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To all the Games I’ve loved before…

I was looking over my games shelf the other day and picked out a couple thinking ‘wow it’s a long time since I played that,, it was really good!’
This set me to thinking back to the games I used to play and play and play and play… on systems past.

MY first \'real\' game on the BBC
My first obsession was Defender on the BBC Micro. My dad was (is) a software engineer and wrote a couple of languages for the BBC Micro so there was a ready supply of this pretty decent machine, along with the pinnacle of viewing experience at the time the Microvitec monitor! Anyway.. the games!

So my memory throws back to me:

Rule breaker, genre-defining.
Elite – of course! How could this not be on anyone’s list!

Probably the best platformer on the BBC
Chuckie Egg
Battletech – The Crescent Hawks Revenge
Civilisation
Tomb Raider

The revenge of Doh... pre-Simpsons Doh!
Arkanoid 2 – Revenge of Doh!
F16
Running on, variously, BBC Micro, Atari ST, Amiga 500/2000, PC.

I know that if I saw these today they would seem beyond primative in my world of high-def, ultra-real physics and graphics engines. But I did love them then and they still hold a place in my heart, I may even check out eBay.. there’s got to be some working systems still out there?

But maybe that’s a bad idea. Maybe the fondness they hold is of it’s day and that time has gone. I know that re-visiting the places I used to play as a kid simply doesn’t mean now what it did back then. Perhaps, like old loves, we should look back with a wistful smile and happy thoughts and not try to re-capture those salad days.

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12 responses to “To all the Games I’ve loved before…”

  1. Kirsten avatar
    Kirsten

    Now admittedly it was about 5 years ago but me and my sister went back and played Tomb Raider and after getting over the sensation of running through custard it was actually excellent.

  2. Skill avatar
    Skill

    I know it doesn’t count, but I’m currently hip-deep in TR: Anniversary and loving it. Maybe the old can meet the new; there’s a re-imagined Prince of Persia on XBLive which I loved; and I’ve spent more time playing things like Joust, Defender, Smash TV and Gauntlet on XBLive than I have playing Devil May Cry and Twilight Princess!

  3. Michael avatar
    Michael

    I’ve played a version of Arkanoid (though I think it was under a different name) and it was quite good. I also quite liked, erm, Snoopy Magic Show on the GameBoy… OK, so it’s not a classic but I was quite young when I played it!

  4. John avatar
    John

    Actually I should take a fresh look through the XBLA stuff, but do I really want to pay for the retrospection?

  5. CrunchbiteJr (John) avatar
    CrunchbiteJr (John)

    God I adored Elite!

  6. Skill avatar
    Skill

    Yes, you do really want to pay for the retrospection. What is is? £2.60 or something for 400 MS points. Or just try all the demos for free! And God, I adored Elite too. 🙂

  7. Dave avatar
    Dave

    Chuckie Egg – best of gear! I had it on my ZX Spectrum though, still ace.

  8. Tony avatar
    Tony

    I’d forgotten about Arkanoid 2.

    Do you think while the author was writing the name he stubbed his toe really badly on his desk?

    “Arkanoid 2… Hmmm, what to call it? How about; Arkanoid, Revenge of… D’oh!”

  9. John avatar
    John

    Ok.. here’s a question for everyone…
    has there been a game in the last 2-3 years which has changed the genre as much as Elite did back then?

  10. Michael avatar
    Michael

    What genre was Elite? Not everyone played it, you know.

  11. CrunchbiteJr (John) avatar
    CrunchbiteJr (John)

    Elite was flight sim meets space trader meets shoot em up.

  12. Skill avatar
    Skill

    I’ve heard people make a case for GTA being a spiritual successor to Elite. And there’s no doubting the impact those games have on the scene.

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