# Can anyone recognize this old game from my memory? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 8, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958 "2017-12-08T21:16:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JakeRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@JakeRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JakeRS)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/1 "2017-12-08T21:16:52Z")
I remember playing a game I liked a lot when I was a kid, unfortunately I barely remember any exact details, but I’ll try. I think that it is in 3d, but not 100% sure, it is something like a Pokemonish type of a design, oriented for kids. Also not sure if this is a starting point, but there is a crashed spaceship/craft thing in a foresty area. Then you go to the right from it, you start going north eventually and you have a gate to a city. Before you reach it, when going towards the gate, you have a little hut (it may be round shaped) and if you enter it, you have a somewhat darkish atmosphere and stairs, I think round spiral stairs that follow the round shape of the hut. Not sure if it was the scary music that played when you entered that hut, but I remember I wanted to exit it as fast as possible. Since there’s a gate to the city, perhaps you had a key you had to find in the round hut with stairs. Once you entered the city, you could go around it and the city itself was made of squares, multiple blocky streets and somewhere around the edges you could find another gate (I think that it was left part of the city) and for whatever reason I remember that new city/area being associated with police, maybe it was called police town, police city or something like that. Unfortunately that’s all I can think of, I was younger than 10 years old when I played that and I can’t even remember whether it was on a PS1 or a Sega. The only other thing I can do is draw a map of what I described before. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/2 "2017-12-08T21:33:36Z")
We don’t know how old you are now. Why not provide a year range? ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/3 "2017-12-08T21:40:26Z")
Banjo-Kazooie? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/4 "2017-12-09T02:11:08Z")
Here I was thinking the answer might be Candyland. 😉 You seem to be talking about a \*\*\*video \*\*\*game. And, yeah, what year? ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/5 "2017-12-09T08:37:02Z")
Commander Keen? That starts with the spaceship and forest scenario, and has the isometric ‘world’s map’ faux3D arrangement ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/6 "2017-12-09T08:53:32Z")
There are elements of what the OP is describing, in Final Fantasy VII. There is a town called “Rocket Town” which is indeed a forested area clustered around a crashed rocket. (The rocket is not destroyed, it is completely intact, but rendered inoperable after a failed launch.) There are multiple areas in the game with vertically-oriented “huts” with spiral stairs on the interior. There are numerous city areas that are guarded by police/soldiers and subject to martial law, with troops in blue or red uniforms stationed everywhere. Some of these areas have square buildings that could be described as “blocky.” I wouldn’t exactly characterize the game’s aesthetic as _Pokemon_-like, but the graphics of it vary widely with some portions of it looking very cartoonish and others looking more realistic. In general the backgrounds look like semi-realistic hand-drawn art, while the 3D character animations look like cute cartoon people. There are some parts of the game that are fully 3D - which tend to be rather crude - and other parts that combine polygonal characters with static backgrounds. OP, google some of this stuff and see if it rings a bell. The game was for Playstation 1. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/7 "2017-12-09T12:24:19Z")
Not to put words in the OP’ mouth, but in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=833014), 4 months ago, **JakeRS** stated that he was 21 years old, from Serbia. ---
**Author:** ![JakeRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@JakeRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JakeRS)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/8 "2017-12-09T12:40:44Z")
Yes, 21, so that was like 10+ years ago when I was somewhere around 5 to 10 years, basically early 2000’s, but as I said it is a video game for either **PS1 or Sega**. I checked all of these, but nope, it’s not any of them. It’s way more “childish” than final fantasy, if you google “commander keen 64”, you get this image [http://www.shikadi.net/wiki/keen/images/thumb/d/dc/Commander\_Keen\_64\_in-game.jpg/320px-Commander\_Keen\_64\_in-game.jpg](http://www.shikadi.net/wiki/keen/images/thumb/d/dc/Commander_Keen_64_in-game.jpg/320px-Commander_Keen_64_in-game.jpg) , it is not this, but I remember it is somewhat like that, that type of a camera view and “childishness” level, but it could also be a semi 3d game in which the camera is facing only one direction, like how in the new south park games wherever you go, the camera is always facing to the north. Perhaps you can call that 2d, but I don’t think that it was classic 2d view. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/9 "2017-12-09T14:54:30Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Here I was thinking the answer might be Candyland. 😉 You seem to be talking about a \*\*\*video \*\*\*game. And, yeah, what year? This^ 🙂 I got to the last paragraph before I recognized that “game” meant something in a computer. And even then only because he told me. **JakeRS** , my friend, it’s worth mentioning that the average age here is mid 50s. Most of us are your parents’ or grandparents’ ages. So giving us a little more context than you might with your local live friends is likely to get you better results no matter the question. ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/10 "2017-12-09T22:29:23Z")
Hmm, given that timeframe and graphical description, perhaps it was Final Fantasy 9? That starts with a ship crashing into a forest, though it’s an airship, not a spaceship. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/11 "2017-12-09T22:44:23Z")
**Moderator Action** Since this is about a game, let’s move it to the Game Room (from GQ). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/12 "2017-12-09T23:00:50Z")
“Old game”, juxtaposed with “I think it was in 3d”. I’m officially getting old. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/13 "2017-12-09T23:24:27Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > **JakeRS** , my friend, it’s worth mentioning that the average age here is mid 50s. Most of us are your parents’ or grandparents’ ages. > [@Chronos](#): > > I’m officially getting old. Back before Dungeons and Dragons … we played Avalon Hill games when we weren’t pushing wood 'round the Sixty-Four … ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/14 "2017-12-10T00:01:32Z")
I kept Avalon Hill in high clover for years. They darn sure weren’t cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/15 "2017-12-10T00:15:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > This^ 🙂 > > I got to the last paragraph before I recognized that “game” meant something in a computer. And even then only because he told me. > > **JakeRS** , my friend, it’s worth mentioning that the average age here is mid 50s. Most of us are your parents’ or grandparents’ ages. So giving us a little more context than you might with your local live friends is likely to get you better results no matter the question. And on that note, there’s a subreddit, [TipOfMyJoystick](https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick/), which is explicitly about solving problems like the one OP has. Reddit skews a lot younger than the Geritol Generation dropouts we get around here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/16 "2017-12-11T17:03:47Z")
Maybe [The Crystal Key](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/TheCrystalKey)? > [@](#): > > The player begins the game having crash-landed on an unknown planet and must explore the world, find a crystal key and portal which would help the player defeat Ozgar and bring peace to the galaxy. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg8WvdWg-bs) shows some of the gameplay. A quick scan shows some of the planet topography around 20 minutes in. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/17 "2017-12-11T17:22:45Z")
Until you mentioned the PS1 it sounded a little like one of the Space Quest games. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/18 "2017-12-11T19:12:28Z")
Is it 2d sprites or 3d polygons? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/19 "2017-12-11T19:40:27Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Until you mentioned the PS1 it sounded a little like one of the Space Quest games. I was thinking the same thing, good old Roger Wilco. But not on PlayStation. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recognize-this-old-game-from-my-memory/803958/20 "2017-12-11T22:52:10Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Until you mentioned the PS1 it sounded a little like one of the Space Quest games. As soon as he mentioned the spiral staircase I had a traumatic flashback to the impossible to navigate spiral staircases in Kings Quest(3?..4?).