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I had a computer desk that vaguely resembled the shape of an arcade cabinet. When I first got my SNES I was so hyped about it that I actually drew an arcade-style marquee for Super Mario World so I could tape it to the top of my desk and pretend I was playing it in an arcade. I loved that game to death.
My guilty pleasure was Dragon's Lair. This game terrified me when it came out (I was eight). I was fascinated by it, and at the same time too horrified to play it, particularly due to the skeleton scene whenever Dirk died. The game gave me nightmares, and yet I was obsessed with it. When I outgrew my fear I hunted down every copy I could find (PC, NES, SNES, even the GB). Then finally one day about ten years later I stumbled upon the arcade game at a local fair. I felt like I had completed a great quest, finally finding the game and actually having the nerve to play it. It was a great day.
I also have a major soft spot for Ms. Pac Man, especially the NES version that came with about 30 extra mazes. That game rocked.
My first game system was an NES that came with a Duck Hunt/Mario combo cartridge and a light gun that my grandmother got for me. I must have played the living shit out of that thing. But only my dad could ever beat it though. Of course, being a kid, I'd play duckhunt with the lightgun maybe 2 inches away from the TV. Still, I think its Super Mario Brothers 3 that I have the fondest memories of. My family even had a game guide for that one.
Of course, as you get older, and games become less of a "The major gift I get for xmas, maybe" type thing and more of a "Yeah, I've got $50 to spare this paycheck" type thing they get a lot less important. My entire late teens, early twenties is a blur of gaming. I barely remember anything I played. Probably because of all the pirating I used to do (NOT PROUD OF IT). Of course these days I actually have a job, and money, and can afford games, so no more of that dirty practice.
Actually its funny, because things have almost come full circle. Now that I have a job, girlfriend, hobbies that don't involve a controller, and try to stay fit, once again do the few games I play become especially memorable. I'm playing through Gears of War 2 with a friend right now. It takes us all week to maybe set aside 2 hours to play together. But its extremely memorable. I guess the scarcity of gaming can be what makes it so special. Otherwise it just gets boring and all blurs together.
I agree with your "scarcity of gaming" description. These days, games are simply playing off of their respective systems' features... such as touch screens and motion movements... things that don't HAVE to be put in the games for them to be good. I'd love to see a "great game" made for a system like the DS without implimenting ANY touchscreen option... or just using very little of it. All these systems with their Mary Kate and Ashley Dream Date and Hannah Montana video games... it's just a waste to see such trash...
If you take off your rose-colored glasses, you can remind yourselves that the NES and Gameboy had TONS of shovelware. The DS is no different. And there are lots of great games that don't use the touchscreen or use it in a limited capacity. New Super Mario Bros. comes to mind. And then there are also great games that simply wouldn't have been possible without the touchscreen, such as Elite Beat Agents.
I'm still not sure I understand the "Guilty Pleasure" aspect of this thread. How are classic games Guilty Pleasures? Are we supposed to feel some sort of shame from loving old games? Last night, I played Mega Man 9, Super Mario RPG, Super Metroid, and Metroid Prime 3. All of these are great games. But I certainly didn't feel like playing those two old SNES games was a "guilty pleasure."
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I agree with your "scarcity of gaming" description. These days, games are simply playing off of their respective systems' features... such as touch screens and motion movements... things that don't HAVE to be put in the games for them to be good. I'd love to see a "great game" made for a system like the DS without implimenting ANY touchscreen option... or just using very little of it. All these systems with their Mary Kate and Ashley Dream Date and Hannah Montana video games... it's just a waste to see such trash...
If you take off your rose-colored glasses, you can remind yourselves that the NES and Gameboy had TONS of shovelware. The DS is no different. And there are lots of great games that don't use the touchscreen or use it in a limited capacity. New Super Mario Bros. comes to mind. And then there are also great games that simply wouldn't have been possible without the touchscreen, such as Elite Beat Agents.
I'm still not sure I understand the "Guilty Pleasure" aspect of this thread. How are classic games Guilty Pleasures? Are we supposed to feel some sort of shame from loving old games? Last night, I played Mega Man 9, Super Mario RPG, Super Metroid, and Metroid Prime 3. All of these are great games. But I certainly didn't feel like playing those two old SNES games was a "guilty pleasure."
No no, don't get me wrong! There are bad games for all systems out there, absolutely! I'll also admit that I haven't played every good game for systems such as the DS, and I'm sure there are plenty that don't turn the touchscreen into an essential tool.
As far as the title... I dunno... I guess just trying to think back, what made you feel good... and I guess not necessarily "guilty"... as I said, "Feel free to suggest a better topic title as this unravels."
You brought up Megaman 9. What do you think about making new games from classic systems while keeping the older style? I thought that was a pretty neat idea when I first saw Megaman 9 announced. The earliest Megaman I have is 3, and I just remember it being quite a challenge.
Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to sound so condescending!
RE: Mega Man 9 and other games in the same vein. Heck, I guess New Super Mario Bros. is in that group, too. I'm basically all for it. What makes these games fun is the gameplay. And both of these examples had good, solid gameplay. Clearly, Mega Man 9 was done for nostalgia factor, too, but that doesn't come at the expense of gameplay. As long as developers can make new and exciting games with fun gameplay, they can use whatever graphical style they want. Personally, I think the advent of 3D gaming came way too soon--2D still has so much potential. It's nice to see developers recognizing that.
