We have a long roster of games now, pertaining to all the genres with awesome graphics, intimidating storyline and a mind blowing gameplay, all waiting in the queue to be manifested upon command. These are the many games we used to play when we were young, of which we still consider some as simply the best cult classics ever to have been created. To an extent, they were the reason for shaping our interest towards gaming. They may have not been graphically rich, but they certainly did develop a sense of affinity in us for those games. Millennials in particular would know the essence of those games and the amount of fun we had playing them.
Today let’s try to take a peek into out childhood and make a list of seven such games which make us feel nostalgic and are still stored somewhere in our hearts.
7. Prince of Persia (1989)
Let me help you in putting this together… remember the guy clad in white, running in the
prison, fighting with the guards? Hmm…. well that is the old Prince of Persia game which came out in 1989. I bet most of the kids had this game in their collection. Prince of Persia was much advanced and ahead of its time and was known for its fluidity and life-like animation. The sounds of the falling tiles, opening doors, striking swords all merged together to form a distinctive feature of the game that contributed to its success. The story was simple; being the protagonist of the game the player must venture through a series of dungeons to defeat the Grand Vizier Jaffar and save the imprisoned princess before the time runs out.
Prince of Persia not only acted as a base but also influenced the upcoming platformer games. It set a standard for the rebooted Prince of Persia games. Even though the game, initially, was a commercial failure in North America, later on it gained huge popularity as it succeeded at being more than just a running-jumping game because it was captured the feel of those great old adventure films. It will always undoubtedly be remembered as a classic.
6. Spider-Man (2001)
Remember the classic Spider-Man game form 2001? I mean, who can forget that game? It can be easily said that it was the first game which gave the players a feeling of playing with the real Spiderman. The game had all the elements a person of that time period would expect from the famous web slinger. You'll have to climb walls, swing from building to building, bash hoods and supervillians, and utilize stealth and strategy as you fight to save the city from your archenemies. The game had a plethora of levels with different types of NPCs which added a hint of intricacy to the game making it more interesting.
The game was critically acclaimed upon its release. The cheats system made the game even more interesting as it helped the players to unlock many alternate costumes which had their own powers, unlocking different stages, etc.
5. Deus Ex (2000)
To many modern gamers, Deus Ex might be a bit off-putting because visually, it hasn’t aged well. But what it lacks in terms of pixel prettiness, it more than makes up in terms of gameplay, level design and most importantly, a deep interactive narrative that developers to this day aren’t able to implement properly within gameplay and have to rely on well enacted cut scenes to tell ‘impactful’ stories.
Deus Ex in the most simplest of terms is a first person perspective RPG and its biggest pulling factor is the amount of options the player has in order to accomplish the various objectives in the story. Deus Ex isn’t a mechanically perfect or I should say, a smooth game. But the complexity of the various consistent in-game systems working simultaneously in order to make a coherent game- both in terms of gameplay as well as narrative is what makes it special and an undoubted masterpiece.
4. The House of the Dead 2 (HOD 1998)
While most of the games were very entertaining as we were young, there was this one
game which according to me gave many us a sense of fear. You got it right; I am talking
about “House of the Dead 2″. Shooting zombies who suddenly appear on the screen out
of nowhere, commonly, is damn scary. The most terrifying parts were the boss fights
which were tough, but were fun and scary at the same time. I still remember the headless
armored guy with an axe, a fish like humanoid water monster, the five headed dragon,
but for me the most frightful one was the huge Chainsaw-wielding zombie. While the
boss fights would have been the apogee in the entire game, the human brain often tends
to forget the most facile, not only was House of the Dead gameplay intensive, it also had
an intimidating story line to it, which I reckon, a very few of us paid any attention to in our
childhood days. Even though the game might have been scary for some of us, it bears
some of the best gaming moments in our life.
The game was well received by the players; the enemy designs were very much more
interesting that the first one and lived upto the expectations of the players who welcomed it with open arms.
3. Wolfenstein 3D (1992)
Even though some of you may not have played this game, the ones who have will never forget the amount of fun they had with it. Wolf 3D would be the first FPS game that I played in my life. The objective of the game was quite simple, the player was provided with a gun and with that they had pass through doors shooting Nazis. But something that made it even more interesting was the game's impeccable capability of throwing in a few surprises here and there; eventually you can find Nazis hiding behind doors waiting for you to step in and the second you do that you would get shot in the head. None the less, the AI was really well designed for its time.
Ironically the game developers of Wolfenstein had no clear expectations from the game, butthe game was a decisive success in the market and gained popularity in a very short span of time. Wolfenstein 3D won the 1993 "Best Action/Arcade Game" award at the Shareware Industry Awards. Being the first of its kind, Wolf 3D is the very reason First Person Shooters are a trending genre now-a-days.
2. Half-Life (1998)
‘Hey, catch me later. I’ll buy you a beer!’ has become one of the more whimsical remarks that reverberates in the ears of PC gamers from the late 90s. This particular comment has its descent from the original Half Life game which was developed by Valve when the company was still in its early phase. A history in making, a game like no other, Half Life has been critically acclaimed for contributing handsomely to the First Person Shooter genre; providing implicit story-telling elements, breathtaking visuals, animations and NPC variance that no one had ever witnessed before.
The winner of 50 Game of the Year awards, Half Life, upon release took the audience by storm. The gameplay featuring the infamous crowbar wielding protagonist, Gordon
Freeman and his bid to save the world from the nefarious warlord Nihilanth, and the periodic occurrences of the mysterious G-Man; who he is and what might his intentions be has left the world aghast with questionable motives and had sparked up wild debates on online forums. Ever since its release in 1998, Half Life has won the hearts of numerous gamers and has been able to hold on to its fame as one of the most innovative and inspiring nostalgic game till this day.
1. Contra (1987)
I doubt anybody would say that they don’t know what Contra is. It is one of the most iconic games of early 90s. Contra is not only the most famous game we remember but is also one of the toughest one. Many kids of the 90’s including me had an truly grand time playing Contra with friends or siblings. Two guys with upgradable guns and infinite ammo, shooting aliens at different locations, may not be revolutionary but it used to be much fun.
According to me Contra is the only game which will be remembered by all the millennials for the time it came out in. There are many new versions of the game in the market but the older (1987) version is superior and brings with it a certain nostalgic tenderness.
The game is still remembered as a cult classic even today due to its immense popularity. Much of the game’s popularity came from its two-player gameplay, which was an uncommon feature in video games at that time. Definitely Contra left unforgettable memories in our childhood.
Oops…Your game didn’t make up to the list? Please let us know in the comments…