One of the cool things about collecting is you get to enjoy new gaming experiences all the time. Most of us aren't just filling shelves with random crap, we're also researching and learning about gaming gems we missed out on. Sometimes these games are good enough to keep your attention for a few hours, maybe a few days, and you're grateful for them.

But every once in a while you're lucky enough to experience a game that takes hold of you--a game so good that you lament that your younger self didn't get a chance to be blown away by it.

Adult you loves it--but the kid you would have shit his pants over it. 

The two games that come to my mind are Radiant Silvergun and Earthbound. I didn't experience either of these games until adulthood--and that's a damn shame.

What games do you wish you'd played as a kid?

 

The big one for me is Chrono Trigger, though most any RPG I wish I could've played around when it came out.

Growing up, we mostly had platformers and arcade sports games/racers. However, in 1999 (when I was 9 or 10), we got Sega Smash Pack 2 for PC. On there was the game Shining Force. After playing the other games (mostly platformers and arcade style games), I decided to try Shining Force. I thought it looked dumb, so I named my character Joey, which I considered a throwaway name. Started playing, and I was immediately hooked. I never knew I liked RPGs until that moment. In 2003, my brother got Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and I played through that multiple times, even trying to max out Mario and Luigi's stats. In grad school, I played Final Fantasy II/IV for the SNES for the first time, followed immediately by III/VI. My love for RPGs was cemented. I also played Secret of Mana and Secret of Mana 2 on a repro cart. I was hooked on RPGs. However, I was nervous about playing Chrono Trigger. It had gotten such high praise from what I knew of the game, and I just couldn't imagine how it could live up to the other games I had played, especially III/VI.

I was blown away when I played it. I legitimately pulled an all-nighter playing the game (first time in my life doing that for a video game). It was amazing. I've replayed it multiple times since, and I even have done a playthrough with my wife watching and giving input. She loves it too, despite not having played any video games growing up. It's that good, and I wish my elementary-school-aged self could've experienced it.

Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time - I played all of the Mario and Zelda titles to that point and liked them all, but I made the switch from Nintendo to Sony with the release of the PlayStation. While I got the chance to play several of the N64 multi-player titles when visiting friends and family, I never got to really sit down and play these 2 single player gems.

Fast forward years later, I can see that they are great games now that I have a means to play them. But I know I missed out on the shared experience of discussing new achievements/discoveries with friends who were also playing these titles during their heyday.

Oh well. I'm sure somewhere out there someone is sad that they missed out on some of the great PS1 titles that I got to play with friends.

I didn't have a C64 or Atari computer as a kid in the 80s so I missed out on all those great 8-bit computer titles.

I probably would have loved Activision's Beamrider for the Atari 2600. Neat pseudo-3D space shooter.

Vice Project Doom for NES.

I had an Atari 7800 before I got a NES, but I only had a few games such as Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Food Fight. I wish I could have played some of the more NES quality stuff such as the ports of Ikari Warriors and Ballblazer.

Guardian legend .. What a gem.

Earthbound. I never played it as a kid and as an adult I don't care to. It had a chance to be memorable for me when I was little but now it has basically none.

Donkey Kong Country 3. I had the 2nd as a kid and borrowed the first one from a friend alot but didn't know 3 existed until I started collecting in 2011 or so. I think its just as good as the first two and would have played the crap out of it as a kid

Dusty diamonds all star softball
SCAT
Vice Project Doom
All the Final Fight games
Baseball Stars (dont have time to play seasons anymore, but I bet I would have gotten way into the team management options as a kid)
All 3 NES castlevania games (not sure how I never got to play them as a kid, but I did not) Shadow of the Ninja
P.O.W.

Probably the NES Mega Man games. I don't ever recall seeing a copy at our rental store in the 80s, and I was mostly into Mario, so I haven't really experienced or even gotten into a MM game until MMX.

Plus playing MMX then going back, I'm kinda spoiled by the MMX mechanics and level layouts to even find the originals enjoyable. Stupid disappearing blocks. :/

Pikmin. I didn't get to play it until 2010, 9 years after it was first released. Meanwhile I got to play various other Gamecube launch titles not long after they were released.

Don't know if this really counts but I wish I had done RPGs a lot earlier in my life than I did.

I wanted to play Kabuki Quantum Fighter but never got to. I saw it in my friend's Nintendo Power. I thought it looked so awesome, and I was right. Sounds awesome, too.

