For many of us, the path to a lifelong love of video games began not with a high-definition system or a large open universe, but with the basic, pixelated enchantment of an arcade machine or a home console that came to life. In many ways, Video Games Day is a celebration of that cultural touchstone and a tribute to the interactive art form that has had a deep and unexpected impact on our modern lives.
From the shared screams of victory against a challenging boss to the quiet moments of discovery in a new digital realm, gaming has built friendships and taught us the satisfaction of conquering a seemingly impossible task. This devotion, sparked by the flickering light of a CRT screen, became an essential part of who we are. Our childhood heroes and characters became lifelong friends, and the music from those games became the songs of our formative years.
So today, on Video Games Day 2025, Beebom’s Gaming Team took a trip down memory lane and shared their childhood favorites that turned them into gamers for life.
Anmol Sachdeva’s Pick
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
My first PC at age 12 opened up the door to gaming for me. It was an exciting time. The era of dial-up internet and flash games is what I easily recall, alongside my school presentations. And though games like Dave and Prince of Persia first introduced me to gaming, they felt nothing more than fun distractions at the time.
They did not make gaming an important thing for me. I had no real emotional investment in gaming until I went to college in 2012. It was then that I had a chance encounter with Ezio Auditore. I saw my friend take a leap of faith and execute enemies in cold blood with Ezio’s hidden blade, and I was enamoured. So, I picked up a modest Lenovo laptop with an Nvidia GPU – not the most powerful but powerful enough to step into Ezio’s robes and take on Templars from the shadows (while doing my assignments, of course).
I played the whole Ezio trilogy in college, and the Desmond-Ezio duo pulled me in with the brilliant Animus concept and the ability to relive the memories of an ancestor. Among the three, it’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood that made Ezio one of my favorite characters of all time. I have fond memories of doing parkour on the streets of Rome, escaping enemies, executing finishing moves, and living history through the eyes of Ezio, and it all felt so real.
And then there was the leap of faith. The simple act of climbing to the very top of a Vatican building, admiring the beauty of Renaissance Rome, and then letting yourself free-fall into a haystack was thrilling. Each time I saw a high-rise tower, I had to do it. Late nights alone in my dorm room, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood brought me companionship, comfort, and an escape when I needed it most. It was the game that made me fall in love with storytelling and gaming.
Rishabh Sabarwal’s Picks
Road Rash
The 2000s were a wild time for technology, and for me, a monumental decade for video games. I started my journey like many kids, with an NES and its 8-bit wonders like Tetris and Pac-Man. But my real adventure began in 2002, when my cousin introduced me to his Windows XP rig and, more importantly, a game that would change everything for me: Road Rash.
As a 6-year-old, I had no idea what was getting into. The moment the game’s biker rock music hit, I was hooked. This wasn’t just a racing game; it was pure, unadulterated chaos on two wheels. The races were a frantic, adrenaline-fueled blur, and the AI, especially rivals like Ronda, were a serious challenge.
I spent hours smashing keys on the keyboard, learning the perfect timing for a kick to send my opponents flying. I’d even use a chain to knock them off their bikes, which felt incredibly cool. And let’s not forget the sheer joy of kicking a cop off his bike and leaving him in the dust.
People might argue today that it wasn’t an age-appropriate game for a kid, but for me, it was formative. Road Rash ignited my passion for racing and, more broadly, for PC gaming. The mix of high-speed racing, brutal combat mechanics, and that killer soundtrack was just perfect. I’d lose myself for hours, trying to shave a few seconds off my best time on the six maps. Years later, those reckless driving “skills” would prove invaluable in games like Grand Theft Auto.
Looking back, Road Rash wasn’t just a game – it was a reminder that sometimes, rock and roll and a little bit of recklessness are all you need to create an instant classic.
Virtua Cop 2
The FPS genre is a monster now, but my journey started long before Call of Duty and Counter-Strike were household names. For me, it was a random afternoon in 2003, and my grandfather’s business store became my personal arcade. A computer technician there had just installed a bootleg copy of Virtua Cop 2 with Windows XP, and little did I know, this simple game was about to change how I saw shooters forever.
