Every week the hosts of TalkRadar present and answer a new “Question of the Week” - a personal inquiry which unearths some of our deepest, and sometimes most sinister, gaming memories. Everyone is encouraged to answer each week’s question, so go ahead, tell us your most glorious, nostalgic, or shameful story! 

Last week's question:

What are your top 5 games of all time?

Thanks to everyone who participated! We loved reading everyone’s submissions. Here are a few of our favorites from last week’s answers. They’re full of personal stories, fond memories, and hilarious anecdotes. Unfortunately, we can’t post all of them here. So check out last week’s article and forum thread for more.

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Corspufo wrote…
"1.Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
2. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
3. CastleVania: SOTN (PS1)
4. Tenchu (PS1)
5. Street Fighter 2 Turbo Hyper Fighting (SNES, btw "S.N.E.S" or even "Super N.E.S." but not "sness," it drives me bonkers when it's called that)

These are games that really meant a lot to me when I had the money to buy my own my own stuff and not rely on my parents. FFVII introduced me to RPGs. Metal Gear had the best characters and brilliantly unique story line. Castlevania had the best of everything 2d and packed to the gills with extras. Tenchu I spent HOURS mastering every kill and killing everyone, I couldn't get enough of that game. No other game than SF2 Turbo have I dropped more hours into throughout my life mastering every character and giving me my grotesque Nintendo Street Fighter thumb callus."

Above: RADICAL!

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Amnesiac wrote…
"Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
It's a miracle I ever beat this game. As a kid, I was terrified of the Jabu-Jabu's Belly dungeon. Going inside of a giant fish, and fighting enemies and wandering environments made out of gooey fish insides made it very, very difficult for an 8 year old me to finish that dungeon...but luckily, I did. Not to mention I have a borderline phobia of the 3D Like-Likes. Those things are disgusting.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The GBA version of this game is possibly the only game in my collection to rival RE4 for number of completions. This is simply one of the best 2D adventure games ever.
It's huge, with so many dungeons and so many optional things to do and see, and none of it ever gets boring.

Final Fantasy VI
I consider this easily one of the best JRPG's ever made, and it has nothing to do with nostalgia since I played this game for the first time after playing FFVII and VIII. The cast of characters is huge and diverse, the story is memorable and emotional and features one of my all-time favorite game villains, and the whole thing is topped off with a phenomenal soundtrack.

Resident Evil 4
I have beat this game more times than nearly any other in my collection (except for, maybe, the aforementioned LttP). I played it for the first time with a couple of friends, and we spent all night trying to play it as much as possible. Seeing the Chainsaw Man decapitation kill for the first time is one of the most shocking, holy-shit-did-I-really-just-see that moments I've seen in a game.

Super Metroid
When talking about games as art, I think this is one that is often unfairly overlooked. Not only is the atmosphere and sense of isolation second to none, but the final boss scenes are just amazing. The fight with the Mother Brain and the death of the baby metroid is such a moving moment, and it is handled without a single word of dialogue."

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RXB wrote…
"1 Super Mario World
I think it could be a contender for best game ever. First game I had on the SNES. Only had one tv at home so me and my brother had to get up at 4am on the weekends to play before dad woke up. Got stuck on Gnarly for about a month, nobody in my area could beat it. Also played it through on PC emulator and GBA.

2 Street fighter Alpha
Amazing game, played it till the disc stopped working. Remember phoning a games magazine to ask how to do Akuma's Shun goku satsu and still couldn’t do it.

3 Tekken 3
Used to play it endlessly. It was the reason I got my playstation chipped. Ordered the USA version managed to write the wrong number on the order form and it went to the wrong house, took an extra week before I got to play it.

4 Powerstone 2
If you've ever played it 4 player I don’t need to say any more.

5 Jet Set Radio
The coolest game ever made. The cell shaded graphics and funk music just blew my mind. A bit frustrating at times but easy to forgive because of the creative characters and pretty, pretty graphics."

Above: I love love you, Jet Set Radio. Do you love love me?

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ElPork wrote…
"1: Mass Effect. *The first game to get an emotional response from me*
The first/only game that got me to take games seriously (as an art form/story telling medium). Up till then games had been nothing but multiplayer games. I could never find a Single player game that spoke to me, Till Mass Effect.

2: Animal crossing. *Game that took up most of my life*
I moved allot as a kid, so I had to adapt to what the kids next to me were doing, that happened to be games at this house. The older girl next door had Pokemon cards (I had allot at the time), and the little brother was into video games. That got me in to talk to the hot daughter (born 5 days before me). Not only was she cooler then her older sister and younger brother, but she loved to play Animal crossing with me.... Allot... ahhh good times.

