Nostalgia from my childhood would be Super Marip Bros 3, Rainbow Islands, Felix The Cat, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario All Stars, Mario Party
There is a couple nes games that always take me back to my early days of collectioning. Xenophobe, Winter Games, Solar Jetman and Star Voyaguer were some of the first titles I picked up
Lots, but I have a particular fondness for these oddball titles on the SNES: Combatribes, Fighter's History and World Heroes. Just a ton of childhood memories wrapped up in those games, and I've written about them more than once on my website, lol.
Good times.
I don't know if we've talked about this or not in diffrent threads, but that game just doesn't get the respect it deserves. Of the "Just after SFII" rush of fighters, it's one of the best. I like it better than most SNK games that are better known.
There's something I really like about it. I think it was its bright colors, cool looking stages and pure simplicity. It's also got one of my favorite fighting bars in fighting game history... I just like how nice and thick it was... rectangular with yellow that filled with red as you got damaged. Similar to SFII except SFII had "rounded" bars and I preferred FH's rectangular bars. It's a super small detail but something that always puts a smile on my face.
The SNES port is also one of the best arcade translations on the system. Data East really did a fine job "SNES-ifying" it. Even to this day, I think it holds up extremely well, and I enjoy breaking it out every now and again.
First I remember playing a SMB arcade cabinet at a bus station. Then my parents got us an NES. What glory.
SMB 1, Ice Hockey, SMB 3.... I think those were the first three games I had and loved first. Hearing the coin sound and opening music of SMB3 when you hit start is one of my favourite if not THE favourite music moments in any video game for me.
Tons of games do, but the biggest is SMB 2. I was already a huge Mario fanatic as a kid, so being a fan of Mario 2 was a no brainer. I had played it a friend's house and was just enamored.
What really kind of set this game in stone to me, was around the time I was 10 years old, my family endured a huge tragedy(I don't want to bum out the thread, so I'll keep it vague), and this game helped me keep my head straight and get back to normal. I didn't block anything out or go into denial, it was just that SMB2 was a fun, colorful place I could go hide in for a while and distract me and my brother from the stuff around us. We played some other games to here and there, but Mario became an anchor that kept us grounded and not lose our heads.
As for the nostalgia, any time I hear any music from Mario 2, I'm reminded of that time. But, it's not a bad thing. I'm reminded of mending wounds, of when my family was probably the closest it has ever been, etc. It's weird, but it works for me.
I'm extremely biased towards that game, and I will admit to getting somewhat defensive when internet "experts" pick it apart over it's cloudy origins.
There are a lot to list, but for me the main ones would be Super Mario Bros and Sonic. I can clearly remember playing SMB in my cousin's basement when I was
Admittedly I've only TRUELY beaten Sonic 2 and gotten all the Chaos Emeralds, the others I've only just beat to the end
More sleepover hours and nights than any other game. The game we would still play even when the graphics got all glitched out and koopa troopas were just three triangles. The strategy guide was the only issue of Nintendo Power I owned, and I practically memorized it. It was the game I fantasized about playing on a big screen when I grew up. I got it for Christmas after the demand died down and my aunt could get me her video store's Japanese copy with NES adaptor. That was just extra special.
I love lots of games, but none with more specific associations and memories attached.
For whatever reason, for me it mostly clusters around SNES games with high-quality and/or ambient soundtracks:
ActRaiser
Drakkhen
Lord of the Rings Vol. 1
Out of this World
Prince of Persia
Secret of Mana
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
Chrono Trigger's music also gives me that feeling bigtime, even though I didn't play it back then. Same with Robotrek. Sküljagger messes with me too, for different reasons.
Otherwise, hmmm, maybe something like this:
Chuck Norris Superkicks (Atari 2600)
Dungeons of Daggorath (Tandy CoCo)
Parsec (TI-99/4A)
various educational programs (Apple II)
Xexyz (NES)
etc. etc. A lot of the time it's mainly about what I haven't seen in a long, long time.
