What 10 video games influenced you the most? These are games that introduced you to a certain type of game or genre, games that have had an impact on your life, games that have changed the way you think about or view certain things, etc... basically games that have influenced you in some way or another. This list isn't necessarily what you view as your top 10 favorite games of all time but I'm sure many of the games will be considered your top favorites.



Here is my list



10. Wild Arms (PS1)
This was the first "true" RPG I've ever played and this game got me interested in RPGs (but not necessarily into RPGs). This game made me curious about RPGs and because of that curiosity, I tried out Final Fantasy VII. Because I got so obsessed with FFVII, I never ended up playing this game again which means I have yet to beat it (only got about half way through the game). The game was a great game though and I definitely plan to someday start over and beat it.


9. Super Mario Kart (SNES)
Super Mario Kart got me into kart racing which is easily my favorite type of racing game. Although it's not my favorite racing game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is, it's probably the racing game which I have the most memories with.


8. Minecraft (XB360 & PC)
I got into Minecraft in 2012 when it was released on the Xbox 360. I originally enjoyed the game for the survival but once I got into the game for the PC, I quickly got obsessed with creative mode and being able to create stuff. I host my own server (vizzed.co is the address) which has tons of mods and I usually host competitions for it once in a while. The server has had 500+ users on it since it launched and has had easily 10,000s of hours invested into it among all of those users.

You can find details of my minecraft server as well as an interactive map of its worlds here: https://www.vizzed.com/videogames/minecraft.php


7. Goldeneye 007 (N64)
I was never a big fan of the First Person Shooter genre until this game came out. Not only did it make me a fan of the FPS genre but it also got me into the James Bond movies (but I eventually lost interest in that franchise after Peirce Brosnan stepped down).

The game's campaign was awesome but the multiplayer was even better. My friends and I spent many hours playing on the very memorable multiplayer maps. Perfect Dark was the spiritual successor to Goldeneye and in my opinion was an even better game (co-op campaign, better multiplayer with more features, etc) but since Goldeneye came first, that's the game that gets the credit.


6. Phantasy Star Online (DC)
This was the very first game I had ever played online so therefore it introduced me to online gaming. I remember playing this for many hours on my Dreamcast and I had my Dad get a Dreamcast keyboard specifically for this game. SEGA discontinued the Dreamcast and took down their servers way to soon but some people still play this game online using user-hosted servers.

I actually recorded myself playing this game on a VHS tape shortly before they took down the PSO servers. 2 years ago I ripped that gameplay from the VHS tape and uploaded it to my YouTube account which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_dWalQdIN0.


5. Shenmue (DC)
This game introduced me to a lot of concepts. It introduced me to online leaderboards (yeap, back in 1999) which motivated me to spend countless hours in the game's "You Arcade" playing arcade games like Hang-On GP and Space Harrier (I got into the top 25 world wide in this) and also motivated me to get high scores in the "Forklift Race" (also got into the top 25 world wide).

It not only introduced me to online leaderboards but it also introduced me to Japanese culture which I found fascinating. Most (if not all) of the game's locations are based on real locations and because of that, I always wanted to visit Japan when I was younger. I don't really have the desire to go there anymore (unless teleportation ever becomes a thing) but I'm still in some ways interested in their culture.

I'm still waiting for Shenmue III.


4. Pokemon Series
There's too many games in the series to pick one specific game but I'm mostly referring to the Pokemon RPGs. This series introduced everyone to the concept or finding, capturing, raising and battling "monsters". There's been so many many games out there that have attempted to copy this series but none have lasted nearly as long but my favorite copy cat was definitely the Monster Rancher series.

There's no series that makes me feel like a kid again like Pokemon. I'm not sure what it is about Pokemon but it definitely makes me feel young and brings back just tons of great memories.

This series inspired me to create my own monsters when I was in high school. I remember coming up with ideas for monsters in study hall and then drawing them out and giving them details. I only brought a few of those monsters to life but I eventually want to bring them all to life, recreate the ones I've already brought to life and also create a feature on vizzed.com utilizing them where you could catch, buy or trade them and raise them to battle with or have them participate in other various events (and they'd be part of the MMORPG I want to create someday called 'Vizzed Ville'). Anyways, you can see the ones that I did bring to life many years ago here (the story lines will be slightly different when I recreate these): https://www.vizzed.com/portfolio/vizzedkingdom/.


