When I was growing up, my PC was my longest lasting best friend. Unlike many of my peers, I was lucky enough to have access to my own computer (without internet access) from the age of five, with my dad giving me out-of-date second hand PCs from his work. So, while my peers were off riding their bikes and enjoying parties, I spent the vast majority of my time playing digital games. My memories of these bittersweet times are sometimes more vivid than my lived experience - they evolved alongside me.
Microsoft Paint, Powerpoint and Windows Movie Maker
One from the vaults
Yes, really. For a big long patch of my childhood, making pixel art and short animations was my own little game. I learnt all the tips and tricks to get the most out of the programmes. Movie Maker was a later addition, once I realized that there were better programmes to animate on. Looking back on those days, I find it charming that I found creating visual works entertaining in and of themselves.
Space Cadet Pinball
My love of pinball machines started here! I used to enjoy playing in tournaments against my father. I got rather good at it, regularly topping the high score leaderboard.
Living Books: Mercer Meyer's Grandma and Me & Little Monster Goes to School
Although these are technically digital books, these were among the first games I ever played. Containing beautiful pixel art graphics, these simple stories contained a world full of delightful little animations to explore. I still have a big fondness for Grandma and Me, which reminded me of my own grandma who also lived by the sea!
Treasure Cove
Gosh, I loved this game! You played as a girl diving for hidden treasure, using a bubble gun to capture sea stars along the way. I was terrified of the sharks but was so compelled by the premise that I soon became an expert at avoiding them.
Outnumbered!
… Ok, so to say I 'played' this game is a bit of a stretch. This was one of many games I found too terrifying to play for long. Playing as a detective, your goal was to stop the Master of Mischief from taking over a television and radio station before midnight. It was a math-based game with very tricky puzzles and short time limits, meaning that I hated it. Even the inclusion of robots couldn't redeem this one in my eyes. Why did my dad like tormenting me with maths games?! I was so bad at them!
Reader Rabbit Preschool
This is one of those games that was dull to play - featuring straight forward letter and word games - but that redeemed itself in how adorable the characters and animations were. It's not one that holds up particularly well and I lost interest quickly.
Aladdin's Math Quest
Oh boy, this game. As someone raised Christian who was told never to touch magical stories, this game scared the pants off of me. The first boss was an evil giant spider and it only got creepier from there. You were tasked with helping find ingredients for a magician, traversing through a void and finding a token to speak to a Big style fortune telling machine. It felt like everything in this game had ominous glowing eyes and a booming voice! However, I powered through to complete it only once before the game inexplicably glitched and refused to run ever again.
Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
Now this is one I never stopped adoring! The Lion King was my favorite Disney movie as a kid, meaning I lapped up every part of this game. A mix of gameplay, coloring games and songs, I found it so immersive that I could spend hours moving hippos around and reuniting lost cubs with their parents!
Zoombini's Logical Quest
This game was legendary in my household. Finally, a math game I liked! You were tasked with helping groups of little blue creatures through a perilous journey to their new home. Everything about it was charming that I was genuinely distressed when I got math problems wrong and lost zoombinis in the process. Special mention for the Make Me A Pizza challenge, which inexplicably contained a fussy pizza-loving tree stump!
Sim Park
At this point in my life, I was bored of edutainment games and I'd begun independently seeking out titles at our local Toys 'R Us. I believe Sim Park is one of the first I selected for myself - not at all surprising, given how much of an animal fanatic at the time. I had so much fun creating a park that suited both people and animals that I actually completed it without knowing it was possible! Hilariously, in retrospect, I realize this title was just as educational as the games prior but at the time I didn't mind. It taught me alot about about the environment and animals that set up a fondness that lasts to this day.
Magix Music Maker
I vividly remember being given this CD on my tenth birthday. My dad took it out of my hands and let out a groan - it was too new to run on my PC! Downhearted, I told him it was ok and went back to present opening. As it turned out, he'd actually tricked me as a little while later, he presented me with my first ever brand new PC! I was delighted and spent the first months of the machine's life mixing bops. I was never great at it but it didn't matter, I enjoyed it anyway! Never became much of a musician though.
And, as it turns out, the series is still going today!
Petz - Catz, Dogz 4 & 5 and Catz 5
I don't know how many hours I sunk into this game. It must have been in the hundreds! This simple little pet sim was utterly wonderful, with sophisticated AI pixel pets that could be bred to create new designs. As someone who wasn't allowed pets beyond the odd gerbil, I got so attached to these little creatures. My favourite, Rolo, was a Dachshund x Black Labrador cross that was inexplicably identical to the former sized yet like the latter! It seems I wasn't the only one and there was a modding community that lasted far longer than the game's natural lifespan. It was even referenced in the 2nd chapter of Deltarune!
Rollercoaster Tycoon 1
I always had a fondness for theme parks and this extended to video games too! I sunk quite a few hours into this game but never picked up the later entries in the series. Not entirely sure why.
Sims and Sims 2
(Everyone knows what the Sims is so have a fab theory video by Plumbella!)
Ah, would I be a teenager of the 2000s without this title? It was a rite of passage for my peers at my all girls school. I distinctly remember losing the second game at some point and being stuck with the first one! Going backwards was painful.
Mario Kart Deluxe and Super Mario Brothers 2
Yes! Finally, after many years without a dedicated games console, I was finally given a Gameboy Advance. Gosh, I loved that thing. And both these games - given to me at the same time as the console - ended up being the best ones I ever owned. Even if the Phantos scared me so much, I never got past level two for the latter! I much preferred the classic arcade mode included instead.
Wario Land 4
I actually came to have this game by accident! My aunt very kindly bought me a copy of the latest Harry Potter game but - as a magic-free house - I wasn't allowed it. So I swapped it with one of my cousin's games - and I'm glad I did! Fantastic little game, I wish they'd make another like it!
Kuru kuru kururin
Move the propellor and avoid the walls to pick up the pilot's siblings. An incredibly simple but compelling little game.
Several bad movie tie-in games: Finding Nemo, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
My parents never learnt their lesson with movie tie in games and I commonly got them as birthday presents. These titles never lived up to the exciting details on the back of the box. Debatably, neither have I so I guess it's fitting. I even went by the alias Nemo once!
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