Goldleader's Game History

[Goldleader]

I'm starting this thread as an autobiographical list of games throughout my life. These games range in quality and not all are great but in some small way I have loved them all. I will post a new one every so often and hope to bring back memories for other users and maybe bring to light some games people have never played before.

First game coming soon.

[Goldleader]

Tetris

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Tetris_Boxshot.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/GB_Tetris.png



Tetris was the first game I owned. It came bundled with my first games console the great GameBoy. I remember the GameBoy been released and thinking "I want one of those", I was only 10 at the time and saved my pocket money for months to buy one, at the time I think it was about £70, a lot of money for a 10 year old back in the late 80s. I was the first out of my friends to have one, most people had never even heard of it. A few years later the whole world had one, same story as the Wii!!! Back on topic, Tetris was and still is the most addictive game you will ever play. Its simple in its gameplay which is what made it so accessible to the masses. It was a stroke of genius to have it bundled with the GameBoy and helped launch the handheld around the world. I spent hours playing on Tetris, this was in part down to it been so re-playable and also I couldn't afford any new games for my shiny new GameBoy. Tetris had that pick up and play factor but also the more you played the more lines you wanted to clear and a high score was always the goal. And lets not forget the music, the GameBoy version had three classic tunes and I can still hear them ringing in my brain now. I haven't played the game in years but I know if I were to the memories would come flooding back. These are the marks of great games in my mind no matter the games age you can pick it up and still enjoy the experience.

[honeykid]

I think Tetris is second only to football management games for the amount of time I've spent playing it. Even knock-off handheld versions have eaten weeks, if not months, of my life. I dread to think how much time I've spent playing Dr. Mario and humming that bloody tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT4ksAgQouc

[doubledenim]

Tetris was the first game I became concerned for the health of my eyes after playing. The music still haunts me.

Funny to see you bring up being a kid buying a GB. It may be lost on some how cheap games are nowadays. $60-$70 for a game back then was astronomical.

I never got new AAA games short of a bday or xmas. Games relegated to the bargain bin and rentals were my mainstays.

[gbgoodies]

I was addicted to Tetris back when I was in college. It was one of the first games that I bought for my computer. I still play it every once in a while.

[Goldleader]

Super Mario Land

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/02/Supermariolandboxart.jpg/250px-Supermariolandboxart.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Sml2.png

The second game I purchased on my GameBoy and my first introduction to a life of Mario games. Super Mario Land was and still is my fav GameBoy game. Its a traditional platform game in every sense. There is no save and only a certain amount of lives and continues. This didn't make the game hard but didn't give you the chance to restart where you liked. It was and still is one of the very different Mario platforms games, you don't run around Mushroom Kingdom or have to rescue Peach you have to save Daisy, the style of the levels is some what different. But all the usual Mario fun is here like Mushrooms, Flower power ups and Stars. Having just done a little reading on the game it turns out that it wasn't created by the usual Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto but rather Hiroji Kiyotake, this would explain the difference in style. Also the levels in the sub and plane are very different to anything in any Mario game. Back in the day though I had never played a Mario game so didn't notice any of this, I just loved running and jumping around this world. I thank this game for opening up a door to more Mario fun in the future. If you go and play the game now yes the graphics are very poor but the basic game play is still there and very much a Mario game, and will keep you happy for a couple of hours.

[Goldleader]

Lemmings

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0c/Lemmings-BoxScan.jpg/250px-Lemmings-BoxScan.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/89/Amiga_Lemmings.png/220px-Amiga_Lemmings.png

Around this time in my gaming life I got my second home computer the amazing Amgia 500 (the first was a Commodore 64, but I can't remember any of the games I had for this). Packaged with new machine was this little beauty. Lemmings was a massive hit back in 1991. And its easy to see why, its a fun colourful and very enjoyable game that can at times really make you think. At its core it is a puzzle game, get Lemmings from one place to another with different tools to help, but all done with such charm and music to make you hum to. I always remember if you messed up you could blow up all your Lemmings and it was great fun to watch them count down to 0 and blow up and taking out the landscape with it. This was a part of the game that was a first for its time the ability to manipulate the environment within the game. Making it very interactive not just a level to move through this was one you could destroy.

[Goldleader]

Tetris was the first game I became concerned for the health of my eyes after playing. The music still haunts me.

Funny to see you bring up being a kid buying a GB. It may be lost on some how cheap games are nowadays. $60-$70 for a game back then was astronomical.

I never got new AAA games short of a bday or xmas. Games relegated to the bargain bin and rentals were my mainstays.

Yeah it took me about 6 months of saving pocket money to get the £70 to buy the Game Boy then another 3 months to save the £25 for Super Mario Land.

[Goldleader]

I think Tetris is second only to football management games for the amount of time I've spent playing it. Even knock-off handheld versions have eaten weeks, if not months, of my life. I dread to think how much time I've spent playing Dr. Mario and humming that bloody tune.




Totally agree with the Football Management Games (one of those is coming up later). Fired up Tetris on the GB on my way to work this morning and it made the 45 minute journey feel like 5 minutes. Only great games do that.

[doubledenim]

These are the only C64 games I remember us having. It's funny how I never think of the Comodore as the first game system I played.


http://i.imgur.com/u86bAph.png

A friend of mine had Lemmings on his PC. I can still see those lil' guys doing the shimmy-shake before they blew up.

[gbgoodies]

Lemmings



Around this time in my gaming life I got my second home computer the amazing Amgia 500 (the first was a Commodore 64, but I can't remember any of the games I had for this). Packaged with new machine was this little beauty. Lemmings was a massive hit back in 1991. And its easy to see why, its a fun colourful and very enjoyable game that can at times really make you think. At its core it is a puzzle game, get Lemmings from one place to another with different tools to help, but all done with such charm and music to make you hum to. I always remember if you messed up you could blow up all your Lemmings and it was great fun to watch them count down to 0 and blow up and taking out the landscape with it. This was a part of the game that was a first for its time the ability to manipulate the environment within the game. Making it very interactive not just a level to move through this was one you could destroy.


Lemmings is another very addicting game that I played on my old computer. I would probably still play it if it would work on a Windows 8 system.

[gbgoodies]

These are the only C64 games I remember us having. It's funny how I never think of the Comodore as the first game system I played.


http://i.imgur.com/u86bAph.png

A friend of mine had Lemmings on his PC. I can still see those lil' guys doing the shimmy-shake before they blew up.


Q*bert was one of the few games that I spent a lot of quarters playing at the local arcade. I was lousy at it, but I loved it anyway.

[doubledenim]

Q*bert was one of the few games that I spent a lot of quarters playing at the local arcade. I was lousy at it, but I loved it anyway.

Apparently the old man had an issue with Q*bert. I don't remember it, but I imagine it happened after the kids went to bed.

[Goldleader]

Lemmings is another very addicting game that I played on my old computer. I would probably still play it if it would work on a Windows 8 system.


There is a Lemmings game in the Windows Store and its free!!!!

[Goldleader]

Q*bert was one of the few games that I spent a lot of quarters playing at the local arcade. I was lousy at it, but I loved it anyway.


I don't think Q*bert was a big hit here in the UK, or maybe it was just before my time!!!

[honeykid]

With the exception of cities and coastal resorts, there wasn't really a culture of arcades over here as I remember it.

[Tacitus]

With the exception of cities and coastal resorts, there wasn't really a culture of arcades over here as I remember it.

There was where I grew up, always frequented by kids skipping school.

Such as me. ;)

Nowadays there are still a few dotted about the towns here but they're filled with gambling machines and unhappy, penniless men.

[Goldleader]

There was where I grew up, always frequented by kids skipping school.

Such as me. ;)

Nowadays there are still a few dotted about the towns here but they're filled with gambling machines and unhappy, penniless men.


