What was your favorite childhood video game?

This Slogging thread by Mónica Freitas, Katarina Andrejević, Limarc Ambalina, Zaeem Shoaib, Blake Cram, Jack Boreham and Connor C occurred in slogging's official #gaming channel, and has been edited for readability.

What was your favorite childhood video game?

Initially, it was The Lion King 🦁

Mine was Crazy Taxi 🚖😂

Katarina Andrejević I loved that on the Sega Genesis

I never played Crazy Taxi Mónica Freitas what was it about?

For me, it probably has to be Final Fantasy 8. I know it was rated T for Teen but I played it I think as early as 8 or 9. I seriously think that starting JRPGs from a young age helped me onto the path of becoming a writer. The main character's name was Squall Leonhart, and I was fascinated by how a name could sound so cool. The story was complex and too much for my 8-year-old brain to understand fully but it helped foster my love for stories.

To give a more cliche answer, I was in love with Pokemon Crystal too. I played it so much that at one point I forgot it in my pocket in the laundry. It went through the laundry machine and dryer and I thought the game was toast. To my surprise, the game worked! Not only did it work I had a level 800 tyranitar 😄 😄 the washer must have fried the game in a good way

Since you're a pokemon lover Jack Boreham I thought that story might amuse you. It's 100% true 😄 😄 I can't remember the exact level but it was over 100

I started gaming on the PC and Lost Vikings on DOS was the first game I ever played and I do still love it but my favorite childhood game (and to this date, my favorite of all time) is Chrono Trigger on the SNES. I am just a sucker for good RPG mechanics, time travel shenanigans, gorgeous pixel art, wacky characters and an awesome story to boot. This game basically has everything!

Final Fantasy VII is in close second place.

Fun fact: I pretty much play Chrono Trigger from start to finish once a year during the holidays.

I love the battle mechanics, but because this game has time travel, what often happens is I play it, take a break and then have no clue where I am or what the last quest is I'm supposed to do 😄 old school RPGs were less forgiving

Limarc Ambalina, we've been spoiled by modern games. None of the classic RPGs ever had a quest log to figure out what to do next or even see the current quest.

As a kid, I used to write down the current quest that I was on. This came in really handy when I realized Chrono Trigger had side quests and that you needed to do them to get the best ending.

By the way, I also just learned the other day that Chrono Trigger coined the term "New Game +"

Yeah, I'm on the fence about which is better: more handholding or zero (like in old school JRPGs).

On one hand, you have to stay engaged and play frequently, or like me, you'll forget where you were in the game and spend hours trying to figure it out and reading walkthroughs online OR give up entirely.

In modern games like Skyrim, it is "Follow the arrow on the map" so I can pick it up whenever I want.

I tend to like less hand-holding. Probably also why I am a Dark Souls fan 😅 Only for the gameplay though because I need a good story to keep me hooked. That's why I could never get into MMOs and MOBAs.

Mine has to be Donkey Kong Country. I grew up playing NES at my neighbours' house, but the SNES was our first family console, and DKC was the first game we got for it. I loved the music and the goofy characters, and it was really challenging at the time. I played through that game over a dozen times to the point where I could beat it in just a few hours on a Saturday. Donkey Kong Country is still very much a "comfort food" game for me, and I love spending an afternoon revisiting it. I still have a deep love of platforming games because of DKC.

Limarc Ambalina Crazy Taxi is part of my generation's collective memory in Portugal as it used to come inside a very popular cereal box. Essentially, in the game, you're a cab driver. So, you'd have to pick up customers and get them to their chosen address fast, without losing control of your car (which was a bit hard to do on the computer keyboard) and preferably while their satisfaction level was still at green (there were 3 levels). That was what would grant you extra time and coins in your game, allowing you to play longer.

The game used to come inside a cereal box, Mónica Freitas??? I remember cereal boxes in Canada used to have games too but like monopoly or other boring video games. Nothing like Crazy Taxi.

Limarc Ambalina, yeah, for a while there were all sorts of games, all by SEGA. I remember there was even one inspired by Starsky and Hutch, though, sadly I've never played that one. However, I think the first-ever video game I've played must have been in those arcades' machines - Street Fighter was the name.

Favourite childhood game...hmm. That's a great question. I would say Pokemon Fire Red; I used to play Fire Red all the time, non-stop, to the point my parents had to ban me from my GameBoy. It was my first Pokemon game and my fav and probably my first game ever. Also, since it was a remake of the original Pokemon Red, it was the perfect entry point to the franchise. Limarc Ambalina Mónica Freitas, have you played it?

I have Jack and yes it is still one of my favorites. It has the familiar story of the first pokemon game I've ever played and all the glamour and polish of the new tech (at the time GBA). I actually bought a Complete-in-Box copy of it (Japanese version) a couple of weeks ago!

I was going to say Spyro (those visuals? on a PS1?! also a crazy good soundtrack for the tech limitations of the time), but on seeing the above from Jack Boreham and Limarc Ambalina, endless hours of Fire Red came back to me. Something was exciting about the first Pokemon remake before we knew it'd turn into new a franchise tradition that made it feel fresh and fulfilled the dream of re-visiting Kanto with better graphics, actual post-game and a run button.

Connor C, Spyro was really good. The gameplay was surprisingly good as well probably would hold up to this day

If we're talking PS1 I think Ape Escape was underrated as well. Not enough people knew about that one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QGFLNLwrwQ

Jack Boreham I haven't. I'll have to look it up!! The close I got to Pokemon was playing Sonic on PS2 for hours 😅 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvARKbtorcU

Jack Boreham Limarc Ambalina Connor C Does Pokemon Red bring that anime nostalgia? If I'm not getting a Bulbasaur, I'm not convinced 😂

It 100% brings that nostalgia, Mónica! You should definitely give it a try.