My Favorite Retro Video Games

I've dabbled in the newfangled, fancy-pants world of the latest video games that take a zillion hours to complete. As fun as some of them are, I still revisit the classics. Few things make me more nostalgic than the sight on an Atari 2600 on some hipster's t-shirt. Or seeing an old Nintendo controller in a thrift store shelf, discarded next to the bent reading glasses and raggedy tea cosys.

I sat down on this misty-eyed Sunday afternoon and decided to write about 5 classic video games that I loved without over-thinking it. These aren't necessarily my favorites (I typed the title without thinking this through), but they're good ones that I have great memories of.I'll be doing this again

1. River Raid: Atari 2600

Sounds simple. You're an airplane flying down a river. You have to shoot things, dodge rocks, and refuel on the move. No, you can't back up. Like many of the old Atari games, things got more difficult simply because everything started moving faster and faster until you couldn't keep up. I was the best kid on our block.

2. Cabbage Patch Kids: Colecovision

I never owned this one, but my best friend did. It seemed like a big deal at the time. It was a pretty standard 2d platformer at the time. I seem to remember that it had something to do with fitness, but I may be dreaming about that.

3. Berserk: Atari 2600

What could be worse than being a little pink man with a square head whose head isn't even connected to his neck? Only this: you are also being chased by cyclops robots, the walls are electrified, and if you take too long to shoot the robots, a big smiley face shows up and kills you. The funniest thing about this game was that if you timed it right, you could maneuver the robot's lasers so they passed through the slot where your neck was supposed to be.

4. Karnov: NES

You are a rotund Russian and you breathe fire on dinosaurs, flying fish, ice monsters, and more. If you get hit, your skin turns blue and your red genie pants turn a different shade of blue. If you get hit again, you're dead. Karnov was a really odd game, but I loved it. I can still hear the sound the fireballs make when they shoot out of you.

5. Final Fight: SNES

Uh oh. Your daughter has been kidnapped by a vicious gang of punks. You're the mayor. Time to head down to the subway and deal out some justice while wearing overalls with one strap undone (no shirt underneath, of course). When you need some pep, just kick over a pile of tires, take out the pot roast underneath, and eat it.The greatest thing about Final Fight was just how BIG all of the characters were. Oh, and there are characters named after Axl Rose and Slash.

That's it for now. Fun stuff.