Yeah i remember playing in arcades at sea side towns and a few at the local bowling alley. Then later when i was a teenager every town had its amusements but they were full of more gambling machines than games.

[Goldleader]

The New Zealand Story

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3a/The_New_Zealand_Story_cover.jpg/170px-The_New_Zealand_Story_cover.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a6/Tnzs_screenshot.png/170px-Tnzs_screenshot.png

This was one of the first Games I got on my Amiga. Looking at it now its a strange looking game and having not played it for about 15 years could be very crap but I remember at the time loving it. I think the cuteness of the game would go against it now but back then it was fun to have animals in sneakers. The game play was basic as most early platforms games were. But this one had the advantage of having different weapons giving it bit of varied play. And unlike Mario you didn't just go from right to left you travelled in all directions. As with most early platform games they were a lot harder than today's standards and this was no different, with no save points you had to work hard to complete the game. Which I did I think or was that with a cheat I don't remember!!!!!!

[doubledenim]

And I use to think old games were hard because I was a child. :nope:

[Goldleader]

And I use to think old games were hard because I was a child. :nope:

I know what you mean, but no if you go and play on some older platform games now they are very hard. And none before Super Mario Bros 3 had any kind of save option so you had to start right from the beginning each time.

[gbgoodies]

And I use to think old games were hard because I was a child. :nope:


I remember playing one of the first Star Wars games (It was called "Rebel" something.), back when it was released for the PC, and I complained to a friend that it was too hard. He told me that there was an easy level for training. Then I found out that I was already playing in the training level. I just sucked at the game. :(

[doubledenim]

:rotfl:

[Goldleader]

Sensible World of Soccer

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/Sensible_World_of_Soccer_cover.jpg

http://storage.asiocity.com/SuperLeague/SWOS_screen5.png


Good old Sensi. When this game first came out, and my friends all raved about it, but I just didn't get it and didn't like it one bit. The graphics were crap and I thought the game play was way to basic. A few years later I got a naughty copy of Sensible World of Soccer and fell in love the with game. And I think the games strongest points were the things I hated about it at first, the graphics and simple game play make it an endless joy to play over and over again, there is nothing overblown about the game its all about kicking the ball around and trying to get it in the net. We used to have full on days playing this game with leagues and cup competitions. The one player game wasn't as good, but what one player football games are. And there is nothing better than running down the wing cutting inside and taking a long range shoot from outside the box with a bit of curl on it and see it fly in the top corner as the goalkeeper is helpless to stop it. They don't make games like this any more, and the photo realistic and slow game play of FIFA have never been a patch on this game.

[honeykid]

Ah, Sensible Soccer.

BTW, the first pic isn't working for me.

[Goldleader]

Ah, Sensible Soccer.

BTW, the first pic isn't working for me.

I take it you enjoyed Sensi back in the day?

[Goldleader]

Cannon Fodder

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5e/Cannon_fodder_box_art.jpg/250px-Cannon_fodder_box_art.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0d/Cannon_Fodder_screenshot.png/220px-Cannon_Fodder_screenshot.png

Another Sensible Software release, with graphics and style very much the same as Sensible Soccer. It's a hard game to put in a genre, its a war game, its a shoot em up, its a strategy and later a little bit of Sci-Fi. All I know is that it's a fun game to play with simple controls and I still haven't found a game that you control a squad of soldiers with so little effort. The game is littered with little touches of quality for example the way a door or roof flies off an exploding building and can kill you or the grave stones on the hill side between levels. I never played the Mega Drive version but I don't think using a control pad would be as easy as a mouse like on the Amiga. I never completed the game though, it did get harder as it went along and I don't think I had the patience back then. But I tell you what war has never been so much fun!!!!

[honeykid]

I didn't have Sensible Soccer, but I played it at a friends a few times and I always really enjoyed it. I never played Cannon Fodder, but I remember it.

[Goldleader]

I didn't have Sensible Soccer, but I played it at a friends a few times and I always really enjoyed it. I never played Cannon Fodder, but I remember it.

Its an amazing game, very funny and easy to play but the levels get damn hard.

[Goldleader]

Sonic the Hedgehog

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/f/f5/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_%28Game_Gear%29_boxart.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20120307025016

http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Sonic_The_Hedgehog_SGG_ScreenShot2.jpg


Around this time I got sick of my GameBoy and did a very stupid thing and sold it and got myself a Sega Game Gear!!! At the time the Game Gear was amazing because it had a full colour back lit screen. The down side was that most of the games were crap Master System ports and the batteries lasted about 5 minutes. Never the less I did get Sonic the Hedgehog with it and it was my first time out with the little blue guy with the red shoes on. The game itself is nowhere near up to the standard of the Mega Drive version however for some reason I loved it. The music from the first level is going round in my head even now. What I found so great about the game was the speed you could run through the level, Mario was never this reckless. Granted it wasn't a thinking man's platform game, it was great to just bomb it as fast as you could to get to the end of a level. On the down side it was a very easy game and I completed it many times (however I do remember also owning Sonic 2 on the Game Gear and that was so hard it wasn't worth playing).

[honeykid]

A friend of mine had one of those and he had Sonic, too, probably because it came with it though I don't know that. While I played it quite a bit, I was never really much of a Sonic fan.

[Goldleader]

A friend of mine had one of those and he had Sonic, too, probably because it came with it though I don't know that. While I played it quite a bit, I was never really much of a Sonic fan.

Yeah i know what you mean. Sonic games to me are a little bit like racing games, fast and fun but no real depth. And I have played a few recently and they don't hold up the way Mario games have to be honest.

[gandalf26]

So much nostalgia.

[Goldleader]

The Chaos Engine/Soilders of Fortune

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b1/The_Chaos_Engine_box_art.jpg/220px-The_Chaos_Engine_box_art.jpg
Mega Drive cover, I'm discussing the Amiga version here

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/ChaosEngine1_s11.png/220px-ChaosEngine1_s11.png

Now i still kept some sense after selling my GameBoy by keeping my Amiga. And The Chaos Engine was classic shooting game for the machine. It was, i think, the first more grown up type of game that I owned. Having built a good rep with Speedball 2 the Bitmap Brothers went on to create this hard edged shooter. It was great in two or one player mode. I loved the variety between the 6 characters you could choose. It was one of the first games to have a real story behind what was going on, not just go and rescue someone, this was a world gone to hell. Also liked the fact that it was set in England as the game was developed in England. This was one of the great things about the Amiga, lots of the games were home grown so they had our humour and style in them. They don't make gems little this any more, most games are over hyped and very much styled in the same way. As a side note i have just found that this game was re-released on Windows Mac and Linux a few years ago, its in the Mac App store, think I might take a look and see if it still holds up.

[Goldleader]

So much nostalgia.

Which games can you remember? And have you played any of them recently?

[doubledenim]

A friend of mine had one of those and he had Sonic, too, probably because it came with it though I don't know that. While I played it quite a bit, I was never really much of a Sonic fan.

Yeah i know what you mean. Sonic games to me are a little bit like racing games, fast and fun but no real depth. And I have played a few recently and they don't hold up the way Mario games have to be honest.


All that blast-processing. :)

[Goldleader]

All that blast-processing. :)



hehehehehe

[gbgoodies]

Sonic the Hedgehog is another game that I played a lot, but I was terrible at it. I didn't have a Sega game system, so I played it on my computer.

[Goldleader]

Sonic the Hedgehog is another game that I played a lot, but I was terrible at it. I didn't have a Sega game system, so I played it on my computer.


Yeah i seem to remember a version on the Amiga but it just didn't play the same.