Earthbound, all PS1 FFs, Secret of Evermore, Toe Jam and Earl, Captain America and the Avengers (genesis), Myst (pc), Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario World/64.
I owe my love for RPGs to my older cousins. They would come visit from Texas and rent games such as Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire. I was 5 when I watched them play Chrono Trigger, and while my Pre-K reading comprehension was no match for text-story driven games like CT, I would mimic all the things my cousins would do. I remember playing the dragon tank boss after you escape prison and not knowing what in the world I was doing, but I memorized what menu buttons they pressed and I eventually beat him.
Earthbound was similar. When I would rent the game, the store would also let you take home the player's guide. Again, I couldn't read all the words to the guide or game, but I would get my dad to help me when he wasn't busy. To this day, the intro up to the Titanic Ant fight is nostalgia overload for me.
One more interesting thing I just thought of that I use to do. I grew up in a small town where everybody knew everybody and it was a weekend tradition for me to rent 2 games. I would sometimes get the contact information from the rental store owner of who rented a certain game before me. For example, I could not beat the giant boss in the swamp on Secret of Evermore. I found out some woman had rented the game several times in the last month and there was a save file that was at the end of the game and I deduced that she probably knew how to beat the swamp boss. I literally called her from my house phone and she walked me through how to beat him and it worked! Lol...I know that was kind of off topic, but I just remembered this and how that would never happen again with instant access to guide on the internet.
The only 4 that really bring back memories for me are, in chronological order: DKC (SNES), Diablo (PC), Goldeneye (N64), and NFS High Stakes (PC)
DKC was good for a long, long time for alot of memories playing it with my cousin. We played all 3, but the first one was always the one we eventually found our way back to. Diablo was my first experience with online multiplayer, the first RPG-ish game I played, and the first more adult-oriented game I played. I played online occasionally with my cousin, but far more often with my dad... he would stay behind at the office after work and play online with me quite often. That was alot of fun. Goldeneye for the same reasons as everyone else. NFS High Stakes was the first non-kart racing game I got into, and played this online with my cousin alot. We both got steering wheel controllers to play this with too. After awhile, we got pretty heavily into the car mods for this game, we both loved modding and building new cars and importing them into the game and playing with them online. It was alot of fun.
YES!! I forgot to put this one in my little list. Spent so much time with this as a kid, the 2 player mode was so much fun when you had someone to play with. Loved figuring out all the puzzles in that game. Definitely in my top 5 SNES games, one of the most under-appreciated games to come out on the system IMO.
Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. Played them on my GBA as a kid and loved them, and they might have triggered my interest in retro games.
Also, Golden Sun was my favourite game as a kid (I'm actually replaying it right now) on the GBA.
Finally, can't forget some Neo Geo games I played when we went to Italy for vacations. The town had 2 MVSes with Puzzle Bobble 3 and Metal Slug X, loved both games. I'd eventually like to get Metal Slug X on my AES, but it's kind of on the expensive side
First time I ever played a video game was at my uncles house on the SNES. He had Mario world, Mario kart, smash TV and spiderman and Xmen arcades revenge. So those were big ones. And then I got an n64 for my birthday and my fondest memories on that is Pokémon Snap, donkey Kong 64 and smash Bros. Also Pokémon gold/silver on gameboy. Definitely some of my favourites there
first three generations of pokemon were huge for me. Kirby nightmare in dreamland was big as well. SSX tricky is a game that I love so much, I go back to it often. I have probably spent just as much time playing it as pokemon. Pikmin is another that I really didn't get at first but totally loved everything about it and I love to go back to it as much as possible.
Harry potter and the chamber of secrets on GBC as well. there are probably more but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.
Lode Runner for those old Mac computers. I was probably around five years old and we had a decent library of games like Haunted Castle, Uninvited, Shadow Gate, but I mostly remember playing Lode Runner and I constantly made my own levels from scratch, which I'm sure would look embarrassing by today's standard.
