would also play it, and get some pointers that never really stuck until I was much older.

3) TMNT: Turtles in Time - Whenever I saw this cabinet as a kid, I would always try to get money to play it. It blew my ever loving mind that this game existed. It was perhaps the most amazing thing I could conceive of, back then. Later this would become X-men vs Street Fighter, but I'm going to give it to TMNT for this spot.

4) Suikoden - I think I had played some RPGs before this one (FFIV, BoF 2, Pokemon, likely Chrono Trigger, and maybe a couple others) but this was the one that really sold me on the genre. There weren't any stories like this in games I had played before. There certainly weren't casts of characters that were as rich and diverse as in Suikoden. It was the hallmark of the genre for me, for a couple years--until Suikoden II released--and it's still a beloved game in my gaming history.

5) The Sixth Console Generation - Mostly the Dreamcast--a console I preordered months in advance, and sold most of my older games and consoles to fund the purchase of. The sixth generation (specifically, for me, the Dreamcast, PS2, and Gamecube) is really when video games came to the forefront of my life. I couldn't even begin to fit the notable games into a five game list. So some of the notable games for me are (in no particular order): Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5, Dead or Alive 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Phantasy Star Online, Samba De Amigo, Grandia II, Shenmue, Shenmue II, Jet Grind Radio, Gigawing 2, Skies of Arcadia, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Dragon Quest VIII, Final Fantasy XI, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, Dark Cloud, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Katamari Damashi, Rez, Space Channel 5 ep 2, Sly Cooper, Animal Crossing, F-Zero GX, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. There are probably more that I'm leaving out. That entire generation is like the golden age of gaming, to me--at least the silver age, anyway.


Those would be what I would say defined my "formative years," but if I were talking about my 'formative adult years' (mid to late 20s) it might go something like this:

1) Monster World IV
2) Dungeon Explorer (Sega CD)
3) Dragon Slayer
4) Napple Tale or Elemental Gimmick Gear
5) Legend of Mana

--And, like, a special mention of Linda Cube.

[Sano]

Umm, not really sure about this one. Only thing that comes to mind is Legend of Zelda.