3. Halo Series
It was hard to pick a specific Halo game so I'm just picking the entire series. The Halo games, especially Halo 2 and 3, got me into online gaming. I probably have nearly 1000 hours invested into the online multiplayer of Halo 3, Halo 4 and Halo Reach and probably 100 hours invested into the campaigns and firefight (with my wife).

This sounds kinda weird but because of the Halo games, I've been able to stay in shape. The Halo games pump my adrenaline (probably because of the fast paced-combat). That adrenaline I take advantage of by working out on my exercise bike. In other words, when I play any Halo game (online or offline), I'm usually working out on my exercise bike. I've been able to shed a lot of weight in the past by doing this and I've also been able to maintain a healthy BMI by doing this.


2. Super Mario Bros (NES)
This was the very first video game I had ever played so this basically introduced me to gaming back in 1987. This game is why I'm a life long die hard gamer. To be honest, I think this is one of the most influential video games of all time. This came out at the end of the "video game crash" which went from 1983-1985 and I honestly think that this is one of the big reasons the video game industry recovered. It also revolutionized the side-scrolling platformer genre which is probably the most popular type of retro game and is easily my favorite genre now days.


1. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
This is the game that really got me into RPGs which resulted into me getting into programs like RPG Maker and Game Maker (the RPG genre was my favorite genre at that time because of FFVI). That eventually resulted into me getting into basic web design (I made a crappy geocities website back in 2001 which required no programming knowledge) and then Flash Game Design which sparked my interest in programming. Once I became a programmer, I had the skills to make a successful website which resulted into where I am now, the proud owner of Vizzed.com This also happens to be my favorite game of all time as well.



It was tough coming up with a top 10, especially since I've played 1000s of games. I'm excited to see what others come up with and what reasons they have for the games they chose. I don't expect everyone to go into detail like I did.

I can list a load of game i find to have influenced me. Here are my top 10.

10. Sleeping Dogs (PC)
I loved the characters in this game, and i found they spoke to me in a way. This game was also the first game i was really, truly addicted to.

9. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom (GCN)
This was one of the first games i played, and i loved it. I would play it at any chance i got (which granted, wasn't often), and i still love to play it today. It was one of the games that got me into video games in general.

8. Any Nancy Drew game (PC)
This series got me into point and click games, and its countless installments still entertain me to this day.

7. Far Cry 3 (PC)
I hated FPS's before i played this game. The story was great, the graphics were even better, and the game as a whole was very fun. In short, this game got me into FPS's.

6. Neighbours From Hell (PC)
Nancy Drew games got me into point and clicks, but this game made me love them. It was simple, it was fun, and it was very funny.

5. Mega Man II (NES)
I didn't care for retro games.....until i played this game. It got me into Mega Man games with its addictiveness level, and i later branched out into other retro games thanks to it.

4. Lego Racers 2 (PC)
This game is what got me into racing games, like Mario Kart. It was fun, it was strait forward, and it was a great experience overall.

3. Max Payne (PC)
My first shooter ever is also my favourite. This game was awesome in just about every regard. It was bold, it was gritty, and it was a hell of a lot of fun. I got into shooters thanks to it.

2. Civilization V (PC)
This is the very game that got me into strategy games, which now constitute my favourite genre of video games. I need not say anything except AWESOME!

1. Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
The first game i played ever. It was effective and fun. If it wasn't for this game, i wouldn't have gotten into video games.

Clears throat*

For me would be....


10 Streets Of Rage from 1 to 3 on Gen - Reason being is that they are my best plays great game. I've always enjoyed them no matter what. And also I used to play this and some few other gens with my big brother.

9 Pokémon Series mainly old school ones- I've always love the fact that I can catch my own Pokémon and do so much more! Such as getting more poke from safari zone. Going to new places, taking on trainers....I mean who wouldn't? I grew to love this game as well when I was young. First ever to play Pokémon yellow.

8 Burnout games on the ps2 - When I am really upset this game was the reason to calm me down. As like you kill cars in order to win. As it got more harder for me I got more determined. And also I loved the story part.

7 Freekstyle - Anyone heard of this bike game? Its really cool to play and it sure was for me back in the day. My brothers friend give us his copy to play and I played that game so hard that, when I got to the last level I was struggling while my brother already beated it.

