The Top 5 games that defined your childhood

As a kid from the 80's and 90's I didn't have internet or magazines to see what games were worth playing. I just played the games that I got from friends and family. Sometimes these games were horrible, but you had nothing else to play so you just played them.

I made a video to showcase the games that shaped my childhood, and I'm curious to see what games shaped yours. You can be totally honest with your picks, noone will laugh at you for loving a **** game, we understand!

http://youtu.be/xw0VqMHOcOE

1- Spyro: The Dragon (PSX)
2- Pokemon Yellow (GBC)
3- Crash Bandicoot (PSX) 

1. Super Mario 64 (N64)

2. Sonic 3 (Genesis)

3. Pokemon Red (Gameboy)

4. Goldeneye 007 (N64)

5. Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)

1. Chip 'N Dale The Rescue Rangers (NES)

2. The Legend of Zelda (NES)

3. Zelda II: The ADventures of Link (NES)

4. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64)

5. Super Smash Bros. (N64) (I miss the old commercial, where the Nintendo charaters were acting like best buds then all the sudden they beat on each other)

6. Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past (SNES)

7. Pokemon Blue Red & Yellow (GB)

8. Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening (GBC)

9. Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones (GBA)

10. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN)

As you can see, I grew up on LoZ.

Childhood i think counts up to the age of about 15.

1.) Turbo Esprit (CPC) - I played this almost every day. I didn't always play the game for its purpose, sometimes i just enjoyed bombing around the city at full speed. I can't remember if i ever finished it or not.

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2.) Grand Prix Simulator (CPC) - Not really a simulator as the name implies, the most obvious reasons being the top-down perspective and rectangles for cars. But required a healthy level of concentration to get the best out of. I never finished it.

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3.) Super Mario Land (GB) - Bought at the same time as my Gameboy so consequently got more attention than Tetris did. Completed multiple times and first game i attempted speed-run's with.

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4.) Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix (PC) - Something of an enigma to me being that my first 386 PC should have run it just fine but flatly refused to. Wasn't able to play it til i got my 486, and then simply didn't stop playing it. My first gaming obsession where other games didn't get a look-in. Finished it several times including 100% race distance seasons.

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5.) Supercars 2 (Amiga) - I played this round my friends' house. Each day we were round his for the evening, the Amiga was on and we'd go through a sequence of games. This was always the one i looked forward to and enjoyed most. And with the weapons it levelled-out the abilities of either player.

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1. Streets of Rage 2
2. Sonic 3
3. Sonic 2
4. Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
5. X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter

There are way more, but I wouldn't know where to cut them off if I went past 5.

1) Sonic 2

2) Mortal Kombat II

3) Doom

4) Resident Evil 2

5) Metal Gear Solid

games that defined my childhood (gaming wise) would be

1. Combat for Atari 2600

2. Super Mario Bros 1 2 3

3. Sonic the Hedgehog 1 2 3

4. Road Rash II (spent SO much time playing that game)

5. NBA JAM (in arcade and on genesis)

6. Stunts (PC)

7. Atari Lynx games like California Games and Road Blasters

8. Twisted Metal for the Playstation

9. Mortal Kombat (in the arcades when it first came out)

10. Street Fighter II

Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat II, Golden Axe, Street Fighter 2 and Contra: Hard Corps.

All from the Genesis.

They were all NES games, for sure. That was the system that made me fall in love with gaming. I spents hours upon hours on that little grey box. We did have an Atari 2600 beforehand that was my older sister's, but it never held my attention for long. I remember having to go back to it when our NES power-plug burned out and we were waiting on another one from the repair center at Nintendo of Japan, it was terrible going back to it as a kid when all I wanted to do was play Mario and Zelda, Atari 2600 just couldn't come close.

Anyways, here's probably the top games for me from my childhood:

1. Super Mario Bros. (NES) - The best pack-in game for a system, EVER. This was one of reasons people wanted an NES so bad back in the 80s, and it came with the system! The level 1 theme song is ingrained into anyone that's around my age's eternal memories.
2. The Legend of Zelda (NES) - My sister and I actually bonded over this game. She never was as big of a gamer as I was, but she became totally engrossed in the game to point of getting a pen and paper and hand-drawing maps to the dungeons complete with item and key locations. At first, I didn't like The Legend of Zelda because it wasn't enough like my beloved Super Mario Bros. But watching her play, got me totally involved in it. And then I sought every secret in the dang game. You know how many bombs I dropped and candles I flared in the pursuit of secrets?
3. Contra (NES) - The original party game. Invite a friend over, put in the famous Konami code for 30 lives, and it was on! Beautiful side-scrolling co-op run-n-gun action, with some memorable NES music to go along with all your alien butt-kicking action. And while some you younger guys might laugh at it, back in the day it looked like you were playing as Schwartzenegger and Stallone from the title screen; and there was no one else as bad-ass as those 2 guys back then.
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game - This game was both on NES and in the Arcade. But it was the arcade version that initially influenced me. They had it at our local skating ring, and our grade school would often go there for field trips if you earned honor roll or citizen of the week or whatever. I often had good grades (before I entered high school, at least), so I often got to go because of honor roll. And I would spend a good amount of time on this arcade game. 4-players at the same time, was pretty freaking awesome. I of course picked up the NES version as soon as I could beg my mom enough times to get it one birthday or Christmas (can't remember which). I loved beat-em ups for many years afterwards.
5. Star Soldier (NES) - My love for shoot-em ups started right here with this game, and continued to this day. It was a pretty basic shoot-em up, even by NES standards. But I didn't know any better. This was one of the games I got with my NES, so I started playing long before I knew the difference between game genres or had played enough games to know there were much better shoot-em ups out there. Nonetheless, even if the gameplay is pretty basic, it is still a fun shoot-em up with power-ups, a variety of enemies, and boss battles (though it's the same boss repeated).

