20 Games That Changed Your World

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

No guesses for what this list came about from.

Anyway which 20 games have been the most important in your gaming life?

My list will be progression through my age rather than in any other order.

Asteroids (Arcade and Atari)

Break Out (Arcade amd Self-programmed Amstrad)

Manic Miner (Spectrum)

Soccer Striker (Amstrad - tape)

Those happy days with tape games where you had to leave the computer on for weeks while you played a career. Few had save options and those who did (save onto a blank tape) always ended with the data getting corrupted anyway. This was great, you started in the substitutes for the second team of the club and you would get the odd chance to come on (you'd have decided whether you were a defender, midfielder or attacker) then within the 'game' you would get a few written options of what your player would do along with a percentage chance of success. It was hard to resist the 5% bicycle kick option! It was a text advanture masquerading as a footy game but it was massively addictive to fight into the second team, then into the first team subs, then into the first team, then hold your place, then sign for a bigger club. Really amazing.

Snowstrike (Amstrad - disk)

A flight sim on my Amstrad CPC6128 so obviously simplistic but it was a carefully crafted game and my first air combat fighter. And it was about drug smugglers! Yet my parents let me play this as a wee kid! Craziness

Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders (PC)

Point and Click adventure that was hilariously funny. My first point and click game (played a little Police Quest and Leisure Suit Larry but not as much as this).

Wolfenstein 3D (PC)

Before Doom there was Wolf 3D. Nazis, guns, dungeons, plenty of atmosphere. Sure Doom took it and improved on it, but a friend of mine managed to sneak it onto our school network and we used to play it in IT lessons.

Sensible Soccer (and Sensi World of Soccer) (Amiga)

Probably took more hours of my teenage life than any other game. Sensi had simple graphics, simple sound, two croud chants (that sounded like "Erik the Viking" and "Come on you Spurs"!) and AMAZING gameplay. The teams were fully editable and the 'made up' teams hilarious. SWOS blew everything apart bringing in a fantastic management team alongside the playing. I have happy memories of taking Spartak Moscow to victory in the European Cup with hot signing Teddy Sheringham taking Europe apart!

Championship Manager (Amiga / PC)

Probably taken more hours of my late teenage / twenties life than any other game. I started with the original championship manager (Keith Curle and Gary Lineker being particularly excellent signings) in which all your best players would move to Italy. Then got Championship Manager Italia which was surprigingly great! Playing as Inter (my favourite team as the time) with Sosa, Stoichkov, Shalimov, Bergkamp up front. Then sometimes playing as Sampdoria (with David Platt) or Lazio....Happy memories. Anyway I've bought a new Champ Man / Footy Manager game pretty much every other year since then.

Monkey Island (Amiga)

Hilarious, THE best point and click adventure ever (well Monkey and Monkey 2). The humour brilliant, the story fantastic and the concepts always great (mixing the potion to get to the island, the sword fighting etc in MI1 and the spitting contest, voodoo doll etc in MI2). I'm sure I'd get no complaints over this one. Stole my life.

Civilization (Amiga)

Sim City (Amiga)

Olympic Gold (Sega Master System)

Theme Park (Amiga)

Beneath A Steel Sky (Amiga)

Point and click adventure where you have to sell a testicle in order to get a chip implanted into your head. I would have played this a lot more if it didn't come on THIRTEEN disks which needed constant changing between (the major weakness of the Amiga). It was a really grown up story with beautiful (for the time) graphics and witty one liners between the main character and his dirty-minded robot sidekick.

Wipeout (PC, Playstation)

Tomb Raider 2 (Playstation)

Metal Gear Solid (Playstation)

ISS Pro Evolution (Playstation)

Grand Theft Auto III (Playstation 2)

So close:

Cannon Fodder (Amiga)

Gran Turismo (Playstation)

Flashback (Amiga)

I'll edit in reasons ASAP.

Edited May 14, 2006 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[Mick]

In no Particular Order

Dragon Quest IV

Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

WCW vs nWo: World Tour

Goldeneye 007

Wolfenstein 3D

GTA 3

The Sims

Sim City

TIE Fighter (best. game. EVER.)

Diablo

Civilization II

EWR (....what?)

Super Mario Brothers

Final Fantasy VI

Street Fighter II

Tecmo Super Bowl

Pirates! Gold

Megaman 2

Warcraft

Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!

[stokeriño]

I started struggling after twelve, so I'm going to just list my Top 10 for now and see if any more come to me later.

1. Sonic 2 (Mega Drive)

- My first game on my first ever console, and the origin of my obsession with Sonic which undeniably carried me through my childhood between the ages of 7 and 12.

2. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (PC)

- My first ever PC game and lord knows how many hours were spent on it, its add-on (Balance of Power), or X-Wing Alliance. Basically carried me through my early teens.

3. Civilization 2 (PC)

- Never before had my love for turn-based strategy been epitomised in such a way, other than the odd board game of Risk. There are so many strategy games that I play nowadays that can be drawn back to my first encounter with Civ.

