Opinion - Important Games in My Life

Games that shaped me as a gamer

Apr 25, 2025

I saw an interesting question from Andres (AndresPlays) on BlueSky about what games really impacted your life. I got to thinking, and I decided to make a quick list of some of the games that were critical or major core memories for me and my time as a gamer. This won’t be ranked, outside of the final game, which is THE most important game I’ve played. I also want to stress that these are not my all-time favorite games - that’s for another day. These games are important due to my life moments or important gaming moments. I also made a one game per franchise rule. So let’s get started.

Fallout 3

So, most of my gaming life was nothing but Nintendo games, with some dabbling with other brands through friends. In High School, that began to change when I got an Xbox for Christmas in 2004 and started to expand my horizons to more genres and more mature titles. That being said, I still tended to stay with first-party exclusives and played genres I was comfortable with. 2008 was a tough year for me. My wife (then girlfriend) and I struggled to get our new post-high school lives started as the Great Recession ravaged the economy. We were living with my parents, and Christmas had started. I had recently acquired an Xbox 360 and was thinking of playing it safe and asking for Gears of War 2, but I began to see all the glowing reviews for a game I remember seeing as a big part of that year’s Xbox E3 presentation - Fallout 3. So I took a risk and asked for the game for Christmas, and I got it.

Fallout 3 was my first real experience with a Western RPG, and I completely fell in love with it. I got the official strategy guide and got all the information I could. For Zoomers who don’t know what an actual brutal recession is like, I was applying to a mountain of jobs every week and getting zero callbacks or interviews. I think today we tend to forget just how bad that recession was. That ironically gave me a lot of free time to play Fallout 3, and I completed everything. I couldn’t get enough of the urban exploration, the dialogue choices, and the lore. I was like a kid in a candy store. Now, Fallout is one of my favorite video game franchises, and every time I boot a game up, I get a rush of those feelings again.

That was a tough time for me. I got a temporary holiday job at Toys R’ Us that sucked as the management was cold and it was my first experience with a lousy minimum wage job. The world news and economy were not good (yes, I know that sounds familiar now), and I was lost about what I was going to do. However, Fallout 3 did more than introduce me to a new genre or franchise; looking back, it was an escape and helped me get through it. That’s why Fallout is so important to me; it really did help me through a tough time.

Metroid Prime

If you know me, you wouldn’t be surprised to see this on the list. Metroid Prime is my all-time favorite video game. I remember as a kid getting hooked on Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 and constantly renting the game from Blockbuster before eventually ending up with a copy. My friends and I played it into the night on the weekends, along with 007 Goldeneye. Samus quickly became one of my go-to characters, and I still vividly remember telling an older friend that I liked him, which is when he informed me that Samus is actually a woman. Of course, this is before the “anti-woke” grifters and a time when “badass women” were all the rage, so I didn’t care. Eventually, however, I did want to actually play the game Samus came from, and that wouldn’t come until early 2003.

I had a neighbor who got a GameCube for Christmas 2002 with a copy of Metroid Prime. I was too busy playing Star Fox Adventures (an underrated game, in my opinion) to play it until the start of the new year. He let me borrow the game, and in a way, it kind of silently became mine. Well, let me tell you it was one of the most incredible gaming experiences I've ever had. I know people love 2D Metroidvania, but this was my first time with the genre, and I loved it. Hell, even the backtracking didn’t bother me. I wanted to get all the power-ups, collect all the lore, and help Samus on her quest in Tallon IV. I just fell in love with the Metroid aesthetics, world, gameplay, and the badass silent bounty hunter. I became so obsessed that I realized I began to know the game by memory so perfectly that I played it THREE STRAIGHT times in one day. That sounds like a joke, but it’s not. I finished the game consistently in about four hours and finally achieved a 100% ranking. When I played the Switch Remastered edition, I hadn’t played it in over a decade, and I told myself I wouldn’t try to get everything. Without trying, I 100% finished it in about ten hours; that’s how seared into my brain this game is!

Today, the Metroid franchise is my favorite video game IP, and I am HYPED for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. I did eventually play some of the other titles in the series including Super Metroid, which is a freaking masterpiece. So, yeah, Metroid Prime is pretty darn important.

Halo 2

Xbox is pretty much my second favorite brand after Nintendo. A big part of this is because I see a lot of the N64 personality (minus the platformers) in the brand, and the N64 was my peak childhood console. When I got the system on Christmas 2004, I also got Halo: Combat Evolved shortly after. The hype I heard around the game was worth it, and it was the best first-person shooter experience I had since 007 Goldeneye. So, naturally, considering the immense marketing and hype that Halo 2 just had, I moved on to the sequel. Halo 2 was a you had to be there moment. Even though first-person shooters don’t tend to be my favorite genre, I am a sucker for a good Halo campaign. Master Chief has a John Wayne personality (minus the real life baggage) and I like the setting and lore the franchise slowly unraveled. I was on the edge of my seat seeing the Arbiter’s story, and I remember screaming “What!” when the cliffhanger ending hit. I was in, and Halo is still special to me, recent warts and all.

Like I said earlier, I was mostly a Nintendo guy, but this was the start of my expansion beyond that. Halo 2 brought me closer to more mature experiences and allowed me to try out more Western genres. In many ways, this was the last major game that happened at a time when I had no worries and the stress of adulthood hadn’t hit me. Definitely a time to remember.

