The most important game from your youth

[mgb]

Just a dorky kinda a question for you all.

If you can think of all the games you played as a kid and had to pick only ONE as your favorite game
Arcade, Console or Computer.
What game would it be?

For me it would have to be the C64 version of Jumpman.
My friends and I played a lot of games every chance we got but most of all I loved going to my best friends house to play Jumpman on his C64.

The game started as a sort of copy of Donkey Kong but I just love the variety of that game.
I still love it today and my son is pretty fond of it as well.

[keilmillerjr]

Pizza joint had a sunset riders arcade machine. Yeeeehoooo!

[adder]

im gonna cheat and pick 2

for C64 it had to be airborne ranger. it's amazing how much stuff u could do in that game, lots of missions, strategies etc



and on the zx spectrum, knight lore.   just mindblowing and so creative

[yotsuya]

Moon Patrol on the Atari 2600.

[vwalbridge]

This game was released at a perfect age for me. I was just old enough to understand how to play it, yet not too old to blaze through it. A perfect balance of action and story. Totally immersive with thoughtful pacing and incredible music. Even improved upon an already amazing predecessor.

A truly flawless game.

[Phreakwars]

Hogan's Alley. Damn was I awesome at that game.

[jennifer]

   Grand prix.... Followed closely by Aztec, and Asteroids.

[ChanceKJ]

This game was released at a perfect age for me. I was just old enough to understand how to play it, yet not too old to blaze through it. A perfect balance of action and story. Totally immersive with thoughtful pacing and incredible music. Even improved upon an already amazing predecessor.

A truly flawless game.

I completely agree. For those very same reasons and more.

[mgb]

This game was released at a perfect age for me. I was just old enough to understand how to play it, yet not too old to blaze through it. A perfect balance of action and story. Totally immersive with thoughtful pacing and incredible music. Even improved upon an already amazing predecessor.

A truly flawless game.

That is s good game but it's funny for me because in those days around here, you were either an SNES guy or a Genesis guy and I had a Genesis so I never really played those snes titles until much later.
But man, I'd play some hooky in order to veg out on Sonic or Mortal Kombat.

Hell, as a teenager I even called in sick to work to play Pit Fighter

[geeteoh]

Four player Warlords on Atari 2600. We would play it all night long in my friend's basement.

[harveybirdman]

[ark_ader]

Elite on the C64

[GeoMan]

Missile Command on my Atari 2600.

[big10p]

Pac-Man (arcade). Man, I was obsessed with it. Still have 3 books on how to play, using routes. I'm still pretty crap at playing though, even after all these years. 

[yotsuya]

Missile Command on my Atari 2600.

Yeah, this would be a close second for me.

[mgb]

Four player Warlords on Atari 2600. We would play it all night long in my friend's basement.

I especially played that game a lot when I was around 20.
I had a colecovision with the atari adapter. My wife and I used to have a ball playing it.
Still one of the greatest games.

Missile Command on my Atari 2600.

Around 87, I was playing that game every chance I got on my Atari 2600 Jr.
I always played in the easy teddy bear mode though.  I was such a wuss

[EssexMame]

Elite (Acorn Electron, but on a lot of others and I had it on ZX Spectrum and Amiga later also). I could still play it now, too. I didn't have a decent enough PC for Elite:Dangerous.

[JDFan]

Missile Command on my Atari 2600.

Missed so many classes at college due to them having the arcade version of that in the lounge -- had played it enough to be able to reach the 800K point threshold that put it into test mode almost every time (actually gave 176 bonus bases since the programmers figured noone would ever get there and they had it set up for testing their code and left it in.) - would start a game in the morning and wind up playing through my classes rather than go to class !

[nitrogen_widget]

Ultima 3 on the C-64.
played that so much.
Also used a sector editor the raise my dead characters.

[Ginsu Victim]

Pac-man, the game that started this whole mess for me (though I prefer Ms Pac-man over it). After MAME came along, I really wanted to have my own cabinet, then I finally bought a house in 2007 that had room for one. Thanks to The King of Kong, my interest was at an all-time high. In early 2008, I built my first MAME cabinet and have made two others for friends. Now I need to reclaim the other part of my childhood that involved cocktail cabinet Donkey Kong every morning before school with my dad (he would've turned 70 today had he not passed away in Nov....it's been a rough day for me).