3: Tekken. *The only game series I'm "Hardcore" for*
Tekken was the "In" at my first house, that and my basketball hoop. Whenever my friends spent the night we'd bring the good TV downstairs plug there PS1 in and play Tekken 3 all night. It took us so long to unlock Gon and Dr. Boskonovitch (Who had a bad ass song BTW). But this game series continually keep's me hooked..... FOR SOME REASON!!

4: SSX 3. *The only "sports" type game I've ever gotten into*
I remember when I picked this game up. I was heading to a wedding reception for family members I didn't like. We stopped in a store on the way there (it was a 70 mile trip) and I picked up SSX3. I must have read over that case 1000 times, looking over each picture. I know that box too well, and I'm so happy I got it. *Still have a copy*

5: Pokemon R/B/Y/G/S/J/R/L/D. *The one game series that made me friends*
Pokemon was the only series of games/cards that actually helped me make friends. I could account my friendship with that neighbor girl, or with the kids down the block to the game. And thanks to the cards, I meet lots of friends in the apartment buildings across the street. But in reality, there just too many to mention."

Pokemon: Helping people make friends since 1995

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Xtapolapopotamus wrote…
"Sly 2: Band of Thieves
For some reason, I love this game to death. Something about the graphics, the art style, the humor, the characters... It all just clicks. I picked it up one day because reviews were good, and I fell in love. It's a game I recommend to anyone who enjoys good games, especially if you like platformers and stylish cel-shading and humor.

Final Fantasy XI
This'll make a lot of people roll their eyes, no doubt, but when I think back, this game devoured my life when I was in high school. I met several friends who I now talk to every day online and consider among my best friends through this game. I can't tell you how many thousands of hours I sunk into that game, and never hit the cap, never saw all the content. Heck, for an entire month I did little more than go on to chat with my friends since it was hard to get everyone together outside of the game. One of the best social experiences of my life, which upon reading that now, is pretty sad.

Final Fantasy VI
I'll admit, I never owned an NES or SNES growing up. I didn't play FFVI until it got ported to Game Boy Advance, and I played it on that. Holy damn this is an amazing game. The music and characters are the best (in my opinion) in any Final Fantasy game by far, and maybe even in any game, period. The story is well-written and fun to play, and who can forget Kefka, one of the greatest villains ever in a video game.

Chrono Cross
This is my best friend's favorite game of all time, and after six years of friendship, I finally settled down to play this. All previous attempts, I stopped after the blocky graphics and unique battle system turned me away. But a few months ago, when school was over, I sat down and played it. There's so much in this game that's amazing. With music that can easily rival FFVI, characters to match (though perhaps not AS in depth, though there are a lot more) and an AMAZING story, it's hard to say no to this game. Some may say Chrono Trigger is better, but since I wasn't around for that when it first came out (no SNES), I have to say Cross is just overall the more memorable and amazing game.

Super Smash Bros. (all)
I can't break this one down. I remember seeing the commercial for the N64 game, reading about it in Nintendo Power, and thinking, "That looks dumb." and figuring I'd never play it. However, after reading NP's review, I figured I'd give it a rent. My pants literally were blown off and out the room, along with my socks. I went out and bought the game the next day, and have been in love with Smash Bros. ever since. There are plenty of fighting game enthusiasts out there who claim the game is just mindless button-mashing and has no real depth, and to them I say, "Who cares?" No other game on this list has provided as much fun to me and my friends. We used to gather every weekend after school and play the 64 version. Then Melee came out. I remember playing that game for hours at home, practicing every detail.

While I never got into Wavedashing or any of the other elitist practices out there for Melee, I would spend hours calculating trajectories for items, how far a certain attack would send a character at what damage, and things like that. I took Smash Bros. Melee as a job, but never let it run my life or ruin a potential friendship. All this was in good fun. Smash Bros. Brawl came out over a year ago, and still, that game is played at least once a week at my apartment, and at my old apartment, was even played every day if our schedules allowed. If I HAD to rank one video game series as my favorite, it would be this one."

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Samueltehg33k wrote…
"1. Starcraft
The most addicting game you may ever play.

2. Starfox 64
Ah childhood, and during mine I could not get enough of this game. Me and my friends was play each other for hours.

3. Fallout 2
My first M rated game and I loved every moment of it (Except the temple oh lord)

4. Super Smash Bros. Melee
What can I say this was THE reason to own a GameCube.

5. Wii Sports
I know it sounds silly but next to COD4 and Fallout 3 this is my most played game this gen. Also when people come over we play this there's really no better party game. Also none of you bitches can touch my bowling score."

