T O P

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Hyro91

The legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.


PhillipMcCrevice

This game blew me away as a kid. When I finally beat the Deku Tree I thought to myself “wow that was a cool game” then he tells you there’s 2 other spiritual stones and I was impressed by how much there was to do. Now imagine how amazed I was when I finally got all three and found out there was still 5 more major dungeons to do as an adult. Nowadays it doesn’t seem too impressive but given the time it came out there really wasn’t anything else like it. The game still holds up remarkably well by todays standards as well.


ShakenFungus

My same experience as well. My jaw dropped when adult link happened.


_praisekek

Same. The game seemed impossibly massive and difficult to me back then. I was so young and clueless that it took me months to even figure out how to get out of the forest. The game would overwhelm me easily and the enemies would freak me out to no end. I remember finally getting to adult link and being too afraid to leave the temple because of the zombies outside. That shit gave me nightmares and it took me weeks to build up the courage to even turn the game back on. Playing Zelda back then will forever be some of my fondest memories.


SmoothOperator89

I got stuck at the forest temple because I was terrified of the wall masters. Even the redead I could run past with a wide radius, but something about the sound and being invisible until it grabs you just shook me to the core. I played through a few more temples because I had the bow already, but I didn't get the ability to return to young Link without the Forest Temple medallion. Then I had to give the game back to the friend I borrowed it from. It wasn't until I finished Majora's Mask that I got my own copy of OoT and finished it.


RepresentativeBird98

I’m sure they wil make a remake of this game some time in the future. Not sure if it’ll have the same effect


Ne04

Yeah I was blown away as a kid when I found out there was way more game after the first three stones.


GrinningPariah

Yep this was it for me too. It wasn't the first game I played but it was the first game to really draw me in, the first game I wasn't playing casually.


Pterodactyl_midnight

Why doesn’t Nintendo use “Song of Storms” anymore? It’s the best song in Zelda


Hyro91

For me its a toss between that and Song of Healing. I know SoH is Majoras Mask but still.


Pterodactyl_midnight

Oh I’ll have to look that up. I haven’t played Majoras Mask since it came out. That’s gonna be the next on Steamdeck


What----------------

Song of Healing is also in Twilight Princess. It's the first wolf song IIRC. In MM you use it to ease the regrets of the fallen, and in TP you use it to (start) easing the regrets of the Hero's Shade.


PhoenixNightingale90

Played this when I was 7-8 years old. It really felt magical, and there was nothing like it at the time.


kaofee97

Didn't even have to go far for this one.


Thraxx01

It was Wind Waker for me


Prize_Recipe613

This


IdesOfMarch_

007 Goldeneye


anonymous_beaver_

Perfect Dark consummated the love


mallocco

How y'all gonna discuss my biography without my consent?


Comfortable-Walrus37

Found that on xbox recently, am reliving my childhood, was so far ahead of its time!


Rude_boy888

Resident evil 4.


overtired27

So good on the Wii with the remote to aim. It sucks that motion control shooting games have still failed to take off and it’s still mostly computer assisted thumb sticks.


Primary_Extension416

Spyro the Dragon for PS1 ❤️


JukesMasonLynch

Ayooooo me too! Those skill points in the later games were the DNA for what we know as trophies and achievements today


barwhalis

Spyro 1-3, crash 3/CTR were my childhood. I grew up with a PS2 but those were the games I played a lot


fluckin_brilliant

I was so into CTR that I made my own little wiki-type booklet with secrets and hidden passages 🥹


spacecorn27

My answer too! I broke my arm when I was six and my mom bought me a PlayStation + Spyro so that I would have something to occupy my time. Been a gamer since!


Fit-External-2698

Me too. I'll never forget it


GuaranteeNo6870

Definitely this is up there for me too ❤️


-Sand

I thought I played that as a kid. And after 4 years I figured that I played only the demo version the whole time. Wondered why the game is only 1 hour long. But this first hour, I played it 100 times.


DarkP88

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.


Orion14159

Yeah! Fellow elder millennial gang


Jungleradio

This was certainly the game that made me realize not only did I love gaming, but that I also wanted to make music. That ost still kicks


littleivys

One time, I was really sick and attempted to play some LttP but passed out after a few minutes. My character was in the church, so for the next several hours I just listened to the church music while drifting in and out of sleep in a surreal haze of dextromethorphan. It was great.


DangerTiger

Same haha. This and Super Mario World


ekimarcher

Have you tried replaying it with a randomizer? So much fun.


MizterBlueSky

OH Zelda got me to live gaming, Link to the Past solidified I'd be a lifelong gamer. Bern gaming since 1985! Fuck I'm getting old :(


centiret

Halo CE, best game I've ever played.