Cameron_Talley on
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I have never found myself getting nostalgic for the early days of console gaming.
The Atari 2600 was a creature that ingested popular arcade cabinet titles and shat them out in unrecognizable, stinking caricature. The NES did the same with film licenses. And anyone who can get misty over the remembered sensation of holding a flat, square pad and wearing out their thumb trying to hold diagonal on that horrible D-pad is clearly a masochist.
Granted, there were a few good games. But I don't miss them and rarely think about them unless someone mentions the Konami Code or the Raccoon Suit.
Zoku Gojira on
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
0
KorKnown to detonate from time to timeRegistered Userregular
edited February 2009
My first video game exposure was from my uncle. He had an NES and 4 games for it.
Super Mario Bros. was my very first game really.
I dont' recall much of my NES days after that. I remember megaman 2 a lot, and chip & dale, but thats about it.
Gaming for me really felt awesome in my pre-teen years. My best friend and I playing shit on the PS1 and 64. Twisted metal was amazing, and still is. Smash Bros marathons with everyone having 99 lives, and damage set to 2.0.
It makes me feel old to say Super Mario Brothers got me into gaming, despite only being 23. My friend had an NES and I guess Super Nintendo was still new (or not out yet, I really don't know how old I was, but I was quite young) so the parents probably didn't want to spend the money. She wasn't into games that much either. Looking back, Mario is such a simple yet enthralling game. I just wanted to keep going despite how bad I was.
Begging my mother resulted in me getting a Game Boy instead, which at the time disappointed me because it was so small, but I would come to realize how important it was to my gaming experience. Game Boy introduced me to a lot of things. Metroid through Metroid II, Kirby through Kirby's Dreamland, Zelda through Link's Awakening.
Over the years I would go on to get pretty much every console possible. I've had the Jaguar, Neo Geo, even the 32X and the Nomad.
Final Fantasy VII started my RPG binge, as before then my only real exposure to them was the Shining Force series.
Warcraft II was probably my introduction to PC gaming, and Starcraft was what began my near complete transfer to it. Everquest sealed the deal, pretty much completely stopping me from purchasing consoles and console games entirely. Since then I've only played a handful of console games and there have been a lot of 'new classics' that I probably have no excuse for missing that I have anyways. I was pretty obsessed with Everquest but I think it probably saved me a lot of money. I really did buy a lot of games and finish them quickly. A big reason I play WoW now is because I can't really afford any of these new consoles and the good games to go with them.
Started off with a NES when I was a kid, played Mario games, cheap shooters and cheap sports games mostly. Didn't play any of the big franchises apart from Mario.
Following that, SNES. Started with Mario Kart (which is my fondest memory, getting chicken pox and my mother hiring an SNES with Super Mario World and Mario Kart), Mario World, Rock and Roll racing etc.
Following that, of course was the '64. And to me this was my golden age. I was old enough to really master and play these things well, as opposed to just dicking around as a kid. All the classics, Golden Eye (everybody I knew either used to drink coke and play it all night, or get stoned and play it all day.), Rush Extreme Racing (Loved this game), Shadows Of The Empire (ditto, loved it to death.), Diddy Kong Racing (Go the Rooster dude!), Re Volt (Custom tracks baby!) and many more that I probably can't remember.
I also used to read computer game magazines at that stage, all the classics. CVG (No longer around), Hyper (Still around), the various encarnations of Australian Nintendo magazine (Whose only crime, apart from shutting down, was retro actively changing the review scores of games.) And I had a single EGM (?) Magazine, that thing was like a tome.
And then after the 64 that was the end of my gaming history. I kinda went the PC way, only half heatedly, and didn't play many games seriously at all.
That however changed when my Sister got a Ps2 and didn't use it. Then I started playing classic Ps2 games years after they came out... maybe in 5 years i'll get a ps3.
My first game experience was when I was 3 or 4 years old... Some drunk uncle of mine had bought a NES on a whim, and he brought it to a party my parents were having... He couldn't even beat the first level of Super Mario Bros. I kept begging to try, and when he finally let me, I made it to 1-3 before I finally died. That was pretty much when I knew that I was hooked on gaming. He ended up giving me that nintendo the next month for my birthday since he sucked at it and I kept making him come over with it.
I got a genesis a few years later for Christmas, and proceeded to spend something like 2 years slowly defeating Disney's Quackshot, getting slightly farther every time, with no game genie cheats or guides or anything. I think that game will always be special to me, it was the first 'long' game that kept my patience.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited February 2009
I started with the Atari 2600. The NES was what made me a gamer, though, and from there, I went to the Genesis. Sega pretty much owned my soul from then all the way to the Dreamcast.
I sided with the SNES for a little while(because everyone had one), but after that, I ignored everything(especially the N64) that wasn't Sega until the Playstation came out. Sega CD & Saturn was all I needed.
Christmases with Lunar: The Silver Star & Dragon Force, respectively: the best ever.
The NES is responsible for hooking me on RPGs, thanks to Nintendo Power sending me a free copy of Dragon Warrior.
I have never found myself getting nostalgic for the early days of console gaming.
The Atari 2600 was a creature that ingested popular arcade cabinet titles and shat them out in unrecognizable, stinking caricature. The NES did the same with film licenses. And anyone who can get misty over the remembered sensation of holding a flat, square pad and wearing out their thumb trying to hold diagonal on that horrible D-pad is clearly a masochist.