4. Monkey Island (PC)

- The sheer enjoyment this series has given me cannot be understated, and Monkey Island injokes have pulled a lot of my friends and I together over the years.

5. Championship Manager 99-00 (PC)

- While I did own CM3, it was so slow and unwieldy that it was not until this first annual update that I was able to get into it fully. The 99-00, 00-01, and 01-02 versions monopolised my mid-teenage years.

6. Metal Gear Solid (Playstation)

- Genius, and really the greatest game I ever own on the original Playstation.

7. Pokemon Red (Gameboy)

- And thus the world of Pokemon was opened up to me. One could tenuously argue that anime followed on thereafter, but I don't think it was so direct. Still, a milestone.

8. Street Fighter 2 (Mega Drive)

- The first of the beat-em-ups, and the forerunner for the Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Soul Calibur, and perhaps even the SmackDown games that followed.

9. FIFA International Soccer (Mega Drive)

- Similarly the first sport game, all the way back in 1994. I've fallen out of playing sporting games over these past few years which is why it's lower down.

10. Micro Machines (Mega Drive)

- My first racing game, and the predecessor to the Greatest Multi Player Game of All Time, Micro Machines V3. While I've never been especially concerned with racing games as a genre, brief moments with Ridge Racer and WipeOut are worthy enough to be noted.

[Skummy]

In no particular order...

Alex Kidd In Miracle World - It was on my brother's old Master System,

and I have very fond memories of it. I still love it to this day.

Rainbow Chaser - An obscure Commadore 64 game, that was probably rubbish, but I remember wasting so much of my life on it. I remember that you played as a purple blob thing, and collected stars and rainbows. If you went left instead of right at the start, you ended up in a wizard's house, where it appeared that all you could do was either leave the room, or jump in a cauldron and die. That's about it.

The Secret Of Monkey Island - My first real introduction to PC gaming and adventure gaming, and it pretty much changed the way I thought about games entirely. A friend had it on their computer, and we'd play it practically every time I went round. Phenomenal stuff, and it's certainly shaped my tastes to this day.

Streets Of Rage 2 - Just a fantastic game. Another one that wasted rather a lot of my brother and I's lives.

Splatterhouse 2 - We rented it for the Mega Drive once. As a young, susceptible kid, being practically raised by his older brother on zombie movies, Streets Of Rage and grunge music, a game this bloody and vile and violent (for its time) was mindblowing to me.

Robocop Vs. Terminator - Another game we rented once. To a young impressionable fanboy, it was a dream come true.

Altered Beast - Rise from your grave!...'nuff said. Nothing like back in the day, playing this on a Master System with a black and white TV, arguing over what the tinny voice recordings were actually saying, not having a clue what the storyline was, and not finding it all odd or rubbish that zombies should shudder when you punch them, before splitting into several angular pieces.

Final Fantasy 7 - Changed my world. Redefined computer games, wasted days of my life, introduced me properly to RPGs, indirectly ended up opening my eyes to fanfiction, anime, and various aspects of Japanese culture. If one game on this list literally changed my world, it was this.

That's it for now. I might edit more in when I think of them.

[thatshortguy]

No real order:

Atari: Grand Prix, Pong

NES: Super Mario Bros. 2, Castlevania 2: Simon's Revenge

SNES: Chrono Trigger, Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Super Mario RPG, NHL 96, Mortal Kombat 2

Game Boy: Kirby's Dream Land, Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

N64: WWF No Mercy, Goldeneye 007

Playstation: Hardball 5, WWF Smackdown, Grand Theft Auto

Playstation 2: Madden 2005, Grand Theft Auto 3

PC: World of Warcraft, Hardball 6

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Got into games a little later on then the rest of ya it seems so... No real order. Can't make 20 either.....

WWF Smackdown 2 (PS)

Nearly all my mid teen life went on this. Come home from school, this on, thats it for the rest of the day, every day. Just great great fun, and I played for it over and over for well over a year. Just a great great wrestling game. With a roster that I just love. Probably a HELL of a lot of time playing this, often using the incredibley huge roster to never get bored of different match combos. Just have so many truly great memories of this game.

FIFA 98 (PS)

Actually the first game I ever had..... Very good game, and I maintain it to be the best FIFA game. This and SD2 took all my early to mid teen life to the point where I only left the house for school.

GTA3 (PS2)

Was the sole use of the PS2 for quite a while for me. Great game, I actually physically love Liberty City..... played this so much, maybe second in my 'most time playing one game' rankings to SD2.

ISS Pro 98 (PS)

Think that was the title. The one where the long-ball tactic worked every damn time. I actually got it in early 2000, and my love affair with what would become Pro Evolution Soccer began. Fun game.

Pokemon Blue (GB)

Yes, I suffered the Pokemon craze just like everyone else.

