Master of magic
Black and white 2
Quest for Glory and Kyrandia!
Hitting a tree with a good stick.
Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego. Played it as a child together with my mom. She had all the worldly knowledge, but at the time I was the only one who could speak/understand English, so teamwork was key. That game meant hours of educational fun for the both of us.
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons on the SNES. The opening music alone is magical in my memory
Sid Meier’s Pirates!
I played the original when it came out on PC in like 1987. A friend of my dad gave me a copy, but I didn’t have the manuals or map or anything that came in the box, so in order to figure out how to get around the Caribbean I had to crack an encyclopedia to a map, and that got me both interested in maps and also in reading the history of all these places I’d been to in the game.
I still play the 2004 remake of that game a few times a year.
Stronghold, the isometric one
Pokemon Blue on Gameboy
Toejam & Earl! My dad got a deal on a used sega genesis when I was 6 and it came with one game, it ended up being my favorite. The presents and little pixel sundaes were so visually appealing to my simple child brain, sneaking up on santa claus successfully was absurdly satisfying, and discovering the secret level 0 hot tub pre-internet made me feel like a fucking wizard.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3. I wish I could say Sonic 3 & Knuckles but we weren’t swimming in money so I very rarely got a new game (and just to add, I never threw controllers or punched TVs either because mommy wouldn’t just buy me a new one if I did that).
I did rent out Sonic & Knuckles occasionally though. But I can practically picture the early level layouts of Sonic 3 in my mind like they’re familiar streets that I grew up in.
Beyond Good and Evil for me it was a very unexpected good game with fantastic music and atmosphere.
Super Mario Galaxy
Aaaaaand now I feel old.
Mancala. omg I still remember learning how to play in Kindergarten and I’m almost 30 now. This game was probably my very first addiction.
I discovered Mancala as a minigame in a shareware demo of Quest for Glory III, for a long time I thought they made it up for that game lol