It was more than just a game; it was my first real aim trainer. The mouse in my hand felt like a light gun, and the crosshair on the screen was a direct line to my skill. The game was relentless, a nonstop assault of bad guys popping out from every corner. I had to be fast, and the shrinking crosshair mechanic was genius. It wasn’t some lazy auto-aim—it demanded precision and speed. The perfect shot was a reward in itself, a satisfying scream as the enemy went down.
I remember the thrill of the perfect reload, a split-second decision that could keep the action flowing or leave me vulnerable. And those exploding barrels? A true test of environmental awareness, a way to take out multiple enemies with on-point timing. Virtua Cop 2 taught me to hold my fire when a civilian got in the way, adding a layer of tension that modern shooters often forget.
I didn’t need a fancy aim trainer back then. All I needed was my grandfather’s PC and a copy of VCop 2. The game taught me everything I needed to know about response time, mouse sensitivity, and landing headshots. To this day, I swear if you can master the ruthless pace of that game, you’re basically a human aimbot on the keyboard and mouse. It was my boot camp, my training ground, and the game that ignited my lifelong love for shooters.
Ishan Adhikary’s Picks
Project IGI
I was around eleven when I first touched Project IGI. Until then, I always thought video games belonged on consoles, since my childhood was filled with Mario Bros and Contra. Things changed at the computer course I attended, where I once noticed my tutor playing a strange game and heard the voice of a female operative crackling through the speakers. The curious kid in me had to know what it was, and soon I found myself playing it under the guise of learning mouse control.
That was the moment the obsession began. The first mission in Project IGI alone felt larger than life, with its wide open spaces and guards who seemed far too clever for me at the time. It became my crash course in first-person shooters, and the sharp, needle-like sound of a Dragunov sniper shot kept pulling me back for more.
From level design to the story, everything made me feel like I was a protagonist in a Hollywood spy movie. Escorting Jacob to infiltrate the Eagle’s Nest, everything created tension about what would happen next. And every time I clicked play, the only line I said was “I am Going In”, along with Jones.
Despite being one of Eidos’ weaker-performing titles, Project IGI has stayed closer to my heart than many modern shooters ever could. Well, you could say I am a PC-first gamer because this game was one of my first. Project IGI was the spark that made me fall in love with the FPS genre, and the moment I truly became a gamer.
Shadow of the Ninja (NES)
Before I was anywhere near a PC, those cheap Indian five-dollar video game cartridges were my whole world. Inside those 1000-in-1 collections, one game in particular pulled me deeper than the rest: Shadow of the Ninja. Since Contra was already my favorite, I honestly thought this ninja game was just a sequel with swords instead of guns.
That illusion broke fast once I got a handle on its tricky movement and attacks, which felt way more complex for my pea-sized brain. For a seven-year-old brain, it was a lot to process, but it made me a curious cat for video games. Every level felt like I was sneaking into a secret martial arts movie, and that thrill kept me glued to the screen. Wall jumping or using spears to keep distance in a fight, crouch or close katana slashes, the game had it all. And for a cheap console to show me the taste of possibilities like those, my tiny brain cells were blown away.
This was also the first game guilty of making me bunk tuition classes just to keep playing, and trust me, it wouldn’t be the last time. My tiny excuses to parents and teachers were nothing compared to the rush of pulling off another level. That’s how I realized games weren’t just a way to pass the time, they were a new way to live stories.
Looking back, Shadow of the Ninja was more than a name on the cartridge. It was the first video game that gave me the character development arc to my personal story.
Aryan Singh’s Picks
Freedom Fighters
I don’t remember Freedom Fighters in full detail. I remember it in fleeting, vivid fragments that have somehow clung to my brain for over a decade.
I remember the snow-covered streets of New York, repurposed Soviet propaganda filling the skyline, and the sound of Jesper Kyd’s haunting choir swelling in the background as I led a ragtag squad of rebels down a sewer tunnel. I remember that distinct feeling of isolation and dread that comes with staging a ramshackle rebellion roused by a plumber of all leaders.
