Game Time!!! (Reminisce For a Spell)

Okay, this is really a nerd moment for me so bare with me. I had a really down day at work earlier this week until a co-worker and I got caught up in a conversation about video games. I was totally in a zone where I wanted to be left alone. I put my IM message on away, played Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak album on repeat (NAKED FACT: Depressing music actually makes me feel better) and was pretty much anti-social from the moment I walked in the office until about 4:30pm when my geeky conversation about my favorite games for the Sega Genesis system led my co-worker to do a quick Google search.

After a few keystrokes he found a clip of Last Battle, one of my all-time favorite video games when I was coming up. Problem is, most folks never heard of it. The basic premise was simple, you were some muscle-bound hero from some distant planet knocking out mindless minions and evildoers until you earned enough punch points to power-up—which was when you ripped out of your shirt and had faster kick and punch combos—so you could take on level bosses. Looking back on the clip it was pretty basic, but it was all my prepubescent mind needed to be entertained for hours while racking up my mother’s electric bill.

Needless to say, the flashback to my childhood immediately took me out of my funk and turned a crappy day into a happy one—in the end at least. So after doing a little more Googling I came across a host of other video games that played a pivotal role in my childhood. So I decided to compile a few of these blasts from the past and share with y’all. Looking back on these 8-bit and 16-bit graphics, it’s crazy to see how far we’ve come because these cornball titles would have me mesmerized back in the day. Maybe not all of you can relate, but it helped put a smile on my face today, I’m hoping the little kid in you can take a moment to reflect on a time when life was simple and carefree.

Ah, to be a kid again. Enjoy.

DOUBLE DRAGON (1987)