Granted, there were a few good games. But I don't miss them and rarely think about them unless someone mentions the Konami Code or the Raccoon Suit.
Gotta agree. Goodbye and good riddance days of yore. For the record I started on the Atari 2600, then 5200, and then went to the NES. Don't miss any of it.
I got into console gaming as far back as the Atari 2600 when I was about 3 years old or so. I remember the games being fun, not particularly interesting or anything, nothing to really "hook" me, I guess. Space Invaders or Pong was probably my first game.
I still remember Christmas when I was 5 getting the NES with duck hunt and SMB. A couple weeks later, I had limited video game times and couldn't play past a certain hour. I was playing so much my parents were forced to regulate me at 5 years old.
This was a good memory too... My dad used to play after I went to "bed", so I would get out of my room and sit on the stairs watching in the reflection of the glass window on the old grandfather clock we had. I watched my dad beat the final Bowser for the first time right before he started to run upstairs to wake me up to show me he beat the game. Imagine his surprise to find me huddled on the stairs in my pajamas watching the whole thing.
I had some favorites on the NES (SMB2 and 3, Zelda 2, Castlevania 1 and 3 come to mind) but when I really started to get into gaming was when I played Final Fantasy 2 on the SNES. That was the first RPG I played and even though I sucked something fierce at it (I was 8) and all my friends made fun of me ("Why do they stand on one side and the other guys stand on the other?" "BECAUSE THEY DO!") that's where the magic really began for me. Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy 3, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG all followed and I've been hooked to RPGs since. RPGs are still my favorite genre to this day, my friends still make fun of me ("You're playing a game where you summon persona-demons at night in a randomly generated dungeon and date girls during the day?" "YES, SHUT THE FUCK UP!"), and in some cases, I still suck at them (Nocturne and Etrian Odyssey come to mind...), but the magic will always be there.
My first gaming machine was my dad's 386 33 Mhz computer, with a turbo button. I don't really remember a ton of the games we had for it, but one I used to love as a kid was Sopwith Camel and it's sequel Sopwith Camel 2. The first game ran on the processor for timing, so you couldn't play it anymore after PCs got too fast, but the 2nd game timing works based on the CMOS clock so you can actually still play it today.
The object of the game was to destroy all the ground targets with either your machineguns or bombs. You had a limited number of bombs and fuel to do this. After destroying all the targets you'd move onto the next stage, which had the same exact setup, except this time the targets would shoot back at you. You could even play the game with enemy pilots you'd have to avoid or shoot down. The game is still as fun today as it was when I was a kid.
My first gaming experience was a Pacman arcade. My second gaming experience was Galaga arcade. I couldn't believe how much fun it was.
Later on, I managed to get a NES. I still remember the experience of learning a gamepad for the very first time. Looking up then down at the screen and controller, getting (or trying) to get Mario to do what I wanted! Wow! It was cool!
I have a lot of fond memories of some great NES games, many of which I enjoy to this day. The Super Mario Trilogy of the NES goes without saying. The games still hold up today, both gameplay and graphically, if you ask me.
Otherwise, I still enjoy great games like the first 2 Ninja Gaiden games, Gradius, Life Force, Double Dragon II, Megaman 1 - 6, Punchout, Contra, and a few others. Classics. Still fun to this day.
I have a friend who I used to play Atari 2600 with. He didn't have many games though. I don't recall a lot of games that I can really say I would enjoy going back to, except Adventure, and maybe 1 or 2 others.. But like I said, didn't spend much time / many games with the Atari 2600.
acidlacedpenguinInstitutionalizedSafe in jail.Registered Userregular
edited February 2009
I remember one day when I was very young, maybe 4 or 5 years old my father banned me from going into the playroom for what seemed like the whole day, but was probably only a couple hours in retrospect. Anyway, eventually he came out of the playroom and told my brother and I to come to the playroom. In it, he had set up this brand new little kid's tent in the middle of the room. Inside the tent he had set up our little 14" hitachi TV and beside it was brand new in box the NES and Mario 3 bundle.
We were totally blown away by the graphics and the gameplay. That day was the first day of my new life and probably the reason I wanted to become a game developer for the longest time.
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JeanHeartbroken papa bearGatineau, QuébecRegistered Userregular
edited February 2009
I remenber my first contact with video games. Back in the summer of '91, a friend of mine wanted to show me a machine he got called the Nintendo. I had no idea what it was prior to that night, but I got hooked instantly. The game was the original Mario Bros, of course.
A few months later I got my own Nintendo for my birthday. Then I moved to the SNES 2 years later. That console will always have a soft spot in my heart. I wasted just so many hours playing all those awesome games.
I have a good time with games nowadays too, but I'll always remenber fondly the older, simpler games.
Jean on
"You won't destroy us, You won't destroy our democracy. We are a small but proud nation. No one can bomb us to silence. No one can scare us from being Norway. This evening and tonight, we'll take care of each other. That's what we do best when attacked'' - Jens Stoltenberg
I remember wanting to go over to a friend of my big brother's house to watch them play mario brothers on the original NES when it first came out. I was pretty young at the time (8) but I remember watching the controller wishing for a turn. They were typically mean so I rarely got to play but when I did man the love!
