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Very atmospheric game. Engrossing as a kid.

My dad strafed for me while I held down the fire button. I was 5

Seeing the Half-Life intro with my dad as a kid in a pitch black room at night with nothing but the light of the computer monitor was a truly magical experience. I was scared and in awe. Even after I had the strategy guide and was able to get to Blast Pit on Easy, I had to stop playing because I was too scared to go on.

 

[wickedcapedkid]

Ah, I also really liked Ultima Online, circa 1997-1999. It will always be the best MMORPG for me. You really could do nearly anything. I sort of want to play it again now, but on a free shard. The game really went downhill once PKing was eliminated. Any semblance to an Ultima game has now completely vanished. Ah well.

 

[Ramsiege]

Museum Madness for the edutainment win!

 

[antitrop]

The Salem Witch trials were absolutely my favorite part of Museum Madness.

 

[Messofanego]

My favorite Cliffy B game is still Jazz Jackrabbit.

Also, Dean Dodrill who made Dust An Elysian Tail, did apparently the cinematics of the second game.

 

[inm8num2]

The internet was made for these kinds of threads.

 

[Jack_AG]

This thread makes me sad. I loved gaming in those days - getting to see the advancements and experience them... it felt like learning to fly every single time. Today's technology moves faster and is expected. Nothing surprises like the early years of computing.

I miss those days of being a child. Now i'm just a 34 year old nerd.

 

[ambientmystic]

My favorite Cliffy B game is still Jazz Jackrabbit.

This, this, a thousand times this.

IMHO it's a bloody shame that he never produced more games of this genre after the excellent 1st and the 2nd installments. He had to go all shooty bang and pander to the dudebro demographic after that with the Unreals and the Tournaments and the Gears after Gears after Gears.

I cry when I think of the modern age Jazz with UE3 graphics we'll never see thanks to the obsession with shootybang games.

 

[Aesius]

This thread makes me sad. I loved gaming in those days - getting to see the advancements and experience them... it felt like learning to fly every single time. Today's technology moves faster and is expected. Nothing surprises like the early years of computing.

I miss those days of being a child. Now i'm just a 34 year old nerd.

I agree. I'm a good bit younger than (26), but I remember how magical PC games were for me from 1995-2000 or so.

Also, that Age of Empires II screenshot on the first page hit me like a ton of bricks. That game was my LIFE for about two years.

 

[CronoShot]

My PC gaming childhood in a nutshell. Still have the Sonic and Knuckles Collection.

 

[ambientmystic]

Also, that Age of Empires II screenshot on the first page hit me like a ton of bricks. That game was my LIFE for about two years.

O/T but in the first installment the upgraded priests were easily the most awesome unit in the game. Unless you cheated of course, with the nuke troopers (e=mc2 trooper) and jackbenimble.

 

[inm8num2]

And now I blow your minds.

And here is a pretty good compilation of DOS games, though I'd argue it's too light on adventures.

 

[Wynnebeck]

First playing Doom in 94 on my father's work computer while he was off doing something in with his co-workers. Game scared the hell out of me as a kid but I was hooked on games ever since lol.

 

[quest]

Well never had computer at home so at school oregon trail for the apple 2. Also coding simple games out of magazines was very fun. My personal favorite was taking the educational games and messing with them. Either replacing questions or making a wrong answer the right one. I might of been suspended from school for something like that maybe.

 

[lordy88]

This is basically what I would call my childhood. I played these two games sooo much! Remember playing Heroes 3 at a friends house once and I just couldn't wait until we could play it again next time. I kept dreaming and talking about it for 2-3 weeks or so, so my mother finally caved and bought it to me without me knowing and when I got it I was so thrilled and excited, I still remember that feeling!

Replace mother with father and there's my childhood as well. I am even have video proof at my 10 year birthday party of one my friends saying "Heroes 3 match upstairs! HEROES EXPERTS ONLY!" moments after blowing out the candles. We were OBSESSED.

And Diablo II was, well, Diablo II.

 

[antitrop]

ZZT from Tim Sweeney.

 

[Alucard]

Yup, also Star Wars Desktop Adventures: Yoda Stories. I only played the demo, it wasn't bad.

OMG YODA STORIES! I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN THIS GAME EVEN EXISTED! SO MUCH FUN!

 

[terrisus]

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego.
Sure, I played Where in the USA and Where in the World a decent amount on school computers, but, Where in Time was the one that we got for our home Tandy-brand 386 computer in 1992.

Treehouse. Another game for our Tandy, although the game was one my sister had chosen, still plenty of memories around it.

Oregon Trail. Yeah, this happened too often.

And then, when we got our second computer in 1996, a blazing fast Pentium 166 with a massive 2GB hard drive, this was one of the first games I wanted to get for it as soon as it came out.