[pbj]

Bop the Bishop

[BadMouth]

Eh, legos were more important to me than video games.

I did waste a lot of time on the Mid 80's Sierra adventure games.
The Space Quest series was my favorite, but I also played through the Manhunter series and King's Quest. 
Was too young to get my hands on Leisure Suit Larry.

[DeLuSioNal29]

X-men.  They had a 6-player version at the college that I went to.  (Smash TV is a close second).  I've owned both but ended up keeping the Smash TV (X-men was WAAAAAAY too big).

D

[Vigo]

Tough question. Lots of good memories tied to some of those games. Throwing this one out there for now, because I still reference it today.

Maniac Mansion

[DeLuSioNal29]

Yeah, the Lucasarts adventure games were awesome.  I started out with Monkey Island myself.  Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis and Day of the Tentacle are great too.

I liked the humor way better than Sierra games (although I did enjoy the Space Quest series).

D

[deadmoney5]

The Sierra games along with Micro League Baseball on Apple IIc

Donkey Kong on Arcade

[Malenko]

Metroid for NES.


I was terrible at it, but if that game never existed then my all time fave of Castlevania Symphony of the Night would never have been made.Link to the Past is a very close second.

[Cobolisdead]

Atari 2600 - Combat. Man that game was fun!
NES - SMB3. There were a lot of games for the NES that were awesome, SMB, Dragon Quest, Zelda, Ultima, Final Fantasy, but SMB3 was my favorite game on that system.
SNES - Zelda: Link to the past. Such an awesome game!
Genesis - Xmen. I played the heck out of that game, and it was the reason I got a Genesis.
Arcade - TMNT. I know Ms. Pacman, Galaga, Xmen, T2, and the Cruising games were awesome, but TMNT was one of my favorites as a child.

[zanna5910]

Favorite or Most Important?

I was 5 when the NES came out, so SMB pretty much changed the way I thought a video game could be, look, and play.  Truly was awesome.  I'd have to say it was my most important game in how I saw video games.  I spent so many hours just trying to jump over that stupid flagpole and create warp zones by clicking on specific fireworks it wasn't even funny, let alone play for purpose.

My favorite as a kid was definitely Galaga. When I was a little little kid, maybe 4 or 5 or so, there was a galaga at this pizza place we would go to every now and then.  If I was good I could get a few quarters to play after we ate.  My dad showed me how a ship could get captured and how you could free it and it was just the coolest thing in the world.  I used to think, how could they program this to happen like this?  How did that ship know how to capture it?  It was so cool to play and watch my dad play when I was that age.  So many great memories of that and cocktail pacmans and ms. pacmans.


Further down the road, when I saw my first MK cabinet when I was like 10 or 11 my head nearly exploded.  I couldn't believe this was an actual game and was allowed for people to just walk by and see.  So many secret moves that weren't recorded it was so cool to try to figure everything out.  It felt so realistic back then, at least it did to me as a kid and the motion capture was so cool. 

After that, seeing those hologram video games and that 6player xmen for the first time was really, really cool.  Those made me think the industry had many different ways it was going and they all seemed viable and fun.  There was a sense of creativity I felt when you would walk thru an arcade and see all these different types of games with different visuals and play styles.

Sorry, went off on a tanget down memory lane. 

[gildahl]

Most important.  Easy.  Pong.

[pbj]

I was 5 when the NES came out, so SMB pretty much changed the way I thought a video game could be, look, and play.  Truly was awesome.  I'd have to say it was my most important game in how I saw video games.  I spent so many hours just trying to jump over that stupid flagpole and create warp zones by clicking on specific fireworks it wasn't even funny, let alone play for purpose.

Yeah, I think SMB is a pretty good contender for biggest 'this changes everything' moment when it comes to video games.

[jennifer]

Most important.  Easy.  Pong.

   Not just everyone had one of those. You had to have a friend of a friend, and even then had to wait your turn. **Fun story Jennifer tasted her first wine and smoked a cigarette during a sleepover pong party.

[southpaw13]

Arcade=Robotron
At home=Atari 800xl. Jump man.

[nitrogen_widget]

Most important.  Easy.  Pong.

