When you've played as many games as I have for as long as I have, you are bound to have games that leave a profound effect on you.
Through the ebbs and flows of time these game and playthroughs have helped shape my life and my love affair of the hobby.
In order of importance to my love of the hobby not necessarily in the order of what I like best.
The game that started it all for me. To this day I'm not sure what it was that I enjoyed so much. Perhaps the novelty of side-scrolling which was so mindblowing at the time. Perhaps it was the huge nationwide zeitgeist Mario had that has never been really replicated. Perhaps it was fun, accessible yet deep gameplay that has become the Nintendo way of designing.
Whatever the reason before I owned a NES I used to plead with my parents to stop by every Arcade we encountered to play this game. Eventually they figured it would be cheaper to have a copy for me and my sibling to play at home.
While I certainly played other games before Mario, Mario is what made me realized I loved games.
If Mario started the fire of my gaming passion, Zelda turned into an inferno by dumping two tons of gaming fun gasoline on it.
Playing Zelda was like all my boyish dreams and fantasies coming to life. There was this whole hidden world to explore and so much to discover. I played this game for years.
While future Zelda games retain a lot of this, some of the wildness has been lost since that first special game.
Without Zelda I might have drifted from the hobby. If Mario won my heart, Zelda won my loyalty.
I had already been a RPG enthusiastist for a long time by the FF Vi hit the States. but when I played it my mind was blown.
The cinematic experience, the adult (or what felt like adult) themes, was nothing like I had seen before. And then the incredible plot twists, that last third of the game at the time was unheard of.
No story captivated me as much before or since.
The game I've probably more with friends than any other. Before Goldeneye gaming had been a relatively solitary experience for me.
And while Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat(s) before where heck of a lot of fun in groups, the opportunity for me to capitalize only happened sporadically. But by the time Goldeneye launched, my living situation had changed and now get togethers were possible and happened.
There is no game I've played more, whether it be the DotA mod or the game itself Warcraft III has served a touchstone game for my friends and for nearly ten years allowing us to stay in touch although we are on seperate coasts. We still play
The game in which I learned I loved exploration and puzzle solving.
I never did beat this game although I'm sure I could easily now, but it was tons of fun for my neighbor and I to try and figure out where all three of the artifacts were hidden
The game in which I learned my love of story and challenge in games. Hard to believe but back in those days JRPGs seemed tough.
The game that won me back.
It's no secret as you get older, this hobby gets harder and harder to maintain. The claims on your time are more and more and your friends are less and less willing to play.
games had been losing me several years as excessive QTEs overlong campaigns and life was making me question whether it was all worth it.
I'm not sure what exactly it has but Dragon's Dogma has that old school magic that sucked me right back.
Eventually I may have to give up gaming, but I will do so knowing that I still really enjoy it.
After FF Vi, tactics set the next bar in what I expected in story telling.
before tactics I had maybe only played one SRPG in my life, but Tactics converted me into a lifelong fan of the subgenre,
The game that unveiled the true potential of 3d gaming to me.
While certainly not possible without Mario 64, an amazing game in its' own right, Zelda OoT was the first 3d world I actually really wanted to explore.
A lot of the appeal is hard to explain since 3d is now commonplace but at teh time it was like seeing the future
The first game I ever bought with my own money. Gaming was a lot more expensive hobby in the 1980's than today and my parents rightfully though they couldn't afford to buy me all the games I wanted. But I wanted Mario Bros. 3 so badly I was willing to work for it and work all I did. It took me two months of yardwork but the game was certainly well worth it.
My white whale.
Until recently I never owned a copy of this game, but I've rented it so often I could easily bought twice over.
For whatever reason I've never been able to beat it and given its' importance to me I've never been willing to cheat to do so. This game is the one I enjoy failing at most.
For a lot of guys my age the Quake series was the PC multiplayer game of choice. But for my buds and it was Marathon II once we learned how to install it on the school's computer lab
This, F-Zero , Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombats I, II and III were the multiplayer games in my school age days.
but Battle mode in Mario Kart was always the popular one.
No Mario kart since has really done this mode right.
While I had liked FF I a lot it was FF II, or really IV, that made me a FF fan. The story was anything I had ever seen and cemented for me that RPGs were my favorite genre. It was a good fusion of five things I loved. Exploration, story, stat progression, strategy and good gameplay.
