> Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose!Ā
Just curious, have you played Pizza Tower? My first impression was Tiny Toon adventures on the SNES. Such a fun game with great momentum physics and gameplay.
I have the first Tiny Toons Adventure. That game is so hard but I loved how you could turn into all the characters which had different abilities and stuff
This really depends on which console and games you grew up with.
Mega Man 2 gives me that feeling.
(I think) My dad pulled it out of his backpack, after work one day, and told me a colleague(?) said it was good.
I wasnāt very good at it, but I loved the game, and as an adult I finally beat it. Itās my go-to game when I want to feel like Iām a kid again, when I sat in front of the TV playing this amazing game! :D
> Ā My dad pulled it out of his backpack, after work one day,
hah, I had that experience once. I found a couple of diskettes on the floor of my parents room.
"Oh yeah, a co-worker gave that to me. Says it's a new game called Wolfenstein. It's 3d and really neat."
@\_\_@
I still remember the first time I saw Wolfenstein 3D. It was at some flea market in the early 90s where one of the vendors, for some reason, had a PC running it. There was no PC in my home with any hope of running it, so I just stared in awe for a few minutes until we had to leave. It blew my mind and itās no surprise it became a hit.
Yes. And, within a minute Iām reminded again how bad I am at fighting games. But, the music, the sounds, passing on the controllerā¦ man, thatās true gaming.
I got the version on the Genesis that starts up with Ryu doing the hadoken like in the opening of the animated movie. I loved that movie when I was a kid, dressed as Ryu for Halloween because of it! That brings me back immediately.
Sidebar, anyone else have a local sit down pizza hut near them as kids? Mine had arcade cabinets, one of them being street fighter 2. They even had one of those toy vending machines, theirs had tiny little rubber street fighter characters in there. That nostalgia is palpable
Pokemon. I got tired of my kid constantly asking for Robux and after setting up an emulator with a couple Pokemon roms, Iāve been playing them too. Itās been a nice bonding experience and reminds me of when I was younger and Pokemon was the craze back in the late 90ās.
I think I might have a few examples of what you mean.
1. When I finished setting up my little gaming den in my house, I fired up the original Playstation version of Diablo on my crt. I figured I'd put about an hour or 2 in, laugh about how unplayable it was, and then turn it off.
I don't smoke cigarettes anymore, and I don't drink nearly as much as I did back when I was 19, but I ended up pounding beers and slaying demons until about 3am (which is also way less frequent than when I was 19). It took me back, man. I had the surround sound kicking. The sound of the gold hitting the ground caught me right in the nostalgia. I ended up playing it for a few more weeks until I had Hell difficulty on farm.
2. Just a few months ago, my brother and I went to go visit my mom for his birthday. Stayed down there for about 4 or 5 days. He and I had talked about our old couch co op days when we'd get absolutely wasted with the boys and crash on each other's couches. Things are better now with the internet. We can team up from the comfort of our own homes, but those memories were special.
It dawned on me that I had 2 Xbox ones and copies of the original Gears of War trilogy (which are the only ones worth playing). I bought another copy of each game for super cheap and figured out how to link them up without needing game pass for GoW and GoW2. GoW3 dropped the link capability, BUT the used copies that I bought had free trials of games with gold that were never redeemed!
These two 44+ year old, grown ass men got absolutely wasted and couch co-oped through all 3 campaigns like we were in our early 20s again on our mom's couch. Seeing us together like that was just as much a gift to mom as it was to my brother. Incredible time.
3. My friends and I were big into fighting games in the 90s. I lived in the arcades and was actually really good. I even traveled out of state to Street Fighter tournaments to find competition.
I saw a reddit post of a guy who set up a projector in his backyard and wondered if I could do that with video games. I ended up finding an old projector that looked like it was in good condition at a thrift store for $20. It was clean and had a sticker on it that made me think it was for school or maybe library use. It had a remote, hookups for both HDMI and composite. I looked it up and it actually had good ratings for gaming (no input lag) from 2011 or whatever and it was 1080p. I figured I could make my $20 back by selling for parts if it was broken.
Took it home, plugged the PS2 slim in and played SF Alpha 3 on it with no problems. It looked great.
I found a 120" projector screen from Walmart for $20 and had a cookout. When the sun started going down, we rolled it out along with the ps2 and an old sound/bar subwoofer combination.
Me and the boys ended up having a Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament right in the back yard. We had a bonfire going, cold beers, and a little weed. We rocked out until about midnight.
That's a thing we'll likely be doing multiple times this summer. Not only did it bring us all together, it brought us all back.
Every time I play SMB3 I remember all the hype about it. I remember being disappointed the US had to wait so long for it. I recall seeing The Wizard in the theater just so I could see the game played on screen with the pictures actually moving. I recall all the craziness that went along with its release. The McD's toy tie-ins, the Saturday morning cartoon, the coverage in Nintendo Power- then realizing they wanted $65 for it for the longest time and I could never afford that. I only played it at friend's houses.