   Not just everyone had one of those. You had to have a friend of a friend, and even then had to wait your turn. **Fun story Jennifer tasted her first wine and smoked a cigarette during a sleepover pong party.

I wish I could find a picture of the pong setup my parents bought.
had multiple games with multiple "men" for things like soccer.

[Ginsu Victim]

**Fun story Jennifer tasted her first wine and smoked a cigarette during a sleepover pong party.

...and a girl went home crying.

There's always a girl who goes home crying.

[Generic Eric]

Arcade= T2
console = phoenix, moon patrol on atari 2600.  Atari 2600 wasn't the coolest ever, but that is what I had when I had free time to play things like videogames.
computer = There was a local computer store, back in the 80's - when there was such a thing.  They had all of the apogee games.  I really enjoyed raptor and the side scroll duke nukem games.  My most favorite was deathtrak.  Current favorites include broforce and super hexagon.  Elite: Dangerous currently eats my lunch, but I like it.  Lastly, if you haven't played risk of rain; treat yourself.

[dmckean]

Pac-man for sure. When I was really young it was the only game I could actually play and not just tossing my quarters away.

Later on when I got a NES, I spent a lot of time with Zelda II. Love that game.

[Baumer]

I spent a lot of time on my Intellivision playing Sea Battle.  It was a 2 player only game which limited it to only when friends were around.

I would say Zelda: Link to the Past on SNES was right there with it too.

[Ginsu Victim]

Pac-man for sure. When I was really young is was the only game I could actually play and not just tossing my quarters away.

Sure, there were no buttons to mess with. It was just four simple directions.

[heykool69]

Moon Patrol on the Atari 2600.

Oh yeah....Moon Patrol.  I used to remember having to take my clothing home to hang dry cuz i'd wasted my quarters on this console while i was waiting for the clothing at the laundromat.

Archon on C-64 floppy disk

[yotsuya]

Moon Patrol on the Atari 2600.

Oh yeah....Moon Patrol.  I used to remember having to take my clothing home to hang dry cuz i'd wasted my quarters on this console while i was waiting for the clothing at the laundromat.

Archon on C-64 floppy disk

It was the first game I remember having clear goals and me really wanting to be good enough to meet those goals.

[megamoze]

I was into animation, so Dragon's Lair and Space Ace were very important to me.

I also have very vidid memories of Rolling Thunder, Ikari Warriors, and Victory Road.

[Emy]

For computer games, it would probably be Age of Empires II.

Honorable mention for Tetris because it was the first game I played and I would spend hours trying to beat my mom's score  Plus it's still one of my favourites!

[ark_ader]

Arcade....  it had to be star wars in the Sega center in Cerritos, CA.  Important as I wanted to really get into game design.  It definitively flipped a switch.

I can remember when it came out you had 20 guys around it and cost 50c a pop.

[cw]

early years..
arcade: starship one                 http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9782
apple 2: wolfenstien
         

[BlueGhost]

Moon Patrol on the Atari 2600.

Oh yeah....Moon Patrol.  I used to remember having to take my clothing home to hang dry cuz i'd wasted my quarters on this console while i was waiting for the clothing at the laundromat.

Archon on C-64 floppy disk

It was the first game I remember having clear goals and me really wanting to be good enough to meet those goals.

I played Moon Patrol so much on the 2600, that I can't get anywhere when I try to play it in MAME.  I always want to press up on the joystick for jump instead of using the button, guess I could remap the jump button.

[brihyn]

"Most Important" for this hobby might be Pong.  I was somewhere between 8-10 when we had a Pong cabinet, and even back then I was trying to figure out a way to mount the Atari 2600 into the cabinet to allow it to play those games, without it looking like a hole in the cabinet, shelf mounted, and a 2600 sitting inside.

Most important game I loved to play? could be either Gyruss at the arcade or Star Raiders on the 2600. Star Raiders was one of the most addicting games on that system imo.

[Loafmeister]

I love threads like this, but I def have to go with a "per system" answer, sort of in order of playing them but I will skip some systems so that this really reflects the "most important" tag.  Certainly, "most important" does not necessarily mean "best game". 

Seriously this almost impossible to answer...  I gotta break out the arcade because some of these were "important" for different reasons

- Arcade - Racers:  Outrun
- Arcade - Sports:  Champion Baseball
- Arcade - the rest:  Robotron

- Pinball:  Flash (not at all a fav, but man that sound and the lighting changed everything!)