Hard to pick solely 5, however...

1) Paradriod

2) Frankie Goes to Hollywood

3) Summer Games 2

4) International Football (C64 cartridge)

5) Elite

Hononable mentions - SF2, Gorf (on the Vic20), Scramble, Decathlon, Hunchback, Head Over Heals, Way of the Exploding Fist - I lost many an hour to each of those. And broke many a joystick. EDIT - I'll chuck in Pitstop 2 as well - second only to decathlon for the highest number of gaming-induced cramps. My hands wouldn't be what they are today if it wasn't for the hours of punishing agony I endured with that game.

In the arcade, Commando and Spy Hunter. The former we worked out you could shove a 2p peice up the coin reject slot and get 5 credits, so I kind of played it non stop for a while. Star Wars (cabinet) probably gets an hourable mention.

1. Super Mario Bros 1-2-3

2. Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 and Sonic and Knuckles

3. Metroid II return of samus

4. Kirby dreamland on GB

5. The Legend of Zelda : a link to the past

6. Super Mario world 2 : Yoshi's Island

7. Mario Paint

8. Super Mario Kart

9. Tetris on GB

10. Super Mario World

11. Zelda Ocarina of time

12. Mario 64

Love the topic

1. Gran Turismo 2 ... Soooo much race modding ... I loved taking stupid small cars and tuning the crap out of them and race modding them to compete in fast races.

2. Pokemon Silver ... First pokemon game I have ever had...I was 12 at the time I first got it...sooo...roughly 2003ish...many late nights spent with the old fat GB plugged into the wall. Green Backgrounds, but hey I didn't care lol.

3. Donkey Kong Country ... Pulled my first all nighter in the 1st grade with this game...And developed a hatred for snow barrel blast.

4. Super Mario World ... Loved unlocking all the hidden levels...I never got to the special world though until I was much older.

5. Spyro Year of the Dragon ... I had Crash 2 and Crash Warped as 3d platform games, but they weren't nearly as fun for me as the more open ended spyro game. Played it till I got 100% on everything...it was and still is my favorite 3d platforming series of all time.

Other games that have some serious nostalgic value 

Baseball Stars-NES, Super Mario Bros, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Not the arcade versions), RC Pro-Am, Jurassic Park-Snes, Super Mario Kart-Snes, NFL QB Club 96-SNES, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Final Fantasy 1&2 Dawn of Souls-GBA, Nascar Racing-PC

1. Super Mario Bros

2. Chrono Trigger

3. Earthbound

4. Legend of Zelda

5. Pokemon Red

I cant do only 5 so im going with 10 as well.

1. Mega Man 2 NES

2. Mega Man X SNES

3. Mortal Kombat 2 & 3 SNES

4. Super Mario World SNES

5. Doctor Mario (Dont know many people that played this) SNES

6. Zombies ate my neighbors SNES

7. Starfox SNES and 64

8. Metal Gear Solid PS1

9. NBA Jam SNES

10. Skull Monkeys PS1

11. Pokemon Blue GB

damn i went one over. its ard even just picking ten lol

This is a hard subject, but I'll go with the first five that come to my mind :

1) Double Dragon (Sega Master System)

2) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

3) Mega Man 3 (NES)

4) Super Mario World (SNES)

5) Wonderboy in Monsterland (Sega Master System)

This is a hard subject, but I'll go with the first five that come to my mind :

1) Double Dragon (Sega Master System)

2) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

3) Mega Man 3 (NES)

4) Super Mario World (SNES)

5) Wonderboy in Monsterland (Sega Master System)

JannettyTRocker

Sonic 2(Gen): First game I ever played. And it was always my favorite on the Genesis. I wasn't as interested in video games back then though, so I didn't play it a whole lot, I never did beat it either. But I watched my brother beat it many times. Well I beat it, but only after re-buying it on newer consoles. I know longer have my Genesis.

