Donald Duck's Playground

We got a Commodore Vic-20 when I was three, and I've been a video game junkie ever since. One of my favorite games -- in my pre-Nintendo years -- was Donald Duck's Playground, which my cousins introduced me to when I was eight. It held my interest like no other game could, except for maybe Wheel of Fortune, and Winter Games ("Aw crud, my ice skater fell on her butt again")... and Clowns was insanely addictive, I loved that... but no game ever really held a candle to Donald Duck's Playground. Back in the olden days, we all called it DD's Playground. And before I go any further, I would like to take this moment to say that if you, the reader, were born after, say, 1984... your life has been oh, so simple. You younguns with your mice and your GUIs... I loathe-- er, envy you, yeah actually I do envy you a little, but I also feel sorry for you because you might not know about Commodores and how primitive cool they actually were.

Back in the days of yore, before there were mice (okay, before my family could afford a computer with a mouse), you had to issue commands to the computer via the keyboard. Perhaps you've heard about this phenomenon in your history classes, or CS101. And, mind you, if you ever have to take CS101 and they make you watch Triumph of the Nerds, sit through it, because there's an awesome Back to the Future reference in there and you get to learn all about Bill Gates and the Steves. More than you EVER WANTED TO KNOW. But anyway. 

DD's Playground rocked because it combined two of my favorite things in life: spending money and playgrounds. I love them both equally. (What, you thought I was going to say "Disney characters," didn't you.) All right, okay, I like Donald, too. I am a humongous Ducktales fan, but whatever, that's not important right now. I'm here to tell you all about this game, that is what's important. So I better start talking about the game before you get bored and gravitate back toward your X-Box. 

In DD's Playground, you are Donald Duck, and your purpose in life is to earn money by doing wacky tasks so that you can buy playground equipment to add to a colossal play structure you are building for your nephews. You can make money by working at one of the following: 

BECKY'S TOY STORE

I'm not altogether sure who this Becky woman is, but she's a real stickler for job excellence. She makes you, Donald, shelve toys. First you have to move the ladder to line up with the correct shelf, then go pick up the toy that's waiting for you, then put it in the correct spot. While this is going on, a timer counts down to 0. What happens when it reaches 0, you ask. Something terrible? Yes. An evil train rumbles by, shaking the walls of Becky's fine establishment and knocking toys to the ground. Luckily, Donald possesses the knowledge of how to prevent the horrible fate that awaits the toy bears, bunnies, and chess pieces. Before the timer gets to 0, if Donald flips the switch, a magical door will close over the toy shelves...



... and the toys will be safe! But if you're sadistic and stuff, you might enjoy NOT flipping that switch and then watching the toys fall down and go splat. Cuz it's funny...



Only problem with that is, you LOSE money when that happens. I told you Becky was a meanie. If any toys fall (due to the train coming, or simply your carelessness) she will subtract money from your paycheck and use it to support her various addictions. Or something.

Anyway, that's that for the toy store game. Next we have... 

THE AIRPORT GAME

In this one, Donald Duck has to pick up boxes with airport codes on them, and then turn around and dump them in the appropriate bins. The bins are being pulled by one of those little airport cars. Apparently the boxes = luggage, and this is definitely one of easier games because it simply doesn't matter how many luggage pieces Donald delivers. It just doesn't. He can deliver one or none or twenty-seven, and they will all be taken to the airplane and loaded and, after Donald's time is up, the plane will take off...



...while dozens of boxes continue to whiz by on the conveyor belt. What we can learn from this, folks, is that Donald Duck is to blame whenever the airline loses your luggage. Well... either Donald or incompetents. Take your pick. Next...?


AMQUACK RAILROAD

I love this one. It's like playing with toy trains, and there's no pressure... although you do have to use your brain. It's also one of the better-paying jobs available to Donald. In this one, you get assignments, like "Pick Up at Duckburg," and you must throw the right switchtracks so that the little train gets to the city it must go to. Then you have to get the train to another station so it can drop off the things it's delivering, and voila! You've earned some coins!

And, finally, there's... 

THE FRUIT-CATCHING GAME

When I was a kid, this one was my favorite game, and, looking at it now, it's kind of embarrassing to admit that, because this one doesn't really require much thought. All you have to do is catch fruit that's being chucked at you, and put it in the appropriate bin. No letters to read... the bins don't move... all you do is catch... and drop. And unlike Becky's Sweatshop, if you drop the fruit on the ground, nobody cares! Well, Donald cares a little... because dropping fruit makes Donald have a quacking fit...