Pro Evolution Soccer/PES 2/PES 3/PES 5 (PS2)

PES 4 can suck my dick. All very good games in their own ways, though they have a habit of making the previous incarnation seem a lot worse than you remembered it. Best football series by a country mile.

Red Faction (PS2)

May seem an odd choice, but in the early PS2 days, this was one of the better available games, and got me into FFS. Used to go to a mates house at school lunchtime and play this every single day.

Perfect Dark (N64)

A mate had it, and we were never off the thing for a while there. Very fun, and the amount of customisation in multi-player was immense. Some very very fun multi-player games, and had me so close to buying an N64 just for this game.

Championship Manager/Football Manager series (PC)

Enough Said

Promotion Wars (PC)

And I discovered wrestling sims......

EWR (PC)

So much time spent on this......

TEW (PC)

You get the idea

Halo (XBox)

Had some great multi-player fun on this too, despite my sucking balls. Oh well. Very good game with some greatly fun levels.

EDIT - Turned the PC off and remembered these;

Sensible Soccer (GB)

Seems to have less options then the version Hamster mentioned.... Only had a basic league, cup and friendly option, about 3 different types of weather... hardly any teams, but this was fun! So, so basic, yet so fun! Played this a lot.

The Sims (PC)

I remember when I HAD to own this, and it annoyed me that I didn't for quite a while. When I did get it I played it quite a lot. Never got into Sims 2 really, but The Sims was a game I spent a lot of time on.

Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun (PC)

Not a huge one for RTS, but this got me into them for a while. Progressed onto Red Alert 2, but thats about it. Still, for a while there this got me into a genre that I didn't normally bother with.

Edited May 15, 2006 by timmayy smothers

[Fanku Kaibutsu]

The Legend Of Zelda- 2nd video game I ever played, and pretty much hooked me for life.

Atari Baseball- Taught me the best way to learn at any game is to get massively and spectacularly beaten by someone much better than me.

Contra/Double Dragon II- Co-op mode FTW!

Mechwarrior 2- First 3d game I ever played, and got me into the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe.

Wolfenstein 3D- Yeah, what Hamster said.

Street Fighter II- Spawned my undying love of 2d fighting games, plus all the panty shots Chun Li provided were sweet.

Circa 7000- Spawned my undying love of turn based strategy games. Fuck real time.

Sim City- "There's nothing exploding, or dying... Why is this entertaining?"

Harvest Moon- "There's nothing exploding, or dying... Why is this entertaining?"

Chrono Trigger- Best. SNES. RPG. Ever. Why, oh WHY aren't double and triple team attacks standard in RPGs?

Super Mario 64- If I recall correctly, the first two words I said while playing this game were "Holy fuck!"

Pilotwings 64- I loved just wandering aimlessly through the massive environments.

Goldeneye 007- "Wait, wait. A FPS that involves more than just shooting everything that moves? BRILLIANT!"

PaRappa The Rapper- In addition to being the first ever rhythm game, I still get songs from this song and it's sequel, Um Jammer Lammy, stuck in my head.

Resident Evil- Zombies, wooo!

Silent Hill- Ghost monkey baby! wooo!

Xenogears- Best. RPG. Ever.

WCW vs. nWo World Tour- The game that made me a wrestling fan.

Conker's Bad Fur Day- Funniest game ever? quite possibly.

Dead Or Alive 2- The 3d fighting game so good, it made me buy an X-Box just for the sequel.

Super Smash Brothers- Sooooo many hours spent with my friends on this game.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater- Easily the best game engine ever, still fun after 8 years. Plus, it did for control schemes what GTA III did for game structures.

Civilization 3: The only game I've ever skipped class to play.

Grand Theft Auto 3- Can't think of much to say about this, aside from it, and it's sequels, being fan-fucking-tastic on many levels.

Star Wars: Galaxies- In addition to being the first MMORPG I ever played, I met a great group of people through this game. Those camping pictures I posted in the picture forum? I almost hate to say this in public, but I met most of the people in those pictures via Galaxies.

[Toe]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time

Super Double Dragon

WWF Royal Rumble

Sim City 2000

Earthbound

Goldeneye

Grand Theft Auto - London

NHL '96

WWF Warzone

WCW/nWo Revenge

Mortal Kombat

Pokemon Blue

Mega Man X

Mechwarrior 3

Fallout 2

Civilization 2

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Gran Turismo

Top Gear and Top Gear 2

Mario Kart

Mario Party

Perfect Dark

Super Mario 2

Duck Hunt

[Numbahs]

Tecmo Bowl

NHL '96

Metal Gear Solid

Final Fantasy 7

WCW/NWO Revenge

Goldeneye

Pokemon Blue

Halo

Street Fighter II

World Of Warcraft

Promotion Wars

Extreme Warfare Revenge

Diablo II

Streets Of Rage II (I believe this is the game that taught me to use friends for their video games)

Sonic The Hedgehog II

Tekken Tag Tournament

Star Wars: KOTOR

Mario Party

Super Mario 3

Madden 2003

[ACCBiggz]

WWF Royal Rumble

Super Mario Bros. (NES)

Super Mario World (SNES)

Bubble Bobble

Marble Maddness

River Raid

Frogger

Q*Bert

WCW/NWO Revenge

MarioKart 64

Madden 1998

NCAA Football 2003

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto III

Tetris

Dance Dance Revolution

Pole Position

Sim City

Out of the Park Baseball 5

Extreme Warfare 9000

[GoGo Yubari]

In no order, only numbered so I can keep track...