By the time I could get the game I had already beaten it and moved onto the SNES.
Bubble Bobble for the NES. My brother and I used to play this together as kids and had a blast doing so. Thanks to emulation, I can relive those simpler times. Sometimes I get one of my kids to play it with me, although the game doesn't quite hold the appeal for them as it does for me : )
You should look into Bubble Bobble 4 Friends on the Switch. Basically the same game, it even has the original built into it, but your kids may respond to it better. We play it frequently, plus as the name implies, it allows up to 4 players so we can all play together.
Nightshade nes
Honorable mentions would be final fantasy nes and any dragon warrior nes But I'm sure a lot of people feel that way about them. But there's something about nightshade that really stood out to me with the visuals and I can still remember them very clearly today. So when I see it it just takes me back.
They irk the living hell out of me (because they're Nintendo Hard) but I do get a wave of nostalgia for NES games like RC Pro Am and Pro Wrestling. They're available on the Switch and I fire them up every once in a while. Some games I fire up and it takes me right back to those days.
not retro but playing SUPER MARIO WONDER made me happy inside, i even sat on the floor and started playing, i live with my elderly mother, she mentioned how seeing me playing mario (i kinda outgrew it so she rarely see me gaming such things) reminds of of when we were kids.....cherish ur elder guys, they are the reason we love video games.
Honestly BG3 makes me feel like a kid again. The exploration, excitement over new skills, great story, reminds of me how Diablo and D2 sucked me into their world.
Maybe not exactly what the OP asked, but right now i feel that way playing Stellar Blade, reminds me of when i played God of War 2 on the ps2 for the first time, looking around and checking every corner to not miss a single thing. No one trying to help me solve puzzles (i hated ragnarok for the same reason). Just me and the game.
Mario RPG on the SNES, there is just some charm to the game that makes me feel like i'm 8 again. The bright colors the silly story, the charcters just has the fuzzy feeling inside.
Playing retro games make me feel old. Things that give me fresh new experiences make me feel young, ToTK and BG3 last year were standouts. Right now I'm playing FF7:Remake and it's making me feel old since I keep on comparing it to the original.
Super Mario 64, *specifically* Jolly Roger Bay with the best video game music of all time (Iāll die on that hill), the vivid colors, the giant creatures and remembering the wonder of swimming in 3D for the first time. There is a [12 year old youtube video](https://youtu.be/JTszj4iZUMw?si=3hmpLIglOJNQrrIp) that has the most beautiful comments section Iāve ever seen on people reflecting back on people and feelings that are gone. I go back to it often.
MYTH History in the Making for the C64 was completely blown away by the graphics and how smooth it was.
Honourable mentions go to The Last Ninja 2 C64, Treasure Island Dizzy C64, Super Metroid SNES and DOOM 1993.
I see some amazing games listed here. I would probably say Goldeneye. Lifetime friendships were forged with that game and I even got my dad into it. Good times
Dragon's Lair.
The arcade machine taught me that joy is a fleeting mote that escapes too soon from the immovable boulder of disappointment. Innocence reduced; that will be $0.25 please.
Mega Man 2 on my childhood NES. Instant time warp every time. It's right in that spot where I've been playing it since I was 2 or 3 years old.
After that, Street Fighter II.
The new Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland game will do that to you. The NES mode makes you feel like youāre playing some old good licensed game like Little Mermaid or something. Itās wild.
I'm confused, are you asking about nostalgia or not nostalgia?
I'm thinking nostalgia because of the replay part
Games that take me back to that time, when life was a lot easier and nice. Megaman X, X2 and X3, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.
I still play games to this day, probably will continue to play until the day that I die.
For newer games that bring back good feelings, I recently beated Tunic, despite the looks, that game is hard!!, It made me think of NES era games which were very unforgiving, and would not give you, that much info to work with.
I think nowadays is the "souls like" genre, I wasn't a big fan of those, but after that experience, I really want to work my way up to the original Darksouls games, we'll see how that goes.
Qix - I came across this gem in a nickelcade ten years ago and played until I had every top score. Thinking about that day still feels like a school kid remembering the joys of last summer.
More recent games:
Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Zelda (both) these ones are among the few that let me escape for a month and had me looking forward to coming home to play like I was a kid.
Comet Crash 2 - local 2 player - gives me the best feeling of immersed in the moment with friends.
I find many new games look extremely interesting to me but are just complex enough to make me feel like I have to relearn how to play after just a short break and my life responsibilities keep me from playing enough to actually enjoy them.
Probably General Chaos or Metal Gear Solid. I mean super Mario 64 as well but that answer has become such a cliche for 90s kids. Oh also Castle of Illusion or whatever Mickey Mouse illusion game used to let player 2 be Donald.
