I’ve been in a bit of a nostalgic mood. This isn’t like me but with the year rounding out I’ve been thinking about older games. Mostly games from this decade and this generation. Deciding upon my favourites and those I’m happy to never play again. I’ve been taken back a little further though. With the hype around World of Warcraft Classic and the soon to be released Mega Drive mini my whole gaming catalogue has been on my mind.
It’s hard to remember old games. When I think of a game that’s almost 30 years old I can easily confuse it for another. Was it Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion or World of Illusion? Definitely Castle. Did I play World too? There are more and more questions on games the more I think. Some are easy. I played a lot of World of Warcraft. This reminds me of the other mmorpgs I’ve played, other Blizzard games and games I played around the same time. That isn’t a small list and features from each creep across to others. I’ve also literally right now remembered Dark Age of Camelot and it’s three realm pvp system. This is mostly why I want to remember, the good features of games I know I’d be interested in experiencing again; albeit in a modern game.
To remember all the games I’ve played is a mammoth task. One that would require lists and lists, from years played to systems owned to genres. I recently started using the app GG| to find and order the games I’ve played this year. It’s helpful for Game of the year chats for the podcast and let’s me label a game with various states like Beaten or Abandoned. It helps me to know what I’d like to go back too when I have a little extra time. So, when recently adding Untitled Goose Game I thought I’d explore the library, and it is extensive. Whilst it may not be complete there have only been a couple of games it hasn’t found.
The listing for a game can vary greatly with some having full descriptions and screen shots and others only a sentence or a placeholder screenshot of Star Lord from Disney Infinity, odd right. I would think this will only get better and right now it does what I need it to. I’ve made lists for the last few years and for past systems I’ve owned. I’m very slowly adding games as I think of them. You can see from the screen grab that I’ve thought of a franchise and added the games I’ve played. I’ve also been running through my trophies list, starting mid PS3 lifetime when trophies were introduced. This is an arduous task and running through my other game libraries, such as steam, will not be that quick. I’d love to see some integration for adding my accounts. This could automatically tag games I’ve played and what system they were on. I’d also love to be able to order the different lists. 2019 was the first list I started but it’s at the bottom of the list of lists and I’ve to scroll through when adding a game or looking to reorder my top games. A slightly more complicated change and, perhaps, a simple one would help me enjoy the app more. It’s definitely preferential over writing them down or just listing games on a note app. I’m surprised this hasn’t been done before, or that I’m only just hearing about an app for this.
Gamecube games
PlayStation games
Something to consider if you’re not too fussed about older games, pre-PS3/360 era, is GOG Galaxy 2.0. An upgrade to GOGs Galaxy client it amalgamates you’re libraries. All you have to do is link them. I’ve currently got my steam, gog, epic, uplay, origin and playstation libraries linked. It shows me the games I own, friends from certain platforms and allows me to launch games; at least those installed on the PC. I like the idea of having all of my libraries in one place and was quick to sign up for the beta for Galaxy 2.0. It is often open on my machine and the first thing I launch when I want to play something. It’s a great alternative for PC users who don’t care about those older games or want to manually find all their games for a mobile app.
I’ll continue to remember all the games I’ve played and owned. I think I’ll hit a wall with it where my memory won’t keep up but as I do I can add a game, remember what I liked about it and try and find a similar experience. Something that sounded simple to start has turned into a massive task but I don’t mind.