1. Tetris

2. Final Fantasy VII

3. Pokemon Red

4. Grand Theft Auto III

5. Dance Dance Revolution

6. Super Smash Bros. Melee

7. Warcraft II

8. City of Heroes

9. Kirby's Dream Land

10. Super Mario Kart

11. Super Mario World

12. Sonic the Hedgehog

13. Super Mario RPG

14. EWR

15. Street Fighter II

16. Kirby Super Star

17. Chrono Trigger

18. WWF Wrestlemania 2000

19. Starcraft

20. The Sims

[Sir Alan LCSugar]

1. Championship/Football Manager - I probably have spent my whole teenage years playing this game, and I never get bored with it. It has gripped like no other game has been able to do.

2. Pro Evolution Soccer - This year at Uni i have pretty much played it non stop with my housemates and we love it. When number one came out I was feeling low about football games because Fifa was on a low and I needed something to capture my interest from the football market, this came out and i've played it ever since.

3. Transport Tycoon - My first ever PC game, and a game which I loved when I was younger, it made me want to get other Tycoon games and other games like it, such as Sim City.

4. Call of Duty - Never before had I not got bored with a game, until this game came out, I don't think I have played the single player version yet, all I do is play on the multiplayer function and I love it, my first encounter with Net play and this game gives me hope that I will play more games with Net play and enjoy it.

5. Sonic - My first ever game on my MegaDrive, having played it at a friends house I instantly wanted a MegaDrive just to play it, and so, it was this game that put me onto the gaming road.

6. Mortal Kombat - FATALITY enough said.

7. Madden - Not sure which one, but it got me into American Sports, after loving this game I expanded my horizons with NBA and NHL games and maybe a Baseball game or two. It started my love of American Sports games.

8. WWF Royal Rumble - My first wrestling game, with a good collection of wrestlers from Bret Hart to IRS, the game was remarkably simple and yet provided me with hours of fun. I've not looked back in terms of wrestling games, they are one of if not my favourite set of games I own.

9. Smackdown 2 - When this came out I didn't know what to expect, I'd liked SD1 and was hoping for an improvement and that's exactly what I got. I went out and picked up a cheap multi-player box and my friends and I played the time-limit hardcore match for hours on end, Blackman always kicked ass.

10. Theme Park - Creating your own rollar-coaster is something everyone wants to do and on this game you could and I loved it, days I spent playing it, creating the Ultimate Theme Park.

11.The Sims

12. C + C Red Alert

13. EWR

14. Fifa 97 - Indoor Pitch = awesome

15. GTA 3

16. International Cricket Captain

17. Street Racer

18. Black and White

19. G1 Jockey

20. WCW Nitro

[EWRFan]

This is my list based on the fact that I loved them even if everybody else did not.

Phantasy Star(Sega Master System)

By god this was the first RPG I ever played back when I was seven years old and my dad bought me an used Master System from one of my cousins and had like ten cool games. I remember hours playing Golden Axe Warrior(Zelda clone), but the first true RPG I played was this game. Great graphics for it's time, with semi-3D first person dungeons and it was difficult as hell! One of those games that you have to spend two or three hours of random battles just to be tough enough for the next chunk of the story. The story had Alis fighting King Lassic who had turned evil. Her brother was part of the resistance and was killed, and his last words where "Find Odin, kill Lassic". So you begin with this girl and her short sword searching for Odin, but he was turned to stone by Medusa and now you need to find a cure...which was hanging from the neck of a talking cat, Myau. After finding Myau and freeing Odin, you stumble upon the wizard Noah and that's your party! A chick, a strong warrior, a smart wizard and a talking cat battling demons, going to space and other planets, the desert planet Motavia and the ice planet Dezolis (later renamed Dezoris in the Genesis games), using cool vehicles to move faster and fighting tough as shit bosses!

