It's been interesting seeing the changes as they happened over time working with java pretty often for a good chunk of that time. The jvm and jit performance improvements, syntax changes and additional jep features added vs what was left out, tools for running and managing jvms, Sun & Oracle shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly, new jvm languages with scala, groovy, clojure, etc and their impact on java. I prefer other languages and tool chains for some cases, but java has been pretty good for building reliable, upgradable, extendable systems that get the job done & have a good large stable library.
Look at you, hacker: a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?
Washing the car to get it to rain in maniac Mansion: day of the tentacle is a classic example of adventure brain puzzles relying on some idioms that aren't universal
The robots builder puzzle in armikrog I definitely got stuck on, not sure if that was common or it just didn't click for me
Absolver might fit the description, 3d fighting game but you learn the moves by blocking or dodging then defeating NPCs and PCs. It's not super long unless you try to learn all the styles and moves or I think they added an infinite dungeon, not sure how good that part is since they added it after I played. But even if you don't like the PVP the single player learning the moves and defeating the bosses and big bad at the end is really fun.
Handheld Zelda link's awakening for the Gameboy hits me the hardest as it was the first I owned myself bought with my first jobs mowing lawns and delivering papers.
Console, NES contra watching my older brothers get way further than I could at the time & teach me the Konami code
PC xwing, I had a f16 flight stick and my siblings would play splitting weapons/shield/engines distribution to a copilot and the pilot flying and aiming. That mission where you have to fly back and forth protecting the Corvette from imperial attacks from both sides jumping in and out of the area was peak retro space combat gaming.
It's been interesting seeing the changes as they happened over time working with java pretty often for a good chunk of that time. The jvm and jit performance improvements, syntax changes and additional jep features added vs what was left out, tools for running and managing jvms, Sun & Oracle shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly, new jvm languages with scala, groovy, clojure, etc and their impact on java. I prefer other languages and tool chains for some cases, but java has been pretty good for building reliable, upgradable, extendable systems that get the job done & have a good large stable library.