Games that define your years

[Captain Fabio]

What games define your gaming years?

By this I mean what games for each year you have been gaming, define your year. This could either be your favourite game, or it could be an unexpected surprise that you just didn't expect. It could even be a game you hated so much you wanted to snap the disk, case and anything that was affiliated with it. The game DOESN'T HAVE TO BE RELEASED IN THE YEAR YOU CHOOSE! You could have a game was released in 2001, but it defined your year in 2010.

What games define your gaming years? One for each if possible.
​

 

[MeerFall]

mine has to be yoshi's island as it got me into gaming into the first place XD i never forgot that chrismas as it was the most fun and great experiance

 

[Oryx]

This looks like a lot of fun!

1992-96, the pre-gaming years: Super Mario World. My father used to play that when I wouldn't sleep, and I would sit there silently and watch him play for hours on end, no crying or bothering anyone, just watching.

1997: Final Fantasy VII. I was still too young to really play games on my own, but my dad would play, and name all the characters after people from our household. I was Tifa :3

1998: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I was just starting to care about playing games for myself, but was discouraged by the fact that my dad was SO MUCH BETTER at this game than me. I couldn't even get past the Deku Tree while he was in the Forest Temple ):

1999: Pokemon Blue. Perfect for a family with two kids, Red and Blue marked the first game that I played all on my own, with no help from my family.

2000: Pokemon Snap/Hey, You Pikachu!/Crash Team Racing. These are the only two games I remember vividly from my N64 in this time period, and the one from my PS1. I bought Pokemon Snap for my Wii and restarted/beat it in a few hours the other day. I still remember where every Pokemon is.

2001: Pokemon Silver. Another set of two, still perfect for my sister and I. We continued to love Pokemon.

2002: Pokemon Crystal. My mom ended up buying us two copies, since we couldn't just share one. Was my favorite up until B/W came out.

2003: No games defined this year for me. :c

2004: Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. I didn't have either but my friend did. I would go to her house and play Pokemon all the time.

2005: Every DDR game ever made. I moved to New Jersey and the people we were staying with had a PS2 that they gave me free reign to use whenever I wanted, along with their collection of games. While I found little interesting about a lot of them, the collection of DDR ones caught my eye and I honed my controller-dancing skills that year.

2006: Final Fantasy X-2. People laugh at that game, how short it is, how easy to beat, etc. But for me, that was the first real RPG I ever finished. I'm still notoriously bad at actually finishing RPGs, so much so that I've finished few others since that game.

2007: FlyFF. A free MMO, my first. It got me into MMOs, made me my online friends that I still consider my closest, and gave me my patience for grinding because that was all the gameplay was.

2008: Perfect World, another free MMO. I became popular, had friends, had relationships, had drama, and finally quit. I lost and gained my best friend, had my family hate me, and generally had an interesting time.

2009: Still Perfect World. Was less fun this year than last year, but because of its time-sucking abilities, I didn't spend much time on other games that year.

2010: WoW. See the trend here? The more MMOs I got into, the less I played normal games. All my friends got Heart Gold/Soul Silver; I didn't care. There was a video game club in my school that I didn't join for various reasons, so most of my friends were from WoW. I literally spent 12 hours some days over the summer on WoW. Cut it out once I got to college though.

2011: Pokemon White, for obvious reasons. I can't remember the last time I put 85 hours into a game. I've quit all MMOs for a while, and am getting back into normal games. The recovery process has begun, lol.


I think of 2007-2010 as the "Dark Ages" of my gaming history, lol.

 

[EJ]

1996 Super Mario 64: Introduction to a gaming console and I've been hooked since then.
1997 Got my Playstation 1. I got crash bandicoot....still among my favorite games ever
1998 Crash Bandicoot 2 ;D
1999 Crash bandicoot 3
2000 Donkey Kong 64
2001 Sonic Adventure....never had a dreamcast xD
2002 Got my Ps2, grand theft auto 3 was the game.

2003-2004...was terrible D:

2005 super smash bros. melee

~~Moved to United States~~

2006 got xbox 360, played NBA live 06 all the time

2007 the year i got into pokemon....it's a tie between Blue, Silver, and Diamond.

2008 Super smash bros. brawl (don't even own a wii)

2009 the megaman starforce series heh

2010 NBA 2k9 and pokemon heartgold

2011 So far, it's been Pokemon Black and Marvel vs. Capcom 3....although NBA 2k11 is great too.

 

[mondays suck]

I have no idea, really.
I don't go by years, I just play a game whenever I like to, without looking at the date.

