The top 5 games that defined your childhood

[sworddude]

I'm getting such a kick out of reading all of these! I figure I can do mine. These aren't in any particular order, except for the last one.

Breath of Fire: My very first RPG. You never forget your first, am I right? I received it as a birthday gift from a friend of mine when I turned ten. Prior to this, I played the Marios and the Mega Mans and the Sonics and so on, but Breath of Fire just flabbergasted me. The game wasn't over in an afternoon! The game had a story with lots of dialogue! The game had two fierce female characters that I could use in battle! Breath of Fire started my love for the RPG genre.

Mega Man X: Of course, before I even heard of Breath of Fire, I was playing Mega Man X once a day. We received a Super Nintendo as a Christmas present and everyone received one game along with it. Mine was Mega Man X and...I can still play this game like a boss. I wish Capcom would get their **** together and make a Mega Man X9 already.

Chrono Trigger: Yep. Not much to say that hasn't already been said. This game rocks and is still easy to pick up and play.

Kirby Super Star: This was a wonderful game that made me wish for a four player multi-tap. Since the game was two-players, my siblings would always argue over who got to play the helper. There were so many great memories from Spring Breeze all the way to The Arena.

Secret of Mana: This was -THE- game that defined my childhood because it combined action, adventure, and RPG elements into one fantastic cartridge. All of this, combined with the gorgeous presentation and soundtrack make it my number one pick. Whether I was playing it by myself or playing it with a friend or family member, I always enjoyed going through this game. Like Chrono Trigger, I have no problems popping it back in these days.

Honorable Mentions: Mega Man X3, Mega Man 3, Mario 3 and Final Fantasy II (IV).

[kmacdw]

Bubble Bobble - First game I ever played.
Super Mario Kart - My favorite game on the first console I personally owned. My favorite game over all.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert - First RTS (one of my favorite genres) I ever played.
Guardian's Crusade - First J-RPG (favorite genre) I ever played.
Pokemon Red Version - Whose childhood wasn't defined by Pokemon?

Honorable Mentions: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Super Mario World, Wild ARMs, Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden 2

[mrfoxhound]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Pokemon: Yellow Version
Metal Gear Solid
Banjo-Kazooie / Kingdom Hearts

Flip a coin on the last one.

[shepard11]

I'd say the top 5 games that defined my childhood was probably.

Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6

What can I say I love mega man. And as a kid my mother would buy me a copy of the new game every year for X-mas. I still have each one of those in their boxes with booklets to this day on one of my shelves. I probably play one of those at least once or twice a week.

[marvelvscapcom2]

1.Super Mario 64 tied with Super Mario World.
2. Kingdom Hearts
3. Mike Tyson's Punchout
4. Marvel Vs Capcom 2
5. EarthBound

[doafan]

Not quite sure if they defined my childhood but I used to play them a lot so in some part they defined my tastes and what I do like to play.

* Moon Patrol (Atari): used to play this title a lot with a friend and when I said a lot I really mean it, we played this title all the afternoons after school and on Saturdays / Sunday I always went to his house just to play with it even before the 8:00 AM, at that time my parents weren't able to purchase neither the console or the cartridge so always was visiting those friends that were popular or with money to have them.

* Snoopy and the Red Baron (Atari) : when I was on my school vacations one of my uncles took me to the Arcades, don't have to said that it was one of my best fucking days of my entire life, were I did played Galaga, Asteroids and other awesome titles, guess that I don't have to say that am old anyway this games as simple it looks really took my attention and instantly became one of the most played, each coin was precious for me.

* Double Dragon (Sega Master): another of my uncles purchased this console to my cousins which came with this title, it's hard to admit it but I did played a Sega before a Nintendo console, the game was pure perfection because there was a huge change of graphics, sound and fun between the Atari and this one also the fact that there are unlimited lives before the last level made this pure fun.

* Super Mario Bros. (NES): the first title from this console that I ever played, none of my friends had this one at that time so I used to pay some pesos to one mothafucka from my neighborhood, he practically rented the console / game at his house for a full play but if there were a Game Over no mater were we have to pay again, God bless the unlimited lives code and the dude who discover this one.

* Mega Man 2 (NES): first title from this console that I owned, even when it didn't had the label was very special for me, used to play this one all days, even my mom told me a lot of time that I'll became an idiot someday, not quite sure if I ended like one cause still love to play at any chance that I have, for me the Icon of Capcom is not Ryu, it's this blue little fella, when I saw the bosses from this title at the third part of this franchise totally went crazy and screamed like a little girl.