Perfect Dark(N64): I played Goldeneye first, and liked it. But Perfect Dark is when I really started to get hooked. Mostly for the multiplayer, and my favorite missions in single player. I never did beat it from start to finish. That is, untill I bought the XBLA version.

Sonic Adventure 2(Gamecube): The first game I ever beat. Actually, the fist game that really got me obsessed with video games. I played this game like crazy. Constantly replaying the missions, the story, and I spent countless hours in the multiplayer as well. I loved this game. Still do.

Tales of Symphonia(Gamecube): RPG's are now my favorite genre. This is the game that introduced me to them. This is the first game I played with a big story, with such interesting characters, and with such a big world to explore. This was my favorite game for a long time, and still is among the best. This is also my most replayed RPG, by far.

I think I'll stop my list here. I played many more games then this. But none come close to these when it comes to "defining my childhood." None are nearly as special to me as these games are. 

1. Pokemon blue 

2. Grand theft auto: Vice city

3. Crash Bandicoot 

4. Resident Evil 1 & 2 (could never play them back then, because I was always scared. I just watched my uncle play them.)

5. Advance wars 

adding one more Goblin Commander:Unleash the horde played the hell out of that for some reason. 

• Pokemon Crystal
• Resident Evil
• Parasite Eve II
• Crash Bandicoot
• Need for Speed: Road Challenge

Ironically, I don't own a PS1 or any of these games (anymore) - it makes me sad...

and since I'm off sick from work... *scours the depths of ebay*

Hard to pick 5, but here are probably the top games from my childhood:

1. Super Mario Bros. 3
2. Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt
3. Sonic the Hedgehog
4. Madden NFL 95
5. Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy 7 really just got me into the RPG genre of games.  I spent so many hours on Madden for Genesis.  Those were the days.  Makes me sound like an old man!

the reason that i used the top 5 cut off, is that it will make you consider your choices even more :)

In no particular order:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive)
2. Streets of Rage (Mega Drive)
3. Crash Bandicoot 2 (PS1)
4. MediEvil (PS1)
5. Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)

• Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt
• Tetris
• Sonic 2
• Super Mario World
• The Legend of Zelda

• Super Mario World - First game i ever played
• Pokemon Red& Blue- beat it so many times
• Donkey Kong Country
• Super Mario 64- one of the first 3d games i ever played
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Final Fantasy X- got me in the RPG genre and it s currently my favorite game

1. Donkey Kong Country

2.Pokemon Gold

3. Pokemon Stadium

4. Ocarina of Time

5. Super Mario World

For me, they would be:

• Pac-Man (Tandy)
• Super Mario Bros.
• Duck Hunt
• Rygar (NES)
• Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link

Mario Kart 64

Rush 2

Pokemon Yellow/Gold

Sonic 2

Golden Axe

• Sonic 1 and Sonic 2
• Crash Team Racing
• Final Fantasy IX
• Streets of Rage
• Lion King

zelda alttp

street fighter 2 original arcade

alex kid

mario

operation wolf-arcade

zelda alttp

street fighter 2 original arcade

alex kid

mario

operation wolf-arcade

angryassdrummer

Now that was pretty groovy.

EDIT: Chase HQ - kind of the same era. I used to complete that bastard with my eyes folded to sh!t. I could spunk on anybody's high score.

• Earthbound
• Chrono Trigger
• Final Fantasy VI
• King's Quest Series
• Silent Hill

Sonic II, Super Smash Bros 64, Pokemon Blue, Diddy Kong Racing 64, Mario Kart 64

Super Mario 64, Pokemon Red version, Donkey Kong 64 (game sucks though), Banjo Tooie, and finally Paper Mario.

It is so hard to list only 5!

1. Diablo II
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Goldeneye 64
4. Pokemon Blue / Gold / Silver
5. Mario Kart 64

There are many SNES games too, I just feel a lot of N64 ones had more playtime and multiplayer moments.  Then again there were Street Fighter games, Super Mario Kart, Super Metroid, and tons of other small games that I loved or played a lot.

1.  Pokemon Red/Gold

2.  Mario Kart 64

3.  Super Mario 64

4.  Star Wars Episode I Racer

5.  Paper Mario

I loved Pokemon and Mario back in the day lol.

1. Super Mario World

2. Donkey Kong Country

3. Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped

4. Pokemon Silver

5. Ape Escape

Even though some of these games are not my favorite games ever. They still meant a lot to me growing up in the mid 90s-2000s. As you can see, the SNES/PS1/GBC were a big part of my childhood.

i can't order them, because they were important in different ways. mostly late childhood stuff, because that's when i really started sitting in front of my TV like a mindless zombie, absorbing games back when they were, no doubt, an 'art'.

super mario 64
duke nukem 3d
doom
goldeneye 64
tony hawk pro skater 2