The first system I remember getting was an old Tandy computer with Ultima 3 and Kings Quest 3. Oh man I look fondly back on the old Sierra games. My brother who is now Asisstant Chief for a Police Department would play Police Quest for hours on end. I would play Space Quest I Original and Kings Quest 3 and 4 for hours on end.
First console I had was SNES and I would play Zelda for hours on end.
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KorKnown to detonate from time to timeRegistered Userregular
edited February 2009
I'm curious. For those of you saying Mario Bros. was your first game?
or
JeanHeartbroken papa bearGatineau, QuébecRegistered Userregular
edited February 2009
The 2nd option, with Duck Hunt on the same cart. And by ''Nintendo'' I of course means the NES. Thats how people call it arround here, and the SNES is samewise called ''Super Nintendo''
Jean on
"You won't destroy us, You won't destroy our democracy. We are a small but proud nation. No one can bomb us to silence. No one can scare us from being Norway. This evening and tonight, we'll take care of each other. That's what we do best when attacked'' - Jens Stoltenberg
My first game ever wasent really even a game. It was a program my brother made. It was a screen that was black, that slowly filled up with green and blue dots, and if you clicked the mouse button, the screen went blank. Thats it. However, as a six year old I was fasinated and blown away, "I can get rid of dots with the click of a button? No way!" I feel kinda silly now that I think about it.
For real games, it was a atari I belive. No idea what I played on it, my memory of my earlier child hood is really poor, I barely remember anything from when I was younger but I do know I played an atari when I was younger. After that it just boomed, and by the age of 9 I was playing Starcraft, at 10 I played through and beat (with only a little help from my brother) Half life and I even got to play counterstrike soon after! There was one game that I really loved though, I dont remember what it was, spoliers of it if anyone wants to guess what it is.
You started off in some village, you had to leave to get apples or something and when you got back the whole town had been attacked. It was a view like Diablo. You eveuntally found some wizard or something who would teach you magic and was in a shack or log cabin I belive. I cant remember anything else, like at all which sucks, as I adored this game and its one of the main reasons I played video games back then.
I think my first console experience was the Atari 2600 at an older friend's house. I was 4. I distinctly remember watching and playing a game called Cosmic Ark. Had no idea what was going on...supposedly you had a spaceship where you would avoid asteroids and pick up animals on various planets. I'm sure there were other games I watched, but I just can't remember. I also remember my first arcade experience, which was a Donkey Kong machine that same year (1982).
I was pretty much hooked on those wonderful video devices from that point forward. Got my first 2600 when I was 6, I think. Played Combat, Adventure, and yes, ET, when I first got it. I remember using my birthday money one year to buy Space Shuttle, and being amazed at how much stuff you had to keep track of. At 11, I received an NES, and was solely a Nintendo player for about 6 years after that. Too many good memories to count.
I think I would agree with some others that I don't necessarily miss gaming from those days. They were new and exciting and the best we had, but I feel that gaming is a much better experience now. The hobby has expanded and grown into a large entertainment medium, with lots of choices on how to spend your time. Plus, I can always go back and play those old games. I think the only thing I miss is the sense of wonder that new games would bring. Once you've been gaming a while and see familiar game elements in nearly every game you come across, you keep feeling like you've been here before and there's not much new in front of you. When I was gaming in the 80s, everything was new to me and I would just sit and wonder about how much better the games would get. I don't really do that anymore, because what's out there now is good enough for me, and I keep falling behind in my ever-increasing backlog of games to play through. Not a problem I had when I was 10, playing all my games to death.
My first gaming machine was my dad's 386 33 Mhz computer, with a turbo button. I don't really remember a ton of the games we had for it, but one I used to love as a kid was Sopwith Camel and it's sequel Sopwith Camel 2. The first game ran on the processor for timing, so you couldn't play it anymore after PCs got too fast, but the 2nd game timing works based on the CMOS clock so you can actually still play it today.
The object of the game was to destroy all the ground targets with either your machineguns or bombs. You had a limited number of bombs and fuel to do this. After destroying all the targets you'd move onto the next stage, which had the same exact setup, except this time the targets would shoot back at you. You could even play the game with enemy pilots you'd have to avoid or shoot down. The game is still as fun today as it was when I was a kid.
Oh man this game is the greatest.
For ages I couldn't find any instructions. I didn't know how to take off so I would just sit there and shoot and generally get killed a lot. Then I finally figured out taking off, but didn't know you could autopilot back to base for a refill on bombs and gas! Took me years to learn this stuff.
I liked flying in loops and firing bombs straight up, playing chicken with them and the bad guy. Or firing bombs into flocks of birds and seeing if my enemy would die from them before me.
I also spent a long time digging away at the ground using bombs, totally leveling much of the stage. It was kind of like the first Worms in some ways. So yeah, a lot of time put into this game.
My first system was an Atari 2600 .... I got it from my parents around the time SNES came out. I was embarrassed and couldn't invite people over =/ I eventually got about 100+ games for it (that I still have) and all the different controllers (8 in all I think) (that I also still have) because everyone pitied me and gave me their decade old games.
I finally got a NES and SNES (about two years after PS1 came out) and played my few games till I could beat them without dying once. Super Mario World, LttP, and Super Star Wars from start to finish without dying once!
