Greatest Anticipation

With all the hype and viral marketing that games get nowadays, I was wondering what game (regardless of format) generated the greatest amount of interest in you when it was first announced.

I guess for me I would have to pick a couple:

The Bard's Tale on CPC. I remember reading C&VG and other magazines going on constantly about the 64 version and how good it looked. And then I remember the first time I picked up one of my CPC mags and there was a column inch announcing Bard's Tale on CPC and Spectrum. I knew then I had to have it.

But all that was surpassed by Frontier on Amiga. There was just no easy way of explaining just how pumped I was when I read the first rumours and snippets in the magazines.

The problem nowadays is that t'internet has kinda killed the anticipation. Blogs, virals and insider news just seems to overdose the hype machine.

But what games did you get 'pumped' for?

For the Amiga, I can't really remember anticipating any one game a lot, because I didn't read a lot of Amiga magazines. I suppose Populous II might've been one title, and Monkey Island II. Perhaps the Bitmap Brothers' and Sensible Software games as well.

Defender of the Crown and Project: Stealth fighter for C64. Nemesis on cart for MSX and Frontier for Miggy.

Umm... I think the first 16-bit game that really got my anticipation levels going was Falcon on the ST. The One magazine was following it closely before launch, and at the time I didn't yet own either an ST or Amiga so at launch I was still anticipating the day I would eventually own a 16-bit system so I could play it.

Another was Dungeon Master. I remember wanting to get hold of the game for what seemed like a lifetime, than finally getting my mum to order it over the phone with her credit card because of some special deal advertised in a magazine. And when it arrived it came with a ton of additional full games thanks to the special bundle deal. That was great.

Frontier was also another I waited patiently for and then enjoyed playing for a long time since.

There were many others. However at the very beginning of the 16-bit era and the 8-bit era before that I didn't buy many computer magazines, so the first I found out about a game was the original arcade versions. We would then all wait for the computer versions to be released. And often the first encounter I would have with a lot of games was in the video games stores, going in on the bus with my pocket money and seeing that I could buy. It was more fun then, because unless you did have some games in mind you were playing "game buyers roulette", picking games based on the boxart, screenshots and description on the back of the box. Then going home with great anticipation to load it up and either be very happy, or very disappointed.

Oh... another I just remembered I waited patiently for the release was Baal. That was a great platform game. I still remember the day it was launched, and I went into town on the bus in the morning with a friend just to get the game. We then rushed home and played it for the rest of the weekend. Bloody hard game, but great all the same.

I will think of more I'm sure.

In PC i remember "Formula 1 grand prix II" from Microprose, maybe the most anticipated game ever.
Every Flight Simulater release was very anticipated.

In Amiga SpeedBall II and Syndicate got my total attention when i read about it.

Possibly Desert Strike or Last Samurai. I waited for what felt like years for those!