...but this is pretty normal for Donald. The only downside to this game is that it doesn't pay much. But did I mention there's flying watermelon? It's fun times three!

Anyway, every time you finish a game, you are taken to a screen that shows you being paid...



I always loved this part. Money... oh beautiful, sweet money. I swear, they should have made this game center around Scrooge McDuck, not Donald. Well... except that Scrooge would have just hoarded the money and not spent it on...


AWESOME PLAYGROUNDS!!

After earning it, Donald gets to take his money to one of three small shops, where he may purchase playground equipment. Each store has different offerings. There are slides, ladders, cargo nets, rocking horses, swings, and so much more.



Sadly, whoever made this game thought it might be kind of nice to make it all educational for kids, in addition to being fun. Blah. So because of that, when you buy something, you have to count out your money yourself (okay, so this is how it is in the real world, BUT...) if you don't have exact change, you also have to get your own change from the cash register! This sucks. I mean, the store obviously has a cashier who's standing right there (hey, Goofy), why must Donald count it? (And no, you can not rob the cash register. I tried.)



Oh well, at least Goofy (or Minnie or Mickey, whoever is running the shop) is nice enough to deliver your piece of newly-purchased equipment to your playground structure. Now that's service!

At any point during the game, you can cross the railroad tracks...



... and venture over to your playground to work on it. But I only really like going there after I have purchased a lot of toys. So you get there and your stuff is there and you can arrange it any way you like, only you do have to put ladders in if you want to get to the second, third, and fourth levels of the structure. Once it's complete, one of your nephews comes and tests it out. You control the small duck on his adventure. You can have him climb the ladders, slide down the slides, and stop to play on any of the smaller items.



See? He's swinging on the rings! Isn't that adorable?

In the end, you're left with empty pockets, a kickass playground, and happy nephews. And you can't save your game, but you can stare at it for a long, long time and admire all your hard work. Or, you know, take screencaps of it and post them on your website, like a certain wacked-out individual whose name shall not be mentioned...

---

This article was originally published on my old website AlligatorJuice.com on January 2, 2005.

Technology And This 80's Baby

Why 80's Babies Are Different Than Other Millennials: This PopSugar post has been shared on my Facebook feed many times this week. This 80's Baby was all over that title before I even got to the article, because hello, duh, of course we're different (AND SPECIAL. AND UNIQUE.) You must never link me, of the DuckTales generation, to kids born in the Quack Pack era, because riots will ensue.

Actually, the article originally came from socialmediaweek.org, with a comparatively boring title: The Oregon Trail Generation: Life Before And After Mainstream Tech.

Whatever name it's got, I thought I'd use the article to share some of my own experiences of growing up in this strange period of time.

If you can distinctly recall the excitement of walking into your weekly computer lab session and seeing a room full of Apple 2Es displaying the start screen of Oregon Trail, you’re a member of this nameless generation, my friend.

My first computer lab experience was actually with a roomful of Commodore 64s, not Apple IIs. Our elementary school had ONE Apple computer... this arrived around 1988-89, maybe. Our librarian was the one who taught us such necessary skills as "dragging" and "dropping." (Not to be confused with the ever-important "Stop, Drop, and Roll.")

Oregon Trail was around in middle school, I remember, but the game that got me the most excited of all was Sim City. Give me floods and tornadoes over snakebites and cholera any day.

Did you come home from middle school and head straight to AOL, praying all the time that you’d hear those magic words, “You’ve Got Mail” after waiting for the painfully slow dial-up internet to connect?  If so, then yes, you are a member of the Oregon Trail Generation.  And you are definitely part of this generation if you hopped in and out of sketchy chat rooms asking others their A/S/L (age/sex/location for the uninitiated).

We did the AOL Free Trial when I was in 9th grade. It was only "free" for so many hours; then you got charged. (Woe the day my parents got that bill in the mail.) In 10th and 11th grade, we had Compuserve, the scruffy cousin of AOL. On both services, you got 10-20 hours free per month, but then paid $2 an hour thereafter. Finally, in 1997, AOL began offering unlimited use internet, and we switched to that for the next decade.

I did pop into a few chatrooms during those early days. One laughable memory: me PMing (IMing? What did we even call it then?) my home address to a young man, because I wanted to stay in contact with him (through letters) and I had to get offline rightthatsecond. (I never did get a letter from the fellow.)

