Computer games you played when you were younger (or still play)

[Prof_J]

Obligatory mention to Lego Island, the quintessential 90s kids game.

I definitely remember having this classic as well. I don't remember what actually happens in the game, but I do remember being amazed that you could get a video game from a cereal box. And 250 free hours of America Online?! What a deal!

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During elementary school there were also plenty of learning games on the computer lab computers, the one I remember the best was Number Munchers. Real OGs played Number Munchers

And I also consider my tween years childhood as well, I definitely spent the most time on these games specifically:

• Super Mario Rampage (Mario with a GUN, a classic)
• Icy Towers
• The Neverwinter Nights 1 map editor
• Interactive Buddy
• I actually just remembered this episodic series of platformers called Mighty Guy, I don't think it was ever finished

 

[Hulavuta]

Somebody already mentioned the absolute masterpiece that is the original Zoo Tycoon so I'll go for a similar but just as amazing game, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. It's a zoo simulation game in which you create your own Jurassic Park. It's pretty rough around the edges, having released in 2003 (the same year as Zoo Tycoon funnily enough) but if you wanna watch dinosaurs fuck around and shit it's pretty good. It also has all your basic park management stuff, but the real fun of it is just unleashing your T Rexes and Velociraptors onto the stupid fucks who decided coming to Jurassic Park was a good idea. It also has some unique battle animations between dinos which is fun to do but I think that counts as animal abuse (as a pokemon fan who am I to judge I guess). Unfortunately it's really hard to get your hands on and the modding community that used to exist around it has seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth, but if you like dinosaurs it's a fun game to pick up.

I played this game. I did have a mod where everything was already unlocked and I did just make the Dinosaurs fight each other all the time. You can even get in a helicopter and shoot down loose Dinosaurs before they eat the guests. Way more fun than the small business owner simulator lol.

There was also the Site B mode where this was intended, you just kinda build hatcheries and let the dinosaurs do as they will in the wild.

 

[Heavyweapons Mann]

Also the original Zoo Tycoon’s menu music is an absolute banger of a tune.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

definitely remember having this classic as well. I don't remember what actually happens in the game, but I do remember being amazed that you could get a video game from a cereal box. And 250 free hours of America Online?! What a deal!

God, I have extremely precise memories of these minigames but had no idea what they came from. Corporate propaganda never was so much fun

 

[ceal]

Also the original Zoo Tycoon’s menu music is an absolute banger of a tune.

Checked and Based

 

[natu]

THE GOAT

 

[Heavyweapons Mann]

The community for Toontown is somehow alive and well. I dabbled a bit in Corporate Clash.

 

[gvmgvm40]

red alert 2, age of empires, jazz jackrabbit 2, metin2, quake, half-life, team fortress, counter strike 1.3, global operations, soldat, hitman, worms armageddon, rollercoaster tycoon, early FIFA games, championship manager, need for speed underground, midtown madness, GTA 2/vice city/san andreas and probably a few I'm forgetting

so many LAN parties and hotseat sessions were had, good times

 

[Icemann]

in no particular order:

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actual goat game. holds up pretty well still. too bad there were so few levels

would play this with my brother for hours

me and my best friend would take turns seeing who could get the furthest before dying

the only reason i remember this is cos like 2 of my current friends also happened to play this as a kid for some reason

this game was pretty bad but i recall playing it

grew up with mario 64 so of course i had to play this

i think a lot of people know this one. back in the day there was a pretty big community focused around this games level editor that i joined when i was like 11 lol i could talk about my time there for hours and hours. that was half my entire life ago. it was through there that i was introduced to PO which is how im here today

nothing remarkable about this one

this game was really shit but i played it cos its got mega man and mega man is cool

who didnt play this

these games were sonic crossed with mega man x crossed with final fantasy and its exactly as edgy as it sounds. i didnt know a lick of english at the time so all i played this for was the freaking BADASS anime intros and the action.

apparently they made this into a ps2 game

made by the dude that wrote the wimpy kid books

the hot craze way back when

this game also kinda sucked

these were so bizarre there were like dozens of variations based on varius sports. very strange

there were always so many different versions of this genre of game for some reason and theyre always the exact same.

so badass ninja!!!!!!

everyone knows this one. very cool game

the way of the ninja. turns out its a switch game now

i made a youtube video waaaay back when youtube was new of me playing this. not sure why. absolutely no one watched it

some stick figure fighting game. id play 2v2 with my brother vs 2 computer opponents, was super fun moving around in this, flying around jumping off walls and doing backflips

im sure there are many more but they are condemned to be lost with the passage of time

e: i should specify i played these like over 10 years ago

Alien hominid also came out on gamecube, xbox, and xbox 360.

I played a lot of the flash games that have already been mentioned, BTD series, and stuff like happy wheels.

Edit: Forgot the classics of Toontown and Club Penguin. I was a beast at the minecart mini game, and I also remembering do something called Card Jitsu I think????

 

[gvmgvm40]

for flash games gemcraft was pretty cool

 

[Plague von Karma]

There's a lot but here's two that the boomers should remember.

