Readers’ Picks of 9 Mandatory Gaming Moments

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Task: Get the Babelfish without going insane.

Infocom, personal computers, 1984

The brains behind Zork and Planetfall dropped some devilish puzzles into their text adventures, but reader “NotEd” suggests that there was perhaps nothing so hair-pullingly impossible as finding the Babelfish item in the gaming version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Without it, you couldn’t beat the game, and it was possible to get to a point where you couldn’t get it at all, necessitating a restart. If you want to try, the game is available on Douglas Adams’ web site.

Photo: John Morton/Flickr

Minesweeper

Task: Clean up in record time.

Microsoft, Windows, 1990

Reader “Graeme Boyce” may be a sadist. He suggests that all gamers must play Minesweeper, that miniature-bomb-sniffing game that’s been included in all copies of Windows over the last two decades, until they can find every mine in the Beginner difficulty in the bare-minimum six seconds. I don’t know if this is a good goal or not, but you do own this game even if you don’t know it, so why not try?

Screengrab: Wired.com

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

Task: Find true love, or something approximating it.

Sierra On-Line, personal computers, 1987

Reader “Riley E. Coyote” howled that we should have added at least one classic point-and-click adventure. “Urabutin” suggested reaching the climax of Leisure Suit Larry, and I agree wholeheartedly: Gamers should try to navigate the lovable little sleazebag through the town of Lost Wages and figure out how to attain the closest thing to true happiness he’ll ever know. Just remember to save early and often so you don’t get blocked.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Battletoads

Task: Ride the jetbikes without throwing your controller.

Tradewest, Nintendo Entertainment System, 1991

This classic beat-em-up developed by Rare is, depending on your mood, either a clever parody or shameless rip-off of the Ninja Turtles. Its gorgeous animation carries it through the first couple levels, but the impossibly difficult speed-racing jetbike segment that follows was the main reason you might find an NES controller embedded in a television screen. Reader “Mighty Molecule” thinks it’s time you go back and finally finish it.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Sonic the Hedgehog

Task: Keep your hedgehog’s hide unblemished.

Sega, Genesis, 1991

"I think if I could add one it would be Sonic The Hedgehog," writes reader "stead311" of the game that catapulted Sega to gaming superpower status. "Never get hit or touch the water when fighting the Labyrinth Zone boss!"

Again, he might be asking a bit too much of you, too, but this guy on YouTube did it. Well, wait, he touched the water. So even he fails the stead311 standard of übergeekdom.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Final Fantasy VII

Task: Excel at Chocobo husbandry.

Squaresoft, PlayStation, 1997

"Golden Chocobo, anyone?" asked reader "Buddy Spurck." Truth be told, Wired.com contributor Jason Schreier had pitched this very mission when we were putting together our list, but I've been through the torture of Chocobo breeding and I didn't want to subject anyone else to it. That said, forcing birds to have sex and riding whatever came out was a major sidequest in Final Fantasy VII, the end result being a godlike Chocobo that can help you get one of the RPG's most powerful magic spells.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Halo

Task: Make a new friend.

Microsoft, Xbox, 2001

Many readers thought the lack of Halo on our must-play list was an egregious omission. "R. Kasahara" threw out a possible goal for players who'd never experienced the groundbreaking first-person shooter: Finish the level "343 Guilty Spark," in which Master Chief first teams up with the chirpy AI buddy whose name provided the moniker for Halo 4 developer 343 Industries. At that point, you've gotten a taste of how good Halo can get.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Katamari Damacy

Task: Roll up the whole wide world.

Namco, PlayStation 2, 2004

Before it became a series of increasingly ignored samey sequels, Katamari Damacy was an astoundingly original concept: Roll a ball of everything. As the levels became grander, and collecting erasers and candies gave way to making a ball of houses and trees, you could start to guess that the final level might involve rolling up the very oceans. And it did. Reader "raindog469" says you should experience it, and we agree.