[Goldleader]

Championship Manager/Football Manager

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Championship_Manager_Coverart.png

http://www.emuparadise.me/GameBase%20Amiga/Screenshots/C/Championship_Manager_1.png

This game and its sequels has sucked more hours of play out of my life than any other. It is the ultimate Football manager game and for anyone who would love to manage a team this is the place to be. I used to spend whole weekends playing it. Each game I would play as a Premier league team to try and win the league and get the England job or I would start at a lower 3rd (2nd now) division team and work my way up the ladder. No 2 game is the same as you buy different players. One thing that sticks in my mind about the Amiga version was the amount of time it took to create a new game, nearly an hour, which gave you chance to get showered and grab some breakfast before you started to play. Because of this game my wife still doesn't see me for at least a month every year when the new version is released.

[Goldleader]

Sonic 2

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Sonic2_European_Box.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/Aquatic_Ruins_from_Sonic_2_for_Mega_Drive.png/220px-Aquatic_Ruins_from_Sonic_2_for_Mega_Drive.png

Around this time a realised I had made mistake buying a Sega Game Gear, and looked at what I could get in its place. To my surprise I got myself a full on Sega Mega Drive 2 for £150 from Argos with Sonic 2, Columns, World Cup 90, and Super Hang On. I sold the Game Gear for near that price to a friend as it had about 10 games. Thus I went and got my first home games console. Sonic 2 was the game I played on the most I think out of all my Mega Drive games. After playing the Game Gear version this was a totally different experience, the graphics were far better as was the music and the level design was in a different league. Everyone knows what Sonic is, its lets leg it as fast as we can to the end of the stage. Some how Sonic 2 was just the best version of that, I think Sega was at the top of its game here and the series was never to reach these highs again on any system. Completed this game many times and had great fun in the 2 player mode running down the tube/bonus levels trying to get the most coins.

[doubledenim]

The bonus stage and pinball levels are the things I remember the most. Adding the "rev-up" dash, was another major step for me. You can keep Tails, but I see they were trying.

This was one of the best Genesis games for me and if memory serves me right, this was the game I got packaged with my console.

[Goldleader]

The bonus stage and pinball levels are the things I remember the most. Adding the "rev-up" dash, was another major step for me. You can keep Tails, but I see they were trying.

This was one of the best Genesis games for me and if memory serves me right, this was the game I got packaged with my console.

Totally agree. The Mega Drive had so many games but lets be honest most of them were crap, but there is a handful that were and still are great games, I will get to my favs shortly. But Sonic 2 was one of the main reasons I bought the system and enjoyed for the short time I had it. It's such a shame that Sega couldn't create the magic again, Sonic 3 was much the same as Sonic 2, and as time has gone by I don't think I have played a decent Sonic game since I have owned Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast and that was ok but not the 3D Sonic game compared to Mario's transition from 2D to 3D. And then Shadows of the Hedgehog on the GameCube, that was a very bad game.

[doubledenim]

I didn't want to ruin any potential future posts by bringing up Sonic on the Dreamcast. :)

[Goldleader]

I didn't want to ruin any potential future posts by bringing up Sonic on the Dreamcast. :)

Sorry to disappoint but I wasn't a fan of Sonic on the Dreamcast, I had Sonic Adventure but never Sonic Adventure 2 which I'm sure you are going to tell me was much better?

[Goldleader]

Street Fighter 2 Special Champion Edition

http://synystergraves.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sf2_megadrive.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/be/Street_Fighter_II_Dash_screenshot.png/220px-Street_Fighter_II_Dash_screenshot.png

Now I had been a fan of Street Fighter 2 for a long time, my friend had a SNES with the first Street Fighter 2 and enjoyed many days round at his house playing on it. But it wasn't on the Mega Drive until a year later. I was most happy to get this for Xmas with a six button controller. Having loved the game and knowing most of the moves I really got my Street Fighter moves down when I got this version, I played in constantly for months. The game is a simple beat em up idea, kick the crap out of the other person but this was the first beat up em in my view to take it to the next level with complex special moves, combos, and very different fighting styles and skills for most of the characters that you had to master. This made the game very re-playable, once you had mastered one characters moves and specials you moved onto another. Also the two player mode was and still is an endless joy to play with mates. This was my first Street Fighter game but it wasn't the last. I still think this had the best box cover art of any Street Fighter game before and after. And on another note I do remember this game costing about £50 when it first came out, that was a lot of money back in the early 90s and it wasn't the last of the games I had to cost that much, thank god CD came and cut the price of games for good.

[honeykid]

Like your friend I had Street Fighter 2 with my SNES and, like you, I played the hell out of it. It was the free game with the system and I was still playing it regularly when I upgraded to a PlayStation.

Along with SF2 I think my favourite SNES game was this.

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

[doubledenim]

Sorry to disappoint but I wasn't a fan of Sonic on the Dreamcast, I had Sonic Adventure but never Sonic Adventure 2 which I'm sure you are going to tell me was much better?

I'm sorry there isn't a thumbs-down option. :rotfl:

[honeykid]

You could do this :down:

[Goldleader]

Like your friend I had Street Fighter 2 with my SNES and, like you, I played the hell out of it. It was the free game with the system and I was still playing it regularly when I upgraded to a PlayStation.

Along with SF2 I think my favourite SNES game was this.

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


I never had that game it looks a decent platformer. I will get to the SNES later.

[Goldleader]

I think Street Fighter is still one of my fav games, I can play it now and still remember all the moves. Its a great 2 player game that still has that magic when you have a few mates round to play some games.

[Goldleader]

Mortal Kombat

http://warnersretrocorner.com/wp-content/uploads/imported/A3-Retro-Reproduction-Game-Megadrive-Box-Art-Replica-PRINT-Poster-Mortal-Kombat-200913820419.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/89/Fatality.png/220px-Fatality.png

After having to wait for Street Fighter to be released on the Mega Drive I was most please to have a Mega Drive when Mortal Monday came round as Mortal Kombat on the Mega Drive was very much the better port of the Arcade than the SNES version. As a 12 or 13 year old boy at the time Mortal Kombat was all about the gory and Fatality and the SNES version had none of these but the Mega Drive did with the cheat code. Do you remember cheat codes you don't get them much these days but it was fun going into the Options menu and doing the button sequence to get the gore modes. At the time it was totally new to have real looking graphics in a game and this was the first to do it (or maybe Pit Fighter). The game itself isn't as good a game as Street Fighter 2, it wasn't well made and tested and there are bugs everywhere, but that wasn't the point, this game changed all the rules as to what games could do in terms of targeting an adult market and the content you could put in a game. Yes kids had it and loved it to but in my mind this was the first time the games industry had gone after teenagers and twenty something's with a game. I played this game a lot but I think it makes the list more as what it did for the games industry and opening games and their content out to a wider audience. All I have to say is "Finish Him"

[doubledenim]

I was always a bigger MK fan because of all the reasons a young boy would be. That said, SF II was great and it was everywhere. Grocery stores, gas stations, pizza place, etc.

Those two were the first games I remember the ports being close enough to the arcade version, along with NBA Jam.

[Goldleader]

Yeah totally agree about the console ports been very close to the arcade versions. It strange to think now that arcade machines used to be so much more power full that consoles.

NBA Jam was another great game from that time both in the arcade and on the Mega Drive and SNES, never owned it myself though. I seem to have missed owning some great games!!!!!!!

