It would not surprise me if we are all of different age groups, but I’m interested in hearing from everyone about what games they held close to them from growing up? I’ll go first:
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Mario Kart 64
This was the first real video game I played growing up, I believe I was about 3 years old, and that’s what started my addiction. Not that I’m complaining.
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Poke’mon XD: Gale of Darkness
I remember getting the Gamecube for Christmas that year, along with the release of this game. It is definitely an odd Poke’mon game, but its grittier theme seemed so cool to me. I believe I was already a fan of Poke’mon sapphire, but this game just felt different. Plus, it had my favorite Poke’mon, Umbrion, in it.
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Smash Bros (64)
For a kid who grew up without any siblings and who couldn’t always hang out with friends. This was a great game whether it was alone or couch co-oping.
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Minecraft
I remember the release of Minecraft, cause my friends at the time kept bragging about a game that you “could do anything in.” I wouldn’t describe Minecraft alpha like that, but it sure was a fun building game.
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Halo 3
I had played Halos at friends’ houses, but halo 3 was the first one that I owned. I must have played through the story over 100 times. Then when I got Xbox live, that was a game-changer.
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When I grew up Pokemon was a huge part of my childhood, so I would have to say Pokemon Red/Blue, Pokemon Silver/Crystal/Gold, and Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire were some of my favorites growing up.
As I got older, I ventured into Call of Duty, which encompassed campaign, multiplayer, and zombies, so the early iterations of COD are some of my favorites. Early iterations being World at War, MW2, MW3, BO1 and BO2. Out of these probably the Modern Warfare series had the best campaign, and the Black ops possessed the better multiplayer.
Right now, I’ve ventured into different genres and different platforms. I play Pokemon Go on mobile and that is one of my favorite games ever despite being such a simplified version of the original games. I enjoy GTA V a lot and getting it, I believe was one of the best gaming decisions I’ve ever made. Also, Red Dead Redemption 2 became one of my all-time favorites for the great campaign and how captivating the multiplayer is.
Here are mine.
5. Halo CE
4. Mario Bros
3. Call of Duty
2. GTA Vice City
- Mortal Kombat 2
I actually didn’t have a console or a PC most of my younger days. But I got chances to play those aforementioned games when I’d visit my friends’ houses. I remember looking forward to playing Vice City with my friend, for the whole week. We’d usually visit him on Saturday. I’ve only recently completed games like Call of Duty and Halo though. I had only played one or two missions when I was younger.
It’s difficult to rank them, but for me:
- Okami
- Minecraft
- Pokemon Diamond & Pearl
- Endless Ocean
- The Sims 2
Okami was always my favourite, and I played this on the Wii. Loved the art, music, gameplay, and storyline. You can get it on Steam these days and I recommend it.
Minecraft, I don’t need to explain too much!
Pokemon D&P was also something my friends and I played a lot, and it was my first pokemon game.
Endless Ocean is a bit of a lesser-known one. It was released on the Wii, and it’s a diving sim where you go around and catalogue a bunch of marine animals. I actually emulate this now on the PC ever since my Wii died, and the atmosphere is really calming.
The Sims 2… this was probably the first “real” game I played when I was a kid. My parents had this game on their PC so I would play it on there at first. I think I spent the most time in Strangetown, and I also liked the Pets and Seasons packs. We had to get those as physical copies, too 
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I’ll leave a list below of my top 5.
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Star Wars battlefront II
I can honestly say I’ve never enjoyed destroying bots in a game as much as this one. I spent countless hours fighting on each of the games wonderful levels to the extent I started every match fully upgraded. At the time I was never sure why that was… I still don’t! I’m going to chalk it up to being badass. I don’t need the real answer.
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Pokemon
Pokemon blue on the Gameboy Colour was my first ever introduction into the world of Pokemon but it was with the SP that my love for it heated up. It’s hard to pinpoint a favourite game but anything from Emerald, Blue and Heart Gold were the best for me.
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Animal crossing
Face: I once fell out of my bunk bed with my Nintendo DS in hand and snapped the screen off while playing this game. The device still somehow worked along as you held it in a certain angle. If thats not love I don’t know what is.
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Doom
As a young child my father would operate the mouse and directional keys, while I would click ctrl to shoot; the dream monster killing team. It was a wonderful combination and one I’ll never forget.
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Civilisation II
This was one I also used to play with my dad. We would set up a game and become co rulers of our very own civilisation. That was until I got good and was able to beat him myself. I’ll always remember this game as the one that got me hooked on the series.
I gamed almost exclusively on PC when I was young. In my teen years, we had a Wii and an Xbox 360.
My love of fantasy rpgs came from the original Fate game; the one that came pre-loaded for free back in the day. I loved finding weird things to feed my pets and that it was made for kids, so I didn’t get frustrated for not having much skill. I still love top-down dungeon crawlers.
My second favorite is probably Lego Indiana Jones. I played this from start to finish in one sitting and I had never seen any of the movies. Lego games are just so fun to play! I immediately begged my stepdad to play Lego Batman when he got home, and my mom says it was the first time we got along for more than 5 minutes at a time. Though I will admit, we spent more time punching each other than finishing any missions.
When we were kids, I would always beat my brother at Mortal Kombat. As adults, he now knows I could just push all the buttons faster. With 5 siblings, it was great to have something that was easy to play tournament style and didn’t have a split-screen that only made the game fun for one person. Plus, we could all find a character that we liked.
I played a ton of Sonic the Hedgehog when I was a kid, too. I played a few iterations of the computer game, and my dad went out of his way to find places that still had the arcade version. My little brother now calls himself Sonic and we play together. Few things make me happier honestly.
Lastly, I have to mention Just Dance. This is literally the only way I made friends. I also knew all the songs when we played at school, so I managed 5 minutes of fame just from that. I’m not ashamed to admit that I pay for the unlimited now on my Switch.
