VG Thought

So, like the title says, what games hold special memories for you in some or other way?

Some of mine would be:
Pokémon Crystal
This was my first (real) game, and what got me into gaming. A few minutes into the game, I thought "man, games are awesome" and it just continued from there. Another reason it's such a great memory is that I played Pokémon a lot with a friend, battling and trading exclusives (she had Silver and Gold). I still remember the summer vacation where we'd visit each other almost every day to play Pokémon. Still got the cart, though the battery died some years ago... Should replace it some day.

Warioware: Mega Microgames
And this is the game that made me think "man, games are weird. And still awesome." Got this as a kid and loved it. Still do.

Pokémon Trading Card Game
Actually my brother's game, but I borrowed it a lot (and recently got it for VC to replay it). I already was really into the Pokémon TCG at the time in real life, so playing a game version of it was pretty nice. Imakuni is my favorite Pokémon.

Animal Crossing: Wild World
My first Animal Crossing game, and I had lots of great times with this. I got it just a few days before New Years and spent some of my first days in the game watching the in-game fireworks. So much to do in this game, and I really liked watching the changing seasons, finding new bugs and fish each month and making sure to get the ones that would disappear next month in time... Trying (and failing, and then giving up) to get a "perfect" town... Watching neighbors come and go... Only "issue" was online play - I'd love to play online with others, but DS Wi-Fi only supported WEP connections, and we used WPA. I also knew the final shop upgrade could only be gained if you got someone from another town to buy stuff from your shop, so I made my dad swap the connection type temporarily for this and had someone over only once. Got my final upgrade shop though, so it was all good. I kept playing this for over a year before getting tired of it, even just on my own.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
I spent a lot of time in this unlocking stuff, battling, collecting and having fun... lots of great times spent with this game. Also, the first game where I played online with friends.

Super Mario World
Aside from the Atari 2600, this was my first game.

Sonic Adventure 2
I put 300+ hours into this game. I never got any good at it, but I sure did play City Escape a whole bunch.

Socket
When I played this game, I recognized that I have interest in some kind of maze.

Super Mario 3D Land
I played through this game with Shouty and Adrian.

Mega Man X
I played through this game with Kester.

Pokemon Blue - It wasn't the best game, but it gives me the strongest feeling of nostalgia out of anything I can think of. At the time I was playing, it seemed there was much more to it than my Gameboy was showing me. Walking into Oak's lab for my first pokemon and exploring Viridian forest, it felt like I was doing something totally new.

Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 9 - After my house burned down, I would wake up every morning at my grandma's house and start playing one of these two games. I would usually wake up a few hours earlier than anyone else, so there was an early morning silence that I remember pretty clearly.

Diablo 2 was probably the first game I played at length with my friends. Lots of fun.

Golem and I have played so many games that few stick out, but I'll always remember Rondo of Blood. And moronically selling him Sparkster as a teenager.

My best friend growing up was an older girl who lived across the street. We normally played outside, but on the lucky occasion that it was raining we'd stay in and play games. Since she had a Genesis and I had an SNES, we played World of Illusion at her house and Mystical Ninja at mine (co-op being a must). Both are nostalgic, but more so World of Illusion because it was the kind of thing I totally forgot existed and then rediscovered 15 years later.

A little different, I remember a lot of games my parents banned us from playing. I distinctly remember being 5 or 6 and innocently asking if it was okay to be playing NARC, since it was so violent or something. My older brother was really pissed at me when the answer was "no" and they took it away! A little later they got us the Killer Instinct SNES bundle for Christmas, but took out the game and returned it to the store. That just confused the shit out of me since the box clearly said it was included. Hilariously, Blast Corps was rejected on title alone (granted, the phonetic pronunciation I used made it sound a bit more graphic). Goldeneye was reluctantly tolerated but Perfect Dark, being M-rated, is the first game I remember sneaking in at friends' houses. I think that era ended with Resident Evil 4.

Well holy shit all typed out I can see violence isn't the primary strand connecting those games. My parents were just protecting me from the most overrated developer of all time!