- Colecovision:  Donkey Kong or Time Pilot, can't decide, both showed "wow, you can actually play something at home that feels like the arcade game"

Apple 2+ gets 3 titles, just can't pick between these.  Put SOOOO much time in them:
Microleague baseball.  Apparently, me and my buddy weren't the only dudes who loved it!
Rescue on Fractalus.  What I wouldn't give for a modern day remake!  Still fun to play to this day
Karateka:  what a game!

Amiga - uh oh, can't pick one again...:
- Dungeon Master:  Change the landscape of RPG's forever!
- Dragon's Lair:  Actually looked like the arcade and fit on 6 floppy disks? (ok missing scenes but still!)
- Hardball:  I miss Accolade...
- Pinball Dreams - specifically the Nightmare table

I know I'm missing more obvious stuff

[pbj]

Hm... Flash is a good pinball choice.  That's probably the first one that was doing things you clearly couldn't have done on an EM. 

[Speed Racer]

Great thread.

When I was a teenager, my local arcade would have these late night flat rate sessions where all the machines were set on free play. The one game that stands out from that time was Daytona USA. My mates and I spent so much time on those machines, swapping out the losers if there were more than four of us. It was as much about hanging out with the guys as it was about playing games.

At home, my first consoles were an original GameBoy and a Mega Drive. I put many hours into Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB) and Street Fighter II (MD). Those two are largely responsible for me getting hooked on games. Only downside.... I am way more proficient at SFII on a gamepad than on real arcade controls 

[Mighty690]

My dad and I used to build Heathkit H89 computers together.  Early '80s CP/M machines.  Once a computer was done I'd burn it in by spending every waking hour playing a game called Telengard.  I was totally obsessed.  Telengard was a random dungeon crawler that played well on a computer such as the H89 which only had text-based graphics.

Much later, early '90s, I was completely addicted to a game called Spaceward Ho!.  It was a multi-player conquest game.  Think Risk in space.  My buddies and I would stay after work until 2-3:00 in the morning battling it out on the network.  I wasn't quite a kid anymore, but I thought I'd mention it anyway since it was still an early game I'll never forget.

[spedinfargo]

I might be the only person out there whose favorite game of all-time is Konami Super Basketball.  #2 isn't anywhere close.

Hell, I quizzed my peers on FB if they remember my favorite game from youth and nobody even REMEMBERED that game.

[yotsuya]

I might be the only person out there whose favorite game of all-time is Konami Super Basketball.  #2 isn't anywhere close.

Hell, I quizzed my peers on FB if they remember my favorite game from youth and nobody even REMEMBERED that game.

Was that on the Sega Master System?

[mgb]

While we're all sharing stories of some of our favorite games.
Picture this:
It's 1995, I'm 22 years old and living in a boarding house (in a pretty good neighborhood though)
My whole living space is one room of about 12' x 12'
I've traded my beloved Sega Genesis for a guitar but I still wanna have some game time.
I pull out the ol' colecovision with Atari adaptor and hook it up to my Sony trinitron
And start playing.

I spent many a night after work
Just me, a six pack of Sam Adams and...

Demon Attack

I love that game, one of the best of its kind and pretty good graphics for the 2600

[markc74]

Demon attack +1. Even now the sounds of the aliens swooping in sounds awesome. And best box art ever 

Mineshaft on the acorn electron
Paperboy on arcade

[mgb]

I can still hear those sound effects from demon Attack
It's almost like I just played it yesterday.

Oh wait I did just play it yesterday.

[dmckean]

Demon Attack really pushed the boundaries of the 2600 hardware. It and Ms. Pacman are about the only two cartridges where you really get an arcade feel.

[yotsuya]

While we're all sharing stories of some of our favorite games.
Picture this:
It's 1995, I'm 22 years old and living in a boarding house (in a pretty good neighborhood though)
My whole living space is one room of about 12' x 12'
I've traded my beloved Sega Genesis for a guitar but I still wanna have some game time.
I pull out the ol' colecovision with Atari adaptor and hook it up to my Sony trinitron
And start playing.

I spent many a night after work
Just me, a six pack of Sam Adams and...

