8. Pokemon Red/Blue & FireRed/LeafGreen (GB/GBA)
If a game could describe my childhood, it would Pokemon Red (brother had the Blue version). Pokemania was in full force, and I actually remember the first time I even heard of these Pocket Monsters. A friend of mine wanted to play "Pokemon", so I went along. He said that I could be Charmeleon, and I could blow fire. Hey, that was pretty cool, and so I wanted to know more about this Pokemon. Fast forward to Christmas time (what a coincidence) and I unwrap my gift to see that Pokemon Red was now part of my collection. After that I eat, breathed, and slept with this game. I went nowhere without it, and was always continuing my adventure to become the greatest Pokemon Master the world had ever seen. I started out with Squirtle, and we went along the world of Kanto, battling trainers and capturing new Pokemon to be part of the team. The world was huge, and the pokemon seemed endless. The Gym Leaders were tough, and Team Rocket was a pain... but that Elite Four was the toughest of them all. And when I finally beat them and got to Gary (come on... we all called him Gary), I took him down and became the new Pokemon Champion.
Fast forward to today and I've beaten this game countless times. I've used the MissingNo. cheat to get countless Rare Candies and TM's, and I've caught them all. It was such a wonderful adventure filled with fantastic memories shared with others. It started PokeMania and I was all to happy to be a part of. The GBA Remake, FireRed and LeafGreen (had to go with FireRed), was a welcomed addition, and I played my heart out once again. At the end of the day, few games hold memories like Pokemon Red does, and for that adventure it showed me all those years ago (and one I'm still continuing, and can't wait to continue with Pokemon Black/White), this game is my eighth favorite game of all time. Gotta catch 'em all.