Demon Attack for the Atari 2600. My little kid brain used to get mesmerized by the swooping bird like 'demons' with the cool sound effects and changing enemies. This is A2600 game I remember playing most, in those early childhood days for which memory is at best foggy.
Super Mario Bros for the NES. It was about this time, I think I was seven, when I achieved full Video Game Sentience - meaning that I clearly remember this game's impact on what we previously believed that home games were capable of, which I need not go into on this forum.
Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit for the Amiga 500. Just like with Lode Runner, I was a big fan of making my own content in games, and this game was an excellent toolkit to make rudimentary shooters that would probably seem more impressive to a ten or eleven year old in the early 90s. Speaking of nostalgia, I have a ton of that for the Amiga 500. For some reason my parents got this for us instead of a Sega Genesis, much to my chagrin, but we (my brothers and I) quickly fell in love with the gaming computer which had far better graphics and sound that the home consoles we were used to at the time.
Hero's Quest (AKA Quest for Glory 1) for both Amiga 500 and PC. This was my first real experience into PC adventure gaming, and we played much of the Sierra and Lucasarts library, but Q4G will always be my favorite. I remember being blown away that you could just type whatever you wanted in, as the game forced you to think about what to say to advance your quest. Also very cool was the day and night cycle, where being caught outside at night could be dangerous, with ghosts near the graveyard and much more scary monsters running you down. It's this nostalgia bias that will always have me preferring the EGA version to the VGA remake, which seemed a lot easier as well.
I have too many games to talk about, so I'll pause here and maybe do an update post later on.
Comments
There is a couple nes games that always take me back to my early days of collectioning. Xenophobe, Winter Games, Solar Jetman and Star Voyaguer were some of the first titles I picked up
Originally posted by: Ozzy_98
Originally posted by: Steve
Lots, but I have a particular fondness for these oddball titles on the SNES: Combatribes, Fighter's History and World Heroes. Just a ton of childhood memories wrapped up in those games, and I've written about them more than once on my website, lol.
Good times.
I don't know if we've talked about this or not in diffrent threads, but that game just doesn't get the respect it deserves. Of the "Just after SFII" rush of fighters, it's one of the best. I like it better than most SNK games that are better known.
There's something I really like about it. I think it was its bright colors, cool looking stages and pure simplicity. It's also got one of my favorite fighting bars in fighting game history... I just like how nice and thick it was... rectangular with yellow that filled with red as you got damaged. Similar to SFII except SFII had "rounded" bars and I preferred FH's rectangular bars. It's a super small detail but something that always puts a smile on my face.
The SNES port is also one of the best arcade translations on the system. Data East really did a fine job "SNES-ifying" it. Even to this day, I think it holds up extremely well, and I enjoy breaking it out every now and again.
SMB 1, Ice Hockey, SMB 3.... I think those were the first three games I had and loved first. Hearing the coin sound and opening music of SMB3 when you hit start is one of my favourite if not THE favourite music moments in any video game for me.
Hunt The Wumpus
Alpiner
Munchman
Kung Fu
Super Mario Bros 1 & 2
Duck Hunt
Metroid
Punch-Out!
Rick Dangerous
ToeJam and Earl
Mortal Kombat
Altered Beast
Super Mario 64, Goldeneye, Bushido Blade
What really kind of set this game in stone to me, was around the time I was 10 years old, my family endured a huge tragedy(I don't want to bum out the thread, so I'll keep it vague), and this game helped me keep my head straight and get back to normal. I didn't block anything out or go into denial, it was just that SMB2 was a fun, colorful place I could go hide in for a while and distract me and my brother from the stuff around us. We played some other games to here and there, but Mario became an anchor that kept us grounded and not lose our heads.
As for the nostalgia, any time I hear any music from Mario 2, I'm reminded of that time. But, it's not a bad thing. I'm reminded of mending wounds, of when my family was probably the closest it has ever been, etc. It's weird, but it works for me.
