Hi TISource !
I am Gringo, 30 years old from France.
Just me, doing a silly face hiding in the mountains.Just like many in my generation, I grew up as a kid devouring TV shows, movies and books.
No surprise it has influenced my imagination and "adventures" when I was playing with my toys.
In parallel, I also developed a need to understand how things worked.
I was inclined to disassemble my toys and electronic devices to see what was inside...
Very often I could not put back together the pieces... this resulted in me being told off by my parents.
One day, my uncle came home to offer me its old computer ( Amstrad CPC464 ).
He carried the heavy screen, slowly plugged the funny colorful keyboard, turned it on,
started to show me the very basics, and launched a few games...
My eyes wide opened, my brain started to boil.
That was it, it all made sense !
It was like a movie you could interact with. Creating worlds just like in books.
How can anything be better than that really ? It became an addiction.
I've been playing these many games, learning to program, creating some graphics,
playing with sound and music, experimenting, doing mistakes...
I basically dedicated myself to it, and I started to look at school as wasted time I could not spend on my passion.
As a young adult, I started to work as a Web developer, then as soon as possible I started being a game programmer.
I was happy and thought I would spend my life working on games, unfortunately this industry is fragile, and companies tend to not last long. I then started work as a software developer, system engineer, and finally became an IT consultant.
So many years later I decided to escape the IT/Game industry to come back to my childhood's dreams,
and get back to what really matters : freedom and making my own games !
I co-funded
Hot Fudge Games and we are currently working on
New Homeland.
I am pretty sure we can all agree on the awesomeness of legendary games like Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Doom, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, Half Life, Cave Story, Portal, Minecraft, etc.
The list goes on and on forever...
So instead of singing praises for all these amazing games,
I will try something slightly different and tell you about the games that left a big mark on me,
may they be good or bad games, unknown or famous ones, old or recent, for good or silly reasons !
Tourninet
Ridiculous name, archaic graphics, poor sound effects, basically a cheap Pacman with cars, right ?
Most games were single player and this one was a revelation to me for one reason : the joy of "multiplayer".
The rules were simple but efficient and as such anyone could understand, play and have fun with it,
from uncles, dad to myself. We spent whole nights playing it like crazy, sharing the keyboard for inputs.
Very very good ( shared ) memories.
Kung Fu Master
A classic, pretty fun fighting game with interesting enemies and "all sort of crazy things that might kill you".
Why do I remember it ? well it's a bit silly...
The opponents could grab you and suck your health bar until you die.
To escape, there was only one option : move left-right-left-right as fast as possible...
So yes... I broke 2 joysticks. Thank you game !
Roland In Time
You travel through time and levels using a telephone booth ( Doctor Who's Tardis ?! ).
There were countless levels, a huge world, tons of different ennemis, traps, platforms...
Perfect timing was required, reflexes, and a single pixel could make a big difference.
That goes without saying that this is one of the biggest, longest and most difficult game EVER.
Wizball
The game was good but this title screen is what I will always remember.
It used to be the most beautiful one I have ever seen at the time.
Alex Kidd In Miracle World
There used to be 2 factions really at the time of 8 bits consoles : Nintendo vs. Sega.
I didn't really chose, I had a Master System for Christmas and so became a Sega child.
Alex Kidd was the first game on my first console and this was a great game !
Too bad the next Alex Kidd games were not as good, could have become a franchise like Mario really.
Fantasy Zone
Games used to be expensive, and we had to choose carefully.
At first, I used to be very sad and regret buying this game,
its difficulty made it very frustrating and not fun at all. Also, from the box cover, I was expecting a very different game.
I've never really been into Shoot 'em ups but this one had something special.
Maybe the cute colors and graphics, lovely music, interesting gameplay and bosses...
It took some time to start enjoying, master and finally love this game.
Space Harrier
I remember this title screen and nostalgic/depressing music playing on it.
You then start a new game, and now a very engaging and epic music starts, a true call for battle.
Space Harrier was definitely one of its kind, pretty unique technology and gameplay for that time.
This makes it very memorable already, but add to this the crazy/scary/trippy monsters, bosses and environments
and you have a game you just can't forget.
The Secret of Monkey Island
There it is, one masterpiece ! Beautiful graphics, music, engaging scenario, humour and what an adventure it was !
Everything was there and as a result I skipped so many lunches and dinners.
LucasArts were the kings of adventure games / point and click.
Manic mansion, Indiana Jones, The Day of the Tentacle... All great ones and wonderful memories.
Wolfenstein 3D
Now this is getting serious. A corner stone for the whole game history.
One of the first FPS, the most advanced technology at the time, the first step to modern gaming, and ... the gore and fun !
Then followed the legendary Doom... Do I need to say more ?
Age Of Empires
This game, along with Warcraft II, introduced me to the joys of RTS games.
The cinematics were amazing, the help files were full of historical informations I found so interesting and the game was a blast.
All the sounds effects and voices are simply branded on my brain and my neighbor's one forever.
The Legend Of Zelda : Ocarina of Time
Well, I had to talk about at least one Zelda game right ?
Even though I would say A link to the past is my favorite of all Zelda games, this one is more memorable when it comes to the global feeling, aesthetics, immersion... Hard to describe really, one of the greatest experiences for sure.
Warcraft III
I can easily say this is my favorite RTS game of all time, and the first release was a shock !
Even though it is getting a bit old I am still playing it with pleasure.
Blizzard... please, why don't you develop Warcraft IV !?
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