Games I couldn't grow up without.

dlofnep

Just a list of games off the top of my head that I grew up playing endlessly.

1. Alex the Kidd in Miracle World.



While most of my friends began their console life on the more popular NES, I opted for a different route with the Sega Master System. Back then, the Master System (depending on the model) had games built into it. Off the top of my head there was Alex Kidd, some Catterpillar game and Sonic 1. My model came with Alex Kidd.

I guess Alex Kidd was Sega's Master System mascot to combat Nintendo's advertising machine in Mario.

Alex Kidd had everything a game could ask for. Add-ons that you could buy for your character like fire rings, motorbikes, cycle-powered helicoptors and then some. The bosses appeared at the end of every stage and you had to battle them in roshambo (rock, paper, scissors). I remember the first boss being predictable, always springing the same opening combinations. After that, it was all guesswork. I do remember this game was really hard to complete - Unlike the games of today where you had save-points, Alex Kidd was start to finish, no continues, no save points. Imagine losing all that hard work with no end result? Welcome to 8 bit gaming!

2. Treasure Island Dizzy



If you had a commodore 64, you had the Dizzy collection. Dizzy was one of those games that made it all that waiting for your stupid tape to load worthwhile. They were brain-teasers.. Way ahead of their time. Most games at the time had specific routes to follow and specific tasks to accomplish. Dizzy was more of a roam-around game, where you had clues and hints to get you from A to B. Great game.

3. Golden Axe



The Mega Drive had alot of cult games. The Golden Axe series was one of them. Golden Axe was fun and had longevity. You had a choice of characters to select, and some really hardcore bosses to take on. Not to mention power-up scaling with spells and such. Definately one of my favourites.

4. Altered Beast



If you had a Mega Drive - You had Altered Beast. It went together like bread and butter. Altered Beast felt like you were the boss, and all the enemies were players running away scared sh*tless from you - wondering what evil creature you might next morph into. Dragon? Bear? Give me those god damn powerups.

5. Streets of Rage



Streets of Rage, more specifically Streets of Rage 2 is one game I can even come back today and play over and over again. From start to finish, you have the satisfaction of beating street scum from pillar to post. The bosses were great, the characters were dynamic and the gameplay was downright fun. I never got into SOR3 too much, but 1 & 2 were definite keepers.

6. Super Mario World



You'd think after the first 3 Mario's that the creators would eventually fail - But they didn't. Super Mario World was IMO, the greatest Mario ever created. The secret levels, the bright colours, Yoshi and then some. The game was long, the fun was plenty and I couldn't ever put this game down.

7. Mario Kart



The original Super Mario Kart was one of the greatest racers ever made. This game was fun from start to finish. The multiplayer was great and the controls just plain worked. Anyone who had a SNES, had Super Mario Kart. If they didn't? They weren't human.

8. Street Fighter 2



Whether you had Champion Edition for the Mega Drive, or Turbo (or World Warrior) for the Snes - This was the ultimate in the fighting genre. SF2 also happened to be the first true beat-em up I had ever played. A couple of friends around the house, multiplayer with SF2 and a packet of tasty biscuits was pure heaven for a 10 year old.

9. Mortal Kombat



Unfortunately, my parents thought MK was too gorey for me to get - So I had to sneak to a friends house to play it. And play it I did! Religiously.. My parents were right, MK1 was gorey. Disturbing even.. Never before did a game alloy you to rip off people's heads or tear their beating heart out of their ribcage. MK's sprites were more realistic than any other fighting games. I do believe they based them on real-character movement - Which is what made it even more haunting than the rest! Finish him! Yes sir. At once!

Will add more later.

_Kaiser_

For me it was:

Elite (the Amstrad CPC version)
I actually became Elite as well, but what I remember most was the cool (and undocumented) Cloaking Device the Amstrad version had.
I'd destroyed a few pirate Asp's and scooped up some cargo only to see "cloaking device" appear on the display. Cue frantic pressing of keys trying to turn it on before I got killed (Y in the end). Unlike the Star Trek version, you could fire while cloaked but it was a serious drain on energy levels.
There was also a way to purposely jump into Thargoid space (mucho bonuses) as well. Great game!