Shinning Force (Sega Genesis)

Well, Phantasy Star was my first RPG, but this was my favorite. My third ever Genesis game, this game created the tactical, turn-based combat RPG genre that inspired games like Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics. In it you played a young swordsman and assemble a cast of over 30 characters with their own sets of stats, strong points and weak points, 11 of which you could take into battle at a time. Typical fantasy classes like archer, swordsmen, warriors, knights, priests, mages and the like along a weird selection of others like Kokiri, a dude with an helicopter pack, Domingo, some sort of egg thingy, Bleu, a baby dragon, Adam, an old robot, Zylo, a werewolf and Guntz, a knight in steam powered armor. Yeah, some of the weird ones like Yogurt the talking dog where shit, but some others like Arthur, who was the weakest knight, can level up and become amazing warriors. The story had you chasing Darksol and stopping him from resurrecting the evil Dark Dragon. The game can be real hard or real easy depending on your party selection. I played this game and beat it like 25 times with different combinations. It was and still is THAT good.

Shinning Force II (Genesis)

Perhaps the last great RPG on the Genesis, this one was bigger and better than the original. Twice as big probably. It added more classes, more combat options, new items that allowed you to promote to different classes, selectable difficulty and much more. It also had plenty of secret stuff, which added exploration elements that where lacking in the first game. Not much else to say, just that it is much better than the first one, which means it is also a kick-ass game.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny (Genesis)

Yeah, cheap plug for the diary. This game introduced me to more complex strategy games, like the ones I am a fan off now. It forced you to think, to read the game manual and learn. You had to take control of a ruler in ancient China and conquer all the territories. Not that easy! You had to look after food production and economy, striking a balance between good politics and all out warfare. The battles suck big time if you are an action fan, but it's the sense of accomplishment and the addictive design that keep me coming back for more.

Pokemon Blue

Well, I bought a game boy color just for this game(as a matter of fact, it is the only GBC game I have, I sold the GBC as soon as I got Pokemon Stadium with the thingy that allows you to play the game in the N64). Believe me, I have grown to hate Pokemon since then, but I cannot deny the impact this little RPG had in my life back when I was 12-13. I carried that thing everywhere and played until all my Pokemon where Lv.100 and then the fun began in multiplayer battles. Probably if I had time in my hands, I would give it another go if only just for the memories. I still fondly remember the days where only 151 pokemon existed and not the 3,566,788,999,900 they are now.

WCW vs nWo: World Tour (N64)

My first next gen game. I spent days playing this thing without stopping! The classic AKI engine, the unlockable characters and the multiplayer matches kicked ass. It made me an AKI fan and I still own each and every AKI wrestling title for the N64.

WWF No Mercy(N64)

If World Tour was the first, No Mercy was the best. I was lucky enough to get a bug-free cart when it launched and I still play it to this day. The CAW here was really good and the gameplay was as solid, if not more than other games. Also the weapons made sounds whenever you dropped somebody on them. I beg for this, bring it back! I remember trying to do the biggest stack of chairs and the like I could and then dropping somebody with a thunderous move!

Golden Eye 007 (N64)

The game that got me into FPS. As a matter of fact, it was my first FPS! I beat this game on all difficulties and then my best friend and I spent over a year to unlock all the cheats. Add hours upon hours of multiplayer fun(my mom hated weekends because I would drag in 8-10 people and we would play non-stop all day and eat everything in the fridge) and you have a winner.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PS2)

I never had this much fun with a platformer! It is still my favorite in the series, perhaps because it was the first. The acrobatic jumps, the sword clinging combat with all sorts of spins and rolls and cartwheels! The great story and voice acting. I dont know why, but I just love this game.

Baseball Mogul 99 (PC)

This game introduced me to text based sports games and it's the reason why I own, or downloaded, so many of this. You manage a baseball club(back then players had names like Lonny Dusktra or Borry Bands because of the lack of license) signing players, doing trades and simply trying to build a winner.

MVP Baseball 2005(PS2)

Simply because I love baseball and to me this was the perfect game. No other series, not even the college game, can touch this game in terms of fun and great control. I still play it to this day with my own custom rosters.

ESPN NFL 2K5 (PS2)

Too bad the series died. NFL2K2 introduced me to football and this game was even better. It was also the last. I like Madden, but this game cannot be surpassed. The great controls, awesome graphics and more realism than Madden make it superior.

Civilization II Gold (PC)

I used to love this game back in the day. In it you played mankind and took them from early medieval periods into the space age, researching new tech, building stuff, making alliances and going to war. Another game I spent hours on Hot Seat multiplayer.

Diablo (PC)

I am not much of a fan of hack/slash, but I would lie if I said I didnt catch Diablo fever and spent hours playing online. It was one of those games in which you would log in at 7am and still be playing past midnight. That's why I have not tried MMORPG's, because I feel I could deliver the same addiction. Diablo 2 was better than this game, but perhaps because I was older, it did not have equal impact on me.

I will add more games when I have more free time.

*EDIT*

New Horizons (genesis)

Another of my favorite Koei games. This RPG has seven different characters and each has a different story, but sometimes they cross paths with other of this characters trough the games. Which means you need to beat the game 7 times to see the full picture. Characters are split on three classes, adventurers, traders and pirates. Yes, this game is about the sea in the 16th century. You can trade freely between ports and make money, plunder ships or find wonders to make a living. You can even ignore the story and just have fun! All the world is your playground. Your ships need to be repaired, your crew fed and so on. You need to have a cat or rat poison to kill those little bastards should they surface on your ship and start eating your supplies, be ready for storms that can destroy you in a heart beat and escape from deadly pirates.