6 Final Fantasy 7 - Well....whats to say about this awesome game? I loved it and played it till my hearts content. I loved the game including the chocobo part for it. And I will play it again without getting board of it. I still need to beat the weapons. I came close to defeating emerald one day....


5 Dragon Quest 8 The Journey Of the Cursed King - I don't know if you know anything about this game. But, to me its amazing. This game was made also by square-enix, so I recommend you to give it a try. You can do so many things in this game. I remember going to visit my brother in his uni years ago. I got two games. Pokémon heartgold. And I was looking at this game. When I picked it up I asked him it looks like dragonball z. And he said it sure does. I took a look at the back of the game and said. This game looks cool, can you also buy this for me? And he said sure. And that's how my adventure with this game began. I will be doing a walkthrough of this game very soon.


4 Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Gen - I also adore this game its great to play. It has also helped me to be a better gamer today than I am. Because I was stuck on so many part of it.

3 Final Fantasy 9 - Love it. That's all I have to say I love everything to the game. The challenge, the story and the gameplay as well. It also taught me about many things in life as well...

2 Crash Bandicoot 2 Cortex Strikes Back - There a reason I put this game on number 2. Its one of my top best plays. I love the challenges in this game so much! I really enjoy what it had to offer for me as a gamer.


1 Final Fantasy X - this game unbelievably amazing. it....taught me how to better my emotions in a way. And also many other things that I have forgotten as well. This game is my best play. And I will be streaming it very soon. So I can show everyone what kind of a game I am. This game I played again and again without getting bored if it. The only thing that I have not done now is to defeat penance....he must go down. I will find a way to beat it. If other players can do it. So then why can't I?

Here are my top 10. Awesome thread by the way.

10. New Super Mario Bros (Wii)

I've been a Mario fan all my life, so it wouldn't be right to exclude it. The first video game I remember playing was Mario on the GBC, and I was six at the time. Fast forward 11 years, and you'd still see me playing the same franchise. I had low expectations for the Wii, and there are very few games on there that I enjoyed. This is one of them. I binge gamed this one for hours on end with someone else, and played many more hours on it alone. It both brought back many memories and was a lot of fun. It's really a testament to how we can never outgrow certain games.

9. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)

This is one of those games that almost everyone has tried at least once. But to me it has a deeper meaning. Let me explain. The male side of my full family has a ton of crazy notions what sort of lifestyle a guy should lead. When we're together, we watch wrestling, play a ton of sports, eat ribs, watch manly movies and do all sorts of similar things. I can handle all of that and fit in pretty well, but it's just not what I enjoy. One thing that we -do- share of a love of is Super Smash Bros Brawl. After playing sports and before Monday Night Raw, we'd binge play Super Smash Bros Brawl for hours on end. We never do story. Just round after round of quick brawls. We'd mess with the life count, starting damage, and game speed, and play all sorts of crazy levels that we created in the level designer. It's the one game on this list that makes me think of family.

8. Age of Empires (DS)

Road trip are fun. Actually they really aren't. We just say that so we can convince ourselves otherwise. Until we get car-sick or too incredibly bored to care, gaming is a fun diversion. I chose this game to be my distraction. It's a strategy-based game, which I love. It really did help make the terrible experience of being cramped in a car for a dozen hours somewhat decent.

7. Saints Row: IV (PC)

It wasn't until I played with a few friends that I realized my computer lag was causing the game to run at 1/2 it's intended speed. I like to take my time, so this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. =P

I had incredibly fun times playing this one nevertheless, and it's the first new(ish) game I'm including on this list. I loved the numerous parodies within the game, and the gameplay itself was great. You did as much work as you wanted to, basically.

I was going through some rough emotional times when I first picked up this game and the dystopic world and uncertainty about reality really appealed to me. It emotionally supported me at a time when I needed it.

6. Battle Front II (PS2)

I was really young when I played this one and the open map design just amazed me. When you first go from platform games to open maps, it's just amazes you how much freedom there is. Not to mention that this one has dozens of world and outer space maps. My PS2 barely works now, which means that I might never return to this one. =/

5. Civilizations (PC)

I enjoyed IV the most, and I love the strategy involved. There's so much freedom in your choices, and I feel like it really honed my reasoning skills.