I remember traipsing through its hideouts, spotting pizza boxes, and wondering if the pizza joints did doomsday delivery. I remember relishing every borough I liberated, hoisting up the American flag, and hollering like a patriot after a particularly intense gunfight. All these memories are among my favorites with a controller in hand, and Freedom Fighters is easily among the very best games I’ve had the privilege of experiencing.
Its crunchy gunplay was so insanely satisfying without ever undermining the plot. The resistance was armed with rusty AKs compared to the Soviets’ SPAS-12s, RPKs, and mounted MGs. The enemy also had superior numbers in almost every encounter, furthering that underdog premise. So, when you scraped your way to a desperate victory, it genuinely felt like an achievement.
The story anchoring the action was straightforward, but it showed off that signature grit often associated with New York’s populace. All the alt-history elements ended up sparking my fascination with similar war-torn worlds in Fallout and Wolfenstein, effectively shaping my palate for years to come.
When speaking of Freedom Fighters, I couldn’t tell you which mission came where, or whether the gameplay evolved over its runtime. What I can tell you is that the feeling of pushing back, inch by inch, against a force that always seemed stronger was nothing less than revelatory for a budding gamer. Even in fragments, Freedom Fighters is a memory I’ll always hold close, since it reminds me of why I picked up a controller in the first place.
Bully
Bully on the PS2 was the most transformative gaming experience I’ve ever had. I bought the game for a little over a dollar, knowing next to nothing about it. Having spent dozens of hours in neon-lit Vice City, the Rockstar logo emblazoned on Bully’s box art caught my eye immediately. I knew the symbol assured a degree of quality, but I had no idea that I had picked up the bargain of a lifetime.
I slapped its unassuming disc into my jailbroken PS2’s drive, and the next ten or so hours flashed by in a blitz. In that duration, I had delivered a million wedgies, mastered the recipe for Stink Bombs, and perpetrated the ultimate Halloween heist, to name a few of my escapades. The Rockstar equivalent of a schoolyard simulator had me in its clutches, and it genuinely felt impossible to let go.
I didn’t own a Memory Card at the time, so every shutdown meant restarting from scratch. But my obsession was so fervent that the cycle of replaying the game never felt repetitive. I’d progress to the sewer-pit boss fight against Russell every single time, and wipe the arrogant smirk off Gary’s face just for the satisfaction. Doing so also made the open-world surrounding the school accessible, which, despite its humble size, was simply joyous to explore.
Bullworth was my mecca, its circus my wonderland, and its comic store my sanctuary. I farmed relentlessly until I scrounged up enough tickets to purchase a helmet, and I toiled hopelessly against the gruelling arcade cabinet named ‘ConSumo’. If memory serves me right, I 100%-ed Bully long before I knew what that expression stood for. And had it not been for the 2006 classic, my love for this medium wouldn’t nearly be this zealous.
Sanmay Chakrabarti’s Picks
Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
As a fledgling gamer in the early 2000s, the Prince of Persia trilogy played a significant role in shaping my gaming preferences. Although I enjoyed all three of the PoP games in the trilogy, Warrior Within became a clear favorite for me. Why? The initial reason was that it didn’t require a high-end GPU to run. With a PC that had only 1 GB of RAM and an Intel dual-core processor, Warrior Within was the best-looking game that I could run on it. But that was just the start of it.
Warrior Within quickly turned from a ‘good-looking game that ran on my PC’ to ‘one of my favorite games of all time’. The game had that edgy look missing from most other games, never shying away from nudity or gore. But what truly set it apart was the fast-flowing, intuitive combat system and a parkour style that has stood the test of time.
I still starkly remember watching combat videos of Warrior Within in the early days of YouTube with deafening Linkin Park music in the background. No other game even came close to the badassery possible with Warrior Within’s combat back then.
Adding to its parkour and combat was the introduction of Dahaka, the Time Guardian. This monstrosity would chase the prince at every given moment, often making its way into my nightmares. None of the other PoP games ever replicated something close to the absolute fear of a Dahaka chase in Warrior Within. Although Dahaka initially appeared as a gimmick enemy, I learned it much later that he was the actual final boss of the game.
