Time to cover the second generation of gaming (for me).

GBC: Pokemon Gold

I start with the easiest system. Frankly speaking...I didn't make much use of the GBC and mostly used it for old GB games I never got to play. This game was one of the few sequels I had played in my time that improved upon the original...while adding a ton. Time based events were my personal favorites...and still something I rarely see in games outside of MMOs. It was brilliant and beautifully executed. Not to mention the absolute vastness of the game. You had the whole new game and then pretty much ALL of Red/Blue. It was epic in a way that made many console games seem like infants.

SNES: Super Mario World 2

Oh my. The SNES had such a plethora of great games it was extremely difficult to choose a single one. I grew up on Mega Man X. Spent a lot of time with A Link to the Past. While FFVI is my favorite in the series for various reasons. Super Metroid blew me away in many ways. It boils down to SMW2 as being the most influential to me though.

Though the SNES was great...it featured a lot of games that were merely upgrades to NES games (sometimes HUGE upgrades...but still merely upgrades). I love the Mario series...they are fun. I can tell you every secret in Super Mario World...it being the one I first spent the most time with. SMW2 on the other hand, blew me away in ways I didn't expect. It had a beautiful art style that was different for its time (and still is to some extent). It was a Mario game that did not revolve around playing AS Mario...but rather as his dinosaur friend Yoshi. The music was very upbeat and extremely fun. Most importantly...it was an interesting new take on the Mario platforming formula. Instead of only running through levels and jumping...here you had levels that had path choices...had depth. To top that off Yoshi had some interesting powers of his own (like throwing eggs) that made combat and bosses far more enjoyable than any other Mario before it. Also...there were a lot of collectibles and things to do in each level that were appropriately challenging (unlike all the other Mario games...old and new). SMW2 showed me how games could be new and fresh...something I began to beg for and crave from then on.

Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

I love Mario. I'm a Nintendo boy at heart...but I won't lie...I like Sonic more. It's too bad Sonic hasn't stayed as consistently good over time as Mario has...but then again Sega has tried to innovate and change the formula (something I like) more than Nintendo has. Sonic 2 took the platforming I loved in Mario...and made it fast. Made it edgy. Made it thrilling. It was like a rollecoaster ride. And it was absolutely wonderful.

The bright colorful visuals complemented the high speed game play. The music was equally upbeat and catchy to keep in tune with the pace of the gameplay. The controls were a lot more polished in comparison with part 1. The game was lengthy. To top it all off, there was this neat new feature of coop...something that was executed in a way that made the second player a supplemental player rather than a proper simultaneous player. I loved it. Another great addition was the idea of Super Sonic. This time around...we were truly rewarded for collecting all the Chaos Emeralds. This game was the first and only 'mario clone' I ever played that showed me what it truly meant to 'take it to the next level'.

PC #1: The Longest Journey

This was an extremely tough choice. It was between this and Quake. Quake was my first game. It was the first mainstream truly 3D FPS. It was one of the first to have a very well-done and fun multiplayer (which I STILL play sometimes). It had a really fun coop. It was still a bigger, better Doom though. The Longest Journey, on the other hand, took the kind of stuff I enjoyed in games like Myst with the kind of in-depth story I enjoy in games like Final Fantasy and meshed them together into a beautifully crafted game.

It's still a point and click adventure like Myst...but unlike Myst you have set screens with detailed environments where you see your character (April Ryan) and have her interact with objects there. The puzzle solving was fun and interesting like Myst...without being painfully difficult. The most important thing though is that it was the first game I played that had dynamic characters and a dynamic story. I felt for EVERY character in that game. I cared about EVERY character. The story had all sorts of twists and turns and ended with a happy yet tragic ending. To make things better, it was the first game I had played that had good voice acting. The Longest Journey was an experience unlike any I had ever had in my life.

NEXT UP: N64, GBA (should be in GCN...but I want to make sure 3DS matches up with Wii), PS1, PC #2.

Note: Won't be up for a couple days...I'm done for the day. See you guys soon! :)