Roundtable Talk #13: Our Favourite Childhood Video Games

No matter what age you are or what consoles you grew up with, we all have memories of spending hours in front of the television as a child and being mesmerized by a particular game. Whether it was pulling an all-nighter with your friends or playing solo, there’s always that one game we look back on fondly and attribute it to what got us into the hobby of gaming. The Controller Crusade staff assembled to discuss some of the games that captured their childhood and some of the fond memories we had with them.

George’s Pick: Lego Star Wars

There are many great games that I associate with my childhood, so it was really hard to pick one for this week’s roundtable. Whilst I cannot pick one that I cherish above the rest, I can say that I remember thoroughly enjoying Lego Star Wars. And I’m old enough to say that it was not the complete saga edition. The original Lego Star Wars games were split into two: Lego Star Wars: The Video Game and Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

The gameplay is very much like any modern Lego game. 6 levels per movie, each reimagining iconic scenes with gags and grunts instead of voice acting. Of course, there are plenty of Lego studs to collect along the way which can be used to unlock plenty of characters. I loved fighting General Grievous whilst playing as General Grievous! I must have also spent hours just running around the hub area fighting the characters which would roam around.

It’s a game that was always in my PS2, and I had a lot of fun playing solo and with my parents.

Josh’s Pick: Harvest Moon 64

While my earliest childhood gaming memories were on the NES and Super Nintendo, nothing quite got its hooks in my like the countless hours and sleepless nights playing Harvest Moon 64. I remember seeing the box art on the shelf of the video store one weekend and had absolutely no idea what the game was about, but I took the gamble because of the adorable artwork. I was obviously thrown off by what the game ended up being, and at the tender age of 10 years old I had no idea of the nuances of growing vegetables and raising livestock.

It was a long learning curve, but something about the game stuck with me, so I would walk to the video store every weekend to rent Harvest Moon 64, eventually renting it enough times to pay for the game outright about three or four times over. My love for the Harvest Moon series began with Harvest Moon 64, and it only grew as the series evolved onto more modern hardware like the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, and Nintendo Wii. Now the Harvest Moon brand is somewhat tainted, with Story of Seasons being the true continuation, and games like Stardew Valley have taken over as the premier farming/life experience.

Allison’s Pick: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Nothing coaxes out nostalgia quite like the sweet tunes from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker title screen. The Nintendo GameCube was (and arguably still is) my favorite console as a kid. My brother and I had several games we frequently liked to play, but something about Wind Waker evoked a deep curiosity within me that’s lasted throughout adulthood. The colorful, cartoonish art style coupled with engaging gameplay and an unforgettable cast of characters resulted in one of the most memorable games in the franchise.

Right away, Wind Waker sets a different tone from several other Legend of Zelda games. The vibrant backdrop of Outset Island provides a beautiful introduction to the game’s setting. There’s a unique ensemble of characters to meet, but none more endearing to me than Tetra. As a child, I loved Tetra’s sarcastic demeanor and leadership of her crew. Overall, she’s a fun and intriguing NPC that effectively draws you further into the plot and in your exploration. So it was all the more fulfilling to watch her character arc as she learned about her past and discovered she was Zelda.

The powerful and poetic music makes this game even more endearing, and sailing through the Great Sea was a game mechanic ahead of its time. I fall more in love with Wind Waker every time I replay it. Even if the general population didn’t receive the game with the warmest welcome back in 2002, it’s become an iconic classic for Legend of Zelda fans worldwide.

Justin’s Pick: Mega Man X

Remember when you were a kid and you became absolutely obsessed with something? You just kept talking about it, and you’d tell all your friends at school – think about it all the time and talk about it so much that you parents were almost ready to send an 6-year old to live alone in the woods so they could finally get some peace and quiet? For me that was Mega Man.

I’m a little too young to have really played the original series on the NES. Sure, I’d seen the Blue bomber in action a few times when I’d visit family and they pulled out their dusty old Nintendo – but I never really played it myself. So on a snowy Friday night – with a passing familiarity with the character – my parents let me rent a game from the video store. I grabbed the rental case from the bottom shelf and took it home.

I popped the cartridge into the SNES in the living room and my eyes went wide. The action. The colour. It was so fast. The game was just so damn cool. Oh my god music, are you hearing this shit? Never in my life have I been hooked on a game so quickly, and when we took it back to the store on Sunday it was all I could think about. I told all my friends about this amazing game I played over the weekend. We even played our own version of Mega Man X on the playground, using our arms to blast the Mavericks that only existed in our imaginations.

This carried on for close to an entire year until finally – finally! – my birthday came around again. At the tender age of 7 I had a Mega Man to call my own. But not just any Mega Man; the best Mega Man! Mega Man X!

I’ve played the game through at least twice a year every single year since. I’ll drag my worn old Super Nintendo to the TV and sit on the floor – just like I used to – and blast through the game that gives me so many memories. It’s no exaggeration to say that I’ve seen the end of Mega Man X at least 50 times, and I can imagine myself seeing it 50 more.

These are just some of the many games that completely consumed our childhoods. What are some games that had you pulling all-nighters as a kid? As always, let us know in the comments section below!