 

[danno 507]

Either final fantasy 7 or kingdom hearts series...they are both games tht i keep goin bak to and i luv them completely :P

 

[hyperblast81]

The only thing I can remember is being scared out of my mind in December of 2010 by Amnesia: The Dark Descent. And all I played was the frakkin' DEMO!

Other than that, not really.

 

[razzbat]

1999 - got my gameboy colour with my all time favourite game, pokemon soul silver
2000 - lol speedy gonzales on gbc maybe?
2001-02 - didn't get much
2003 - got my gba sp after a couple years of drooling at my friends gba. had many hours of fun with yoshi's island
2004 - got my first home console, the gamecube. while coloseum was sweet, i think it was melee that won it for me this year
2005 - nintendogs or super mario sunshine
2006 - pokemon pearl. found a copy at an import store. made me soo happy
2007 - getting a flash cart for my ds. i guess this is when i started getting really into games. defining game would be custom robo arena.
2008 - super smash bros brawl!
2009 - finally got a non nintendo console, the ps3. defining game was soul silver though. it was my number one most wanted game to be made!
2010 - yakuza 3 and 4. MAANLY TEARS though i absolutely loved mother 2 too
2011 so far - mother 3

 

[Cherrim]

1999 - first game console, got PKMN Red
2000 - Pokemon Gold
2001 - ...I have no idea. Probably still Pokemon games lmao.
2002 - ^
2003 - ^ (i was much more into anime during these years)
2004 - Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (I got my PS2 for Christmas in 2003!)
2005 - Tales of Symphonia
2006 - Kingdom Hearts II
2007 - Pokémon Diamond, Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix & Re:Chain of Memories
2008 - Tales of the Abyss, The World Ends With You
2009 - Tales of the Abyss, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
2010 - Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Pokémon Black
2011 - (thus far?) I guess Pokémon White & Birth By Sleep: Final Mix.

Yeah Pokémon's been there all along but my list has essentially been Kingdom Hearts-oriented ever since I got a PS2. n_n It was my first RPG, my first import game, first import-before-playing-the-game-in-English game, and I tend to buy consoles for it now, derp.

For most of these they're the defining games because my entire fandom revolved around them during those years. n_n;

 

[ソラ]

1993 - Super Mario Bros 3 (My first game I can remember this young)
1996 - Super Mario 64
1998 - 1999 - Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow (Dont really remember the year when I got all of these)
2000- Pokemon Silver
2001 - Pokemon Crystal
2002 - Kingdom Hearts; Final Fantasy VII
2003 - Pokemon?
2004 - Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories; Dragon Ball Z Legacy of Goku Series(dunno if the first one came out here or if they had the 2nd one already)
2005 - Pokemon Leaf Green (dunno if it came out then either :/)
2006 - Kingdom Hearts II
2007 - Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ (Including Re:CoM), Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
2008 - Re:CoM; The World Ends with You; Chrono Trigger
2009 - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days; Pokemon Soul Silver & Heart Gold
2010 - Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep; Pokemon Soul Silver & Heart Gold; Persona 3 Portable; Ace Attorney; Pokemon Black
2011 - Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Final Mix; The Sly Collection; Final Fantasy XIII; Pokemon White

 

[LilacArcanine]

1994-1997- Sonic the Hedgehog (the AWESOME Mega Drive games!)
1997-1999- we got an N64; Super Mario 64, Goldeneye, Pilotwings, WWF War Zone
1999- Got a Game Boy Colour; Pokemon Red
2000- Mario Tennis (loved Waluigi), Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Stadium
2001- Pokemon Gold
2002- Got a GBA, PS2 and Gamecube; Pokemon Crystal, Luigis Mansion, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2003- Mario Golf Toadstool Tour, Pokemon Sapphire
2004- Mario Kart Double Dash
2005- Got DS; Mario Power Tennis, Nintendogs

(2006-2008 hiatus)

2009- got Wii; idk
2010- Art Academy
2011- Got 3DS; Pokemon Black

 

[Palkia]

2003 Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2.
2004 Super Monkey Ball Jr on my dad's GBA.
2005 Mario Kart DS. Nintendogs.
2006 Pokemon Emerald.
2007 Pokemon Pearl.
2008 Nothing. :(
2009 Pokemon Platinum. Mario and Luigi RPG 3.
2010 LittleBigPlanet. Super Monkey Ball. Pokemon Heartgold.
2011 Pokemon White.