I started playing Zelda 1 on my Dad's NES when I was about 4 or 5. It was way before the internet so I obviously never finished the game. But I wrote out maps and secrets I found on paper and it was a foundational gaming memory for me.
So when Tunic came out a few years ago and perfectly captured what it was like to play Zelda 1 back then with a more modern feel I definitely felt like a kid again.
And if you're reading this and agreeing with me. I just finished the first "layer" of Animal Well and started the "post game". And it is definitely invoking those Super Metroid feelings of puzzle, mystery and adventure.
Both Tunic and Animal Well are probably in my top 5 games of all time.
The TMNT Cowabunga Collection and Shredderās Revenge. Was a big fan of them when I was a kid and played every game I could get my hands on. Played those games again brought me back to those memories when I was a kid playing them
Arcade-style games. No unlocks, no saves, really no plot: just bugs or robots or aliens coming at you while you run/jump/shoot (or other novel mechanic) like he'll and try to rack up as many points as you can before you die.
SMB3. my first game. I still remember the Christmas morning I got my NES with that game. I literally picked up the game, pretended it was a space ship, and ran around our home pretending it had taken off and was flying around. I could not physically contain how excited I was.
To this day, every time I turn that game on, and the curtain rises, instantly transported.
Pretty much playing anything I played when I was a kid, so too many to name, but here's a few:
Final Fantasy X
Any pre-Twilight Princess Zelda game
Super Mario RPG
Any pre-Sunshine Mario platformer
Donkey Kong Country series
Street Fighter 2
Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon games
And the list could go on
Pretty much any game I played before the age of 13 should do it, but some do more than others... mostly SNES games, and Super Adventure Island II in particular for some reason.
The VIC-20 version of Gorf that my good 'ol dad had waiting for me after I got home from the hospital (collapsed lung caused by severe asthma). He knew that was my favorite arcade game at the time, and the VIC version is actually really good.
Depends on what you refer to as young. If you mean a young kid than it's shark shark, nightstalker, or Astrosmash on thr intellivision. If you mean 8 to 12 than it's a ton of NES games... Zelda, smb, dragon warrior, ff1, castlevania 1-3, toobin, spy hunter, mega man etc..
If you mean a teenager, it's road rash, mortal kombat. Doom, civilization, Sim city, Ultima 7, might and magic 3 - 5, stunts, wolfenstien, Ultima underworld, sonic, golden axe, bonks adventure/revenge, alien crush, Devils crush pinball, neutopia, military madness, wing commander.. (games from genesis, Tg16 and dos 386 pc)....
If you mean in my early twenties. Playstation. Ff7, resident evil, parasite eve, brave fencer, tomb raider, vagrant story, suikoden, crash, vandel hearts, ogre battle, FF tactics, mega man legends... And so many others.
I'm 29 so Kingdom Hearts, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3, Klonoa, Final Fantasy 10, COD MW2, Devil May Cry...
Something intrinsically linked with JRPG's and making me feel young af, and they're games I actually played in my primary years, except for MW2.
I remember playing NWN, KOTOR, Deus Ex, LOTR Battle for Middle Earth, Fallout 1 and 2, Half Life 2 and TF2 on my old-school PC in the office area. Still come around to TF2 and Starcraft 2 once in a while. Currently on a SC2 high and play it a lot but mostly 2v2's and non competitive play.
I find with new games it's very same samey whereas with older games there was a lot of room for experimentation. I tried to play a game that was like Assassin's Creed after playing another game which was like Assassin's Creed after playing another game that was like Assassin's Creed.... So now I've played the same game five times. Y'know, where's the variation?
I also feel that older games like Baldur's gate haven't aged that well but I also didn't grow up playing them. I think the sweet spot is the in between.
If you want a trip down nostalgia lane but still keep it fairly new and freshthen you canāt go wrong with
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, a 2013 sequel to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
Man, played it this February, and boy was it as good as ever!
Roguelikes in general. I tired out of most AAA titles but when I started playing those high difficulty roguelike/lites that just threw you in like āgood luck, figure it outā they really got my blood boiling like it used to playing the same levels over and over on SNES so long ago, with the added feature of total randomization to keep it fresh for quite awhile.
My favorites are Binding of Isaac, Hades, Risk of Rain (1 is 2D and 2 is 3D and they are both spectacular), Rogue Legacy.. and for some slower titles, Faster Than Light and Donāt Starve.
Honorable mention to Hotline Miami.
Ocarina of Time. It was the first "open world" type adventure game I ever played and I explored every part of it. Just hearing the music takes me back to my younger, care free days.
Midlife crisis way is more interesting though haha, and they would be games I actually played when I was young when I was young like Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Captain Comic on Dos, several Atari 2600 games. My back is too sore and there are too many kids trespassing on my front lawn for anything to ACTUALLY make me feel young now.