We were the first group of high school kids to do research for papers both online and in an old-fashioned card catalogue....

Making this transition was a bit annoying, actually. I was quite adept at using the card catalog. Why mess with a good thing?

Speaking of research papers, there was this terribly awkward period during which teachers would tell us that our papers had to be typed, yet to do that required either using an electric typewriter, having a computer at home with a printer that hadn't run out of ink, or staying after school to use the computer lab (which was impossible if you were a bus rider, like me.) This caused lots of stress.

By the time I was in college, they were beginning to explore the option of turning your paper in via email or via a flash drive.

For today's kids, Google Drive saves the day.

The importance of going through some of life’s toughest years without the toxic intrusion of social media really can’t be overstated.  Myspace was born in 2003 and Facebook became available to all college students in 2004.  So if you were born in 1981-1982, for example, you were literally the last graduating class to finish college without social media being part of the experience.

It's true that Facebook was born after I graduated college. But social media was still in place. We may not have had Facebook, but we did have group emails and group chatrooms, IRC (internet relay chat) and plenty of message boards where we talked about any and all of our interests. I had a personal website, a "Home Page" as it was sometimes referred to, where I had my photo and information about me. Honestly, by the time Facebook did rear its head, linking everyone together, my reaction was basically: "Well, it's about time." (And then it was only available to college students for the first few years, and since I'd already graduated, I was shut out of Facebook then.)

When we get together with our fellow Oregon Trail Generation friends, we frequently discuss how insanely glad we are that we escaped the middle school, high school and college years before social media took over and made an already challenging life stage exponentially more hellish.

Indeed. In those days, I connected online with people from other cities, even other countries, but it was unlikely I'd ever connect with someone from my own school, save for my best friend at the time. We might act like immature jerks, but we were acting that way with people from Australia, so somehow it didn't seem to matter. (No offense meant, Australians.)

But unlike our older Gen X siblings, we were still young and dumb enough to get really into MySpace and Facebook in its first few years, so we understand what it feels like to overshare on social media and stalk a new crush’s page.

I came to the Facebook table a little late in the game (2007), but MySpace, oh, MySpace. How often did I sit around, rearranging my Top 8 Friends? Man.

This article neglects to mention LiveJournal or other blogging sites. From 2003-2007, "LJ" was my social media platform of choice.

Time after time, we late 70s and early 80s babies were on the cusp of changes that essentially transformed modern life and, for better or worse, it’s shaped who we are and how we relate to the world.

True enough, but honestly, I don't think our "changes" were as drastic as the ones experienced by the generation of kids currently going through school. 

A kid who's 16 now was born around 1998 or 1999, when her own parents possibly didn't have a cell phone yet... and if they did, it was one that made calls and maybe texted. Now, it's probable that this teenager not only has a cell phone of her own (and so do her parents) but that she has a phone that can take photos, browse the internet, and do so much more.

A kid who's 16 now probably had her baby photos taken with a film camera, her preschool-elementary school photos taken with a digital camera, and her most recent photos? Selfies. Thousands of selfies.

Kids nowadays have access to thousands of free games on the internet... available with just a click, and maybe a Flash update. Recently I was attempting to explain to some of my fifth-grade students how we used to "game" when we were their age. "So you'd take these six 5-inch floppy disks and install them one after another..."

With each generation, technology marches on. And thank goodness for that.

My Top 14: Video Games!

My Top 14: Video Games
A list by Molly P. (female, b. 1980)
*     *     *     *     *     *     *
I've been playing video and computer games since I was three, when all I had was a lonely Commodore Vic 20 and a handful of cartridges. Commodore 64 would arrive a few years later, followed by NES, Super Nintendo, Gameboy, PC, N64, GameCube, Wii, and DS. I have had many enjoyable gaming experiences over the years. Some games I've played through multiple times. Some I've spent -- well, I don't even want to guess how many hours playing. And now comes the inevitable, my Top 14 Video Games List (inevitable because, well, you know me and lists.)

But guess what!? Several of my friends and fellow 80's babies were kind enough to send me their Top 14 Video Games lists, too! How does my list compare to theirs? How does yours compare to ours?

Well, let's go ahead and hit power and get this thing started!

