Retro gaming

Video games held a special role in the childhoods for many of us, when the amount of time it took to impress us was as short as our attention spans. So games had to be quick, colorful, and easy enough for a 10 year old to use, but difficult enough for avid gamers. These games were some of the best that 90's consoles had to offer, from great multiplayers to shooters. So grab some chips and some pop and let's talk video games.

Nintendo

"Mega Man II": This game, in which robot Mega Man must fight 8 mini-bosses to get to the evil Dr. Wiley, is the easily one of the greatest of all time. It is one of those rare games that is fun to play, has a great back story, and is supplemented with a legendary soundtrack that was so memorable that many bands today still cover the songs. I still play it to this day. - Doug Evans

Nintendo 64

"Super Smash Bros.": Anyone that knows me is familiar with my obsession with all things cute and perpetually adorbs. Sounds weird, but Hello Kitty kinda gets my rocks off – way past the 300% sudden death mark. So when “Super Smash Bros.” was introduced to the Nintendo-64 console in 1999, I pretty much died. All the cuteness of characters like Kirby, Jigglypuff and Yoshi aside, the game is just badass, because it pretty much incorporates everything from Nintendo history to use as weapons on these beautiful Japanese wonders. If you like "Duck Hunt", there’s a laser gun for that.  And a bomb-omb can help you obliterate a massive Donkey Kong -- bombs away. - Mickey Woods

"GoldenEye007": Although I spent my younger years playing benign classics like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog, during my tween years I became strangely fascinated with gunning down Russian spies in the guise of James Bond. GoldenEye007 remains the only first-person shooter game I've ever played, which is probably a testament to its landmark status among home-console games in the genre. - Megan Clayton

"NFL Blitz": "NFL Blitz" was the NFL on steroids, literally and figuratively. Every player looked like Arnold in his prime and hit like a truck. The football looked like a computer mouse in their hands and caught fire with regularity. Add late hits (encouraged) and trash talk (required), and "Blitz" became a party game for the ages. - Adam Lukach

Playstation

"Spyro the Dragon": This was the first great video game I ever played and it was so much better than that “Rugrats” one I played before it. It combined action, adventure and platforming in a way that made me fall in love with gaming and purple, smartass dragons. Insomniac went to make two equally good sequels and one of my other favorites for the Playstation 2, “Ratchet & Clank.” - Brian Welk
 
"Jak 2": The cutesy adventure fantasy “Jak & Daxter” was followed up by this dark, intense, sandbox extravaganza. “Jak 2” was like “Grand Theft Auto” with meerkats, only this had humor and great game play mechanics for puzzles, platforming and rocket skateboarding. - BW

"Kingdom Hearts": Like so many others, I fell under the spell that is the “Kingdom Hearts” magic. The familiar Disney locations added wonderfully to the immersive atmosphere and charming story of a teenage boy fighting the darkness of the world with the power of light and a key. - BW

"Dance Dance Revolution": Remember this crazy dance fad that arguably started the trend of rhythm gaming? It was great fun at parties, a terrific aerobic workout, and to be quite honest, I was pretty good. - BW

"God of War": “God of War” stands tall as the most brutal game I’ve ever played. There aren’t many games that can match the insane violence of this game that felt so invigorating. That was because of the game’s flawless fighting style and now iconic hero who fought for something truly epic. - BW

Sega Genesis

"Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse": Remember this side-scroller? Released in 1990 on the Sega Genesis, the game featured Mickey trying to find Minnie, kidnapped by Witch Mizrabel. You grabbed apples for ammo and did lots of jumping -- lots of jumping -- to kill your enemies. And you collected gems after each boss. I never saved Minnie, but that's because the only time I played the game was at a Pizza King restaurant. I'm sure she ended up all right. - Mike Beam

"Mega Bomberman": As in many games, all was well until some evil guy came along and caused trouble. In "Mega Bomberman," the villain separated Bomber Planet into five pieces, and you had to put it back together. Humpty Dumpty redux. The 1994 Sega Genesis game was about timing and chance. You had to lay bombs and get away before they blew up. Frustrating when you laid a bomb and blocked yourself in, but hilarious when your friend did it. - MB

PC

"SimAnt": While I have never been a frequent console gamer, computer gaming is a different story. My first introduction to the world of PC-based skill games was Maxis Software's SimAnt, whose objective was to build and maintain an ant colony against all the dangers that can infest a suburban back yard. My parents didn't have a computer in the way-back years of the early '90s, but my best friend's parents did, and we often fell into trances orchestrating the lives of those little insects. - MC

"Starcraft": Hands down one of the greatest games of all time, "Starcraft" took the real-time strategy genre, blew it up, and created a newer, slicker way of gaming that would set the bar high enough for its peers that it defined the genre for the next decade. Not only was the gameplay fantastic and revolutionary, but the story line was compelling, giving us one of the best campaign modes any platform has ever seen. - AL