The first three CIB NES games I bought as an adult were KQF, ShadowGate (did play as a kid), and Klax (did not).

I spent so much time playing NBA 2K1 and 2K2 online on the Dreamcast that I hardly used the opportunity to play so many other online games while the chance was there.

Tons of NES and SNES stuff for sure. I wish I had a Genesis growing up as well. Big ones that come to mind are all the early Castlevanias, the Mega Mans, Secret of Mana and Evermore, Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, Metroid, pre-Ocarina Zeldas, Kid Icarus, Dragon Warrior 1-4, Final Fantasy 1-3 (NES/SNES). Honestly it would be quicker to list what I DID actually play back then. That is to say...not much. I had the Marios, Capcom Disney games, Blaster Master, Donkey Kong...great memories of those games but I missed out on a ton of stuff. On SNES I only had DKC1-3, Mario RPG, Mario World, Mario Kart, EarthBound and Yoshi's Island. All amazing games but...that was extent of my NES and SNES collections back then. Not until 2000 or so did I get to go back to explore the older systems via emulation but also I started driving and working so I was able to go to Gamestop/Funcoland to buy games I missed but read about in Nintendo Power.

I was lucky and my dads friend owned a pawn shop so i would bring a game or two and swap straight up no fees. I remember vividly getting mega man 1,2 and bubble bubble one weekend and i never traded those back in.

Back to the subject at hand, Felix the Cat is my wish i would've. I recall getting Nintendo power from waldenbooks and sitting in jc Penney while mom tried on clothes and seeing the preview for Felix. The graphics were super crisp and I was hard up to play it. I didn't get that pleasure until the late 2000s via emulation. Great game, would've been mind blowing back in the day.

You were lucky to have those connections, it was (still is) one of the most popular series to come out for the original Nintendo consoles.

Probably that's why nobody could ever see it in rental stores, it just doesn't have a dust-collecting shelf life due to people loving the series so much.  

 

Power Blade
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu
Little Samson
Beyond Oasis
Shadowrun (Genesis)

JRPGs when I had more time to play them. I went from Genesis to N64 and can't even remember what the first JRPG I played was. Probably Pokemon Red/Blue, maybe Septerra Core if you count that since it's a FF7 rip off? I mostly see JRPGs as a waste of time but if I grew up with Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Breath of Fire maybe I'd think differently.

You might see it as a waste of time but I see it more as "getting your money's worth" if even an NES/SNES era blue chip RPG (or similar sorts of games; I was really into MegaMan Battle Network in the 2000s) can easily turn into a 40-50+ investment, especially for a first timer and even more still in the pre-Internet era.

Teenage me missed out on a ton of great PS1 RPGs, but really, no real regrets prior to that. In retrospect, I had a fairly serendipitous array of games growing up.

Well, just like I did, you can do the great PS1 RPGs now!  BTW, I know it doesn't get nearly as much attention as FF7 but I honestly think FF9 is the best of the PS1 trilogy (and believe it or not you can still easily get a new copy from Amazon/Ebay for around $20...if you don't mind GH green label).  As for FF8 (and FF2, the real one, not the mislabeled SNES game that's really FF4 Easy Type), it kinda uses an unorthodox and confusing system, so they are definetly NOT for beginners.

Tales of Destiny would be perfect if you liked Tales of Phantasia on SNES (you can easily get a translated copy at most any game repro store with some rather eh, colorful dialog; hee hee)...but unfortunately even used copies are quite expensive (I think the going rate is about $100ish?  Sorry, they didn't make a GH green label version, which no doubt would be much more affordable).

I haven't played Chrono Cross yet, but the consenus seems to be that it's like "New Coke" compared to "Chrono Classic" (Chrono Trigger).

So far, I've managed to play the following PS1 RPGs:
Suikoden
Wild Arms
Persona
FF7-8-9
FFT
Lunar: SSS
Star Ocean 2
Parasite Eve
Tales of Destiny

Ones that I own and would like to play (some of which I've watched played or watched an LP of):
Rhapsody
Tactics Ogre
Lunar EB
Legend of Mana
Vagrant Story
Xenogears

Little Samson
Mighty Final Fight
Demon's Crest
E.V.O

The Sega Genesis.

Had I played that more when I was younger, I may have more nostalgia for it and would want to play it.

Only reasons I still have one are Technocop, the Mutant League games, and Splatterhouse 2/3.

Had the best version of Jurrasic Park, as well.