For many Millennials and older Gen Zs, the 2000s gaming scene had been greatly defined by wonderful computer games that you and your classmates used to play in Internet cafes day in and day out before the dawn of mobile phones started.
It was a great time to be an adolescent, with many lasting friendships starting with a simple “Let’s play this game!” and beginning the “Adik” mode and carefree era.
In this post, let’s turn back the clock to a simpler time when you were young, and the only problem you had was how to buy a Ragnarok card or where you would get money to pay for the shop. Here are 12 classic computer shop games that will surely bring back memories.
1. o2 Jam
Year Released: 2005
Country of Origin: South Korea
O2 Jam was a classic online rhythm game from South Korea where you could play songs like a music savant by simply pressing keys to match the notes. However, instead of a piano keyboard, you will use a computer keyboard. Some classic o2 Jam hits include Fly Magpie, V3, Electro Fantasy, and many more. They even had Filipino rock songs in their selection list of playable songs.
During that time, you can also easily identify “o2 Jam PCs” by their broken or loose S, D, F, J, K, L, and space bar keys, as these are the only keys on your keyboard you’ll ever need in the game.
2. Counter-Strike
Year Released: 2000
Country of Origin: United States
Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter game between terrorists and counter-terrorists, which was first released as a mod for the game Half-Life but soon became a stand-alone game that attracted players far and wide.
Who wouldn’t remember CS during the 2000s? It used to be one of the massive hits among Internet Cafe goers that have attracted a huge following among the gamers of the time, with the most popular maps being Deathmatch, Dust, and Dust 2.
Though Counter-Strike is still around today under Counter-Strike 2 (CS 2), the classic CS graphics and gameplay just hit nostalgia differently.
3. MU Online
Year Released: 2001
Country of Origin: South Korea
MU Online is an early 2000s massive multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG played in many computer shops two decades ago. The game had a 3-D medieval fantasy setting, allowing players to create characters like Dark Wizard, Dark Knight, Fairy Elf, and Summoner. One of the items that used to set MU Online apart was their wings that an increase a character’s stats, and also they looked cool.
4. RAN Online
Year Released: 2004
Country of Origin: South Korea
RAN Online is another classic MMORPG that has been a huge hit in the Philippines because of its great visuals and animation in the early 2000s. Their gameplay is also different in the sense that instead of having a mythical or magical character, you will choose a school with classes like brawlers, swordsmen, archers, and shamans.
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5. Flyff
Year Released: 2004
Country of Origin: South Korea
Flyff, short for Fly for Fun, is also a South Korean massive multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG. What makes Flyff special is that it allows your characters to fly using brooms, hoverboards, and hoverbikes to go to different places, hence, the name.
During the mid-2000s, when 2-D games were still the standard, Flyff’s 3-D animation and gameplay made it more attractive. You can also see your character’s clothing and weapons change when you equip a different set.
6. Audition Online
Year Released: 2004
Country of Origin: South Korea
Audition Online is also an online rhythm game like o2 Jam. However, unlike o2 Jam, where you play a song like a piano, in Audition, you control your character’s dance moves by pressing control keys and the space bar on your keyboard. Though Audition is a free-to-play game, they sell virtual items, like clothes and accessories, as their main business model, which is common now but was a newer concept then.
7. Gunbound
Year Released: 2002
Country of Origin: South Korea
Gunbound is another Korean multiplayer online game where you control a mobile in a turn-based artillery game to destroy other mobiles or bunge them (destroying the land under the mobile to make them fall).
The game may look cute with its 2-D characters and cartoonish setup, but it is actually harder than it seems because it requires proper aiming, delays, angles, and other strategies to win.
Though Gunbound is now just a memory, it has one thing that remains commonly used to the present day, the “SS,” or Special Shot, which is the ultimate skill in the game. It has soon transitioned into other games and is now used to indicate the strongest skill of your characters, especially in MOBA games.
8. Special Force (SF)
Year Released: 2004
Country of Origin: South Korea
Special Force, or simply SF, was similar to Counter-Strike, as it was also a first-person shooter game. However, unlike CS, where you can only play against other players via LAN connection, Special Force was online, opening more opportunities to play against thousands of players worldwide. They also have various game plays to choose from, like solo, team battle, team deathmatch, and horror mode.
