25 Years of “Go-To” Games – A Timeline

Intro

Growing up I had one of those 10 disc CD shufflers that could, incredibly, play more than one album at a time. While I was always psyched to hear some new tunes, I only ever changed the first few albums in the tray, leaving the last five or so as the same few records for years; my “go-to” records if you will. No matter what I was interested in at the time, the same few CDs always populated the last couple of spots in that amazing CD shuffler. My gaming habits were, and still are, fairly similar.

In between the releases of new games or rentals from my local Blockbuster, there were a handful of games throughout the years that I could always count on for a good time. When I was bored of the other games I had or there were no new releases out, these games were my “go-to” games when I had nothing else to play. They weren’t the best games or the most popular, but whenever I became bored or had some time to kill these games provided me with fun and entertainment over very long stretches of time; they are the backbone of my gaming experience.

Rad Racer – 1987

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My memory of this time period is blurry to say the least, but I remember hours and hours spent in front of the glow of my TV, the 8-bit hum of engines filling the room. No, I didn’t have a Power Glove, but I can’t say that I didn’t at least pretend that I did after watching The Wizard, but that was years later. In fact, seeing Rad Racer in that movie was a pretty exciting moment as a kid. Finally part of the world I knew was being exposed to everyone else, an uncommon event back then, especially for gaming.

Rad Racer was the first game I tried to master, the first game I thought I would wear out. Even at the end I remained terrible at the game, but I had made steady progress, not bad for a five year old. My first few real memories that aren’t locked away in the ether of my youth are of me sitting in front of my TV playing Rad Racer.

Bases Loaded – 1989

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That is until some bought me Bases Loaded, a game I did eventually wear out to the point in which even blowing into the cartridge couldn’t save it.  I loved baseball and there were no real licensed games as there are now, so playing as the generic N.Y. team allowed me to pretend I was playing as the Yankees, even if during this time the Yankees themselves weren’t much to watch. No one else seemed to enjoy the game, preferring RBI Baseball which was alright, I guess, but since it wasn’t the one I had received as a gift I didn’t like it – Bases Loaded was my jam.

It was also the first game in which I learned about the general unfairness of the AI, or even identified that there was an AI in the first place. That game loved to cheat, namely in hitting unhitable balls over the fence, but that was only one of many gripes.

Super Mario World – 1991

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SMW was the first game in which I was blown away by the graphics – I know. But it was 1991, I was 9, and until then the only thing I had seen were 8-bit cars and crappy stick figures, this was the first game that actually look like the cartoon on the front of the box, incredible. I couldn’t’ tell you how many hours I dumped into this game, flying around as a raccoon wasn’t for me as it was in the last NES game, but flying around with a cape sure as hell was.

My parents were in on the action too at this time, although by then their Pong and Asteroids skills weren’t enough to keep them alive for more than roughly three minutes in the visceral Super Mario World. Still we did spend time playing the game together, mostly because my mother wanted to encourage a game that didn’t seem all that violent, unless of course you count the mass genocide of Koopas being jumped on.

Secret of Mana – 1993

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This was the “I’m going to go to my room and play video games, leave me alone” game. If SMW was fun for the entire family, Secret of Mana, for me at least, was my first solo obsession. The game was simple, but there was a lot of grinding, something I hadn’t done before so it was fun. If I recall there were eight different weapons and each of the three characters could train them all up, which I did over a very long period of time.

If I had twenty extra minutes it was time for Secret of Mana. If I snuck downstairs after going to bed it was time for Secret of Mana. If I played hooky from school it was time for an all day marathon of Secret of Mana, after the Price is Right of course. I had thought I would never play a game like that again, but little did I know it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Final Fantasy 7 – 1995

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This is the game that made me recognize myself as a gamer. I was just becoming a teenager then, and while everyone else seemed to be finding their cool high school identity, I spent my weekends trying to beat Weapon who spent his time wondering around the bottom of a digital ocean. Sure I spent some time skateboarding and doing other more socially accepted activities, at least by my peers, but as soon as the sun went down I found myself in front of the TV grinding away.

It was also the time I realized that there were other people who played games, mostly guys, who were all as embarrassed as me to admit we spent most of our time playing the same game, in the same fashion. It was rough being a gamer in the mid 90s from a social perspective, but FF7 made it feel worth it and helped me find some friends I might not have otherwise met.

Fallout – 1997

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Fallout was my first real PC obsession. I had played PC games in the past but until then they were all fringe titles, with none really ever grabbing me in the way that Fallout did. It was the game that made me happy that my father insisted we own a good PC. It was also the beginning of searching online for tips and tricks. Until then tricks and cheat codes were pass by mouth like ancient secrets, but once PCs were connected to the rest of the world, gaming went from being a singular weekend pastime to a full-blown underground culture.

You can also tell by this time my tastes had become a bit darker as Fallout is the first real violent and mature game I played. I realized during this time that gaming wouldn’t just be a phase, at least not for me, but a legitimate hobby worthy of my time.

