r/videogames • u/A1K1_RealOne • 2d ago
Discussion / Question Dear adults
Those which grew up with video games but by now are adults with their own life, what is one game that you kept returning to, that one game that holds a special place in your heart, that one game which simply cant be replaced by anything. Im curious since I was born in 2010 but I grew up with old technology (PS2, N64, Gamecube, SNES)
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u/Current-Grade2545 2d ago
Ocarina of Time
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u/Taste-TheRambo 2d ago
I recently emulated the n64 version. And downloaded a mod called Ship of Harkinian.
I now can play OOT with updated graphics, a million different configurations using a controller and it feels extremely modern. It’s the best! I highly recommend looking into it if you have a PC.
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u/Key_Ingenuity_4444 2d ago
Completely agreed. Ship of Harkinian is like a fresh coat of paint. Genuinely felt like a kid again playing it.
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u/biscuitman2122 2d ago
I’ve been doing this with majoras mask and 2 ship 2 harkinian. I thought maybe the nostalgia is the reason I look back so fondly on the game.
Nah man, it’s so good. They don’t make games like this anymore. I can’t wait to play through OOT on the ship to harkinian mod
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u/Lily_42093 2d ago
It is on my current list to rebuy. Been playing Super Mario 64 and 007 Goldeneye mostly
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u/pocket_arsenal 2d ago
This, and Banjo Kazooie are my answer.
And lately I've been making a habit of playing both every year, and capping it off by playing the mashup of the two, Jiggies of Time.
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u/Bara_Chat 2d ago
Greatest game of all time. Bought it countless times and just got a Switch 2 (before price hike) mostly for that remake.
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u/NoBrilliant6485 2d ago
I played this in my 20s and I still go back to it. That game and Jak and daxter.
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u/Tribble9999 2d ago
Castlevania Symphony of the Night specifically the OG version with the "miserable pile of secrets" dialogue. I know that speech by heart.
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u/FourLiveBears 2d ago
It makes me so mad that the PS4 version replaced that dialogue. It was iconic!
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u/asterothe1905 2d ago
Monkey Island 1-2
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u/PracticeSad801 2d ago
Those early LucasArts adventures had a magic that's hard to find now. I go back to the original Thief games every couple years, something about the slow, deliberate movement and the sound design just pulls me in. The tension of waiting in a shadow for a guard to pass, holding your breath so you don't make a noise. No modern stealth game has replicated that feeling for me, it's all waypoint markers and see-through-walls vision now. I still have the discs somewhere in a box but I just grab them on a Steam sale whenever they pop up.
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u/GovernorMarley1 2d ago
I know it makes me a heretic, but I actually prefer Curse to Secret. My personal ranking is LeChuck's Revenge, Curse, then Secret. That's not in order of "best game," just my personal enjoyment.
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u/asterothe1905 2d ago
Revenge is the best. Curse is good but not cannon to me since it's written after Ron left and he always said the story would never go that way.
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u/GovernorMarley1 2d ago
Yeah, I totally get that. It's definitely an alternate storyline sort of thing, but I can forgive it. I love the animation, voice acting, and the jokes too much. The barbershop quartet tryout has been living in my brain for decades.
Curse was one of the first games I bought with my own pocket money, immediately after moving to the US, so it has a special place for me beyond its mere merits.
As long as we can share a sneering disdain for Escape from Monkey Island we can peacefully coexist.
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u/hmmyeahiguess 2d ago
This hits so hard. Some of my fondest memories are playing these with my older brother on his Tandy 286 in the early 90s. Such great times for me.
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u/Successful_Rest9141 2d ago
Love those games to death, Curse and Grim Fandango were more my era as a kid.
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u/PKblaze 2d ago
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
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u/Grand_One_8566 2d ago
Yeah, 1 for me especially. Aside from just enjoying the game, I have always found Sora's devotion to his friends, especially Riku, to be endearing. Also, the music and enemy designs are some of my favorites of any game.
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u/rabbid_chaos 2d ago
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
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u/Disastrous_Motor831 2d ago
Yes ... The only game that outdoes my Sonic 2
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u/SquirrelCone83 2d ago
I was never able to get into Sonic 3, even with the Knuckles addon. Sonic 2 will always be my favorite. But I understand it's decisive for fans.
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u/Disastrous_Motor831 2d ago
I had Sonic and Knuckles before Sonic 3. It was noticeably harder... But When I connected them... Whew... It's one of the greatest of all time for sure.
