Keep this moving...
18. Dark Forces (PC)My experience at this point with “first person shooters” (FPS) was limited to DOOM and the original shareware Wolfenstein game. Now, as you’ll see (or maybe already know), I’m a Star Wars fan boy (yeah, I even like the Prequels…) and so this was kind of the first time the Star Wars franchise joined with another favorite of mine and so I ate this game up. I didn’t know at the time that it was sort of revolutionary – adding several features to the FPS genre that are common now, like up and down looks, and integrated puzzles - and I think it was the first game I finished all the way through. It was immersive to me, and I know I spent a lot of time working through the levels, and making sure I found the hidden upgrades and such.
There was a sequel, but I never played it. Has anyone played the PS Network downloadable version? I’m thinking of giving it a try.
17. Dragon Warrior (NES)Probably the first RPG game I ever played (it might be “Ultima”, I’m not sure, but either way it was close). I’m a sucker for the “save the princess, kill the king, find the gold!” tropes of RPGs, and so I loved the complexity of this game. There was an elegant beauty to this game, in the way it made you ignore the tropes as you played it. I loved how the further you went from the main Castle, the harder the enemies got, I loved how you seemed to have a choice in the dialogue - even if you really didn't - and I loved that there were more ways than one to skin that cat. Build up points? Fight. Follow the main quest? Sure.
I would sit in my room for hours and play this; I can remember getting into Neil Young around this time and playing “Freedom” (mostly), “Decade” and, later, “Ragged Glory”. I'm sure there are better games in this genre, but I think those may have to do with advances in technology and not in story or game-play. I don’t know that I would go back and play it now, and I didn't play any of the sequels, but I have fond memories of this game, and it certainly formed the basis for a lot of what I’ve done since in terms of game play.