The stories are all good. Ali Vezas, a the only "official" trader, from the Ottoman Empire was a poor fellow who dreamed of being rich. His best friend inherits an old trade vessel and Ali starts borrowing money from people in order to get started. The objective is to make Ali rich and pay back ten times the amount of money you borrowed to their respective owners. You have a cartographer from Holland who is sent on a mission to explore the world and create the first full map of it. You have Otto Baynes, a privateer from England, who is given a letter d' marque to sink spanish fleets, Catalina Erantzo, a female from spain whose brother got killed in some sort of battle in Santo Domingo and she decides to steal a ship and find out what really happened and so on. You can change your goals, which means you can make Ali a pirate or Otto a trader if so you wish. You can even betray your country and ask for acceptance from another nation! Very entertaining game if you dont mind weak graphics and slow gameplay in which you need to think instead of have an itchy trigger finger.

Edited May 18, 2006 by EWRFan

[Guest Takayamanofear]

1. Tecmo Bowl, I grew up in a football family this was the first game that I ever played non stop. Not Mario Brothers not Duck hunt, It was Tecmo Bowl

2. Mortal Kombat: this was just an awesome game growing up as a teenager.

3. Shining Force II The first RPG that I really got into up until this game I found RPGs boring. Yes even Link

4. Excite Bike: To be honest I never remember the purpose of this game. Just it was awesome to make courses.

5. Mike Tyson’s Punch Out : Probably the absolute most fun I have ever had with a video game. It was awesome, when you got to face Mike Tyson.

6. Mutant League Football : What more can you want in a game, Football, Destruction, killing the ref and gore…Well I can think of one thing I would want more

7. Mutant league Hockey – Even better than Mutant League Football because it was hockey with fights.

8. Paperboy – It showed me that what might sound like a stupid idea could be made into a good one.

9. Altered Beats – No Other purpose than this was the game that came with Sega when I got it and opened up a new world to me.

10. Bill Walsh’s College football – Finally I could play as Michigan in a football game

11. Mario Andretti’s Racing – The First racing game I really liked it had Stock Car, Indy Car and Dirt Track (The PS version was pretty awesome to)

12. Saturday Night Slam Masters : the First really awesome wrestling game ever created that I got to play

13. Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium : This is something that I have everything to owe to Emulators, I got to see just how cool Japanese wrestling video games are every since then I have been addicted

14. Championship Manger 00/01 : I had ever heard of Championship Manager until I played TEW. Downloaded it got it and since then it has been a great source for addiction.

15. NBA Jam / T.E. – Let me play has Bill Clinton and The Phoenix Suns Gorilla.

16. Suikoden – 108 characters just awesome.

17. Madden 97 – After playing one game of Madden on the PS I had to get it

18. Gran Truismo – Just a awesome game first time you could race with real cars.

19. TMN 7– First Wrestling sim I got into

20. Pac Man – Just remember going to the bowling alley and playing it.

H.M.

Genghis Kahn Series

NHLPA (forget what year)

[PkmnTrainerJ]

1. Pokémon Red/Blue

So, these games grabbed my soul from me during High School and refuse even to this day to give it back.

2. Final Fantasy VII

This game was/is brilliant. I owe staying in videogames to this game.

3. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins(GB)

My first lengthy experience of anything Mario related, and this game introduced Wario to the Mario world.

4. Dragon's Lair (NES)

This was the first game I found hard. Hours later I got through it, but it was damn hard.

5. Battletoads/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

The first games that I played multiplayer on and thoroughly enjoyed. I will be getting both of these on the Wii.

6. Bomberman (SNES)

The first ever game that all my family played, I'll be honest, we had tournaments and everything.

7. Super Mario 64 (N64)

This platformer was brilliant and sucked away many hours of my life, as my N64 also found out that I already gave Pokémon my soul when I loaded Stadium 1 & 2 into it.

8. WWF SmackDown! (PS1)

This was brilliant back then, I love character creation in anything and all the moves, and it was just brilliant. Also the first wrestling game I played.

9. Street Fighter II: TURBO! (SNES)

Blanka > *. This got me into fighting games, and then Tekken and Smash Bros. came along.

10. Kid Icarus (GB)

Another good platformer, which introduced me to the thing of platforming game secrets. So glad Pit is in Smash Bros. Brawl!

11. Metroid II: ??? (GB)

Okay, so I can't remember it's name. This game could have me stuck on certain areas for days, which I guess taught me patience in videogames, I guess this has waned recently though, FUCKING SHINY CHARMANDER NOW!

12. Tombi (PS1)

If you haven't played it, do so. It is a brilliant platformer/RPG which is so Japanese it hurts. It is in English though.

