5 Games that Made Me the Gamer I Am Today

Everyone has an origin story. And as gamers, there are particular games from our past that helped shape who we are as a gamer today. In my case, it all stems from times in Gen 2, 3, and 4. Today, I want to talk to you about 5...ish games that made me the gamer I am today.
Special thanks to ‪@RetroRivals‬ for the inspiration to do this video, I loved Jenn's take on things, and to ‪@ThePoorMansRetroGameRoom‬ for inspiring Scott and Jenn to do their videos in the first place. Ya'll are great.
What's your origin story? Let me know!
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[@JohnRiggs]

I do like this idea for a video. I'll have to do mine, too.

[@mjdf122]

Will it to me Riggs

[@ThePoorMansRetroGameRoom]

Great video! Thanks for mention, it’s much appreciated.

[@JustinLaClair]

1. Super Mario Bros 1 - my first ever game, vivid memories of playing it with my dad (who always brought me homes consoles, games, controllers etc. I never asked, he just did it.) 2. Rad Racer - it started my car obsession too 3. Starflight on Genesis - my first sci-fi game and first I ever beat on my own. Took me a LONG time too 4. Air Fortress on NES - was a hidden gem that I avoided at the rental store and wish I never did. 5. Gradius on NES - My 2nd space shooter that taught me patience, and taught me all the swear words my father would say when he would die lol

[@retropatronum]

Loved this video! Some influential games for me would be: 1. Nintendo World Cup/ Super Spike Vall (came with my nes as a kid and I was just blown away) 2. Super Mario 3 3. Ocarina of Time (the new 3d world and story blew me away) 4. Age of Empires 5. Jedi Outcast 6. Snake Rattle n Roll (nes)

[@nightmarishendeavors]

1. Food Fight (Atari 7800) 2. Dark Chambers (Atari 7800) 3. The Legend of Zelda (NES) 4. Super Mario 3 (NES) 5. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

[@SquarePegs]

Mad respect for the inclusion of Food Fight. Not an Atari game, but that one is legit amazing.

[@Bizzeplayn]

1: Crystal Castles 2: Dig Dug 3: Pitfall 4: Ninja Gaiden 5: Castlevania-Symphony Of The Night. Btw, what a great video. And to think i found you from a KMFDM Song lol. Subbed

[@erickavery1]

I'm going to try to stick to 1 per console: 1. Robocop (NES) literally my first game I ever played. Honorable mention to Final Fantasy 2. Final Fantasy Legend II (GB) I used to play this so much first as a kid on road trips to Virginia and then later in High School on bus rides to away games. 3. Sunset riders (SNES) I used to love going to my grandparents house and playing this coop with my Granddad. 4. Final Fantasy 7 (PS1) Of course. Brought me back to gaming to stay and led me to one of my favorite games of all time Valkyrie Profile. 5. Dynasty Warriors 2 (PS2) Started my lifelong love affair with Musou games. I'm getting close to owning every one of them.

[@perrydrayton8071]

1, Mrs Pac-Man 2, Legend of Zelda 3, Final Fantasy 4, Super Mario Bros 5, Mega Man 1

[@kubuspuchatek19833]

The games that made me a gamer, and still are: Warcraft 2, Diablo 2, Under the killing moon (this pushed me to learning English harder), Donkey Kong series, and most recently, Cuphead (that is the embodiment of a true and fair challenge). Wish you luck in your future endeavors as a content creator.

[@michaelgeelan778]

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600) 2. The Legend of Zelda (NES) 3. Super Mario 64 4. GTA III (PS2) 5. Rock Band (PS3)

[@SpareChangeGamer]

I remember renting Baseball Simulator 1.000. We had Bases Loaded II and played it all summer long. My brother and I were such baseball fanatics, we kept a stats for our teams on a small legal pad. It’s how I learned to calculate ERA. I was blown away by 1.000 because it saved season stats for us.

[@icelevel2437]

Great video, I really enjoy hearing people's memories about gaming. Here's 5 of mine... SMB 1: The very first game I ever played. Had such fond memories of it as a kid and ever since it's the game I've beaten the most by a longshot. Castlevania Portrait of Ruin: I loved this game so much it became the first game I completed 100%. Still my favourite Castlevania game and I get the odd urge to replay it ever few years. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon: When people ask what my "favourite game of all time" is, this is the answer. IMO, it's perfect. A great soundtrack, tight controls, a funny story. Just amazing. World of Warcraft: I hate to put an MMORPG on the list, but it would be disingenuous not to. The amount of memories I have with this game and the friends I'd made is unmatched and changed the way I look at multiplayer games. I remember being a 13 year old kid and spending New Years Eve in 2008 in the Stormwind town square, simultaneously watching fireworks from the game and the ones in the backyard in real life. Dragon Age Origins: This game sucked me into its world so forcefully that it's now the benchmark that I hold roleplaying games to. Definitely the single player game that I've sunk the most hours into.

