As advanced and beautiful as games may be these days, it's good to know your history. With over three decades of video game releases, there are hundreds of titles from yesteryear that still hold a special place in our hearts. Games may be getting longer, prettier, and more complex, but that doesn't take anything away from games we played back in the day, and that's where our Fond Memories come in...

Desert Rangers: Your player characters in the game; a troop of recently graduated, pseudo-military law enforcers.

Your player characters in the game; a troop of recently graduated, pseudo-military law enforcers. Ugly John: No good kidnapper who has the mayor held hostage. They call him "Ugly" because he's, well, ugly. And they call him "John" because his breath smells like a toilet. Okay, I made that up, but it's probably true.

No good kidnapper who has the mayor held hostage. They call him "Ugly" because he's, well, ugly. And they call him "John" because his breath smells like a toilet. Okay, I made that up, but it's probably true. Fat Freddy: A double-crossing, casino owning crime lord who asks you to kill Faran Brygo and bring back his onyx ring as proof.

A double-crossing, casino owning crime lord who asks you to kill Faran Brygo and bring back his onyx ring as proof. Faran Brygo: A rich mob boss who lives in a well-protected bunker in Las Vegas. His name is an obvious play on one of the game's creators, Brian Fargo. A computer screen in his office foretells of Wasteland 2, a prophecy that I'm still waiting to come true. (Editor's Note: It's in development. Joy!

A rich mob boss who lives in a well-protected bunker in Las Vegas. His name is an obvious play on one of the game's creators, Brian Fargo. A computer screen in his office foretells of Wasteland 2, a prophecy that I'm still waiting to come true. (Editor's Note: It's in development. Joy! Harry the Bunny Master: A deranged farmer with even more deranged livestock. He's bugging other local farmers, so it's up to you to stop his reign of terror. Carries one hell of a ho, uh, hoe.

A deranged farmer with even more deranged livestock. He's bugging other local farmers, so it's up to you to stop his reign of terror. Carries one hell of a ho, uh, hoe. Sand Bums: Pretty much like the bums of today, only a bit more sandy. Like to smoke and drink, like the me of today.

Pretty much like the bums of today, only a bit more sandy. Like to smoke and drink, like the me of today. Centrons: Half-motorcycle, half-man. What more do you need to know?

Half-motorcycle, half-man. What more do you need to know? Bobby's Dog: Poor little Bobby. His dog has gone missing and he wants you to find him. There's only one problem: the pup is rabid. Find. Bang. Cry.

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Apple II, C64, PC1987 (Apple II, C64),1988 (PC)Freshly unearthed potatoes watch you with their eyes.Killing the Red Ryder and finding his BB gun. You'll shoot your eye out!The amusing tombstone inscriptions in Quartz, for example: "Lester Moore, shot in the head with a .44. No Les, no more."Finding spells from Bard's Tale (another Interplay RPG) in the Occult Shop in Needles.Discovering the locals listen to Ratt (yes, that Ratt) at Scott's Bar in Quartz.Before there was Fallout 3 (or Fallout 1 or 2, for that matter), there was Wasteland Set in the American southwest in the distant future after the ravages of 1998's World War III (you all remember where you were when the bombs started dropping, right?), Wasteland is a post-apocalyptic RPG in which you take control of a team of Desert Rangers, combing the radioactive wastelands in search of ne'er-do-wells to bring to justice (eg. shoot on sight).Brian Fargo, Alan Pavlish , and the rest of the team at Interplay developed the influential CRPG, which was the progenitor of the Fallout series. Not having a publishing branch at the time, Electronic Arts held the rights to the name " Wasteland ," so when Interplay went into the publishing business, they created another post-nuclear war RPG that was an obvious homage to Wasteland: Fallout . In 2003, Fargo acquired the rights to Wasteland from Electronic Arts While the Fallout series is the spiritual successor to the original Wasteland, it's still yet to be determined if we'll ever see a true sequel to the game in name. And no, Fountain of Dreams doesn't count!

Watch the intro and be amazed by state-of-the-art 1988 graphics and sound!

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Classic old-school computer role-playing game. While the game employed graphics, it really owed more to text-based adventure games ( Zork Planetfall , etc.) than modern-day role-playing games. All commands, from movement to combat to character interactions, were entered through the keyboard. Since this was before the time of full speech in games, the entire story was told in a text window. Combat options and details were also given in text form, with an animated picture of the enemy you're currently fighting displayed next to the text.As with most classic RPGs, you can assemble a team of up to four player characters, in this case a crew of Desert Rangers who recently graduated from Ranger HQ (although you can eventually have up to seven members in your party, including NPCs you meet during your travels). You can roll and reroll your initial Desert Ranger party until you get the stats you desire. Each character has basic attributes such as strength, speed, luck, and intelligence, which is probably the most important as it affects what skills you can learn. In addition, you can customize your team by picking from a variety of skills such as gambling, safecracking, energy weapons, medicine, and toaster repair. No, seriously! Thanks, Sally Struthers!In an interesting twist, some parts of the story were told through a booklet that was included in the game box. Players would be prompted to read specific numbered paragraphs in the compendium when they reached certain areas in the game. The booklet even included fake storylines about Mars and incorrect passwords meant to trick gamers if they read the entries out of context.I've always loved CRPGs, and I've played quite a few over the years: Ultima, Wizardry, the Gold Box series, Baldur's Gate, Wizard's Crown Shard of Spring ... (anyone remember Questron or Phantasie , by the way?). However, while most CRPGs favored a fantasy flavor, Wasteland really stood out because of its post-apocalyptic setting. While not the first post-nuclear game by any means (1985's Roadwar 2000 , another great game, comes to mind) or even the first post-apocalyptic RPG ( Autoduel predates Wasteland by a couple of years), Wasteland really stood apart from the other RPGs out at the time, not only because of the backdrop, but because it did so many things differently.For starters, with a selectable skill system, it's the first RPG that I can remember that allowed as much customization for your party. Other RPGs offered a variety of stats, but you really had to think about your team as a group of specialized individuals, with members who were good safecrackers, medics, bomb experts, and helicopter pilots.It was also one of the first RPGs I can remember with a limited economic and item system. Ammo was scarce, so you often had to make the decision whether it was better to shoot someone from a distance or wait and bash them in the head with the butt of your gun. Dealers and shop owners also had limited supplies, and once you bought the last item in the shop, no more would appear. Talk about recession!For its time, Wasteland was a deep, intricate, sophisticated, and certainly addictive RPG. I lost a lot of sleep staying up late to play Wasteland, and I even brought my disks with me to high school and skipped class to play it on the Apple IIe in the library; I don't think the librarians knew I was playing a game, and were probably just happy to see a student using one of the computers in the '80s between laser tag duels and breakdance competitions.Although it's pretty hard to find the game by itself these days, if you want to try it out for yourself, your best bet is probably checking on eBay for the Interplay 10-Year Anthology: 1983 - 1993 . This pack comes complete with Wasteland, Battle Chess Out of This World and a load of other Interplay classics. Heck, now I want this pack!Editor’s Note: Since this piece originally ran in 2008 Inxile Entertainment has started work on Wasteland 2, an official sequel to Wasteland. You can read more about Wasteland 2 on IGN or on Inxile’s official site . And as of November 13, 2013, you can play the original Wasteland on Steam. So what are you waiting for? Go make some fond memories for yourself!

Tal Blevins’ dream of a true sequel to Wasteland is finally coming true! You can follow his adventures as a hardened Desert Ranger on IGN or on Twitter @talign