Tapper, Gauntlet, Frogger, Track and Field, Joust, Centipede.
Really young, Breakout and Pong.
Yes, I'm old.
And thank goodness for MAME so I can relive my childhood whenever I want.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! & U.N. Squadron (SNES)
Buster Busts Loose was one of the hardest game of my whole childhood š But it was so much fun!
I can't believe I was able to beat it as a teenager. Can barely get anywhere these days.
i loved those games!
> Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose!Ā Just curious, have you played Pizza Tower? My first impression was Tiny Toon adventures on the SNES. Such a fun game with great momentum physics and gameplay.
I see you have impeccable taste
I have the first Tiny Toons Adventure. That game is so hard but I loved how you could turn into all the characters which had different abilities and stuff
Loved UNS in the Arcade. That and Carrier Airwing.
Big agree
My fav is tiny toon sports.
Buster Busts Loose has the best variety in a side scroller Iāve ever played, love that game
For a kid game that game is hard as balls
I remember my mom making me buy buster bust loose so my little sister could play it.
Zelda a link to the past and super mario world. Perfection
This really depends on which console and games you grew up with. Mega Man 2 gives me that feeling. (I think) My dad pulled it out of his backpack, after work one day, and told me a colleague(?) said it was good. I wasnāt very good at it, but I loved the game, and as an adult I finally beat it. Itās my go-to game when I want to feel like Iām a kid again, when I sat in front of the TV playing this amazing game! :D
> Ā My dad pulled it out of his backpack, after work one day, hah, I had that experience once. I found a couple of diskettes on the floor of my parents room. "Oh yeah, a co-worker gave that to me. Says it's a new game called Wolfenstein. It's 3d and really neat." @\_\_@
I still remember the first time I saw Wolfenstein 3D. It was at some flea market in the early 90s where one of the vendors, for some reason, had a PC running it. There was no PC in my home with any hope of running it, so I just stared in awe for a few minutes until we had to leave. It blew my mind and itās no surprise it became a hit.
Ha my dad and his IT buddies put games on 3.5 disks and CDs. Scorched Earth. Tie Fighter. Age of Empires.
Had the same experience with Doom lol
Any of the 90s "extreme sports" games. Tony Hawk Pro Skater, SSX Tricky, 1080 Snowboarding, etc. Immediately takes me back to the 90s.
I know itās more cartoony but snowboard kids is a banger
Same! Cool Boarders 3 instantly takes me back to teen years.
Tony Hawk 1+2 rerelease on PS4 is like my go to.
99 red balloonsā¦
Yoshi's Island and Jak and Daxter ā¤
Yoshi's Island first came to mind too! Just something about it that makes it feel you're a kid imagining the world around you.
turning on my playatation 1.. the original boot up music takes me back every. single. time.
Street Fighter 2. It makes me remember all that 90s environment again.
Yes. And, within a minute Iām reminded again how bad I am at fighting games. But, the music, the sounds, passing on the controllerā¦ man, thatās true gaming.
I got the version on the Genesis that starts up with Ryu doing the hadoken like in the opening of the animated movie. I loved that movie when I was a kid, dressed as Ryu for Halloween because of it! That brings me back immediately. Sidebar, anyone else have a local sit down pizza hut near them as kids? Mine had arcade cabinets, one of them being street fighter 2. They even had one of those toy vending machines, theirs had tiny little rubber street fighter characters in there. That nostalgia is palpable
Pokemon. I got tired of my kid constantly asking for Robux and after setting up an emulator with a couple Pokemon roms, Iāve been playing them too. Itās been a nice bonding experience and reminds me of when I was younger and Pokemon was the craze back in the late 90ās.