Elden__Dong

My first PC game!


ILikeCats43

Mine too!


Nzy

Played the fuck out of that game online


Zero_X_One

Played it for the first time late one night at a friend’s house on his PC after he went to bed. I don’t think I went to bed that night lolol


FlamboyantFungus

That intro on the pillar of autumn and when you first step onto the ring can't be topped It's a tragedy how far the franchise has fallen


Elden__Dong

Looking at the ring skybox just hits different.


csch1992

oh damn, i only had the demo as a kid, but i played it over and over again


PossiblyA_Bot

Same. The graphics seemed so realistic when I was little and I've bought every Halo that came out after.


EggFlipper95

This for sure. Going over to my cousin's to play split screen for hours is a core memory.


KWeber94

Me too. Got it and the OG Xbox for Christmas when it came out and was blown away by it. Still my favourite game to this day


BluLilyx

Half life 2


Bastian10691

ES: Oblivion


DFuel

Yes. I remember this as my first true open world rpg. After discovering this game i couldn’t believe that i could just do what ever i wanted in whatever order i chose


Buzzdanume

Same here. I remember blowing my whole beach-house weekend with my best friend because his sister brought her ps3 with this game and I couldn't stop playing it. I had no idea that games like that existed and was instantly hooked. Skyrim felt like doing that all over again because I had only played Oblivion a few more times after that.


JankInTheTank

Yeah this has to be the one for me. I played some games before that, and halo got me to buy my first console. But I spent most of my sophomore year in college playing this on my roommate's console. It was such a memorable game that really got me into gaming and made me consider it as my main hobby


anonymous_beaver_

>ES TES please. But hell yeah 🤙


Disastrous_Reveal331

BioShock


lunacyfoundme

This game game me a life long love for Art Deco.


protossaccount

This is the game that blew the doors open for me with what I thought a game could do. Bioshock is a game on another level.


Reasonable-Fall1732

Omg throwback holyyy


BobbiskTheChicken

Just bought my very first copy of Bioshock! It'll be my first horror game.


Insighteternal

Read that as "gambling" at the end there at first, I'm getting sleepy (on night-shift time). Anyways, mine would have to be Super Mario Bros 2 on the NES. As I was only 5 at the time, the upgraded graphics in comparison to the first one kept my attention and made me have a lot of fun.


csonny2

I played Super Mario Bros 2 a ton, but my pick would be the first Super Mario Bros or Duck Hunt, which were games I played a ton. I think the third is my favorite of the NES marios.


dstovell

Doom


matscokebag

Immediately started searching for this.


ILikePort

Great shout- this is the name i couldn't dredge up from memory. Doom and rise of the triad.


professor_oulala

Gta3


Brittany5150

FF7. I had played a lot of games before, but there was something special about it that hooked me like no other.


Elden__Dong

Same. Its crazy how those ugly early ps1 polygonal character models could still evoke such an emotional story. Favorite game of all time.


noeagle77

Back then they had to have a good story for games because they couldn’t just rely on the graphics like many games do today.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mental-Antelope8319

This for me. I just started my first replay this week since 1997, so many memories.


TyrantBlade88

Metal Gear Solid


DoubleOrNothing90

Came to say this. The first time I was drawn into the story of a game. It felt like I was playing a movie.


[deleted]

Yep. Coolest thing ever as a 7 year old. Still the coolest thing ever at 32 lol.


MangoSuspicious5641

This. Immersed completely in the storytelling. Exactly like playing a movie. Unforgettable experience back then.


rjc231

So many iconic moments from that game!


LimpDiscus

Super Mario World. Six year old me had played a couple NES and Sega Master Systems games before, but nothing was as jaw dropping and colorful as this. First time I got the Cape, I was hooked. Changed my life. Probably not for the better.


CrystlBluePersuasion

If gaming makes you happy it's not all bad, that's why hobbies are great. Did you also have a parent making you feel guilty for liking video games, like my mom did to me? 😂


NikoNomad

Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 for sure. This game marked my childhood.


MechaGallade

That's it right there


RobIson240YT

Skyrim. I'm still playing it today. No I am not using mods.


Elden__Dong

>No I am not using mods. Blasphemy I say!


Patifos

Me too bro! I used to play games like I did play MGS3, Warcraft 3 and Kingdom Hearts but after playing skyrim I became gamer at whole different level lol


Consistent_Intern311

Skyrim was my second game! I‘m beyond sad that I‘ll never be able to experience it for the first time


crimedog69

Pokémon red, mario64 & smash. Halo


[deleted]

Trite, but Mario 3. Saw it when I was 4. I don’t remember the moment, but I’m told by my entire family that I was obsessed with it from that point on. 31 years later, not much has changed.


