GRIS

This is the most visually astounding and satisfying game I've ever played. Although less expansive than its 3d counterpart Journey which is a personal all-time favourite, GRIS leaves you completely in awe of what the game designers achieved. When you play a game and its visual component beats everything else you've ever seen in a game the gameplay comes second.It's as if the designers in this game had over 500 years of art and design experience collectively - it's daunting how immersive  admiring someone's artistic achievement can be, as it completely affects the gaming experience itself. You seem to foget you're actually playing a cleverly designed platform game.This is what Dali\s Dysney movie should have looked like.

BUBBLE BOBBLE

My sisters loved playing this classic, my dad loved it , hell, I even  got my mom to play it once - and she hated video games.What was so enticing about this title? Was it the fact that it was one of the few genuine 2-player experiences from the 80s that did it for this classic? Aside from trapping enemies in a bubble and popping them and jumping platforms, the two B brothers must have offered something je ne sais quoi  to earn the status of a classic. It must have been the head-spinning and the cuteness that did it for all of us.The cute factor and the world that displayed this cuteness worked just as well in the arcade or an amusement park or on my friends NES whenever I would play it - there was always somebody asking to join me in my Baburu Boburu adventures. And yes - the iconic game soundtrack was heaven!

For all that it’s a great game inspired by a merely good one, Bubble Bobble was not, in itself, hugely influential—with the possible exception of the magnificent sequel Rainbow Islands. Between them, perhaps, they simply managed to perfect the formula. RS

CANABALT

This  free flash game with a man running from a world crumbling behind him, trying to escape death/apocalypse  jumping buildings was ported to a plethora of systems, and rightfully so. Running games were already in abundance at this time in gaming history, but the key to Canabalt's brilliance was its simplicity, both in terms of playability and the bleak urban surroundings  moving rapidly on the screen that seem to be reminiscent of  a nasty dream. It reminds me of those  easy-to-play-hard-to-finish games that reigned the 80s gaming universe, and the ease with which it successfully translated to c64 only proves my point further. It'a a game that would have been a smash whenever it appeared. This title is a personal favourite among endless runners.

You can download the c64 version at c64.com or wait until RGCD have made more cartridges.

NEBULUS

I loved having someone else play this game while I observed Pogo the main character always being at the centre of the screen with everything else moving around him. The fake 3d looked pretty real to me and it was one of those c64 titles that you were bound to play for the value of graphics alone. Sure, it was all about memorization and you were supposed to learn where all the tricky bits were , but the experience of playing this "tower toppler"  was incredibly fun..It was only later that I learned that Pogo and Populus were beloved by people owning other home computers at the time , and that other ports were equally entertaining and pleasing to the eye. The rising platforms, the simple form of sprites and the sense of depth in perception combined with decent game mechanics on both the towers and the bonus levels made this title a gaming delight.

It might have failed as a sci-fi title if anyone considered this to be a sci-fi game to begin with , but it is an absolute classic of a platformer.  It did not spawn a host of clones and new games, but those that appeared (Phatasmagoria for dos!) were always eagerly played by yours truly/

LEMMINGS

Ported to a number of different systems, Lemmings proved to be one of the biggest video games success stories of the 90s. A simple, unique and addictive concept of successfully guiding a number of lemmings to the level's exit by assigning 8 different tasks to 8 of them while paying attention to all the others in order to get as many of them to the exit gate by navigating and changing the levels' landscape became an instant iconic title in the  Amiga universe and one of the games most readily associated with Amiga. It inspired clever games across different gaming eras, from The Lost Vikings to Max and the Magic Marker and beyond.
120 beautifully designed and well-structured levels (or 20 in a 2-player mode) with ascending difficulty level throughout are still an eye-candy and still bring genuine joy to the player.
The music could have been given greater care with arrangements and sounds, but again it was the era of the unfortunate 16bit OGTs.However, this is insignificant compared to how great this game was and still is.

