Author: Nathan Doverspike
With the recent rumor of a Sypro the Dragon trilogy remaster coming in 2018, it sent me on a massive nostalgia trip. It made me think of all the late nights I stayed up way past my bedtime on a school night playing Tomb Raider 2, Sypro the Dragon and Ripto’s Rage. I have so many fond memories of gaming as a kid, and I want to know: what are your favorite memories gaming as a kid?
For me, there are two specific games that I vividly remember loving as a kid and also enjoying playing with others. First is Tomb Raider 2, which is a game I have a deep love/hate relationship with. I hated how bad I was at jumping in the game (pretty sure it wasn’t just me though from all the FAQs I read back in the 90’s). The other memory is playing the game with my dad, with whom I didn’t always have an ideal relationship with at the time. Even though we butted heads on more times than I can remember, he was always willing to sit down with me for an roughly an hour or two countless nights and help me figure out the puzzles, and even assured me that it wasn’t the end of the world when I accidentally deleted a save before the final boss and had to replay the last quarter of the game all over again.
The other memory is more of a compilation of playing Halo 2 with a childhood friend. Time hasn’t been kind to our friendship, but I’ll always appreciate and thank him for all the times we stayed up all night, drank Mountain Dew/Pepsi, and played Halo 2. We would play online (one of the first Xbox Live games that was truly great), cruise through the fantastic campaign split screen (back when that was still incorporated in video games), and play shotguns and energy swords against each other for bragging rights. I hope that my kids will have similar experiences with a friend that they will remember forever and look back on fondly as they grow older.
That’s enough about me, what about your experiences? Are there any particular games that you remember playing as a kid? Do you ever revisit them from time to time, or have they aged poorly over time? Let me know in the comments!
Golden Age Gamers 