What game made the biggest impression on you as a child?

[necromanzer52]

*snip*

I remember exactly one thing about that game.
OT: The video game of Sam Raimi's Spider-man 2 amazed me back in the day. It was the first big sandbox game I ever played, and to this day I haven't found a game with a more fun method of traversing its sandbox. Having to stay at street level most of the time in GTA doesn't quite compare to swinging around the city as Spider-Man.

Also, I adored the Pokemon games. Silver in particular. I loved the emphasis on exploring this huge world. I never liked the combat that much, but I kept pushing through it because I wanted to see where my adventure would take me next.

 

[BrawlMan]

Several:

Streets of Rage - In appreciating video game music.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles - In attempting 100% in platformers.
Devil May Cry - Appreciating deep rewarding combat mechanics and playing with characters with personality.
Comix Zone - Gave me the influence to try unique games that are different from the norm.
Tekken 2 - Had me try out fighting games more often at least until about 2010.

 

[American Fox]

Cookie Monster Munch
Number Munchers
Odell Lake
Mickey's Space Adventure
Combat

And this thing:

 

[Worgen]

Hmm, I want to say Quest for Glory and Legend of Kyrandia. I think its because of those 2 games that I got my profound love for awesome pixel art. I mean look at this.

Fucken gorgeous.

 

[Trunkage]

Alex Kidd that was built into the Master System. I wanna hand that turns giant when I want to punch things. WonderBoy was also good, skateboarding around

EDIT: I forgot Baulderdash, Lode Runner and Octagon.

 

[Bureacreative]

I spent a lot of time (and still do) in Warcraft, AoE2, and Heroes 3 which definitely set the foundation for me being a gamer. But the biggest single impact had to be Morrowind; I got completely fucking lost in that game and still get pangs when I hear that title music or see the mist receding past giant mushrooms.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Lego Star Wars and Battlefront 2 made me realize that games are so much more fun with friends sitting on the floor beside you.

 

[Kyrian007]

I'm pretty sure it was Star Wars. The arcade game. Vector graphics, it actually played lines from the movie in an era where even arcade games just had beeps, boops and bwongs; this game actually had words. You would sit down in the cabinet, and even in a noisy arcade everything else went away and you were a pilot in an x-wing. A quarter would get you a couple of minutes in that world. That really probably made me a gamer.

 

[laggyteabag]

Halo 3.

Halo 3 wasn't the first game that I had ever played. Not even close. Before I had even played Halo, I had played a lot of different games that I loved, like Pokemon Ruby on the GBA, Turok Rage Wars on the N64, Gunstar Heroes on the Sega Megadrive, Age of Empires on the PC, and KKND on the Playstation, but Halo - 2, specifically - was the first game that I really got into.

The graphics were astonishing, I loved the variety in the enemies, the gunplay was fluid and satisfying, and I fell in love with the story. But Halo 3 stands to be the first game that I was ever actually excited for. I remember seeing the first trailer on TV, and watching it over and over again, I remember playing the beta for hours and days, I remember scouring through Bungie.net, looking at the stats of all of the lucky people that got the game early, and I remember finishing school on the day that the game came out, asking my mum if it had arrived yet, and coming home to see my brother running around on Forge on Sandtrap.

That game was beautiful.

I completed the game on Normal mode in a day with my brother, and I loved every second of it. I especially remember thinking that the Master Chief had died after the final mission, not knowing about the post-credits scene. I love that game to bits, even today. I'd say that it is probably my favourite game of all time.

Oh, the memories. Its scary to think that was almost 10 years ago, now.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Operation Wolf on my ZX Spectrum. It wasn't so much the game that interested me, although it was fun, it was more the light gun peripheral that blew my tiny mind.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Probably The Legend of Zelda. I remember it being the first serious game (read: non-cartoon-ish) I ever played. I recall thinking how ?vast? the world was and laying on my stomach with the big foldout map it came with. Being able to go in more directions than ?right? was new to me and I loved exploring for all the secrets and hidden items. The haunting dungeon music terrified me and I dreaded the ominous roaring you heard when you entered a room adjacent to the boss rooms. Plus, the cartridge was gold and it had a save system which was basically unheard of at the time. It was the first time a game ever made me feel true wonder.

 

[meiam]

For better or worse Xenogear, I feel like I was this close to becoming an obnoxious kid who would quote philosophy without understanding any of it. XD

 

[chrissx2]

Cant really pick a single one.