[Goldleader]

The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e9/Links_Awakening_box.jpg/250px-Links_Awakening_box.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/ZeldaLA-DX_comparison.png

Now I missed my old Game Boy so I went and got myself a new one and got most of the old games I used to have second hand for a very cheap price. My friend had this game called Zelda that I had seen but never played. He lent it to me and a week later I went and got the game for myself. What an experience it was. Never had a game sucked me into such a deep world of story and characters like this had before. The game had everything great level design, music, story, characters, weapons. And this was one of the great things you didn't rush a game like this you enjoyed every part of it, this meant serious game play time to find everything. What I liked about this and all other Zelda games is you start with nothing but build your skills as the game goes on, I had never seen anything like this before, in other games the skills you started with was what you had for the whole game. I have to admit that I never have completed this game, I got to the second to last dungeon, but for some reason I got stuck and never got round to finishing it and the main reason is because I got my next game on the list which took up all my time.

[honeykid]

I've never played a Zelda/Link game. They just didn't interest me. I did have NBA Jam for the SNES, though.

[Goldleader]

I've never played a Zelda/Link game. They just didn't interest me. I did have NBA Jam for the SNES, though.

That is something you need to fix. I haven't got to it yet but the Zelda series is easily the best games i have ever played. They can be a little slow to get into but it is worth it in every way. Not sure where the best place would be to start as i have played them from Links Awaking onwards. Maybe A Link to the Past on the SNES or A Link Between Worlds on the 3DS. And then move on to the N64 games and Wii games. Trust me its worth it.

[Goldleader]

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/21/The_Legend_of_Zelda_A_Link_to_the_Past_SNES_Game_Cover.jpg/250px-The_Legend_of_Zelda_A_Link_to_the_Past_SNES_Game_Cover.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/62/Legend_of_Zelda_a_Link_to_the_Past_Screen02.png/170px-Legend_of_Zelda_a_Link_to_the_Past_Screen02.png

Around this time our house was broken into and my Mega Drive and about 20 games were stolen. Now with the insurance money I decided instead of buying the same thing again I would change and buy a SNES. There were games on the SNES I really wanted to play and felt the system had matured at that time and was starting to take over from the Mega Drive as the best on the market. I got a second hand one for the bargain price of £50. Zelda was the first game I got. After loving the Game Boy game I wanted to play the big brother version. And I loved it. It completely sucked me in and after two weeks of solid play I completed it for the first time. This isn't to say it was an easy game, yes it was easier than the Game Boy version which is strange. But I just loved playing it and couldn't stop. There has been loads said about how great this game is so I won't go on any more. This still ranks in my top 5 games of all time and every couple of years I revisit it and play through it again, it never looses its charm, this is from an age of computer games where not just graphics and set pieces made a game but smart story and great game play were top of the list. And just as a side note I don't think Nintendo have made a better version of Zelda since, which is against popular opinion, but this is Zelda at its best!!!!!!

[Goldleader]

Super Mario Kart

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/38/Supermariokart_box.JPG/250px-Supermariokart_box.JPG

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8e/Super_Mario_Kart_screen_shot.jpg/220px-Super_Mario_Kart_screen_shot.jpg

This was the start of a life time love affair with Nintendo hardware and games. After the great single player of Zelda I wanted some multi player fun for my SENS and got this little beauty of a game. I can't put my finger on why this game is so good, for a racing game the tracks aren't that great and you don't go very fast and there is not really driving skills involved. But this isn't really a racing game, its a battle between players with racing as the medium used to set it up. I had played racing games before with weapons but they were usually just rockets on normal cars, which never really worked. This was were Mario Kart struck gold, they had a great list of weapons that could turn the race on its head with the hit of a shell. The simple tracks added to this mayhem of getting weapons and fighting to the front. It meant that people who were crap at racing games could win the race, throwing open the doors to the whole family playing the game. Add in the battle mode for good measure and you have a great all round multi player game that kept us going for years and to this day still gets played in our house with the new kids in the family. None of the sequels to Super Mario Kart have come close to been as good, they all have the basics set down here but with the later releases they made the tracks way to long, which makes the races boring.

[honeykid]

I adored Super Mario Kart. As you said, the wonderful thing about it was that it was a basic racing game, which allowed pretty much anyone to pick it up and play straight away. Not only that, but you could become decent/competitive at it within 30 minutes or so.

[doubledenim]

A friend of mine has a Super Nintendo just sitting on his floor. It's not plugged in, hasn't been moved in who knows when...just sitting there. The thought has gone through my head, solely because of Mario Kart. What that thought is, I'm not at liberty to discuss. :suspicious:

[gbgoodies]

A friend of mine has a Super Nintendo just sitting on his floor. It's not plugged in, hasn't been moved in who knows when...just sitting there. The thought has gone through my head, solely because of Mario Kart. What that thought is, I'm not at liberty to discuss. :suspicious:


I still have my Atari 2600 with a bunch of games and controllers sitting on a shelf. I haven't used it in years, but as far as I know, it still works.

[honeykid]

I still have my NES and my PS1 and my SNES. There again, I still have my Spectrum too. :o I may still have my PS2 and 360, though neither were working last I remember. They don't make 'em like they used to.

[Goldleader]

I will post my console/computers i still have once i have finished.

[Goldleader]

Super Mario World

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/32/Super_Mario_World_Coverart.png/250px-Super_Mario_World_Coverart.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f4/Supermarioworld.jpg/220px-Supermarioworld.jpg

Having got my SNES second hand in didn't come with Super Mario World like most peoples did. I was never that bothered to be honest as I had never really played any of the Super Mario Bros games before, and having played a Mario game on my Gameboy I didn't think there would be anything for this version to give. One day in the local flea pit games store, I noticed they had Super Mario World going for £15 second hand. At this time second hand games were never under £20 and that was for crap third party games, good Nintendo games were £25 and up. So I took a chance and it was the best gamble I have ever played in my life. Super Mario World is still my favourite game of all time. I have completed the game more times than I can remember and got all 96 roads which I think is the highest. Having never played a console Mario game before I didn't know what to expect but it was just such a joy to play, I never get board of riding on Yoshi and the sounds he makes or fling with the cape. The level design is a joy and never has a platform game felt so good to control. The music and sound effects are also top class. In terms of where games are now it looks very dated and to a lot of people very childish, however it has dated better than others, Mario 64 for example looks awful. If you have never played this game before I urge you to go and download it from the Virtual Console on the Wii or Wii U and enjoy a simple time when games were so much better and proves you don't have to go around shooting people for a game to be great. This was 2D side scrolling platform games at the top of their game every body should play and enjoy.

[Goldleader]

Super Star Wars

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/17/Super_Star_Wars_box_art.jpg/250px-Super_Star_Wars_box_art.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/da/Super_Star_Wars_gameplay.png/220px-Super_Star_Wars_gameplay.png

Now been a huge Star Wars fan all my life I had never really played a Star Wars game that was any good and took in all the worlds and characters from the films. Also in the early 90's Star Wars was a little bit of a forgot gem with no word of new films or the series been sold from everything from bog paper to clothes any new Star Wars product was very exciting. Then came Super Star Wars. It had everything a Star Wars fan wanted, all the worlds, characters, sound fx, music and you could finally be Luke with a Lightsaber and run around on the Death Star. And at the time the graphics in this game were amazing. But to be honest the game play wasn't that great and it was one of the hardest games on the SNES with no save points or passwords (until Super Empire Strikes Back), I think to complete it I had to use a cheat code. One of the nice touches I liked about the game was how wipes from the films when changing scenes were used when moving from menus to start of levels. Great game even if it hasn't aged that well.

[honeykid]

A friend of mine bought a SNES just for that game. He also bought a GameCube for the SW game on that. Poor lad. :D

While, like you, I completed Super Mario World many times, it doesn't sit in my memory as a game I ever really loved. In fact, I remember being really disappointed with it to start with.

[Goldleader]

A friend of mine bought a SNES just for that game. He also bought a GameCube for the SW game on that. Poor lad. :D

While, like you, I completed Super Mario World many times, it doesn't sit in my memory as a game I ever really loved. In fact, I remember being really disappointed with it to start with.