Bloodborne

I came very close to being anti-Soulsborne. A big part of it was the toxic part of the community, and I still roll my eyes at some of the things they say. Luckily for me, it was my time watching a YouTube Let’s Play of Bloodborne that had me jump into the genre. Bloodborne just looked like something I would love as a fan of Halloween and Gothic Horror aesthetics. I knew these games were challenging, but I took the plunge and decided I would try my best to beat them. I’ll admit the first couple of hours were a little rough, but eventually I realized I had to be calmer than most games and learn attack patterns. Once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. Don’t get me wrong, I am not in any way an expert with these games, but I do know enough to keep at it and get through the hardest parts, mostly by trying to overlevel myself.

What made my experience with Bloodborne so memorable and important was the world and the introduction to the genre. These games are tough, and they have moments that make me want to quit, but once you get past those, everything else is one of those unforgettable gaming experiences. Bloodborne’s Victorian-era design gave me modern Castlevania vibes, and it was something so fresh and new at a time when first-person shooters were dominating the market. I had started to understand the type of gamer I was when I played it, and eventually played the other From Software titles in the genre. It was just a really special time for me and one I constantly wish I could experience all over again.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

While I came close to including The Last of Us and Bioshock on this list, and those are some of my favorite games, I felt Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was more important to me because of its great storytelling. It was my gateway to finally starting to use the PlayStation brand. I had been able to snag a PS3 when the slim version came out and the Kevin Butler campaign was everywhere. I have always wanted to own a PlayStation console as it is, in many ways, the “it” brand of the console space. My first game was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which is phenomenal, and later I got Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, which had me fall in love with that franchise. However, when I got the first Uncharted game, just before the third came out, it changed how I saw gaming.

Now, to be fair to other games, I did play or at least saw others play games that showed how video games can have a cinematic feel, such as Metal Gear Solid, Bioshock, and I would even argue The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess—but Uncharted felt different. Uncharted showed me witty dialogue, humor, and an adventure feel, and it was like I was in the middle of a movie. Nate is one of my favorite video game protagonists to this day, and I really do miss this franchise. If Super Mario and Halo were my first memories of Nintendo and Xbox, Uncharted was truly my start with the PlayStation brand and the best it coukd offer. Again, I love The Last of Us, but it starts here for Naughty Dog. This is when I saw how movie-like and cinematic gaming could be.

Doom Eternal

So Doom Eternal is just an all-around kickass video game. Launching during the COVID and election hell of 2020, this game helped me in many ways. I don’t think I can think of a game ideal for unleashing your frustrations and giving you a symbolic way to scream than Doom Eternal. The metal music hits as you rip apart a demon and immediately move quickly to the next enemy. I’ve always said this is a game where it feels like you’re inside a rock music video. The story is simplistic, but who cares because I’m here to rip and tear till it is literally done. Angry about the chaotic and divisive news of the 2020 election or the mismanagement of COVID, boot this up and go at it. While my wife was playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I ripped every demon I could.

The crazy news of 2020 wasn’t the only reason to boot this game up. At the time, my daughter was turning into a one-year-old and still was tough to put to bed for long periods of time. So, as other parents know from experience, I would be up pretty late if I had to get up, and this game helped me if I couldn’t go back to sleep after I finally got her to, or I needed to get some steam off. This game was my 2020 escape from what is going to be one of my generation’s craziest events.

100 Acre Wood | Wiki | Kingdom Hearts Amino

Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 Remix

I have a core memory with this game that I won’t forget. During most of my 20s, me and my wife pretty much became what some of you call Disney adults. Disney is my favorite non video game company, specifically the animated films and theme parks. I remember the 2002 Kingdom Hearts hype, but I had a GameCube so I missed out on it. Fast forward to 2013 and Square was releasing Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 Remix. Even though my wife barely plays any games, she wanted to see me play the entire game due to the Disney crossover. This is the only time she has sat down and watched me play an entire game, even the parts she may not have been crazy about.

The real kicker came when I found myself in the Hundred Acre Wood, with the characters of Winnie the Pooh. My wife loves Pooh Bear and I actually got her a stuffed Pooh Bear in our first year dating during my time at Grad Nite in Disney (which is now part of my daughter’s collection of stuffed animals). I still have the joy in her face when she realized the area I found and she even got a bit emotional. I’ve had a lot of awesome video game memories, but this one still ranks up there among the best.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

There is no game that has had as much of an impact on me and my life as a gamer more than 1998’s consequential classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was my first experience with a franchise that would become my second favorite video game IP and many of the best times I’ve had playing games. I was already pretty knee deep into gaming, but I was still an impressionable kid. My peak childhood period was starting as I became a hardcore Godzilla fan, watched the Monday Night Wars going on in wrestling, and eventually got caught up in the Pokemon craze. My parents let us rent one game every other weekend and we had decided to rent Ocarina of Time. As someone who was mostly stuck to Mario at the time, this game changed everything.

I found myself in a medieval style epic fantasy adventure, traveling across a vast land and taking on hordes of enemies while meeting different characters and allies. The moment I stepped outside to Hyrule Field, it was like I was entering a new land filled with possibilities. Right there I knew this would be something I wasn’t going to let go of - video games would be a part of my life as long as I was on this Earth. All of a sudden everything gaming could be opened up to me, how it can be art and teach us lessons with messages, it could be entertainment, and it could set us off to live adventures we could dream of. It’s the game that eventually got me to be here writing this article for my newsletter.

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