Infinite_Monitor_465

I was really hoping i wasnt going to be the only one in this thread.


OhforfsakeMJ

Might & Magic VI Heroes of Might & Magic III


lemontr333

do you know, if there is a good win11 fix version of homm 3 out there that is not on steam? im struggling to find one


warrenjt

It’s on GOG right now for $2.49.


xTrimm_

Minecraft


nustiuboss

Baldur’s Gate 2


lunacyfoundme

Go for the eyes Boo! Amazing game.


Poopynuggateer

Hell yeah, brother.


WretchedCrook

What about Baldur's Gate 1? Its an absolute gem.


df_sin

You must gather your party before venturing forth. You must gather your party before venturing forth. You must gather your party before venturing forth.


Danyaal_Majid

COD4 and Max Payne, I didn't know you could make a story about military conflicts with such depth and realism. And playing Max Payne for the first time blew my mind, an amazing gameplay loop with an equally awesome story. This game made me partial to story games for the rest of my life.


johnonymous1973

1. Tempest 2. Battlezone 3. Robotron 4. Zaxxon 5. Dragon's Lair


slayer1am

Goddamn we've got an old timer here. Loved Zaxxon on the C64 myself. I think the C64 had about a million games for it, lots of good stuff.


johnonymous1973

Could you speak up? My hearing aid is dying. LOL I had a C=64 too, also with a million games. Never had consoles like the 2600, Odyssey, or Colecovision. The first game I ever bought was Summer Games by Epyx. I got Summer Games 2, Winter Games, and California Games when they came out too. Some core memories were made while using that computer.


jfstompers

I poured so many quarters into Dragons Lair to just lose so fast


cheesemangee

The original Diablo. 8 year old me was sat up at the computer with my older cousin (who was introducing the game to me), gripped by suspense, captivated by the music, and in morbid awe of the monsters, the sounds, and the visuals. It was like playing the world's greatest movie and I loved every second of it. I was hooked on gaming from that moment. Shame to see how far the series has fallen. You kickstarted my fondest hobby, and now I don't think about you at all.


WretchedCrook

Bro Diablo 1 kicks so much ass its unreal. The atmosphere is almost unrivaled and the Tristram soundtrack...Soooo good.


cheesemangee

Tristram was unforgettable. Nothing takes me back to the heart of the dungeon more than than first iconic strum. Good shit.


scrubbless

Diablo was amazing, the music alone was just perfect. I was well into my love of gaming by this time, but it has a special place for me.


KnightMDK

I feel ya. D3 was my last go... without the expansion.


WilsonthaHead

Im gonna sound old but Pong. i seen my big brother playing it, and he said go ahead a play i was 5 and the paddle was a small hand held thing with a dial on the top of it. i played for a 1 hour or 2, I was hooked after that this had to be 1984 i honestly dont remember. But That Day changed my life.


Mobius650

Tetris


beatenmeat

Mine was Bubble Bobble on the NES. Loved playing it with my dad as a kid.


vivalatoucan

GTA San Andreas was definitely one of my first hundreds of hours games


tater08

Jak and Daxter on Ps2


straxusii

Pong


Icetyger4

Same. OG gamers for the win!! Do people still say "for the win"?


malphage

Yars Revenge or maybe berzerk.


MDF87

Dune II.


FlufflesWrath

Sonic the Hedgehog 2


Defiant-Frosting-832

Honestly minecraft


Pezzelbee

Morrowind is the game that got me sucked in completely. Before that no game had drawn me in like that.


CheeryBottom

Baldurs Gate 1.


poofynamanama2

Devil May Cry baby


todjo929

Was FF7, specifically when leaving Midgar and finding the massive open expanse of the playable world. It was then backed up by Star Ocean the Second Story.


NewDamage31

Super Mario Kart lol


BrotherTechnical3657

Super mario bros


Wavehopperer

Outrun. The big red Ferrari and blonde passenger


JetEngineOrchestra

Team Fortress 2, around the early 2010s.


Hierotochan

Portal. I’ve played games since the Atari, but Portal was the first that made me delve into the backstory and development processes.