I have loved Super Mario World from the first moment I played it. I have just been through it again this week and it hasn't lost any of its charm. Maybe its because it was the first full Mario console game i played which is why i love it so much, did you have any of the Super Mario Bros games before it?

[honeykid]

Yes, I think I'd had them all before that one. I think SMB3 was my absolute height of my Mario love. I thought that game was amazing.

[Goldleader]

I can understand then why you don't like SMW as much. I would stay most of the people who had SMB3 find that the best of the series as at the time it was an amazing game.

[Goldleader]

Mortal Kombat II

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8b/Mortal_Kombat_II_SNES.png/220px-Mortal_Kombat_II_SNES.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/19/Mortal_Kombat_II_select_screen.png/220px-Mortal_Kombat_II_select_screen.png

I was still a young teen when this game was released so as a kid I loved the blood and guts this game had on offer and was very excited as the SNES version had blood and was a good port of the arcade. Also I was happy that the game play had been improved a hell of a lot from the first one with smoother controls and not as many glitches in play. It seemed that the development team had toned down the blood and made more of an effort to make a great game. And by god me and my mates played this game to death. As with all Beat em ups multi player is were its at, with a few mates the days just used to fly by playing Mortal Kombat 2. I don't think this game broke any new ground but it was and still is a fun game to play, just love the Fatalities.

[Goldleader]

Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers

http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/2/9/3/24293_front.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5a/Super_Street_Fighter_II_screenshot.png/220px-Super_Street_Fighter_II_screenshot.png

Been a fan of Street Fighter 2 since its first release I played this in an arcade around 93 and couldn't wait for it to hit the consoles. Now there was no internet then so you never knew when a game was to be released, you just had to wait till it turned up in the local games shop. Since I used to live in a small town near Manchester we had one local games shop, Dixons, Woolworths and WH Smiths. So as you can guess we didn't get new releases on time or there wasn't many in the shops and they sold fast. So on a shopping trip to another local town and another local games shop I spotted this game. My eyes lit up until I got closer and noticed it was a USA import and I would need a converter to play it. The game was priced about £25 plus about £25 for the converter to play it, this was way to much money. I was gutted and left the shop to continue my day of shopping. But it ate at me for the rest of the day and I knew I really wanted the game and would find it hard to come by again, so got the money out the bank and headed back to the shop. Went straight to the game only to see another kid with it in his hands. He stood thinking about wheather to buy it or not and in the end put the game down. This was my chance and I was in and paying at the counter before he had chance to turn around and pick the game back up. I was the envy of all my mates and they came round all the time to play it, which I didn't mind as this game was at its best in multiplayer mode. As for the game it wasn't a huge difference from other Street Fighter games, however the graphics were improved and with new moves and the added 4 new characters. For me it was the best version of the Street Fighter 2 series and I missed having a Street Fighter game after my Mega Drive version was stolen. The Street Fighter series has never been better than this with only Street Fighter 4 coming close to the great gameplay.

[Goldleader]

Donkey Kong Country

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c1/Dkc_snes_boxart.jpg/250px-Dkc_snes_boxart.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/30/Donkey_Kong_Country_Shot_2.png/220px-Donkey_Kong_Country_Shot_2.png

"OMG look at the 3D graphics" Was a line I heard from many people when this game was released. At the time nothing this good had been seen before. Yes we had had 3D sort of games with Star Wing and others, but to me they are looked really blocky and crap. This was the first home console game to get some sort of 3D graphics in games right. Rare did a great job of re-inventing Donkey Kong and giving him a world to explore that was fresh and different, with a host of great new characters to go with him. Yes the game plays very much the same as Super Mario World but it looks and feels so much different. This was one of the only games I brought brand new for my SNES and paid full price of around £50-£60 for it. It was worth it, the game itself wasn't that hard but getting 100% was a mission that took me some time and in the end to find the last few % I had to use a guide. This was the start of a great run for Rare and I did love how their games were somehow different to Japen and USA output. Its great having an English company make games as I said before, such a shame they sold out to Microsoft.

[Goldleader]

Unirally

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/unirally/boxEU.jpg

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/unirally/Uniracers%2005.png

Unirally is not a well know game to most people. It came near the end of the SNES life time for me, and was meant to show that the SNES could create a fast paced game like Sonic. In one player mode the game does get a bit dull but get some mates round and have a league going and you have an endlessly addictive game. And boy was the game fast, it was like Sonic on acid. I do remember playing this for hours at the weekend with my mates and also it was very frustrating when you didn't win. This is one of those games I remember playing loads but don't remember that much about the game and how to play it, will have to dig out the SNES and buy a copy off ebay.

[honeykid]

I've not played any of these last few, but I do remember Unirally. It's reputation was pretty good actually.

[Goldleader]

Super Bomberman 2

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/92/Bomberman2SNES_boxart.JPG/250px-Bomberman2SNES_boxart.JPG

http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/47278-super-bomberman-2-snes-screenshot-battle-stage-1-start.jpg

This was the last game I had for my first SNES, and what a little gem it was. Like Unirally the one player mode was a bit dull but again multi player was were it was at. This was the first game that had a 4 player option that I had, so I got myself a multitap and hooked up 4 pads and away we went for days of bombing fun. Most people must have played some form of Bomberman and the idea of the game is simple, blow everyone up with a bomb, sounds easy but trust me it isn't. Most of the time just trapping and blowing yourself up will do it. The power ups in this game were great, like the one to throw bombs and one to give you full screen blasts were such fun. This is what I like about older games, a simple game like this can take away hours of your life. I mean look the screen doesn't even change but I had more enjoyment out of this than the photo real worlds of most new games.

[rauldc14]

Mortal Kombat and Donkey Kong Country are the two games that make me want to purchase a SNES

[honeykid]

I used to love Super Bomberman. Never played the second, but I'm guessing it's basically the same and, therefore, fantastic. :up:

[Goldleader]

Mortal Kombat and Donkey Kong Country are the two games that make me want to purchase a SNES

Do it you can get them cheap on ebay or you could go with the retcon 5 (http://www.funstockretro.co.uk/retron-5-gaming-console-black?gclid=CjwKEAjw7uKwBRDUlJvRo-z6rgMSJACbmSBh637Q-rkClw8b0SytbC7OtS5gXc014hzuPY-vr3Q81hoCCADw_wcB) which will let you use original carts and pads for SNES, NES, Mega Drive, Master System and GBA. I don't have one but they look good and save space on having all those old consoles under the TV.

[Goldleader]

UFO: Enemy Unknown

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/X-COM_-_UFO_Defense_Coverart.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/71/Xcom2.png/220px-Xcom2.png

Now this is were I somehow gave away my SNES to someone at school and lost interest with console games, and I can't remember why. Teenagers do strange things. However I still had my trusty Amiga and this was the game to keep me going for a long time. My mates had been playing this game for a few months but I thought it looked very dull and couldn't get into it. But my mates made me play it and after a few hours I was hooked. We were all going through the X-Files alien stage of the mid 90s at this point, and this game linked into that very well. The game is a one player strategy but we used to have about 3 or 4 people playing, each one would pick a character and decide where they moved during missions. This added to the game as we used to fight about who had what weapon and which way each of us was going. It was a strange way to play a strategy game but it worked and we enjoyed playing this game very much and did in fact complete it. Also owned the game on the PS1 and X-Com Terror from the Deep, but none compare to this version on the Amiga. I am yet to play the recent updated version, don't have the time to put into it although the iPad version called Aliens versus Humans is a great version of the original.

[gandalf26]

Maybe the greatest game of all time!

Still have it on steam, played it a couple of times through in last few years. New XCom isn't half bad either.

