Favorite Games, Part 1

Greetings! My gaming life was born in 1989, at the age of 7 when I received a Nintendo Entertainment System of my very own. Thus began some of the most fun, and often most aggravating moments of my life. I give you now, my 20 most favorite games EVER, spread out across several different systems. So here we go...

20. CENTIPEDE - I love classic arcade games. Centipede sticks out because as I recall, it was the first of such games I played.



Of course, it's nothing fancy compared to today's games, but as a simple shooter with a simple look, Centipede remains an old favorite.

19. BATMAN - In 1989, I got Bat-fever like I never had when I saw the Tim Burton film. Awhile later I found out there was going to be a Batman game for Nintendo! How righteous! It was on a rainy Thursday when I didn't have school for some unknown reason, my aunt looked after me for the day, took me to lunch and the video store. This ended up being the game I rented.



Heck yes I'm gonna push start.

I was very jazzed by it's look, simple playing style, and kickin' music, even though it was quite difficult at parts.



Because it was a rental, I didn't end up finishing it until a few years after the fact, and only then after about 50,000 tries at fighting the Joker. When the heck did Joker learn to summon lightning??! In any event, for a kid of my age engulfed by Bat-fever, staying home from school playing Batman The Video Game was a great thrill.

18. ROAD RASH - In the mid 90's, I was getting into what I call my glory days of gaming with the Sega Genesis. My cousin owned this one, and one Saturday he plugged it in and we got to racing.



I don't even recall what hit me with Road Rash, maybe it was the catchy music, the surprisingly good graphics on other racers giving you tips or for the course ahead, knocking racers off their bikes, or the neato shop where you can buy newer motorcycles. Whatever it was, Road Rash stuck with me for a long time, despite the races getting hard as crap in level 4.

17. MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE - As a child of the 90's, heck yes I watched Power Rangers. Even though the movie wasn't canon with the TV show, it was alright for kid fluff.



I rented the game on a bored whim, just casually
hoping it would be good. Turns out I was pleasantly surprised!



The graphics were great, the sound and playing style were better, longer levels, and I really liked the flashback levels where you played as the Thunderzords! This was one that friends would double team on, which to me, kept it from being too boring.

16. DONKEY KONG COUNTRY - I was a late bloomer when it came to Super Nintendo. After the original NES, I moved to the Genesis. But at a later point, I got a Super NES. Donkey Kong Country was the second game I played for it, and not only was I blown away by the graphics, I really enjoyed how the spread out and different the game's levels were.



From icy slopes, dangerous mines, jungles and underwater, all were great fun for Nintendo's prized ape.

15. SONIC ADVENTURE - I grew up playing Sonic games, and made it a mission to play this one as soon as I read it's preview.



I got a Dreamcast and this game at Christmas of 1999, and hoped to be blown away. I was.



The cut scene graphics weren't the greatest, but alright for the time. However, the voice talent was excellent! After years of simple side scrolling, I was intrigued by the game's 3D style, and the winding plot line involving past and present. Fast paced, challenging levels and a rocking soundtrack made Sonic Adventure one of the biggest hits of my gaming career, even though the levels with Big the Cat nearly made me weep with boredom.

14. METROID FUSION - I've always liked isolated adventures, especially ones in space. Metroid was another series I was late on, and Fusion was the first I played.



It was also one of the first games I ever had profanity-laced screaming fits at. In spite of that, I love the colorful graphics, cool weapons, challenging bosses, and the plot line involving Samus facing her own mindless duplicate!





A lot of games have tense or scary moments, but for me, being chased by the SA-X tops them all. There's even a Facebook group that says so.

13. DR. MARIO - Remember my story on being home from school on the rainy Thursday? In addition to Batman, this was another game rented on that day.



The biggest thing about Dr. Mario is my head would continue to play it when I tried to sleep. I would see the colored pills, dropping, moving, killing the animated germ people. So yeah, I'd play it a lot and then have trouble sleeping. If the game wasn't fun, I probably would have gotten ticked.

12. X-MEN 2: CLONE WARS - Marvel's X-Men had a painful early life in video games. The games of the day ranged from horrible pixel messes...



...to hurting you when using your mutant powers...



...to having a limit on your powers even though they were genetic abilities. I never did figure that one out...



and then eventually to being very decent game with this 1995 release. Clone Wars boasted colorful graphics, a good variety of levels, and an excellent cast of mutants to play as, including Psylocke, Beast, and even Magneto!





After years of bad efforts, I was glad to see the X-Men finally get a fair shot.