#14: Final Fantasy (I)

NES, 1987

Final Fantasy: This is the RPG that started it all -- for me, at least. Four noble heroes, off on a quest -- fighting one-eyed monsters, wild sea creatures, and... dinosaurs? (Yep, sometimes dinosaurs.) Traveling the world by boat, airship, or canoe... collecting gold, buying weapons and armor... making their way through maze-like dungeons and destroying bosses. Oh, and the music -- it brings me back to my childhood every time. Despite its age, Final Fantasy is still one of my favorite RPGs. 

#13: Lego Rock Band

Multiple Platforms, 2009

I'm a big fan of the rock band/guitar hero-type games, but Lego Rock Band is my favorite. It has great song choices, a story mode that's fairly easy to navigate, and goals that aren't impossible to accomplish. You don't have to be a pro singer or player to be successful. And I'm definitely not a pro. But I still love to rock. (And it certainly doesn't hurt that I love Lego, too!)

#12: Nancy Drew: Message In A Haunted Mansion

PC/GBA, 2000

For about five years in the 00's, I was super into the Nancy Drew games from Her Interactive. Playing as the iconic Ms. Drew, you have to find hidden objects, solve puzzles, talk to people, get clues, and explore spooky places. Message In A Haunted Mansion was the first one I ever played, and I've replayed it four or five times. It's just so cool. The music, the puzzles, the secret passages. Plus, each ND game throws in a bit of history or teaches you something; this one focused on San Francisco and the 1906 earthquake. There are close to 30 games in the series, now, and I've sort of grown out of them, but the early ones still hold a special place in my heart.

#11: Animal Crossing (& Animal Crossing: New Leaf)

Nintendo GameCube, 2001 (3DS, 2013)

I've been obsessed with many games over the years, and Animal Crossing was one of them. My senior year of college, this is what I was playing for multiple hours a day. Sure I have a 15-page paper due, but hello -- A FLUFFY SHEEP WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND! Animal Crossing: New Leaf, for 3DS, is like the original but with a bunch of extras. The more you play it, the more buildings open up in your "downtown" area and the more places you can go. You can even visit friends' towns in real-time, chat with them, and leave a bunch of mangoes in front of their house. Not that I would or anything....

#10: Harvest Moon

Various Nintendo Consoles, 1996-2012

Even though the Harvest Moon games and the Animal Crossing games have a lot in common, I actually like the Harvest Moon games a bit better. I love raising and caring for animals and little farms, selling my produce, buying things, and making my house look nice. The games that I've played through -- Another Wonderful Life and Magical Melody -- are different enough from one another, but are both equally engaging. Now I need to find more of these!

#9: The Sims

PC, 2000

There have been several incarnations of the Sims, and I've enjoyed each one differently. In Sims 3, I liked making people. Sims 2, I enjoyed creating "machinima" -- filming and editing music videos and a web series. But the original Sims was the one where I actually did what I was "supposed to do" -- I ran simulations on people and families, trying to get them to thrive in their love lives and careers -- all without burning down their houses in the process. 

Then I learned about the money hack, and things got a bit crazy. I'd buy a giant lot, stick in eight Sims, neglect to give them showers, phones, or much comfort, call it "Survivor," and watch to see who lasted the longest. I'd use a move-objects cheat to put the Sims in goofy positions (like having a human share physical space with a bear. Or put people in the walls. You know, because I was normal!) No matter what crazy things I thought of, the game was always amusing -- it was like playing with an electronic doll house, and since I loved dolls, I knew I'd love The Sims -- and I certainly did.

#8: Scribblenauts

Nintendo DS, 2009-2011

This is one of the coolest games I've ever played. You go through a series of levels, which are puzzles. Some require something like: "Get from point A to point B." Others are much more complicated. To solve the puzzles, you have to request objects to help you. Need to get across a pit? Type "rope" and a rope will appear. Type "bridge" and you've got a bridge. Type "lion" and a lion will appear --- aaaand eat you. The puzzles vary in complication, and some levels require you to beat them 3 times, using different objects each time. It's a game that makes you think... and marvel at how many words and objects the game is capable of producing, if only you ask.

#7: Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Multiple Platforms, 2008

I enjoy watching Indiana Jones (especially Last Crusade), and this game puts me right into the middle of the action. As Indy (or other characters from the films), you play through levels based on the three original movies -- punching bad guys, solving puzzles, and trying to get past booby traps. A fun throwback to the classic movies, all with a Lego twist. (P.S. Watch out for snakes!)

