Video Game(s) you hold close to your heart

[Leah]

Okay, there are good video games, and then there's the ones where you love that you hold dearly to your heart. What are they, Don't be shy now.

Here's mine:


These two were the first video games that I owned on a console.

[the ghoul]

The original Doom



Devil's Crush for Turbografx 16



Splatterhouse 3 for Sega Genesis

[WingedSerpent]

Golden Axe



I own several versions of this game on several different consoles. 

[indianasmith]

MORROWIND introduced me to the wonderful world of the Elder Scrolls. I still play it sometimes.

[AndyC]

Exciting Hour (AKA Mat Mania). When I was in high school, a little sandwich shop in my hometown had one in the back. I have fond memories of walking downtown with a friend or two after dinner on a school night, and dropping a bunch of quarters into that thing. Some nights, there'd be a bunch of guys there (the store finally imposed a limit of six) and the quarters would be lined up. They had a couple of other games I enjoyed, but this was my favourite, and it's still the only wrestling/fighting game I've really enjoyed. Nice balance of simple gameplay and simple controls (two buttons and a stick) with lots of cool moves you could do. Also a fun anime style, with humorous audience members and some "Engrish" that made me smile. When I started playing around with MAME a few years back, this was the first game I tried, and I still had all the moves down, 20 years after I last played it. As soon as that music started, it was like I was transported back to 1985. Big nostalgia trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS5llDKtWJ0

[claws]

Phantasy Star

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn4Ie8WL7sE

Brings back lots of great memories. We were never able to play it all the way through but we had fun trying.

[Mofo Rising]

Time Pilot '84.

I grew up in Juneau, Alaska, and while there were several attempts at real arcades, it never really happened. This game was one of the few machines down at the one of two cinemas in my town. I played the hell out of it. I still think it's a fantastic game.

The other? The Lord of the Rings Pinball machine. One thing about me, I love pinball. Let me amend that with capital letters, I LOVE pinball. I know it's a dying art, but when I was attending ASU, they had the this machine in their fairly p**s-poor arcade. I played quite a lot of it, and I got very good at it. So much so that is one of the few pinball machines I almost managed to beat at it's mini-games.

If I ever had $5000 of truly disposable income, I would make this machine a center-point of my house. I can still track the ball-projectories in my mind. (Sadly, pinball machines are very hard to upkeep, and I never got to go back and reap my victory.)

[HappyGilmore]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game

WWF No Mercy

Earthworm Jim

Super Mario 3

[Leah]

Okay, there are good video games, and then there's the ones where you love that you hold dearly to your heart. What are they, Don't be shy now.

Here's mine:

And I still have the original copy, though it's a bit scratched. Still playable! Mind you, I got it back in '03; I'm also replaying it.

[Pacman000]

Pac-Man (Atari 2600) It's not the best version of the game, in fact it's probably the worst. Still, it was the first game I played at home.

[fulci420]

Not a big video game guy anymore but a couple stand out as all time favorites.

Doom-Spent a lot of my childhood playing this game. I haven't played in a few years but I can still recall some of that awesome music.

Earthbound-I used to rent this over and over again in my snes days. I never even get that far in this game but I remember being entranced by the plot, music and characters of this game.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas-The only video game I still regularly play, it pretty much never leaves my ps2. The rest of the series is great but for me this is the best video game of all time. I've beat all the missions countless times but have just as much fun doing the side things and just driving around. I tried GTA4 and despite it's clear graphical superiority it just never felt nearly as fun to me.

[ChaosTheory]

Xevious
Frogger
Duck Hunt - first at-home game I played
Super Mario 3
Mario Kart
Star Wars Force Unleashed - not nostalgic obviously, but I love it because you just tear sh*t up.  My favorite blowing-off-stress game.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Mario Kart (especially the SNES)
Fallout 1 and 2
System Shock 2
Gauntlet (original 4 player arcade)
Avengers (4 player Arcade) "Why should it Goes well?"
Discsof Tron (stand inside arcade game)

[WingedSerpent]

During the 90's there was a glut of fighting games released in the wake of Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat.  Some managed to carve out their own niche and become legit franchises in their own right, some became cult classics, but most became one shot quick money grabs.  There is one game of that time I hold close to my heart.


Primal Rage.  What's awesome about this game?  More like what wasn't awesome. Rather then humans, you played as giant apes and dinosaurs.  The characters where created using stop-motion. So it was like playing King Kong vs Gwangi. You could restore health by eating human worshipers. And best of all-this was the only fighting game we ever owned where I could constantly defeat my older brother.

This game seems to exist in a place between main stream and cult classic. I know people who knew about it. Plenty didn't like it-but it was popular enough to spawn toys and (as far as I know)one issue comic book. A sequel got to beta testing, but wasn't released.  Sadly this game was a  victim of the over reaction censor ship that soon followed Mortal Kombat's release.  I really want a reboot of this franchise.

 

[Umaril Has Returned]

I gotta' say that one game that I really liked back in the day was Splatterhouse 2. One of the parts Iliked was just for the music alone.

This is Level 3-The River Of Death. The music track was a big fave of mine. Listen to the music as our hero is crossing the river.

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