Unlike others, I do not have an impressive story of a much-loved classic. I could not afford a NES, Master System, or any other console of the time. Instead, I was lured into gaming by a small collection of terrible, terrible Commodore 64 games.

Let me explain!

1. Elektra Glide

THE FIRST FANTASY RACING EPIC.





I have no idea why I was so impressed with this. Even at the time the reviews were terrible. Game goes like this: vroom, vroom, drive endlessly across a glorious eight-colour landscape in a car* you cannot see. Pass occasional trees! Gaze upon mountains that inexplicably turn yellow!

I played this game for hours and hours, traveling forever towards the horizon, never once searching for a point. Being 8 years old is awesome!

* except the picture above now tells me it was a bike! Who knew?


2. The Hobbit

Jesus, this game is terrible. Not terrible in the slightly good way of the others, just...terrible. I think I need a thesaurus.



See those graphics? They represent Tolkien's magical world of elves, hobbits, and ugly green doors. In his position, I would rise from the dead and sue.

I also never finished this game :-( More precisely, I only once got out of the first room. That single time, I was magically transported to some sort of shed, where Gandalf occasionally popped in and spent some quality time not helping me at all.


3. Shockway Rider

At 8 years old, I thought this guy was the coolest person EVER.



And the game was so exciting and futuristic! Amazing cityscapes, places called Skull Alley, dudes with shades, the works. And of course, moving pavements populated by evil criminals!



As Greg 'Cobra' Follis, the world's toughest vigilante and most epically-named lead character, you ride the shockways and beat people up! Then a new level starts, and you ride the shockways and beat people up! Then another level starts, and....yeah!


4. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Another text adventure, but actually awesome! Sort of. At least, it reads like Douglas Adams wrote it. Unfortunately, at the time I had no idea who Adams was and so made it about 15 minutes into the game before I got stuck. Anyone know how to get the Babelfish out of the Vogon machine?

The start of the game, only marginally before I started feeling stupid:



Again, you have someone following you around being unhelpful. This time it is Ford Prefect - at least slightly less irritating than Gandalf, who could have magicked me out of that fricking shed if he'd wanted to :-L

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I credit my decision to play this crap to three things:

1. I was 8 and video games were strange and magical constructs
2. They were all free
3. In a weird way, they were kind of awesome! Yeah, gaming has come a long way, and games are crazy deep and wonderful now. But there is something to be said for a game hashed out quick by a couple of dudes. The Hobbit may be akin to punching yourself in the face forever, but the other games are sort of sweet - and it is amazing what held our attention 15-20 years ago.

All pictures originally swiped from Lemon 64:
http://www.lemon64.com/
Go there! Fantastic site and hugely entertaining :-)