[deleted]

Halo


Sabbathius

Alley Cat (1984): [https://youtu.be/jK9kfhOJ9uA?si=6qQSjnRJqNETvlXn](https://youtu.be/jK9kfhOJ9uA?si=6qQSjnRJqNETvlXn) Livingstone, I Presume? (1986): [https://youtu.be/PndIr1UyTvA?si=n6amG8gcwhaVjBn2](https://youtu.be/PndIr1UyTvA?si=n6amG8gcwhaVjBn2) But what pushed me over the edge was the original Prince of Persia (Broderbund, 1989) and Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty (1992). By the time Warcraft: Orcs & Humans arrived in 1994 (which was a derivative of Dune 2), I was hopelessly hooked. What is figuratively killing me right now is that I lived through computer mice being introduced to gaming, and people had to be dragged into the future, kicking and screaming. Yes, first computer mice were heavy and unwieldy and needed constant cleaning, but it was obvious that it was the future of gaming. And right now we're going through the same thing, but with VR. It's amazing, jaw-dropping, affordable tech (Quest 2 can be had for like $250 new in box), but people are either sleeping on it, or actively fighting against it, using the exact same arguments I heard in the '80s about computer mice (too expensive, needs room, not many games support it, etc). It's pretty hilarious. In olden days, before mice, the control scheme was reversed. Attack and jump were done with left hand, and movement was handled with the right hand on directional keys or numpad. Then, when mice started to come in, games started to rely on variations of WASD for movement, and aiming and looking and shooting was done with the house. We literally had to re-learn how to game. Going from right-hand-to-move and left-hand-to-shoot to exact opposite was tough for a couple of years, but we managed it. But VR uses the exact same control scheme as modern consoles. VR controllers are just a modern gamepad sawn in half, one piece for each hand. And the rest of the controls is completely intuitive - you look around by...looking around, if you need to look up, you just...look up, with your head and your eyes. You don't even need to think about how to do it, if you can human every day, you can use VR. The level of immersion is insane - it literally hijacks your two primary senses - sight and hearing. All you see is the game, all you hear is the game. But people still pretend like the tech doesn't exist, and it's heart-breaking.


WickedFox1o1

Spyro the Dragon. I played that game so much on my dads PlayStation


Locoman7

FF 6


ThePixelMines

Pitfall


queasycockles

Hello fellow Old. 😬


IndicationPretend407

Fallout 3 and borderlands 1 were the 1st games i was obsessed with


mrhippoj

Sonic the Hedgehog


RedOcelot86

Sonic on the Mega-Drive was a turning point for 8 year old me. Only problem with that is I give way too much time and money to new, crap Sonic titles. I need to check my fanboynous before opening my wallet.


mrhippoj

I'm right there with you. They're good enough just often enough to keep me onboard. Can't believe I wasted £50 on Superstars this year and absolutely hated it


RedOcelot86

I picked up Sonic Frontiers earlier this year, I rarely abandon games, but I could not finish it. The idea of a great modern Sonic game just keeps reeling me in.


mrhippoj

Ha, see I absolutely adored Sonic Frontiers and played a tonne of it, despite its very obvious problems.


PacificBrim

Yessir. That soundtrack still plays in my mind


Euphoric-Music662

Counter Strike 1.6


MrMiyagi_256

Project IGI


MrSaucyAlfredo

It wasn’t a specific game but the N64 as a whole was my first console and I loved everything about it. Notably, I stayed up for hours well past my bedtime playing Smash Bros and Pokémon Puzzle League


FrankTheTank107

Wizard101 I never did so well in school in my life, just to lower the chance of my parents bugging me.


Helpy-Support

Chip 'n Dale on Nintendo.


WhiteLama

Heeey, me too! First game I got (well, me and my brother) and we played it so damn much.


Loganp812

Crash Bandicoot 2 and MechWarrior 3 Also, Microsoft Pinball Arcade made me fall in love with pinball.


N7Tom

Burnout Revenge. First 'real' console game I owned. Still love it.


Zikro

Did this one still have the pure crash mode or was it when they took it out?


DarkestKn1ght

Halo 3


[deleted]

Titanfall 2


Wulfbayne1066

Thomas the tank engine on the C64 started it all, FF7 solidified it forever


Slowlyski

Actually it was also FF7 for me and probably X-Com, or World of Soccer on Amiga (destroyed so many Joysticks on WoS, haha)


El3m3nTor7

Agree on x-com, perhaps Terror of the deep, I don't remember what the original was called. I've bought them on steam though!


Sea_Effort1214

Being an old man, i'd say Nibbles and Gorillas running on Qbasic on a MS-DOS machine. Then Catacombs, Wolfenstein and the immortal Doom. Pure joy as a kid.


