Introduction
Gamers are a divided group. You've got your fighting game fanatics and your PC strategy game enthusiasts, your first person shooter lovers, and your platformer junkies.
But there are some moments that are capable of bringing together even the most disparate of gamers. Moments that are so classic, so iconic, that every self-respecting gamer should go out of their way to experience them.
Here are the TechRadar editor's top picks for what these moments should be.
Play through an entire year of Animal Crossing and visit your village every day
This isn’t one we’ve actually done but for some reason we really want to. Animal Crossing isn’t a game that you have to settle into for hours to appreciate its charm – really you only have to play it for maybe 30 to 40 minutes a day to keep your town maintained and your virtual social life in order. It’s a low-but-frequent commitment game.
However, for some reason we’re inclined to binge-play it for a few weeks at a time and then abandon our sweet village to the ravages of time, weeds, and Tom Nook’s greed. When you eventually return you’re not exactly returning to a scene from Mad Max but things have usually deteriorated enough that the game feels like a slog rather than the delightful escape it should be.
That’s why we want to set up one save where we actually log in and visit our town every day, enjoy the changing seasons and the various themed events that pop up the way we’re supposed to.
Emma Boyle - Staff Writer
Get to the bottom of cold, cold mountain holding the baby penguin in Super Mario 64
Cold, Cold Mountain is one of the most enjoyable levels on Super Mario 64 and the Lil Lost Penguin quest is one of the most fun task star tasks in it.
Tuxie is an adorable baby penguin and if you can manage to return him to his mother without having to deal with the emotionally-taxing scenario of dropping him off the mountain’s edge or dropping him you’ll get to enjoy one of the game’s most heart-warming moments in this otherwise chilly level.
Emma Boyle - Staff Writer
Trade a Pokemon with a friend
Whether you’re doing it over a Wi-Fi connection today or with a physical trade cable back in the GameBoy Colour days, trading Pokemon with your real-life friends is a key part of the Pokemon experience and an oddly emotional one at that. You can of of course trade NPCs in the game and even trade with yourself over the different game generation but neither of these is quite the same as trading with someone in real-life. It borders on being a justifiably contractual affair.
If it’s a Pokemon you’re particularly fond of, it’s akin to giving away a cherished pet and although you’re getting a new Pokemon in return it’s hard to see your friend taking over your position as trainer.
Just don’t be the easily-swayed 7 year old we may or may not have been and trade your level 85 Mew for your older friend’s much lower level Vulpix just because you love Vulpix so much. Those are the kind of mistakes that will stay with you.
Emma Boyle - Staff Writer
Solve the infamous Broken Sword goat puzzle on your own
The goat puzzle in Broken Sword and the Shadow of the Templars is infamous for its simultaneous simplicity and complexity. That’s why we suggest that if you ever encounter it you should try and solve it without any help online or otherwise. Though you’re reaction to the solution will be ‘seriously? That’s it?’ you’ll still be extremely happy with yourself even if it was simply a matter of trial and error rather than actual logic.
Emma Boyle - Staff Writer
100% your favourite Guitar Hero song on expert
The training will be intense and you’ll have to work at it for hours, days, maybe even weeks depending on your levels of co-ordination but it’ll be worth it to perform the song you love most absolutely perfectly on expert level. There you’ll be, drenched in sweat like you’ve just done your first couch to 5K, hands shaking, allowing the hollow and empty cheers to fill your ears and you’ll think ‘right, never have to do that again.’
Emma Boyle - Staff Writer
Land your first Kerbal on the Mun
The process of landing a person on the moon has been likened to trying to thread a needle from a mile away, and after having played Kerbal Space Program we’d be inclined to agree. When you first start the game, reaching the Mun (Kerbal’s version of our moon) seems like an impossible task.
Slowly but surely however, after each failed mission you’ll end up closer and closer to your destination until eventually you manage to land a craft without burning up into a fireball.
It’s a great moment...until you realise that there are nine whole other planets to reach.
Jon Porter - Home Technology UK Writer
Play an entire Metal Gear Solid game without killing anyone
When games are frequently criticised for the amount of bloodshed and murder that goes on within them, it’s nice to see one series buck the trend.
Starting with the second, it’s been possible to play through each of the Metal Gear Solid games without killing a single enemy. Instead you can either tranquilise them, knock them out, or, if you’re feeling especially bold, sneak past them entirely.
You won’t get much for your efforts beyond a wink and a nod in the game’s post-credits stats, but the satisfaction will stay with you for months.
Jon Porter - Home Technology UK Writer
Raise a Sim from birth to death
When The Sims was first released in 2000 its titular characters were completely free from the curse of aging. Make a child Sim and it would remain a child forever, or make an adult and it would live eternally.
This all changed in The Sims 2, where Sims would go through the entire aging process.
But while it was always sad to see a Sim you created as an adult grow old and die, it felt far more special to see your first child progress through its terrible twos, into its awkward teenage phase, through a quarter-life and then mid-life crisis, and finally into its twilight years.
Jon Porter - Home Technology UK Writer
Complete level 1-1 in Super Mario Bros
Few games are as iconic as the original Super Mario Bros on the NES, and because the game laid the foundations of pretty much every modern platformer it’s hard not to feel like you’ve already played it.
But there’s something to be said for going back to where it all started by playing through the seminal level for yourself to see where it all began.
With Super Mario Bros having been re-released on pretty much every Nintendo system under the sun it’s not hard to find the hardware to play it on, but if you want the authentic experience it’s hard to fault the recently discontinued