Ask HN: What is the most memorable game you played?

“Black Raven” for ZX Spectrum, distributed on 3.25” floppies. It only worked on a very specific model of it (Scorpion), which had a whooping 256kb of RAM and 7 Mhz CPU, and for some reason only on my dad’s friend’s one and not mine, so we ended up swapping our machines.

It was a high-fidelity Warcraft 1/2-like RTS that fit into the resources unimaginable by today’s standards.

It was art that’s completely and utterly lost to the modern times of bloated frameworks and gibibytes of resources that somehow still become obsolete within a few years. And if it wasn’t for this game in my adolescence, I’d probably be much less excited about learning computers and choosing them for career path.

And btw if you’re interested to check it out, the website of its genius (sole!) developer with a few other equally impressive feats is still up:

http://copperfeetgames.com/zx.html

As a middle aged man, I was constantly telling my wife that the team responsible for the game have done something truly amazing. Or at least that's how it seems to me with my personality and preferences.

The game design is top tier. And so are the graphics. Very few bugs, and most that I encountered were fixed during the patch cycles.

They deserved my $30. In the same way others have remarked about different games here, the thought of playing it for the first time with no memory of the first run... really resonates.

The Half-Life mod scene was something else. Something new came out seemingly every week, and since the scene was fairly small, you could always find people playing the mod du jour. Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, The Specialists, Action Half-Life, and so many others… good times. We have many more multiplayer games these days, but the niche stuff loses playerbase too quickly.

Xenogears - great story. It introduced me to various concepts from different philosophies, psychology, etc.

Tomb Raider - it was my first 3D game. The sense of adventure and danger was so intense.

Uncharted - like Tomb Raider but with jokes and lighter. Really enjoyed storyline.

Last of Us - this game was able to recreate the same intense feeling of danger and adventure that the first Tomb Raider game did.

God of War (PS4) - first game I played during my paternity leave after becoming father. Felt very connected with story as it deals with some parenting questions.

The longest journey - I don’t remember the story but I remember I was very moved by it. One of few games that are on my play again list.

4d Sports Driving (Amiga)

Another World (Amiga)

Ar Tonelico II (PS2)

Castle Master (Amiga)

Chrono Trigger (SFC)

Impossible Mission (C64)

Lemmings (Amiga)

Kult (Amiga)

sharin no kuni, himawari no shoujo (Win32)

Sonic The Hedgehog (Game Gear)

Syndicate (Amiga)

The Secret of Monkey Island (Amiga)

The Settlers (Amiga)

Wings (Amiga)