I later got a PS1 shortly after a friend got his PS2 =/
I love all 5 games I have for it hehe
I got a Wii on day one after camping out. It felt so good.
Limed for M'Fing Truth. World just felt like more of the same, I guess. I mean, sure there was Yoshi, but yeah. I did manage to get all 96 levels though!
Cameron_Talley on
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My parents were really into the NES Mario platformers, so I was either watching them play or shittily playing myself from pretty much the moment I had enough motor skills to push a button. Some of my oldest memories are sitting on my dad's lap while we traded the controller back and forth on the original SMB.
I remember when we got our N64 and were playing through Mario 64 together, we got up to like the first Bowser fight or so before it was time for me to go to bed. I go to fire the game up the next morning and OH HEY WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT HE STAYED UP ALL NIGHT AND NOW WE'RE UP TO 60 STARS.
Limed for M'Fing Truth. World just felt like more of the same, I guess. I mean, sure there was Yoshi, but yeah. I did manage to get all 96 levels though!
I'm sure there's a divide here between kids who grew up on the NES and those who's first console was the SNES (like me). I first played SMB 3 on Mario All Stars. I liked it alot, but didn't have the same effect as seeing Mario in full 16 bit graphics after only having seen him on my gameboy screen in mario land and mario land 2.
Both are worthy games, and 3 is definitely the more challenging of them, but I have to go with the one I played first in such an even competition.
Like all Mario platformers, 3 is great, but as far as Mario games go it's pretty low on my list.
I'm not a huge fan of how short each individual level is, and the difficulty is really weird. It's pretty much a walk in the park with the occasional fuck-off level, and then World 8 just curbstomps you.
I like the level design a ton in SMW, but something about the art is really off-putting to me. Something about how Mario's all done up in those pastelly colors just doesn't work for me. Also goombas are really ugly looking and they don't even squish when you jump on them what's up with that?
As far as "timelessness," nothing will top the first SMB in my eyes.
But this is ignoring the fact that Yoshi's Island is the best platformer ever made.
My first gaming machine was my dad's 386 33 Mhz computer, with a turbo button. I don't really remember a ton of the games we had for it, but one I used to love as a kid was Sopwith Camel and it's sequel Sopwith Camel 2. The first game ran on the processor for timing, so you couldn't play it anymore after PCs got too fast, but the 2nd game timing works based on the CMOS clock so you can actually still play it today.
The object of the game was to destroy all the ground targets with either your machineguns or bombs. You had a limited number of bombs and fuel to do this. After destroying all the targets you'd move onto the next stage, which had the same exact setup, except this time the targets would shoot back at you. You could even play the game with enemy pilots you'd have to avoid or shoot down. The game is still as fun today as it was when I was a kid.
Oh man this game is the greatest.
For ages I couldn't find any instructions. I didn't know how to take off so I would just sit there and shoot and generally get killed a lot. Then I finally figured out taking off, but didn't know you could autopilot back to base for a refill on bombs and gas! Took me years to learn this stuff.
I liked flying in loops and firing bombs straight up, playing chicken with them and the bad guy. Or firing bombs into flocks of birds and seeing if my enemy would die from them before me.
I also spent a long time digging away at the ground using bombs, totally leveling much of the stage. It was kind of like the first Worms in some ways. So yeah, a lot of time put into this game.
I just wanted to say that there's pretty much a modern remake of sopwith on the DS called Days of Glory 2, which I've been playing pretty much non-stop since I got it a few days ago. It can be kind of frustrating sometimes (especially when they switch you to the jet fighter for the first time) but it's a nice sort of cross between tower defence and sopwith/skykid. Please check it out.
As far as the first game I played, it was actually Prince of Persia. On one of those old shitty black and white Apple computers that my school had.
I sucked at the game, and going back and playing it again many years later as the extra in Sand of Time....I still suck at it. Though it was a revelation that the game was in colour. I always assumed it wasn't, being used to original gameboy.
Like all Mario platformers, 3 is great, but as far as Mario games go it's pretty low on my list.
I'm not a huge fan of how short each individual level is, and the difficulty is really weird. It's pretty much a walk in the park with the occasional fuck-off level, and then World 8 just curbstomps you.
I like the level design a ton in SMW, but something about the art is really off-putting to me. Something about how Mario's all done up in those pastelly colors just doesn't work for me. Also goombas are really ugly looking and they don't even squish when you jump on them what's up with that?
As far as "timelessness," nothing will top the first SMB in my eyes.
But this is ignoring the fact that Yoshi's Island is the best platformer ever made.
I actually never liked the small mario sprite in SMW. THe giant head with a pair of shoes underneath it... it just seems really awkward.
In the path of getting my first console in my youth, I have been introduced to video games the first time while I was around 7-8 years old thanks to my uncle's old prehistoric-like computer that had no programs and could only play 8 inches floppy disks games. I loved all them of, despite the graphics being "weird" to me and that they were hard as heck. I kinda remember only 3 of them, but I can't remember the names. I never got to ever play them again.
They were
This game, where you had to jump and color steps until there was all the same. I never got to the last level and I played this a bunch.
This game, where you had to go jump steps across the level, dodging barrels and other stuff to get to a certain section. I don't remember much, but I remember a level spelling some word with the floor.
