[SteveWinwood]

So basically, if you are 40 and have played the classics of your youth, you are a gamer. If you are 20 and did the same, you are not. Wow, super self absorbed. Please someone fetch the pic with "when I am 30 I'll write articles why games where best when I was 12."

I'm only 22.

[dezzy8]

i play farmville. Thats a game... Imma gamer!!

[Zampano]

I had the dorm high score on Leisure Suit Larry.

[FoxSpirit]

I'm only 22.

I'm talking about whoever compiled the list, not you :-)

[M°°nblade]

Only 42/100


I have a collection of more than 300 games though.

[BGBW]

Only 42/100 I have a collection of more than 300 games though.

Wouldn't matter if you have a trillion games. If it isn't these 100 games you're not a gamer full stop.

[Frank Jaeger]

I have deactivated my facebook account for more than a year now! So I can't prove I'm a gamer... I doubt who I am because of you OP!

[Man Puncher]

I don't need no internet list to tell me how much game I have.


I have mad game.

[Messofanego]

I'm not a gamer because my first game was Prince of Persia on PC, and Jazz Jackrabbit. I'm pretty sure games with pretty graphics disqualify me.

[dentoomw]

This list is pretty odd. Missing a lot and some dubious entries (Bayou Billy? Seriously?)

[NoirVisage]

Ewww facebook? No thanks!

I must be a relapsing gamer i deactivated my facebook a while back.

[WJD]

I got 9.

Why am I on GAF again?

[PetriP-TNT]

I've played 78 of 100 games on this list. How many have you played? Leave a comment with your score.
We think most people will have played fewer than 20 of these 100 classic video games.

[plagiarize]

65/100. i've seen almost all of them played though. how many of these have you beaten would be a better question. i lauged at Mortal Combat and Ice Climber.

and yeah, it's Where's Wally. no idea why they renamed it for Americaland.

[revolverjgw]

I got 9. Why am I on GAF again?

Because you don't play games. You just talk about them.

[JoeBoy101]

59/100

And the lack of Atari 2600, Intellivision, and numerous PC games on there is telling.

[Khaz]

Except game is a noun. EDIT:Or it's both and make myself look stupid. This post never happened

This is the beauty of english. Take a work, whichever, and use it as a noun, verb, adjective, etc. If enough people follow you, it becomes a rule.

Grammar hipster.

[mclem]

What do I do if I think the list has been compiled by someone who doesn't meet the criteria of 'gamer'? What then?

Flaws:

Wouldn't it make more sense to highlight R-Type rather than Super R-Type, the latter of which suffered significantly from slowdown? As any gamer would know.

Similarly, why specify Bomberman *2*? The series hasn't changed all that vastly through the years, citing 'Bomberman multiplayer' should be sufficient. Also, it's Super Bomberman 2 on the SNES, Bomberman 2 was on the NES. As any gamer would know.

Dozens of titles only list NES (or similar) iterations, when they were multiplatform titles. I'd say 'tick the box if you played any of them', but then you get titles like Rygar, which was a significantly different game on the NES than it was in the arcade. As any gamer would know.

Definitely was made with an American outlook. We didn't have Oregon Trail, we had Granny's Garden! As any ga... okay, I'll let them off that one.
(On that note: Amused that they include Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia, but not the third title in that trilogy, I can't think why!)


Given my questioning of their gamer credentials: I wonder if they think 'Tron' only refers to the light cycles game. A lot of people don't know about the full content of the arcade title.


Anyhow: 81/100.

[Messofanego]

lol I got 30 :D

Damn me for having a PC first, and a NES many years later. Console bias!

[redcrayon]

Based on the verb. You go to movies so you're a movie goer. You read books so you're a reader. You game so you're a gamer. That's where the term comes from.

I don't go to the movies. I watch films.
I don't game. I play games.

'To game' just sounds awful, it's up there with 'addicting' as the most awkward sounding evolution/Americanism of terms used to talk about games. Maybe it doesn't sound so awkward depending on what side of the pond you are from and how old you are, but I couldn't imagine myself saying 'I'm going to game tonight' with a straight face. Maybe because it would imply that I'm heading out to the local games shop instead.