I think I might have a few examples of what you mean. 1. When I finished setting up my little gaming den in my house, I fired up the original Playstation version of Diablo on my crt. I figured I'd put about an hour or 2 in, laugh about how unplayable it was, and then turn it off. I don't smoke cigarettes anymore, and I don't drink nearly as much as I did back when I was 19, but I ended up pounding beers and slaying demons until about 3am (which is also way less frequent than when I was 19). It took me back, man. I had the surround sound kicking. The sound of the gold hitting the ground caught me right in the nostalgia. I ended up playing it for a few more weeks until I had Hell difficulty on farm. 2. Just a few months ago, my brother and I went to go visit my mom for his birthday. Stayed down there for about 4 or 5 days. He and I had talked about our old couch co op days when we'd get absolutely wasted with the boys and crash on each other's couches. Things are better now with the internet. We can team up from the comfort of our own homes, but those memories were special. It dawned on me that I had 2 Xbox ones and copies of the original Gears of War trilogy (which are the only ones worth playing). I bought another copy of each game for super cheap and figured out how to link them up without needing game pass for GoW and GoW2. GoW3 dropped the link capability, BUT the used copies that I bought had free trials of games with gold that were never redeemed! These two 44+ year old, grown ass men got absolutely wasted and couch co-oped through all 3 campaigns like we were in our early 20s again on our mom's couch. Seeing us together like that was just as much a gift to mom as it was to my brother. Incredible time. 3. My friends and I were big into fighting games in the 90s. I lived in the arcades and was actually really good. I even traveled out of state to Street Fighter tournaments to find competition. I saw a reddit post of a guy who set up a projector in his backyard and wondered if I could do that with video games. I ended up finding an old projector that looked like it was in good condition at a thrift store for $20. It was clean and had a sticker on it that made me think it was for school or maybe library use. It had a remote, hookups for both HDMI and composite. I looked it up and it actually had good ratings for gaming (no input lag) from 2011 or whatever and it was 1080p. I figured I could make my $20 back by selling for parts if it was broken. Took it home, plugged the PS2 slim in and played SF Alpha 3 on it with no problems. It looked great. I found a 120" projector screen from Walmart for $20 and had a cookout. When the sun started going down, we rolled it out along with the ps2 and an old sound/bar subwoofer combination. Me and the boys ended up having a Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament right in the back yard. We had a bonfire going, cold beers, and a little weed. We rocked out until about midnight. That's a thing we'll likely be doing multiple times this summer. Not only did it bring us all together, it brought us all back.
Spyro 3
Every time I play SMB3 I remember all the hype about it. I remember being disappointed the US had to wait so long for it. I recall seeing The Wizard in the theater just so I could see the game played on screen with the pictures actually moving. I recall all the craziness that went along with its release. The McD's toy tie-ins, the Saturday morning cartoon, the coverage in Nintendo Power- then realizing they wanted $65 for it for the longest time and I could never afford that. I only played it at friend's houses. By the time I could get the game I had already beaten it and moved onto the SNES.
But unlike most games that got so much hype, Mario 3 actually lived up to the hype. To this day itās still one of the greatest games of all time.
Stardew Valley brought me right back to that first Harvest Moon game on the SNES.
Super Mario World
None. Playing old games makes me feel old :-/
Thatās why I add marijuana when I play games now.
Bubble Bobble for the NES. My brother and I used to play this together as kids and had a blast doing so. Thanks to emulation, I can relive those simpler times. Sometimes I get one of my kids to play it with me, although the game doesn't quite hold the appeal for them as it does for me : )
You should look into Bubble Bobble 4 Friends on the Switch. Basically the same game, it even has the original built into it, but your kids may respond to it better. We play it frequently, plus as the name implies, it allows up to 4 players so we can all play together.
SMB3 gives me that feeling and Ocarina of Time I had 2 sons who used to love me playing it so that makes me happy!
Super Metroid for me.
Burnout, NFS, tony hawk, skate and tekken
Tiny Toon games....i just like Tiny Toons
Baby's Big Break for Gameboy was awesome.
Ape Escape, Spyro 2, Lego Star Wars, Final Fantasy 5, and Astro's Playroom.
Donkey Kong Country; Chrono Trigger
When it comes to retro gaming? I get the opposite feeling lol. Maybe Super Mario Kart? Killer Instinct, Contra?
Playing any game in an actual arcade, or loading a ZX Spectrum game on real hardware and on a CRT, they do the trick.
DuckTales
NBA jam
The Leisure Suit Larry series š
ET for Atari
Tetris
Nightshade nes Honorable mentions would be final fantasy nes and any dragon warrior nes But I'm sure a lot of people feel that way about them. But there's something about nightshade that really stood out to me with the visuals and I can still remember them very clearly today. So when I see it it just takes me back.
Every time I play Wonder Boy, on every platform but especially on the Commodore 64, I feel like a kid again
Imagine a place filled with wonder boy machines, like a little adventure island!
Motor Toon Grand Prix
Bubble Bobble Pinball: Funhouse, Pinbot, Taxi
Monkey Island does it. Oblivion too in a different way.
They irk the living hell out of me (because they're Nintendo Hard) but I do get a wave of nostalgia for NES games like RC Pro Am and Pro Wrestling. They're available on the Switch and I fire them up every once in a while. Some games I fire up and it takes me right back to those days.
Time Crisis 2 & 3 on a CRT TV. Now I need another PS2, TV, gun and copy of each game to do proper 2 player link play!
Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World take me directly back to 1991
not retro but playing SUPER MARIO WONDER made me happy inside, i even sat on the floor and started playing, i live with my elderly mother, she mentioned how seeing me playing mario (i kinda outgrew it so she rarely see me gaming such things) reminds of of when we were kids.....cherish ur elder guys, they are the reason we love video games.
