Most of us probably grew up playing video games, some of them we forgot or our gaming system ain’t what it used to be. What games bring you back to the good ol’ days when you didn’t know what politics were and couldn’t be bothered to watch the news bc the new ep of Spongebob is on? For me I have to say the Simpsons Game (PS2), the Billy & Mandy Fighting Game (PS2) DK Country (SNES) and NBA 2k14 (PS3, please whatever Deity is out there bring me back to 2013 so I can cheat in 2k again and make my MyPlayer basically just Michael Jordan 😭) and probably Infamous for PS3, I probably played the first game like 18 times fr. What are your faves?
Definitely minecraft. It is still my favorite game after a decade of playing it.
But aside from that, Spirit Tracks/Phantom Hourglass, Kirby Superstar Ultra and Jak and Daxter.
I bet every comment is going to be so different, and will date each user haha. For me...
Mortal Kombat II in the arcade, insanely difficult, I can almost taste the strawberry milkshake I'd always be drinking there
Zelda - A Link To The Past on Gameboy
an odd one, but the free demo that you got with the original PS, I remember my stepbro and I marvelling at the 3D t-rex / mantaray that we could spin around and zoom in / out of at will. How far we've come
also for PS, the very first Tekken, and Tekken 2
going way back, Horace Goes Skiing on my trusty ZX Spectrum. My first console and first game. You had to load it via a tape, and it sounded like an old modem!
The only secret I knew about was hitting a combo of buttons after knocking someone into the acid creating a 'TOASTIE', which iirc unlocked Smoke... what did I miss?
Super Mario RPG (SNES) loved it so much. My buddy and I left our Earth Science final early just to finish the game (still passed with a 79 and 80 respectively).
Street Fighter II World Warriors (Arcade) can still taste the pizza I ate right before I played. My grandpa would take me out to pizza every Friday and gave me 2 quarters to play.
The original TMNT (NES) I still get anxiety just from hearing the music from the swimming level. But then again I get a great burst of joy from hearing the overworld music. Such an emotionally taxing game.
I played sooooo much of that game in Pre-K and Kindergarten, I think I beat the first level in like 1st grade bc I was too dumb and stubborn to follow objectives lmao, I really didn’t understand computers for an embarrassing amount of time
I feel mild nostalgia for a lot of games, but I've got a specific place for Starcraft.
See, I must've watched my brother play Brood War quite a lot, because I had 6 images imprinted in my mind: the in-game sprites and portraits of Zealots, Dragoons, and Dark Templar. I didn't really have the wherewithal to process that these imahes were from a game. It was probably a few years later, when I came across my brother playing it again. I spent an absurd amount of time on that game and the sequel.
Anyway. Hate the game now. I haven't got the energy to spend hours every day honing my reflexes for that ludicrous sack of shit engine. I only ever watch compilations of Artosis getting furious these days.
Has to be Mario Sunshine (Via Wii) , Mario Galaxy, Kirby's Epic Yarn, or really any Wii game my grandma got us. I still tear up just by hearing the main menu ambience. Mario Sunshine was wild, cause I never really played it as a kid, but my dad did and the imprint was still nostalgic so when I did play it a few years ago in that definitely a scam Mario 3D Allstars it scratched an itch of nostalgia and new experience.
Honorable mention to Spiderman 2 on Gameboy and Bowser’s Inside Story on DS!! Also when Lego Batman came out on PS2 I think I played it so much that my parents took the game system away from me and my brother lol (we didn’t learn our lesson, we DID learn where Mom and Dad hid the PS2 tho😈) edit: also the Incredibles and Cars video games for PS2
There a couple very specific eras of JRPGs that hold a very special place in my memory.
The Super Famicom era around games like Chrono Trigger is the peak for me though. I remember I got it as a gift totally by mistake, my parents had meant to buy another game but got possibly my favourite game of all time instead. I can still go back and play that game and it holds up just fine.
PS1 era Squaresoft was also pretty much a golden era for me, Xenogears was a pretty massive influence on some of my younger intellectual development.