What are some of your favourite old games, and what are the ones you've never been able to find?
My love is adventure games, a genre all but extinct in these times. I was born in 1988, so the glory days of Lucasarts were at the point where I was still fiddling with paint and working out how a DOS command line worked, while having little cash (A five-seven year olds pocket money is nonexistant, and we barely had modem).
However, my introduction to games, adventure games particularily came in the form of the ADI series of education games by Sierra, which I loved, since for enough English or Math problems solved, you (the player) would get points, points for which one could play a variety of delightful Sierra games. Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth (real name), Ecoquest, Gobli/ii/iiins (which I disliked), King's Quest Pinball - a better form of motivation has yet to be found. (I disliked first person FPS's, though I loved the various shareware 3d person action titles, space shooters in particular. It took me over 12 years to get a full, working copy of Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Stargunner and of course, Tyrian).
Alass, in the move to Israel by points in the game were lost, and so was the cd. I tried to learn how to hack the program, but the games (and point count) were buried deep, and I failed. So to were lost many of my other games from the Learning company, though I still kept enjoying the ones I had for many a year (the one with the snow mountain, underwater, submarine and of course the all time favourite "Gizmo's and Gadgets". I LOVED that one. And if you can't figure out the games I'm talking about, then it's your loss
).However, I still tried to buy games when I could, or failing that, i'd borrow them (although the amount of people I knew with computers, games, and actual cd's at the time was very limited). I still have a cd of "Simon the Sorceror" in Hebrew from a friend from when I was...10? Excellent game.
I also made some exceedingly fine purchases during my childhood years, some even when I was still in the UK. My copy of "The Neverhood" dates back to a Virgin store somewhere in London, and is apparently a collector's item these days, as well as being one of the most awesome adventure games ever, especially in design. It also has 2 of perhaps the most nefarious, horrible puzzles ever. The room of records. And the room of records. (Though I hated the test tubes as well). Whoever thought of that needs to be hit over the head with 2,000 tons of clay). Another fine purchase was "The Last Express" by Broderbund (same people who did Myst, only, well, fun. And with a briefcase to hide that you're not going to figure out, ever, without a hint. Stupid concert). My copy of Myst is also from the UK, I still remember taking over a pc in his office (optical cd roms being rare back then) to boot it up and to marvel at the graphics (it took me years to actually finish the game though, I was stuck on the island hub and first island. Stupid elevator/statues puzzle).
A measure of my excellent taste
, is that the average "Best games you never played" list by, say, gamespot or "greatest adventure games of all time" lists result in me knowing or having played or owned the vast majority, if not all of the games mentioned. (The Neverhood and Last Express pop on those all the time).I actually didn't play any of the Lucasarts games, except for Monkey Island 3 ("Curse of") which I loved, it's one of the few games I ever got my sisters to play as well. I couldn't find a copy of 1/2 though until a good 5-6 years after finishing Monkey Island 4 though (which was inferior, though not as much of an UI pain as Monkey Island 1). Oh, and Grim Fandango of course. (beautiful game. simply beautiful). Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Loom came years later. (And no, i've never finished or enjoyed Maniac Mansion), Praise ScummVM and it's noodly appendage!
Another esoteric gem? "The Feeble Files". Also made by Adventuresoft (UK gaming company), and full of charm, Hitchhiker and 1984 jokes, and the Omnibrain. (I have that from Israel and a grandparent). A fun game, though it had some of the worst, most annoying, irritating, aggravating puzzles I have ever had the misfortune to endure (That includes the 60+ screens of the hall of records in the Neverhood). The prison planet (Signus Alpha?) and the loop where you couldn't pause or save for periods, the horrible coloured jump pad tile sequence to the ship, the potions on the jungle planet, and don't even get me started on that Fucking. Arcade. Sequence. Fucking minigames and toady! Fucking credits! Aaaaaaagh. It gives me a headache just to think about it, playing and praying that the "guess the food" sequence wouldn't pop up...
Even more esoteric? Has anyone ever played "Orion Burger"?
Talking of British Games, Ah "Broken Sword 2", how I loved thee. How I enjoyed thee. How I liked "Broken Sword 1" when I finally found a copy published by "Sold out" in the UK. How I didn't enjoy as much but still liked "Beneath a steel sky". How I cried when I tried the "platformer" sequels.
Speaking of Sold out, I thank them eternally for publishing "Fallout 2". Which I loved, and resulted in me buying the "Fallout pack" (to finally get a copy of Fallout 1 after years of looking for it). And let me irritate Bethesda fans for months after Fallout 3 came out by pointing the ways in which it was inferior to its predeccesors
. (Though it's still a fun game).And no, I've never played "The Longest Journey".
This is getting a bit long, so to wrap up:
What are the games you always wanted, but could never find? For me it's a working copy of "Discworld" and a copy, period of "Discworld 2" (I have Noir, though the 3d part doesn't work. Fucking Israeli shops), and for years I wanted to find a copy of Normality that I remembered borrowing from my cousin who gave it back to a friend with my never finding it afterwards.
Most of the other ones I've tracked down over time (Tyrian and Raptor and Stargunner. I looked for those for YEARS. Monkey Island 2, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and a few others whose name escapes me (Ecoquest 2 for example) etc', which I did track down or borrow, etc'.
Now, discussions of Abandonware would be legally murky, so I won't talk about it, or HOTU
. Shame on you. I will recommend http://www.gog.com, for some legall, fun Good Old Games, yes it costs money but support the industry dammit!
Remember, name-dropping games from ages ago = taste. Wizkid! I'm so cultured! 
.
no less, fit the mood perfectly. From there on my progress was quite predictable: Civilization, MoO, Master of Magic, Colonization, MoO II, Civ 2 etc. I pretty much stopped gaming in 2002, partly because I had other things to do but also because I simply lost interest.