In my early childhood, I had a knack for playing PC Games on my dads old Windows 95 Computer. To this day, I occasionally think about those days sitting in the basement office on that computer to some extent. Sometimes, I wish I could have just one more crack at playing those games. Not necessarily because I miss playing those games; rather my unconventional ways of playing the games.
1. Buggsy The Knowledge Bug Explores The Airport
Arguably, this was my favorite PC game of them all. There was not truly a main goal of the game or anything. A simple blue bug known by the name of Buggsy The Knowledge Bug would show you around on an interactive tour of an airport. What I enjoyed so much about this particular game, was all of the interactive features the game had to offer. Interactive airplanes, baggage scanners, carousels, and conveyor belts are among some of the few things that made this game such a blast!
2. Crayola Make a Masterpiece Game
This one is not the one I remember the most when it comes to my childhood PC games; however, I do remember occasionally making colorful, vibrant pieces of art that were quite unique.
3. Sesame Street Search And Learn
Easily my favorite Sesame Street game of them all. The only reason I truly loved this game was in part of my obsession with elevators as a little kid. One of the targets of this game was number recognition. The players would have to complete a part doing room service in a hotel where Grover would ask the players to go on a floor between 1-9. Early on, I was very good with my recognition of numbers. But I still played that particular part of the game because if you clicked on the wrong floor, you would end up in an exotic place not even similar to a hotel such as New York City, Ancient Egypt, Outer Space, the jungle, or even in the middle of the dinosaur ages where dinosaurs would chase after you... all as a consequence of picking the wrong floor. I only played that game just because I loved intentionally clicking on the wrong floor in the elevator and then ending up in an exotic scene.
4. Hoyle Casino '99
I have been itching to get to Las Vegas for quite some time. No joke, I am considering moving out to Las Vegas when I am all done with college. However, if there is one thing to point my finger at for this desire to travel and/or move to Las Vegas, it would have to be from the PC game Hoyle Casino '99. Energetic slot machines were a fun way to spend time on that game. However, I found the most joy in playing roulette all because I loved the colored spinning wheel with numbers on it. Oh and speaking of colored spinning wheels with numbers on it...
5. Wheel Of Fortune 2nd Edition PC
This is the only PC game on this list I will still play to this day. Ever since I was 3 or 4, I have had this lifelong dream of being a contestant on the show Wheel of Fortune. The colors on the spinning wheel were not the only thing I was so amused about the game at such a young age. My first crush I ever had was Vanna White. I even wanted to marry Vanna White because my 3-4 year old self was so obsessed with the show (and yes I thought, and still think, she is really pretty). Anyways, the only reason why I still play this game is because whenever the day comes when I get a call back to audition (and then later appear on the show), I want to be beyond ready so I can win big in the Bonus Round!
6. Ultimate Ride Disney Coaster
There is not any other game where I would use my unconventional PC game playing to the extreme I do for this one. For starters, I would build my roller coasters in an unrealistic fashion where they could accelerate to speeds of over 200, sometimes over 300 MPH. If that idea doesn't sound like a total vomit experience already, it is about to get worse for those scared of roller coasters. At those blazing speeds, I would add 5, sometimes 8 consecutive loop-de-loops on the same sequence at that speed, or to add more craziness to your ride experience, I would flip the whole ride to the point where riders would be flipped upside down, feet dangling in the air, with your head looking down at the ground beneath you at those burnout speeds. When you got your roller coaster completed, you could actually do a test drive using the six main Disney characters as the test riders (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy). While four of the characters would always give you mixed reviews, you always knew what Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck would have to say. Despite my rides often going at speeds and turns no human would be able to handle, Mickey Mouse would come off the rides mentioning how much he loved the ride. Donald Duck on the other hand, hated every ride you would make. He would always complain about how my rides made him all queasy and how he absolutely hated the ride. Anyways, I would love to try to ride my roller coasters I built on this game. Pushing my limits to the extreme.
7. Roller Coaster Tycoon
This is a very similar game to the aforementioned Disney roller coaster builder. However, in this game, you would actually own a theme park and proceed to build rides on the park grounds. One major difference about this game compared to the Disney game was that you could open up your roller coaster even if it was not finished! I always loved that feature. That is due to the roller coaster just falling off the tracks onto the ground and landing in the middle of the park. You would essentially destroy your roller coaster doing this, and cause a huge panic inside the park because a roller coaster flew off the tracks, which never had any ending to it. I found that experience to be quite pleasurable.
8. Sim City 3000
The goal of this game is you have to start your own city from complete scratch, which could either be miniature, small, medium, or large. Along the way you would then develop utilities, infrastructure, education, residential neighborhoods, and then industries where your citizens could work in, so ultimately, you could run a very successful financial city. However, I cared about none of that. Players also had the option of placing historic international landmarks in their city too. That being said, I would drift away from the goal of the game and just place landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, The White House, Sydney Opera House, and the Big Ben in the absolute middle of nowhere in a big city which has absolutely nothing. Yes, zero population, zero infrastructure, no electricity or running water supply, but historic landmarks just in the middle of nowhere. What is even more unconventional, is that you had the option of having your city face a natural disaster. So in the end, I would just destroy the Eiffel Tower and the White House with a fire, tornado, earthquake, or even an alien invasion.
9. Backyard Baseball
This list would not be complete without this classic favorite. Admit it, Pablo Sanchez is the GOAT of all sports games. Sure, he could never speak any English, but the kid sure can hit a baseball pretty damn well. While Ashley and Sidney Webber always wanted to be on the same team, I would always purposefully separate the twins and make them play against each other just because I wanted to annoy them. While Dmitri Petrovich was not necessarily the best athlete, he has the biggest brain of anybody in any sports game ever made. Lastly, who cannot forget Dante Robinson and his love for food. I always loved hearing him ask for food, and even at times bring a hot dog to the plate. If you have never played this game, I do not know what kind of fun you had in your childhood.
10. Backyard Football
In addition to all of the backyard kids from the aforementioned baseball game, eight NFL stars of the late 1990's were also available for usage in the game. I always wanted the NFL players on my team to get the huge advantage. The good news is that I had a remarkable passing game all in part of my team being composed of Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Dan Marino, Randall Cunningham, Barry Sanders, Drew Bledsoe, and John Elway. However, my defense would be quite pourous as all of those players were playing out of position, and were never too good on the defensive side of the ball (all of those were offensive players in their NFL tenure, with all except Sanders and Rice playing the quarterback position). To this day, my football strategy when building my teams on NCAA Football and the Madden NFL Series, is still to build around a great offense.
11. Jeopardy 2nd Edition PC
This was co-released with the aforementioned Wheel of Fortune game. However, I always found this one to be quite frustrating. I never knew anything as a kid in kindergarten playing this game. Frustrations occurred when I could not get anything right as the computer players would completely dominate the game. That being said, I could never reach the Final Jeopardy round. Thankfully, things got better with my ability in this game by the time I reached high school, as by then I knew more facts and trivia to get an advantage in this game that I obviously did not have when I was in kindergarten.
12. Deal or No Deal PC
This game is my most missed game show of all time. Not only did I love playing the standard game. This game also had a custom game mode where you could replace the money amounts with other prizes. I would use that custom game mode to my enjoyment by using lists such as my 26 Webkinz pets, using my least favorite as the penny case and my favorite as the Million Dollar Case. All along, I thought it was cool playing for things other than money in this game.