#6: Roller Coaster Tycoon 2

PC, 2002

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 was a slightly better version than 1, and I still prefer it over 3 (even though 3 has better graphics and you can ride the rides.) But whichever version I play, I have so much fun creating theme parks -- building rides, designing the park, trying to attract guests. Long before the Wizarding World of Harry Potter came to real life, I was building a HP theme park in RCT2. It had a train, a haunted house called the Shrieking Shack, and... I forget what else, but it was stellar. RCT2 is a relaxing game that stirs my creative juices and lets me build to my heart's content. Still a favorite after more than a decade.

#5: Super Mario Bros. 3

Nintendo, 1990

The first Super Mario Bros. game was fun -- though I usually lost all my lives sometime during level three. Super Mario 2 was interesting, and it was cool that you had four characters you could play, but it was a bit trippy. Then came Super Mario 3... and it was as if Nintendo had taken every piece of feedback they got from the earlier games, listened, and spun the suggestions into the best game that could possibly be made. Improvements: Levels where you can now go forward, backward, or skyward. Players automatically switching turns after playing one level, but playing basically as a team (a good system in a household with siblings.) Getting to choose your path through the world maps. Warp whistles. Mushrooms, stars, and other items you can collect, store, and use as necessary. Tanooki Suits. Frog suits. Hidden coin ships. 

In 1990, Mario's world got a whole lot more awesome -- and so did mine.

#4: Tetris

Gameboy, 1989, and Multiple Other Platforms

So simple, so compelling. Yes, I love Tetris. It was the first game I got for my newly-purchased GameBoy back in 1995, and in subsequent years, I've procured it for two cell phones and have even owned a Tetris keychain. I really enjoy the original version, but Tetris Party has added even more fun ways to enjoy the game. Tetris somehow manages to be both relaxing and exciting, and even after 18 years, I still enjoy it.

#3: Mario Kart (Series)

Multiple Nintendo Consoles, 1992-present

With each new Mario Kart game comes changes (not always great) but one fact remains consistent -- Mario Kart is always fun. Sure, if you're new to the game, you're liable to run into walls with alarming frequency and find yourself at the mercy of that guy with the sign that tells you you're going the wrong way. But once you find your skillz, you're ready to join your friends (up to four people) in a wild dash around wacky circuits based on different Mario characters and concepts. Meanwhile, you can collect objects that can help you -- turtle shells to throw at people, mushrooms to speed you along, and -- my personal favorite -- the bullet (in the Wii version), which brings you from 12th place into... well, probably just 11th place, but still... it brings hope to the apparently doomed. Always a party favorite, I've never disliked a Mario Kart game.

#2: Lego Harry Potter (Years 1-4, Years 5-7)

Multiple Platforms, 2010 & 2011

Every couple of years I'll read the Harry Potter book series. Then I may rewatch the film series. And after that, I'll dive into these games. Playing the Lego Harry Potter games is akin to becoming Harry himself and actually experiencing his adventures. (Moreso than just reading the books... yes, heresy, I know....) The games stick closely to the films, with a few extra moments of humor thrown in to either explain away too-deep-for-kids plot points or to just lighten the mood. (For example, nobody ever dies horribly in these games. If someone is avada-kadavra-ed, they either break apart like a Lego minifig would or, at the very least, wave humorously goodbye. Which, strangely, doesn't cheapen anything, really.) Besides all that, you have actual music from the films washing over you at every turn. And how fun is it, getting to explore Hogwarts Castle and all its rooms, passageways, and secrets? I love the books, and like the movies, but none of them makes me feel like I'm actually a wizard quite like these games do. 

#1: Paper Mario & Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
(N64, 2001 & GameCube, 2004)

I almost hate to group these two together, since they have different stories, objectives, and gameplay, but as they are equally awesome (and decidedly more awesome than the later Paper Mario games), I might as well. These two games are both RPGs and adventure games, with Mario on a quest to save the princess (naturally) by making his way through different parts of his world, battling bad guys, getting his experience points up (and becoming stronger), finding badges that grant him power, and finding other objects that will help him proceed. There is so much to do in the games and they're so satisfying that I've played through each multiple times and will continue to play through them again and again. The first two Paper Mario games always makes me feel like I've just gone on an important, totally awesome quest. And that, I believe, is what all video games should aspire to do, in their own special way.