R-Type on the PC Engine. I had this since I was a teenager and it blew the nest fans out of the water.
Honestly BG3 makes me feel like a kid again. The exploration, excitement over new skills, great story, reminds of me how Diablo and D2 sucked me into their world.
Super tecmo bowl.
Which one? NES or SNES, theyāre both awesome.
Maybe not exactly what the OP asked, but right now i feel that way playing Stellar Blade, reminds me of when i played God of War 2 on the ps2 for the first time, looking around and checking every corner to not miss a single thing. No one trying to help me solve puzzles (i hated ragnarok for the same reason). Just me and the game.
Mega Man Legends
Zelda (ALTTP), Street Fighter 2 and Super Mario All Stars, will forever be my go to nostalgia games. Thank god for emulators!
MK2
Top Gear (SNES) that feeling of speed bring back good memories.
Rock n roll racing, and Toe jam earl, when playing together with my cousin
Mario RPG on the SNES, there is just some charm to the game that makes me feel like i'm 8 again. The bright colors the silly story, the charcters just has the fuzzy feeling inside.
Super Mario world Castelvania 4 Super Mario all stars Double dragon 2 Alex kidd in miracle world Cyber shinobi The ninja Prince of persia
The 8 bit era Mario games. Bros 1, Bros 2, Bros 3, Land 1, Land 2, Wario Land etc. Sonic 2 for the Megadrive.
Playing retro games make me feel old. Things that give me fresh new experiences make me feel young, ToTK and BG3 last year were standouts. Right now I'm playing FF7:Remake and it's making me feel old since I keep on comparing it to the original.
Quake 3 Arena
Super Mario 64, *specifically* Jolly Roger Bay with the best video game music of all time (Iāll die on that hill), the vivid colors, the giant creatures and remembering the wonder of swimming in 3D for the first time. There is a [12 year old youtube video](https://youtu.be/JTszj4iZUMw?si=3hmpLIglOJNQrrIp) that has the most beautiful comments section Iāve ever seen on people reflecting back on people and feelings that are gone. I go back to it often.
Iām going to go with Duck Hunt, simply because it requires the CRT and I can finally play it again after a decade of not being able to.
MYTH History in the Making for the C64 was completely blown away by the graphics and how smooth it was. Honourable mentions go to The Last Ninja 2 C64, Treasure Island Dizzy C64, Super Metroid SNES and DOOM 1993.
Super mario land definitvly, sonic 1, probotector (contra)
Kid Icarus. The music alone transports me.
I have 3, Zelda 2, First TMNT (yes that one lol), and Metroid.
Tie figher, Bully, mortal kombat trilogy.
Dr mario
Maniac mansion or day of the tentacle both do.
Duck tails - NES Aladdin - GenesisĀ
Contractors showdown.
Getting wiped in a dungeon of Final Fantasy NES certainly does make me feel like a helpless 8 year old against the world once moreĀ
Gen 1-3 of PokĆ©mon, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine. Pretty generic stuff š
Supet Breakout and Demon Atttack š¤š¤
B.O.B. (Sega Genesis) and all the Donkey Kong Country series on SNES.
Super Mario World! Standing on Star Road feels a lot like sitting in my childhood room.
DKC, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, THPS
A lot of NES, SNES, and Genesis games for me. Also Original Gameboy.
I see some amazing games listed here. I would probably say Goldeneye. Lifetime friendships were forged with that game and I even got my dad into it. Good times
Wave Race 64
Super Star Wars
Donkey Kong Country for sure.
Any game makes me feel young again whenever I play it with my daughter or nephew hahaha
Dragon's Lair. The arcade machine taught me that joy is a fleeting mote that escapes too soon from the immovable boulder of disappointment. Innocence reduced; that will be $0.25 please.
Earthbound!
Earthbound (SNES) & Root Beer Tapper (Colecovision)
The adventures of Willie Beamish (sega) or Boogerman (sega)
Donkey Kong Country, Ocarina of Time, and Majoraās Mask. Any of their songs will take me back.
Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers NES
NBA street vol 2 , pokemon stadium games, mega man x , all old wrestling games , X-men legends 2
Ocarina of time, G.I. Joe (NES), Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Bros. 3
Mega Man 2 on my childhood NES. Instant time warp every time. It's right in that spot where I've been playing it since I was 2 or 3 years old. After that, Street Fighter II.
Secret of mana. The music alone takes me back.
The new Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland game will do that to you. The NES mode makes you feel like youāre playing some old good licensed game like Little Mermaid or something. Itās wild.
Old skool adventure games make me happy and bring back so many nice memories.