Warrior Within had multiple endings, one of which involved defeating the Dahaka. The fact that I learned about it two years after my first playthrough made me fall in love with the game once again.
Overall, Warrior Within helped me develop a taste for good combat, movement, and proper game optimization. Something that is often missing in most modern games, particularly from the same developer who created the masterpiece I love so much.
Max Payne
Max Payne, the name still rings in my ears even after all these years. Do I remember the game’s story? No! What I do remember is jumping in slow motion and shooting enemies in the head. Max Payne was the first and only game that allowed players to slow time accurately, even slowing bullets shot by enemies mid-flight.
While other shooters introduced cool guns, Max Payne gave you two Glocks. Yes, there were different guns, but who would pick them over dual-wielding Glocks? Max Payne was the definition of cool. He was like the Punisher from the comics, an unstoppable force that mowed through hordes of enemies by…jumping at them and shooting. It may sound weird, but it was extremely cool in experience.
But it wasn’t just slowing time and shooting that made Max Payne such a massive success. The game was dark and did not shy away from exploring hard-hitting topics. A clear example was the beginning, where Max Payne dropped the iconic dialogue that those who are chasing him are already dead, showing an invincible personality. Cut to the next story scene, and we see a vivid murder of his wife while a helpless and vulnerable Max Payne could barely do anything to stop it.
The stark difference between the two scenes was striking. While players may start off thinking of him as a cool, unstoppable killer, in actuality, he was nothing more than a broken man, driven to the point of madness from the thirst for vengeance. The game continues to touch on such a drastic duality of human nature throughout the story.
Max Payne raised my standards, teaching me not to be satisfied with one-dimensional characters and mediocrity.
Ajith Kumar’s Picks
Contra
I may have been introduced to the world of video games through mobile games such as Space Impact and Snake on my mother’s old Nokia phone, but my life and perspective about games changed forever when my father brought home a knock-off NES video game console.
Alongside it, he got a couple of 8-bit video game cassettes, which used to have the iconic tag “100 in one.” I plugged in the very first cassette without knowing what was awaiting me. It was Contra, and it featured something which I wasn’t aware of at that time: a co-op gameplay option. So, I quickly called my younger brother and started the game without knowing a thing about it.
When we got our hands on a gun and the S-power, we went in with our guns blazing and destroying the enemies, which was my very first experience of a proper run-and-gun action game. With tons of new weapons, power-ups, and platforming throughout ever-changing levels, Contra offered a tough challenge that gave me a sense of fulfilment after I overcame those challenges alongside my brother during our childhood. Contra turned both my brother and me into lifelong gamers, and we still vividly remember this game as the one that sparked our shared passion for gaming.
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
While I was spending countless hours with my knock-off video game console, I began to notice that the world of gaming I knew was rapidly changing with the arrival of Sony’s PlayStation. One of my cousins managed to get one, and when I got to see it, he was playing Resident Evil 4.
That was my first-ever video game outside of the NES world, and I can still hear the eerie voice saying “RESIDENT EVIL 4’ when opening the game in my ears to this day. Even though I was a scaredy-cat when it came to horror back then (just kidding, I’m still the same), Leon’s spine-chilling journey to rescue the president’s daughter intrigued me.
As I didn’t have a PS2 back then, I had to sit and watch my cousin play at that time as he managed to get one. Since I found myself drowning in Leon’s action with his handgun, I convinced my parents to get me a PS2 as well. Finally, they bought me one after I scored well on school tests.
I immediately bought Resident Evil 4 as my first PS2 game after getting the console. I faced endless setbacks, such as controllers getting broken, losing my data, but I kept coming back to it again to finish the rescue mission. What followed was a life-changing journey, where I made my way through obliterating the infected humans and monsters, and conquering my fear to complete the most challenging mission of my life.