[kmacdw]

I'd say the top 5 games that defined my childhood was probably.

Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6

What can I say I love mega man. And as a kid my mother would buy me a copy of the new game every year for X-mas. I still have each one of those in their boxes with booklets to this day on one of my shelves. I probably play one of those at least once or twice a week.

Are you Colin Moriarty?

[sloan11]

I know this is a few days old now, but I want a turn!

Super mario bros 3 - NES
contra - NES
Ken Griffey presents MLB - SNES
Super mario 64 - N64
zombies ate my neighbors - SNES

hon mention:
Super C  - NES
super mario bros 2 - NES
Sonic 2 - Genesis
super mario world 1 and 2 - SNES
mario tennis and golf - N64



i had so many baseball games on various systems, but griffey was always my fave!

[trinisete]

7 because... don't know

Shooting Galery (SMS)
Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
Doom (PC)
Super Mario RPG (SNES)
Pokemon Silver (GB)
Super Mario 64 (N64)
Devil May Cry (PS2)

[stlgamer75]

Great topic: I was a child in the 80's so my list will reflect that.

5. Tie between Metroid/Mike Tyson's Punch Out
4. Mario Bros (arcade cabinet)
3. Ms. Pac Man
2. The Legend of Zelda
1. Super Mario Bros.

[necrosexual]

pokemon blue (and silver) - pokemon is the main reason i put my effort into reading, i couldn't read til i was ~7, and pokemon is what motivated me, because i could barely play it without reading. and my brother got annoyed by inventory management for me lmao. also got me into drawing.
super mario rpg - first jrpg and i thought it was THE SHIT. imagine my surprise when there was a whole genre dedicated to gameplay like this game.
tetris attack - bro and i spent a lot of time... by the time we were adults i would sweep the floor with him on this damn game. my cousin and her fiance and my ex and his brothers would sit and honestly couldn't keep up with what we were doing. good times. i almost attempted the hard mode speed run on this one, actually... then i decided not to when i looked it up and knew i'd not beat the... 9 minute run time? something like that.
yoshi's island - by the time i was 9 i could beat the entire game after school by the time my dad got home
animal crossing (gcn) - taught me how to type, got me through a lot of late-childhood trauma and spawned my love for the series. i still have my first town all the way from 2003? 2004? on a mem card.

i had a snes for the first 8 years, then an n64, then a gcn when i was 10.
and a ps2 when i was 14.
i'd say childhood 'ended' for me at ~12, a lot of shit started happening in my life

honorary mentions to super mario kart, super mario world, harvest moon back to nature, pokemon stadium and 2, the lion king SNES, sim city 4, rollercoaster tycoon and 2, mario kart double dash, blinx the time-sweeper

[deuxbot]

Chronological order by played. I was a child in the 00s.

Super Mario Bros (NES). My cousin borrowme his NES and the first contact I have with videogames was Super Mario Bros. I don't remeber much of it, but I guess It was fun as hell because even my parents played it. I got the SNES later for a couple of months, but I didn't play any remarkable games.
Age of Empires (PC). The game that got me into PC gaming. My father bought a PC for job purposes. I grew up playing solid tittles as Unreal Tournament, Quake II, Starcraft, Pharaoh, Civilization III, but man, I played Age of Empires a hell of a lot. The gameplay was extremely fun, and it was so difficult for me as a child that the game last me months. Then my parents bought me the Collectors Edition with AoE 1 & 2 and the expanssions. I remeber studying the booklet with the trades of each civilization while I was in the beach. I probably played AoE II the whole year.
Final Fantasy VIII (PS1). I got the PS1 at the end of its life cycle, and I had troubled finding games in the local stores. FF8 is the game that bough me into RPGs and I totally love it (I didn't play FF7) I spend more than 100 hours and the playtime counter turned red. Great story, interesting characters, fun combat system, amazing BSO, I learnt what grinding was... ¡and I enjoy it! After playing this game, most of the others games seemed to lack depth.
Fable (Xbox). While all my friends were bragging about his PS2 and talking shit about the big black box, I ask my parents for the latter in christmas. Most of my console gaming memories are attached to it. The graphics were freaking awesome and buying was the right choice, even though my friends kinda despised me for that. Fable was the 3rd game I had. I love the epicness, the music, the humor... and the charming atmosphere. Although it felt incomplete. Then The Lost Chapters expanssion came out and playing again with all tied up was very satisfying. I still have the Anniversary Edition in my backllog, but it seems like they remove the cartoony design that characterizes it.
Gothic II (PC). For my, this is the best game of the best saga of RPGs (1, 2, & 3). A total hidden gem. The world seems perfectly tailored and the open world is amazing. I was totally sucked into its atmosphere... The character developement is challenging but rewarding. You can easily die fighting the first monsters and the are no annoying level scaling. This game was able to make me feel like I was the character of the game, and I think that is the biggest achievement for any RPG.

