Forget Wii or X-Box, the new generation of video game consoles can never be compared to our childhood’s favourite video game consoles because we were blessed with some of the best video games ever! Back in those days, the first generation of video game consoles are what kept us occupied during the school holidays. It was always a thrill to visit the video games store to check what they might have in store for us.
Although we weren’t born gamers, these games used to be part of our life, so much so that our parents had to stop us from becoming addicted to them. Since today is the National Video Games Day, we decided to compile a list of our favourite video games from the 90s and 00s. Let’s see how many of these games you played too, shall we?
1. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
Image via Fully PC Games
“Hey, ho! Let’s go!”
Oh, all the memories from playing Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater on PlayStation keep coming back to us whenever we listen to The Ramone’s “Blitzkreig Bop”. The skateboarding video game was developed by American video game developer Neversoft and it was released in 1999 on PlayStation. The video game series was based on “The Birdman” Tony Hawk’s skateboarding, who made a huge debut at the 1998 X-Games and started a show tour, featuring freestyle motocross, skateboarding, and BMX.
We must say, Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater is probably the reason why people were so into pop-punk music during the Millennium. In fact, we still think that skateboarding is the coolest sport that was ever created!
2. Street Fighter
Let’s face it. Your childhood would be incomplete if you don’t include “Street Fighter” in your list of favourite childhood video games. We don’t condone any violence but this fighting game series is literally a legend. Designed by Japanese game developer Capcom, “Street Fighter” made its debut in the arcades in 1987. It quickly became a popular game around the world and the “Street Fighter” collection was ported to various other platforms, including PC, Playstation, and X-Box.
In this game, the characters have their own unique fighting style and they will compete with each other for a worldwide martial arts tournament. If we were to choose our favourite character among Ryu’s opponents, we’d definitely choose Chun-Li! Girl-power for the win, y’all!
3. Harvest Moon
Before there was Farmville on Facebook, there was “Harvest Moon”. In fact (and this is our assumption, of course), the fact Farmville can become such a popular game today, must be rooted from “Harvest Moon”. The farm stimulation role-playing video game series was created by Yasuhiro Wada and produced by Victor Interactive Software (acquired by Marvelous Entertainment in 2003).
In the game, the player will help the main character to rebuild a run-down old farm. Similar to The Sims, the game allows the character to crops and livestocks, with the end goal of turning the farm into a successful one. Our favourite thing in the game? The sheeps. So fluffly, so cute! We wish we could own a sheep too!
4. Crash Bandicoot
Who knew? A bandicoot was popularised in the 90′s due to a game that transformed it into an anthropomorphic bandicoot named Crash! American video game series “Crash Bandicoot” was created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin who worked under the Naughty Dog FOR Sony Computer Entertainment. Set on the fictitious Wumpa Islands, Crash is an anthropomorphic bandicoot created by Dr. Neo Cortex as part of his plan to dominate the world. Through the game, the game player must help Crash to defeat Cortex before he dominates the world.
To be honest, Crash Bandicoot never ceased to delight us – it was what kept us playing for the whole day. With a total of 18 games, this video game series is one of the few Western video game series to find its blockbuster success in Japan too!
5. Metal Slug
Metal Slug is arguably one of the best run and gun video games we’ve ever played! Created by SNK, the Metal Slug franchise was originally created for Neo-Geo arcade machines and game consoles, and later created for various other platforms. From slaying zombies to fighting against the rebel army, players are expected to destroy the rebel army before they dominate the world.
Oh, did we also mention that the game has an impressive array of weapons for us to mindlessly shoot those baddies? Obviously, that is exactly why some men want to watch the world burn so that they can throw loads of grenade at the rebel army.
6. Crazy Taxi
Take our word, you are either going to love it or hate it. It’s highly likely that this is one game that you’d want to hate but yet can’t stop yourself from playing it. As the title suggests, Crazy Taxi allows the players to be those taxi drivers who drive like an actual person on the road to bring different customers to their destinations. Developed by Kenji Kanno and his team at Hitmaker (Sega AM3), the game was first released in 1999 but eventually ported to the PlayStation2 and Nintendo GameCube by Acclaim in 2001.
Despite receiving some negative feedback for its limited tracks, we think that Crazy Taxi still has a perfect 90s soundtrack, courtesy of The Offspring and Bad Religion. Not to mention, the game itself allowed players to do different crazy stunts to top off its fast-driving action!
7. The Sims
Say what you want but The Sims was and still is one of the greatest video games of all time! I mean, who are we kidding? The life simulation video game series even has its 4th sequel now! Known to be one of the most successful game franchises, The Sims sold more 175 million copies worldwide in September 2013. It was created by Maxis and it was then moved to The Sims Studio between 2006 and 2008. The studio then reintegrated into the new EA Maxis label in 2012.
Players get to create their own virtual people called, “Sims” and control them in various activities, including forming a relationship or just about any routined life. The game allowed players to explore new ways for Sims to socialise and basically, all sort of crazy things can happen in The Sims. Nonetheless, this game can keep us entertained for hours before we reluctantly go back to the reality (ugh!).
Now, we know that there are still a lot of video games that we have not mentioned in the list here. So, we will leave it up to you to list all your favourite video games in the comment box below 