Thank you for the shout out on the Harry Potter games - if you hunt, you may well see me in the credits on a load from those early years, including Quidditch.
No way, really? Thank you so much for your work. I loved the Chamber Of Secrets game growing up and I’ve met many in my age bracket who share the same sentiment. Hope you’re doing well.
Also played a lot of Wii Sports, that Wii fad hit the UK hard. It was more of a living room/family console in my experience though, not something me or my friends had in their own bedrooms to play
Great list. I appreciate someone even remember BF1 exists, let alone accurately appraising its strengths vis a vis 2.
Regarding Halo, I still quietly curse 343 for what they did at exactly 3:43, am or pm, anytime anywhere, and have for close to half my life at this point. I imagine I'll be doing so long after they close, and I pass this tradition beyond just some close friends, my descendants will instinctively know it as an evil number without immediately knowing why.
Xbox avatar games need to make a comeback. I remember there was a guy who was remaking that old Castleminer Z game on Facebook and I think he put it on early access on Steam.
Sonic fans ate so well on the Gamecube, between SA1+2, Mega Collection and Gems Collection. Mario wasn't in the best shape then, I don't blame you not liking him.
Your list really took me back to my 20s, in particular the old Lego games and Need for Speed. Man, I miss the PS2, Xbox, GC days.
Those are the names I was looking for but couldn't quite remember, owned both of those, I was basically a Sega kid about a decade too late with all that on GC, the Sonic Adventure DX port gets (rightfully) roasted a lot today but I couldn't tell the difference and it certainly didn't hamper my love for Sonic; I even liked Shadow the Hedgehog but I had that one on PS2.
Such a high point for console gaming, from about 1998-2008 just nothing but stone cold classics.
Quick Edit: When I was a kid I couldn't believe how good Rebel Strike and Rogue Leader looked on GameCube, I truly thought graphics couldn't get any better.
Ah yes, going back through the article I see you’re in the UK. I jumped right to the list for the memories lol especially when I saw BF1 in the article preview. I don’t know how many hours I sunk into BF1/2.
No worries haha. Me neither, I'm still not bored of playing those games, every couple of years I'll put in the PS2 disc or boot up either of them on Steam and just play nothing but Battlefront for days.
I'm a millennial, and I loved Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2. Partially because I'm bad at first-person shooters, and it's much easier than CounterStrike, and partially because the game was a new FPS concept for me.
I never heard of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Will check that out.
Great map and much better than Kashyyyk Islands, that map is infamous for how unbalanced it is (though still great fun) that was the one with the village in the middle with all the barriers.
I loved that one part of Rhen Var where the ice tunnel just puts you right in the middle of the enemy base, you had the most vicious firefight ever to get through into the courtyard and then it was a mad dash to high ground while you were pelted with grenades, turret fire and God knows what else.
I respect the BF 1 enthusiasm immensely. A rare breed. An interesting tidbit about Battlefront Remastered Collection that got released recently. Despite whatever problems it may have, it allowed some cross game flexibility in maps, factions and modes as I recall. Rhen Var Harbor in BF2 is quite the experience. Same thing for BF 1 geonosis or Kashyyyk Docks or playing on Jabba's palace or the Death Star during the Clone Wars.
This is way more filled with games from the mid 00s than I would have thought! I'm happy to name you an honorary millennial. Welcome aboard. Looks like the games I played at 16, you played at 10. (I'm only four years older than you, but I'm correcting for the fact that I was late to almost everything, except Freddi Fish, New Super Mario Bros, Civ V, and Skyrim)
Cheers! I think what a lot of millennials don't realise is that the older Gen Z born between 98-01 did exactly that: we played what you did but younger; we can also remember a time before LCD TV's, smartphones and we too grew up watching VHS tapes and using MP3 players, these things just faded as we entered our early teens.
100%. I'm '96, my sister is '00, almost all my friends are from '89-98. There's no hard boundary. 2000 kids are more similar to '95 than they are to '05 imo. I imagine there will be similar discussions among alphas about who can remember a life before the covid quarantines.
Also, I have to say, Underground 2 and Chamber of Secrets are top tier PS2 experiences for me. Excellent choices
Sorry for replying so late, Substack didn't notify me.
Totally agree on the closer to 95 part, when I went to university I remember thinking that Gen Z born around 04-05 were basically just older Gen Alpha, I felt very out of place talking with them; I remember dying inside a bit when I joked about having to put SCART leads in a TV back in the day and the person I was talking to had no idea what I was talking about.
