After everyone gorged on several helpings of my cousin’s tasty pork chop, palabok, roast chicken, lumpiang hubad, and chocolate mousse last Sunday my other cousin whipped out his brand new white Playstation Portable that had about a million games in its memory card.    

I remember when decades ago, the family computer was the source of pure entertainment for my brother, sister, and I.  We couldn’t keep our hands of it.  We’d each limit our playing times to an hour tops or until the adaptor was scalding hot.  It was the same policy when we upgraded to a Sega.  By the time we got our first Sony Playstation, we weren’t so hot on it anymore. 

My other cousins are more into the video game arena, constantly updating their game consoles whenever a new one would be launched in the market. 

After lunch, a bunch of them would always troop up to my other cousin’s room to play all afternoon, or till they were called to go down to help themselves to different kinds of ice cream flavors or make their own glass of halo-halo for merienda.  Just like good family grub, video games are one of the things that bring our family (the younger generation at least) together. 

I think a great video game sticks with you; stays in your memory long after you've finished the last credits and are moving on to a new challenge. Some video games outlive the systems that made them famous, often appearing in more titles down the road while others only show up once and are never seen again. And there are some that are so great, they’ve become cult classics.  Here, in no particular order, are my top choice video games of all time:

1. Contra

Who doesn’t know the cheat code of Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A, select (for two player), start? The player controls a commando who battles waves of enemies including humans, machines, mutants and aliens to reach his ultimate goal. Much of the game's popularity came from its two-player simultaneous gameplay, which was an uncommon feature in video games.  The one thing I loved about the game was the wide selection of firearms to choose from.  You had a pick of machine gun, rapid fire, laser, spread, and fireball.  There’s nothing like gunning down the bad guys. 

2. Mario 3

Mario first made his appearance back in 1980. He started off going in and out of pipes in the same flat scene over and over, stomping on furious crabs.  My ultimate favorite title is Mario 3 where he evolved into a fun character who can jump to many worlds, fly when he grows a raccoon tail, swim like a frog when he dons a frog suit, and can shoot fireballs.  Probably the character most associated with Nintendo, Mario is as familiar as Mickey Mouse, but kicks a lot more butt. On top of that, he started out a plumber, and that's quite a ladder for fame to climb.

3. Castlevania

This was one game I could only play during the day because of its spooky sound effects and theme.  The object of the game was to kill Dracula, which means the game pretty much involved having to trek dark forests, whip zombies and bats, and toss garlic and holy water to every evil looking creature you come across.   

4. Alone in the Dark

Inspiring and influencing a whole slew of games, from Resident Evil to Tomb Raider, Alone in the Dark was the first third-person, 3D action title and surely one of the scariest games anyone had seen at that time. Based loosely on the style and substance of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, Alone in the Dark was very unsettling. The player took on the role of a paranormal investigator trying to escape from a manor haunted by a ghostly pirate, an animated suit of armor, a freakishly scary tree, and more zombies than you could shake a stick at.

5. Doom

Distributed as freeware less than a year after its predecessor Wolfenstein 3-D, Doom was the full Monty. The dark, disturbing hell-based theme, coupled with distinctly memorable sound effects from doorways opening, to hissing, howling and gnashing creatures, put atmosphere in the first-person shooter genre. Doom was packed with dozens of levels, awesome guns and adrenaline-pumping action. You couldn't look up, but it didn't matter. The game challenged your skills, saturated you with then-awesome graphics and sound, and genuinely burned into your subconscious. The fact that you could play multiplayer death matches via LAN vaulted this first-person shooter into gamers' hearts and minds forever.

6. Civilization II

Building on the addictive historical strategy concept pioneered in the original game, Civilization II is, I think, one of the deepest and most complex games ever made. Players lead their civilization from the founding of its first cities through the conquest of other planets. Along the way they'll set research priorities, manage the empire's economy, build new cities, design your own throne room, negotiate with other civilizations and, best of all, wage war across the entire globe.

7. Tomb Raider

That body, that face, those legs! Lara Croft was a (very) welcome addition to the video gaming world. She took puzzle-solving acrobatics to the next level and also benefited from the best graphics of her day. The depth of the environments available to explore and the details of the story made "Tomb Raider" the best thing since, well, "Prince of Persia." Of course, it spawned numerous sequels, but none could ever quite recapture the awe and excitement gamers felt playing the first one.

8.  Street Fighter II

It remains to be one of the premier one-on-one versus videogames in existence. Not only did it kick-start a genre which flooded the early '90s with copycat clones, but it also established many genre gameplay standards that persist even to this day: two-in-one combos, quarter-circle-forward and charge motions, etc. are still the foundation of many of today's fighting games. With a simple premise and subtly deep design, Street Fighter II established itself as a cultural icon for the youth.

Of all the haduken and shuryukens, my favorite street fighter character was Chun-Li.  Nevermind if her skirt was annoyingly too short and her voice was a tad bit irritating, she was still the hottest thing going when I was younger and using her lightening kick to take down my friends in Street Fighter II.  One of the most agile characters in the game, she could dance circles around even the fastest yoga master or green Brazilian dude, and had a vertical leap that was over twice her height. What’s not to admire about that? 

9. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Yes, it's violent, amoral and laced with profanity — just like the Boyz N the Hood–era gangsta films to which it pays homage (which are ingredients for a perfect video game such as this). Sure, you can take your homies on that drive-by shooting raid on a rival gang, or you can grab a car at random and simply explore the state of San Andreas. You can also get your head shaved at the barber's, pump up your muscles at a gym, grab a bucket of wings at the Clucking Bell drive-through and go watch the sun set over Verona Beach. How much crime you commit along the way is entirely up to you.

10. Below the Root

Below the root was the first video game I remember liking a lot that even id I finished it already, I’d stil play it. Based on the Green-sky book trilogy, it isn’t a typical example of an adventure game. The player can assume the role of one of five characters with different abilities, a member of one of two races - the Kindar or the Erdling - and attempt to settle the existing differences between the two groups.  The game didn’t have any sound effects except if you’d bump into wall or glide into a patch of thorns.  It was also in black and white. Theft and violence were alien concepts to most of the books' characters so you cant simply walk into a room and pocket an unattended object. You had to find the owner of the object and ask permission, buy the object in a shop, or locate the object in a public area.  It wasn’t a violent game at all, the only time you’ll get hurt is if you fall, get attacked by an animal, or clumsily walk into walls.  The nearest violent thing would be getting kidnapped and waking up in an uninhabited abode. 

What are your favorite video games of all time?  Drop me a line at techiepen@gmail.com