#FourGames

ThatNickGuy · Jan 24, 2015

So like the #FourComics thread, I saw on Twitter that #FourGames was also trending. Same as with comics, it's listing four games that influenced you to become a gamer as a young lad or lass.

As before, if you do post cover pics, please put them behind a spoiler to save on scrolling.

My four:

Missile Command (Atari 2600)

I had other games, as well, like Asteroids and even E.T., but this is as good an example as any of where my gaming started.

Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt

And the NES era began with a bang. I could mention a slew of other NES games that I played later on, like Battletoads, Shadowgate, or Nightshade, but this started it all. Though it's not without mentioning...

Final Fantasy I

I remember reading about this in Nintendo Power and getting so frigging hyped for it. I played the hell out of it. This was my first ever RPG and I became a fan of the series for years after (with Final Fantasy IV, as I've mentioned many times, being one of my all time favourites).

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown
And my love for adventure games began with one of the very first ones. I remember being introduced to this through the son of one of my dad's friends. He actually helped me with the puzzles and read a lot of the text aloud in a dramatic voice. While the quality of Sierra games is arguably hit and miss, this one was a big hit for me.

PatrThom · Jan 24, 2015

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin
I won $100 in a radio contest once (on a rotary dial phone, no less). I spent it buying an Intellivision II system at my local Toys 'Я' Us just so I could play this game. Afterwards came Sea Battle, Utopia, and quite a few others.

Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
After playing this game for a ridiculous amount of time at a friend's house, I broke down and bought (or was gifted, I don't remember) a Super NES just for this game. Afterwards came the FF "II" and "III," and also one of the better non-Amiga ports of Lemmings.

Master of Orion/Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
I quite literally drove almost 60 miles through a blizzard-level snowstorm (seriously, I'm not at all kidding, this is not hyperbole) to get to the only store in MI that still had a copy of the original game for sale (determined this after calling around for 4-5 days), I wanted to play it that badly. The sequel followed some years later and I still play it occasionally even though now it is almost 20 years old. ...And then came MoO3 and I was soooooooo disapooooointeeeed...

Myst/Riven
Cranky and I worked at the same place. At the time, he was the assistant manager and I was the midnight guy. Since it was his job to do the scheduling, he saw to it that we were both scheduled the same hours off JUST so we could puzzle our way through Myst shortly after it was released. There is very little since that has managed to instill anywhere close to the amount of wonder these first two games did for me.

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings/Age of Empires II: Age of Conquerors
Another one that keeps me coming back again and again. It even beat out Starcraft/Warcraft as my RTS choice. Really, don't ever play Age of Kings, get the expansion because it fixes so many things that were lacking in the first one. Also, the Spanish civ is awesome.

EDIT: Whoops though you said five oh well here have an extra

--Patrick

Yoshimickster · Jan 24, 2015

Okay this one is easier for me(could really not decide on the comics thing).

Spyro the Dragon

Vivendi can die in fifteen fires. Activision, you keep milkin' them kids dry! I'd rather have people having fun

Crash Bandicoot 2

Literally everyone I knew had this game as a kid, and as for the first one the inverse is true!

Gran Turismo

My parents actually made me stop playing this because the images wouldn't get out of my dreams. Pretty much the start of my love of racing games. Wish my copy still worked.

Super Mario Bros Deluxe

First Mario Game I ever played and beat! As a kid I decided to worship Mario until the AGE OF TIME! Then as an adult I stopped giving a shit, BUT this game will always have a place in my heart.

CynicismKills · Jan 25, 2015

These are definitely the ones that got me stuck on vidya in general.

Final Fantasy IV
While it wasn't the first FF I played, this was the first that really stuck in my mind, thanks to the characters and overall story that wasn't afraid to take some risks in terms of character death. Technically I played the US version on SNES as my real induction, but the DS version is easily the best. FFII on SNES was missing plot points, character skills and had the overall difficulty tuned down, as at the time Japan assumed we were all terrible at RPGs.

EverQuest
This game. This fucking game. The first hit of my MMO addiction that lasts to this very day. Back in the glory days of asking permission to get on the internet, and then forwarding the land-line to a brick of a cell phone.

MegaMan 2
The first MM game I played and still easily one of my favorites. It was probably the first time I can remember game music getting stuck in my head, and definitely still has some of the best music to ever grace the old consoles.

I refuse to post the box art because the NES-era MM boxes are ugly as sin.

