Gaming is filled with legendary performances and milestones, but the sad truth is that the medium is so vast that many of its most noteworthy achievements, both good and bad, have been largely forgotten over the years. Here are 40 Underrated Moments in Gaming History.
July 14, 1993
Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 3 for the very last time.
April 14, 2018
After guitarist Slash takes a rogue shoe to the face, local gamer Fraser Quinn, armed only with his experience playing Guitar Hero II volunteers to assist Guns N Roses and finish the show as their lead guitarist. He’s beaten within an inch of his life by security, but gamers have long been inspired by his determination.
October 18, 1998
Determined to get through as much of the original Gran Turismo as he could in its three day rental window, seventh grader Darren Thompson forgoes all sleep, food, and water for 72 consecutive hours. Although celebrated at the time, Thompson’s untimely death two days later tends to overshadow this remarkable gaming achievement.
January 7, 1991
Jared Rice successfully completes a perfect game of the obscure Baby Pac-Man using only his face.
July 29, 2013
Programmer Neve Webster works the longest recorded workweek in video game history, putting in 129 hours on Grand Theft Auto V to make sure all the tits looked okay. An official ceremony is planned to commemorate the achievement, but after a sleep deprived Webster asks representatives of Guinness World Records if they are denizens of the Sleep World that have come for her flesh, the presentation is quickly scrapped.
April 24, 2006
No one believes me, but I watched my little brother get sucked into this game in 2006. I still play it once in a while to visit him. He’s doing okay. He found a wife in there!
June 22, 2003
Joseph Holmes, 86, asks his family to leave his hospital room so that he may spend his final moments playing Harvest Moon 2 for the Game Boy Color.
August 4, 2008
Roger Ebert briefly reverses his ‘Video Games can’t be art’ stance after spending a few hours with X-Men Legends 2 on the Nintendo GameCube. “Alright,” he says. “This one’s pretty tight.”
July 20, 2021
Local fisherman Mark Joyce catches a mint condition copy of The Legend of Zelda in Lake Superior, sealed in waterproof casing. Unaware of it’s potential five figure selling price, he throws it back. “I was trying to catch trout,” he says later. “Not Zelda games.”
October 1, 1988
Jackal is released for consoles. The game has the unique distinction of being the first ever to inspire a real life adaptation – being the eventual basis for the first Gulf War several years later. The war would receive a sequel, while sadly the game would not.