* * * * *

Well, that's it! My Top 14! Honorable Mentions go to: Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Gameboy), Mario Party series (various platforms), The Sims 2 (PC), Super Mario Bros. (NES), Donald Duck's Playground (Commodore 64), Sci Fi Pinball (PC), Sim City 2000, and others that I have inadvertently forgotten but will add here later.)

BUT WAIT!!
BECAUSE THERE'S MORE!!

MORE LISTS!!!
YES INDEED!!!!

In no particular order, here are some of the Top 14 Video Games lists from my fellow Gen Y-ers and Pals!

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Mike W. 

(male, b. 1980)

1. The Legend of Zelda — This one’s a catch-all, because otherwise my entire list is just Zelda games. Asking me to pick my favorite is like asking me to pick my favorite child. Each one, for me, is tied to a period of my life. The Adventure of Link is me at 8 years old, staying up late with my dad. Majora’s Mask is college, and my roommate is there, crying ending. Link’s Awakening is the bus ride to and from middle school. The Oracle games are the train ride to and from work. The Wind Waker is me alone in my room with the windows open and the fan on to create the illusion of a sea breeze. And Skyward Sword is me at home while the baby’s asleep. The first one’s that now, too.

2. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) — Think about the first Super Mario Bros. You hear the music in your head, don’t you? You know that song by heart. Now put Mario in space and get a full symphony orchestra to perform the soundtrack. I love getting lost in this game, and the soundtrack is a huge part of that.

3. Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (SNES) — My favorite sports game. Years after the 1993 season, my friends/family and I still kept playing this one, holding tournaments and keeping track of our wins and losses on an old chalkboard.

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES) — The original arcade game has an important place in my heart, but I spent a lot more time playing this one because I owned it. Again, the soundtrack is a step up from the other games, and that’s a running theme with many of my favorites.

5. Mega Man II (NES) — This one always felt more refined to me than the others. It’s easier to shake up the level order in this one and still have it make some sense. The bosses in later games had only one true weakness each. This game took the rock-paper-scissors concept and added the lizard and Spock.

6. Contra (NES) — Sometimes, when everyone else is asleep, I break out this game and try to finish it without the extra lives code, just to prove to myself that I can still do it.

7. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Dreamcast) — This has more longevity than the other Street Fighter games. With all the extra characters and options in this one, you’re playing through close to 100 times just to see it all.

8. Super Castlevania IV (SNES) — My first Super Nintendo game after Super Mario World. Again, the music and sounds here help set the mood, and for me, it’s an important part of every Halloween season.

9. The Black Cauldron (PC) — It’s from the makers of King’s Quest, but with simpler commands (the function keys) and a Disney license. This is the first game where I felt completely immersed. The backdrops are gorgeous, even in giant pixels and 16 colors. For me, no scene in video games bears the Horned King’s castle on the horizon.

10. Ninja Gaiden (NES) — But the cut scenes in this game come close. This game was very difficult, but one of the few of its time that made it worth finishing and seeing all of it.

11. Sunset Riders (Arcade) — I probably spent more time in high school with this game than I did with girls. It owns at least $100 of my lunch money. Worth it.

12. Aladdin (Genesis) — My favorite console game that I’ve never owned. My neighbors did, and for a good year or so, this is all I did at their house. Plus, Aladdin pushing on walls, determined to make them move, will never not be funny to me.

13. Tecmo Super Bowl (NES) — I never got used to Madden. This, to me, is the best football video game of all time, and I’m not alone in thinking so. There’s a whole website dedicated to hacking this game every year with updated rosters and team logos.

14. F-Zero X (N64) — Mario Kart is more fun with friends. When it was just me, I spent more time and sweat on this than any other racing game. YEAHHHH, THE FINAL LAP!

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Kerry P. 

(female, b. 1985)

Animal crossing- Immersive world, fun, great music, getting collections, love that the seasons change and there are seasonal events.

Banjo Kazooie- My mom called this the "wee-woo" game, because he makes terrible annoying sounds every time he jumps. I played this as a kid, and then again with stan, and I'm on my third playthrough. INCREDIBLE content, music, and story. It's funny and cool.

Sims- Lots of the same reasons as animal crossing, although making two weird pets and breeding them and raising the rainbow puppies is a lot of fun too.

Donkey Kong Country 2- Diddy's Kong Quest- Such fun levels, and I loved the difference in the characters you could play. Dixie Kong sold me on the game.