I...don't remember much of this except that it's HARD. It's a sort of sidescrolling game, where you move left or right through flat-floored rooms and you fight enemies as they come, sort of like altered beast, except your attack is so weak and you die easily. The background weren't bad, though. I think it involved ninjas.
Anyway, having loved these games, I asked for a NES from uncle that I saw in one of his magazines. He said that if I waited, he would buy me instead a more powerful, high-tech SNES instead. I agreed and waited a year until I got a SNES and mario world for my birthday. So, yeah, as you imagine, I easily became a mario fan on my first, own console game. Still owe that PC the seed of the joy of gaming.
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My guilty pleasure was Dragon's Lair. This game terrified me when it came out (I was eight). I was fascinated by it, and at the same time too horrified to play it, particularly due to the skeleton scene whenever Dirk died. The game gave me nightmares, and yet I was obsessed with it. When I outgrew my fear I hunted down every copy I could find (PC, NES, SNES, even the GB). Then finally one day about ten years later I stumbled upon the arcade game at a local fair. I felt like I had completed a great quest, finally finding the game and actually having the nerve to play it. It was a great day.
I also have a major soft spot for Ms. Pac Man, especially the NES version that came with about 30 extra mazes. That game rocked.
Of course, as you get older, and games become less of a "The major gift I get for xmas, maybe" type thing and more of a "Yeah, I've got $50 to spare this paycheck" type thing they get a lot less important. My entire late teens, early twenties is a blur of gaming. I barely remember anything I played. Probably because of all the pirating I used to do (NOT PROUD OF IT). Of course these days I actually have a job, and money, and can afford games, so no more of that dirty practice.
Actually its funny, because things have almost come full circle. Now that I have a job, girlfriend, hobbies that don't involve a controller, and try to stay fit, once again do the few games I play become especially memorable. I'm playing through Gears of War 2 with a friend right now. It takes us all week to maybe set aside 2 hours to play together. But its extremely memorable. I guess the scarcity of gaming can be what makes it so special. Otherwise it just gets boring and all blurs together.
If you take off your rose-colored glasses, you can remind yourselves that the NES and Gameboy had TONS of shovelware. The DS is no different. And there are lots of great games that don't use the touchscreen or use it in a limited capacity. New Super Mario Bros. comes to mind. And then there are also great games that simply wouldn't have been possible without the touchscreen, such as Elite Beat Agents.
I'm still not sure I understand the "Guilty Pleasure" aspect of this thread. How are classic games Guilty Pleasures? Are we supposed to feel some sort of shame from loving old games? Last night, I played Mega Man 9, Super Mario RPG, Super Metroid, and Metroid Prime 3. All of these are great games. But I certainly didn't feel like playing those two old SNES games was a "guilty pleasure."
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Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to sound so condescending!
RE: Mega Man 9 and other games in the same vein. Heck, I guess New Super Mario Bros. is in that group, too. I'm basically all for it. What makes these games fun is the gameplay. And both of these examples had good, solid gameplay. Clearly, Mega Man 9 was done for nostalgia factor, too, but that doesn't come at the expense of gameplay. As long as developers can make new and exciting games with fun gameplay, they can use whatever graphical style they want. Personally, I think the advent of 3D gaming came way too soon--2D still has so much potential. It's nice to see developers recognizing that.
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The Atari 2600 was a creature that ingested popular arcade cabinet titles and shat them out in unrecognizable, stinking caricature. The NES did the same with film licenses. And anyone who can get misty over the remembered sensation of holding a flat, square pad and wearing out their thumb trying to hold diagonal on that horrible D-pad is clearly a masochist.
Granted, there were a few good games. But I don't miss them and rarely think about them unless someone mentions the Konami Code or the Raccoon Suit.
Super Mario Bros. was my very first game really.
I dont' recall much of my NES days after that. I remember megaman 2 a lot, and chip & dale, but thats about it.
Gaming for me really felt awesome in my pre-teen years. My best friend and I playing shit on the PS1 and 64. Twisted metal was amazing, and still is. Smash Bros marathons with everyone having 99 lives, and damage set to 2.0.
Those are the days I truly miss.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Begging my mother resulted in me getting a Game Boy instead, which at the time disappointed me because it was so small, but I would come to realize how important it was to my gaming experience. Game Boy introduced me to a lot of things. Metroid through Metroid II, Kirby through Kirby's Dreamland, Zelda through Link's Awakening.
Over the years I would go on to get pretty much every console possible. I've had the Jaguar, Neo Geo, even the 32X and the Nomad.
Final Fantasy VII started my RPG binge, as before then my only real exposure to them was the Shining Force series.
Warcraft II was probably my introduction to PC gaming, and Starcraft was what began my near complete transfer to it. Everquest sealed the deal, pretty much completely stopping me from purchasing consoles and console games entirely. Since then I've only played a handful of console games and there have been a lot of 'new classics' that I probably have no excuse for missing that I have anyways. I was pretty obsessed with Everquest but I think it probably saved me a lot of money. I really did buy a lot of games and finish them quickly. A big reason I play WoW now is because I can't really afford any of these new consoles and the good games to go with them.
Seriously it is nostalgic in an awesome way.
Started off with a NES when I was a kid, played Mario games, cheap shooters and cheap sports games mostly. Didn't play any of the big franchises apart from Mario.
Following that, SNES. Started with Mario Kart (which is my fondest memory, getting chicken pox and my mother hiring an SNES with Super Mario World and Mario Kart), Mario World, Rock and Roll racing etc.
