I hate unpacking my suitcase after a long trip away. It just seems so tedious. This time, however, I was excited to return home and check out just some of my spoils, mostly because I had brought a piece of my childhood with me. Check out just a small part of my retro collection.
I still haven’t sorted through the NES cartridges, and many games had to be left in America due to weight limits on baggage returning home. Still. Check out these babies.
Of course we have to start with Final Fantasy, one of the formative franchises for me in my youth. After playing Final Fantasy I to death, Final Fantasy II and III were eventually released. However, remember that these are the North American versions, so actually it was Final Fantasy V and VI. I still have incredible memories of playing Final Fantasy III (actually VI) with my brother. Yes, it actually allowed for couch co-op in a sense; I could take control of specific characters in combat. I was far more adept at Sabin’s Blitz abilities, and thus I was allowed to play this game with him.
Secret of Mana was also a game that I originally played in co-op with my brother. He controlled the sword slinger while I was in charge of the two lady mages. Mostly, I had to handle them because their AI was so unwieldy that they’d often end up wandering off all over the map.
I have waxed lyrical about Chrono Trigger far too often. How did SquareSoft do it back then? How could they publish so many incredible games in such quick succession? See, this is why I love Square Enix so much, even when they make silly decisions. Their games were such a key part of my gaming coming of age.
Oh, and I know lots of people like to rag on Secret of Evermore, but that really was a fun game. Boy and his dog who changes depending on the time period? Winner! Plus, this game was the first title that taught me about having a tank. My dog was so over powered and could tank all the things while fought primarily with ranged weaponry.
You know how popular Mortal Kombat X is? It all started for me right here with Mortal Kombat on SNES. It didn’t have blood because that was seen as too gory for kids, so whenever you punched a character the sweat would go flying off of them. Somehow, though, it was still fine for Kano to rip a heart out of someone’s chest in a fatality, and if you did an uppercut fatality on the bridge your opponent would still fall onto the spikes below. That’s totally child friendly, right?
I promise that I will share more of my awesome retro collection as I unpack and organize it, but this made me far too happy not to share. Do you still have some of your childhood treasures like these? Which retro games would you love to own in physical form again, or are the PC and mobile ports better anyway?
Last Updated: June 30, 2015
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:08
This is awesome! I myself go into every 2nd hand shop I find to see if I can find some cartrages for my N64, SNES or SEGA. Buying the rare (most played at the time) games can cost anything up from R800 if you use an online retro company.
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:09
Shame, the Americans ended up with that butt ugly Famicon. Us PAL people had the slick 16Bit, + 1X Universal adapter and Bobs your Uncle.
The 8bit Nintendo still works to this day. The Gold Zelda game still has the save file from 1990.
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:10
http://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Way-We-Walk-Volume-One-The-Shorts.jpg
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:10
Also the “did you blow it” comments are gonna be here very soon xD
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:11
I blew every day. No job was too tough
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:53
wiggling was an art form, the blow was just for good luck.
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:13
Still works to this day. Look at those CURVES 🙂
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:16
I actually still have the Famicom xD
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:20
Notice, POWER, RESET and EJECT 🙂
No Install, loading and redeem update 😛
Just press play.
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:21
Funny how it hits you, when you think back to 8 bit and 16 bit gaming
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:22
Having no loading screens thanks to it reading off the Cart and not buffering off a disc was a massive PRO.
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:23
Awesome childhoods, we had those.
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:25
Battle Toads co-op being the exception 😛
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:26
There where plenty of excellent other co-op games. Gimme Contra,Double Dragon (not 3) or Streets of Rage any day
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:31
When two brothers are in their young teens doing co-op it thought us the most important word in the dictionary, Tolerance 😛
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:33
The first Famicom broke thanks to Snow Bros with my brother…
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:25
My first total hype blowout was playing together with my father and finishing Contra 2 for the first time. Makes me teary eyed xD
Padda-Wan
June 30, 2015 at 17:27
Wow, I thought I was alone on this one. Every morning before my dad left for work we would jam this. He would always tell that I was the MVP even though I knew he was racking up lives for us both.