Kirby's Pinball- I played this for HOURS as a child on my giant bulky gameboy. The game holds up. I love that it's pinball with mini games and boss levels. Cool idea. I've never beat the game.

Pokemon Yellow- I love pikachu.

Pokemon Stadium- This was one of my favorite games to play with my siblings. Lickitung's Sushi-Go-Round was the best mini-game. It was a lot like mario party, but you could also assemble pokemon teams and battle. Really fun.

California Games- This game is way fun. I still like playing it. It's one of the only NES games that I still enjoy.

Mario Party- I'm not going to pick one, although the ones that hurt your hand because you had to rotate the N64 joystick probably aren't my favorite.

Paper Mario is excellent

Mario Kart for wii is excellent

Smash Bros for wii is excellent

Puzzle Quest is excellent

Endless Ocean is SUCH a relaxing game. Go around, make friends with dolphins, explore the ocean, listen to soothing enya-like music.... love it. 

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Stephen N. 

(male, b. 1984)

Tetris 

Super Mario Bros 3 

Super Mario World

Mario Kart 64 

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins 

Ms. Pac-Man 

Galaga 

Dig Dug 

Soul Calibur II 

Animal Crossing New Leaf

TMNT IV: Turtles In Time 

Cruis'n Exotica 

Lucky N' Wild 

Super Mario Bros 2 

Arch Rivals

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Alex H. 

(male, b. 1984)

14. Sleeping Dogs 

13. Just Cause 2 

12. Alpha Protocol 

11. Batman Arkham Asylum

10. The Walking Dead 

09. Thief 2 

08. Deus Ex 

07. Final Fantasy 6 

06. God Hand 

05. Civilization 5 

04. The World Ends With You 

03. Super Mario Bros. 3 

02. The Secret of Monkey Island 

01. Mega Man 2

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Stan P. 

(male, b. 1982)

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Most well-designed game of the entire series. Tight, compact, bursting with feeling and heart, beautiful musical composition, and immaculate dungeon design.

Counter-Strike

The best multiplayer first-person shooter ever made. Some of the most intense and satisfying competitive video game moments of my life.

Heroes of Might & Magic 2

Highly addictive and charming hybrid of competitive kingdom-building strategizing in an RPG-like setting. My friends and I were obsessed with it in middle school.

Super Mario Bros. 3

A revolutionary release on NES. It showed us how to create a whole, engrossing world of platforming adventure and mechanical creativity.

Super Metroid

The sprawling and varied environments, but deep underground, with ancient ruins and sinister creatures and cool power-ups to discover, produced a special kind of atmosphere never again replicated. The first masterpiece of the "metroidvania" genre (open-world platforming with backtracking upon acquiring new key/door objects).

World of Warcraft

The best massively-multiplayer online game. A gigantic world with tons of backstory and lore, with beautiful environments, great dungeons, and amazingly fun multiplayer battle arenas.

Puzzle Quest

An extremely innovative game design that uses the match-3 puzzle board to create a battle system. That's cool in itself, but Puzzle Quest goes the extra mile by including a flood of supporting content, including hundreds of missions, craftable equipment, stealable abilities, special mounts, and more, turning a cool concept into a journey that fills tons of hours.

Final Fantasy

The first truly engrossing and beautiful RPG on console systems. The "archaic" system of having "stuck" jobs from the beginning creates a meta-game of replayability that lasts even to this day. I'm on the verge of finishing my 12th runthrough now.

Super Mario RPG

When SquareSoft grabbed the reins on a Mario-themed RPG, nobody knew how it would turn out, but it ended up being one of the last great games on the Super NES. Prerendered graphics iconic of the "end of the 16-bit era," a daring story wherein a classic bad guy becomes an ally, and a whole host of great side minigames made it unforgettable.

Goldeneye 007

Never before had a first-person shooter been so excellent in both single-player and multiplayer modes. The innovative difficulty system and the ability to earn cheats through achievements were both way ahead of their time. Plus, it faithfully replicated actual scenes from the movie. Far and away the best video game based on a movie.

MajorMUD: Realm of Legends

I've tried about a dozen MUDs (multi-user dungeons; text-based MMOs with smaller user-bases, basically), and MajorMUD is still the best. Tons of races and classes to choose from, zones that make you feel like you're "there" with flavorful directional geography and descriptive text, and deep realm-rooted lore to discover. Plus, no lame junk like needing to eat to avoid hunger (a way, in some MUDs, in which "realism" is almost always terrible).