Demon Attack

I love that game, one of the best of its kind and pretty good graphics for the 2600

I was 22 in 1995 as well. I was getting ready to student teach the following spring. At that point in time, my brother and I (he was an eighth grader) had many, many rousing battles of NHL '94.

[geeteoh]

Demon Attack! I played that all the time. I got real good at it. I sat down for a long high score run and found that it has an end! The game just stops at level xxx. Kind of upset me. Stopped playing after that.

[DeLuSioNal29]

 The first time I played Demon Attack! was on an Intelevision.   I still think it's the best version.

[Draco_Elessar]

Super Mario Bros. for the NES. Still love playing it today.

[jennifer]

Super Mario Bros. for the NES. Still love playing it today.

Sorry Mario but the princess is in another castle.

[Loafmeister]

as well. I was getting ready to student teach the following spring. At that point in time, my brother and I (he was an eighth grader) had many, many rousing battles of NHL '94.

It's embarrassing I didn't put the NHL series for the Genesis into my list, just forgot.  Between NHL hockey, NHLPA '93, NHL 94/95 and 96, I estimate I put in at least 1500 hours into those games.  starting with NHLPA '93, we had leagues going ($20 per person I think), with our "commissioner" coming up with these weekly league reports that were hilarious.  At the end of the year, various achievements were rewarded for winning the cup, leading the league in goals/assists, etc.  Heck as a matter of principal, I kept my "winnings" envelope for winning the Vezina with Montreal/Roy.  Kind of a badge of honor and a joke, considering I was one of the worst players.  Winnings weren't much for that, I think that's a whole $2 Canadian dollar coin in that envelope.

Oh the memories!

[mgb]

Any fans of Jungle Strike and Desert Strike?
Two of the best games ever.

How about
Shadow of the beast
And
The Imortal


I played all the above titles on the Genesis for many hours

[jdbailey1206]

as well. I was getting ready to student teach the following spring. At that point in time, my brother and I (he was an eighth grader) had many, many rousing battles of NHL '94.

It's embarrassing I didn't put the NHL series for the Genesis into my list, just forgot.  Between NHL hockey, NHLPA '93, NHL 94/95 and 96, I estimate I put in at least 1500 hours into those games.  starting with NHLPA '93, we had leagues going ($20 per person I think), with our "commissioner" coming up with these weekly league reports that were hilarious.  At the end of the year, various achievements were rewarded for winning the cup, leading the league in goals/assists, etc.  Heck as a matter of principal, I kept my "winnings" envelope for winning the Vezina with Montreal/Roy.  Kind of a badge of honor and a joke, considering I was one of the worst players.  Winnings weren't much for that, I think that's a whole $2 Canadian dollar coin in that envelope.

Oh the memories!

[harveybirdman]

I rolled my share of college classes to stay in the dorms and play NHL '94

The Immortal, man that game was crazy hard.... Never got very far.

[Loafmeister]

Any fans of Jungle Strike and Desert Strike?
Two of the best games ever.

How about
Shadow of the beast
And
The Imortal


I played all the above titles on the Genesis for many hours

Played lots of Shadow of the Beast and quite a bit of "The Immortal"... both were better on the original Amiga release

JDBailey:  Yep

[mgb]

I rolled my share of college classes to stay in the dorms and play NHL '94

The Immortal, man that game was crazy hard.... Never got very far.

I'm ashamed to say but on a few occasions I called the help line that was listed on the box.
My mom was less than pleased but if I remember correctly I finished the game

[mgb]

Shadow of the beast was freakin hard.
But I still love the music.

I will have to look into the amega version

[Loafmeister]

When it came to difficulty settings, anything from Psygnosis = evil ---daisies--- difficulty setting!

[deadmoney5]

as well. I was getting ready to student teach the following spring. At that point in time, my brother and I (he was an eighth grader) had many, many rousing battles of NHL '94.

It's embarrassing I didn't put the NHL series for the Genesis into my list, just forgot.  Between NHL hockey, NHLPA '93, NHL 94/95 and 96, I estimate I put in at least 1500 hours into those games.  starting with NHLPA '93, we had leagues going ($20 per person I think), with our "commissioner" coming up with these weekly league reports that were hilarious.  At the end of the year, various achievements were rewarded for winning the cup, leading the league in goals/assists, etc.  Heck as a matter of principal, I kept my "winnings" envelope for winning the Vezina with Montreal/Roy.  Kind of a badge of honor and a joke, considering I was one of the worst players.  Winnings weren't much for that, I think that's a whole $2 Canadian dollar coin in that envelope.