I don't mind the term 'gamer', though.

Annyway, I've played 52 of that list, most of them a long time ago. Doe it still count if I haven't played them in over 20 years? Seems like a list designed to make older gamers feel better to me. It doesn't work, think of all that time I've wasted! :D

[BGBW]

I don't go to the movies. I watch films. I don't game. I play games. 'To game' just sounds awful, it's up there with 'addicting' as the most awkward sounding evolution/Americanism of terms used to talk about games. Maybe it doesn't sound so awkward depending on what side of the pond you are on and how old you are, I dunno. I don't mind the term 'gamer', though.

Eh. Goer was a reference to someone earlier. I should have just said that game has become a verb now which is why the term "gamer" exists. Or the fact a football player is also known as a footballer, thus a game player becomes a gamer. I'm just pointing out how the word evolved.

[Lord-Audie]

The moment that I need to prove something, is the moment that I deny what I am.

[McBradders]

What consoles do I game? Motherfucker, ALL OF THEM.

[hikarutilmitt]

97/100, and the three I haven't played were PC games I have no interest in.

I mean seriously, this thing needs more diversity than that. Why not some of the more obscure arcade games? Why not some region-specific games? Why not, I dunno, a stupid and pointless quiz asking questions to arbitrarily assign a value that says you know stuff and are, somehow, therefore, a gamer?

[plagiarize]

What do I do if I think the list has been compiled by someone who doesn't meet the criteria of 'gamer'? What then? Flaws: Wouldn't it make more sense to highlight R-Type rather than Super R-Type, the latter of which suffered significantly from slowdown? As any gamer would know. Similarly, why specify Bomberman *2*? The series hasn't changed all that vastly through the years, citing 'Bomberman multiplayer' should be sufficient. Also, it's Super Bomberman 2 on the SNES, Bomberman 2 was on the NES. As any gamer would know. Dozens of titles only list NES (or similar) iterations, when they were multiplatform titles. I'd say 'tick the box if you played any of them', but then you get titles like Rygar, which was a significantly different game on the NES than it was in the arcade. As any gamer would know. Definitely was made with an American outlook. We didn't have Oregon Trail, we had Granny's Garden! As any ga... okay, I'll let them off that one. (On that note: Amused that they include Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia, but not the third title in that trilogy, I can't think why!) Given my questioning of their gamer credentials: I wonder if they think 'Tron' only refers to the light cycles game. A lot of people don't know about the full content of the arcade title. Anyhow: 81/100.

seeing Tomb Raider listed as PSX sort of irked me too, but, Granny's Garden! did you ever play any of the Look and Read games like Geordie Racer?

[Samus4145]

100/100 but don't understand why some of those games are on there. Earthwork Jim? Really? Turtles in Time on SNES not the arcade?

[mclem]

'To game' just sounds awful, it's up there with 'addicting' as the most awkward sounding evolution/Americanism of terms used to talk about games. Maybe it doesn't sound so awkward depending on what side of the pond you are from and how old you are, but I couldn't imagine myself saying 'I'm going to game tonight' with a straight face. Maybe because it would imply that I'm heading out to the local games shop instead.

How do you feel about "Gaming the system"? That's another use of 'Game' as a verb, and I'm completely comfortable with it. Being comfortable withi *that* follows on to being comfortable with using other uses of the verb, including "Gamer".

[redcrayon]

Eh. Goer was a reference to someone earlier. I should have just said that game has become a verb now which is why the term "gamer" exists. Or the fact a football player is also known as a footballer, thus a game player becomes a gamer. I'm just pointing out how the word evolved.

@BGBW
I understand that, and how the word came to be used that way. I was just stating that I'm not a fan of the usage of 'game' as you describe, no matter where the root is.

[redcrayon]

How do you feel about "Gaming the system"? That's another use of 'Game' as a verb, and I'm completely comfortable with it. Being comfortable withi *that* follows on to being comfortable with using other uses of the verb, including "Gamer".

I did say that I'm OK with 'gamer', same goes for 'gaming the system.'