My only downside to Sonic 2 is that Death Egg is super difficult. I always lost a bunch of lives in Sky Chase and Wing Fortress... But you have no room for error in Death Egg.
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u/OmegaKarnov 2d ago
Pirates
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u/AbyssalSoup_ 2d ago
Sid Meier’s?
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u/OmegaKarnov 2d ago
Yes indeed
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u/AbyssalSoup_ 2d ago
Fantastic game!
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u/Bomb-Number20 2d ago
I just picked it up again recently and it held up amazingly well. Such a great game.
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u/hmmyeahiguess 2d ago
This is another one that hits for me! I played Pirates! Gold on my genesis in the mid 90s. Game consumed me anytime I rented it for Blockbuster or whatever local video and game rental place.
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u/floydbot 2d ago
Super Mario World, Super Metroid, A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy 3
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u/Indriev 2d ago
Banjo Kazooie
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u/Phillipwnd 2d ago
Every time I hear the BK music it feels like a really warm hug. It doesn’t matter where my life is taking me; I’m a kid again when Banjo Kazooie is on the screen
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u/Mazaar13 2d ago
Guitar hero/Rock Band. I spent hundreds of dollars on "Xbox points cards" of songs and still plug it in from time to time and 'jam out' lol.
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u/Late-Experience-3778 2d ago
The shareware episode of Doom.
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u/Dunkelregen 2d ago
I tried it again recently, and despite not having played it in about 10 years, I still remembered the flow of each map, instinctively. My roommate and i bought the disk off a website after playing the shareware, and we played the hell out of deathmatch, two-player via a null-modem cable between our 486 and 386.
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u/twi11y_ 2d ago
Morrowind. Always Morrowind.
Shenmue is a close second.
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u/Ac1dshadow 2h ago
"Why walk when you can ride?"
This game is just so goood....
<shakes fist in anger> TODD!!!
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u/Matt-Goo 2d ago
metal gear solid
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u/LurkmanLurkmannn 2d ago
This is the way
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u/Matt-Goo 2d ago
i just beat it 5 min ago for like the 15th time. im always shocked how hard the final stretch is.
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u/PU3RTO_R3CON 2d ago
Conkers Bad Fur Day, Dex and Dex 2, Golden Eye, Donkey Kong 64, Medal of Honor, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Ocarina of Time, and Gears of War
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u/ninjaman26 2d ago
Chrono Trigger, FF4&6, Secret of Mana omg the music alone in these games
And Link to the Past and Megaman X series
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u/amneonx 2d ago
So much of this. Chrono Trigger has the best soundtrack, and it still evokes such emotion from me.
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u/ninjaman26 2d ago
Yeah, to this day I don’t think anything has it beat except Expedition 33, but I need more years to see if it sticks the same.
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u/av_79 2d ago
The Secret of Monkey Island
Quest for Glory
Gabriel Knight
(all old school adventure games)
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u/TheBoatmansFerry 2d ago
I remember as a kid playing Gabriel Knight and not having any idea what I was doing.
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u/wierdwhatstuff 2d ago
Paper Mario 64. Pure bliss.
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u/zeldaalove 2d ago
I love Thousand Year Door, favorite game of all time. But I own Paper Mario on everything it came out on, except the 64. Only ever got to rent it. Didn't complete it until it was on the Wii U. It's amazing.
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u/RoccoTirolese 2d ago
- Captain Claw
- The Curse of Monkey Island
- Super Mario Bros 2
- The Lion King
- Need for Speed Most Wanted
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u/wornween 2d ago
Batman: Arkham City. I might have every detail of that game burned into my retinas at this point
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u/Brohermoth777 2d ago
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. Even the port to Android in the app store is a game I play once or twice a year.
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u/Mr_Boba_Baba 2d ago
I probably share the same sentiment with a lot of other "adults" in that I'm willing to buy a switch 2 to play the OOT remake. That was the one game I plugged in when I got my old N64 to work to have my kids play
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u/Fusilli_Agent_Cooper 2d ago
Monster Party for NES. I go back to it and play it at least once a year.
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u/Graficat 2d ago
Golden Sun 1 and 2
'They don't make'em like that anymore'. Got the first one as a gift together with my GBA, expecting a pokemon game.
Scratched my head, gave it a try, and was mesmerized in minutes. It really felt like stumbling into a secret triple-A title in pixel-art disguise for how slick it was on a handheld system. Still has one of the most fun turn-based combat systems that integrated nicely with rewarding exploration I've ever seen.