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:21
^THIS!!! ERMARGERD!!!
Jean J Munki
June 30, 2015 at 15:35
I was sorting out some boxes and found my Family Computer this weekend, I thought it was lost. Now sitting neatly next to my Atari…ahh the good ol’ days
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:38
Find an old dumpster tv, hook it up and watch your Saterday just fly by
Klipkop1980
June 30, 2015 at 15:15
Jislaaikit…reminds me of when we played Mortal Combat on Sega Megadrive for the first time and almost cried out of sheer gaming pleasure every time we heard “Get over here!”
Also, why is Lazygamer not on the News24 feed anymore?
Dutch Matrix
June 30, 2015 at 15:18
*Kombat
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:19
This must confuse the Admiral profusely.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:26
Nope, I love it when the underlings perform well
Klipkop1980
June 30, 2015 at 15:21
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Dutch Matrix
June 30, 2015 at 15:27
Jou naam verduidelik als. 😛
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:28
Genugtig, gedra jouself Hollandse Matriks!
Dutch Matrix
June 30, 2015 at 15:39
Haal jou admiraal uit my Hol-landse Matriks uit!
HvR
June 30, 2015 at 16:07
Die lyn is nou net fokken huis toe
Klipkop1980
June 30, 2015 at 15:29
Ek probeer my moer af man!
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:30
http://images.ffx.co.uk/tools/FCM441617.jpg
Try daai een!
Klipkop1980
June 30, 2015 at 15:33
HAHA! Dankie…
Dutch Matrix
June 30, 2015 at 15:35
Iets wat jou vrou/girlfriend gereeld hoor as dit sulke tyd is?
Klipkop1980
June 30, 2015 at 15:42
Lol
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:26
The Darryn-Mankini-Incident of June ’15
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:27
xD
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:28
The whole year actually, mostly thanks to you.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:30
Huehuehue, NEVAR FORGET!
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:31
NEVAR POST IT AGAIN!
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:31
Request: DENIED
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:31
(refresh, if you dare)
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:35
http://media.giphy.com/media/Hzl7vq8mj2REs/giphy.gif
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:41
LOL, where is this from?
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 15:55
Pitch perfect I think
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:56
Yummy
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:30
Or the Batman-googly-eyes
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:33
You bastard Hedgehog lovers got the bloody gore ported to your console 🙁 While the Italian Plumber fans had GREEN blood. Go Nintendo.
Klipkop1980
June 30, 2015 at 15:34
“You bastard Hedgehog lovers” – Haha!
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:37
The 90s was how a console war was fought, not this shit today, “My port is 60fps”
We used to bring our Nintendo Power mags to school and brag about how many more colours we had lol
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:41
http://i.imgur.com/jHK7n9v.gif
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:25
Wow, cool!
Gareth Runnalls
June 30, 2015 at 15:29
Sure there was a Kombat Kode or something for MK to add the blood. We had to do that with the Mega Drive. 😛
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:54
Nintendo cut all content. No spine rip, just ice shatter 🙁
If only all those soccer moms in the 90s saw what we play today…
Ottokie
June 30, 2015 at 15:30
http://img.pandawhale.com/post-6851-Kid-Playing-Super-Mario-Bros-I-JpLO.gif
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:41
The dawn of a new age.
Jonah Cash
June 30, 2015 at 15:33
I still have Rugby World Cup 1995 somewhere in Polokwane at my parents’ house… That game made me very happy in my youth!
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 15:39
Same here!
Splooshypooh
June 30, 2015 at 15:56
Still the best rugby game so far IMO
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 16:04
I’m quite particular to the 2006 one
Jonah Cash
June 30, 2015 at 16:32
That and Jonah Lomu rugby is the only decent ones ever created. But not even the refs understand the current laws so I get why it is impossible to create a good one these days!
VampyreSquirrel
June 30, 2015 at 15:34
Nice little collection there Zoe, what did you have to leave in the States though?
oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt
June 30, 2015 at 15:46
Something is missing from that collection.