9. DOTA
Year Released: 2003
Country of Origin: United States
For the younger players who are more familiar with DOTA 2, its predecessor, DOTA 1 (or Defense of the Ancients), used to just be a mod in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. However, it has since been a stand-alone game and has made a great following worldwide, transforming into the global phenomenon we have today.
DOTA was also one of the standard-bearers of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) in the country before the emergence of mobile-based MOBAs, like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
DOTA 1 gameplay is also the standard in MOBAs, with each team composed of five players, one side being the Sentinel and the other the Scourge. To win the game, it requires skills, strategy, and teamwork. Though most DOTA heroes still exist in their DOTA 2 bodies, there is a sense of melancholy with the old version of the game.
10. Rakion: Chaos Force
Year Released: 2005
Country of Origin: South Korea
Rakion is another classic 3-D game similar to first-person shooting games like Counter-Strike and Special Force. However, Rakion is a room-based battle game that uses the WASD keys for character movement and the mouse for visual movement and attacks.
Some of the Rakion Classes you can choose from are Swordsmen, Archers, Mages, Blacksmiths, and Ninjas, to play in one of these game modes: Deathmatch, Clan War, Golem War, and more.
11. Cabal Online
Year Released: 2005
Country of Origin: South Korea
Cabal Online is a classic MMORPG game in the 2000s, where you can select among different classes, like Warriors, Blader, Wizards, Force Archer, Force Shielder, and Force Blader.
The game also integrates player-versus-environment (PVE) to kill monsters to level up and get stronger and player-versus-player (PVP) to duel and fight against other players after a PVP request. The game also has a player-killing (PK) aspect, where other players can kill you on the field, who will then be penalized.
12. PangYa
Year Released: 2004
Country of Origin: South Korea
PangYa is one of the more unique online games available in the early 2000s because instead of first-person shooting, RPG, MOBA, or rhythm games, it is a sports game, specifically golf.
PangYa’s gameplay is similar to other golf games, where you will need to determine the power and accuracy of the shot. However, if you get perfect accuracy, you will get a PangYa.
13. Grand Chase
Year Released: 2003
Country of Origin: South Korea
Grand Chase is another popular game among computer shops because of its cute and Anime-ish characters, like Elesis, Arme, Lire, Rin, and Sieghart. It’s 2-D side-scrolling MMORPG gameplay, allowing players to play PVE, like dungeons, and PVP modes, like Team Battle, Survival, and Tag, in a static yet appealing visual.
14. FreeStyle Street Basketball
Year Released: 2004
Country of Origin: South Korea
If you like basketball, you may have played the classic Physics-defying, street basketball game, FreeStyle, in a fast-paced, arcade-style, half-court environment. In the game, you can play 1-on-1, 2-on-2, and 3-on-3 games in 3-, 4-, or 5-minute games, respectively.
Though FreeStyle is a streetball basketball, it also follows some rules like two- and three-point shots. 24-second shot clock and dribbling. However, there are no fouls, no out-of-bounds play, and the ball must be cleared in the three-point line after a change in possession.
15. Ragnarok Online
Year Released: 2002
Country of Origin: South Korea
Finally, one of the biggest MMORPGs to ever enter the Philippines is none other than the pay-to-play Ragnarok Online, where you had to buy load cards before you could play the game.
However, the cost of entry never stopped players from playing. It even opened the gates to a cultural phenomenon, including Ragnarok the Animation, the Ragna-inspired song “Chicksilog” by Kamikazee, and various Ragna events usually held in the World Trade Center.
This 2-D sprite-based game introduces players to the Kingdom of Rune-Midgarts, including the cities of Prontera, Izlude, Payon, Geffen, Morroc, Alberta, Al De Baran, and more, which many players still remember these cities’ theme songs.
The game also includes different aspects like various job trees to choose from, PVE and PVP modes, War of Emperium, and more.
For many Millenials who grew up with these games, just seeing the names or hearing the theme songs can easily bring back the memories of simpler times when your only problem was where you would get the money to spend in computer shops.
You may also have noticed that most of the online games we used to play and love in the 2000s were created in South Korea before expanding to the Philippines, which is a testament to a great game development generation.
Which games have you played in the 2000s? Share your thoughts in the comments.