[@reddogg3118]

Two of your games are in my top 5 1) Nightstalker (Intellvision) 2) Double dragon ( Arcade) 3) NHL HOCKEY ( Genesis) 4) Mega Man 2 ( Nes) 5 a link to the past ( Snes)

[@retrobeliever]

Always great to see people’s beginnings, for me it was games at my friends house. I’d finally get some Tiger LCD games and then the Game Boy with Tetris….the rest was history 😎 Fun vid sir!

[@JetScreamer_YT]

I wrote my origin at Retro Rivals. Long story short, I come from a family of gamers, each of us in our own ways. I'm still a gamer at 54. I have around 30 consoles now. From Atari to Xbox

[@Pokinbrat]

1. Zelda NES 2. Dragon Warrior NES 3. Super Mario Bros NES 4. Resident Evil PS1 5. Diablo PS1 HMs. Galaga Arcade, Tecmo Bowl NES, Shining Force Genesis, and Pikmin Gamecube. These games all led me down the paths in their respective genres that i ended up loving.

[@Cinefessions]

Awesome video, Jay! May have to do this myself. I knew the NHL series would be on here, but was curious which one, lol. Awesome job!

[@GAMECLOSET]

It's ironic that in my video release today of 40 More Must-Have Atari Games, I rag on Atari Football for 2 seconds... 😂 But for good reason- you'll see. I love me some Tetris even though I really stink at it. I love the Super Mario Bros 2 story. Very, very cool. YES! Toejam & Earl, baby!!!!! Funky! It's something I'd have to think about... what are the 5 games that made me a gamer? Hmmm... I must ponder. Thanks for sharing, Jay!

[@gusblacksmith9]

Dude, you deserve at least 10x more subs. It's amazing how much consistency and quality you can deliver in every video. I'm a recent sub myself and just binge watched your eshop hidden gem videos. You are yourself a hidden gem on YT, my friend!

[@pharmcat8484]

1) Final Fantasy 2) Ultima: Quest of the Avatar 3) Civilization 2 4) Everquest 5) Fallout 3 I wanted to put games from different points in my life so it wasn’t all NES games. Or old computer games. I remember playing Golf on my dad’s 80s computer and having to insert an actual floppy disc and put in the /command.

[@SquarePegs]

RESPECT ON EQ!! Kazic-Thule server represent!

[@gaymerherb]

I never played Baseball Simulator 1000 and now i'm gonna because i loved RBI Baseball. I had similar feelings about Sonic, it totally blew me away and felt fresh like few other games have ever. Tetris NEVER gets old and i wanted to give a special shout to Tetris DS and TetriNet 2 i loved Ice Hockey on Atari and NHL '94 on Genesis so now i need to give the original a try. This was great, thanks so much for sharing!

[@Azkhalon]

I love this! Such an awesome idea for a video! I actually have this down as a future video idea. I’ve never played the Baseball Simulator game on the NES but I love the SNES version! Great video my friend!!

[@Canadian_Gamer]

0:01 take two aaand action! 😂

[@davidchan7860]

For me, is started with Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt because they were bundled in with the NES. The next few games that I played were Contra, Mega Man 2, Dragon Warrior, Zelda 2, and Final Fantasy. I owned Super Mario Bros 2. I was so confused about that game but I grew to like it. It took me a while but I eventually beat it.

[@ColdSteelKid]

1: Alpiner-My brother had an old TI-99/4A that he would pull out occasionally. This is the game I enjoyed the most. Controllers for that system are just as bad as the Atari's. 2: Quest for Glory I: So You Want to be a Hero-I put so many hours into this adventure/rpg hybrid PC game. So much to explore, puzzles to solve, and the quirky humor was perfect. 3: Pokemon: Yellow-This game and the GBC were a Christmas present from mom. It was MY first console. Loved every bit of it. 4: Captain America and the Avengers-As a kid I would ride along with my dad as he traveled around the state fixing movie theaters. Being the great dad that he was he would take me to Chuck E Cheese all the time. I can't imagine how bored he must have been as I ran around playing games. This one, TMNT, and the Simpsons arcade games were my favorite to find there. 5: Freddy's Rescue Roundup-This one represents all the various non-scrolling platform/puzzle games that I played on the PC growing up.

[@SquarePegs]

I love your list, and more importantly the memories associated with it, my friend. ❤

[@ColdSteelKid]

@@SquarePegs I grew up a DC kid and Captain America and the Avengers was one of my earliest exposures to Marvel. Became obsessed with Hawkeye because of the game. So annoyed he didn't have his own comic.

[@AndDeathForAll82]

1. Super Mario Bros. 3 2. Double Dragon II (NES) 3. TMNT II: The Arcade Game 4. Street Fighter II 5. The Legend of Zelda 6. Roadblasters (Arcade) 7. Rampage (Arcade) 8. Punch-Out!! 9. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 10. Tetris I branched off to a lot of different stuff later, but those games are the foundation.

[@NerdLife84]

Awesome video! I never played the original Mario bros 2 but I have the all-stars version of it that I still play every once in a while. And you can never go wrong with Sonic the Hedgehog. I think I'll do a video on this as well

[@SquarePegs]

Please do! Be sure to tag me - I'd love to see your games!

