I've been thinking about this 9 games thing for like two fucking hours, and it's the hardest choice I've made in months.
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@ajroach42 i regret looking up the solution to That Puzzle from spider and web. the game’s an all-timer regardless but i think if i figured it out for myself it could’ve been, like, my single favorite gaming moment
(curious what percentage of players figure it out for themselves. i would guess it’s low but maybe that’s cope)
@seacow I wrote this in 2013 and reposted it in 2017: https://ajroach42.com/gaming-when-i-was-9-a-social-media-post-from-2013/
It's a massive simplification of what actually went down (That Puzzle isn't actually the end of the game, there's a good amount of game after that) but it captures my excitement.
Spent so much time in the free tier of RuneScape, then bought membership as an adult with a job and holy shit it's such a better game behind the paywall
@gbargoud I haven't tried modern runescape, but I did spend a few months with a paid membership to runescape back in ... 2007? 2008?
Modern RuneScape split into 2 separate games. RS3 which is a modernized version that made a lot of people very angry when it first came out and OSRS which is a fork of where it was in 2007.
The main differences are more modern graphics and a different combat system with an action bar and a lot of abilities. I had gotten back into the game after watching a bunch of YouTubers who made really silly challenges for themselves like only being in one region or only killing bosses.
There are no twin stick shooters on that list.
There's only one atari 2600 game.
There are only two text adventures. There are no c64 or zx spectrum games.
But with 9 slots, I gotta ignore so much.
Alright, I did it.
@ajroach42 Chex Queeeeest Anyone still remember the infinite health and all guns/infinite ammo codes?
I swapped HERO out for Kaboom at the last minute because I love them both, and the cover art for HERO is dogshit.
I could have put lots of games in the Atari box, I have big Atari 2600 opinions. Kaboom is my representative for all Atari games.
I have 3 shareware games, an arcade game, an atari game, a gameboy game, a PS2 game, and two PS1 games.
I wanted to include another text adventure and a MUD, but I couldn't justify two text adventure games on the list, and Spider and Web had a much bigger impact on me than HHGG, even though HHGG probably had a big impact than most other games on the list
I wanted to limit it to one game per console, but then I had three PC games and couldn't figure out how to cut one, and then I had two Gameboy Games, and I finally cut one of those and THPS got the slot.
Goddamn it, now I'm going to genres and platforms.
Alright, here's text adventures (and only a little silly, I didn't put Chicken and Egg or a bunch of Zork-alikes on here)
I wanted to put MIT Zork on there, but I could only put infocom Zork on there, or Adventure/Colossal Cave, and I dunno it was ground breaking but ultimately I gave that slot to other games.
@ajroach42 IT IS DARK IN HERE
YOU ARE LIKELY TO BE EATEN BY A GRUE
@ajroach42 you could kill two birds with one stone with a twin stick atari 2600 game, raiders of the lost ark! (our copy was second-hand without an in instruction manual so i could never figure out how to play it, only learning much later you’re supposed to use two joysticks at once)
@seacow I never really cared for Raiders, but Berzerk and Wizards of Wor might both make the cut on a longer list.
Like, I'm a 36 year old man from the US. I grew up with Video Games as a central part of my life.
But I was also inconsistently poor, a compulsive yard-sale/fleamarketer, a shareware gremlin, arcade obsessed...
Games I feel like I have to include:
- Tomba
- Pokemon (silver, which I put the most time in as a kid)
- Ratchet and Clank
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
- Spider and Web (I wrote about that one, and how important it was to me, a few years ago. It was absolutely formative.)
- ZZT (my first introduction to game development!)
- DiscMUD (my first online game)
- Runescape (the MMO I've spent the most time on in my life)
- H.E.R.O. (My favorite game for the atari 2600, which was for years my favorite game console)
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Donkey Kong '94 (perhaps the game I've played the most in my life)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (the first game I finished in an arcade, with three other kids.)
- MULE
- Starship Titanic
- Jazz Jackrabbit
- Goddamn DOOM, holy shit I've put so much time into Doom.
- Sonic 3D Blast 2 (The DOOM Total Conversion fan game)
- Chexquest
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (the first home console game I ever finished)
- Virtual On Cybertroopers (the arcade game I've spent the most money on in my life)
- Joust (my first favorite video game)
- Gorilla.bas (for obvious reasons)
- Oregon Trail (I'm too young for this, but I fixed our school's Apple IIs so I could play it)
- Summon Knight: A Swordcraft Story (the first game I had to special order. The second one is better, but they're both excellent.)
... I could just keep going.
I could probably do a top 9 arcade games, and a top 9 atari 2600 games, and a top 9 shareware games and ... etc. etc. etc. and still probably have to leave more things than I'm happy with on the table.
And like, obviously that's absurd.
I don't even play video games anymore.