Lost Treasures

There is just not enough time in the day for all the great games out there. With new consoles coming out every few years and new games coming out every week, its sometimes easy to forget about some of the best games ever made and the fact that we should never, ever forget about them. Why should we never forget? Because they were so damn fun and mark important times in our lives.

I bring this up because my son reminded me of something the other day. He was out with his grandma doing some yard sale shopping. This was odd because usually he manages to avoid this kind of activity. Being dragged all over town, looking at some lady in rollers and slippers who wants $10 for a scratched Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass album with your Grandma is not a great way for a 12-year old to spend his time. But on this day my son got lucky. At one particular sale he found an old PS1 in good shape and the Yardy (My term for those people who have yard sales every single weekend) was selling it with a bundle of games, one of them was Metal Gear Solid.

My son was telling about this over the phone (I was out of town at the time) and he kept telling me about the game and how much fun it was. Throughout the weekend he'd call me and ask for some tips on how to beat a certain level. I couldn't tell what surprised me more - the fact that my 12-year old son was impressed by a game made in 1998, or the fact that I remembered all the levels and how to beat the game.

When Metal Gear first came out, I was completely and totally hooked on it within the first 10 minutes. The storyline was complelling, the voice acting was perfect and the game play was like crack. I hadn't been this addicted to a game since Super Mario Bros. I still remember where I bought it, what my old house looked like, how little my son was and that I was about 10 pounds lighter. My son bringing up Metal Gear was like opening a time capsule, it brought back a flood of great memories. Of course this doesn't happen with every game, there are just a few games -Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, GTA III, Madden '94, Spider-Man on the Atari 2600, Britney's Dance Beat - that will always hold a special place for me. Its like hearing a song from a great summer long ago and having sweet flashbacks.

So what are your lost treasures? What games do you fondly remember? They don't have to be classic games to have had a strong effect. Even if you just became a gamer and you bought a 360 and Call of Duty 2 blew your doors off, it doesn't matter. Tell about a game that moved you.