13. Mortal Kombat II

So I missed out on the first Mortal Kombat. This introduced me to even more violence than I thought possible in videogames.

14. Final Fantasy X (PS2)

A storyline that kept me continually guessing, a brilliantly made RPG, and my first experience of Final Fantasy on the Playstation 2.

15. Digimon World (PS1)

Once again, a brilliant RPG and it cleverly blends together the best elements of the animé.

16. Paperboy (NES)

So many black houses after day 1.

17. Sonic The Hedgehog

I always discovered something new in this game by taking alternate routes, and now always try to do the same.

18. Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES)

This introduced the idea of totally different worlds being in the same game to me, and contained innovative puzzles involving doing something in one world, so something else would change in the other, an idea which carried on into the Minish Cap, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

19. Civiliazation II (PS1)

Owning a civilization may be the most interesting thing to do, war, espionage and technology advancements. Awesome.

20. Tetris

Apparently they're called Tetriminos. wtf?

Though I have numbered these, they're not in any order (well maybe Pokémon at the top)

[Chris the Human]

In no particular order

1 - Myth: The Fallen Lords

2 - World Cup Soccer 98

3 - Escape Velocity

4 - Marathon 2: Durandal

5 - EWR

6 - Championship Manager 01

7 - Planescape Torment

8 - Neverwinter Nights

9 - Civilisation 2

10 - SimCity 2000

11 - Millennium

12 - The Secret of Monkey Island

13 - Diablo

14 - StarCraft

15 - The Sims

16 - World of WarCraft

17 - Halo

18 - Operation Thunderbolt

19 - SimCinema

20 - Rollercoaster Tycoon 2

[TheCrippler]

Sabateur (Spectrum) - The first game i ever really loved, played it to death. I played it on an emulator recently and couldn't even figure out what to do, it hasn't aged well

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (NES) - Loved everything about it, I'll always remember getting right to the end of the technodrome , going into a complete panic, and losing to shredder. I never got that close to completing it again.

Rescue: The Embassy Mission (NES) - Most of you will never have heard of it, but I loved it. Look it up.

Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) - I loved all the mario games, but this was by far the best of it's times. So much to do.

European Champions (Amiga) - Some crappy football game which for some reason I played to death.

Monkey Island 1 and 2 (Amiga) - Awesome, everybody should have played these.

Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga) - I lost weeks playing the management mode of this.

Street Fighter 2 (Arcade) - Seriously, I must've spent an insane amount of money on this bad boy. I was unbeatable as Ryu though, pretty much still am

Legend of Zelda (SNES) - I forget the subtitle, but it's the game that got me into RPG's.

Super Mario World (SNES) - The natural progressor to SMB3, Loved it.

Worms (Playstation) - Yep, believe it or not the game that made me want a PS was worms. Well, that and...

Resident Evil (Playstation) - Awesome game, so much more adult than I was used to and really quite revolutionary at the time.

Mario 64 (N64) - As dissapointing as the console was for me, this game was anything but a dissapointment.

Metal Gear Solid (Playstation) - The first game with a story that I loved as much as the actual game, which was then surpassed by....

Final Fantasy 7 (Playstation) - Simply jawdropping. I played for hours at a time, never has a game devoured my life like this one did.

Grand Theft Auto (Playstation) - While all my friends mocked me saying it looked like a NES game, I loved the original. I was still playing it when GTA3 arrived, and then I eventually bought a PS2, and found....

GTA: Vice City (PS2) - I still like it better than San Andreas

Manhunt (PS2) - For all the bad publicity, and all the gore and violence, this was an AWESOME game. And one I still revisit every once in a while.

Star Wars : KOTOR (Xbox) - Pretty much the sole reason I bought an Xbox, this game was the last game I played to really devour me and not let me go right to the very end. If they anounce number 3 for the 360 I will instantly buy one. No questions asked.

[THE CEO]

Monkey Island (1+2)

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Day of the Tentacle

Lemmings

GTA Vice City

GTA San Andreas

EWR

Championship Manager (1998,2001,2004)

Football Manager 2005

The Sims

Sim City 4

Doom

Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain

WWF No Mercy

Worms (on PC)

Rollercoaster Tycoon

Age of Empires (1+2)

Pro Evolution Soccer

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Call of Duty

[The Kraig]

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

I still play this game when I'm bored on the GBA remake since my NES died. I suppose that speaks volumes.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (& Knuckles) (Mega Drive)

I also play this from time to time even now, on a Sonic collection disk for the gamecube.

Super/Mega Bomberman (SNES/Mega Drive)

I include both games, while being entirely different games, both had equal amounts of great Bomberman fun. I used to love having people over, ultimate multiplayer fun. I hope an online version of this comes out in the next gen.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES)

Probably the only beat 'em up I could play for hours (Mortal Kombat almost beats it, especially the new one - Deception. Had TONS of stuff in it, while the SF series sucks now).