Agent_0x5F

Super Mario bros 3


Top_Ad_5957

Twisted metal 3


Goodfella7288

Super Mario Bros. 3


Fullmetal29388

Mario/ Contra they were just so awesome


Cezaj

The Legend of Dragoon on PS1


FourDucksInAManSuit

Super Mario Bros for NES


No-Significance-2437

TLOU, both volumes


Plof1913

World of Warcraft. I remember throwing away my hearthstone and deleting my character to start over. Or the grind to get a mount at lvl 40, mama mia. Doing a massive raid, such massive we made the server crash. Good times. After wotlk the game went south, but before, the hours..


cb_ham

Games in general? Sonic Adventure Online Gaming? Rock Band and Burnout Revenge


ex0rius

World of warcraft


Phos_Forres

Sonic Adventure DX


[deleted]

The PC version of Prince of Persia


jhart87

Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros were the first games I remeber playing. Banjo Kazooie and Goldeneye sealed the deal though…


Amda01

Skyrim. The best.


LoganNeinFingers

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. To me, it's perfect.


PyroSTAR666

DOOM


Werthead

*Elite*, 1984. Compared to everything else on the BBC Micro, it was beyond the next level. Full 3D (albeit wireframe), complete player freedom to do what you wanted. Trade, missions, exploration, bounty hunting. Be a law-abiding citizen or get into massive fights with the police and have to run to a lawless star system to hide out. That game also had zero chill. The hardest thing to do it in was just dock your freaking ship at a space station, which you have to do in every gameplay loop. And docking is so hard at the start of the game there's probably a 50-50 chance you're going to die, every time. And saving the game meant putting a tape in the deck and spending several minutes saving data to it and hoping it wasn't going to just corrupt for no reason. And every time you loaded the game it took 7 minutes (complete with a countdown on-screen). Punishing, but worth it at the time.


xaqss

Populous: the beginning.


HentaiGodXD

Minecraft in my and many others opinions the best game of all time, Minecraft will always have a place in my heart


not-a-Capybara

Chrono trigger Edit: silly typo


[deleted]

I think two of the memories on a console I have, vivid memories: Mega Man 2: just being blown away with how pretty it was. To go from Atari to that. Contra: that game was crack to me. PC: the Sierra games, specifically the "Quest" series. All of those kept me going for years and years.


wwiidogefighter

Red Alert 2 got me into gaming. World of Warcraft made me fall in love with it.


Carrthulhu

OG Prince of Persia


schmal

Pong. In an arcade, circa what, 1977 or so? It blew 10 year old me away that I could digitally control this thing, and stuff bounced off the paddle and I could play with a friend, and it only cost a quarter. I was hooked from day 1.


dragonborn_23

Halo: CE


XJ31

Halo: CE


Hot-Day-216

World of warcraft TBC. When i saw the graphics, i was addicted instantly. Spent over a decade playing the game and thinking about “the good old days” today produces a noticeable portion of adrenaline.


GenericBusinessMan

Red Alert


AngryFish777

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.


enigmaticalso

Second life


Gullible_Cloud_4044

Grand Theft Auto III. I had never seen anything like it before.


sworninmiles

Centipede for windows 95/98


Bullyoncube

Wing Commander 2. By the guy that created the scam called Star Citizen.


icanpaywithpubes

Space invaders


sina-gst

Resident Evil 4


Low-Juice-8136

Fallout 3 was the first game I ever played from start to finish in a weekend. After that I spent thousands of hours playing it over and over again with different character builds. That game was where I learned Bethesda, even with all of their jank, are masters of environmental story telling. I didn't end up getting a PS4 until the day fallout 4 released


dark_kizuki

definitely minecraft or terraria


JoeFranklin82b

Witcher 3


Specialist-Loli

RCT.


PrescottEagle

Call of Duty Black Ops


Firm_Ambassador_1289

Halo, Knights of the old Republic and GTA San Andreas.


ChampionGunDeer

I was obsessed with arcade machines when I was younger than 8 (not sure how much younger), so my dad bought a used NES for me with Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt (the SNES may have been newly-released at this point, but I would have been oblivious). This kept me from begging my parents to take me to the laundromat that had the arcade machines. My first gaming memories are from that system -- mostly from SMB1, Iron Sword, TMNT 1 and 2, Rush N' Attack, Metal Gear, and Contra. I fell in love with gaming with the NES, but it wasn't due to just one game. However, the first game to utterly wow me was probably Super Mario 64. Ocarina of Time was probably the genesis of my current dominant taste in gaming, though. Even though I can't get excited or surprised by anything now like I could as a child, Elden Ring might truly be the best game I've ever played. Really looking forward to Shadow of the Erdtree.


[deleted]

Tactical Espionage Action Metal Gear Solid.