In a way, Resident Evil 4 was one of my earliest games that made me the gamer I am today. Since then, Shinji Mikami’s RE4 is my all-time favorite game, and the franchise has become one of my favorites, not just in horror. Now, I’m eagerly waiting with bated breath to play RE:9 requiem, and I can’t wait to meet my childhood videogame hero again!
Bipradeep Biswas’s Picks
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
I recall being a huge fan of the Prince of Persia trilogy, but Sands of Time was the one that truly captivated me. It wasn’t just about playing the game – it was more like stepping into the story of the Prince, watching how he lost his family and struggled to bring them back. The atmosphere, the narrations about how the prince’s journey unfolded, made it feel like I was living through a storybook adventure.
What stood out the most were the cinematic moments and the platforming sequences. Running across the walls, flipping over enemies, and narrowly escaping the traps both felt rewarding and thrilling. One of the unique gimmicks in the game was the Dagger of Time, which allowed me to rewind any mistake and play it again.
Moreover, the Prince’s mistake of unleashing the Sands gave the game a sense of emotional depth as well. Looking back, Sands of Time was an experience that set a benchmark on storytelling and gameplay mechanics of the early 2000s, and hence remains my all-time favorite.
Devil May Cry 3
Devil May Cry 3 will always be one of the most unforgettable parts of my childhood. I remember being instantly hooked the moment the game opened with Dante’s iconic cutscene, showing his stylish and rebellious attitude. It wasn’t just the flashy action, but how the game made every fight feel like a challenge. Beating the demons, watching Dante crack jokes in the middle of the fights, and facing off against Vergil created the amazing gaming memories that I still carry today.
At the core, DMC 3 is an action hack-and-slash game that’s filled with fast-paced combat where you can hit non-stop combos. When I first booted up the game, the image of the main character in a red trenchcoat, Dante, left an impression on me. His journey in this title focuses on how he came to be the legendary Demon Hunter he’s known now. The game is full of drama and rivalry between Dante and his brother Vergil, and the conflict escalates with every encounter.
Filled with intense boss fights, intricate levels, and a huge focus on maintaining combos, you are always rewarded for creativity. The flashier your moves are, the higher your style ranking will be. This helps you earn more orbs (the game currency) and hence unlock better attacks. Once you’ve mastered your weapons, every battle feels exciting and cinematic.
Anshuman Jain’s Picks
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
“Fifty thousand people used to live here. Now it’s a ghost town.”
That line left a lasting impression on a younger me when my uncle booted up Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on his PC. This was my first experience with a first-person shooter, and it was nothing short of incredible. It immediately set itself apart with storytelling that gripped you from the first mission, where you’re in the shoes of a hostage, executed on live television by the game’s main villain. That single moment told you this was different. This was serious.
Then came the missions. “All Ghillied Up” wasn’t just tense, it was nerve-wracking. Crawling through the grass as enemy soldiers walked inches away from you felt like something straight out of a military thriller. Or take the AC-130 gunship mission, where you provide air support to your allies on the ground. A level that flipped the perspective and made you feel the scale of modern warfare. These moments didn’t just entertain, but they stuck with me, helping me realise how powerful games can be when it comes to storytelling and narrative.
Need For Speed: Carbon
While Modern Warfare was intense, Need for Speed: Carbon was pure racing fun. I had previously tried parts of NFS Underground, but it never really clicked with me. Carbon, on the other hand, felt slicker and more polished. The cars handled better, the visuals were sharper, and most importantly, it introduced a bunch of new mechanics that honestly made me enjoy it quite a lot.
You could recruit a teammate to assist you mid-race, and each came with unique abilities: one could ram opponents to slow them down, another could reveal hidden shortcuts, while one gave you a speed boost via slipstream.
There were destructible environments you could use to shake off the cops. And unlike Most Wanted, where police chases were relentless, Carbon’s cops were easier to handle. Then came the boss races, probably my favourite part. You had to win over territories, with each zone culminating in a showdown with a boss that took place on mountain roads like Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
One wrong move, and you’re off the edge. It was intense. And it made every race before it feel like you were earning your way up to that high-stakes moment.
Which is one video game you grew up playing that made you a gamer today? Let us know in the comments below!