Civilization (Amiga version)
Entire nights were spent playing this. What started as "I'll play on just until I get to this tech" would evolve into an all-night session.

dlofnep

10. Donkey Kong Country



8 bit was done and dusted, it's 16 bit successor was on it's last legs. Sony Playstation was being released, introducing the 32 bit era and Snes knew they couldn't go out without a big bang. That big bang was Donkey Kong country. Firstly, the graphics and character animation was next to none. It was amazing then and still to this day that they could produce such a beautiful game rendered with a 16 bit console. Looks aren't everything, and on top of it's visual perfection - the gameplay was just downright brilliant. The levels were fun and varied - the sound was upbeat and the game was just plain old fun.

dlofnep

11. Sonic The Hedgehog



Mario and other platform games ran at a relatively slow pace. Nintendo's Mario mascot was everywhere and failing to counter-attack the advertising machine of Nintendo with Alex Kidd, Sega created a new character - Sonic the Hedgehog. For me, Sonic was everything that was great about the Sega Mega Drive. Sonic would cause rifts in school class-rooms, dividing the class between Sonic and Mario lovers.

Sonic the Hedgehog was all action. A fast paced platform game that had us on the edge of our seats. Chasing down the evil Dr. Robotnic and collecting the chaos emeralds was all in a days work for a 10 year old.

monkeyfudge

Good call on Treasure Island Dizzy.

I loved that game on the C64 and I'd even write my own little comic books furthering Dizzy's adventures and his battle against the evil wizard Zaks.

Really difficult games though... In Treasure Island Dizzy you had just one life and no energy bar... juggling your inventory while under water was risky business as if you dropped your snorkle then you were dead.

Ruu_Old

We had to rent a Sega Megadrive from the video shop for a while and the games. Golden Axe was one of the favourites. We had a Sega Master System II of our own (horrible control pads!) with Sonic. I also grew up playing Duck Hunt on my cousin's NES and that clay shooting one with it.

dlofnep

I loved the master system control pads! Duck Hunt was great, I was going to add that to the list

20 Times 20 Times

For me The very first fifa International soccer for the megadrive , the day i found out i could run away from the referee was the funniest thing ever at the time.

watna

Alex the kidd in miracl world was the best. I remember my brother finished it once and we were amazed. Games were do much harder then, you couldn't save so you always had to start at the beginning.

I bought the sega old game collection (or whatever it's called) fot the ps2 a few months back. It's cool, but it only has sonic one and two, not three which is the one I had. Also the Alex the Kidd isn't the miracle one, it's an older one which is crappy. Otherwise it's great! Although, the games are so hard now that we're used to easier modern games!

ctrl-alt-delete

Sarge wrote: »

For me The very first fifa International soccer for the megadrive , the day i found out i could run away from the referee was the funniest thing ever at the time.

That was the funniest thing ever!

We used to have tournaments among friends - and it was always held up with people running away from the ref

galactus

12. Scramble
This is where my pocket-money went as a kid:


13. Defender


14. Pong
Before Space Invaders and Pac Man...I still remember my first time

longshanks

how about r-type? or life force salamander? thats where my 10p's went

rasoul

he who dares wins on the amstrad,

manic miner

bubble bobble

dlofnep

bubble bobble was another one of my favourites.. that theme song was so catchy.

Anybody remember Digger T Rock on the NES?

Starmix

OH MY GOD - TREASURE ISLAND DIZZY! The memories that just flooded back when I saw the screen! I LOVED it!

Equally loved Mario Kart - not so long ago there was a clear out of my old bedroom at home and came across the SNES and Mario Kart, I was uncontactable for an entire weekend!

Do you remember being able to rent Sega's and Nintendos from video stores? You could take it for the whole weekend with the games for a security deposit, I can't remember how much for. Good Times!

Sabre0001

Sarge wrote: »

For me The very first fifa International soccer for the megadrive , the day i found out i could run away from the referee was the funniest thing ever at the time.

Always great moments!!!

For me:
Commander Keen Series
Quake Series (Co-op and the amount of maps released were great)
Golden Axe