[Goldleader]

Dogfight

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/F8x5VYhq96A/maxresdefault.jpg

This was a little demo type of game on the Amiga that was a very simple in graphics and game play but boy was it good fun with 3 other mates. The aim of the game was to fly around the screen and shoot each other, but the fun thing was the screen never moved and it took some skill to fly the plane, it would stall and the handling of the thing was very poor this made it so much fun trying to get away from your mate by dive bombing into the ground and trying to pull out at the last minute but getting it wrong and ending up hitting the ground. Also the fact that if you hit each other you would die. which made it fun if you stalled your plane and went spinning into the ground and take your mate with you by hitting him. There was never a winner and you never got any points so there was no high score but it was so much fun for 4 of you to play (2 on keys and 2 on joysticks, none of these LAN parties or online back then).

[honeykid]

and trying to pull out at the last minute but getting it wrong
This has also resulted in the birth of many a Catholic. ;)

[Goldleader]

Tekken

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0e/Tekken_1_game_cover.jpg/170px-Tekken_1_game_cover.jpg

http://s.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/ps3/tekken/screens/tekken_1.jpg

After giving away my SNES I had about a year without a games console and really missed it. So when the Playstation was released I thought I would get one. I had never bought a brand new console from a company that was yet to prove itself in the gaming market. At around £300 it was a big risk! I would never do this now and would give most consoles a good 6 months to see how it plays out. Tekken was the first game I got with the console, and I was amazed by it. At the time the 3D graphics were amazing and the game controlled so well. This wasn't the first 3D fighting game I had played that honer went to Virtual Fighter, but I never liked Segas fighting game, it just didn't play very well and had dull characters. Tekken on the other hand felt like the new Street Fighter 2 in my eyes and kept me and my mates happy for a good few months. Although this game did bring with it the idea of button bashing to win and there was no skill to some of the moves like in other Beat'em ups. Still the dawn of 3D on home consoles had begun (for better and for worse)

[honeykid]

Yeah, Tekken was fun. I think Pro Evolution Soccer was the first PlayStation game I had.

[Goldleader]

Destruction Derby

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Destruction_Derby_Coverart.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Destructionderby3.jpg

It's fair to say that the Playstation went straight for teenage gamers, and this was for me the first game to do it. My gaming experience up to this point had mainly been fantasy worlds in most games I had played. This was something else this was a real life experience. The game set out to look real and feel real when playing. I had never played a racing game were your car had damage meaning you couldn't hit walls or other cars on the track. In the past you just bombed around the track hitting anything and not worrying about it. Destruction Derby turned that on its head and winning the race was only half the battle, keeping the car in good enough shape to get it to the end was the hard part. This was the main appeal of the game, playing on the bowl track and just hitting other cars and seeing your car change with each hit was such a new thing. This felt like a really interactive experience and made the game feel more real. With this and Tekken to me the 3D age of home computer games had been born, although not full matured yet.

[Goldleader]

Goldeneye

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/36/GoldenEye007box.jpg/250px-GoldenEye007box.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d8/Goldeneyeemulated4lw.jpg/220px-Goldeneyeemulated4lw.jpg

Now I only had my Playstation for about 6 months, I just didn't like any of the games on the console that were released in that time apart from Tekken 2 but other than that I had lost faith in console games and Nintendo's offering in the form of the N64 was a year away. So I sold my Playstation and with the money got my first PC. I enjoyed some games in that time like Quake but gaming on the PC has always been to much of a pain in the ass for me. I think I was just enjoying that time in my life as a 17/18 year old and learning to drive and going out and getting drunk with my mates, that took all my time and money. Then the N64 was released in early 97 and I wasn't that interested with it. That is until about 6 months after release of the console I went to my mates house and had a play on Goldeneye. I was hooked on gaming again. And on the strength of half an hours play went out and got myself and brand new N64 with Goldeneye. And how glad I was that I did. Goldeneye was and still is the best first person shooter on any console. Somehow Rare just got everything right with the game, I don't know what that is but I have played the game many times and completed it more than I can remember. But I keep going back to it, that's the magic of a great game. This was also the first time I had played a multi player first person shooter, this was another great reason to love the game. All console FPS are taken from what Goldeneye did, this is why that game is so important.

[Goldleader]

Super Mario 64

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/Super_Mario_64_box_cover.jpg/250px-Super_Mario_64_box_cover.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/N64_Super_Mario_64_whomp_fortress.jpg/220px-N64_Super_Mario_64_whomp_fortress.jpg

Mario has always been at the forefront of games innovation but Super Mario 64 was not just an innovation it was a complete leap which showed the whole gaming industry how to do a 3D game. So much has been said about this game so I won't talk about that, I will talk more how I enjoyed it. I never owned this game, I borrowed it from a friend for about 2 or 3 weeks. I completed it in that time and got a lot of the Stars but not all, some of them are very hard. I think this says all that is needed about this game, I had it for 3 weeks and still class it as one of the best games I have ever played. I haven't played it since then but I know if I was to it would still be great even if a little N64 blocky. I don't think Nintendo has been able to do a better 3D version of Mario than this, although Mario Galaxy comes close I think this one sticks to more usual Mario level design than Mario Galaxy. However there is just something missing from 3D Mario games that doesn't make them as good as the 2D ones in my view.

[Goldleader]

Banjo-Kazooie

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/de/BanjoKazooieCover500px.jpg/250px-BanjoKazooieCover500px.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f4/Banjo-Kazooie-gameplay.jpg/220px-Banjo-Kazooie-gameplay.jpg

In many ways this game is very similar to Super Mario 64. In that you go around a centre world that leads to different levels that can be played many times with different objectives each time. Also you collect items that open up new levels and advance you through the game. The difference between this and Super Mario 64 is that this is another quality title from Rare. And been a Rare games has a great range of good characters and level design which I think adds to the games design set by Super Mario 64. They did the same thing with Donkey Kong Country taken the gameplay from Super Mario World. Rare also invest a great amount of British humour into their games which just give it that little bit extra. I'm not saying that this game is better than Super Mario 64, its not but I think its near the same level and the elements that Rare add to it make it a fun 3D platform game.

[Goldleader]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8e/The_Legend_of_Zelda_Ocarina_of_Time_box_art.png/250px-The_Legend_of_Zelda_Ocarina_of_Time_box_art.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/14/ZELDA_OCARINA_OF_TIME.jpg/220px-ZELDA_OCARINA_OF_TIME.jpg

Where to start with this one. Zelda has and always will be my fav game series. And the excitement centred around this game at the time was just massive. Critics loved it, and gamers loved it. The game (along with Super Mario 64) were and still are the blueprint for all 3D games and has had a major influence (not always for the better) on the games industry. As with all Zelda games you don't just switch it one and jump right into the action, the game reveals itself slowly over the course of the game to great effect. I have always loved how you pick up a new item and think to yourself oh I could use that in that other part of the game to open then hidden area, this is a vast linked world with so much to do you could spend hours just walking around without actually doing any of the dungeons. This for me is were the bad parts of the game start to come in. This was the real start of open world roaming games and myself can understand some people like this but lets be honest who has 100 hours to waste playing a game? I want a game with a beginning a middle and an end. Zelda still had this but it opened the door to vast roaming worlds that have become very popular today. I do love this game but it isn't my favourite Zelda game, that goes to A Link to the Past. Like Mario 64 there is something missing from the 3D Zelda games, and I'm not sure what it is? And if you play the game now it does look horrible but I think all N64 games have aged very badly. I sound like I'm been very negative to the game, I'm not meaning to be as a do love the game.