I really feel for them, quarantine was bad enough for the rest of us but the thought of losing the prime of my teenage years to it is really grim.
Thank you! I think my age bracket kind of had a perfect goldilocks zone where we grew up with all the late 1990's goodness and got to experience both the end of classic console gaming and the rise of the online era, I tried to capture that feeling of being straddled between old and new in this list.
Some of these bring back different memories for me, being 10 years older! Local play Halo was the choice of drinking game at house parties, along with Smash Bros or some old Mega Drive beat em up. I do miss a good old movie tie in game, but you are right, they were mainly terrible. I think they sadly peaked the gen before.
That Toy Story tie-in on PS1 wasn't that bad either, a bit before my time but I played bits of it on my older brother's PS1 growing up.
Classic Halo is just peak FPS fun, it was the one game you could rely n to provide when split-screen was vanishing from everything, the LEGO games were pretty good for that too if memory serves.
I'd say these are more late-millennial games. When I think about gen Z games I think about minecraft, black ops 3, fnaf, and mobile classics like clash of clans, angry birds, subway surfers...
Spot on list, especially with Star Wars and racing games. I'll also add Heroes of Might and Magic V and Civilization V, although those may have required parents who pushed us toward strategy games or had a million board games in the house like mine.
Great write-up and +1 for the Doritos Crash Course reference! Many hours were spent trying to get a gold medal on that final Japan level. Alongside Crash Course I also played a bunch of Harm's Way and I still have both games in my library since I maintain my Xbox account from all the way back then.
Thank you for the shout out on the Harry Potter games - if you hunt, you may well see me in the credits on a load from those early years, including Quidditch.
No way, really? Thank you so much for your work. I loved the Chamber Of Secrets game growing up and I’ve met many in my age bracket who share the same sentiment. Hope you’re doing well.
For me, it was Lego games and Wii Sports/Resort that occupied most of my gaming time. Then I went on to PC gaming with Minecraft and Civilization V.
Also played a lot of Wii Sports, that Wii fad hit the UK hard. It was more of a living room/family console in my experience though, not something me or my friends had in their own bedrooms to play
I never had a TV in my room, much less a console.
Great list. I appreciate someone even remember BF1 exists, let alone accurately appraising its strengths vis a vis 2.
Regarding Halo, I still quietly curse 343 for what they did at exactly 3:43, am or pm, anytime anywhere, and have for close to half my life at this point. I imagine I'll be doing so long after they close, and I pass this tradition beyond just some close friends, my descendants will instinctively know it as an evil number without immediately knowing why.
It doesn’t get enough love compared to number 2, I love both.
It is a cursed number: the mark of the great defiler.
Xbox avatar games need to make a comeback. I remember there was a guy who was remaking that old Castleminer Z game on Facebook and I think he put it on early access on Steam.
Really would love that genre of game to come back
This list spoke deeply to my soul. Shout out Chamber of Secrets and the Shrek 2 game!
Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 are such essentials. Loved playing them growing up and even now. Great article
Sonic fans ate so well on the Gamecube, between SA1+2, Mega Collection and Gems Collection. Mario wasn't in the best shape then, I don't blame you not liking him.
Your list really took me back to my 20s, in particular the old Lego games and Need for Speed. Man, I miss the PS2, Xbox, GC days.
Those are the names I was looking for but couldn't quite remember, owned both of those, I was basically a Sega kid about a decade too late with all that on GC, the Sonic Adventure DX port gets (rightfully) roasted a lot today but I couldn't tell the difference and it certainly didn't hamper my love for Sonic; I even liked Shadow the Hedgehog but I had that one on PS2.
Such a high point for console gaming, from about 1998-2008 just nothing but stone cold classics.
Quick Edit: When I was a kid I couldn't believe how good Rebel Strike and Rogue Leader looked on GameCube, I truly thought graphics couldn't get any better.
Yeah those Star Wars games on GameCube were stunning!
NFL/NBA Street were killer games too
They weren't really played in the UK, maybe a basketball game or two but that was it.
Ah yes, going back through the article I see you’re in the UK. I jumped right to the list for the memories lol especially when I saw BF1 in the article preview. I don’t know how many hours I sunk into BF1/2.