I'm extremely biased towards that game, and I will admit to getting somewhat defensive when internet "experts" pick it apart over it's cloudy origins.
Admittedly I've only TRUELY beaten Sonic 2 and gotten all the Chaos Emeralds, the others I've only just beat to the end
More sleepover hours and nights than any other game. The game we would still play even when the graphics got all glitched out and koopa troopas were just three triangles. The strategy guide was the only issue of Nintendo Power I owned, and I practically memorized it. It was the game I fantasized about playing on a big screen when I grew up. I got it for Christmas after the demand died down and my aunt could get me her video store's Japanese copy with NES adaptor. That was just extra special.
I love lots of games, but none with more specific associations and memories attached.
NES - Zelda 1 & Friday the 13th
SMS - Phantasy Star
SNES - Actraiser, Final Fantasy 4, 6, Chrono Trigger & Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Gen - Shinobi 3, Phantasy Star 4 & Strider
TG16 - Kieth Courage
Double Dribble
Top Gun
My grandparents had those games at their house. The got a lot of play when all my cousins came in town for Christmas
Blaster Master
Legacy of the Wizard
TMNT 1
River City Ransom
ActRaiser
Drakkhen
Lord of the Rings Vol. 1
Out of this World
Prince of Persia
Secret of Mana
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
Chrono Trigger's music also gives me that feeling bigtime, even though I didn't play it back then. Same with Robotrek. Sküljagger messes with me too, for different reasons.
Otherwise, hmmm, maybe something like this:
Chuck Norris Superkicks (Atari 2600)
Dungeons of Daggorath (Tandy CoCo)
Parsec (TI-99/4A)
various educational programs (Apple II)
Xexyz (NES)
etc. etc. A lot of the time it's mainly about what I haven't seen in a long, long time.
I owe my love for RPGs to my older cousins. They would come visit from Texas and rent games such as Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire. I was 5 when I watched them play Chrono Trigger, and while my Pre-K reading comprehension was no match for text-story driven games like CT, I would mimic all the things my cousins would do. I remember playing the dragon tank boss after you escape prison and not knowing what in the world I was doing, but I memorized what menu buttons they pressed and I eventually beat him.
Earthbound was similar. When I would rent the game, the store would also let you take home the player's guide. Again, I couldn't read all the words to the guide or game, but I would get my dad to help me when he wasn't busy. To this day, the intro up to the Titanic Ant fight is nostalgia overload for me.
One more interesting thing I just thought of that I use to do. I grew up in a small town where everybody knew everybody and it was a weekend tradition for me to rent 2 games. I would sometimes get the contact information from the rental store owner of who rented a certain game before me. For example, I could not beat the giant boss in the swamp on Secret of Evermore. I found out some woman had rented the game several times in the last month and there was a save file that was at the end of the game and I deduced that she probably knew how to beat the swamp boss. I literally called her from my house phone and she walked me through how to beat him and it worked! Lol...I know that was kind of off topic, but I just remembered this and how that would never happen again with instant access to guide on the internet.
DKC was good for a long, long time for alot of memories playing it with my cousin. We played all 3, but the first one was always the one we eventually found our way back to. Diablo was my first experience with online multiplayer, the first RPG-ish game I played, and the first more adult-oriented game I played. I played online occasionally with my cousin, but far more often with my dad... he would stay behind at the office after work and play online with me quite often. That was alot of fun. Goldeneye for the same reasons as everyone else. NFS High Stakes was the first non-kart racing game I got into, and played this online with my cousin alot. We both got steering wheel controllers to play this with too. After awhile, we got pretty heavily into the car mods for this game, we both loved modding and building new cars and importing them into the game and playing with them online. It was alot of fun.
The rest, in order only of which that they spring to mind, is as follows:
Double Dragon
Skate or Die
Super Mario 1,2, and 3
Tiger Heli
Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!
