Video games

For no particular reason or purpose, here’s the list of my video games. My favorites are marked with a little ✪

My first console was the original Game Boy. I got it from my godfather either on Christmas 1989 or on my 10th birthday in May 1990. My 2 years younger sister also got one. We didn’t have many games. I wished for Double Dragon, probably because I got to play it or a similar beat-them-up game at a friend’s place. We got some random bundle of 3 games (Gargoyle’s Quest, Dead Heat Scramble, Pinball: Revenge of the Gator) which were actually fine. Still to this day, Tetris is my favorite game ever.

One Saturday the whole family was at the Avry Centre shopping mall and the newly released Super Nintendo was on display. I lobbied like crazy so my parents would get it as a collective present for my 3 sisters and me, for Christmas and birthdays combined! My parents definitely got the better end of the deal: approximately CHF 350 for 8 presents. My sisters however got screwed, none of them really were into gaming. I even got one of them to buy Super Mario Kart, a game she almost never played, but on which my cousin and I spent countless hours. I bought The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past second hand from a guy in my class, in 1994 I’d guess. It was the US cartridge, so I had to play the game in English which I did not understand at the time. Somehow it worked though. I think I had never heard of The Legend of Zelda despite spending the totality of my monthly pocket money (CHF 10) on French video games magazines (mostly Joypad and Super Power). Most other games from then on were recommendations from said magazines, with some disappointing ones, like Street Fighter 2. It was technically fine, but combo-learning me was consistently and frustratingly losing against my dumbly-button-mashing cousin.

A Swiss Nintendo Championship was organized in 1993^[1]. The competition was on Road Runner’s Death Valley Rally , a super shitty game that, by some strange coincidence, I owned. This was pre-Internet of course, so you would participate by buying a 3.5" floppy that you had to insert into some booth at chosen stores across the country. I think you were given a small number of tries to make your highest scored run in one of the game’s levels. Then you would send the floppy in and wait for the ranking. Somehow I qualified, and got to go to the finals in Bern. I remember the 1st prize being the brand new Sony Minidisc Walkman (maybe the MZ-1?) worth CHF 1000. I think I didn’t get any further in the competition.

The Nintendo 64 I got at launch too. There was a shortage of games however, so I spent 2-3 days just staring at my console. During my high school years, my cousins and I played so much on that console. For Goldeneye 007, we would do 2 player deathmatches with 2 TVs hooked up to the same Nintendo 64 (by splitting the signal going to the coax cable). The TVs would sit back to back and on each we would cover one half of the screen with cardboard. This way you could not see where the other player was.

I got the Game Boy Advance during my exchange year in Pittsburgh. I think the GameCube came out at that time, but I had no TV and it would add one more thing to carry back home in my limited luggage space. So I got the GameCube probably a year late. The Wii I got at launch again, with a few people queuing up and running through the Media Markt electronics store next to my office in Genève.

After the Wii, I bought my first non-Nintendo system, the PS3. I think the first year or so, I would still play on an analog SD TV. I could double-check all the timelines, but I’m too lazy, honestly. Moving to HD was a literal game changer. Then came iOS games, on the very first iPad, on the iPod Touch, then later on the various iPhone models I had. I never owned a Nintendo DS, but at some point I had 2 Nintendo DS Lite so I could play against my girlfriend. She enjoyed playing games with people or watching me play, but wouldn’t play that much on her own.

First I wanted to skip the WiiU because it seemed like a gimmick and an insignificant upgrade. That’s probably what most people thought too, as the console was a flop. But in the end I got one, mostly to continue my Nintendo home consoles collection. I don’t regret it, it had some nice games, all first party unsurprisingly. The proof that its games were quite alright is that many of them were ported to the Switch where they succeeded.

I got a refurbished PS4 at about 50% off, about 1 year in I think. A couple of years later, The Last of Us alone justified that purchase. The Switch was another Nintendo console I got at launch, along with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. A masterpiece!

What’s next?