[Goldleader]

Do it you can get them cheap on ebay or you could go with the retcon 5 (http://www.funstockretro.co.uk/retron-5-gaming-console-black?gclid=CjwKEAjw7uKwBRDUlJvRo-z6rgMSJACbmSBh637Q-rkClw8b0SytbC7OtS5gXc014hzuPY-vr3Q81hoCCADw_wcB) which will let you use original carts and pads for SNES, NES, Mega Drive, Master System and GBA. I don't have one but they look good and save space on having all those old consoles under the TV.

Also if you have Mac Openemu (http://openemu.org/) is really good emulator front end for all kinds of old games consoles, and you can use PS3/4 and XBOX controllers too. I have been playing loads of these games using Openemu in the last few weeks its very good.

http://openemu.org/img/intro-list.png

[doubledenim]

Goldeneye was the start of a little sweetspot in gaming. The N64 4-player games into the Dreamcast were a great time to kill it with some friends. I can't think of many games outside of sports titles that have ever been as much fun as Goldeneye.

[Goldleader]

Yeah I agree, Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing 4 player were also great.

[Goldleader]

Marvel vs Capcom 2

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/MvC2_Cover.png/250px-MvC2_Cover.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ac/Marvel_vs._Capcom_2_gameplay.png/220px-Marvel_vs._Capcom_2_gameplay.png

I took a bit of a break from gaming in around 1998 to 2000. I went to university during this time and didn't have any cash to spend on games, to busy drinking. And to be honest this period was a transition from PS1, N64 to the next generation of Dreamcast, PS2, XBOX and Gamecube. There wasn't anything I really wanted to play. But at the end of 2000 the Dreamcast had dropped in price a great deal and had some decent games that were now also very cheap so I picked up one with about 5 games for about £150 I think. As a massive Street Fighter and Marvel fan this game was a no brainier. In my last year at uni myself and my mate must have played this game nearly every night, unlocking all the characters and other things that I can't even remember. I do remember thinking it was great to have a 2D fighter game looking this good on a 3D gaming system. It was a fast and furious game also with so many characters to play as, it was impossible to master them all. But there is nothing as fun as having a line up of Ryu, Wolverine and Bishop to kick some ass!!!!

[Goldleader]

MSR

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/05/MetropolisStreetRacerBox.jpg/250px-MetropolisStreetRacerBox.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8XqkKZl0UEk/hqdefault.jpg

Wow racing games had come a long way since the likes of Out Run and Chase HQ on my Mega Drive!!!! This was my first taste of real car sims. I had missed Gran Turismo on the Playstation as I was never really a fan of having loads of different cars and doing loads of things to level up the game. I wanted to get in the car and race other cars. This game did that. You had 3 great locations which changed with each race. You got in and drove the car, earned Kudos for wins and style and levelled up to get better cars to handle the increasing difficulty of the tracks. At the time and even now it looks very good, the detail that went into the locations is amazing and it was the first time that i had played a game that showed off a real world environment that actually looked real, and the added touch of the time linking to the inbuild clock on your Dreamcast added more fun. A great game that didn't sell that well but should have been seen and played by more people.

[Goldleader]

Crazy Taxi

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Over the years I have loved a bit of time wasted at the local bowling alley arcade which usually had all the latest and greatest games. Sega were always coming up with great arcade games, after Sonic it was what they did best. The Dreamcast was a system that had been designed to port these arcade games to the home console and look as close as possible to the arcade game. In years gone by arcade games had always looked better, this changed with the Dreamcast. One of the most fun games around this time was Crazy Taxi, when it was release on the Dreamcast I picked it up straight away. What is more fun that rampaging around a city as a Taxi driver, picking people up and then having a time limit to drop them off. The idea is so simple that it amazes me no one had though of it before for a game. And the game had added fun because it wasn't totally realistic but played on a cartoon style to increase the fun, the soundtrack was great too. You don't see many games these days that are fun games, which are colourful, such a shame this was Sega at its best but it wouldn't last!!!!

[doubledenim]

Crazy Taxi was a great time. It seemed to be a bit harder than it needed to be, but I really enjoyed it. Another part I remember was how it was peppered with product logos. They didn't seem obtrusive, but in a way added to realism for me.

[Goldleader]

Retro

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At this point I had left uni and returned home for a short time and got a temp job(bad times). Money was short and the current gen of consoles didn't really excite me. At this point I think it was PS2, Dreamcast, XBOX and maybe just released GameCube. All these consoles at that time were just a little to expensive and all were new so had poor software libraries. So I started hunting on ebay for second hand games consoles. First up was my very loved SNES that I really missed, think i picked one up for about £25 and then got loads of the games I had before for about £5 each. Blasting through Super Mario World and Zelda again was great and I got a real love for 2D games at that time which has never left me. Next up I picked up a SEGA Saturn again for about £30 with some games and two light guns. Having never owned the console I found it very interesting and spent a lot of time playing Virtual Cop 1 and 2 and Virtual Fighter. Next up was a Mega Drive, £30 with a couple of games it was bargain central and gave me some great times playing Micro Machines and Desert Strike. A few years later I also got an N64 again just to replay some games.

[Goldleader]

Star Wars - Rogue Squadron 2 - Rogue Leader

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Wow, come on this game still looks amazing even now some 14 years after it was released. So xmas 2002 rolled around and I asked my other half if she would be so kind as to buy me a shiny new Gamecube. At the time the Gamecube had been out since May and had a price cut ready for xmas. I think it was about £150, much lower than the PS2 or XBOX and it had this game. Been a huge Star Wars fan this game sold me on buying a Gamecube, I didn't care if any other games ever came out that I wanted this was all I needed. I mean come on it looks like you are flying an X-Wing into battle a Death Star from Return of the Jedi!!!!! Overall the game isn't the best apart from the visuals and the fact that you go into the classic battles from the original trilogy. Its very repetitive and does become a little boring. I also fell in love with the Gamecube controller, it really is one of the best, so comfortable to hold for long periods and the button layout is spot on, the D-pad and c stick could have been a bit larger but I will let it off as they were hardly used anyway. Star Wars sold me on a console and looking back I'm glad it did as the Gamecube is one of my fav consoles. I have a feeling the current Star Wars game to be released will also make me buy a new PS4, god damn you Star Wars for making me shell out my hard earned cash!!!!!!

[honeykid]

I had a friend who was a huge Star Wars fan who did the same thing. Only he went out and bought the Game Cube as soon as this was released.

[Goldleader]

Resident Evil

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Having missed this game first time around on the Playstation I picked it up second hand on the GameCube. This version had enhanced graphics for the GameCube. I'm glad I did pick it up as its one of the scarcest games I have ever played. It's best enjoyed on a dark night with all the lights off!!!!! The way things jump out at you is just like watching a horror film, the game is all about the atmosphere. The dogs got me every time. I was also a fan of the fixed point camera system as it was different to most games at the time which had movable cameras. It all added to the effect of making you feel like you were in a horror film. The game has many elements to it, puzzle solving, action shooter and stealth sections all play the part to make it a fresh challenge all the way through the game. Its a same the series lost its way in recent times as it had such a good start.

[honeykid]

I never got on with the Resident Evil games. A friend lent me a copy of the first one on the PS 2, but it did nothing for me.

[Goldleader]

I never got on with the Resident Evil games. A friend lent me a copy of the first one on the PS 2, but it did nothing for me.


I can understand that, at the time Nintendo and Square soft were giving us large open worlds to explore and here was a game where you were trapped in a house and stuck with one camera angle. But that for me was its charm.