I had a lot of hand-me-downs as a kid which made me kinda grow up in a weird 70s-90s bizarro world...

 

[elleapple]

for some reason this thread brought back war flashbacks of this game i used to play when i was homeschooled, my dad had it burned onto a dvd along with a bunch of other games. i dont remember the gameplay but i honestly might try and play it now that i remember it exists.

 

[Low-Key]

A Koopa's Revenge:

about

It's basically a Mario Flash game where you play as a koopa instead of Mario and your goal is to defeat Mario's group in order to free Bowser. Play the game here

Did you know there was an AKR 2? It's the sequel to the game! (A Koopa's Revenge 2) Also I'm asking if you knew it when you were younger. Just asking.

 

[Plague von Karma]

When I was around 9 and started getting access to the internet + a proper pc, I played this a lot.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Did you know there was an AKR 2? It's the sequel to the game! (A Koopa's Revenge 2) Also I'm asking if you knew it when you were younger. Just asking.

I know, but I didn't really like it when I tried it

e: not as younger, but I know one exists

 

[aurora]

One of my favourite shitty Flash games when I was younger was Junkbot. You played as this robot in a factory that walked aimlessly from one end to another and the goal was to lead him to piles of garbage situated at a specific point in each room so he could eat them. You got him there by putting Lego blocks on the ground that acted as steps. I think it even got a sequel.

 

[Plague von Karma]

I remember this being imported or something...

 

[Heavyweapons Mann]

Plague von Karma Windows XP Pinball? Now that is a trip back in time

 

[Plague von Karma]

Plague von Karma Windows XP Pinball? Now that is a trip back in time

Yep! It was actually a single table from "Full Tilt! Pinball" by Maxis. I still play it when I have nothing better to do. It's still very possible to play and enjoy!

 

[Hulavuta]

Lol, I reinstalled 3D Space Cadet Pinball on my computer 4 years ago. It still holds up.

As a kid, it was the only Pinball I played and I didn't even pick up on the whole Astronaut gimmick, so I was so confused why things were called "wormholes" "blackholes" "launches" "asteroids" etc. I just thought those were typical pinball terms.

One of my favourite shitty Flash games when I was younger was Junkbot. You played as this robot in a factory that walked aimlessly from one end to another and the goal was to lead him to piles of garbage situated at a specific point in each room so he could eat them. You got him there by putting Lego blocks on the ground that acted as steps. I think it even got a sequel.

This game was awesome, and yeah there was a sequel called Junkbot Undercover. The soundtrack had a cool spy/techno theme, this one was my favorite (unfortunately low quality rip).

 

[monkfish]

gonna post my more esoteric early gaming memories in the hope that someone out there has played one of them! i think pretty much all of these games i only had the demos that came with my dad's PC/Mac World subscriptions

for context in 1998 i was 10

BONKHEADS (1998) - first one that game to mind, for some reason. i think i put quite a lot of time into this terrible game. it was two-player so me and my friend would sit and play at the keyboard together

SKULLCRACKER (1996) - jesus christ this is a trash game. i only have very faint memories, mainly the name and being quite scared of the game because it was quite violent

ZOOMBINIS (1996) - looks like this has actually had a recent reboot. "educational" logic puzzles that were actually kind of fun. cute soundtrack!

ODDWORLD: ABE'S ODDYSEE (1997) - makes me feel kind weird. it was dark and creepy. didn't stop me playing!!

DARK REIGN (1997) - generic scifi RTS. fun though

HEXEN (1995) - man i loved this game. was probably too young to be playing it, it scared the shit out of me

WARLORDS 3 (1998) - i only had the demo but i played the shit out of it

CROC: LEGEND OF THE GOBBOS (1997) - my first real computer game. possibly the only game i have ever 100%ed. i think when i got this game it heralded a new era of gaming for me, whereby i just bought good games instead of playing shitty free demos

 

[biggie]

SKIFREE (1991) - I only recently found out that you can hold F in SkiFree to go faster and outspeed the fucking Yeti. Apparently this game was ported to the Game Boy Color and iOS years later?

[/HIDE]



RODENT'S REVENGE (1991) - You play as the mouse and have to trap the cats using movable blocks. Once trapped, the cats turn into cheese that can be eaten for extra points.

THE OREGON TRAIL (1992) - This game should need no introduction. From shooting buffalo to dying of dysentery, this game had it all.

MATHBLASTER (1983) - Surprised to see it came out in '83, as i remember playing this in the early to mid 90s. Solve math problems and click the correct answer to blast it out of space.

DOOM (1993) - One of the greatest FPS games of all time started as free shareware and then was later sold via mail order.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Two games preloaded on the computers at the science museum: bugdom and nanosaur

 

[Unfunnydededenotxd]

There was also this ball game I played when I was 5(?) I don't remember the name, but I remember the game had inertia (inertia was not in the name by the way) in it. If anyone knows the name please tell me.

 

[Mojin]

Coolmathgames and a lot of other flash games.