As gamers, there are games that hold special places in our hearts. Usually, we start to collect games that bring back memories of various periods of our lives. Maybe it's the fact that we're young at the time and have enough difficulty mastering the controls that we spend years playing something that should only take us a few weeks to beat. Maybe it's a game that's so fun and has so much replay value that we play them over and over again. Or maybe the series has been so prolific that you literally grew up playing them. Whatever the case, when we go back and play them again we get that warm, nostalgic feeling. Here's a thread to celebrate these games. Feel free to just list the games and go into great detail why they remind you of your childhood/distant adulthood.
My list goes something like this:
Legend of Zelda - I'm talking about a Link to the Past specifically, but I have great memories of playing the series in general. I was really really young when I first played A Link to the Past, so I mainly spent so much of my childhood playing it because my motor reflexes weren't that developed. Still, it's a pretty addictive game regardless of your level of hand-eye coordination.
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature - This game was designed to take a long time to play and had great replay value. This took up my late elementary school years and early middle school years. It was revolutionary to me in that it was a game where the object wasn't to (intentionally) kill a living thing. It was a pretty unique experience at the time. My sister was also a Harvest Moon fan, so we bonded while playing this. Well, that and Mario Party. But that was a more competitive example.
Resident Evil (Series) - I got into Resident Evil in middle school and still play game sequels today. It was nice for scares when I was relatively new to the series (and younger/easily scared) and also provided a good challenge as I grew up.
Silent Hill (Series) - As a fan of the survival horror genre, this list of nostalgic games wouldn't be complete without a mention of the Silent Hill series. I mainly have memories of this game because it was an immensely popular series that I played as I grew up. Resident Evil and Silent Hill represent the two extremes on the spectrum of survival horror gaming. Unlike Resident Evil, the game was scary because it delved into deep, psychological fears rather than pop-out cheap scares. In short, Silent Hill is to psychological horror as Resident Evil is to action thriller.
There are a lot of other games that would definitely fit into my nostalgic game collection, but I've already talked for too long. I'm interested in hearing what games bring back memories for the various PON members.