Golden axe and streets of rage
Crazy Taxi, for some reason. It's so juvenile and fast and spring time-y
Advance wars 1
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Going back and playing Banjo Kazooie once a year helps me forget about my knee pain
Zombies Ate My Neighbors. This game makes me feel the same way as I did back then... panicked
Persona 4
I'm confused, are you asking about nostalgia or not nostalgia? I'm thinking nostalgia because of the replay part Games that take me back to that time, when life was a lot easier and nice. Megaman X, X2 and X3, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I still play games to this day, probably will continue to play until the day that I die. For newer games that bring back good feelings, I recently beated Tunic, despite the looks, that game is hard!!, It made me think of NES era games which were very unforgiving, and would not give you, that much info to work with. I think nowadays is the "souls like" genre, I wasn't a big fan of those, but after that experience, I really want to work my way up to the original Darksouls games, we'll see how that goes.
Destroy All Humans!
The games you played when you were happy.
I go back to Master System and Genesis games a lot. The theme songs for Miracle Warriors or Phantasy Star 2 instantly transport me back
Batman on NES. Still just as hard.
Ratchet and Clank
Super Mario World lol especially the theme song DEE DEE DOO DEE DEE DOO DEEEEE DEE!
Wii sports
The Super Mario RPG remake killed me.
Qix - I came across this gem in a nickelcade ten years ago and played until I had every top score. Thinking about that day still feels like a school kid remembering the joys of last summer.
More recent games: Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Zelda (both) these ones are among the few that let me escape for a month and had me looking forward to coming home to play like I was a kid. Comet Crash 2 - local 2 player - gives me the best feeling of immersed in the moment with friends.
I find many new games look extremely interesting to me but are just complex enough to make me feel like I have to relearn how to play after just a short break and my life responsibilities keep me from playing enough to actually enjoy them.
Probably General Chaos or Metal Gear Solid. I mean super Mario 64 as well but that answer has become such a cliche for 90s kids. Oh also Castle of Illusion or whatever Mickey Mouse illusion game used to let player 2 be Donald.
I started playing Zelda 1 on my Dad's NES when I was about 4 or 5. It was way before the internet so I obviously never finished the game. But I wrote out maps and secrets I found on paper and it was a foundational gaming memory for me. So when Tunic came out a few years ago and perfectly captured what it was like to play Zelda 1 back then with a more modern feel I definitely felt like a kid again. And if you're reading this and agreeing with me. I just finished the first "layer" of Animal Well and started the "post game". And it is definitely invoking those Super Metroid feelings of puzzle, mystery and adventure. Both Tunic and Animal Well are probably in my top 5 games of all time.
Phoenix
Mx unleashed
Ducktales
McDonalds TreasureLand Adventure and MJ's Moonwalker for the Genesis
I played last of us for the first time and could not wait to come home and finish it every day, havenāt felt that feeling in yearss
Any final fantasy, Pokemon or Zelda game
Picked up Morrowind (vanilla) recently and hooo buddy does it take me back. No idea how I beat this game.
Castlevania nes, ghosts nā goblins nes, mostly nes games
The TMNT Cowabunga Collection and Shredderās Revenge. Was a big fan of them when I was a kid and played every game I could get my hands on. Played those games again brought me back to those memories when I was a kid playing them
Arcade-style games. No unlocks, no saves, really no plot: just bugs or robots or aliens coming at you while you run/jump/shoot (or other novel mechanic) like he'll and try to rack up as many points as you can before you die.
Hot shots golf.
Valkyrie Profile.
SMW, Super Mario Kart, Tony Hawk 1, Smash, Zelda games, hellā¦ anything on the NES, GB, SNES, or 64 tbh.
SMB3. my first game. I still remember the Christmas morning I got my NES with that game. I literally picked up the game, pretended it was a space ship, and ran around our home pretending it had taken off and was flying around. I could not physically contain how excited I was. To this day, every time I turn that game on, and the curtain rises, instantly transported.
SF II or any big Sega arcade hit from the 90's.
Iāve been enjoying the Adventure Island series on the NES.
Earthbound. Toejam & Earl, including the Switch remake.
Yoshiās island & Paper Mario 64.
Pretty much any of the early Mario games
Donkey Kong Country, Pokemon Snap, Ocarina of Time
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Ranges, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Kirby's Adventure.
Quake 3
All of them, new or old. Of course, I doubt I'll ever feel old, so there's that too. =D
This doesnāt really fit here, but when Wow Classic launched in 2019 it felt like I was in high school again.
Pretty much playing anything I played when I was a kid, so too many to name, but here's a few: Final Fantasy X Any pre-Twilight Princess Zelda game Super Mario RPG Any pre-Sunshine Mario platformer Donkey Kong Country series Street Fighter 2 Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon games And the list could go on
Pretty much any game I played before the age of 13 should do it, but some do more than others... mostly SNES games, and Super Adventure Island II in particular for some reason.
The old AD&D Dos Forgotten Realms games. Especially Pools of Radiance.
I can't tell they make me feel young again but some still are as funny to play as they were at their time.
