I was born in 1988 which doesn’t exactly make me eligible for the title ‘Veteran Gamer’ but I know a thing or two about the history of games (at least for the past ten years) and what made them great.When I was small, my first true gaming console was a cosy little system called ‘Pegasus’. Don’t let the snazzy name fool you! This console was basically a rip-off of the Nintendo. All the same, I spent countless hours glued to the TV screen enjoying games like Adventure Island and Super Mario Bros. A year or two later, I was introduced to the PC at the age of six. It didn’t impress me that much (probably because all I could do was play Solitaire on my dad’s already antiquated NEC laptop.Now, I may only be 16, but I feel old in the sense that the younger generation are being brought up in a gaming industry that seems to have forgotten what makes games great. No, it is not how good the graphics are. Why do we play games? It is but the drive that keeps bringing us back for more. It is the essence of our gaming souls. It is…gameplay.

A moment of silence please to kneel in praise of the gaming companies that were adventurous enough to invest their time, money and effort into developing unique, replayable games. Here is a list of a few games (in no particular order) that I thoroughly enjoyed playing and that I think deserve their places in my Hall of Gaming Fame:

1. Super Mario Bros

Is any explanation necessary? Play as a pudgy character resembling an Italian pizza chef and guide him through different levels avoiding (or squishing) the nasty enemies and sometimes jumping down a network of green pipes to gain some extra goodies. I spent my childhood years trying to finish this game and failed. To this day, I have never had the courage to go back and try to finish the last level that I worked so hard to reach.

2. Everquest

This game deserves the honour of the ultimate Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG to most of us) title simply because after acquiring it, my internet bill shot up twofold.

In the Everquest world, you can create a character from different races, decide his/her class and then go forth in search of adventure and dainty damsels in scantily clad attire! Er…no, not quite, actually. The only ‘women’ I could ever attract were ones from the Barbarian race. Ah, but nevertheless I used to play this game everyday even having to endure a 56k connection. My daily schedule would be: wake up -> school -> Everquest -> bed. Inevitably, this lead to my parents threatening to take away my internet connection. With silent tears, I was forced to leave this great game as my half-Elven character, Wemvarder, decided to take a dive off one of the boats from Freeport into the sea. There his body was lost to us all…but his spirit still remains.

3. Command & Conquer: Red Alert

When it came to Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games, Red Alert was up there near the top in my opinion. It was also the first game I ever bought for my PC. It is based in a fictional post-World War II setting where Hitler is removed from the timeline thus preventing World War II from occurring. Unfortunately, with Hitler removed, the future is affected and the world is threatened with the build up of the Soviet Union.

4. Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

The Star Wars universe packed into a First-Person Shooter (FPS). Playing in the footsteps of Kyle Katarn, your goal is to stop the sinister Jerec from attaining ultimate power in the Valley of the Jedi. I remember the day I got Dark Forces II. It was Christmas, the presents were being handed out and I received a rectangular-shaped parcel. Judging by the size, weight and approximate dimensions of the package, my little, under-developed brain began to crank into gear eventually bringing me to the conclusion that I had certainly been given a computer game as a prezzy. To the sounds of ‘Jingle Bells’, I viciously ripped open the package like a man (boy) possessed. Yes…YES! Breathing deeply, I turned to the nearest person and said in my deepest possible voice, ‘If only you knew the power of the dark side!’

I actually got scolded for going home to play the game instead of celebrating with friends and family. Ack, Christmas comes once a year, Dark Forces II comes only once in a lifetime!

5. Curse of Monkey Island

And what games list would be complete without an adventure game? Despite only having to use your mouse in Curse of Monkey Island, it is a game that deserves recognition for successfully combining humour, wit and a large Scottish pirate named Haggis McMutton.

Where is the adventure genre nowadays? It is dead. Brought to its knees by the onslaught of boring, repetitive shooters that the gaming industry continuously churns out in response to the masses.

6. Age of Empires

The beginning of the Age of Empires series that continues even today with AOE III scheduled for a release later on this year. I don’t really know what made AOE that special. Somehow Ensemble Studios were able to combine the best elements of an RTS along with a nifty scenario editor that provided me with endless entertainment. For reasons I can’t remember, Age of Empires deserves its place in history alongside the great RTS games.

This is in no way an ultimate list but merely a list of games that I can remember enjoying as a young boy.