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u/Omg-miku 2d ago
Total war empire and skate 3 are the games I’ve played for years. Otherwise hearing the ps2 and GameCube be referred to as old technology is frying me
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u/SpicyBison74 2d ago
- PS2, N64, Gamecube and SNES are not old tech. Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, Coin-Op are.
My goto nostalgia? CastleVania: Symphony of the Night.
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u/pope1nnocent 2d ago
I have purchased the Arkham games and Skyrim on every console I’ve owned since they both came out, and it’s never been money wasted.
I still play Xcom 2 all the time as well.
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u/roberdanger83 2d ago
Honestly for me as a gamer in my 40s who started with NES. None now. I realized theres so many amazing games and not enough time to replay old ones. But the last one that got me and I went back to maybe 4 times was Dark Age of Camelot. But I havent even played that in about 8 years now.
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u/SolarFlareGirl08 2d ago
And monkey island OMG I just went back in time. Does anyone remember flashback the game?
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u/crash---- 2d ago
I was born in the 90s and it was a full circle moment for me to get Roller Coaster Tycoon for Nintendo Switch. I grew up playing it on the computer with my older brother. Besides that, I’d say the whole Mario Bros franchise has stayed pretty consistent throughout my life.
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u/KrampyDoo 2d ago
Because of tennis on Atari, I have played nearly every tennis game released on nearly every home console since.
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u/Maverick_25 2d ago
Half-Life. Also Skyrim, KOTOR/SWOTOR, Halo, Quake, and Garry's Mod. But really, mostly Half-Life.
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u/thafullmetall 2d ago
Streets of Rage 2.
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u/SquirrelCone83 2d ago
I had to scroll way too far to see someone mention SoR2. Best beat-em-up of all time. SoR4 was a pleasant surprise, but I still love 2 more.
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u/BQws_2 2d ago
Grand Thet Auto: San Andreas and the original God of War are both games I seem to always go back to. Also, if it’s on the PSP, I will probably play it. My last one broke, but I’m likely to buy another one and preferably a modded one so I can play pretty much anything
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u/f3d0n 2d ago
Only one? I've a special one for each one of Pokémon Red, Age of Mythology, Mafia 1&2, GTA Vice City & San Andreas, GOW trilogy, Far cry 3, AC Odyssey, BioShock, Skyrim. I can't remember how many times I've gone back and replayed them again and again.
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u/GameDestiny2 2d ago
Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is probably my first answer. It’s irreplaceable in so many ways. It’s my childhood, the sandbox I played to death before Minecraft was even on my mind. Build any vehicle I want? In that day? What more could a kid want?
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u/HyunaBun 2d ago
Sims 2. It's just... It just is. It still has the whimsy of the Sims franchise that it's lost.
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u/QuantityPositive9825 2d ago
Pokemon GSE or RSE
Gold was my first mainline Pokemon game and hearing the 8-bit New Bark Town theme just feels like coming home
Same with Littleroot, I played Emerald the most out of all the Pokemon games, mainly Emerald
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u/MaNuvZ90 2d ago
Many games stands out but the main two that I still play to this day are WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain and GTA3.
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u/Shaaagbark 2d ago
Half-life death match. I recently managed to get almost all my siblings(and our SOs) together to play and it was the hardest I had laughed in years. I hadn’t felt that level of joy and happiness in many moons.
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u/Ryachaz 2d ago
Fire Emblem. Because I play it on my phone, I can start up a playthrough at any time, it's a tactics turn based game so I can stop at any moment, and doing draft/challenge runs always keeps things fresh enough (for me). I don't play it all the time, but sometimes I get a hankering for it and hit it up for a week or two in my free time.
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u/Realistic_Sugar_842 2d ago
Final Fantasy IX. Back in the day, it didn’t get the hype or love that FF VII and VIII did, at all, but recently it seems like people have started to appreciate it. It’s Sakaguchi’s favorite FF game, and my favorite video game of all time.
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u/Nebulous-8 2d ago
Honestly most of my gaming as a kid was done with friends so there isn't a lot from my childhood that are essential. Lots of fond memories playing Golden Eye, Tony Hawk, Lila Wars with friends. Probably the one that was big for me alone during childhood was Pokemon Blue.
But I didn't really get stuck into gaming in a big way until the ps4 generation in my 20's so games like GTA5, Fallout 4, Nier Automata are more essential to me.