 

[Jugendstil]

Legend of Kyrandia:

Yes! I love this game but it drove me nuts as a kid. The birthstone puzzle and the part where you had to light your way through a cave with berries took me forever to figure out.

 

[friday]

I am going to put this in sorta chronological order.

My dad was into Sims so I spent a lot of my early years playing WWII fighter sims and racing sims

Next came Doom I & II. Not age appropriate at all, but you know the deal.

A whole lot of Motocross Madness 1 & 2. First time playing both of these was a big OMG moment, so much fun! The first time I drove off the map was amazing. It was also the first game we need a GFX card for.

Age of Empires was amazing with cheat codes.

Diablo II for months and months.

I think the last game of my childhood was Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. I had really enjoyed the early ones on PSX and AA took it to another level.

Man those were the days.

 

[antitrop]

Yes! I love this game but it drove me nuts as a kid. The birthstone puzzle and the part where you had to light your way through a cave with berries took me forever to figure out.

I never much cared for puzzle games as a kid. Not that style of puzzle game, they never felt fair to me.

 

[jambo]

Holy shit, this thread just reminded me of the FMV cheese classic, Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine!

 

[weekend_warrior]

Commander Keen!

Hugos House of Horrors!

Avoid the Noid!

Duke Nukem 1!

 

[inm8num2]

Just going to leave this here. They may not have all the games in this thread, but they have some.

http://www.gog.com/

 

[todahawk]

freaking loved this game so much. bought it on a whim at Best Buy and got sucked into it.

 

[samwizered]

Here's a few. I have my father to thank for most of these.

Quake
What can I say? It's Quake. Extremely memorable game.

Crusader: No Remorse
I remember plating this quite a bit until my mum snapped the disc because she accused it of making my brother and I violent with each other. This was before I managed to get her to see video games in a better light.

Theme Hospital
I loved this one. It was very challenging for me at the time, but my dad and I would always laugh at the ridiculous diseases. My favourite was bloaty head syndrome.

Fatal Racing
This is a fairly obscure but fun one. Crazy racing game with corkscrews, massive jumps, and exploding cars.

Caesar III
To this day, still one of my favourite city builders. Very deep, complex, and challenging. I always got really jealous of the cities that my dad was able to make. I've gotten better since then, but it's still pretty difficult.

Worms Armageddon
Still the best Worms game ever made. I still play it online sometimes. I also used to play it with my friends on the shitty computers in the computer lab after school.

Dune II
Another one that my dad and I loved.

 

[antitrop]

Caesar III was amazing.

 

[Crapitalism]

Sticky Bear!

Macs were pcs back then, right??

 

[batfax]

and Outlaws, released later using the same engine.

and then, after spending hours and hours making the perfect city I'd blow it all up with an Apache in Sim Copter.

And a dozen other shareware episodes of games like Keen IV, Halloween Harry, Duke I & II, Hocus Pocus, Biomenace, and Crystal Caves.

Lemmings - I remember the game being hard, so I just let them die for the hell of it half the time lol.

Oregon Trail - Played this many a time while I was in 4th grade. Was the best.

The best, earliest memories. Lemmings especially. Finding the key to some of those early levels, then making good use of the knowledge as I climbed the difficulties was amazing.

Especially the first game in the series. It's idea of "photo realistic" graphics may seem laughable today, but in 1994 the whole game world was amazingly engrossing.

 

[Poohblaster]

Caesar III
To this day, still one of my favourite city builders. Very deep, complex, and challenging. I always got really jealous of the cities that my dad was able to make. I've gotten better since then, but it's still pretty difficult.

Caesar III was amazing.

Anyone who thinks Caesar III is bad ass is a friend of mine. Caesar III is so much more elegant than Caesar II. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fplebs.ytmnd.com%2F&ei=dub0UO2eMoWi2wWUzIFA&usg=AFQjCNGHGW0jprfrbYVmaYmIpO7cE4PVCQ&bvm=bv.41018144,d.b2I&cad=rja

 

[lexi]

I feel like I have so much to contribute. This game definitely sticks out for me, and is the first game I remember finishing. (Captain Comic)

I played this in 1989 on an IBM XT.

 

[SparkTR]

Playing Doom with my Dad, I controlled the shoot button while he moved around everywhere. I also loved all those Apogee games like Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Blake Stone, Crystal Caves and Bio Menace. That was pretty much my equivalent of a SNES or Genesis.

 

[jetjevons]

I remember getting really into Wings.

 

[RionaaM]

My dad strafed for me while I held down the fire button. I was 5

Duke Nukem 3D

Jazz Jackrabbit

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

I think I love you guys. Each one of those games is a masterpiece, though I prefer JJ2 to the first one.

This, this, a thousand times this.

