What games really got you hooked?

[Soundwave]

I'd say console wise, the first game I can really remember putting large amounts of time into was Link to the Past for SNES. I started playing games since the original Mario Bros on NES, but it wasn't until the SNES Zelda that I truly knew what it was to be hooked to a game.

One thing I've noticed though is PC games tend to hook me alot moreso than console games. Games like Doom, Command and Conquer, Warcraft/Starcraft and in more recent years Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic especially, just had something to them that made me sit at the pc for hours straight.
Not to say that there weren't plenty of console games that stole away an ungodly amount of hours of my life away, Mario 64, Street Fighter series, Mortal Kombat series, Gunstar Heroes, Super Mario RPG, Mega Man series, etc. all took away hundreds of hours of my life.

So how about you, what games really got you addicted, the kind of addicted where playing for "just another 15 minutes" turned into 6 hours, and had you staying up until 4 in the morning on school nights only to be tired all day and do it again the next night. What games got you hooked?

[Letters]

I loved Link to the Past! I wouldn't say I was hooked on that one... but good memories. :)

The first game to do that to me was prolly Sim City 2000. I still remember my pride and joy city which was creatively dubbed 'Simerson', which consisted of nothing but flat land and river with the city covering every square inch of the land. Heh.

Goldeneye also deserves mentioning as I remember going on multiplayer binges with that one... :)

Now for the bad one... Starcraft was my first experience playing over the internet and I couldn't stop... that was more of an addiction type deal I think... :|

Later on, I got hooked on Team Fortress Classic, Counter-Strike, and Diablo II (must find unique items! ahhhhh!)...

Now, I'm not really hooked on anything... oh well. :D

[Pendragon]

The first games I played were the Learning Company games, things like Treasure Cove, Treasure Mathstorm, and Reader Rabbit 3. After that I went through a few games until Sid Meier's Colonization (not Civilization, Colonization), which was given to me by a friend whose computer didn't run it. I moved on to bigger things, like the Age of Empires series, but I didn't even realize how lucky I got with those random choices until later. My interest remained relatively small until somewhat before the purchase of my new computer (I went from a P2 266 to a P4 2.26 :)), and my new enjoyment of FPSes. Starting out where I did gave me interest in and appreciation of many genres though, which is great.

Colonization would have to be the game that started it all though.

[Soundwave]

Oh man I completely forgot about Diablo II. I think because I put a mental block on my memories of that game. It was a true addiction. I played the hell out of part 1 (liked it more than II actually) but I was truly addicted to the second. Goldeneye is another game that I played nonstop, the multiplayer was the best console multiplayer ever imo

[gh0st]

The first games I played were the Learning Company games, things like Treasure Cove, Treasure Mathstorm, and Reader Rabbit 3. After that I went through a few games until Sid Meier's Colonization (not Civilization, Colonization), which was given to me by a friend whose computer didn't run it. I moved on to bigger things, like the Age of Empires series, but I didn't even realize how lucky I got with those random choices until later. My interest remained relatively small until somewhat before the purchase of my new computer (I went from a P2 266 to a P4 2.26 :)), and my new enjoyment of FPSes. Starting out where I did gave me interest in and appreciation of many genres though, which is great.

Colonization would have to be the game that started it all though.

pendragon do you remember the game... it was like a big factory and you went around solving engineering type problems from TLC?

[Pendragon]

Super Solvers! (Midnight Rescue, Spellbound, and Gizmos & Gadgets) I remember working my way up the little charts on the back that rated difficulty and stuff! I was so pumped when my parents said I was at another level!

[blahblahblah]

Lets see (in order of when I first played them)...

Mechwarrior 2
Age of Empires
Quake 2
Diablo
Starcraft
Diablo 2

Hmmm...I haven't been terribly addicted to any of these "new" games in the past couple of years. I hoping that HL2, Doom 3, or Stalker will do it to me again.

[Edit]: How can I forgot Goldeneye!?! :dork:

[Ames]

Super Solvers! I remember working my way up the little charts on the back that rated difficulty and stuff! I was so pumped when my parents said I was at another level!

That was like the best game ever. lol....:dork:

[Mechagodzilla]

Half-Life + expansions, obviously, but also:
Perfect Dark (Unlocked everything, except some cheats.)
Ihe Incredible Machine 1 & 2 (Infinite replay!)
& Ocarina of Time (Beat it twice, collecting every single possible item, coin, skull token, peice of heart, minigame, etc. I'm insane, by the way.)
Starcraft was pretty awesome too, but it really needs a sequel. Ghost doesn't count.

Currently, I'm hooked on:
The Thing for PS2 (Got awful reviews, but I can't put it down.)
& Soul Calibur 2 (Voldo rocks.)

[Letters]

Soul Calibur 2 (Voldo rocks.)
Talim rocks meh. :D

[Prince of China]

I love Link, he is the best!
And let's see...
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Painkiller
Unreal Tournament 2004
Super Smash Brothers Melee
Quake III
Quake II & Expansion Packs(The Reckoning and Ground Zero)
And Soul Calibur should've featured Roy from Fire Emblem.

[ShinRa]

FINAL FANTASY 7!!!!!!!!
THE GREATEST GAME IN HISTORY. That game made a mark on my life and still to this day no game has surpassed it.
Final fantasy 8 was amazing too.
super smash bros, perfect dark, goldeneye, ahh and the pulling all nighters with friends and mario party 2 and 3. :) good times man good times.
my counter-strike binge from 2001-2002...every day, my life was cs.
super mario rpg was nuts too.
god theres so many...
good times...it sucks to be old....im goin to college soon, but ill never stop playing games!

