Of all the games you've played as a kid, which one when it's name is mentioned brings back such nostalgia you are left speechless as to what made that game so great?

Mine has to be Roller Coaster Tycoon 1. I first got it from a cereal box of all things and spent the years after that playing it non stop, just about any chance I got I would be playing it, whether it was only for 10 minutes or an hour, I would be playing it, creating my parks, drowning people... err I mean making people happy. It was great fun.

To this day I can't tell you what made that game so great to me... was it the colorful graphics? The ability to create roller coasters to my hearts content? odly no... because RCT3 had all that but in the 3d plane, where you could ride the rides... yet I'd often times give up playing RCT3 to go and play RCT1 again... so I have no idea what made it so special. One day i'll pick buy it from GOG but till then...

What's your most nostalgia inducing game from your childhood? What made it so great?

strangly enough for me it's the early 3D games. Sure they haven't aged well at all but at the time the "graphical jump" was amazing. Top game for me from that era should be ocarina and to be honest ocarine holds up pretty well.

Well, games from my "childhood" weren't so hot. I had an Odyssey 2. In college, I played the hell out of Bard's Tale III, so maybe that one. Or something like Might & Magic IX, which I had when it came out, and have it again here. In fact, I'm about to start playing it again, once I familiarize myself with the controls.

Hm, my first game ever was Super Mario Bros., but my nostalgia is more at home in the 16-bit era. Super Mario World, Super Castlevania IV, Secret of Mana, Street Fighter 2 Turbo. I still remember the excitement because of the better sound and graphics, and the long hours I spent standing in line at the local super market for a chance to play some SNES, before I got my own console for Christmas.

The game that evokes the strongest feelings in me is probably Morrowind. I just need to launch the main menu and listen to the music, and I melt again. But it's not really "childhood nostalgia" since I was already an adult when I played it.

From my childhood, perhaps the original "Adventure" for the Atari 2600. Or "Cosmic Ark". Or, from a later period (C64): Starquake, Impossible Mission, and perhaps "Space Taxi", the first game I ever wrote a hack for. ;)

The classic N64 games do it for me. Super Mario 64, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Starfox 64.
The last one in particular has a happy memory because the whole family was gathered round when I beat it for the first time. The credits started rolling, with all the Japanese names, and my dad said the designers would laugh at him if he tried to pronounce their names.

The old PC game I most fond of is this old strategy game for DOS called Iron Cross. But it seems like there's no love for this game now.

Probably the N64 era. I have fond memories of Megadrive, Master System and of course Amiga, and I have strong nostalgic feelings for them too but I was kinda young back then and had a really rough childhood. I've found recently when playing some of them again that the warm feelings of nostalgia are also mixed in with the memories of just how things actually were and I find it uncomfortable.

Goldeneye and Mario 64 for me probably.

I'm in something like the same boat. I only played Morrowind last year, yet it was the game which sprang to mind. Why couldn't Bethesda have just made games in the same style as it in different areas of Tamriel, rather than making...Oblivion?

Ikari Warriors for the NES. Not only with game nostalgia but it takes me back to standing in line waiting to see First Blood prt 2.

Despite having played Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast the most out of all the other games I've played when I was younger, I feel the most nostalgia for Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Honestly, I don't know why. When I can get it to work, I still consider it to be a fun game, but it isn't really outstanding. Still, every time I see the name mentioned somewhere or I just randomly think of it, I want to play it again.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Such good memories on that game.

The weirdest nostalgic moments was when I played Tomb Raider 2 last year. I never owned the full game but I must of played the demo level so much when I was a kid that playing the first level brought that feeling back.

Personally playing Doom 2 first 3 levels are nostalgic also playing DK is so good

For PC:

Jagged Alliance 2

I can still remember when I bought the game and was disappointed that there were no exploding heads in the german version. So I pirated the US version. ^^

For Consoles:

Super Street Fighter II Turbo

That was my first Console game.
But I also have a lot nostalgic feelings with other SNES games like

Super Mario Kart
I can still remember when this game was released there was a great promotion in a shopping center near my residence where you had to drive the best lap time to win a SNES and the game. All others got stickers with Mario, Luigi, Toad and so on. Man was I bad when I played it the first time. I always drove against walls. So I got some of those stickers. I still have them.

Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past
was my first Action RPG

Secret of Mana

That was the day when I discovered that video games could be more than simple mindless stories, when I discovered that whole worlds could fit in something the size of your hand.

I only wonder how much more magical it could have been on the SNES CD.

Gosh, you people with newer titles are making me feel...aged.