Super Mario Kart (SNES)

Played it so much. Couldn't leave it off the list. Loved the multiplayer as well, balloon popping was greatness. I still have my SNES, and played this about a year ago. The cart is fucked up, but it still felt good.

Super Mario World (SNES)

I have the remake for this on GBA as well. Equally as awesome as Mario 3 was.

WWF WrestleMania 2000 (then WWF No Mercy) (N64)

Precursor to the best wrestling game which stood for a long time, WM2K was just No Mercy with less content. No Mercy was updated greatly and tons of new stuff was added.

WCW vs The World (PS)

Best PS wrestling game. Thunder, Nitro, Mayhem, Warzone, SmackDown, this was better than it. Attitude was different, but again, was just a better version of Warzone. I completed this as Jushin Thunder Lyger on monday night during RAW, great game for it's time, no wonder I played it so much.

Grand Theft Auto: London (PS)

I never liked GTA, or GTA2, but I LOVED GTA London. I don't know why, everything looked better, and the missions were more interesting. I mean, stealing the crown jewels? Recreating the Italian Job? Running over every single football player in a stadium for a bet? AWESOME. And there was James Bond-like missions, it was such a good game, I fucking hate the fact my GTA disk got broke (you needed the GTA disk to play GTA London). They're long gone in the bin, along with my PS too. I should look into finding a ROM of it.

FIFA Road To World Cup 98 (PS)

I played all the FIFA games on the Mega Drive with the pseudo-3D pitch (as opposed to Italia '90's 2D top-down view), but this was the first really 3D football game I ever played, and I actually pretended to be sick for like a week to play it.

Pokémon Red/Blue/Gold/Silver/Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (GB/A) (¬_¬)

Well...it's fun. You collect little pets and make them kill each other. What more do you want?

Championship Manager/Football Manager (PC)

My first was 00/01 (I think) and I've got every game since then by SI. It basically the same game every year with little additions each year. The simulated pitch is probably the biggest improvement in it's history. A must-have for any PC owner who liked football.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (and then San Andreas) (PS2)

Duh.

Halo (Xbox)

The first FPS I loved immediately. Great story, great graphics, great AI, great everything. But...

Halo 2 (Xbox)

Took everything in Halo to a whole new level of awesome. Insane graphics, and basically the same as above. But with online multiplayer through Xbox Live, it's a game I've played at least once a week since it launched in November 2004. It's a special game. I've actually met two people through it, and I even went out with one multiple times, and now work for her. I mean. Come on. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FOR £40?

WWE Raw vs SmackDown! (PS2)

The current 2006 version said it's time for No Mercy to hang up it's moniker of best wrestling game ever. Tons of stuff to do, excellent CAW options, never ending fun. Until the new one comes out of course. This time also on Xbox 360~! w00t.

Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox)

The first game I ever played that went on Xbox Live. It was a surreal feeling the first time I went online, but luckily PRG2 was probably the best game for an Xbox Live n00b to be on. You can't get 'bullied', and there's lots of stuff to do both in single and multiplayer, and the variety of gametypes people created meant that you could play for hours with strangers without getting pissed off at each other for doing shitty games.

Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC)

Probabaly the best Nintendo franchise now, and is oddly probably the best beat 'em up. MK Deception is a much more rounded game, with RPG elements, but SSBM was just a complete clusterfuck of fun. If anyone has a GC and doesn't have this game needs a slap.

Extreme Warfare Revenge (then Total Extreme Wrestling) (PC)

It's why we're all here really. I still play TEW regularly, and even created the first stat update for the original TEW when it came out. Just a great game, it's a shame Adam has to make his game with fake data.

Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic (and then KOTOR II) (Xbox)

My favourite console RPG of all time, takes Star Wars, and makes it really interesting (even to those who don't like it much). There's even been talk of making the games into films, but it's obviously just rumours and probably bullshit, since Lucas said he was done after Episode III. But the storylines for KOTOR were actually better than a lot of the stuff in the films. Another game that was exclusive to Xbox.

I fucking love them all so much.

[Lowerdeck]

Going in order of when I played them....

1. Super Mario Bros. (NES)

2. Duck Hunt (NES)

3. RC Pro Am (NES)

4. Super Mario 3 (NES)

5. Guerrila War (NES)

6. Microsoft Golf (PC)

7. Mario Kart 64 (N64)

8. Jetmoto (PSX)

9. Crash Bandicoot 2 (PSX)

10. Triple Play 98 Baseball (PSX)

11. Promotion Wars (PC)

12. TOCA Touring Car Championships (PSX)

13. NBA Showtime (PSX)

14. Grand Theft Auto 3 (PS2)

15. Sim City 2000 (PC)

16. GTA Vice City (PS2)

17. Goldeneye (N64)

18. Out of the Park Baseball 6.5 (PC)

19. GTA San Andreas (PS2)

20. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 (Xbox)