Oh the memories!

Yep..we would get in some VERY heated battles with the NHL series on Genesis back in college.  One of us would pick a team to start the playoffs and that person would try to win all 4 rounds to get the cup, while the other guy would just be the other team.  Winning cups rarely happened.  I was great at NHL 93 and my roommate was great at Madden..I don't think I ever won a Superbowl against him, and he never won a Stanley Cup against me!

[Paul Olson]

Probably the most important game to me is Stunt Cycle. It wasn't a brand new game when I played it (which is good because I was 5 then, and I never would have seen it) at Disneyland, but it was the best thing I had ever seen at that point. I chose to play that simple game for hours over everything else at Disneyland, and I still have that games first mentality when I go somewhere.

Donkey Kong would become my favorite arcade game, and the original Zelda my favorite console game, but I think Stunt Cycle was the one that really gets credit for my game craziness.

I have owned the game for 4 years now, and thought about selling it earlier this year, but it is probably the only nostalgic item I own at this point. I can finish the game almost every time I play it, and I don't play it often, but it is nice to have it.

[BorgDog]

Game that really sucked me into games at all and computers in general was dialing into the mainframe (300 baud was awesome!) on the teletype terminal and firing up Zork.  We had maps (drawn on old used wide terminal paper of course) up all over the wall trying to figure it all out.  That and Oregon Trail.  The hours spent, and only text and our imaginations.  Later many quarters pumped into asteroids, space invaders etc, don't know where I came up with it all, but most spare money went to the small arcade at the bowling alley. 

[yotsuya]

as well. I was getting ready to student teach the following spring. At that point in time, my brother and I (he was an eighth grader) had many, many rousing battles of NHL '94.

It's embarrassing I didn't put the NHL series for the Genesis into my list, just forgot.  Between NHL hockey, NHLPA '93, NHL 94/95 and 96, I estimate I put in at least 1500 hours into those games.  starting with NHLPA '93, we had leagues going ($20 per person I think), with our "commissioner" coming up with these weekly league reports that were hilarious.  At the end of the year, various achievements were rewarded for winning the cup, leading the league in goals/assists, etc.  Heck as a matter of principal, I kept my "winnings" envelope for winning the Vezina with Montreal/Roy.  Kind of a badge of honor and a joke, considering I was one of the worst players.  Winnings weren't much for that, I think that's a whole $2 Canadian dollar coin in that envelope.

Oh the memories!

Yep..we would get in some VERY heated battles with the NHL series on Genesis back in college.  One of us would pick a team to start the playoffs and that person would try to win all 4 rounds to get the cup, while the other guy would just be the other team.  Winning cups rarely happened.  I was great at NHL 93 and my roommate was great at Madden..I don't think I ever won a Superbowl against him, and he never won a Stanley Cup against me!

My favorite NHL'94 story, which I think I've told, was when my brother had played a full season from start until the Stanley Cup finals without losing a single game. He was proud of that fact, so for the Finals I played as the opposing team. I beat him in three straight games as was just about to beat him to win the Cup when he shut the console off in frustration, almost near tears, so it didn't save. Good times!

[telengard]

My dad and I used to build Heathkit H89 computers together.  Early '80s CP/M machines.  Once a computer was done I'd burn it in by spending every waking hour playing a game called Telengard.  I was totally obsessed.  Telengard was a random dungeon crawler that played well on a computer such as the H89 which only had text-based graphics.

Much later, early '90s, I was completely addicted to a game called Spaceward Ho!.  It was a multi-player conquest game.  Think Risk in space.  My buddies and I would stay after work until 2-3:00 in the morning battling it out on the network.  I wasn't quite a kid anymore, but I thought I'd mention it anyway since it was still an early game I'll never forget.

Telengard is also the most important game from my youth, I had played the C64 version. 

Probably followed by Defender (the arcade version).

[DeLuSioNal29]

Lakers vs. Celtics on Genesis.  Played that in college and it was awesome.

[jeremymtc]

The most important game I played early on is definitely a different thing than my favorite game from early on. My favorite game from early on was probably Star Raiders on the Atari 8-bit computer (I had a 400, older step-brother had an 800).