Excitebike
Super Spike Vball
Adventure Island
Ducktales
Ice Hockey
Zelda 1 & 2
Battletoads
Ninja Gaiden
Tecmo Bowl
Metroid
Cobra Triangle
Starfox
Castlevania
Actraiser
Super Mario World
F-Zero
Earthworm Jim
Kid Icarus
Paperboy
Pilotwings
NBA Jam
Street Fighter 2
Mortal Kombat
Karate Champ
RBI Baseball
Super Mario Kart
Gauntlet
Friday the 13th
Outrun
Donkey Kong Country
Sunsetriders
Pole Position
Bad Dudes
Final Fight
Super nintendo:
Donkey Kong trilogy
Kirby all stars
Goofy Troop
Mario kart
Super Mario world
YES!! I forgot to put this one in my little list. Spent so much time with this as a kid, the 2 player mode was so much fun when you had someone to play with. Loved figuring out all the puzzles in that game. Definitely in my top 5 SNES games, one of the most under-appreciated games to come out on the system IMO.
Myth I/II
Total Annihilation
Baldur's Gate
Was between 12-14 for all of those. Probably means something.
Also, Golden Sun was my favourite game as a kid (I'm actually replaying it right now) on the GBA.
Finally, can't forget some Neo Geo games I played when we went to Italy for vacations. The town had 2 MVSes with Puzzle Bobble 3 and Metal Slug X, loved both games. I'd eventually like to get Metal Slug X on my AES, but it's kind of on the expensive side
But...
SNES:
Off Road: The Baja
Mickey's Ultimate Challenge
Goof Troop
James Bond Jr.
Edit: I see Goof Troop was mentioned before! Nice to see that one getting some love
Also, talking purely nostalgia these take me all the way back
Kickle Cubicle
Arkanoid
Alley Way
Picross
Mario Bros 1-3 & World
Super Mario Kart
Mario RPG
Turtles in Time
Links Awakening
A Link to the Past
Smash TV
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Little Ninja Brothers
Metroid II
Super Metroid
Final Fantasy III
Secret of Mana
Battletoads
Super Double Dragon
Contra III
Mega Man 2 & 3
Super Punch Out
Donkey Kong Country
Harvest Moon
Street Fighter II
Mortal Kombat II
Killer Instinct
Knights of the Round
These are what come to mind when I think of gaming when I was younger.
Contra is by far #1 for me, my brother and I played through this game hundreds upon hundreds of times, and it'll never be unseated from #1 for me.
The rest, in order only of which that they spring to mind, is as follows:
Double Dragon
Skate or Die
Super Mario 1,2, and 3
Tiger Heli
Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!
Excitebike
Super Spike Vball
Adventure Island
Ducktales
Ice Hockey
Zelda 1 & 2
Battletoads
Ninja Gaiden
Tecmo Bowl
Metroid
Cobra Triangle
Starfox
Castlevania
Actraiser
Super Mario World
F-Zero
Earthworm Jim
Kid Icarus
Paperboy
Pilotwings
NBA Jam
Street Fighter 2
Mortal Kombat
Karate Champ
RBI Baseball
Super Mario Kart
Gauntlet
Friday the 13th
Outrun
Donkey Kong Country
Sunsetriders
Pole Position
Bad Dudes
Final Fight
Great list and #1 pick!
Contra is by far #1 for me, my brother and I played through this game hundreds upon hundreds of times, and it'll never be unseated from #1 for me.
The rest, in order only of which that they spring to mind, is as follows:
Double Dragon
Skate or Die
Super Mario 1,2, and 3
Tiger Heli
Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!