Nintendo

Switch

Physical:

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
2. Metroid Dread
3. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
4. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
5. Super Mario Odyssey
6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ✪
7. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
8. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
9. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ✪

Dematerialized:

1. Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps And Beans
2. Builder’s Journey
3. Cuphead
4. DERU - The Art of Cooperation
5. Doom
6. GRIS
7. Joggernauts
8. Metroid Prime ✪ (remastered)
9. Morphies Law
10. Ori and the Will of the Wisps ✪
11. PAC-MAN 99
12. Pumped BMX Pro
13. Shady Part of Me
14. Shu
15. Super Mario Bros. 35
16. Tetris 99
17. Tetris Effects Connected

Total: 26

WiiU

Physical:

1. Nintendo Land
2. SPLATOON
3. Super Mario 3D World
4. Super Mario Maker
5. Yoshi’s Woolly World

Dematerialized:

1. Mario Kart 8

Total: 6

Wii

Physical:

1. Guitar Hero World Tour
2. Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock
3. Mario Kart Wii
4. New Super Mario Bros Wii
5. Super Mario All-Star
6. Super Mario Galaxy ✪
7. Super Mario Galaxy 2
8. The Legend of Zelda Skyward Swords
9. The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
10. Wii Sports
11. Link’s Crossbow Training
12. Super Paper Mario

Virtual Console:

1. Lost Winds
2. Mario Bros.
3. Super Mario 64
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. TV Show King

Total: 17 15

GameCube

1. F-Zero GX
2. Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
3. Metroid Prime ✪
4. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes ✪
5. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
6. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Master Quest
7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
8. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
9. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
10. Super Mario Sunshine
11. Time Splitters 2
12. Wave Race: Blue Storm

Total: 12 7

Borrowed: Soul Calibur II

Nintendo 64

1. 1080º Snowboarding
2. Banjo Kazooie
3. Donkey Kong 64
4. F-Zero X
5. Goldeneye 007 ✪
6. Lylatwars
7. Perfect Dark
8. Super Mario 64 ✪
9. The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask
10. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time ✪
11. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
12. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
13. Yoshi’s Story
14. Diddy Kong Racing
15. Jet Force Gemini
16. Mario Party
17. V-Rally Edition 99
18. Wave Race 64

Total: 18 13

Super Nintendo

1. Batman Returns
2. F-Zero
3. Stunt Race FX
4. Super Mario Kart ✪
5. Super Mario World ✪
6. The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past ✪
7. Donkey Kong Country
8. Road Runner’s Death Valley Rally
9. Street Fighter 2
10. Wing Commander

Total: 10 6

Borrowed: Bubsy, Earthworm Jim, Joe & Mac, Jurassic Park, Killer Instinct, Krusty’s Super Fun House, Mario is Missing!, Pilotwings, Prince of Persia, Star Fox, Super Mario All Stars, Super Probotector Alien Rebels, Top Gear, Vortex, Yoshi’s Island

Nintendo 3DS

Physical:

1. Super Mario 3D Land

Dematerialized:

1. The Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds

Total: 2

Nintendo DS Lite

1. Mario Kart DS
2. Metroid Prime Hunters
3. Tetris DS
4. New Super Mario Bros.
5. Nintendo DS Browser

Total: 5 3

Game Boy Advance

1. Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Total: 1 0

Game Boy

1. Double Dragon
2. Tetris ✪
3. Wizards & Warriors X: The Fortress of Fear
4. Dead Heat Scramble
5. Gargoyle’s Quest
6. Pinball: Revenge of the Gator

Total: 6 3

Borrowed: Bad’n’Rad Skate or Die, Days of Thunder, Hudson Hawk, Ishido, Radar Mission, Robocop, Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Sony PlayStation

PS5

Dematerialized:

1. ASTRO BOT
2. Control
3. Dead Space
4. God of War Ragnarök
5. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
6. Superliminal
7. Viewfinder

Total: 7

PS4

Physical:

1. Doom ✪
2. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
3. Prey
4. The Last of Us Part II ✪

Dematerialized:

