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Oooh, Baldur's Gate II is every bit as good as you'll have heard. The expansion (Throne of Bhaal) is also good, mainly for what it adds to the main game. Didn't like the first one as much - too empty. I've got a heap of Gamecube games that I bought secondhand and haven't played much of most of them. Some of them are great, but just don't seem to hold my interest for long past that positive first impression.

I was going to say GBA or GB Micro, but you've got a DS and that'll play those games natively. With that in mind, surely the answer has to be a PC-Engine or a Neo-Geo? Mind you, actually affording any games for the NG will stop you in your tracks.

Tubular was pretty crazy, as was getting that second exit for Butter Bridge. I managed to finish Lost Levels back in the day, but looking back now I don't know how I managed it. I never got the hang of flying in SM64 - so for me, getting all the red coins in the desert stage of SM64 was a huge frustration. Special mention also goes to that stage in world 8 of SM3 where you have all those bouncing musical blocks to negotiate, and a sun launching itself at you. Easy with the power wing (easier still with the cloud), but I sucked at it otherwise.

I just remembered the Thief games on PC - especially the first one. Realising that two Hammer Haunts have just detected your presence and hearing them racing toward you - bloody hell, that was tense.

Wow, how could I have forgotten about wrestling! I still remember watching my best friend Rianon's Summer Slam 88 and 89 videos over and over again. Re the weather - I'm in Australia, and it's getting HOTTER here. 40 really is the new 30 (ºC).

Oh wow, more Apple II lovers in the wild! My first gaming experiences were on an Apple IIc. Still one of my favourite systems. Favourite games were: 5. Moebius 4. Up and Down 3. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar 2. Seafox 1. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny - I think this is still my favourite game of all time, although I'd rather play the DOS version. Honorary mentions include: Karateka Ultima III: Exodus Ultima I Autoduel Drol Dino Egg Choplifter Moon Patrol Captain Goodnight (note the pointed omission of Ultima II!)

Oh lordy, Contra Hard Corps (the US or PAL versions) on the Mega Drive. Insane! Also Super R-Type on SNES. Equinox on SNES was easy until about the third dungeon (or any of the bosses); Trojan also had me stumped, but then I was crap at that. Ultima VIII was crazily hard without the patches - incidentally, I didn't even know there was a patch until a couple of months ago, so I've finally played through to the end!

Zelda II is one of my favourites too. One of the only 2D Zeldas I haven't finished (the other one is Oracle of Ages) - I got to Shadow Link once, then couldn't get back there. Somehow I finished LOZ by myself as a wee 13 year old, then again four years ago on the Gamecube collection. LTTP is my firm firm (FIRM) favourite though. I wish Nintendo would see sense and release OoT and MM on the DS - how could they fail? Then maybe I'd get more than a couple of hours into each. Has anybody played the CDi games (there are three)? Are they as bad as their reputation suggests?

I just got through typing a big spiel on how Total! reviewed it in issue 12 or 13 and gave it 85% - then realised that was for Final Fantasy Adventure instead (proto-Sword of Mana). Sorry!

Coming from Australia it's hard to know what was known or unknown in the rest of the world, but I loved: Faxanadu Death Race Sword Master Mighty Final Fight (I know this has already been listed, but it was GREAT so deserves a second mention) More recently I've developed a hankering to play Sweet Home, Yume Penguin Monogatori, Joy Mecha Fight and Crystalis.

Nostalgia is all very well, but I'm interested in hearing people's views on things (apart from games, which surely we can all agree on ) they genuinely feel aren't as good as they used to be. I'm going to start the bidding with: Lego - which I think had its heyday in the late 80s and early 90s and Bodybuilding - which has just gone downhill since Arnold won his 6th Mr O in 1975.

I remember playing Ultima VI: The False Prophet for about five minutes on a friend's 386 back in 1990. I've been the biggest Ultima fan I know since 1987, and Ultima VI was like Ambrosia to me. It wasn't until 6 years later than I finally got my hands on it. In the meantime I kept desperately hoping either: 1. It would be released on Apple II (hah!) 2. The SNES version would come to Australia, and would actually be any good (also sort of 'hah!'). Neither came to pass. Other loooong and agonising waits were for: Faxanadu - I hired this once while visiting my grandparents, then dreamed about it for a couple of years. I managed, as a 13 or 14 year old, to save up almost enough money to buy it - then found myself $10 short and blew the lot on Shadowgate instead! It just wasn't the same... Ultima VII: The Black Gate - sort of a similar story to Ultima VI, except that I only had 4 years of crying myself to sleep this time round. Super Mario Bros - first played in 1989, didn't own until Christmas 1991. That was a HAPPY day. What are other people's stories of delayed requitement?

Since so much nostalgia is associated with retro gaming (for me at least), I think it's only natural that playing or thinking of games from our childhoods will also bring back associations with music of the times. What games - or gaming moments - do you associate with what music? For me it's: Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny on Apple IIc - with Salt'n'Pepa's greatest hits (the first one) Super Mario Bros 3, particularly world 2 - with Queen Latifah's Nature of a Sista Faxanadu on NES - with The Tea Party's Edges of Twilight (from when I replayed the game in 1997) And sadly, Fantasy Zone on SMS - with Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.

What retro game music do you remember most fondly? What music sticks in your mind because it was and is so godawful? My favourites are: Any of the NES-SNES Mario games Zelda III Final Fantasy II/IV Secret of Mana Faxanadu Psycho Fox (Master System) Diablo A non-retro game that everybody should listen to (and play!) is Beyond Good and Evil. I finally played this last year when I upgraded my PC, and some of those tunes are just fantastic. Funniest voice acting ever too. As for painfully memorable music, that'd have to go to Final Fight. Ugh.

Great to see RVGFanatic get a mention - I only just discovered that site, it's fantastic! Sega-16 is also one of my regular reads. I'll add... Adventure classic gaming Shmups! Retro Gamer magazine Abandonia This one isn't strictly a games site, but it's a great resource for sourcing old game manuals etc: Replacement docs Thanks for the Hardcore Gaming 101 tip! I went looking for Shoot the Core recently, but it seems to have disappeared. Anybody know what happened to it?