4. Lego Star Wars II (PS2)

This was one of the first games on the PS2 I played. It really helped bring me back into the world of gaming. I had listened to school and religious propaganda and went through a brief anti-gaming phase until I got a few PS2 games, and I'm pretty sure it was this one that changed my mind.

3. GTA: San Andreas (PC)

This one was more recent than #6, but the reasoning is similar. The map is HUGE. Plus it's fun to go crazy and get chased by the police. That was fun at first, but most of my game-time was spent exploring. I learned how to actually drive on the roads without crashing. In some respects I see gaming as an opportunity for our minds to be free. This game had a lot of freedom, and while I wasn't going on rampages all the time, it led to some amazing experiences all the same.

2. Skyrim (PC & PS3)

I'm still addicted to this game. I forced myself to stop playing completely when classes started. I've spent hundreds of hours on it, and I'm not nearly finished. That's mostly my fault. I do an insane amount of exploring. I can't help but check out each and every single house when I find a new town. Coming into the start of this summer I was going through some rough personal issues. This let me forget about the world and relax alone for a bit.

1. Minecraft (PC)

If you've noticed, I've been a lot more personal in this post than I am normally. It's partly because I doubt that many (if any) of you will get this far, and because it's the intent of the thread to say why each game is meaningful. I'm sure you know that I'm a Minecraft addict from my time and builds on the Minecraft Server, and my role in helping Minecraft succeed as a part of Vizzed. It's easily the game that I've put in the most hours overall. But aside from the 1000s of hours I've played, it has a much deeper significance to me. I had a parent dying near the time when I first starting playing this one. I quit most other games at the time in order to help my family out, but this one I kept playing from time-to-time. I'm not going to say any more about it, but this was one escape from reality I couldn't have kept my sanity without.

This is going to be a really tough list for me to put together.

1. Guradian's Crusade. This is my all time favorite game, and even though I have already played tons of games before this, I could say that this is what really got me into video games because it was so much fun. This is probably the first RPG game that I have played, though it didn't get me interested in the genre, however it did get me interested in the game that did.

2. Pokemon Gold. This was the first Pokemon game that I have played way back many years ago. At the time, I didn't know what the game was like, of course I had watched the anime, but the games are so much different than the show, and I was told that Guardian's Crusade pretty much fell in the same genre so I decided to give it a try and I loved it. Gold is really what had gotten me into Pokemon as a game, and it's what had gotten me inton the genre.

3. Sim City 2000. This is my 2nd most favorite video game of all time after Guardian's Crusade and it was a great game that had gotten me into the City Building and simulation series. This is actually the only game in the Sim City series that I have ever played, but because of this game, I have played many other city building games such as Tycoon City New York and other small games.

4. Sim Theme Park. This is what gotten me into loving park based games. It's one of my favorite PSX games of all time and it was a lot of fun. I liked it because it was pretty similar to the Sim City games but it had something different to offer. This game is what had gotten me into other games such as Roller Coaster Tycoon, Thrillville, and other Tycoon games such as Zoo Tycoon.

5. Persona 4 Golden. This is my favorite Vita game. Last year I won both a Vita and a PS3 with a copy of MLB 13 The Show. I sold the PS3 and the games, and after a couple months, I was going to sell the Vita also, but then I was introduced to P4G and I fell in love with it. I ended up keeping the system because I had no idea that the Vita had so much potential in its games and I ended up getting many more Vita games because of this one.

6. MLB 06 The Show: This is what had really gotten me into basebal video games. Baeball was already my favroite sports game for many years before this, but then this one had taken it to a whole new level and had introduced me to show many new feature that I had never knew sports games could offer. Ever since then, the SHow is the only baseball series of games that I have ever played, I haven't played one from any other series.

7. NASCAR 98: This was the very first sports game that I have ever played and it's what had gotten me into sports games in the first place. I used to play this game all the time all day long and it was a lot of fun for me. Not only is it what had gotten me into sports games, but it's what had gotten me into NASCAR in general, and by the time I had stopped playing it, I knew half of the drivers and began to follow them in real life.

8. Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories. This was the first game in the Yu-Gi-Oh series that I have ever played and this is a special one. This didn't just get me into the video game series, but it's also the reason that I had started playing the card game and watching the anime. This was probably the first game that I had bought on my own, and it was one of the most played games that I have ever owned because I would play it day and night and I must have beaten the entire game at least a half dozen times.

9. Driver: this was not really a great game, but I played the game a lot and as the series grew, the games became more and more advanced and offered more featured, and by the time I had played all of the first 3 games in the series, I had moved up to GTA. I did play GTA a bit before, but Driver was what made be interested in the genre.

10. FIFA 11: This was a great game that I played a lot when I had first bought it last year. It was the first soccer video game that I was actually good at and I really liked it. It was the reason that I had started playing soccer video games more frequently, and it was also the reason that I had started liking Soccer in real life. Before I played the game, I never went to a soccer match or watched one, but during the 9 months after that, I went to one professional match, multiple NCAA D 1 matches, and I watched the entire FIFA World Cup


Well. There it is, my awesome list of games that had some sort of influence.

Okay, this is a really cool type of list idea. Here is my List: 

10 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, this game introduced me to games in general. Great story, fun to play, even has good puzzles. 

9 Super Smash Bros (n64): This is the game that started the interest in games. I played this quite often at a friends house, and I never could beat him...

8 Age of Empires (PC): This is the first game I have ever played, it is really fun, but not as good as other games. I really enjoyed the game, but first time I was bored with it.

7 Wars Battlefront II: A really fun game, which I had played for a long time, but first got a copy for myself, just two years ago.

6 Goldeneye (n64): A really fun game, which I really got good at, thanks to vizzed!

5 Need for Speed Underground 2: The first game I was really good at. Also the first game I have ever beaten! I love the game!

4 This would have to be Portal 2: A fun game, which has the best puzzles I have ever played.

3  Blitzkrieg II: One of the most challenging games I have played, as to this day, I haven't beaten all three campaigns...

2 Assassin's Creed (PC): The first Open World game I have played, and I just can't seem to get enough exploration in...

1 Metroid Fusion: This would have to be my favorite game, and I couldn't have been better at video games without it. (Not to mention I used vizzed to beat the game)

Oh wow, this is going to be a trip down memory lane. Here goes: 

10. Pokemon Gold Version - The first game I ever owned. Got me interested in Pokemon and, I'm pretty sure, gave me an intense love of hoarding stuff.  

9. Super Smash Bros. Melee - Mainly for sentimental reasons, as I probably only played the game twice. One of the first games I remember ever coming across. 

8. Final Fantasy VIII - This was the first game from the Final Fantasy series that I could get my hands on, after learning about it from Kingdom Hearts. Made me realize that I am most definitely an RPG person.  

7. Super Mario 64 - I spent hours and hours on this game trying to get all those stars. Played a big part in my childhood, for sure. 

6. Persona 3 - While I have yet to actually finish the game, this was what got me started into the Persona series and, later, the Shin Megami Tensei series as well.  

5. Phoenix Wright series - A different style from what I'm used to, but definitely entertaining. I loved solving the mysteries and cracking the puzzles, and the characters are definitely very unique. I spent an entire summer just binge playing all the games I could get my hands on. 

4. Assassin's Creed - Really didn't think I'd like the games at first, but boy was I wrong. Loved the open world aspect and the little challenges that broke up the main plot. Probably spent more time exploring than I did anything else.   

3. Okami (Wii) - Lovely, lovely artwork and story, and playing it on the wii made the painting aspect of it that much better. 

2. The World Ends with You - My favorite game of all time for its unique plot and game play, and its awesome music. Only reason it didn't make the top of the list is because I probably never would have picked it up if it weren't for Kingdom Hearts.   

1. Kingdom Hearts - The first game to really capture my interest beyond just trying to beat it. Loved the characters, fell in love with the plot, and gave me a lifelong interest in video games in general, and RPGs specifically. 

This is tough, because my most influential games played aren't necessarily my favorite ones, but I'll give it a try.

Some of these aren't in any particular order, but the top 5 pretty much are.

10. Guitar Hero III

This was the game that made me start loving music video games (a lot of the games I play today, like Beat Hazard, Audiosurf, osu!, etc are music games). The casual, yet challenging nature of music games on higher difficulties, made it fun to deal with music.

