Welcome to the first of many DNA Playlists. Shortly after we created IGN Playlists, the IGN staff created playlists of games that were influential in our lives at one point or another; the games that helped define our evolving tastes and contributed most to building what we call our Game DNA. After creating them, we thought it would be fun to not only share ours with the IGN audience, but also find a way to learn more about the Game DNA of members of the IGN community.
To kick things off, Rebekah Valentine and I are sharing our Game DNA Playlists to help you understand more about how our gaming histories have informed the games we like to play today, and why we enjoy them. . This will help the IGN audience gain a deeper understanding of our opinions on games when we talk about them on podcasts, or write about them on IGN.
In future DNA Playlist articles, we also want to feature your Game DNA Playlists alongside our staff selections. So check out our Game DNA Playlists and learn a little about how and why some of the games in our DNA became important to us, then create your own DNA Playlists and leave us a link to them in the comments so we can highlight and share them alongside IGN Staff DNA Playlists in the future.
I got into gaming a little late compared to a lot of my peers so, while I did dabble in Donkey Kong 64 and the original Legend of Zelda in after-school programs and at friend's houses, most of my game DNA is from a very specific era of devices: the GameCube and the GameBoy Color and Advance. I spent hours playing games like Pokemon Crystal, Pokemon Sapphire, Golden Sun and its sequel, Wario Land 4, and more while nestled in the backseat of a car on family road trips, or late at night under the covers past my bedtime. And on the weekends, I crammed myself into my mom's tiny sewing room with my GameCube, craning my neck to see the screen high up on a stand for games like Skies of Arcadia: Legends, Super Mario Sunshine, Baten Kaitos, Tales of Symphonia, and Wind Waker. These colorful, cartoony, Nintendo games were a cornerstone of my childhood, and their influence can still be felt in the games I love to play today.
I've been gaming for as long as I can remember. Some of my most vivid memories from my time as a kid are of me sitting in my bedroom and playing Super Mario, Mega Man, and the TMNT arcade game. As time passed and the industry grew, my interest in exploring all the new options did with it. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on Game Boy greatly influenced my taste in games. It was my first foray into the franchise, and the ability to go where I wanted when I wanted instead of the traditional sidescrolling made me think that the possibilities in games were endless.
As I got older, I played a bit of everything until Final Fantasy X came along, and it was the beginning of my love for the amazing stories that RPGs could tell. It sent me down the rabbit hole of countless hours playing them, and I thought games couldn't get any bigger. Eventually, the world of competitive games once again proved me wrong as the internet became more prevalent, leading to regular all-night gaming sessions of Halo, Street Fighter, and League of Legends, leading to some of my longest and best friendships. Recent entries in franchises like Nier, God of War, and The Last of Us quickly became instant favorites by giving me stories I not only connected with on a deeper level, but also made me look differently at how games could tell their stories.
The list of games I consider part of my game DNA grows with every console generation of games, and I hope that continues for as long as I can hold a controller in my hands.
And that's the first issue of DNA Playlist. Hopefully, you gained insight into the kinds of games Rebekah and I enjoy and why. You can make your Game DNA Playlist on our IGN Playlist page if you still need to create your own. Also, be sure to check out the IGN Playlist Slideshow above to see all the nifty features that come with it. Don’t forget, after you create your Game DNA Playlist, share it in the comments with a short explanation about how a few games became a part of your DNA so we can include them in future versions.
Jada Griffin is IGN's Community Lead. If she's not engaging with users here, chances are she's developing her own games, maxing the Luck stat in her favorite games, or challenging her D&D players with Intense combat or masterful puzzles. You can follow her on Twitter @Jada_Rina.