Following that, of course was the '64. And to me this was my golden age. I was old enough to really master and play these things well, as opposed to just dicking around as a kid. All the classics, Golden Eye (everybody I knew either used to drink coke and play it all night, or get stoned and play it all day.), Rush Extreme Racing (Loved this game), Shadows Of The Empire (ditto, loved it to death.), Diddy Kong Racing (Go the Rooster dude!), Re Volt (Custom tracks baby!) and many more that I probably can't remember.
I also used to read computer game magazines at that stage, all the classics. CVG (No longer around), Hyper (Still around), the various encarnations of Australian Nintendo magazine (Whose only crime, apart from shutting down, was retro actively changing the review scores of games.) And I had a single EGM (?) Magazine, that thing was like a tome.
And then after the 64 that was the end of my gaming history. I kinda went the PC way, only half heatedly, and didn't play many games seriously at all.
That however changed when my Sister got a Ps2 and didn't use it. Then I started playing classic Ps2 games years after they came out... maybe in 5 years i'll get a ps3.
I got a genesis a few years later for Christmas, and proceeded to spend something like 2 years slowly defeating Disney's Quackshot, getting slightly farther every time, with no game genie cheats or guides or anything. I think that game will always be special to me, it was the first 'long' game that kept my patience.
I sided with the SNES for a little while(because everyone had one), but after that, I ignored everything(especially the N64) that wasn't Sega until the Playstation came out. Sega CD & Saturn was all I needed.
Christmases with Lunar: The Silver Star & Dragon Force, respectively: the best ever.
The NES is responsible for hooking me on RPGs, thanks to Nintendo Power sending me a free copy of Dragon Warrior.
Gotta agree. Goodbye and good riddance days of yore. For the record I started on the Atari 2600, then 5200, and then went to the NES. Don't miss any of it.
I still remember Christmas when I was 5 getting the NES with duck hunt and SMB. A couple weeks later, I had limited video game times and couldn't play past a certain hour. I was playing so much my parents were forced to regulate me at 5 years old.
This was a good memory too... My dad used to play after I went to "bed", so I would get out of my room and sit on the stairs watching in the reflection of the glass window on the old grandfather clock we had. I watched my dad beat the final Bowser for the first time right before he started to run upstairs to wake me up to show me he beat the game. Imagine his surprise to find me huddled on the stairs in my pajamas watching the whole thing.
I had some favorites on the NES (SMB2 and 3, Zelda 2, Castlevania 1 and 3 come to mind) but when I really started to get into gaming was when I played Final Fantasy 2 on the SNES. That was the first RPG I played and even though I sucked something fierce at it (I was 8) and all my friends made fun of me ("Why do they stand on one side and the other guys stand on the other?" "BECAUSE THEY DO!") that's where the magic really began for me. Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy 3, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG all followed and I've been hooked to RPGs since. RPGs are still my favorite genre to this day, my friends still make fun of me ("You're playing a game where you summon persona-demons at night in a randomly generated dungeon and date girls during the day?" "YES, SHUT THE FUCK UP!"), and in some cases, I still suck at them (Nocturne and Etrian Odyssey come to mind...), but the magic will always be there.
The object of the game was to destroy all the ground targets with either your machineguns or bombs. You had a limited number of bombs and fuel to do this. After destroying all the targets you'd move onto the next stage, which had the same exact setup, except this time the targets would shoot back at you. You could even play the game with enemy pilots you'd have to avoid or shoot down. The game is still as fun today as it was when I was a kid.
If you are posting in this thread, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
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Later on, I managed to get a NES. I still remember the experience of learning a gamepad for the very first time. Looking up then down at the screen and controller, getting (or trying) to get Mario to do what I wanted! Wow! It was cool!
I have a lot of fond memories of some great NES games, many of which I enjoy to this day. The Super Mario Trilogy of the NES goes without saying. The games still hold up today, both gameplay and graphically, if you ask me.
Otherwise, I still enjoy great games like the first 2 Ninja Gaiden games, Gradius, Life Force, Double Dragon II, Megaman 1 - 6, Punchout, Contra, and a few others. Classics. Still fun to this day.
I have a friend who I used to play Atari 2600 with. He didn't have many games though. I don't recall a lot of games that I can really say I would enjoy going back to, except Adventure, and maybe 1 or 2 others.. But like I said, didn't spend much time / many games with the Atari 2600.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
We were totally blown away by the graphics and the gameplay. That day was the first day of my new life and probably the reason I wanted to become a game developer for the longest time.
A few months later I got my own Nintendo for my birthday. Then I moved to the SNES 2 years later. That console will always have a soft spot in my heart. I wasted just so many hours playing all those awesome games.
I have a good time with games nowadays too, but I'll always remenber fondly the older, simpler games.
The first system I remember getting was an old Tandy computer with Ultima 3 and Kings Quest 3. Oh man I look fondly back on the old Sierra games. My brother who is now Asisstant Chief for a Police Department would play Police Quest for hours on end. I would play Space Quest I Original and Kings Quest 3 and 4 for hours on end.
First console I had was SNES and I would play Zelda for hours on end.
