Playing through “Another World” again made me reflect on all the games that really affected me while I was growing up. Not just in a “wow this game is cool” kind of way. But the ones that really hit me like a thunderbolt and completely captured my imagination for months and years at a time.

There seemed to be two camps in gaming while I was growing up, Console and Computer. You either owned one or the other. I was definitely the computer kid. When my friends were rockin’ “ET” on the Atari, I was playing “Jupiter Lander” on the VIC-20 and when everyone was falling in love with Mario and Nintendo I was knee deep in floppy disks typing “Load, 8,1″ on my Commodore 64.

So nowhere on my list will you find Mario or Zelda, those characters were reserved for much later in my life.

I was born in 1977 so you can do the math on how old I was during each of these pinnacle moments. Here are the games that shaped me in chronological order:

1. Dragon’s Lair (Arcade – 1983)

Dragons Lair

Probably any child of the 80’s has vivid memories of this one. It really defined the arcade experience for me. I remembering standing in Chuck E. Cheese watching people play this game, chomping at the bit as I waited for my turn. For all my excitement I don’t think I ever made it past the second screen.

Regardless of my horrible skill, this game owned my dreams for years after. I would sit and stare at the embossed images on my metal Dragons Lair lunchbox and dream of the day when I could play it on my home computer. 27 years later the interactive DVD version now sits proudly in my movie collection.

Even though the game play is limited and really when you boil it down, not that fun (there I said it!) I’ll always hold a special place in my heart for Dragon’s Lair. I love you Don Bluth!

2.Below The Root (C64 – 1984)

Below the Root

Believe it or not, at the time the graphics on this game were incredible. This was the first truly epic quest game I ever played. Three years before Lucas Arts stole my heart, it kept me glued to the commodore 64 for over a year. Really, who can’t love characters that glide through the air wearing winged sweaters and growing tree limbs with their mind.

Based on the Green-Sky trilogy of books, the game had some big themes – racism, psychic powers, spiritual journeys. It’s only now that I truly appreciate the level of detail and depth this game had.

I secretly pine for the day when someone remakes this with updated graphics and game play. If not, look forward to my new game “Under the Shrubs.”

3.Maniac Mansion (C64 – 1987)

Maniac Mansion

The birth of the SCUMM engine and the start of a life long love affair. Maniac Mansion was diabolically difficult and to this day, along with Zak McKracken, are the only games I ever ordered a hint book for. This game held me hostage for years. Finally beating it was one of the key gaming moments in my life and cemented me as the video game kingpin of my family. Years later my younger cousins would call me up and ask what brick they needed to press in order to escape the dungeon. Yes, I was THAT COOL!

I consider Maniac Mansion my gateway drug to adventure games. I was addicted to any and all Lucas Arts titles after it. Zak McKracken, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle. All amazing adventure games that in many ways are superior to Maniac Mansion, but since Maniac was my first love, it gets to sit proudly in my top 5.

4.Sierra Games – Space Quest, Kings Quest, Police Quest (Amiga – 1989)

Space Quest!

The timeline for this gets a little hazy for me, we upgraded our C64 to an Amiga around 1989  I believe. I think the first Sierra game I played might’ve been Space Quest III, but I did eventually play through just about every Quest game they made. Which is why I’ve lumped them into a Sierra Games category. Its the Sierra catalogue that gets me nostalgic more than any one game. They were punishingly hard, where Lucas Arts rarely killed you, Sierra seemed to hammer you every screen. I don’t think you could make it through a Sierra game without dying hundreds of times, most of the time by things you could never see coming until it was too late. Yes, they had a lot of flaws, but they also had a whole world of imagination and humor.

5.Out of This World (aka Another World) (Amiga- 1991)

Out of the World aka. Another World

The alien environments! The cinematic flow! The kickin’ laster gun! Yes, I love this game. I actually bought the remastered edition a few years ago and bought it again on GOG.com just so I could watch the 16 minute behind the scenes movie. For the amount of joy this brought me back in the day, Eric Chahi can double dip my wallet any time

There you have it, my top 5. Certainly not the only games to get me excited, but definitely the most influential. I feel lucky to have grown up when gaming was in its infancy. It was a time of great excitement and imagination, one that I try to recreate everyday while I design my own games. Hopefully someday my work strikes a chord and 30 years from now I appear on someones top 5 list. I should be on Chapter 109 of Reemus by then.

Thanks for joining me on my little trip down memory lane. Now back to work I go.