Unforgettable Video Games

19 hours ago 8 min read

As I've grown up and left consoles, handhelds and more behind for gaming on the computer I wanted to look back at my favorite unforgettable game of each platform that myself, friend or family owned. So I started to think about my absolutely favorite game on each platform that I can not forget and made a list.

Pokemon Red

Played on Game Boy Color & released in 1998.

Having my first handheld device and playing Pokemon was an exciting new world of video games. This game was ahead of its time with DLC in a way - since the only way to obtain all 150 Pokemon was to link games with someone who had the Blue version. So of course with a brother we ended up getting the Blue version and then special Yellow version.

What probably jump started my life as an engineer was stumbling upon guides about these games with all the glitches and cheats you could do. I vaguely remember one of the steps, but I know you could put an item in a specific position in your item list then talk to some guy and travel to some island and go swimming. As you ran into a Pokemon and ran away that item would be duplicated 99 times. My Pokemon journey pretty much ended with these 3 games as I never got more involved with Pokemon.

Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version

Played on Game Boy Advanced & released in 2003.

After playing Pokemon games that had multiple iterations (Blue, Red and Yellow) I picked up the 3rd iteration of Mega Man Battle Network 3 - this time grabbing the Blue version while the brother had White. I'm not how this game grabbed my attention, but it was amazing. From the tutorial in the beginning teaching you to destroy viruses as you hack into systems to collecting gear. It was following my addiction of everything computers after doing some basic glitches in Pokemon.

It was like Pokemon that you are in an open world able to take on any challenge/quest as you wish. Leveling up to gain more gear and weapons to compete against stronger enemies, then at some point in the game you go into the Undernet and compete against bosses. Just an amazing all around game that felt like a bit more complex Pokemon.

Super Smash Brothers

Played on Nintendo 64 & released in 1999.

If you visited a friends house and they had a Nintendo 64 chances are this game was plugged in. No game was ever the same and the ability to master different characters to battle it out was insanely fun. Changing the rules or logic allowed you to adapt the experience for whomever was playing.

If everyone was asleep at a sleep over and you were awake you could stumble into single player mode and compete between stage after stage to fight a mysterious hand at the end. At this point I began to develop more of a competitive attitude in games wanting to improve to beat the certain friend who never lost as Fox.

While fun was had in plenty of Nintendo 64 games more than likely my group of friends always ended up playing Super Smash Brothers.

Sonic Adventure 2

Played on Dreamcast & released in 2001.

While the Dreamcast didn't get as popular as I thought it would - one game we continued to play over and over again was Sonic Adventure 2. You could compete on increasingly difficult courses trying to speed through them as quick as possible as a variety of characters. If you wanted to slow down you could raise Chao's (little creatures) as either hero or dark depending on your character.

As you completed missions you were graded with the mythical S-tier that awaited the ultimate skills. The soundtracks were memorable and extracting your little Chao to a VMU to bring to school for showing off was extremely nerdy & fun. Each mission pretty much had multiple angles to completion from basic completion, 100% items, S tier grade and more. This meant replaying was a natural evolution to push for S tier grades on every single mission.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Played on Nintendo GameCube & released in 2003.

Nearly every Zelda game probably deserves a spot in the best video games of all time, but Wind Waker was the first Zelda game I got really attached to. The open world exploration with side quests and soundtracks on islands I can name and remember 20+ years later. This was game that had simple to complex puzzles that awaited in each dungeon. These stretched the mind to think outside the box and I'd like to think helped me in the work life.

It's insane to me that all this time later I can still remember Makar from the forest, the soundtrack on Dragon Roost Island and the secret paths on Windfall Island. As you played the game more you could semi-learn the patterns of fights and bosses and refine your play style. Moving on to replays of the game where you may focus collecting underwater treasures or solving side quests before main missions.

I didn't think I would find a better game until I obtained an Xbox console and experienced a new era of games.

Halo 2

Played on Xbox & released in 2004.

Halo 2 might be my favorite game of all time still to this day. This game revolutionized online gaming with clans, communication, pre/post game trash talking, custom games, matchmaking, ranked matchmaking, online stats, campaign and more. You could hack the game to pieces and enjoy an infinite amount of custom content or watch Major League Gaming (MLG) as it introduced Halo 2 into the cycle.

This was the game that led me to putting the family Xbox in an odd room because it was the only way I could run a cable to the router to obtain Internet. Competing against random people in the world meant every game was different and as you improved as a player your games improved. This was a game that introduced a hidden ELO which meant as you climbed into the 30's (1-50) the style of game you played changed.

It was addicting playing because you could rank up or down depending on which friends you played with. It was the first game I also encountered cheaters on that spawn killed me instantly where I stood causing a near instant 0-50 loss. I was hooked again to figure out how they did that and months later I was banned from the game for figuring it out. I didn't return to mess up others experience and instead went the route of playing custom mods or custom games like Tower of Power or super-bouncing on maps.

Hours upon hours were spent on this game so I was extremely excited for the next iteration of Halo on the next iteration of hardware (Xbox 360).

Halo 3

Played on Xbox 360 & released in 2007.

Halo 3 was the video game I was probably most excited for its arrival. After the experiences on Halo 2 and having a brand new better console Halo 3 was set to deliver. Due to the Xbox 360 being locked down heavily it was a refresh to not have cheaters ruining the experience (even if I was one in the past). There were tons of playlists and plenty of ways to hit the mythical Level 50 in a variety of objective or slayer based playlists.

Updates came out here and there introducing new maps and playlist changes, but the competitive scene for this was amazing. Watching some of the professionals from Halo 2 compete in Halo 3 during the rise of video game streaming helped show there was a market for watching people play video games.

Much like Bungie did with Halo 2 innovating they did it again with Halo 3 - adding things like Forge to build custom maps or adding Theater for auto recording of games for polishing user generated videos. You could veto maps in matchmaking so you never had to play on that one map everyone hated. You could upload your game-types to your file-share and share it around with friends.

I played thousands of games of Halo 3 and still to this day through Halo MCC can return to playing Halo 3 on a PC. I still think Halo 2 is my favorite Halo game of all time, but Halo 3 is a close second.

Destiny

Played on Xbox One & released in 2014.

Unfortunately as Bungie (Creator of Halo 1, 2, 3 & Reach) gave up the IP of Halo I followed them on their journey to create Destiny. A completely different type of game that was insanely fun to play. Much like Bungie did during Halo 2 they elevated the experience for this game.

They built an open API for the game that allowed roughly a hundred of 3rd party applications to elevate your experience. Competitive games that were only available on the weekend to reach the coveted lighthouse were such a fun twist on time based competition. Activities on a weekly reset that included very difficult activities for 6 friends to compete in and a looter shooter game to produce the strongest guardian all in one.

I'm a bit embarrassed that it seems I tracked 2,270 hours on this game, but back in those days I only had a few hours of a class a day and otherwise did a fair amount of gaming. As the game reset a few activities at 4am on Tuesday we had started this odd "Raid Tuesday" event in which all the friends would get up at 4am and play a few hours of raids before we had to leave for work & class. No other game ever hooked me as much to intentionally set an alarm to wake up to play it, but Destiny did.

After that I moved onto the PC for gaming - I'm not yet ready to name my favorite, but I could be playing any of these games & modes.

Overwatch - Support or Tank in Stadium/Ranked.
Escape from Tarkov - PvE mode only.
Fortnite - Ballistics Ranked.
Halo Infinite - Ranked Arena playlist.
Halo MCC - Halo 2 or Halo 3 only - prefer objective.