My Favorite Computer Games as a 90’s Kid

As a kid, I loved my alone time. I could sit at a computer for nearly 10 hours without moving, standing or eating. I was in the zone.

I struggled with adding “as a kid” to the title because I haven’t changed much! When I’m not playing frisbee I am on my computer. It looks a little different than my old one featured here (yes, that’s really my old computer!), but my time is still spent creating characters and writing backstories, doodling and testing out disastrous rollercoasters. I just love it.

In no particular order, here are my favorite games!

#1 The Sims

The Sims is an amazing franchise going strong. They just released The Sims 4 – Cats & Dogs in November! (which I still need to get.. especially because of this blog) From launching fireworks in the house to deleting all the doors, I had the most fun tormenting my Sims in the original. I can never decide whether Sims 2 or Sims 3 is my absolute favorite, because both have insane customization capabilities – clothes, furniture, wallpaper.. I’m practically a professional designer.

With that said, Sims 4 is beautiful. The graphics are smooth, soft and colorful and the interaction between Sims works like a dream. No more sitting around awkwardly in a group eating grilled cheese in silence.

“The Sims is a life simulation game series that was developed by Maxis and The Sims Studio. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video games series of all time.”


#2 Neopets

If I could only choose one game for the rest of my life, I would choose Neopets. Playing since first grade and never really stopping, I am a bit addicted. Who could just give up visiting giant omelettes (um, free food, yes plz) and playing Meerca Chase?

I love to draw pictures of my pets and make up stories in my head. It’s a really nice creative outlet – seriously. You can think of wild shit.

It’s pretty hard to use sometimes because a lot of the chatting is censored (for the kiddos) even though I’m pretty sure 85% of the site is used by adults! Haha. Hit me up @justlaughing hahaha

#3 Spider Man Movie Maker

My little brother and I spent hours and hours making terrible “movies” on this game. The best part is that the audio for our movies even has my brother’s 3 year old voice on it. Talk about PRECIOUS. D’awwww.

Here’s someone else’s random video, but it’s pretty accurate of the madness that could be designed on this game. It’s HILARIOUS.

“Help me – help! Help me – help!” – Blonde lady

#4 Crayola Art Studio 2

Ugh, amazing. When I was a kid all I wanted to do was draw, color and pretend I was an author (yes, you’re seeing a trend here…). You can play games or do puzzles, but I mostly sat in front of the blank white drawing area and used the pencil that made everything into a caterpillar. LOL. But really.

#5 Kid Works 2

Writing stories and illustrating them, along with clicking on random objects that make noise ~~wow~~. This game READS YOUR STORY TO YOU. How awesome is that? So of course, the best part about it is when it mispronounces something. The second best feature is clicking on the “cat” icon (seen in thumbnail below) – it turns all of your nouns into little pictures! You can make your own pictures so that no word is forgotten!

#6 Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

This may seem like the oddball on the list, but man, I love this game. Getting to create your own village, make your troops strong, mine for gold, and then destroy everyone else… ahhh, sweet, sweet victory. Cheat codes are a big plus. Here are a few of my favorites:

1,000 food: cheese steak jimmy’s


1,000 gold: robin hood


1,000 stone: rock on


1,000 wood: lumberjack


Instant building: aegis


Shelby AC Cobra: how do you turn this on


Flying Dog: woof woof


Little Monkey: furious the monkey boy


Useless villager: i love the monkey head


Win campaign: i r winner

#7 Rollercoaster Tycoon

I am solely a fan of the original, but I am sure all of the sequels are great. Maybe I am just really into the graphics of the original. Mmmm pixels. Delicious.

It’s simple, it’s fun, it’s easy, and you can test out your creativity a bit.

I am the worst type of person: I play these games to do well and win, so drowning people and creating deadly roller coasters was not my main jam. I would usually choose a random theme from my head (colors, Disney, breakfast food) and try to make a successful park out of my theme (spinning ride = scrambled eggs, rollercoaster = the baconator)!

Though… I can’t promise you that no one died on this coaster-in-a-cave… hahaha

What were your favorite games of the past?! Currently?! The FUTURE?! Comment below! I’d love to become your NEOFRIEND 😉