Many of the games I mentioned he had never played, let alone heard of. It got me thinking, what are the games that define my age?
Games like Mario and Zelda might have been around since my childhood, but they do not define my age as the many seequels have made them belong to several generations of gamers.PacMan isn't a good example either as it, along with Space Invaders and Pong is such an iconic game that no gamer generation can really lay claim to it.
What then? Which games can I mention that I played as a budding gamer in the making that shaped me into the geek I am today?
With the risk of losing readers already I have to say that from my very early childhood the first game that comes to mind is the Commadore 64 Donald Ducks Playground. A Disney game created to inspire learning in children. This of cause was not why I played it, I just loved the mini games and building my Playground. I do remember continously getting run over by the train when trying to cross the tracks to get to my playground, but still I absolutely loved the game as a young child.
Another classic from my youth is Commander Keen, mention this to anyone younger than 25 and you will see their eyes glaze over with lack of comprehension, but the rest of us remember pogo sticks, weird snails and a pixelated guy with a yellow helmet.
But what really defines my video gaming age are games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein (which I played with my cousin taking turns of 5 minutes at a time, strictly meassured by my aunts egg clock), the original Settlers by Bluebyte before they were affiliated with Ubisoft and their incredibly annoying DRM and Warlords, Baldurs Gate and Diablo I.
These are the games that I can talk to my long time gamer friends that share not only my love for gaming, but also my age and nostalgia.
These are games that you pitch at younger gamers, urge them to try because you don't want them to miss out and then get met with objections about the graphics, the difficulty and other such ridiculous complaints.
Anyways, these are the games I look back at with fondness and that I believe shaped the type of gamer I am today. I know if I mention these games to anyone who has been around for as long as I have in the gaming world, they will nod knowingly and we will have hours of nostalgic topics to cover.
Which games define your age?