[@smallmj2886]

Tunnels of Doom (TI994/A) Jumpman (C64) Bard's Tale (C64) Final Fantasy II/IV (SNES) Tie Fighter (DOS)

[@ColdSteelKid]

So happy to see someone else who played on the PC and had the TI994A! Jumpman was fun, played it on an IBM.

[@mjdf122]

So many great games I’ve seen heard and played from 1980-Now what a life of gaming

[@GamerAhmer]

Great video idea! Love the variety of games too!

[@RetroRivals]

Loved that you did a VR! Thanks for the shout out but more importantly happy you credited The Poor Man's Retro Game Room for starting it all :) You had a great "5" games 😂 (I couldn't stick to it either) and there is one crossover game with Scott. I wonder if you can guess which one? Love ya Jay and I had my ear perked up when you said "new game room". Can't wait to see.

[@SquarePegs]

Love you and Scott as well, Jenn! And yes - new game room coming (hopefully) next month! The trip to SEGE is kind of impacting things a bit, but let's just say it's going to check a ton of boxes for me and the channel.

[@JetScreamer_YT]

Beat Saber made me lose weight, and rehab my fitness after heart issues.

[@threeswordssama]

For me it's Sonic, Vectorman, Gunstar heroes, and Phantasy Star IV. Later on I would include Final Fantasy 7 in that too.

[@laws282]

Awesome! I loved Atari Football but more so the Arcade version. The track ball on the game was so freaking cool to play on. Only Xs and Os for graphics but it was great!

[@The_RadicalOne]

🤩

[@SquarePegs]

@@The_RadicalOne Looking forward to seeing you at TORG, my friend!

[@The_RadicalOne]

@@SquarePegs Yep! Excited for you ti finally meet Jason to.

[@SquarePegs]

@@The_RadicalOne Same! Be well, my friend, and thanks for watching!

[@mickey2ky]

gonna catch up on some vids now lol drinkin vibes. my bad I disappear sometimes lol

[@bryanshepard9904]

1. Mega Man 2 (NES) The rest are in no particular order: 2. Double Dragon 2 (NES) 3. Contra (NES) 4. Final Fantasy 7 (PlayStation) 5. Pokemon Red (Gameboy)

[@NSquaredPodcast]

Love this video!

[@voteDC]

Tetris on the Game Boy is my first. The other games are great but the Game Boy version just got it right. Just you versus the Tetrominos. I'd like to be able to say that NHLPA '93 was my next but that has to go to John Madden '93. I'd not liked an American Football game before or liked one since but something about '93 just clicked with me. It's also where perhaps my favourite gaming memory lies, when I played an entire second half with my offense never getting to set foot on the pitch. Another Mega Drive game is number three and that is Streets of Rage 2. To me this is still the best scrolling beat 'em up ever made. The next two are a difficult choice but I think I've got it right. I'd always enjoyed Bioware's games and one day I was walking through, the now dearly departed, Woolworth's in my town and came across an Xbox 360 and Mass Effect bundle. From the moment the title screen appeared I knew I was in love with the game. I remember slipping into cover while getting the water valves on Feros working and thinking "wow this is RPG enough and shooter enough for both sets of fans." Well I was clearly wrong on that but there was simply nothing about the game I didn't like. Number five is Telltale's The Walking Dead. This is the first game that really made me care about the characters in it. I will still hammer that button, or screen, at the end of the final episode to try and get Lee up just as hard as the first time I played it. The game probably ties with Mass Effect as the game I've bought on the most platforms.

[@RetroRivals]

So happy you did a VR! Scott's video will be coming out on Saturday and you have one of the same games :) Loved your "5" 😂 Don't worry I could stick to it either.

[@brettrogames]

YES!!! I am here for the Mega man 2 love.

[@GenerationPixel]

It's ok, nit many youngsters realky get the Atari. It's not your fault. I'm afraid I'm in the "Tetri is a bit meh" camp 🤷‍♂️ A hockey game, I'd never have guessed 😉 Sonic, absolutely, so there's a spoiler if I respond 😉 I've never played a Mega Man game, but you know Nintendo wasn't really a thing over here. A solid foundation in gaming 👌

[@SquarePegs]

Thanks, Stuart! I wish I had a better connection to Atari - there's certain games I love (Pitfall, Pole Position, Food Fight, etc.) but a lot of them just don't click for me. I love how much people DO love their stuff, though!

[@SquarePegs]

LOL - edited your name. My phone autocorrected you to Scott. 😜

[@84joshiepoo]

Westport?? Just a few towns over from me.

[@SquarePegs]

@@84joshiepoo Yes sir! Grew up in Fall River and went to school at St. Anthony's in New Bedford. :)

[@84joshiepoo]

@SquarePegs nice. Born in new bedford, I moved to fairhaven in 3rd grade. Been here since.

[@84joshiepoo]

Love the videos. Keep em coming!

[@RNGGamerYT]

Barbie Horse Rider Barbie Horse Rider Barbie Horse Rider Barbie Horse Rider Barbie Horse Rider

[@SquarePegs]

It's well past time that people give Barbie Horse Rider the recognition it so greatly deserves.