It's just the tenses of 'I am going to game the system' or 'I gamed last night' that I find awkward, the word 'game' without a extra syllable on the end just sounds a bit odd to me. Sure, it's not consistent, but 'I am going to play x' or 'I played x last night' just sounds more elegant to me than 'I am going to game x' or 'I gamed x last night.'

[hikarutilmitt]

How do you feel about "Gaming the system"? That's another use of 'Game' as a verb, and I'm completely comfortable with it. Being comfortable withi *that* follows on to being comfortable with using other uses of the verb, including "Gamer".

@BGBW I understand that, and how the word came to be used that way. I was just stating that I'm not a fan of the usage of 'game' as you describe, no matter where the root is.

I did say that I'm OK with 'gamer', same goes for 'gaming the system'. It's just the use of 'I am going to game' or 'I gamed last night' that i find awkward. Sure, it's not consistent, but 'I am going to play' or 'I played x last night' just sounds more elegant to me.

This thread is now about homonyms and how they identify you as a person.

[Baconbitz]

You sex women, so you're a sexer British english bro

No, you fuck Women. You are a fucker.

Edit: I'm a gamer (whatever you wanna call it) and have a facebook. So?

[Dipswitch]

Facebook = No

[jono51]

I got 7. And 2 weren't on the platforms they listed. lol.

[Marty Chinn]

This is a pretty dumb list that concentrates too much on older games. That said, I got 96 out of a 100 and I'm totally surprised at how few of these games some of you guys have played though.

[michaelius]

Sorry guys but you have facebook accounts so you are dissqualified from being gamers ;)

[ElTopo]

While the list is pretty random, I wonder if we've had something like "x Games you should play before you die" or "List of essential games" here at GAF in recent time.

[Anoregon]

There's 66 games on that last that I am pretty sure I've played, but some of the older NES games I'm kind of fuzzy on.

[redcrayon]

This thread is now about homonyms and how they identify you as a person.

Okey dokey, if you insist. Homonyms would be two or more words that sound alike and have different meanings. To 'play' and to 'game' are not homonyms. To 'game Halo' and to 'game the system' might well be homonyms if you count 'game the system' as exploiting it, rather than playing it.

But yeah, games. Some odd choices on that list.

if you haven't played (or 'gamed' :D) Bayou Billy, count yourself lucky you didn't pay 40 quid for that turd in the 80s.

[mclem]

but, Granny's Garden! did you ever play any of the Look and Read games like Geordie Racer?

Never seriously, I didn't go to a school that used the Look and Read course; my one real encounter with it was Through The Dragon's Eye - the series, never touched the game (was there one?) - because Mum was looking it over investigating whether her school wanted to work with it. That said, I do recall that my junior school had Geordie Racer, they just didn't use it (had moved on, I think).

I did encounter an awful lot of educational software throughout my childhood, though; my Mum was a teacher (later a head), while my Dad was a lecturer who taught PGCEs and did a lot of stuff related to teaching students to become familiar with educational software for later use in the classroom. A lot of that he'd try out on me, and I was always very willing to learn. Indeed, I've now got a lot of it; when the college updated their systems they threw out a lot of their BBC software and Dad rescued a bunch of it.

It crosses my mind that I could make one of these lists and base it entirely on *my* childhood. Huge reams of educational software, a bunch of the more obscure 8-bit home computer titles and a smattering of NES and Super NES titles. Something like:

Educational (BBC):
Developing Tray
Martello Tower
Teashop
Dread Dragon Droom
SMiLE (The first 31, The Next 17, 11 More)

BBC:
Frak!
Thrust
Chuckie Egg
XOR
Revs

Speccy:
Manic Miner
Exolon
Chaos
Inside Outing
Head over Heels

Deeply unfair, but that's ultimately my point: Everyone's childhood is different. I'm sure there's people here who got more of the BBC games on my list than the more American-focussed games on theirs. I could have dug out a section on classic text adventures, I could have thrown in one on CGA PC titles. It's more regional than just "Europe/US", too; I regard myself as being very knowledgable about Spectrum titles, but the Spectrum was particularly popular in Spain, and there's a lot of titles from that neck of the woods that I'm completely ignorant of.