The most important game I played was a few years later, SSI's Empire - Wargame of the Century. A friend of mine introduced it to me (this was the PC-AT era iirc), and we would play the hell out of that game for days on end. That was the game that hooked me on IBM-compatible PCs and made me learn the ins and outs of MS-DOS, device drivers, batch and config files, PC hardware expansion and all the other stuff that followed. Up until then, I had been content with the various packaged 8-bit systems from Atari, Apple and Commodore, but I was a PC guy after Empire.

[empardopo]

KungFu Master is the best for me.

[n3wt0n]

Great Question!

I am glad that Shadow of the Beast by Psygnosis got a bit of love. I spent A LOT of time playing that game on the Amiga when I was a kid. Everything about it was pretty mind blowing to me. as far as graphics and in game music it was far above anything else I played.

The most important arcade game from my youth is a tough question. I don't have a place and a game that stands out as a singular incident. I know that Choplifter was my nemesis. I loved playing it but really, really sucked at it. When it came time to throw down the single quarter my mom would toss my way while she paid for groceries I was always conflicted -Should I play Choplifter or something I can play for more than 30 seconds. Those were the tough decisions as a kid I guess.

As for consoles, it's hard to beat the first time I saw Super Mario playing on the NES in my friends basement. But, if I can choose only one it has to be Demon Attack because I played co-op with someone very important to me and I will always remember how fun those games were.

[RTyper56]

I have always been a Nintendo boy, and played a lot of Mario games, but I think what really was the most important would be Galaga '90 for the TG16, or Super R-Type for the SNES.

My first console was actually a TG16, only bec we couldn't find an NES at the time, and I always played Galaga '90 on it. We also had Military Madness, Neutopia, Psychosis, a few others, but the most hours went towards Galaga.
We eventually found an NES and got a bunch of games like Mario bros./duck hunt, final fantasy, laser invasion, contra, super C, and other I cant remember.

[Token]

Commodore 64 - Jupiter Lander


Atari 2600 - Missile Command


NES - SMB


PC - Space Quest II
No joke, I was blown away by the graphics!


SNES - Final Fantasy III

[eds1275]

So many, most on c64. Airborne Ranger, Maniac Mansion, Below the Root, Jumpman, Way of the Exploding Fist...

[pbj]

Lots of C64 love on here... who knew this place was filled with so many old, opinionated Europeans.

[eds1275]

c64 was huge in canada

[kellyahlers]

Galaxy 5000 on the NES.  My brother and I played that game for hours and hours!

[vwalbridge]

Galaxy 5000 on the NES.  My brother and I played that game for hours and hours!

You must have never played R.C. PRO-AM then.

[kellyahlers]

Galaxy 5000 on the NES.  My brother and I played that game for hours and hours!

You must have never played R.C. PRO-AM then.

Another great one!  We loved the repair vehicle and saving money for new races.  I still play this on my arcade cab, somehow I'm really terrible at it now.  Might have to bust out the game genie codes...   

[Token]

You must have never played R.C. PRO-AM then.

 

A game ahead of its time.

[vwalbridge]

You must have never played R.C. PRO-AM then.

 

A game ahead of its time.

It sure was. In my opinion, it was the closest thing to Mario Kart on the NES.

Check out Bang Bang Racing for a modern version of R.C. Pro-AM.

[EMDB]

Arcade: Super Pac-Man @ the arcade during summer holidays, Donkey Kong @ the canteen of my soccer club.
Philips VidePac: KC Munchkin
Atari 2600: Ms Pac Man
Commodore 64: Blagger
SNES: the Donkey Kong Country series
Sega MegaDrive: Mickey Mania
Amiga 500: Rick Dangerous

[05SRT4]

It seems like growing up there where phases. Although there are hundreds of other games these were the first that I remember. Probably because these were usually played with my brothers and sister growing up.

Little Kid Youth
PC - Kings Quest games (Sierra Adventure games)
NES - SMB3, Bee 52, Base wars

Post Little Kid Youth
SNES - Donkey Kong series, Killer Instinct

Young Kid Youth
N64 - Golden eye, Smash Bros, Diddy Kong Racing

[Unstupid]

Baseball Stars Professional on an AES