1991 in video games: Going fast, fighting in the street, a trip to the Dr., and a Civilization is born

As you might have guessed, I'm a Mario guy. Sonic never appealed to me all that much because what I like most about the Mario games is the casual exploration, and a game like Sonic the Hedgehog, designed as a speed run, just wasn't in my wheelhouse.

It looks good and it's fun for a couple of levels, but I tire of it after that. It's been a while since I played it, but my feelings haven't changed.

But - there's no denying it signaled a change as Sonic took over the number one console game slot from Mario and would hold onto it for a couple of years.

I am curious as to why it's not in the Switch Online library, though. I'm guessing it's for sale as a standalone game.

Street Fighter II is a game that I definitely played more often and enjoyed it, even though I stopped following the series after this game. I like my E. Honda and his fists of fury, so I took him into battle. I won a couple (that fight against Zangief was close)...

... but it wasn't close against Ryu. Like Sonic, I can't play it all night, but it's a classic for a reason and always fun to pick up for a bit. Number one in the arcade, by the way.

I must have been really, really into my game of Dr. Mario, the best-seller of the year in handheld games, because I completely blanked on taking a screenshot, even after the game had ended. And it's not like I was faking my way around a bad score - it was something close to 100,000 before I blew it. 

This is just some picture I found, and it will have to do.

Anyway, I never owned this for the Game Boy or any other system, and actually think the first I played it might have been through the dependable Switch Online service.

I still prefer Tetris, but no complaints about the game specifically.

I've been counting the weeks until I'd get to play this. 

Civilization, one of my favourite series of games, topped the PC game market this year with its first version.

It's been a while since I've played any of the Civ games prior to IV (my most played are Revolution and VI), but the memories of late night sessions all comes back to me pretty quickly.

I even appreciate the chance to select the sound type in the menu. Sound Blaster, please! I remember picking that up at Costco (Price Club back then, actually) and playing all my favourite games again just to listen to them.

This is another one of those instances where I barely scratched the surface of gameplay, but I can tell you that it has inspired me to get my hands on all of the versions and do a blitz through the series. Here, I made it to the first addition built into my palace and called it a day.