If you could play any game for the first time ever again...

[ixfd64]

This is a question from /r/AskReddit that I figured would make an interesting thread here. If you could experience any video game as if you were playing it for the first time ever, which one would it be?

For me, it's probably Super Mario World. That game was a big part of my childhood, and I always felt a sense of wonder when I unlocked a new level for the first time. Sure, there are lots of ROM hacks out there, but it just doesn't beat playing the original game.

Honorable mention: Doom. One of my friends showed me the shareware version in the summer of 1999, and it was what really got me into first-person shooters. I remember taking several minutes to find out how to open the doors in E1M1. Ah, memories...

[doggydoo]

Sonic the hedgehog 2 blew my mind when i first saw/played it. Coming from simple DOS games and NES, this was a huge step forward.

[MAT]

it would be the first Half-Life. The AI of the soldiers had really blown my mind, prompting me to replay it hundreds of times.

[Hank]

Opening the Build editor.
Sure it does not qualify as a game, but I spend years worth of hours with it.

To keep it on topic, Quake II with a TNT video card on OpenGL mode. That too I played for hours at a time.

[dan2091]

Super Mario World. That sense of discovering new levels... Nintendo never did it ever again with Mario; Yoshi and the super cape feather. Completely agree with ixfd64 here.

That's, the one. Other possible games are: Duke3D, Deus Ex and Max Payne 1 & 2.

[Stevey Boy]

The Chaos Engine

[MrBlackCat]

As far as reactions, back in the mid 90's, I did not know that the next Duke Nukem (which turned out to be Duke Nukem 3D) was in fact a "DooM-a-Like" as I called them back then. 3D First Person Shooter wasn't really a definitive classification term for me at that point. I was playing Duke Nukem II (on a different computer) while the new Duke Nukem 3D was downloading actually. (From Software Creations BBS at sub-28.8bps) When I opened that up for the first time, and Duke talked... WOW! Never forget that moment.

But the Duke Nukem Side Scroller to 2.5D, was a moment or turning point... as far as actual game/game-play that I would like to "relive", it would likely be Grand Theft Auto III. I was not much of a console gamer back then, and only got my PS1 to play the available Duke Nukem games. I got my PS2 with the hope Duke Nukem Forever was coming out soon, or would be for PS2 at some point. My cousin got this game called GTA III and was(kept) telling me about it, but I didn't understand the idea of an open-world game at the time. When he finally had a chance to bring it over, the gaming part of my life became divided for the first time ever... between PC First Person Shooters, and Sandbox games.

MrBlackCat

[smashed pumpkin]

Hard question to pin down to just one game, but I'll give a couple of examples of games from the 90s that had huge impacts on myself. I would love to relive some of these:

1. Unreal. I was in AWE the first time I walked outside of the Vortex Rikers for the first time and saw the waterfall. Never seen graphics like that in a game before.

2. Duke3D. A friend of mine got the shareware before the full game was out. We played it for hours and hours for months. I've never seen a game that had realistic urban locations before. The humor, language, strippers, etc. were never before seen. It blew my 6th grade mind away. Then the full game came out and we discovered multiplayer. Probably the first PC multiplayer game I remember playing. It was awesome. Would love to relive this feeling.

3. Super Mario World. First Mario game that I felt had a "big" scope to it. Adding Yoshi just made it better.

4. HalfLife 1. Never experienced a story like this in a game before. It was like playing a movie.

[Nukkus]

Super Metroid ALL THE WAY.

[dan2091]

Replayed Yoshi's Island last boss battle yesterday. That ending is something I don't have to play for the first time again to get that feeling of nostalgia over and over. Great game. Don't know why I didn't mentioned it on my first post.

I have yet to complete Super Metroid, but the grapple beam alone make it one of the best games for me. I actually did finish Zero Mission and Fusion, great games albeit less complex than Super Metroid (up to what I played from it anyway), and also, no grapple beam.

[Rapture_Rising]

Half Life series, after playing through Black Mesa i thought a good HL2 playthrough was in order, i think for a game that is over 10 years old, the graphics have aged very well and imo still holds up today.

I don't think any game (at least the ones i have played) comes close to matching the seamless gameplay and story that Half Life series as a whole gives, what other games has a story with such depth being told without the need for cutscenes and a main character who doesn't speak.

The series isn't without it's faults, how come a scientist who has absolutely no experience with weapons become a master with weapons and survive through Black Mesa? the HEV suit didn't give him those advantages and how did between games, Gordon Freeman become such a god like figure?

Edit...

what other games has a story with such depth being told without the need for cutscenes and a main character who doesn't speak.

With the exception of the original Bioshock.

[8IronBob]

Doom 2...always fun to pick up a berserk pack, and turn half those zombie soldiers inside out!

[Drazula]

Greetings! I see some of the same nitwits are still here. Hope everyone is doing well!

Play a game for the first time again:

Wolfenstein 3D - first time I ever saw 3D. Jaw dropping.
Doom - first time I ever played deathmatch. Mind blowing.
Bioshock - Just awesome.