IMHO it's a bloody shame that he never produced more games of this genre after the excellent 1st and the 2nd installments. He had to go all shooty bang and pander to the dudebro demographic after that with the Unreals and the Tournaments and the Gears after Gears after Gears.

I cry when I think of the modern age Jazz with UE3 graphics we'll never see thanks to the obsession with shootybang games.

Unreal Tournament 99 and 2004 are great, but I think the same nevertheless. I'd literally kill for a new Jazz Jackrabbit. Somehow I feel like Hell Yeah! is a spiritual successor to it (and a great one at that), but it's still not the same as the real thing.

It's one of my biggest dreams to launch Steam one day and be greeted with a "Jazz Jackrabbit Returns is now available for pre-order. Purchase it now and get access to the original versions of Jazz Jackrabbit 1 & 2 on Steam." message.

 

[Beck]

Three come to mind

Wolf (I kept dying)

One Must Die 2097 (I didn't know what I was doing)

Hocus Pocus (Music)

 

[shogunduk]

It's more of an early teen-hood memory (that's when I started PC gaming)...I played Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory religiously back in the day. It's the only game I've played in which I was a serious member of clan and did the whole tournament/scrim thing. I haven't dedicated myself to any other game like I did Enemy Territory...though that's probably because I have so many games to play these days...

 

[Juice]

I was a bit older but xwing vs tie was a pretty special game to me for some reason

 

[soldat7]

 

[Erethian]

The two Warhammer strategy games were really great for their time. Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.

 

[furfoots]

Willy Beamish (Nintari Champion!)

Ultima 7

Times of Lore

Dune 2

 

[Spaaaaaaaaace]

It's more of an early teen-hood memory (that's when I started PC gaming)...I played Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory religiously back in the day. It's the only game I've played in which I was a serious member of clan and did the whole tournament/scrim thing. I haven't dedicated myself to any other game like I did Enemy Territory...though that's probably because I have so many games to play these days...

I remember playing this all the time. I remember trying to play it a few years ago and it's been modded so much that every time I tried joining a game it would require a new mod. I really wanted Splash Damage to remake the game, Brink disappointed me and I never play Quake Wars. I don't have a good computer now, so I haven't tried any similar games.

 

[Digital-Hero]

Falcon 3.0

Wing Commander

 

[frontovik]

Ah, the days of Age of Empires, StarCraft, and interactive learning software.

 

[-Stranger-]

Never been a big PC player, but probably playing Half Life 1 & 2.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Hope someone can tell me the name of this game.

It was a colorful, cartoony, humorous 2D World War 1 dogfighting game. It was like Red Baron's Flying Circus or something like that. Or a made up name that was supposed to be imitating the Red Baron. Something along those lines. Like some super-German stereotype kind of name.

Have you managed to figure this one out?
I'm not sure I actually played the game in question, but your description made me curious. Is it by any chance on this list?
http://wwiaircombat.com/articles/history-of-wwi-flight-sims-game-list

This thread makes feel all warm inside.

I could add so many more games, but I just wanted to include this one since I haven't seen even the genre mentioned:

One of those games where you don't realize the sun has already risen.

I just got this game's sequel (ZEUS) on GOG during their holiday sale!

They also have Pharaoh and its expansion Cleopatra, and there are even some fan-mods on GOG forums that allow the games to run at high resolutions! Pretty cool stuff

 

[basic_text]

It took until a P75 until we got a pc in our house (always Amiga prior to that) but I remember going round to my uncle & aunties's on a Saturday night and playing this all night:

The Omnicron Conspiracy
It played like a severely gimped version of a Space Quest game but still managed to keep me entertained enough!

 

[MysticX]

One thing is for sure back in the 90's before 3dfx came in to town. You would rock if you had the best soundcard of all. i had one of the newest back in the 90's and with Full Throttle and C&C i was king of sound! And off course with 3dFX it costed in dutch gilders back in the day long before the euro's. It costed 400 gilders. That was expensive but Unreal and Quake 2 made the games amazing. With 8mb on board memory. Amazing memories

Gravis Ultrasound?

 

[ghibli99]

We didn't get a PC until the early '90s, although we had an Apple //e since '84. First games I got for our PC (a 386/33 w/ VGA card and SoundBlaster) were:

Stellar 7 -- Cool update to the Apple original. Digital voice at the beginning blew me away at the time.

F29 Retaliator -- Great modem head-to-head. You were screwed, though, if your opponent wanted to be a jerk and just keep shooting you down while you tried to take-off.

So many others, but those really stand out.

 

[TheContact]

UO and then DaOC were my fondest memories. Despite buying WoW on Day 1, I never had as much fun and pain as I did with UO and DaOC.

 

[Alucard1786]

This :

and this :