★ Top 10 ★
10 Games That Made Me a Game Maker
The 90s games I still think about every time I open a code editor, and the 90sGamer games they're quietly responsible for.
- #10
Baldur's Gate
A whole Dungeons & Dragons campaign on five CDs, with a party that argued with each other more than with the monsters. Baldur's Gate proved that companions with opinions make a world feel alive. Also the first game that taught me to quicksave before opening any door.
- #9
King's Quest VI
Sierra adventures could kill you for walking slightly wrong, and I loved them anyway. King's Quest VI was the high point: islands full of puzzles, a story with real heart, and an ending that changed depending on how much you'd explored. Curiosity was the reward.
🕹️ Dhaka '88: Dhaka '88 is my attempt at that kind of adventure, with a kid's-eye view of a city I grew up in.
- #8
Civilization II
"One more turn" is the most dangerous phrase in gaming, and Civ II invented it for me. Tanks beating spearmen, spearmen somehow beating tanks, and advisers in costumes shouting at you. It showed me how simple rules stacked together can produce a whole history.
- #7
Final Fantasy VII
Three discs, a spiky-haired hero, and a moment halfway through that a whole generation still won't talk about. Final Fantasy VII showed me that a game could make you feel things a movie couldn't, because you'd spent forty hours earning them.
- #6
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Two whole worlds on one cartridge: finish the Light World and the game flips you into a twisted Dark World version of it. Every new item opened a door you'd walked past an hour earlier. It taught me that the best map is one you think you already know.
- #5
EverQuest
EverQuest wasn't really about the dragons. It was about the people: the raid leader keeping forty players awake, the loot arguments, the friendships made over dial-up. Running a group of humans turned out to be the most interesting game in the box. I even wrote a track about the tree city of Kelethin, years later.
🕹️ Guild Leader Sim: This is why I'm making Guild Leader Sim. The real boss fight was always the guild.
- #4
Street Fighter II
A quarter on the cabinet ledge meant "I've got next," and that was the law. Street Fighter II taught me that depth can hide inside something anyone can pick up, and that a game is at its best with a crowd around it. Every game on this site is chasing that cabinet.
- #3
X-COM: UFO Defense
(UFO: Enemy Unknown, if you grew up in Europe.) You name your soldiers after your friends, then watch a sectoid end them on turn one. X-COM made every decision feel heavy because losses were permanent, and nothing in games is scarier than a dark farmhouse door.
- #2
Dune II
The grandfather of every real-time strategy game: build a base, harvest spice, panic when a sandworm eats your harvester. Dune II invented the rules that Command & Conquer and StarCraft later made famous, and it did it with a mouse and a lot of sand.
- #1
Diablo
Click, loot, descend, repeat, and suddenly it's 3 a.m. Diablo's randomised dungeons meant every run told a slightly different story. It's the game that made me fall in love with systems that surprise even the person who built them. "Ahh, fresh meat!" still haunts me.
🕹️ Daily Run: Daily Run takes that one-more-run feeling and gives everyone the same dungeon each day.
Box art and game titles are trademarks of their respective owners, shown small for identification alongside our commentary. Go play the originals!