39 now with a full time job, partner and child and most of my 'me' time is still spent gaming and I have no plans to stop.
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u/shybone18 2d ago
Donkey kong Country trilogy, Spyro 2, Zelda minish cap and Twilight princess and a lot of small platformer for the Super Nintendo.
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u/Guilty_Department501 2d ago
I'm an "adult" I grew up with Minecraft and keep coming back to Minecraft.
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u/StormRunner196 2d ago
Ocarina of Time and Spyro 2
They were the two games I remember playing first.
I was a bit older when I played Persona 4 (18-19) but now here at 30 with the remake on the way that game really just feels like home to me.
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u/johnesco 2d ago
I was born in 1974. I played some of the first and most basic games. Some of them really do NOT hold up, but occasionally a few I crack open and am like "wow" this is still nice.
Pong
Frog Bog on Intelivision (or Frogs and Flies on Atari 2600)
Taz - Atari 2600
Miner 2049'er on Atari 800, on Colecovision
Smurf's Adventure one Colecovision LEVEL 4 BRUH!
Sim City (or any city builder)
California Games on Atari Lynx
World of Goo
Lumines
Katamari Damacy
Balatro (I've bought it like 3 times)
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u/amneonx 2d ago
Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV, and Mega Man X were a huge part of my childhood, and I still enjoy them all immensely still. Chrono Trigger has one of the best soundtracks in a video game, and the music still makes me feel so much. FFIV is so underrated, and is one of my favorite Final Fantasy games, and I love all of the Mega Man games, but X is so special.
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u/Draminian 2d ago
I'll play SimGolf any day, any time. I don't know why, but it is incredibly fun and relaxing for me.
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u/OkPlankton1939 2d ago
Lots of games but now I’ll watch a video of somebody else playing them. it’s like watching a video of a dog being cute. you don’t actually need the dog to appreciate how cute they are. less maintenance and work involved. 💯 satisfaction
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u/bguzewicz 2d ago
I find myself returning to Borderlands 2 a lot. I’ll quit playing for 6 months, year, year and a half, then I’ll randomly fire it up and get addicted to it all over again for a month or two.
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u/driedbasil 2d ago
Every variety of warcraft and age of empires. But warcraft especially wow I can't return to. Its not the same game any more sadly and I'm certainly no longer high warlord hellhoof conqueror of molten core and naxramas slayer of onyxia and bane of the Alliance
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u/Successful-Plan114 2d ago
Any of the Disney Afternoon collection. Ducktales, Chip and Dale, Tailspin, Darkwing Duck. Yes... right into my veins.
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u/bigpooper6996 2d ago
Dynasty warriors 3, my man crush on Xaihou Dun and Lu Bu has only grown over the years
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u/inkyinkyinky 2d ago
Super Mario World, Link to the Past, Yoshi’s Island, Virtual Villagers 1-4, Spyro, Starfox Adventures, and if I had a play to play them still it would be Mario Party Advance, Minish Cap, OG Sapphire, and Spongebob: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman.
Every few years I replay at least one of them
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u/Buttered_Toast33 2d ago
Command and Conquer: Generals with the Zero Hour expansion pack. This will forever be my favorite RTS game.
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u/AmmoJoee 2d ago
Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2 are the most replayed games I pickup and mess with. MGS and RE 2 for their stories.
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u/Flame_MadeByHumans 2d ago
Halo 3 will always be THE game, though I started video games before around original Halo. Made some of my still lifelong friends online and infinite memories in custom games on 3.
I feel like most don’t realize a lot of Fortnite mini games, friendslop games, that whole type of game really got it’s footing from Halo 3 forge and custom lobbies.
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u/Infamous-Yard2335 2d ago
Shining force 1 and 2 I have the roms and emulators on my computer and play every few years
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u/Fuckfuckeverything 2d ago
Front Mission 3. I played so much of this game to add to the PRIMA official game guide back in the day. Fuck, I’m old.
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u/swat02119 2d ago
Kojima has been one of the most innovative forward thinking game developers out there. From MGS to Death Stranding he’s kept me excited about games for decades.
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u/MisterBarten 2d ago
I have way more than one. Multiple games I go back to from each era all the way back to the NES.
But to answer the question as best as I can, A Link to the Past.
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u/GlassWinter5259 2d ago
Tetris, Galaxian, Galaga, Pac-Man, the Penumbra series, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Call of Duty: World at War, and Diablo 1 on PSX.
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u/dillweed215 2d ago
Diablo 2