I spent about a hundred hours playing through the soundtrack, even once playing every song in the game on expert all in succession without a break (except for Through the Fire and Flames. Ugh, never was able to get more than halfway through the song without failing on expert).

It's gotten to the point that if I were to ever create a video game, that I would probably make a music video game.

9. MLB 2005

Up until this point, I had never been an "obsessive" gamer. I'd always played for 2-3 hours a day and focused on various other odds and ends, such as my school work and friendships.

Then I borrowed MLB 2005 from my friend, learned way more about baseball (I knew a lot about it to begin with) and messed with the rosters. I have spent thousands of hours of my life playing MLB and The Show series games. It's arguable this is the most influential game I've ever played, because without it, I probably have a life.

8. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

I mean, this one should be obvious, it was one of my first 3D movement video games. Up until now, most everything I'd played was a sidescroller. I played Mario 64 before LoZ:OoT, but OoT was played much much more than Mario. I was never a big fan of the Mario games.

Going 3D allowed me to experience a whole new world of games. It opened up a world of possibilities. I was young then, so I didn't realize how much the game meant to me, but looking back, it was the success of this game that made 3D gaming more relevant to me, and made me clamor for change in the industry. More games like this are never a bad thing.

7. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

This was the game that taught me I liked Sandbox games. Up until now, all games I'd played had a clear start, beginning, and end. They may have had side missions, but they never really let you do whatever you want. Even with Ocarina of Time's sizable world, once you saw the world, you saw it. There was little else to do but beat the game.

Vice City's world, while small in size, looking back on it, never got old. There was always something to do, though normally this was beating up pedestrians in a night club, and throwing grenades at cops. Coincidentally, it was also the game that made me like driving games. Prior to this, I'd never played a game that made me want to drive a car in a game.

It's way outdated, and has aged kind of poorly, but I still think it's a classic, and it has played a huge role in changing my tastes as a gamer.

6. Saints Row the Third

Just as GTA taught me a sandbox game could be fun, Saints Row taught me even games that don't take themselves seriously can be wicked fun. The first two were kind of meh, so I put the third on this list.

The Third taught me that games that make no sense can be the most fun of all. Just off the wall antics and good old fashion fun are often times good enough. There's no need to conform to the classic definition of what a game had begun, and they broke the mold.

5. Civilization V

I have spent close to a thousand hours playing Civ V. Most of those don't show on my Steam Account, because I played the game when my internet was out for extended periods of times. Civ V is my go to game when I have nothing else to do.

Civ V has taught me the value of many things, chief among them that a fun game isn't always one you win handily at. Sometimes, struggle, while frustrating, is a learning experience that leads to greater understanding. Up until this point, many of the games I played failed to make me want to play when things got too difficult. I would normally finish anyways, but I never enjoyed games that made me struggle, because they weren't fun anymore.

Civ V in many ways is the first hard game that I've ever kept trying to push my limits in. It's also made me love strategy games, as well as world conquest games, but that's a story for another day.

4. Sonic the Hedgehog

This was the first game I ever played.

Sonic and I go way back. At the age of 3, I finished the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. Every time a new one came out, I got it. I beat pretty much every game (except Sonic 3D Blast), and always had fun with it.

As I was not yet enrolled in school, I had nothing to do but play video games all day. Sonic the Hedgehog kept me company when my mom was busy or my grandmother was at work. Sonic got even more play when my brother and sister were born, because I was often times alone while my mom cared for my younger siblings.

Even today, I have a soft spot for Sonic, as it was the franchise that made me like video games in the first place.

3. Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Similar to GTA, when I first played this game, I had yet to venture into the realm of open world sandbox games...

But this game had more influence in making me love those types of games. Thousands of hours were spent exploring the world that was put in front of me, doing the game in several different ways. It was also the first game I had played that I remember that required me to sort of roleplay my own character.

Up until then, all characters I'd played had been specific types of people. They followed their own rules, and generally you weren't allowed to go outside of their character (Link can't stay a chicken slaughterer forever, Mario has to attempt to save the princess, and even past Open World characters like those in GTA would always be sociopathic murderers).

For once, I was in charge of who my character was. Were they a thief? Were they a patron saint? Did they pray? Did they defile temples? Did they kill everyone in the world? Did they have a lot of money? Did they look down on Dark Elves? What did they stand for?

