I don’t know if these are the most joy but some good memories.
When I first saw Mario 64 in Toys R Us I was awestruck. Just unbelievable. Mario in 3D.
When I was playing Ocarina of Time I was hunting Poes in Hyrule field on Epona. I fell asleep because it was late. When I woke up the game was still running. Nothing overheated. Nothing killed me in game. No loud jarring noises. I wasnt late for anything. I just woke up and started hunting Poes again.
A friend and I were staying up late playing one of the early Kings Quest games where you can dial a 900 number to help you if you got stuck. This was back when save points were maybe once every 10 minutes if you’re lucky. We had gotten to a really verbose riddle that we were supposed to have found a clue for earlier in the game but missed it. We just figured out the riddle and guessed it on the first try. It was an unbelievable triumph.
Once when I was 8, a friend brought over his PS1 and Metal Gear Solid. We played pranks on the guards in the zone that has a bathroom using claymores and Nikita missiles and called snake the Toilet Stalker. Peak 8 year old humor, I couldn’t breathe from laughing.
Another in High school, visited my older sister in the dorms and the boy floors were having a massive halo Lan party since all the rooms were connected. I had never played a console shooter before but the guys were really welcoming and wanted me to join anyways. One match came down to a 1v1 with me and one of the good players, I almost got him with the sniper but lost. I wasn’t too bummed but afterwards everyone on the floor cheered me up. I stomped the same guy later that night in warcraft 3 and that one felt good.
There are too many. Completing Lode Runner on my C64. Playing the Oregon Trail as a kid and making silly names ‘Tit face has died of dysentery’. The first time I played Sonic on my megadrive on Christmas day 1991. Playing Wonder Boy on my game gear for hours with my little bro. Crash Team Racing or FIFA tournaments (any FIFA after 16 is rubbish) on PS1 with my mates. Playing Echochrome on the PS3 on LSD. When the nuke exploded in Modern Warfare 2. Playing through Inside in one go in the dark by myself. Winning a PS5 in a raffle the day after my xbox1 died.
I never did beat Lode Runner on my Atari 800. What an absolute banger of a game though. Speaking of which, I remember playing Encounter on the Atari 800 and Mercenary III on the Atari ST, and realising “this is the direction of video games”. Incredible stuff.
One day a couple of months after World of Warcraft Burning Crusade came out I was woken up by my friends playing the game. I had left on either Teamspeak or Ventrilo the night before and about 3-4 friends jumped on the following morning. I signed on soon after that and played for hours.
I think that’s the last time I’ve been woken up by people whom I like and immediately began the day with a group activity that involved joy.
Kerbal Space Program: progression from being unable to get a rocket into orbit, to collecting a surface sample from all 5 of Jool’s moons in a single launch
Pretty much any of the 2d Zeldas fit this bill. Link to the Past/between Worlds… Link’s Awakening…etc. There’s also a game called Oceanhorn from several years ago that tried to be a Zelda clone, but I didn’t get very far in it.
The “play games” can. Three filters I always use in combination: “Premium” (i.e. paid), “no ads”, “no in-app purchases”. In the current version of the app you have to scroll quite down to find these.
Dang. Nice. Having a Palm PDA with Simon’s Puzzles in 2024 2025 is epic. I would take that thing to parties…and, at the kind of parties I attend, it would make me royalty.
Oh I use it as an ADHD management tool! All the organization and productivity stuff of a smartphone with none of the distractions or dark patterns. Mine is a Sony PEG-UX50, top of the line for 2003 and distinctly 2000s Sony in appearance, function, and annoyances.
I don’t know if you’ve played Oracle of Ages/Seasons, but those are two more great Capcom Zelda games.
I saw someone else say CrossCode, and I can second that. CrossCode is the only game I have ever played to perfectly capture the way games felt on the Nintendo DS. Control, aesthetic, everything. It made me immediately nostalgic the first time I played it.
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Aktywne