 

[The Trotsky]

1994-2001: Crash Bandicoot, Pokemon, and Mario aka the little kid years
2002: The Lords of the Rings games. Nothing better than bad action games xD
2003: Ruby and Sapphire, duh!
2004: Halo 2
2005: Jade Empire. Still one of my favorite RPGs
2006: Civ IV/Oblivion. Transition into legit gaming
2007: Assassin's Creed. Miss you Altair <3
2008: Mass Effect. Still in love with this game
2009: Dragon Age: Origins
2010: Mass Effect 2 (you can see I am obsessed with Bioware haha)
2011: Dragon Age 2

 

[JSwagg]

Dynasty Warriors 4, 4XL, 4E, 5, 5XL, 5E, 6, 6E, DW:SF, DW7
Samurai Warriors 1, 2, 2XL, 2E
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 & 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragonball Z: Tenkaichi 1, 2, 3
Final Fantasy 8, 10, 10-2, 12, Crisis Core, Dissidia

 

[Rogue planet]

I like this thread.

1997: First video game I can remember playing, the Sonic & Knuckles collection. I was only 4 years old so could never complete it. xD

1998 - Star Wars: X-Wing: Again, I was terrible at it, but enjoyable all the same.

1999 - A Bug's Life: First game I got on the PlayStation, after a few months of playing the Sega Mega Drive and hating it. xD It was a second hand console and I either didn't know how to save or it wasn't capable of saving. Either way, I was lucky enough to get a PlayStation pretty soon after. I can still remember the layout of every single level of that game to this day.

2000 - Final Fantasy 7: My uncle let me borrow it and I think this game is probably what made me get addicted to video games. xD It was a big step from my previous gaming experience of old 2D Atari games and children's games. I never got very far with it, but I'd revisit it a few years later so I was able to complete it, it's left a long-lasting impression.

2001 - Abe's Oddysee: Cue more addiction; another game I can remember every level of by memory. My dad actually bought this for me back in 1998, but my mum saw the 11+ rating and then insisted she'd heard cussing on it. When I finally managed to convince her to let me play it, I got to the part where she thought she'd heard swearing and they actually said "I'm tired" xD; so I was allowed to play it and wouldn't stop for a long long time. I must have completed it 5+ times within that year, was also the first game I played 2 player with my brother, who was 4/5 at the time.

2002 - Tiberian Sun: Transition to PC gaming after discovering all the coolest PS1 games were 15+, strategy games for the most part. All of the Command & Conquer games, Age of Empires, Empire Earth and Civilization were the starting points.

2003 - Soul Reaver: After playing the demo for this game back in 2000 I'd wanted it for a long time, but as it was 15+ I wasn't allowed it. So I made a goal to make friends with someone who had it, so I could play it at their house. Yes, video games > friends. I managed it, but was unable to complete it due to my "friend" realising I was just using him for his video games and forbidding me from entering his house, lmao. Still was the best game I played that year, and revisited it back in 2009 so I could complete it finally.

2004 - Black & White: Back to PC gaming again, I enjoyed this game thoroughly. Not much to say about it, anybody who's played it probably knows how fun it is. :3

2005 - Star Wars: Battlefront: I got an Xbox for Christmas 2004, and this was the first game I got for it iirc. Many fun hours, and a lot of co-op play as well.

2006 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Yep, Star Wars again. I hadn't ever really played much RPGs, so this was essentially my first and I was totally blown away. Being able to choose your own dialogue, alignment and level up your characters was a totally new concept to me and I loved it. Probably completed it 10+ times.

2007 - Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory: The first online game I ever played and I quickly managed to find a clan to play with back in 2006, which made it so much more fun; then I was made into a clan officer in '07 which meant I played it far more often. A lot of good memories and some really cool people on there. Eventually all of the people started leaving for various reasons, and I also just grew out of the game and started going there less and less, which was a shame.

2008 - Metal Gear Solid: I'd heard a lot about Metal Gear Solid before, but never gotten around to playing it. My new best friend for this year was a huge fanatic of MGS, and told me I had to play it. So he let me borrow his copy and I completed it within a day, because I was hooked.

2009 - Silent Hill 2: I'd played the original Silent Hill back in 2000 at a friend's house. But of course, the age meant I was never allowed it. I revisited it back in 2009 when I moved in with my dad and was allowed to play/watch what I wanted. I'd started to decline in my video game playing recently, I hadn't played any video games since I stopped playing World at War back in May. But I couldn't stop playing this one, I'd probably end up re-writing Fabio's review on it if I went into detail. xD But it was one great game.