These were all questions I had to answer for myself. It's Morrowind that saved me from being stuck following norms.

2. Pokemon Blue

Similar to Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokemon Blue was one of the first games I'd ever played. Up until then, I had always played games to beat them, often times ignoring small things like trying to get all the rings in a level, or finishing it the fastest.

The tagline of Pokemon is to "catch them all". And catch them all I did. I had a friend who traded me Pokemon I was missing, and I completed the Pokedex. Hundreds of hours of gameplay amounted to me scouring a huge world for every pokemon in the world.

No game had ever been that deep for me. Now, I couldn't imagine catching them all. 700+ pokemon? Kids today are either lucky games have so much depth, or unlucky because they'll never know the joy of 100% completion.

1. Final Fantasy X

This game got me into RPGs. RPGs are now my favorite genre, and the game I play the most nowadays.

Thousands of hours of my life have been devoted to RPGs. Thousands more will be. Nothing beats a well crafted story, with believable characters, compelling twists, and simple, intuitive gameplay.

Not much to say. This game has been instrumental in determining what I play today.

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Other notable games left off the list - Super Smash Bros., Mario Party, Mario Kart 64, Animal Crossing, Assassins Creed 2, Ratchet and Clank series, Harvest Moon 64

Boxia : I've never played Sleeping Dogs beyond a demo but it reminds me of Shenmue which happens to be my 2nd favorite game of all time. I can definitely see how that game could addictive, Shenmue is the same way.

Mega Man II is a great game to introduce modern gamers to retro games. It’s hard though so it could be a turn off but the music, graphics, level design and memorable enemies should compensate for that.

Super Mario Sunshine is your first game? Wow, that puts into perspective just how young you are lol, especially since my first game was Super Mario Bros and there’s a 17 year gap between those 2 games. It’s cool though that Mario has introduced so many people to games.


Eniitan : The Streets of Rage games are a great way to introduce someone to co-op gaming. The screen moves slow enough for both users to handle unlike some co-op games such as New Super Mario Bros Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Pokemon Yellow is one of the best retro Pokemon games so you were fortunate that it was your first.

I wasn’t even familiar with Chocobos before I played Final Fantasy VII. I’m not sure how though since they were around way before FFVII but I was never into the series before that game. The funny thing is, I thought they were exclusive to the game when I first started playing it.


EideticMemory : New Super Mario Bros is a unique experience because it’s modern and yet it gives you a nostalgic experience. I love games like that.

Super Smash Bros Brawl is a great way to bond with others, I really wish I could have those same memories. Unfortunately the only person I’ve ever played the Smash Bros game with is my wife.

The Lego Star Wars games are so innocent; I don’t think anyone of any religion could view them as evil games. They’re innocent fun.

I didn’t know about that story regarding Minecraft. It is a great way to escape reality since the game offers you a whole new world to do almost anything you want (and plugins help with that).


zanderlex : I use to be disappointed that the games were different from the show. I actually watched the show before I played the game and I was hoping the games followed the show. I eventually got over it but I would still love to see a game that follows the adventures of the show, or at least season 1 and 2 (but I guess that’s what the rom hack ‘Ash Gray’ is for and that’s probably why I love that game so much).

The latest Driver, Driver San Francisco, is awesome. You can’t go around killing people but you can still “warp” into any car you want and it offers a great realistic driving experience. It also has licensed car and there’s car damage on top of that (it’s rare to see licensed cars receive so much damage in video games). I’d recommend it and you can get a demo for it.


darthyoda : I missed out on Ocarina of Time. I hope to play it someday.

Portal 2 is a puzzle game disguised as an FPS. Great game and a great way to get people into playing games that make you think.


kivdabe : I think all of the Pokemon games introduced gamers to hoarding lol.

Final Fantasy VIII doesn’t get enough attention and I think if it had come before Final Fantasy VII, it’d be far more popular but it’s stuck in FFVII’s shadow.


legacyme3 : I never got into the Guitar Hero games since I never cared for some of the music they use. If they made one dedicated to Video Game Music, I’d be playing that right now.

I’m not a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series at all but I do appreciate the series for the simple fact that it introduced so many people to sandbox games and really popularized the concept. Some of these games now days wouldn’t be here or wouldn’t have the features that they have if it wasn’t for the GTA series.