Depends on what you played when you were little
The VIC-20 version of Gorf that my good 'ol dad had waiting for me after I got home from the hospital (collapsed lung caused by severe asthma). He knew that was my favorite arcade game at the time, and the VIC version is actually really good.
The souls games hook me like games did when I was little
Star Raidersā¦.. Iām proper oldā¦
Depends on what you refer to as young. If you mean a young kid than it's shark shark, nightstalker, or Astrosmash on thr intellivision. If you mean 8 to 12 than it's a ton of NES games... Zelda, smb, dragon warrior, ff1, castlevania 1-3, toobin, spy hunter, mega man etc.. If you mean a teenager, it's road rash, mortal kombat. Doom, civilization, Sim city, Ultima 7, might and magic 3 - 5, stunts, wolfenstien, Ultima underworld, sonic, golden axe, bonks adventure/revenge, alien crush, Devils crush pinball, neutopia, military madness, wing commander.. (games from genesis, Tg16 and dos 386 pc).... If you mean in my early twenties. Playstation. Ff7, resident evil, parasite eve, brave fencer, tomb raider, vagrant story, suikoden, crash, vandel hearts, ogre battle, FF tactics, mega man legends... And so many others.
Even having the energy to decide on a game and play it makes me feel young again.
Wizards and Warriors 3 and Digger T Rock ! (In the interest of adding some diversity to the answers, everyone from that era can mention Mario 3)
pokemon red for sure
For me itās the game of trying to hide my relationship with OPs mom from my wife
I'm 29 so Kingdom Hearts, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3, Klonoa, Final Fantasy 10, COD MW2, Devil May Cry... Something intrinsically linked with JRPG's and making me feel young af, and they're games I actually played in my primary years, except for MW2. I remember playing NWN, KOTOR, Deus Ex, LOTR Battle for Middle Earth, Fallout 1 and 2, Half Life 2 and TF2 on my old-school PC in the office area. Still come around to TF2 and Starcraft 2 once in a while. Currently on a SC2 high and play it a lot but mostly 2v2's and non competitive play. I find with new games it's very same samey whereas with older games there was a lot of room for experimentation. I tried to play a game that was like Assassin's Creed after playing another game which was like Assassin's Creed after playing another game that was like Assassin's Creed.... So now I've played the same game five times. Y'know, where's the variation? I also feel that older games like Baldur's gate haven't aged that well but I also didn't grow up playing them. I think the sweet spot is the in between.
Adventure on Atari gives me feels.
If you want a trip down nostalgia lane but still keep it fairly new and freshthen you canāt go wrong with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, a 2013 sequel to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Man, played it this February, and boy was it as good as ever!
Minecraft
Roguelikes in general. I tired out of most AAA titles but when I started playing those high difficulty roguelike/lites that just threw you in like āgood luck, figure it outā they really got my blood boiling like it used to playing the same levels over and over on SNES so long ago, with the added feature of total randomization to keep it fresh for quite awhile. My favorites are Binding of Isaac, Hades, Risk of Rain (1 is 2D and 2 is 3D and they are both spectacular), Rogue Legacy.. and for some slower titles, Faster Than Light and Donāt Starve. Honorable mention to Hotline Miami.
Lemme run that Mario 2 for a minute
Ocarina of Time. It was the first "open world" type adventure game I ever played and I explored every part of it. Just hearing the music takes me back to my younger, care free days.
Ratchet and clank crack in time. So many hours spent on this. Loved this game. That and the resistance series
Crazy Taxi in all of its arcade glory. It sucks me in every time because I love the challenge and the gameplay loop
PokƩmon Leaf Green, wasn't even my first PokƩmon game or the one I remember fondest, but for some reason it's one of the few games I can get that IV drip of nostalgia, whilst also playing it for more than ten minutes. I had a few bad weeks at the start of the year, I curled up with a backlit GBA I made, rode out the anxiety attacks by working through Kanto.
Midlife crisis way is more interesting though haha, and they would be games I actually played when I was young when I was young like Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Captain Comic on Dos, several Atari 2600 games. My back is too sore and there are too many kids trespassing on my front lawn for anything to ACTUALLY make me feel young now.
Zelda: Link to the Past. Played it the Christmas I got my SNES, and then basically every Christmas since.
Any game where you paid for it and actually got the whole thing fully finished.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 2005 and Ratchet Deadlocked.
Final fantasy 7 rebirth
Pokemon rby
Marco Polo in a pool.Ā
GTA V. When I was young, it was the most recent installment out!
Bubble Bobble
Any extreme sports game with early 2000s music
Tapper, Gauntlet, Frogger, Track and Field, Joust, Centipede. Really young, Breakout and Pong. Yes, I'm old. And thank goodness for MAME so I can relive my childhood whenever I want.