Dragon’s Revenge, main table, by suzeville.

This is, to the best of my memory, the main table of the pinball game “Dragon’s Revenge” for the Sega Genesis. It featured (duh) dragons and some highly pixelated, scantily-clad sorceresses. As such, I recall my mother being distinctly displeased with my playing the game. Arrows indicate the entrances to bonus stages. There’s also a secret stage to the far right that I couldn’t distinctly recall, which is entered by breaking the crystal in the upper right corner. It remains one of my all-time favorite games across all consoles.

Shining Force, Guardiana, by Kanani.

This is my all time favorite video game, and still I can’t remember what’s in the middle top area of this town.

Shining Force, second battle, by Space Butler.

The party starts at the Gate of the Ancients and has to make their way back to Guardiana after the earthquake blocks the path.  There are a bunch of goblins and giant bats in the way, but I don’t remember their starting position.  Pro tip: retreat into Gong’s house in the first round.  This is the first time you can go there, and you can recruit Gong, who loves to punch things.  You can’t pass that up.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Green Hill Zone act I, by J-Man.

My favorite game series ever, I’ve played this game and level probably 100000 times by now. Rings/enemy/level design/etc is all approximate but should be close enough. Even today Green Hill 1 is THE iconic Sonic stage.

Sonic Spinball, Toxic Caves, by cubeybooby.

This is the first level of Sonic Spinball, a Megadrive/Genesis game I’ve loved since I was five years old. There are little things that make every location in every level of Spinball unique and memorable, and keeping track of where you are in the level is important, especially since pinball-based navigation can get weird. It’s a really good early example of non-linear level design, I think.

Also, the Egg Scorpion wins my vote for creepiest video game boss ever.