ANOTHER WORLD/ OUT OF THIS WORLD

This was the first genuine cinematic experience in gaming I had. It was as if the game maker had done his first movie debut and not a game. A b-movie , but a strong one nevertheless. Its pacing was that of a movie, the soundtrack was that of a movie, the photography was given so much attention to actually fool you into believing you're watching one. No score or stats appearing on screen, no intrusive music or tunes that would come in the away of the general feeling of alienation and loneliness. Great rotoscoping results I only saw in "The Lord of the Rings" cartoon before that. Playing with expectations just like in real movies  with sudden changes or subtle hints at changes through introducing details /objects further hightened the experience. And just like the movie makers of yesteryear who knew not to overdo  it with special effects , he kept monsters and sprites  more in the realm of contours and hints than finished products, thus making it still fresh for players who'd be willing to play it in 2017.

 It was so "out of this world" and such a unique account of loneliness in the modern world that whenever I revisited it on any platform I would just confirm what I initially thought of the game- this title had to be autobiographical. The hero wakes up in the alien world he cannot make head nor tail of. One cannot ascertain the where and when of this world, and  the feeling of being lost permeates  the entire narrative. The friendly alien helping the hero only makes everything even more distant and desperate.Danger lurks everywhere. That simply had to be what the game maker thought of the world he grew up in and of the people around him.

Try this cake. It's delicious.

CLUSTERTRUCK

With so many dear people leaving my country and going elsewhere to work as truckers, I take sinful pride in seeing so many trucks bumped and destroyed in this game. An (ex-)trucker must have been stuck so many time in convoys and terrible traffic jams and have expressed his frustrations to an eager programmer truthfully enough to have these unpleasant experiences turned into a game. It is very common to have people walking atop your truck trying to rob you of your gasoline, tyres or your truck itself while you're trying to get some sleep during nights.

So in this game you may easily be a thug who tries to rob a truck in a convoy when the convoy starts moving. CLUSTERTRUCK is a platform indie game  where the aim is to stay atop moving trucks (moving platforms) long enough to meet the finish line. If you touch the ground, get burnt, or hit by rocks, trees, contraptions etc you die. The pun in the title is thoroughly appropriate, as the game becomes harder with each level making you realise the first few levels were just training ground for the onslaughts to come. You decide whether you run or sprint before jumping, and you can slightly correct your movement while in air.Takes some getting used to, As the levels become wackier and more addictive, you get style points and acquire skills. You can only unlock two skills total at any given time , but once you've amassed all 14 of them you will have a whole lot of features to choose from : slow-falling , taking a double jump,  beaming yourself elsewhere, using climbing hooks, jet packs etc.

Fresh ideas that become unique gaming experiences are not hard to come by at all.

THE OOZE

A scientist named Dr. Craine is about to blow the whistle on a secret plot by The Corporation to spread a chemical plague amongst the general populace when the director of The Corporation poures chemical waste on him in the hope of silencing him for good.  Dr. Caine awakens to find he is a puddle of ooze with a monstrous head. Now he needs to kill the enemies and solve puzzles to collect all the DNA helices ro reclaim his human form or else he's in for an even worse fate of becoming a lava lamp.

Dumb, I know. But you stretch and spit ooze to obliterate enemies and see to it that your puddle doesn't get too small or your head directly hit, and it was loads of fun to play on my friend's console. Some would probably argue in favour of this title being more of a dying breath than a swansong for the Sega Genesis system, but its originality stood the test of time well. I would personally do away with the head, and find some other way to move puddle parts to confuse the player even further, but again it was the easiest way to conform the concept with your average Sega platfomer.

140

Another rhythm game that perfectly illustrates  the point I was trying to make in my previous post. 140 is a simple platformer that could have been made on any early 8bit system , but could only make sense today, in the age where electronic music and its culture of minimalism has completely infiltrated our lives and minds. Each movement of the triangle, each platform landing, each  fall,each life lost, every single arrival at a half-circular platform that announces a new level, the imaginary city skyline that rises and drops to music is built around an electronic tune of an idm/acid tech-like structure that you mix and alter by playing the game. Even the techno sequences in the space-shooter-like or the puzzle-like part of the game are musically embellished  by what you do.And all of this is possible due to masterful programming by Jeppe Carlsen's highly musical, synesthetic mind. When you move you're a black circle, when you jump you're a black triangle, and when you stop you're a rectangle. So idiotically simple , yet so brilliant!

I can totally see myself being a guest dj somewhere and banging a sweet , classy acid-tech tune just by playing this masterpiece.