Discworld 1 - It really wow'ed me with the amazing art style, atmosphere, characteres and voice acting - it was the game that sparked my interest in game dev and graphics. Thanks to it game I'm working in the gaming biz now.

Age of Empire 2 - I remember seeing first screenshot in magazines. My jaw was on the floor. The visuals were amazing and it was fulfilling my dream of builing my own town/castle.

Heroes 3 - Again, amazing graphics, sounds and gameplay. Best in the entire series or even genre. I still play it to this day.

Need for Speed 2 SE - Not only the game was amazing, but also it was first game that I've played with gfx accellerator

Carmageddon 1 - OMG I CAN MURDER PEOPLE AND DESTROY OTHER VEHICLES TO WIN THE RACE! That was super fun back then and the gritty atmosphere was amazing.

Diablo 2 - First time I've played it to see all the cutscenes. I ended up loving it. I remember beeing scared shitlessly when entering Mephisto lair (or any boss location actually). I loved the difficulty system where you had to finish them in progression and each of them added something new to the game. It was so engaging, that I've spent 48h playing it without any break - it was the only game that I did that with.

WarCraft 3 - Same as diablo. I've played it for cutscenes and ended up loving the lore and gameplay.

WoW - Ok, I was really a child at that time, but holy shit, I can play with sooo many other people at the same time!? And it's an open world?! I have to pick side of the conflict!? OMG I can do 40 men dungeons?! I can raid other cities with friends and make enemy faction players life a living hell!?? Holy shit, everyone, look at the amazing armor im wearing, you jelly!?? This game was just fantastic.

Legal street racing : Redline - While the game had shitty racing elements, car-building part was fantastic (all the big AAA titiles are joke compare to it). You could easly lose your bumper or even entire enging (depenging on how hard you crased) during a race and after it those things didn't magically reapear. You had to buy a new one. This made racing stresfull and fun at the same time.

Unreal 1 - NO other FPS game can match the atmosphere of Unreal (not UT). NONE! Theme, level design, visuals and that sound. I can still hear the ambient music in my head. It was almost perfect. Beaten only by Quake 2 character movement and gun feel.

Honorable mentions :

Morrowind, Max Payne, Quake 2, Gothic.

 

[AD-Stu]

Ultima VI for me.

There were other games I played earlier, both on the Sega Master System and the PC, but none of them influenced the kind of games I still play to this day (RPGs with involved stories) as much as my first Ultima game.

 

[Zeraki]

Mega Man X hands down.

It was by no means my first game (we had an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64 before I got my SNES) but it was the game that made me truly fall in with love the medium.

I remember playing the intro stage the first time and learning the game mechanics, my only side scrolling experiences at that point were Mario games so it was something so incredibly different and exciting for me. Everything from the art, to the music to the way X moved was amazing. It's still to this day my favorite game.

Another major one that left an impression on me was the original Star Fox on SNES, which actually ended up being my gateway to Star Wars.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Probably the original Civilization, because it must have been one of the first games I ever played (I was practically a sperm). I still mostly play strategy games today, so clearly it had some impact.

 

[stroopwafel]

Probably Super Mario World and Street Fighter 2. I enjoyed games on the NES before that but don't remember being that impressed by it. When SNES came around that was some next level shit. Many games of that library still look good though. There is a certain timelessness to these sprites that early 3D games lack.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Final Fantasy IV and by extension, most of the SNES lineup when I saw my cousin playing it for the first time.

It probably helps that he was going through the Tower of Babel at the time, one of the most graphically beautiful and 'cinematic' segments of that game. Rydia has most of her summons by then, and we got to enjoy both the normal boss and Fiend battle songs. Later on the Lunar Subturrane is equally gorgeous, though also deadly:

 

[iwinatlife]

Tekken 2 Jet Moto 2 Final fantasy 7, Final fantasy tactics, Warcraft 2, Starcraft, and heroes 3
which established my love of RPGS Fighting games and Strategy

 

[dscross]

Console:
Definitely Zelda: ALTtP. Can't tell you how many times I replayed that masterpiece. Would eventually just listen to my music while making run through's. Never reallly got old because the gameplay always felt varied and engaging. Looking back now, I'd add charming to the list.

PC:
Definitely Doom. Nothing pulled me away from my consoles quite like this other masterpiece. I still get goosebumps playing stage 5 with that music, and the fog covered mountains in the background made it extra atmospheric because it almost looked like something on Earth but nope, you're stranded on Phobos.

Arcade:
Definitely Mortal Kombat, though I played 2&3 far more than the original. Nothing says big impression like cramped hands and empty pockets.