[Goldleader]

Super Smash Bros Melee

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I never had Super Smash Bros on the N64 and to be honest didn't know that much about it when it first came out on the Gamecube. But I liked the look of it and have always been a fan of beat em ups so thought I would give Nintendo's version a go. I'm glad I did its such a fun game but mixes up the beat em up's of old to allow children to play. It must have been the first 4 player beat em up I have owned and a group of mates round and this is a blast for hours. There is nothing better than having Mario, DK, Link and Kirby go at it in a crossover game which most kids would have argued about at one time. "Mario would kick Links ass", well now you could do just that. The single player is a bit dull but then they usually are in beat em ups, this game is all about multi-player!!!

[Goldleader]

Super Mario Sunshine

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Every Nintendo console has its Mario game and I was hooked since Super Mario World so I get everyone that is released. This game doesn't different to much to Super Mario 64 in that you have a central world with levels off, in each level you collect Shine Sprites (stars) to unlock new levels to get to the end boss. There is nothing wrong with that and lets be honest Super Mario 64's graphics have aged very badly, were as Super Mario Sunshine still looks very good. There are good bits and bad bits to the game however. The holiday setting is just rubbish and the stupid people walking around just look weird on every level. And the story is a none starter, Mario has to clean an island!!!!! The FLUDD starts off as a great addition and the graphics at the time for the water were amazing but after a while it starts to get a bit boring and you just want to run and jump and throw fireballs! I do like the side levels were you don't use FLUDD but if I remember these were very hard. The game had a hard act to follow with Super Mario 64 and I had hours of fun with the game I think it will go down as one of the lesser loved Mario games.

[Goldleader]

Mario Kart Double Dash

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Having missed Mario Kart 64 this game was an easy pickup for the GameCube. The graphics were much improved over the N64 game which was a big help and it seemed they had put more speed and combat back into the game this time round. The 2 characters on a Kart is a waste of time and just a gimmick as it doesn't really matter who you choose. The introduction of different Karts is a welcome and adds variety. Its all in the tracks though and there is some great ones in this game, one that comes to mind is DK Mountain which I love as its a down hill run with loads of places to bash people of the track. And the multi-player as ever is a blast both on the tracks and in Battle mode. Nintendo are the masters of great family games and Mario Kart is king of that, all the family can play this game and have fun.

[Goldleader]

Wii Sports

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The game that opened the door to casual and non gamers the world over. At 80 plus million copies sold what it had in simple game play it made up for in sheer charm and easy of use that everyone from very young kids to 90 year old grans could play and enjoy. After a few great years of Gamecube love and some excellent games I was starting to feel a little disappointed at the lack of third party support for the console. The amount of games the Gamecube had was a lot smaller to the other 2 consoles at the time. So I picked up a second hand Xbox. I will not lie it was a chipped console and I never actually bought any games for it. But looking back I can't even remember any game I really played and fully enjoyed on the system. There was maybe Halo, Need for Speed Underground, Burnout Revenge and James Bond From Russia With Love. But I never gave any of these loads of time and don't think that they would go down as games I would want to play now. So when Nintendo announced their next console the Wii I was on one hand excited at the idea of the motion controls and how that would change the way we play games, but also a little worried for it as third parties don't produce on Nintendo consoles and haven't since after the SNES. But I got swept up in the hype and was there in line on release day for the console, the first time I had ever done such a thing. I remember talking with loads of people around its release and the first few months afterwards and no one had even heard of it or thought that it was a silly name. After getting the shiny new console out and loving how small and good looking it was, I was then blown away at how fun Wii Sports and the motion control were. I wasn't stupid I knew then that the control system wasn't perfect and didn't feel as real as I had hoped but damn it was fun to actually swing your arm to play tennis and bowling. I knew if Nintendo could get the word out and keep the cost of the system as low as they did they were on to a winner. Not with hardcore games who would cringe at the idea of it but with the casual and non games this was going to be a winner. And by gum it sure was, within 6 to 12 months everyone I knew had one, most of these people had never owned a games console before or since. I have great memories of all of the family playing Wii Sports over that first Christmas. This had never happened before. It truly was a great game for parties. I look back at it now and I realise the lack of third party support for a console is not a bad thing, it means you get just the great games and don't waste your money on the dross and yearly upgrades, this is what draws me to Nintendo consoles. Yes we have new versions of their main series like Mario and Zelda on each console but at least we usually only get one or two games each console generation, and each one is a full leap forward. Not 4 or 5 games (Call of Duty, FIFA) each generation which are all yearly upgrades with minimal new features!!!!

[Goldleader]

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

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One of the main reasons I bought a Wii was for this game. The idea of having motion controls in a Zelda game was a no brainier. After watching all the pre release videos of people using the Wii Remote as a sword and then both the Wii Remote and the Nuncuck as a bow and arrow I just couldn't wait. It also helped that this was a return to style of Ocarina of Time and did away with the cell shading of Wind Waker (I was never a massive fan of this, was a nice change but it makes it look to much like a cartoon). It looked to me like a serious grown up game on a Nintendo system that they hadn't produced on the GameCube (I know it was original developed as GCN game). And as a bonus it was released very early in the consoles life. I remember getting the game that first Xmas after release and just loving every aspect of it. Yes the motion controls weren't as good as I had hoped but no Wii games were. But just moving the controllers in a different way made the game feel more immersive and real. The game was another classic Zelda game, sticking to what has worked so well in the past and adding new twists and challenges along the way. I was glad they dropped the boat as I have found the searching for the next dungeon can get boring. There was no chance of that here, the game is very linear and does hold your hand a lot more than other Zelda games. I for one enjoyed that, I like it to be a challenge but I don't want to waste hours and hours of my life to find something. I want to enjoy the whole game, take in the levelling up of my character and see the different parts of the world and kill all the bosses and see the story unfold in front of me. I think I completed the game in a few weeks as it wasn't that long, but I have fond memories of really enjoying every part of it and thinking it was one of the best whole gaming experiences I had had at the time. I can't give this game higher praise, it is still my favourite game. If you haven't played it go out and buy it or get the HD version coming to the Wii U.

[Goldleader]

Resident Evil 4

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Now there are some who say "there are no adult/deep hardcore gamers games on the Wii", well this is a shining example that proves that quota completely wrong. Resident Evil 4 on the Wii is another example of a series at it's peak and the game play been much improved by the Wii's Motion Control system. For starters at the time the visuals in Resident Evil 4 were ground breaking, you really did feel like you were in a little village with scary people coming at you. The game had all the best parts of the previous games and turned them up to 11, great weapons, suspense, puzzles and jump out of your seat moments. I remember having the biggest grin on my face as I was playing this game like i knew this was an instant classic, you just know when you are playing a good game. The motion controls helped with this I think, there is no better feeling than aiming the Wii remote at the screen and blowing a zombies head right off!!!!!!!

[Goldleader]

Link's Crossbow Training

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As soon as I saw the Wii I knew they would have to create shooting games for it. Shoot games had always been great fun in the arcades with the likes of Lethal Enforces, Virtual Cop, House of the Dead, Point Blank and Time Crisis. All of which had ports to consoles but I never bought them because they all had to have extra guns hardware which made the price to high. The Wii was a perfect fit as the hardware was there already it just needed a decent game. Well Link's Crossbow Training was it. I loved how the game has a great balance between pick up and shoot and a little depth and familiar world from the Zelda franchise. The bundled Wii Zapper is a fun addon but not really needed to play the game (I wish more first person shoots had been on the Wii to us these add-on). Also love how the game has three different styles of play, you have the on rails shoot sections, the third person where you grounded to the spot and the fully movable character and shoot sections. The fact that the levels are only 3 minutes long is also a good idea in the same way as Point Blank, which means you have a short blast and then either move on to a different level or have another go to beat your score. Sure its frustration that the game overall isn't more in-depth and I would have loved a sequel with a full in-depth first person shooter feel with a proper story. But what I do find is that this is a shooting game that all the family can play and enjoy, Nintendo are the masters of taking any game genre and making it accessible to all.