When we start talking about games of yesteryear, you’re almost guaranteed to hear the same names popping up – Space Invaders, Pac-Man, or even Pong, if people feel particularly revealing.

While those games were the pioneers of video gaming as we have come to know it today – there were many games that came along the way. While perhaps not defining a genre or even being the best there was, these games formed a huge part of our lives as gamers growing up (or, well, if you’re older, just part of your life as a gamer in general).

Looking deep into my past, breaking down all the years of psychotherapy, I delved into my inner-most memories to recall 5 games that I forgot even existed – but remember having a blast playing. Put on your nostalgia pants!

Commander Keen

I think everyone played Commander Keen at some stage.

Released in 1990 by none other than id Software, John Carmack and John Romero (at the time) told a story of a young boy, Billy Blaze, who built his own rocket ship out of common household items (as one does) and gets marooned on Mars.

The game was episodic, with episodes 1 – 3 covering the story arc where an alien race called the Vorticons were threatening to destroy earth.

The side-scrolling platformer saw keen meeting and fighting a whole host of different aliens and visiting various locales, including the Vorticon home planet, as you shot, pogo’d and bounced your way to save earth.

Commander Keen was given a second life via Steam, released as a 5-episode bundle of the classic games.

Greatest memory:

These guys.

Loom

Before the time of Monkey Island (but after the original Maniac Mansion) LucasArts gave us Loom – an adventure game with a difference.

As a kid, it was difficult to actually grasp the entirety of the game – something that required a bit of maturity to comprehend – and just saw me wandering around pushing buttons.

But it left an impact.

Loom followed the story of Bobbin Threadbare – who was born from a great Loom (a device used for weaving) and practised in a special art of spellcasting that requires the player to play specific music notes on his staff.

These “drafts” each carried a different effect based on the environmental object they were derived from – ie, mimicking the draft heard from a bucket of dye, would have the effect of dying something that colour.

The plot involved Bobbin’s mom being turned into a swan, and then his entire villiage being turned into swans, and…it’s all rather confusing, actually.

The game was initially planned with a sequel in mind, but as was the case with all things back then – time and money were scarce, so they never got made. Which is a great pity.

Loom is now available as digital download on Steam.

Greatest memory: Not being able to die – something that was a rarity in adventure games back then; especially considering how much we used to die in the Sierra games.

Battle Chess

Most kids aren’t interested in chess – but if you make the pieces move about and kill each other in pretty violent ways, then you’re sure to gain some interest!

Battle Chess was released back in 1988, and was probably the coolest thing around.

By the standards of the day, it was rather violent – seeing pieces battle each other when they took a square. Even as a young kid who never even understood the rules of chess, I found myself charging in, trying to see what the pieces would do next.

The game spawned a few sequels which kept up the animated battles, but I don’t recall ever playing them.

A new Battle Chess is apparently in the works for PC and iOS from Subdued Software on licence from Interplay.

Greatest Memory: Watching knights battle it out – first chopping off his opponents arms, then his legs; something I would only appreciate years later when I saw the similar scene with the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.

Clay Fighter

Fresh on the heels of Mortal Kombat which was released in 1992, Interplay decided to make their own beat-em-up fighter in the form of Clay Fighters.

At the time, the game had a stunning animation style featuring, as the name suggests, fighters made from clay.

From what I can recall playing the game, the controls were unresponsive and the animation was laggy and bad – but then again, I was probably 7 at the time, and should have been doing macaroni pictures instead.

The game had a whole host of weird characters, with the cover-fighter, “Bad Mister Frosty” looking mean enough to give a kid nightmares. The two characters that stood out the most though, were Taffy (who looks like taffy, literally) and Helga…for obvious reasons.

Clay Fighter was released as WiiWare in 2009.

Greatest Memory: Helga. For obvious reasons.

Mad Dog McCree

Oh, wow.

Released in 1990, Mad Dog McCree was a live-action laser-gun game which started off at arcades, but somehow made it into my home and onto our old PC.

You played as “the stranger”, greeted by some old dude who would pop up from time to time to push things along in the story.

The story involved some sort of kidnapping fiasco, but the gameplay simply required you to shoot bad guys, and so that’s what I did – waiting with held breath to see where the cowboys would jump out next.

Mad Dog McRee got a second life as WiiWare, bundled with the sequel and another laser-gun game, The Last Bounty Hunter.

Greatest Memory: As cliched as it sounds – the final showdown with Mad Dog. It was epic because it was so annoyingly difficult. You had to be quick on the draw, and had to actually shoot the gun out of his hand. Just as you thought victory was yours, the cad drew another pistol, and more often than not, left you crying as you hit game over.

Which games made an impact on you, growing up? Reveal your age on the forums, or in the comments below!