Playing video games the wrong way.

As a (very) young child, I loved to play Impossible Mission on my brother’s Commodore 64.

I don’t remember what your goal was, but I know it involved hopping between ten thousand floors filled with evil robots.

Being so young, I was never very good at the game. Actually, that’s putting it mildly. I had *no idea* how to play Impossible Mission, yet continued to do so, because the graphics and fluidity were great, and the idea of a never-ending building filled with desks, bookcases and killer robots just fascinated me to pieces.

Instead of trying to “win,” I simply explored the rooms and acted like the whole thing was some digital action figure playset.

I’ve done this with quite a few games over the years — generally robust titles that I was never much good at. Examples:

– I never came close to beating Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, but I absolutely adored visiting the towns to “chat” with Hyrule’s randos. I’d pretend that that was the whole game.

– I was TERRIBLE at Metroid — like just brutally bad — so I’d instead pretend that Samus was a happy-go-lucky explorer who only shot at things as a matter of survival.

– I never even tried to play Ecco the Dolphin the right way. I just acted like it was one of those “virtual aquariums,” with the added bonus of a dolphin that I could pilot.

Tonight’s survey:

Name some video games that you intentionally played the “wrong” way. Give us the details, too!