1. Firewatch
2. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
3. Journey Collector’s Edition
4. Mundaun
5. Tetris Effect
6. The Last of Us Left Behind ✪
7. The Last of Us Remastered ✪
8. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Total: 12

PS3

Physical:

1. Assassin’s Creed
2. Assassin’s Creed II
3. Assassin’s Creed Revelations
4. BioShock
5. Call of Duty Black Ops
6. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
7. Crysis 2
8. ICO
9. Mirror’s Edge
10. MotorStorm Apocalypse
11. MotorStorm Pacific Rift
12. Portal 2 ✪
13. Shadow of the Colossus
14. Skate 2
15. The Last of Us
16. The Orange Box ✪

Dematerialized:

1. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
2. Little Big Planet
3. Wipeout HD Fury

Total: 19 3

Borrowed: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

PC

Windows

1. Quake II
2. Serious Sam
3. Wipeout

Total: 3 2

MacOS

1. World of Goo
2. itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality: Overland, Night in the Woods, Celeste, A Short Hike, etc.

Total: ?

Steam

1. The Talos Principle
2. Fez
3. Guacamelee! Gold Edition
4. Human Resource Machine
5. Mini Metro
6. Nuclear Throne
7. Octodad: Dadliest Catch
8. Portal
9. Portal 2 ✪
10. Stardew Valley
11. Super Hexagon
12. The Witness
13. World of Goo
14. …

Total: ?

Mobile

iOS

The nice ones:

1. Alto’s Adventure
2. Badland
3. Letterpress - Word Game
4. Monument Valley
5. Monument Valley 2
6. Playdead’s INSIDE
7. Threes!
8. Trail Boss BMX

…and sooo many more:

1. Alto’s Odyssey
2. Bastion
3. Bridge Constructor Portal
4. Crossy Road
5. Dark Echo
6. Donut County
7. Dots: A Game About Connecting
8. Dreii
9. Exploding Kittens
10. Fieldrunners
11. Flipflop Solitaire
12. GodFinger
13. Hitman GO
14. Human Resource Machine
15. Hundreds
16. Kitty Letter
17. LEGO Life of George
18. Mario Kart Tour
19. Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
20. Pumped: BMX
21. Pumped BMX 2
22. Pumped BMX 3
23. Pumped BMX Flow
24. Spaceteam
25. Splitter Critters
26. Stagehand: A Reverse Platformer
27. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
28. Super Hexagon
29. Super Mario Run
30. Super Monkey Ball
31. Tetris
32. Tiny Wings
33. Towaga
34. Type:Rider
35. We Rule
36. (re)format Z:
37. …

Total: ?

This is an evergreen article. It will stay at this URL, but its content might change in the future. A changelog will be included.

Changelog:

• 02.08.2021: fixed mistakes in Super Nintendo and Game Boy games, added borrowed games, added Wing Commander to Super Nintendo, added Wave Race 64 to Nintendo 64, added Time Splitters 2 and Wave Race: Blue Storm to GameCube, added anecdote about Swiss Championship
• 08.08.2021: added Hudson Hawk to Game Boy
• 15.10.2021: added Metroid Dread and Tetris Effects Connected to Switch
• 15.11.2021: donated ICO, Portal 2, Shadow of the Colossus and The Orange Box to Gabriel. Donated the PS3 and the rest of the games to Carmen
• 18.12.2021: Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on Nintendo 64 is back in my collection, added Robocop to borrowed Game Boy titles, added Jurassic Park and Prince of Persia to borrowed Super Nintendo titles
• 28.05.2022: added The Talos Principle to Steam
• 25.08.2022: added Doom to Switch
• 03.10.2022: added Banjo Kazooie and Yoshi’s Story to Nintendo 64
• 28.12.2022: added PlayStation 5, added some borrowed Game Boy titles
• 30.03.2023: added Metroid Prime to Switch
• 15.05.2023: added The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to Switch
• 28.12.2023: added Super Mario Bros. Wonder to Switch
• 19.06.2024: added Superliminal, Viewfinder, Control and Dead Space to PS5
• 18.11.2024: added The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom to Switch, and ASTRO BOT to PS5