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AwkwardTasteinMyMouth wrote…
"5. Oni (PC)
Most people tend to dislike Oni, and even more disliked it for the Pc. This is one of the few games that I really became immersed in. The fighting system for that time was amazing, the gun play was great, and the story was amazing, I played oni probably way too much, I had the impression that there was more to the game then what I played, or some sort of alternate endings. Few games have been able to please me the way Oni did.

4.Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC)
This game was responsible for my love of Star Wars. The way the world was portrayed in this game felt darker than any star wars game, or movie i have experienced. And speaking of movies, this game had FMV cut-scenes, which were, from what I remember, pretty well acted. And If i'm correct one of the first few 3d games that included Moral choices.

3. The Mysteries of the Sith (Expansion to Darkforces 2)
I'm gonna count this as a seperate number, because the amount of time i put into it, and this expansion was more of a seperate game then an expansion, based on the length. It's funny thinking about this game because in the last few levels you go to a sith planet, and you have to turn Kyle back to the light side, and the events that occur leading up to and during this are pretty damn eerie.

2. Unreal (pc)
This game is probably one of the most frightening games I have ever played. The monsters, the locations, and the story were all feeding my fear. In addition to that stuff I wasn't supposed to be playing this game. My dad had bought it for himself, and at night or early mornings I'd sneak to the computer, and play in the pitch dark. For me that made every monster that jumped out at me even more frightening.

1.Half-Life/ Half-Life 2
When I played Half-Life 1, I had to sneak it like I did for Unreal. Everything about HL1 was amazing, the gameplay, the story, it was all engaging. Then years later when HL2 came out, that became an addiction. Everyone knows what made that game amazing, so I won't go into it."

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FIsForFat wrote…
"5 is GTA 3 it was my very first gta but made me want to go back and play the old ones it was also one of my first M rated games and i loved it just dicking around in that open world was great

4 is Animal crossing fo game cube it was the second game i got for my gamecube and one game i continue to love wether fishing or bug catching its great

3 is Pokemon Blue what can i say i sunk 50 hours into it and caught every pokemon you could on that game that was great memories

2 is Chrono Trigger i played it and loved it and got most of the extra endings it was fun and eaisly playable again and again

1 is my favorite

it was the game i got from my cousin that i have played to completion over 50 times its so much fun it is repetetive but a great gam i completed it 100% so many times i know the secrets in every level my favorite game by far."

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5DollarFootlong wrote…
"5. Little Samson (NES)
This game is becoming my Gabriel Knight where I have to mention it every time anyone mentions the NES. A lot of people don't remember this game (or at least the ones that I talk to), since it was released when the SNES had been out for a couple of years and the NES was getting less and less attention. I remember my dad had bought this game at some bargain retailer and brought it home for me from work. At the time, I was already hooked on my SNES and could care less about the game. Man, was I wrong. The gameplay could be described as Mega Man platforming + Jericho teamwork. There are four characters, each with different abilities. You can switch between them on the fly. It's definitely the game I spent most time on the NES.

Honorable mention: Kirby's Adventure (NES)

4. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (Arcade/PS)
I discovered this game back in freshman year of college. I used to play at the arcade all the time and got pretty good with it. I discovered how deep the gameplay can get and all the different strategies to play against every character. It was a puzzle game with the depth and charm of Street Fighter.

3. Guilty Gear X2 (PS2)
Another game I discovered in college. I used to play this game with everyone in my dorm. It was such a different fighting game than any other I've played. The fact that there were penalties for turtling kept the gameplay at a fast pace. Every character was totally different to play with and the super-technical fighting system just sucked me in further. I try to play this game everytime I plug in my PS2.

2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
I love all the Metal Gears but Snake Eater is my favorite. I never actually played MGS but I've watched my friend play through it twice. So while I do like the first one, the fact that I already know what happens deters me away from it. MGS2 was okay, but nothing really changed gameplay-wise. MGS3 was a total change up on the game. It introduced CQC, camouflage, and hunting for food. It has the best MGS soundtrack imo and one of the best endings. I've gone through this game multiple times and never get tired of it.

1. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
This game is just too good. The game was so refreshing to the adventure game genre in that it was just boss battles. And not just any boss battles, the most epic boss battles ever where the bosses are massively huge. Simple gameplay with a fantastic story. One of the most touching endings ever. And on top of it all, it's beautiful to watch. The reason I plug in my PS2 once a year."

Above: Our Senior Wildlife Editor approves of 5DollarFootlong’s picks

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Aug 6, 2009

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