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Super Smash Bros. series represents my most enjoyable side-view fighting game experiences. Though criticized by some for some shortcomings vs. Melee, Brawl is my favorite, because of several awesome, exclusive characters and a super-fun co-op adventure mode.

TIE Fighter

A Star Wars game in which you serve the Empire!? TIE Fighter was the first game that made you really feel like you were IN the Star Wars universe, as a product of its great (at the time) 3D graphics, faithful tech and mechanics, and truly enrapturing story.

Day of the Tentacle

The best graphic adventure ever. You can't die (revolutionary at the time), you have three characters in three time-periods that you switch between and trade items between (creating humorous and intelligent gameplay and puzzles), and the resolution to item/event chains was imaginative and hilarious.

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All About Everything - Week Of March 12, 2013

Today's Topic: Radar Rat Race

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Radar Rat Race was a 1981 game for the Commodore VIC-20, later converted to the Commodore 64. It was among thirty game titles marketed by Commodore on cartridges. It was a clone of the Namco arcade game Rally-X.

The player guides a mouse through a large maze. The camera follows the mouse and shows only a small portion of the maze at any given time. The player is pursued by at least three rats. The goal is to eat all of the pieces of cheese, shown for the entire maze on a radar screen, without getting caught by a rat or bumping into a stationary cat. By pressing the joystick button the mouse can disperse a limited amount of magical dust which confuses the rats for about five seconds.

Once the round is complete, the game starts again, with more rats and faster play.

The gameplay is accompanied by a frenetic, rhythmically altered version of a phrase from Three Blind Mice, which cycles endlessly.

---

So I used to own this game as a wee lass, and I remember that I enjoyed it. Which I find odd, now, because it sounds absolutely horrible.

No, really. IT. SOUNDS. HORRIBLE.

Dang, they weren't kidding about that endless cycle of Three Blind Mice, were they? I think the only reason I "liked" this game as a kid was because I only owned three games at the time... and one of them involved dentistry.

And you know, we can laugh/cringe at how primitive those games were (the 80s, amirite?), but I have a cell phone (not a smart phone) and I bought a game for it where there's this dog. And that's all it is, this dog. You can feed it. Then you can take it to the park and have it jump over obstacles. Then you can feed it. Then you can take it to the park and have it jump again. And that's it. And it costs me $4 and I'm kind of annoyed about that.

Magic Button

My generation wasn't the first to play video games, but it was the first to have the opportunity to grow up with them. To have them in the home from toddlerhood or even infancy. To defeat the mighty Bowser before going up against Kindergarten bullies.

And sometimes I wonder if this all might have screwed us up... just a little. And by us, I mean me. Because sometimes I'll make a stupid mistake in life, and then sit there going, Why can't I just undo what I just did? Why isn't there a... a... a BUTTON?

I leave a plate of food on the table to go grab a napkin and the dog snarfs it up. I try getting a stain out of a shirt and I wind up rubbing a hole in it. I accidentally put an important paper in the shredder. I leave my coffee mug on the top of the car and drive off. It's things like that -- things that, if I had slowed down, thought my way through, and not been so impulsive or impatient, I might not have made the error.

And some errors are pretty permanent. Like shredding a really important paper by mistake. What if replacing it is going to be a huge hassle of time and money? Or the hole in the shirt. That's it, now you're doomed to always wear it underneath hoodies or cardigans. 

And all because life doesn't have an undo button. Or, rather, a redo button.

Hey, life, can I do that over? If I had a second chance, I wouldn't put the paper in the shredder without looking at it really closely. I wouldn't take my eyes off the road before I got near that intersection. I wouldn't daydream and walk into that pillar.

Or... maybe I still would anyway.

When mistakes are made, we have the chance to learn from them, but sometimes I think we don't even do it. You work on a mustard stain and think, Rub, rub, rub, gotta get this stain out! Brain says, "hey, remember last time when you rubbed a hole in that other shirt?" Well, that's not likely to happen AGAIN is it? That was just really cheap material or something! Rub, rub, rub... oh. Crap.

And you stare at the hole you've just made, mentally kicking yourself for making the same dumb mistake again. Wondering why life can't be like a video game, where you can reset the level or use one of your extra lives and make it all better. Where you can get into an epic battle and die... and pop back up a few seconds later. 

Alas, that's not reality. And it would do me well to remember that before I make another moronic move.