[thehunter1320]

well, i remember when i played my 1st video game... and wouldn't you know it... it was in canada... yes! canada. I was on vacation with my family, my mom and dad decided to go for a walk... i asked if i could use the game controller on top of the TV, they said sure... i played SNES, Super Mario World... i haven't looked back since

[Soundwave]

Not a bad game at all to get started with hunter, SMW is one of the best platformers ever.

[SnowBall]

Need for Speed 2 was like my first PC game. Then Came StarCraft the greatest RTS of all time. Finally came Half-life and Unreal which I am now a proud fanboy of both titles.
EDIT: How could I forget, my childhood hero, and still one of the coolest console characters around: Sonic.

[Sprafa]

Diablo 2

Max Payne 1 & 2

[Stigmata]

I remember the very first game I ever played, ever: GoldenEye 007.

I remember my friend telling me about this system he got, the N64, and this really cool shooting game too. So I went over, not knowing what to expect at ALL (this being the first game I've ever set my eyes on :)), and when I started playing I was completely blown away. Even with my lack of coordination, the game was a blast, and the two-player matches were effing fun.

Then came Starcraft, a mere four days later. At first, I had no idea what I was supposed to do, and I was completely overwhelmed. But then, we found a couple cheats on the Internet, put on power overwhelming, operation cwal and show me the money, and then we had an absolute blast.

And then, during the summer my family and I went to our cottage. My dad heard about how great the N64 was, so he borrowed one of his coworkers' children's systems. My brother and I were so excited... And it turned out to be an SNES. I was disappointed, until I found out how fun Starfox, SMB, and some fighting game with monsters can be a lot of fun.

So moving on, here's my timeline:

Goldeneye
Starcraft
Starfox
Super Mario Brothers 2 (I think)
Double Dragon and <something> Toads (some sort of sci-fi fighting game on a spaceship, SNES)
That monster fighting game
Super Mario Kart
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk 2
Penny Racers
SimCity 2000
Vigilante 8
Vigilante 8: Second Offensive
F-Zero X
Midtown Madness
Midtown Madness 2
Counter-Strike
Half-Life (yes, I played CS before I played HL, I bought HL so I could play CS, but HL turned out to be even better)
Perfect Dark - MUCH better than Goldeneye, I never bought it but I must have rented it about two dozen times :laugh:
HL: Opposing Force
GT3
Age of Empires
Starcraft: Brood War
GTA3
Oni
Quake 2
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Monkey Ball
Tony Hawk 3
Halo
SSX Tricky
Animal Crossing
GTA Vice City
Super Monkey Ball 2
And from here on, it's just a blur of demos, recent games, and console shooters.

I hereby declare that I have way too much time on my hands :|

[Soundwave]

I feel old after reading that post.

The game you are talking about with the fighting on SNES was most likely Double Dragon and Battle Toads.

[Mr-Fusion]

Ohh Diablo 2 consumed a vast amount of my time. That thrill everytime a unique weapon dropped was all worth it, waiting endlessly for that Hydra Bow to fall .

[Crushenator 500]

not exactly extensive, but its all i can remember atm.

goldeneye
perfect dark
age of empires
mario 64 !!!
mario sunshine
zelda: wind waker
counter strike (probably my most played pc game- used to play it for like 2 hours evey night after coming home from school)
unreal tournament
ut2k3 demo
prince of persia sands of time
mario kart 64
starfox
soldier of fortune
sof2 multiplayer
rtcw
rtcw multiplayer


and loads more that i cant think of.

[Warbie]

RTCW got me hooked big time :/ - played heavily in clans for about 2 years.

Golden Eye and Perfect Dark took a massive chunk out of my life too. Don't wanna think about the time spent on Mario 64 and Zelda/FF games.

My most pleasant memories of gaming are playing Secret of Mana with my brother and best mate - we must have gone through the entire game about 3-4 times. Beautiful, wonderful experience from start to finish. Everything from the music to the gfx is perfect :) A decent sequal would have me peeing in pure excitement.

[Farrowlesparrow]

Halflife 2.....Just practicing :)



Halflife (Including mods such as CS beta, DoD, Sven Coop, Rocket Crowbar and to an extent NS)
Starcraft
Red Alert (and the aftermath expansion, i never had counterstrike)
Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn (Original basically)
Homeworld (For a while)
Far Cry (Funny that)
Max Payne 1,2
Master of Orion 2,3 (1 was fun but i never actually owned it)



Im sure there are other games that i have just forgotten about.

Starcraft, Red alert and Halflife are the major ones though. Red alert was before SC and Hl. When i got those games i would spend a few months on each...never getting sick of them. The only reason i dont paly Sc much anymore is i got bored of normal games and the UMS games are pretty repetative now. All the people making original maps have moved on leaving only clones of maps like Zerg Blood and Starship Troopers.

[KagePrototype]

Suikoden for the PSX was my first obsession...getting all 108 characters took a long damned time. Of course, Konami took Suikoden 2 off the market in the UK after like 6 months before I could get it, and decided not to release any more suikoden games in the UK. :(

[cadaver]

a bunch of the supercool nintendeo GAME & WATCH in the eighties

the almighty commodore 64!

PC: doom and doom2


what really got my attention on PC gaming again was "rainbow six rogue spear". I tried it on LAN and was utterly impressed.