I couldn’t say there’s such a thing as ‘too much choice’, but it can become hard work when you’re making a Top 5 list. I’ve been gaming since the early 80s, so I’ve encountered and played several generations of consoles and home computers! Here are some of my favourites and a few of the games I played on each of them.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
This was the console that brought arcade standard games into my living room. I got the Street Fighter II console bundle and although I knew there were a few minor differences between that and the arcade version, they weren’t noticeable enough for me to care. My fireball battles between Ryu and Sagat are the stuff of legend!
The SNES also made me notice and start to appreciate RPGs. Specifically in the form of Secret of Mana. A fantasy story I could truly immerse myself in for several hours. I spent a LOT of time in that fantastic world.
I also got to play SimCity for the first time and I became instantly hooked on city builders. I loved trying to find and maintain the balance of Residential, Commercial and Industrial zones while trying to maintain the additional balance of keeping your Sim Citizens happy while not losing all your money.
Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k +2
The ZX Spectrum was annoying in one particular way and anyone who had one of these computers would tell you the same thing. It would take absolutely ages to load any game worth playing on the cassette tapes and it would make that ‘nails-on-a-chalkboard’ style electronic screech for almost the entire loading phase.
It was also one of the most advanced bits of hardware for its time. The graphics on some of the games were fantastic in that you could actually make out people and objects on the screen. Okay the colour palette hasn’t so great, but that could be forgiven for the overall graphical standard.
Target: Renegade was my first exposure to the scrolling beat’em’up genre and I played it through over and over. If you were lucky enough to be able to load up the 128k version of the game, you’d be treated to a sweet chiptune track every time you hit a new level!
Jet Set Willy II was a fiendishly difficult platformer that I just couldn’t stop going back to. Collecting various items while avoiding the fever ream type enemies was a crazy experience. I was terrible at it and I never finished the game, but I had to keep giving it one more try just in case!
Saboteur! was a great side-scrolling action game that I played through multiple times. The overall mission was to steal a disc, plant a bomb and escape via chopper before everything goes boom. All the while fighting guards and avoiding attack dogs. You could also adjust the difficulty which would put up walls and make you have to find a different route to your goal. Plus the timer would speed up, so that was fun! It really was fun.
Sony Playstation 1
The PS1 was the true demonstration of 3-D becoming a thing. Everyone was trying it with wildly varying degrees of success. One game really stood out for me precisely because it wasn’t 3-D. Suikoden was an RPG that was still leaning into the sprite based graphics and looking to hook players with substance over style. It worked. With a massive 108 characters to recruit, an incredible story and three different styles of combat, I was completely hooked. I loved it and played it repeatedly. It was an ever present save block on my memory card and I can’t wait for the release of the remaster.
Then there is Final Fantasy VIII which is my favourite game ever! The story, the characters, the graphics, the music (oh that music!) and the cutscenes. Final Fantasy VIII is an example of all of the elements of game making coming together at the right time. What starts with a young man becoming part of a mercenary group known as SEED in Balamb Garden escalates very quickly into the betrayal of a classmate, an all-powerful enemy known as The Sorceress, the introduction of a love interest, a rebel group looking to stick it to the man, finding out that you need to use a particular ability sparingly because of a very serious consequence and of course, time travel. Somehow though, it manages to stay pretty coherent throughout and gives you one of the greatest gaming masterpieces that you will ever experience.
Resident Evil is the game that started the whole Survival Horror genre. I could stop right there, but I won’t. This is a game that is both creepy and terrifying as it should be. It’s one of the great horror games ever. Your character has limited ammo, limited inventory space, limited options to save the game and has to solve puzzles while being attacked by absolutely nightmarish creatures. It’s also unintentionally hilarious at times. There is so much ham acting in the voiced dialogue and FMV sequences, you could fill several pig farms! Cue the ‘Jill Sandwich’ memes. Still an amazing game though.
Sega Mega Drive
Welcome back to the 16-bit era. This time it’s Sega’s Mega Drive. Initially starting with only a three button controller, it soon had to double that once the SNES made an appearance. I loved both consoles as they each had a different library of great games on offer. I’ve never been a fan of either Nintendo’s or Sega’s mascots, so you’ll never see Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario or The Legend of Zelda titles on my favourites lists.
What you will see is Road Rash! A motorbike racing game with combat. You start in fifteenth for every race and you need to place in the top three to clear that track. You earn money to purchase better bikes and stay competitive with the other racers. You can punch, kick or hit them with a club if you’ve stolen it from other racers. You’ve also got invincible cops, traffic and randomly parked livestock to contend with. Also, the soundtrack rocked! That is all.
Following on from the beat’em’up goodness I spoke of with the ZX Spectrum, Streets of Rage 2 was the Mega Drive offering that I couldn’t stop playing and still can’t even to this day. With easy to pick up controls, extra moves and some beefed up graphics, along with a couple of brand new characters and a mission to rescue Adam from Mr X, this was a huge upgrade from the first Streets of Rage outing.
Then there was the Sci-Fi classic known as Starflight. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out why stars are going nova from east to west on the galactic map. Simple enough. Just train various species to operate all the areas of your ship that need operating, buy the hardware and kit out your planet roaming vehicle. Unfortunately, you have to fund it all yourself, so a lot of mining needs to be done. There’s some grind involved, but it’s still an absolute blast to play!
Atari 2600
We finish with the very first console I ever played. In our household, we had the third iteration of the Atari 2600. Vastly reduced in size and known as the Atari 2600 Jr! All you needed was your game cartridge and to switch on the console before picking up your joystick to enjoy all of the blocky colours!
Video Pinball encapsulated the whole blocky image to perfection. The pinball table was rectangular, the bumpers were square and even the ball was square. It didn’t matter though. the game was just fun. Also I was an easily impressed kid, so of course I’d enjoy it!
Equally fun was the never ending side scrolling shooter of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. You jump in your Snowspeeder and try to stop the AT-ATs from destroying the rebel base. You do this either by shooting the enemies over and over until they’re destroyed or you can attempt to hit the weak spot when it appears and grab an insta-kill. Not surprisingly though, the AT-ATs would be shooting back, so it’s not that easy to beat them.
So there you have it. That’s my Top 5 retro consoles and some of the games I enjoyed playing while growing up. Let me know your favourite retro consoles and the games you enjoyed either in the comments below or on social media!