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Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
For real games, it was a atari I belive. No idea what I played on it, my memory of my earlier child hood is really poor, I barely remember anything from when I was younger but I do know I played an atari when I was younger. After that it just boomed, and by the age of 9 I was playing Starcraft, at 10 I played through and beat (with only a little help from my brother) Half life and I even got to play counterstrike soon after! There was one game that I really loved though, I dont remember what it was, spoliers of it if anyone wants to guess what it is.
I think my first console experience was the Atari 2600 at an older friend's house. I was 4. I distinctly remember watching and playing a game called Cosmic Ark. Had no idea what was going on...supposedly you had a spaceship where you would avoid asteroids and pick up animals on various planets. I'm sure there were other games I watched, but I just can't remember. I also remember my first arcade experience, which was a Donkey Kong machine that same year (1982).
I was pretty much hooked on those wonderful video devices from that point forward. Got my first 2600 when I was 6, I think. Played Combat, Adventure, and yes, ET, when I first got it. I remember using my birthday money one year to buy Space Shuttle, and being amazed at how much stuff you had to keep track of. At 11, I received an NES, and was solely a Nintendo player for about 6 years after that. Too many good memories to count.
I think I would agree with some others that I don't necessarily miss gaming from those days. They were new and exciting and the best we had, but I feel that gaming is a much better experience now. The hobby has expanded and grown into a large entertainment medium, with lots of choices on how to spend your time. Plus, I can always go back and play those old games. I think the only thing I miss is the sense of wonder that new games would bring. Once you've been gaming a while and see familiar game elements in nearly every game you come across, you keep feeling like you've been here before and there's not much new in front of you. When I was gaming in the 80s, everything was new to me and I would just sit and wonder about how much better the games would get. I don't really do that anymore, because what's out there now is good enough for me, and I keep falling behind in my ever-increasing backlog of games to play through. Not a problem I had when I was 10, playing all my games to death.
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For ages I couldn't find any instructions. I didn't know how to take off so I would just sit there and shoot and generally get killed a lot. Then I finally figured out taking off, but didn't know you could autopilot back to base for a refill on bombs and gas! Took me years to learn this stuff.
I liked flying in loops and firing bombs straight up, playing chicken with them and the bad guy. Or firing bombs into flocks of birds and seeing if my enemy would die from them before me.
I also spent a long time digging away at the ground using bombs, totally leveling much of the stage. It was kind of like the first Worms in some ways. So yeah, a lot of time put into this game.
I finally got a NES and SNES (about two years after PS1 came out) and played my few games till I could beat them without dying once. Super Mario World, LttP, and Super Star Wars from start to finish without dying once!
I later got a PS1 shortly after a friend got his PS2 =/
I love all 5 games I have for it hehe
I got a Wii on day one after camping out. It felt so good.
Yeah I said it.
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Limed for M'Fing Truth. World just felt like more of the same, I guess. I mean, sure there was Yoshi, but yeah. I did manage to get all 96 levels though!
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I remember when we got our N64 and were playing through Mario 64 together, we got up to like the first Bowser fight or so before it was time for me to go to bed. I go to fire the game up the next morning and OH HEY WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT HE STAYED UP ALL NIGHT AND NOW WE'RE UP TO 60 STARS.
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I'm sure there's a divide here between kids who grew up on the NES and those who's first console was the SNES (like me). I first played SMB 3 on Mario All Stars. I liked it alot, but didn't have the same effect as seeing Mario in full 16 bit graphics after only having seen him on my gameboy screen in mario land and mario land 2.
Both are worthy games, and 3 is definitely the more challenging of them, but I have to go with the one I played first in such an even competition.
I'm not a huge fan of how short each individual level is, and the difficulty is really weird. It's pretty much a walk in the park with the occasional fuck-off level, and then World 8 just curbstomps you.
I like the level design a ton in SMW, but something about the art is really off-putting to me. Something about how Mario's all done up in those pastelly colors just doesn't work for me. Also goombas are really ugly looking and they don't even squish when you jump on them what's up with that?
As far as "timelessness," nothing will top the first SMB in my eyes.
But this is ignoring the fact that Yoshi's Island is the best platformer ever made.
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I just wanted to say that there's pretty much a modern remake of sopwith on the DS called Days of Glory 2, which I've been playing pretty much non-stop since I got it a few days ago. It can be kind of frustrating sometimes (especially when they switch you to the jet fighter for the first time) but it's a nice sort of cross between tower defence and sopwith/skykid. Please check it out.
I sucked at the game, and going back and playing it again many years later as the extra in Sand of Time....I still suck at it. Though it was a revelation that the game was in colour. I always assumed it wasn't, being used to original gameboy.
I win.
Actually it was Pong - Texas Instruments Computer - Atari 2600 - Then nothing - Atari ST PC -IBM to the present.
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
I actually never liked the small mario sprite in SMW. THe giant head with a pair of shoes underneath it... it just seems really awkward.
I much prefered the SMB3 variation.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
They were
This game, where you had to jump and color steps until there was all the same. I never got to the last level and I played this a bunch.
This game, where you had to go jump steps across the level, dodging barrels and other stuff to get to a certain section. I don't remember much, but I remember a level spelling some word with the floor.
I...don't remember much of this except that it's HARD. It's a sort of sidescrolling game, where you move left or right through flat-floored rooms and you fight enemies as they come, sort of like altered beast, except your attack is so weak and you die easily. The background weren't bad, though. I think it involved ninjas.