World of Warcraft – 2004

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I thought my obsessive gaming days were behind me as I really wasn’t sucked into a game for the last few years of high school. Once I reached college I thought that maybe all of my gaming days were behind me as well, maybe it was all just a phase. Then WoW was released and I truly learned the meaning of the word obsessed. At least I wasn’t the only one; the one saving grace about playing WoW was that no matter how much I played there was always someone who was more obsessed than me. It was during this time that I learned just how big the gaming community was.

To be honest my time spent playing WoW is a blur of cartoony icons and nerdy jargon. I do remember somehow doing well in college even though I don’t actually remember doing any real work, at least not while I was raiding Molten Core. In the end it was my obsession that killed the game for me, before too long playing WoW felt more like work than fun. So I quit, and to this day I’ve never obsessed over a game in the same way.

DotA – 2006

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The one good thing about my time spent playing WoW was that I was introduced to DotA. I was actually introduced to all kinds of Warcraft III custom maps (Footman Frenzy, Hero Line Wars, Wintermaul Wars, etc.), but DotA is the one that was by far the most entertaining. It was back when I had the patience to learn something new and after years of grinding away in WoW I found the idea of a self contained game with an actual beginning and end rather refreshing. In fact I started playing the game while waiting for PvP queues in WoW (Those vanilla AV queues were brutal). Eventually I realized I was having more fun during the wait and decided to just start playing DotA instead.

I didn’t know an entire new genre was being growing around me, not at the time. All I knew was that I was having a blast and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to play WoW. It was during this time that I caught the MOBA bug, the genre that has easily dominated the majority of my gaming time since, with a few exceptions.

Gears of War – 2007

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In a one day shopping spree after starting my first real job after college I bought a 52” HD TV, my first Xbox 360, and a copy of Gears of War – that was a fun weekend. I went from being a PC gamer to a console gamer again literally overnight. It was the first multiplayer console experience I enjoyed because, let’s face it, there’s nothing more satisfying than landing headshot in the original GoW. I was still playing DotA during this time, but more of my real-life friends played GoW every night so for a time there it was my exclusive go-to game.

It was also my introduction to the disgusting cesspool that is Xbox Live chat, a service I’m happy to say I no longer use. While I did spend some time with CoD and other titles, there was really no substitute for a night spent playing GoW with my friends.

League of Legends – 2009

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The first time I saw a group of people playing League of Legends I made a mean face and said, “I don’t want to play Disney DotA.” I think I also may have said that it’s too cartoonish and that no one would ever play it which, of course, couldn’t be more far from the truth. To me it was an easier version of DotA with vastly superior match making, a combination I couldn’t stay away from, apparently. It combined aspects of many of the other games on my list, yet had the appeal to not be such a fringe game. For once I didn’t mind playing something popular.

To this day I don’t think a game lasted longer as one of my “go-to” games. I played LoL from almost the day it was released until this fall which is roughly three and a half to four years, that’s a long time to play one game. I wouldn’t say I’ve retired it, but if it was a cartridge like Rad Racer I’m sure I would have worn it out by now.

DotA 2 – 2013

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This brings me to my latest go-to game, DotA 2. I didn’t think much of it at first, it was a bit buggy, too dark, and the matchmaking was terrible, so I put it off and didn’t think about it. Then a few months ago a friend of mine, after years of saying he wasn’t interested in DotA, decided to try the game, and that was that.

Since its release the game has improved on many of the things I didn’t like about it originally. It’s become its own game and is no longer just a port of the game I played on the Warcraft III engine. The matchmaking has greatly improved, even though the stat tracking leaves much to be desired. Overall it’s become worthy of being one of my go-to games, even if it wasn’t originally.

I can’t think of what my next go-to game will be, but I’m sure this isn’t my last one. I hope it’s not a MOBA at least, as that would make my list rather boring. But I have a while to think about it, if history says anything about my gaming habits I’ll be playing DotA 2 for quite some time until I find something more worthy.

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5 Comments

  1. Hate to point this out but FF7 was released in 1997.

    You’ve lost some years of your life somewhere along the way. Or your memory has been altered for some nefarious purpose….Awkward….

  2. Heroes of Might and Magic 2 is still one of those all time great games to me. I am actually playing through it and all the expansion campaigns again. It’s still hard as balls at times, the graphics hold up great even playing it on a 52″ Plasma (a testament to good art style and sprite based graphics), and even years later it’s still fun.

    FF7 I routinely every few years pick back up and play. Good engaging story is still good. Who knew? This time though I think I want to get my wife to play it too and introduce someone new to something amazing.

    Secret of Mana was the weekend sleep over game of choice with my friends. Three kids staying up all night glued to the screen trying to get to the end as quickly as possible. If someone got tired the CPU would take control while you rested or grabbed a snack. No waiting!

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