Classic Video Games Bucket List

The 1997 original: twelve ancient civilisations, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.

The rating that made people replay a level twenty times to earn it.

GDI and Nod after the tiberium spread; Westwood's voxel war.

The first fully 3D Dragon Quest, with Akira Toriyama's world in cel shading.

108 Stars of Destiny, a castle to fill and a war between brothers; Konami's first.

Cecil turns from dark knight to paladin; the first Final Fantasy with a real story.

The turn-based hexes before Heroes III; six factions and a soundtrack in MIDI.

Run the dungeon, slap your imps and defeat the heroes; Molyneux's reversal.

Thirty-two players, planes, tanks and Wake Island; the series starts here.

Jill escapes Raccoon City with something following her between rooms.

Eddy Gordo, Jin Kazama and the arcade fighter of the PlayStation era.

A ward of Candlekeep on the Sword Coast; the Infinity Engine begins.

Parries, hand-drawn animation and the greatest comeback in fighting-game history.

Culture, borders and strategic resources; the Civ that added the map to the map.

Orcs and humans at sea and in the air; the RTS that made Blizzard.

The super shotgun and the Icon of Sin; thirty more levels of 1994.

Harry Mason looks for his daughter in a town that changes; the fog was a draw-distance trick.

The Strogg war on Stroggos; the first Quake with a story and coloured lighting.

The 1999 original: Warehouse, the Pump and a soundtrack of Goldfinger and Dead Kennedys.

Twinsen against a dictator on a planet of four species; a French classic.

Pull vegetables and throw them; the reskinned Doki Doki Panic that became a Mario game.

Six degrees of freedom in mine shafts; the shooter that made people motion-sick in 1995.

A hacker wakes on Citadel Station with SHODAN in the walls; the immersive sim starts here.

Four players, one screen, and a voice announcing that the Wizard needs food badly.

Four turtles through history, throwing Foot soldiers at the screen.

A pedal to duck behind cover and a light gun; the arcade shooter with a foot pedal.

A boy in a football helmet with a pogo stick; the smooth scrolling that started id.

Caleb, a pitchfork and a can of aerosol; the meanest of the Build-engine shooters.

Rescue humans from abduction while flying both ways at speed; the hardest game of 1981.

Faster mazes and moving fruit; the fan hack that became the better game.