darquegk
2010
1994
When I was a kid, holidays at my aunt and uncle’s house meant playing the old SNES in their game room. Donkey Kong Country was one of the inescapable games there, but I’m not just blinded by nostalgia: this game is nearly perfect. An absolutely ideal platformer with unbelievably vivid graphics and sound, it’s the nineties vaporwave Lisa Frank aesthetic come to life.
When people talk about old-school video games being difficult, this is one of them. Level one is "last level of Contra" hard, with an extremely punishing length and lack of powerups. But... my GOD the aesthetics are on point for that early nineties BTAS look. I truly felt like I was in the animated Gotham... getting killed.
2001
2016
If not my favorite game ever, it's very near the top of the list. BioShock 1 may be old, and fairly short, but in terms of combining action and horror, shooter and RPG, narrative and just adrenaline, few games have matched it. This game is absolutely one of the top candidates for "games as literature."
2005
This is the game Guitar Hero seemed to point to, that seems so obvious once it exists. The interface isn't entirely successful, because the guitar-to-MIDI translation isn't completely foolproof. Additionally, the homebrew and custom song creation scene online made the game nearly infinite in its possibilities. I didn't stick with it long, but I'm glad to know I always could in the future.