What are the 5 best video game experiences that you can remember. Here are mine in no particular order:

1. Super Mario 64: This was my first 3D video game, and I was blown away by what I could do. To top it off, it was just a solidly constructed and inventive game. One that defined how other video games would be made for years to come.

2. The Legend of Zelda (original) / Ocarina of Time / Breath of the Wild: Ok, I'm cheating by naming three games here, but each of these entries in the series profoundly changed the way I thought about video games at the time. The original was amazing. I had never played a game like that, and I played for hours, loving the adventure and the ability to find hidden things. Ocarina of Time revived the series so well, bringing it current in the age of 3D rendering. And, BOTW just advanced the open world experience to new levels, keeping the feel of the original game but expanding the possible ways to play it. I lost countless hours playing each of these games.

3. The Witness: Since getting into pinball, I had left video games behind for quite a while. On a whim and a recommendation, I decided to buy The Witness. This isn't just a game. It is art and philosophy. It is science and math. It is the quest for learning and the experience of gaining knowledge. If you haven't played The Witness yet, do so! It is so hard to explain the feeling you get while playing. It is much more than just a game about solving mazes.

4. Minecraft: I was home sick with a nasty virus for a couple of days so decided to download this new game that was getting a lot of buzz. Hours upon hours later, I couldn't stop playing and was soon crafting amazing worlds and sharing the experience with my kids. What an amazing and inventive game that everyone can play and not feel guilty about.

5. Dungeon: You guys probably called this Zork, but I played the original Dungeon on my father's Vax computer at work. My father and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the puzzles in this text adventure and traded clues with some of his colleagues. I couldn't believe there was a game that kept track of your progress and interacted with what you said. It opened the door to many things that followed.

Ah, I forgot about that! That game was a cinematic experience. And the gravity gun is one of the best weapons in video games, especially at the end when it gets upgraded to capture and fling enemies.

I had a love hate relationship with that game. Wasn’t that the one where when you finished, you found out it was a fake ending and had to do the whole thing all over again?

I still remember the exact time I learned about Dragon's Lair. I was a kid reading about it in a magazine while a babysitter was over. I remember showing her how blown away I was by the appearance of the game and how I never saw anything like it. I owned a Commodore Vic 20 and played Omega Race on it quite often and was used to those types of graphics. I couldn't believe there would be something that was animated.

Then I got to play it in the arcade and basically couldn't do anything. I didn't have a lot of money so was unwilling to sink multiple quarters into the game. I was really really disappointed.

Today, as I'm playing games like Zelda BOTW or even my most recent game Gravity Rush 2, I strangely think about showing them to my younger self and what he would think. I'm playing stuff now with a level of graphics, interaction and control that I could only dream about years ago. It really is amazing.

Cool story! For those of you that have done well on Dragons Lair, how did you learn? Just an endless supply of quarters . . . . ? I found it nearly impossible to figure out anything.

Will there be a new one?

I agree, but year after year, I lose a little more hope.