No worries haha. Me neither, I'm still not bored of playing those games, every couple of years I'll put in the PS2 disc or boot up either of them on Steam and just play nothing but Battlefront for days.
I'm a millennial, and I loved Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2. Partially because I'm bad at first-person shooters, and it's much easier than CounterStrike, and partially because the game was a new FPS concept for me.
I never heard of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Will check that out.
Spent an insane amount of time playing those, Rhen Var is still one of my favourite maps in any game ever, as is Battlefront 1 Geonosis.
Give it a try! It's not a masterpiece by any means but a solid (if short) game.
I liked Kashyyyk Docks. You stand up top as a sniper and just mow down incoming units. At least that's what I recall.
Great map and much better than Kashyyyk Islands, that map is infamous for how unbalanced it is (though still great fun) that was the one with the village in the middle with all the barriers.
That's why I liked it lol. Like a turkey shoot.
I loved that one part of Rhen Var where the ice tunnel just puts you right in the middle of the enemy base, you had the most vicious firefight ever to get through into the courtyard and then it was a mad dash to high ground while you were pelted with grenades, turret fire and God knows what else.
I respect the BF 1 enthusiasm immensely. A rare breed. An interesting tidbit about Battlefront Remastered Collection that got released recently. Despite whatever problems it may have, it allowed some cross game flexibility in maps, factions and modes as I recall. Rhen Var Harbor in BF2 is quite the experience. Same thing for BF 1 geonosis or Kashyyyk Docks or playing on Jabba's palace or the Death Star during the Clone Wars.
This is way more filled with games from the mid 00s than I would have thought! I'm happy to name you an honorary millennial. Welcome aboard. Looks like the games I played at 16, you played at 10. (I'm only four years older than you, but I'm correcting for the fact that I was late to almost everything, except Freddi Fish, New Super Mario Bros, Civ V, and Skyrim)
Cheers! I think what a lot of millennials don't realise is that the older Gen Z born between 98-01 did exactly that: we played what you did but younger; we can also remember a time before LCD TV's, smartphones and we too grew up watching VHS tapes and using MP3 players, these things just faded as we entered our early teens.
100%. I'm '96, my sister is '00, almost all my friends are from '89-98. There's no hard boundary. 2000 kids are more similar to '95 than they are to '05 imo. I imagine there will be similar discussions among alphas about who can remember a life before the covid quarantines.
Also, I have to say, Underground 2 and Chamber of Secrets are top tier PS2 experiences for me. Excellent choices
Sorry for replying so late, Substack didn't notify me.
Totally agree on the closer to 95 part, when I went to university I remember thinking that Gen Z born around 04-05 were basically just older Gen Alpha, I felt very out of place talking with them; I remember dying inside a bit when I joked about having to put SCART leads in a TV back in the day and the person I was talking to had no idea what I was talking about.
I really feel for them, quarantine was bad enough for the rest of us but the thought of losing the prime of my teenage years to it is really grim.
Thank you! I think my age bracket kind of had a perfect goldilocks zone where we grew up with all the late 1990's goodness and got to experience both the end of classic console gaming and the rise of the online era, I tried to capture that feeling of being straddled between old and new in this list.
Some of these bring back different memories for me, being 10 years older! Local play Halo was the choice of drinking game at house parties, along with Smash Bros or some old Mega Drive beat em up. I do miss a good old movie tie in game, but you are right, they were mainly terrible. I think they sadly peaked the gen before.
That Toy Story tie-in on PS1 wasn't that bad either, a bit before my time but I played bits of it on my older brother's PS1 growing up.
Classic Halo is just peak FPS fun, it was the one game you could rely n to provide when split-screen was vanishing from everything, the LEGO games were pretty good for that too if memory serves.
I'd say these are more late-millennial games. When I think about gen Z games I think about minecraft, black ops 3, fnaf, and mobile classics like clash of clans, angry birds, subway surfers...
Spot on list, especially with Star Wars and racing games. I'll also add Heroes of Might and Magic V and Civilization V, although those may have required parents who pushed us toward strategy games or had a million board games in the house like mine.
Good times :)
I am a little bit older but I do remember a lot of hours spent with NFS Most Wanted <3 epic game that was :)
Great write-up and +1 for the Doritos Crash Course reference! Many hours were spent trying to get a gold medal on that final Japan level. Alongside Crash Course I also played a bunch of Harm's Way and I still have both games in my library since I maintain my Xbox account from all the way back then.