Looking back,one of the most envious aspects of my childhood was the massive amounts of free time I had on my hands. Either that or I was just oblivious to how much time was being invested in elements of entertainment. The games that I’m about to list for my middle childhood Throwback Thursday all played their part in consuming countless weekends of my 9-13 yr old life… Let’s begin.
1.)Star Wars Jedi Power Battles
There is literally a summer of my life that was dedicated to my best friend and I attempting to and finally beating this game. My aunt bought the game for me as a birthday present, and literally from July to August, my friend and I would sleep over each other’s houses in attempts to beat this game.
I’m a sucker for action adventure style gaming, especially when it’s done well, and outside of the unnecessary platforming sections, and obligatory ultra-difficult, final boss fight, this game is awesome. In an era before The Force Unleashed series, this was one of the few Star Wars games that let you wield an actual light-saber, which is the main reason most of us bought Star Wars Games in the first place.
2.) NFL Blitz
The late nineties and early 2000’s were infamous for making console ports of arcade games. Soul Caliber, PowerStone, and yes, NFL Blitz, were some of the most popular games that hit the consoles during this period. Whether they’ll admit to it or not, EA’s “Street” series (NBA, NFL, and Fifa) was undoubtedly influenced by games like NBA Jam and NFL Blitz.
NFL Blitz was so over the top that even when you found out you could unlock a Triceratops and Mortal Kombat’s Raiden as playable characters, it didn’t seem all that out of the norm. It would go on to have surprisingly long staying power with the follow-up consoles, but nothing could mimic that initial arcade style madness.
3.) Star Fox 64
Before the age of “Online Communities” the only way to play with more than two people at a time was with a multiplayer adapter, which was usually more trouble than it was worth. Enter Nintendo 64, a console that already came with 4 controller ports to entertain up to 4 people at a time, which was further supported by all the multiplayer friendly games that were released during it’s run. That’s really the reason why I decided to make it a tie between StarFox and Bomberman 64.
Bomberman 64
Are they essentially two entirely different games? Sure. In one game you can blow your friends up in your plane or tank and in another you can literally wield bombs on command… to blow up your friends. Overall, they both represent what a late Friday night felt like in the late nineties: just you, your friends, and some Pizza as you spent hours trying to best each other in whatever competitive game that got popped in.
4.) Final Fantasy VII
If video games taught me nothing else, I can at least say that they were great teachers in the lessons of patience. Never having been a true fan of the RPG genre, I had what I like to call an RPG (role-playing game) phase, because I honestly don’t know if I have that level of patience and dedication in me anymore. The game that started that phase was FFVII.
Some would say this game is a no brainer for this type of list because it is literally the most successful game ever released in the Final Fantasy franchise. Funny thing about that is, at the time, NOBODY I knew had either told me about or actually played this game. What ended up happening was that my friend bought Final Fantasy VIII, I went over his house and watched him play, thought it was cool, and went and bought FFVII because I thought it would be a dumb idea to buy a game he already owned. (Remember when you used to let people borrow your stuff? Shudders)
In comparison, the graphics were horrible but the story swept me up into the world of everlasting patience. Do you know how long it must have taken me to beat a THREE DISC long game? Then I lost my save file (I won’t act like I didn’t cry) and had to go and beat the game AGAIN (after copying someone else’s save file to get ahead) Good Times.
P.S. I would totally play this game again if they ever get around to releasing an HD remake. ..
5.) Super Smash Bros
I’ve always felt like the “If you didn’t (fill in the blank) then you had a horrible childhood” is kind of an arrogant thing to say. People tend to forget that having good memories about growing up is as much as a privilege as anything else, you’re not guaranteed any one certain experience just because you were raised in a certain time period.
With that being said, if you are a product of the mid eighties and early nineties and you haven’t played Super Smash Bros. at all, then yes, WHAT CHILDHOOD? Super Smash Bros was in every store that had an electronics section : K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Toys R Us, etc and this was back when the video game systems that they had on display actually worked. I used to sleep over my best friend’s house just so his younger brother, sister, and I could come up with some futile strategy to try to beat him at his own game (never worked because apparently Fox McCloud is broken ) One of the best party based games that Nintendo has ever released.
