Games from my Childhood

I was never a big gamer, whether it was computer games or video games. My two brothers on the other hand played everything they could get their hands on. There were a few games though that I loved to play, and have been reminiscing a lot about lately. They bring good memories – playing with my brothers, playing against my brothers, playing with my grandpa. All good memories :)

Roller Coaster Tycoon

This game is simple in conception, but still somehow so, so addicting to me. I remember I would come home to school and run to my computer, and play for hours and hours on end. Or on Sundays, if I got ready and still had time to play before my family left for church, I’d stick the game in and play for as long as I could. I loved this game and played it well into high school.

The gameplay is very simple. The objective is slightly different for each theme park, but it usually is along the lines of “Have two thousand guests by the end of year three,” or “Have a park value of at least $35,000 by the end of year three.” Most of them were fairly easy to beat, too, which made me like the game too because I am such a lazy gamer! If it’s too hard I quit, haha.

In the game, there are pre-made roller coasters or you could also build your own. My brothers liked to build them with half a track, then get people on the ride and kill them all. -__- I, on the other hand, was very concerned about the safety of my guests and always tested rides out multiple times before opening to ensure that they were safe.

Another thing you had to do was keep the guests happy. If they were unhappy, they would leave the park and you wouldn’t earn any money. If the pathways were filled with puke, then you needed to hire more janitors! If your guests were hungry or thirsty, you needed to build more restaurants and vending machines. Guests were very stupid sometimes, too. They would get lost and you would have to carry them to the park exit. If I was feeling very vindictive, I would just drown them to get ride of them. D:<

It’s a pretty typical tycoon game if you’ve ever played one, and each different theme park kept the game interesting, as were the ability to customize each park you played exactly how you wanted. Writing this post makes me want to play it again!

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature

I’ve blogged about this gem before, but it was such a big part from my childhood I think it’s only fair that it gets mentioned once more. :) I played this on the PS1. It’s an RPG game about a boy whose grandfather dies and in order to inherit the farm, he must win over the villagers of Mineral Town.

Being an RPG, I always felt like there was something to do in this game which always kept it interesting for me (and why I still play it on occasion today). As expected, a good portion of the game is actually farming. Each season provides different crops that you can plant, water, and harvest.

I think the villagers in the game and all the cut-scenes that they come with are what makes the game so rich. You can pick a girl (or multiple girls if you were my brothers) to give gifts to in order to make her like you, and eventually, marry you. All of the girls had guys that like them, too, so you also have to compete with him and marry your girl first!

You also can raise livestock: chickens, cows, sheeps, and you also have a horse and a dog. You can also go fishing, chop wood, find things to sell in the forest, upgrade your tools, and upgrade the buildings on the farm. Sometimes when you give gifts to the villagers, they will give you recipes to cook with – and TV shopping is always fun!

It’s a game with a lot to offer, and a lot of different ways to play. I remember in third grade I would sit in class and plan out which crops I was going to plant, in which formation, and how much I would make by planting x amount. Then I would run home after school and put all my plans into action. What a nerd :P

Donkey Kong

This game is impossible to not associate with my grandpa. My siblings and I loved going to grandpa’s house – we essentially got to do everything there that we couldn’t at home. Grandpa had cable TV (which we couldn’t afford at the time growing up) so he would let us stay up late and watch cartoons. But he also had a Super Nintendo which was so cool at the time. My brothers really liked Mario, but my favorite was Donkey Kong Country.

I never beat the whole game. I really only played the first three or so areas because they were the easiest to play and I could collect a bunch of bananas! I always wanted to be Diddy Kong because he was so much lighter and easier to jump with, so my grandpa would always be Donkey Kong, but he never seemed to mind. We would work together to find all the secret levels and get as many balloons and bananas as we could. And when we failed miserably, we would laugh until our stomachs ached. We would also eat tootsie rolls and skittles until our stomachs ached.

In later years I would play the Donkey Kong games on the GameBoy and even the PC, but they were never as much fun as the one for the Super Nintendo with my grandpa.

Do you have any games from your childhood that you played all the time?

7 thoughts on “Games from my Childhood”

  1. I never played Roller Coaster Tycoon, but I’d probably play it the way you did :) I know my husband and brother would be the type to make rides that would kill people, haha.

    The Harvest Moon series is so fun and cute. The one I played was on Gamecube, and I loved it! This makes me want to play again!

    If you get a Wii or Wii U, you should check out the new Donkey Kong Country Returns games. They’re challenging, but they’re really good! The platforming and difficulty kind of reminds me of old school Nintendo games.

    When I was really young, I loved playing Bubble Bobble with my brother on the NES :) I also have fond memories of many N64 games, like Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart, and Mario 64.

  2. Roller Coaster Tycoon — HAHAHA! That game is like still popular with kids! I work in a computer lab, and that game is on our computers, and they go crazy at it! I watch what they do, and it amuses me at what they come up with XD

    Harvest Moon! I’ve only tried the SNES and the 3DS version, and I have to say that I absolutely adore the SNES one. I even have the cartridge and everything, but I don’t think my SNES works :( So I miss that game! I guess I’ll have to settle for an emulator version.

    And Donkey Kong Country! I had DKC 1-3, and I have to say that I liked all of them. I never beat them either, because it got hard, but I got pretty far in the third one.

    Oh, man, thanks for the nostalgia trip! ^^

  3. ooh i remember my brother used to play harvest moon as well! but i think he played it on his gameboy advance??

    roller coaster tycoon sounds fun! like a different kind of monopoly (but not really?!)

    thank you for sharing these, becca. :D

  4. I remember playing Harvest Moon and getting so hooked with it! I already forgot the names of the character, but I do remember anticipating for her to finally find the love of her life. Oh good old days!

  5. Yesss, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is the best one!! I was so addicted to it when I was a kid. I replayed it last year, and it was still as magical as the day I tried it.

  6. I haven’t played Roller Coaster Tycoon before but I always get so jealous when I see other kids playing it! Haha! I’ve always loved Tycoon games and this one sounds so much fun!

    Oh, Harvest Moon games will always have a special place in my heart. I remember designing my farm plots too, and even made a schedule so I could talk to every villager and every girl! Lol. If you have a 3DS, you should totally buy Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. It’s a super fun game with lots to explore as well! :D

  7. I’ve heard of all of those but only ever played Donky Kong and I don’t even remember much about it. I don’t know why but for some reason I never got into games. I liked to watch people play them sometimes though. lol

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