Excitebike
Super Spike Vball
Adventure Island
Ducktales
Ice Hockey
Zelda 1 & 2
Battletoads
Ninja Gaiden
Tecmo Bowl
Metroid
Cobra Triangle
Starfox
Castlevania
Actraiser
Super Mario World
F-Zero
Earthworm Jim
Kid Icarus
Paperboy
Pilotwings
NBA Jam
Street Fighter 2
Mortal Kombat
Karate Champ
RBI Baseball
Super Mario Kart
Gauntlet
Friday the 13th
Outrun
Donkey Kong Country
Sunsetriders
Pole Position
Bad Dudes
Final Fight
Great list and #1 pick!
Thanks man, in hindsight I can't believe I didn't include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles II: The Arcade Game. Inexcusable omission!
Harry potter and the chamber of secrets on GBC as well. there are probably more but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.
Contra is by far #1 for me, my brother and I played through this game hundreds upon hundreds of times, and it'll never be unseated from #1 for me.
The rest, in order only of which that they spring to mind, is as follows:
Double Dragon
Skate or Die
Super Mario 1,2, and 3
Tiger Heli
Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!
Excitebike
Super Spike Vball
Adventure Island
Ducktales
Ice Hockey
Zelda 1 & 2
Battletoads
Ninja Gaiden
Tecmo Bowl
Metroid
Cobra Triangle
Starfox
Castlevania
Actraiser
Super Mario World
F-Zero
Earthworm Jim
Kid Icarus
Paperboy
Pilotwings
NBA Jam
Street Fighter 2
Mortal Kombat
Karate Champ
RBI Baseball
Super Mario Kart
Gauntlet
Friday the 13th
Outrun
Donkey Kong Country
Sunsetriders
Pole Position
Bad Dudes
Final Fight
Great list and #1 pick!
Thanks man, in hindsight I can't believe I didn't include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles II: The Arcade Game. Inexcusable omission!
Meh, it's passable I've always been a Turtles 3 guy. They both rule, though!
Friday the 13th is the real gem
I played a lot of super off road the baja too "arriba!"
Originally posted by: skinnygrinny
SMB 1,3, MM3, LOZ, excitebike, xexyz, destination earth star, astynax, strider, super Mario cart, super punch out and chrono trigger.
I played a lot of super off road the baja too "arriba!"
lol, and that terrible scream when you run over an ATV rider.
Lode Runner for those old Mac computers. I was probably around five years old and we had a decent library of games like Haunted Castle, Uninvited, Shadow Gate, but I mostly remember playing Lode Runner and I constantly made my own levels from scratch, which I'm sure would look embarrassing by today's standard.
Demon Attack for the Atari 2600. My little kid brain used to get mesmerized by the swooping bird like 'demons' with the cool sound effects and changing enemies. This is A2600 game I remember playing most, in those early childhood days for which memory is at best foggy.
Super Mario Bros for the NES. It was about this time, I think I was seven, when I achieved full Video Game Sentience - meaning that I clearly remember this game's impact on what we previously believed that home games were capable of, which I need not go into on this forum.
Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit for the Amiga 500. Just like with Lode Runner, I was a big fan of making my own content in games, and this game was an excellent toolkit to make rudimentary shooters that would probably seem more impressive to a ten or eleven year old in the early 90s. Speaking of nostalgia, I have a ton of that for the Amiga 500. For some reason my parents got this for us instead of a Sega Genesis, much to my chagrin, but we (my brothers and I) quickly fell in love with the gaming computer which had far better graphics and sound that the home consoles we were used to at the time.
Hero's Quest (AKA Quest for Glory 1) for both Amiga 500 and PC. This was my first real experience into PC adventure gaming, and we played much of the Sierra and Lucasarts library, but Q4G will always be my favorite. I remember being blown away that you could just type whatever you wanted in, as the game forced you to think about what to say to advance your quest. Also very cool was the day and night cycle, where being caught outside at night could be dangerous, with ghosts near the graveyard and much more scary monsters running you down. It's this nostalgia bias that will always have me preferring the EGA version to the VGA remake, which seemed a lot easier as well.
I have too many games to talk about, so I'll pause here and maybe do an update post later on.