EarthBound
I could never, never make a list without this game. It shaped my love of RPGs, my sense of humor, and is yet another game with fantastic characters, music and story. Plus, tell my Giygas didn't freak you the hell out. Instead of box art, here's something I art-ed awhile back (endgame spoilers):

Hailey Knight · Jan 25, 2015

I like this idea because odds are it will get different results than if you asked people to name their four favorite games. Really makes you go back and think. For instance, my first impulse was to copy/paste Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt from the top post, but even though I played a shit-ton of that as a kid, there were other games that molded me into a gamer more so than Mario or that damn dog.

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters

I'll be the first to say that this is a terrible game. Unresponsive controls, boring visuals, repetitive as hell, but in a way that kind of shaped me as a gamer. We learn to put up with a lot of shit as gamers for the stuff we love, and for all this game's faults, it was Godzilla. And you know what? I didn't know any better. It was one of the earliest games I played and I didn't know how bad it was; I just wanted to keep going, to keep beating the levels and bosses, to get to the end.

It was the first game I ever beat. And I have other memories of it too. My mom would write down the level passwords for me, but her 2's and A's are identical, which led to a lot of trial and error. I also remember the game being unplugged when I was on the second to last level. This game was licensing trash, but it was a big deal for me.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

I must've played through this a thousand times. This was my big draw for getting a Genesis. I much preferred Sonic's pace to Mario's as a kid. I loved the colors and the music, everything. It's unfortunate where Sonic has gone since then, because this game really got me into platformers, even back to playing Mario games I'd abandoned.

Final Fantasy VII

Though I later went back and played some of the more classic Final Fantasy games, IV, V, VI, and I would later find much stronger RPGs like Chrono Trigger or the Shin Megami Tensei series, and though it wasn't the first RPG I played thanks to Super Mario RPG, I can't deny that FF7 was the game-changer that hooked me onto RPGs. I'd never played anything like this before. Coming onto the world map after spending many hours in Midgar was a huge moment, where I realized those 3 discs weren't just cutscenes. This was a big game in a big world. I didn't finish it for the longest time, but the engrossing story took over my brain and shifted my perspective on what imagination was capable of, even into the nonsensical. It's also the first time a video game brought tears to my eyes.

Honestly, though I don't regard this game anywhere as highly as I did back when I played it, I'm not sure I would've kept on with video games if I hadn't played it.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

While neither my first Zelda game nor my favorite, Majora's Mask taught me a couple things that affected me as a gamer and in real life. Lots of side quests led to lots of confusing trails to follow, and the game had a bleak atmosphere at times. I didn't learn until later that its different areas corresponded to the stages of grief, but in hindsight that makes sense.

(personal shit in spoiler)

When my younger brother died, this was the game I escaped into. I played it with nearly every free moment for the longest time after that. I didn't know why. After I'd get off the game, I'd feel bad I wasn't there for my family, though I had no idea how to do that as a 15-year-old and I still don't. But somehow this game helped me. I felt absorbed in its story, in the lives of the characters, even in the repetition necessary to keep the clock ticking, and somehow that helped keep me going as well.

In short, I learned that games didn't have to just be for fun or challenge. They could also be an escape when I really needed one, and even teach me things about myself while escaping. To a lesser extent, Dark Souls has been that for me lately. The stress from my job has been at an all-time high, but I've been able to escape and not think about it while that game is on, whereas old mainstays like Pokemon have utterly failed me. I'm a little leery about the 3D remake of Majora's Mask and whether nostalgia is going to draw up some repressed shit from 14 years ago, but nonetheless, the game as it was left a mark on me for the better.

ThatNickGuy · Jan 25, 2015

CynicismKills said:
I refuse to post the box art because the NES-era MM boxes are ugly as sin.

It's okay, man. There's a big reason for that:

http://www.dorkly.com/post/43085/mega-man-cover-art-memos

Gared · Jan 25, 2015

This is actually a thought-provoking exercise. Of course, my brain first went to Super Mario Bros./FF1/Legend of Zelda/Mega Man; but I'd been gaming before those games and probably never would have played them if I hadn't picked up earlier games to even know what I liked.

Might and Magic I: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum

Of all of the games I've ever played (and believe me, the list is long), this is the game that I have played the most, by far. Considering the fact that I started playing it way back in elementary school on a Tandy PC8088 with a monochrome (yellow) monitor and a bleep-n-bloop PC speaker, and the fact that, thanks to the magic of GOG.com, I still own a copy of it today, it probably wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I've spent a year of my life playing this game, if not two. I think even my WoW playtime topped out at 150 days or so. I even finished this one once. The ending was a little weak, but the game still has replay value. In fact, I may go play some when I'm done here.

Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi

I'll be perfectly honest here. I didn't even know that this game had a plot, much less what that plot was. This is the game that I most frequently borrowed from my buddy in high school. It was awesome. I completely sucked at it.

Adventure Island II

I never actually bought a copy of this game, but I did rent the hell out of it - which unfortunately means I was never able to finish it. But really, what good was a game that you could finish in one weekend? Where was the fun in that. I think I still have more fun playing games that can't technically be beaten than I do games that even have incredibly long story-lines.

SimCity

We got to play this in history class, or social studies, or something of that nature because it was "educational". I've been hooked on building and transport games ever since. Everything from the old Bridge Builder game, to OpenTTD and Railroad Tycoon II Platinum, to Banished and beyond. I should really find a good new building game, it's been far too long (Banished notwithstanding).

GasBandit · Jan 25, 2015

Red Baron (1980, Arcade cabinet)

When I was very small, my father, who only had limited visitation with me per the terms of my parents' divorce, often would take me to the video arcade when we got to spend time together. I attribute my love for video games and computers in general to the early influence of my father (and also my grandfather, who introduced me to the first family PC I'd ever used).

Of all those early games, like Popeye, Joust, Centipede, Paperboy, Tron and later Gauntlet, Red Baron was the earliest I remember, and my personally most sought. I could never pass by this machine without insisting on playing at least once. It's simple vector graphics and controls were perfect for a child to learn and use, and it instilled a love of flight simulators in me that I still hold onto this day. Because of Red Baron, I went on to play games like Rescue on Fractalis, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Wing Commander, Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Freespace, all the way up through War Thunder today. There's only one game in a thousand that comes out these days that supports a joystick properly, but I'll always make sure I own a good joystick to play it when it comes out.

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FriendlyWare PC Arcade (1983, IBM-PC compatible, O/S independent)

My first PC game, provided to me by my grandfather on a 5 1/4" floppy disk. It was so old, it didn't even use DOS - it was its own boot O/S, you had to boot directly from the floppy to play it. It came with a selection of ascii-based arcade game clones.

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Civilization (1991, MS-DOS)

Not the first 4x game that came out, but the first that really grabbed me. This was the first game I ever stayed up an entire night with no sleep playing because I simply didn't notice that time had passed. It instilled deep inside me a love for managing and commanding that I still have to itch today. As a side effect of my original background playing Civ, I can't stand any RTS game that doesn't have a basebuilding element - and in the ones that do, I tend to prioritize building that base and its defenses rather than a large army that has to be actively commanded - I'd rather expertly design a base that effectively defends itself, then overcome my enemies with superweapons. Civ V kinda saw this urge go dormant in me, and I skipped it... but Fallen Enchantress has reawakened my love of this genre greatly.

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The Legend of Zelda (1986, Nintendo Entertainment System)

Naturally, The Legend of Zelda was the first (non-packaged) game I bought for my NES when I was 7 years old, and there was absolutely no better way for me to have spent my allowance, hands down. The Legend of Zelda combined action and RPG into one game, and gave you free reign to explore a huge game world on your own. Sure, the dungeons were numbered, but you didn't HAVE to beat them in order apart from the last one, and you didn't even have to actively progress the game if you would rather have spent time running around killing critters and bombing walls. This was the 80s' Skyrim. This was the game no kid could shut up about for all of the mid 80's. It showed me that even modest equipment could lead to a gaming experience that took on a life of its own, a concept thrown around easily these days called "Emergent gameplay." It sparked probably my first philosophical discussion when my Dad, playing along with me (same as in the arcade, of course) asked, "I wonder if the moblins think LINK is the monster, invading their homes and slaughtering their friends." I probably don't need to sing the game's praises to you guys, chances are this one ranks up there in your memories as well.

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Honorable mention would be Everquest... for all the reasons stated above by the other guy who said it, plus that's where I met Pauline...

Celt Z · Jan 25, 2015

PatrThom said:
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin
I won $100 in a radio contest once (on a rotary dial phone, no less). I spent it buying an Intellivision II system at my local Toys 'Я' Us just so I could play this game. Afterwards came Sea Battle, Utopia, and quite a few others.

Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
After playing this game for a ridiculous amount of time at a friend's house, I broke down and bought (or was gifted, I don't remember) a Super NES just for this game. Afterwards came the FF "II" and "III," and also one of the better non-Amiga ports of Lemmings.