The best way you could handle this would be to get people to acknowledge a location and certain systems, and then the list would be tailored to those setups. Still not perfect, but a much better thought-through plan than what they're presenting, because it's not presented as a one-list-fits-all.

Alternatively, if you *must* do one-list-fits all, go for the stuff that's truly iconic, not "The stuff I played as a kid". Find a hundred games that represent significant milestones in gaming, and go with that.

[Shahed]

11. Chrono Trigger SNES 16. Deus Ex PC 17. Diablo 2 PC 20. Donkey Kong Arcade 27. Ecco the Dolphin Sega Genesis 28. F-Zero SNES 30. Final Fantasy 3 (USA) SNES 33. Grand Theft Auto PC 43. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past SNES 44. Lemmings Various 46. Mario Kart SNES 50. Metal Gear Solid PS 55. NBA Jam SNES 74. Soul Calibur Dreamcast 78. Street Fighter 2 Various 79. Streets of Rage 2 Sega Genesis 84. Super Mario Brothers NES 85. Super Metroid SNES 90. Tetris Various 92. Tomb Raider PS 98. Worms Various 100. Xenogears PS

I only get 22 games...

I'm 25 by the way

[BGBW]

While the list is pretty random, I wonder if we've had something like "x Games you should play before you die" or "List of essential games" here at GAF in recent time.

Like those 100 movies you must watch before you die books?

You'd never get a list that GAF agrees with.

[flyinpiranha]

72/100 from going through the list posted. Although I can't say I finished most of them. A lot were borrowed from friends or rented for a weekend back when I was younger.

[Bentles]

Okay. I'll do it.

*facebook crap appears*

Okay. I won't do it.

The notion of needing something to prove you're a gamer is stupid anyway.

[daycru]

44

I'm so hardcore I could get a gig at the biggest and baddest pawnshop in the heart of Detroit's 8 Mile.

[ElTopo]

Like those 100 movies you must watch before you die books? You'd never get a list that GAF agrees with.

Obviously you're never gonna get a list that GAF completely agrees on, but just like with other lists you can still try to reach some consensus.

[redcrayon]

Like those 100 movies you must watch before you die books? You'd never get a list that GAF agrees with.

True. I'm not sure I'd even want to play a third of the games on this list again. Lots of conversations about retro stuff are heavily tied up in nostalgia, and the stage in life the original player was at when they played them.

I might well think that Contra III is my favourite run-and-run, shooting aliens game ever after a whole summer of playing it non-stop with my brother as teenagers, with us only being able to afford 2 games a year. That first mode-7 graphic... it was the best thing ever at the time (to my naive younger self). The odds of convincing my friend's son, of a similar age to when we were playing, to even try it for 20 minutes once he sees the 2D sprites, difficulty and one-hit-kill mechanics are pretty slim!

[jetjevons]

The list is laughable. Even as someone who's almost 40.

Still I got around 70. I say around because I'm pretty sure at some point I tried out most of the NES title include but I can't be positive.

I actually would of done better but I grew up in the UK where the Sega Master System was more popular than the NES.

And Psycho Fox belongs on that list. As does Wonderboy 3.

[plagiarize]

Never seriously, I didn't go to a school that used the Look and Read course; my one real encounter with it was Through The Dragon's Eye - the series, never touched the game (was there one?) - because Mum was looking it over investigating whether her school wanted to work with it. That said, I do recall that my junior school had Geordie Racer, they just didn't use it (had moved on, I think).

there was indeed a through the dragons eye game. i don't remember it as well as the Geordie Racer one though. through the dragons eye happened right after i moved up a year.

[Mzo]

100/100 but don't understand why some of those games are on there. Earthwork Jim? Really?

Earthworm Jim is amazing, what is the problem here?

If anything wtf at Bayou fucking Billy.

[mclem]

Fun realisation, just to highlight how personal this list is to the compiler:

No soccer games.
One american football game.
Two ice hockey games.