I was a PC and Xbox child.

[brazbit]

Pac-Man: It may not have been my favorite game of the time but is by far the most iconic. My sixth birthday cake was a Pac-Man cake. One of my favorite records growing up was a Pac-Man picture disc. Pac-Man was everywhere TV, Radio, Books, Magazines, Toys, canned foods, cereal boxes, watches, clocks, you name it. Pac-Man was the universal symbol of video games throughout the 80s.

Dragon's Lair: From the first time I saw Dragon's Lair at Chuck E Cheese I was changed. The sights and sounds of Dragon's Lair were so fa beyond anything else at the time that the equivalent jump today would have to be some Matrix like neural jack or a Star Trek style Holodeck. Because going from crude stick figures and still more than a few black & white games, not to mention the electro mechanicals that were still hanging around to a Disney quality interactive movie was mind blowing. It's hard to put into words what this did to open the mind to never before considered gaming potential. ironically, due to the astronomical 50 cent per credit price I rarely played it in the Arcade but I've bought nearly every home version that I have had a system for over the years. Getting Don Bluth to sign a Dragon's Lair art book a few years ago was so overwhelming an experience I sadly found myself speechless the one chance I'll likely ever have to thank him.

The Legend of Zelda: Adventure of Link: Forget the plumber, the vampire slayer, the little robot who could and the brain killing space lady, I bought my NES specifically for Link. Between this and the original Legend of Zelda the rest of the NES library was nothing more than filler.

Rampage/Bubble Bobble: These two go together. At least once a week for a couple of years my friends an I would bicycle down a local pizza place and play these two games. There were often four of us so at least one of us was on Bubble Bobble while 2-3 others were on Rampage and we would cycle out as we died to keep both games going. Since the games were for pizza patrons we adopted more than one unsuspecting pair of diners as family on the rare occasions we were questioned. Occasionally one of us would buy a slice if that looked unlikely to work.

[wiiucollector]

Aladdin (Mega Drive)
- I got the console bundle for Christmas, and even the artwork alone used to keep me captivated, but the game itself is an airtight performance on the Sega system. I sincerely hope it gets remade or even just sharply ported.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Master System)
- the pack-in game on the Master System II that I got for Christmas, which served as my first introduction to home gaming. The vibrant colours, fast and varied gameplay and difficulty had me spending hours on this. Operation Wolf was the other MS-defining game for me, but there are more iconic games that eclipsed it later.

Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
- I remember not quite believing how good this looked, it sure was and still is a real looker. The water level, it's music and sense of depth with the rippling sand, fluid controls and the pingo-stick nose attack would be one highlight; the turquoise lit treetop level being my very favourite; and the first level's sunset sealing the initial burst of excitement with the promise of more to come. Diddy's Kong Quest cranked it up even further on every level, but this was my first SNES game and what a beginning.

Super Mario Kart (SNES)
- even before I had a SNES, the Mario iconography always fascinated me, and I even had a Merlin sticker album that I completed. This is simply a classic - as close to perfection as the hardware's capabilities could allow, the squelchy intro music and relative novelty of such an accessible concept and design still captures my imagination to this day. What needed done was the 3DS to gave shown one half on its top screen and the top-down map on the bottom screen. Nintendo's next chance to give this game a definitive version years later would be if on Switch it has both online functionality and new racers added (can you imagine a 16-bit sprite for the likes of Rosalina and Wario?) This game could be far from over yet - here's hoping.

Wave Race 64 (N64)
- the stunning water effects, a dreamy and buoyant motion like a potion of polygons, was a pleasing sensation that even modern jet-ski racers are still in the turbulent trail of. My grudge against the GameCube sequel is only paused temporarily for the fact that Aspen Lake still looked utterly gorgeous. Drake Lake's fog clearing to reveal the mirror like stillness remains one of my favoirite gaming experiences to this day. The more energetic waves, rising sea levels and acrobatics elsewhere combine a thrilling charge with a finesse that the sequel sadly forgot about.

[kevininja]

1. Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
2. Pokemon FireRed
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (based on the 2003 series)
4. Neversoft's Spider-Man
5. Any of the Humongous Entertainment games (but mostly Pajama Sam and Freddi Fish)