Master of Orion/Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
I quite literally drove almost 60 miles through a blizzard-level snowstorm (seriously, I'm not at all kidding, this is not hyperbole) to get to the only store in MI that still had a copy of the original game for sale (determined this after calling around for 4-5 days), I wanted to play it that badly. The sequel followed some years later and I still play it occasionally even though now it is almost 20 years old. ...And then came MoO3 and I was soooooooo disapooooointeeeed...

Myst/Riven
Cranky and I worked at the same place. At the time, he was the assistant manager and I was the midnight guy. Since it was his job to do the scheduling, he saw to it that we were both scheduled the same hours off JUST so we could puzzle our way through Myst shortly after it was released. There is very little since that has managed to instill anywhere close to the amount of wonder these first two games did for me.

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings/Age of Empires II: Age of Conquerors
Another one that keeps me coming back again and again. It even beat out Starcraft/Warcraft as my RTS choice. Really, don't ever play Age of Kings, get the expansion because it fixes so many things that were lacking in the first one. Also, the Spanish civ is awesome.

EDIT: Whoops though you said five oh well here have an extra

--Patrick

I'm giving this a Brofist because my first system was the Intellivision (possibly II, the grey version), and we had Sea Battle, Utopia,etc. But one of my favorites was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I can still remember the sound of the dragon's breathing when you came around the corner, and what it sounded like if he chased and/or caught you.

Somewhere in my grandmother's basement is my Intellivision and all the games, but finding it will take a map, a couple of months, and possibly the assistance of Indiana Jones.

Cheesy1 · Jan 25, 2015

A lot of games have already been listed, but here are a few more that haven't been mentioned yet that also influenced me:

Frogger Mini Arcade

I had one of these when I was four years old, and I remember my mom and I taking turns to see who could get the furthest.

Dig Dug

When I was a young boy living in Alaska, my mom use to use the local laundromat. And this arcade game was there to keep me occupied.

Kaboom!

My older cousin had an Atari, and he and I would play for hours on this game when I came over to visit.

Chrono Trigger

The first RPG that I really fully played and thoroughly enjoyed. The scope of it, its storyline, and its game play was just pure fun.

Bowielee · Jan 25, 2015

Pong and everything that followed.

I was an early adopter and hooked as soon as I put my first quarter in a machine.

Null · Jan 25, 2015

The Bard's Tale III (Commodore 64)

There were a lot of things about this game that kind of sucked, but I must have played it for hundreds of hours, even though I never came close to winning. I liked it much better than the original Bard's Tale, in which my furthest progess was maybe 20 spaces away from where you started. Why? Because you started with inadequate money, no gear, and strong randomly spawning enemies. The equipment shop was 5 steps away from the starting point. I think the ground between was littered with the corpses of my previous attempts, up to 30 feet deep.

Strider (NES)

Not a port of the arcade game, but apparently a weird adaptation of the manga based on the arcade game... sort of? I don't know. Loved it anyway. Fucking cheap as hell last boss, though.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)

Another strange game, and often considered the least of its series, but I rather liked it. The pathologically dishonest townsfolk, the impossible to decipher clues, the day/night cycle, I must have played through it a dozen times.

Battleclash (SNES)

I think I'm the only person who really liked the Super Scope 6.

PatrThom · Jan 25, 2015

Celt Z said:
one of my favorites was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Yes, the Intellivision II was the smaller grey one. I still have mine as well AND the power supply.
Oh man, I hated bats. No noise and they would ERRERRRRERERRERRRR *puff of smoke* you before you knew what was coming. One of my favorite tricks was getting a critter to follow you while you were using two controllers. The design of the Intellivision controllers would only allow you to either press a keypad button OR the disk but not both, but if you were using a second controller this meant you could shoot while running with the disk on controller 1. Arrows would also bank off walls, and if done clumsily would kill you BUT this meant if you were running through a tunnel and used the second controller to fire 90 degrees from your direction of travel (e.g., fire up if you were going right/left), the arrow would stay there going nowhere back and forth act like a barrier behind you as you ran.

Also...counting arrows? Remember counting arrows? Tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik... My father would have me count his arrows because I could keep track when he couldn't. My secret? Count in groups of 4. Yay music education!

--Patrick

Bubble181 · Jan 26, 2015

Sid Meier's Colonisation (yes, I played this before Civilization, sorry)
Zeliard (I think I finished it once....)
Heroes of Might & Magic II and perhaps even moreso, III
The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall. Now there's a game I sunk half a year if not more on.