2010 - Amnesia: The Dark Descent: I'd pretty much given up on video games after completing the Silent Hill games. I thought it was unlikely any other game could match them and anything that was short of amazing wouldn't catch my attention. But this game was amazing.

2011 - Penumbra: After completing Amnesia, I had to play Penumbra as well because they are both made by Frictional Games. While not as enjoyable as Amnesia, it was still a very fun game and I completed it within 2 days. This wins the 2011 category because it's the only video game I've completed this year. xD

 

[Eruption]

Love this idea.

Before 2003 - Pokemon Red/Blue - I used to always watch some of the older kids play Pokemon, for some reason I didn't have a GB so I didnt play it. I also occasionally played PS1 games but I can't remember well enough to list any of the games.

2003 - F1 2003 - Got this with my PS2 and played it like crazy.
2004 - Fifa 2004 - I also got this with my PS2 but it took me a while to play it a lot.
2005 - Fifa Street - This was amazing when it first came out and I remember not touching another game.
2006 - ? - Dont have a clue
2007 - Guitar Hero III - The only decent game really released for wii in the first year so the one I played the most.
2008 - Saints Row/SR2 - Played both the original and the sequel round my mate's house loads, one of the main reasons I bought an xbox because it was so great.
2009 - CoD WaW - My introduction to the CoD series with my new found xbox, a great game I still play ocasionally.
2010 - Saints Row 2 (again) - And then I discovered the amazingness of co-op online on it, still a great blast with mates.
2011 - Dont have one - Havent played games as much this year so I dont have one yet.

 

[Lily]

Backwards~

2011/2010 - League of Legends, hands down.
2010/2009 - THQICE's Dragonica. Was a good run, got me a free trip to Korea.
2009 - Probably Tales of Vesperia.

I have terrible memory because I can't remember specific games for each year. =( However, I do know my prime joy when I was around 13 was Pokemon Puzzle League and Tales of Symphonia. Absolutely loved those games.

 

[~Kian~]

Mine has to be; Phantasy Star Online on the gamecube, AMAZING CLASSIC.. and was alot of fun when i was younger..

~Kian~

 

[Kenshin5]

1992-2000 - Aside from all the games I cannot remember gaming on with on Gameboy, SNES, and Sega these are ones I do remember. Super Mario World, Yoshi Island, Super Mario All Stars(includes all three Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario RPG, Megaman X 1-5, Megaman 7 & 8, Megaman Soccer, Donkey Kong Country series, Madden, Aladdin, Ninja Turtles games, Nigel Mansell Racing, Megaman 1-5(GBA), Megaman Xterme, Super Mario Land 2, Sonic 1-3, NBA Jam, Streets of Rage, Mortal Kombat series, Sonic Pinball, Sonic and Knuckles, Jurassic Park, Hockey Games(don't recall the names), Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Rampagev World Tour, Rampage Universal Tour. Pokemon Red and Blue, Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Gold and Silver, Megaman Legends, Megaman Legends 2, Spyro the Dragon, Spyro Ripto's Rage, Spyro Year of the Dragon, several Formula One Games.

2001 - Megaman Battle Network, Megaman X 6, NHL Face Off, SSB Melee, Paper Mario.

2002 - Dragon Ball Z Legacy of Goku, Megaman Zero, Megaman Battle Network 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Madden, Gundam Battle Assault 2.

2003 - Megaman Battle Network 3, Megaman Zero 2, Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire, Dragon Ball Z Legacy of Goku 2, Yu-Gi-Oh The Sacred Cards, Megaman and Bass.

2004 - Megaman Battle Network 4, Megaman Zero 3, Pokemon Firered and Leafgreen, Pokemon Colosseum, Megaman X Command Mission, Yu-Gi-Oh Reshef of Destruction, Dragon Ball Z Buu Fury.

2005 -Megaman Battle Network 5, Megaman Zero 4, Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness.

2006 - Megaman Battle Network 6, Yoshi Island DS

2007 - Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Megaman ZX, Megaman Starforce.

2008 - Megaman Starforce 2, Megaman ZX Advent.

2009 - Megaman Starforce 3, Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Pokemon Platinum, Mario & Luigi: Browsers Inside Story.

2010 - Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver.

2011 - Pokemon Black and White, Samurai Warriors Chronicles, Lego Star Wars III, Madden, Street Fighter IV.