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What were the first games you ever played?

poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
edited October 2009 in Games and Technology
This was inspired by a bit of nostalgia in the D&D chat thread.

I'm 39 years old. When I was a kid, my Dad worked for Taito. Although he wasn't a salesman, he sold a machine to his local pub, and took it out of the stores a few months before he delivered it (dodgy, yes I am fully aware).

But for a few glorious months I was the most popular kid on my estate, and had to lock everything very carefully at night because this was in my living room:

spaceinvadersi.jpg

I got good at Invaders. Really really good in a way I've never matched in any game since. I'm not sure if you could play it indefinitely, and I was a kid before the internet was invented, so I didn't know about any of the technical exploits (counting your shots etc), but I could play a single game until the sun went down and my Mum made me go and eat my dinner (casserole? again?).

A few years later, I got my first home machine, a ZX Spectrum. I remember a lot of wonderful games for it, my favourite being Laser Squad, the prototype for the X-Com games:

lasersquad.jpg

I checked the release schedule, and realised that my first game must have been an adventure game, a genre which I never play anymore. It was frustrating, as they all are, but being able to go into my favourite book and explore that world was mindblowing:

hobbitc.png

Gaming was very different before the internet. You didn't know anything about a game other than the manual and the game itself. If you had a problem, you had to just bang your head against it until you sorted it. And because I was 12 years old, I didn't have any money for other games.

Good times, good times.

So what were the first games you played? The real first games you played, not the cool ones you bought later. Like your first album, it might not be great, but it was your first.

Reveal to the group your gaming cherry, please.

I figure I could take a bear.
poshniallo on
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Posts

  • NerdgasmicNerdgasmic __BANNED USERS regular
    edited October 2009
    pokemon-logo.jpg

    Nerdgasmic on
  • Premier kakosPremier kakos Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited October 2009
    rogue.gif

    Premier kakos on
  • NocturneNocturne Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Started off playing the NES, a lot of which was with my older brother. So some of my earliest game memories were:
    Bubble_Bobble.ip.gif
    nintendo-nes-marblemadness.jpg
    nes-punchout.jpg
    Legend_of_Zelda_NES_ScreenShot1.jpg

    Pretty good time to start gaming. Got to follow a lot of the classic Nintendo franchises from the beginning.

    Nocturne on
  • AumniAumni Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Excite Bike, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Mario Bros.

    Gave me a solid foundation to appreciate good gameplay.

    Aumni on
    http://steamcommunity.com/id/aumni/ Battlenet: Aumni#1978 GW2: Aumni.1425 PSN: Aumnius
  • ChanceChance Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I seem to vaguely recall playing Pac Man in a bar when I was so young it didn't matter that I was underage, and playing Pong over at the next door neighbors' house.

    Also, get off my lawn.

    Chance on
    'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
  • poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Pacman? That was like 1980! That was next-gen!

    You get off my lawn.

    I'll set the dogs on you.

    poshniallo on
    I figure I could take a bear.
  • mr-razzcocksmr-razzcocks Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    adventure_atari_260015.png

    I'm not even kidding, I lost so many hours to this game

    To this day I still have never beaten the second level.

    First and third I can piss, but that second one just fucked me around FAR too much.

    mr-razzcocks on
  • Eight RooksEight Rooks Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I'm 31 going on 32, and the first game I ever remember seeing was a Robotron cabinet at my local leisure centre. Never had the balls to ask my parents for money to play on it. I feel a twinge of regret when I think about that.

    The first game I remember playing was Space Invaders on a Sinclair Spectrum ZX81. Swiftly followed by all the usual suspects - Knightlore, Head over Heels, Jet Set Willy, and so on. Good times. I loved that creepy old dead-flesh rubber keyboard.

    Eight Rooks on
    <AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.

    Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Commodore 64 games. Ones I specifically remember:
    Barbarian
    Barbarian_(Commodore_64).png

    Archon
    archon_game_1230148333.jpg

    Bubble Bobble
    bubble_bobble_screenshot.jpg

    Lode Runner
    c64.gif

    -Loki- on
  • UEAKCrashUEAKCrash heh Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Intellivision

    console_intellivision.jpg

    intellivision.jpg
    "Baseball"!

    411SUMPw6oL.jpg
    "Boxing"!

    s_FrogsAndFlies_1.png
    Fuck yeah Frog Bog.

    UEAKCrash on
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    It remember having an Odyssey 2000 when I was a kid. Had some fun games on that one, like "Try to land your helicopter to save peop... well, you crashed." or "Race your car down the roa... well, you crashed" and the favorite "move stick figures back and forth to shoot a basketball... how the hell did you crash?"

    Seriously though, it was pretty fun at the time.

    see317 on
  • DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Oh wow, well, I was about to say Kings Quest, or maybe Zork, but then I remembered hanging out at my friends house who had an ColecoVision:
    s_Pitfall_1.png
    Pitfall. Oh yeah.

    DisruptedCapitalist on
    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
  • Fatal3RR0RFatal3RR0R Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I'm not quite sure but I think the first game I played was super mario on the nes.

    The boyfriend of one of my mom's friends let me play it.

    Fatal3RR0R on
    peachip4sig.png
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Played a bunch of 'educational' games like mixed up mother goose, but the first 'real' game I remember playing was QfG, back when it was still called heros quest.

    Spoit on
    steam_sig.png
  • GSMGSM Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    A Tandy game where you had to launch ^ at a bunch of slowly flying * to make them disappear. Blue background, white text. That's probably as early as I can remember. I'd just alternate the left arrow key and the spacebar to launch the entire store of "rockets" as fast as I possibly could, and the "klackeyt - BEEP" of the practical and generated sound effects are something that I will never forget as long as I live.

    GSM on
    We'll get back there someday.
  • UEAKCrashUEAKCrash heh Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    GSM wrote: »
    A Tandy game where you had to launch ^ at a bunch of slowly flying * to make them disappear. Blue background, white text. That's probably as early as I can remember. I'd just alternate the left arrow key and the spacebar to launch the entire store of "rockets" as fast as I possibly could, and the "klackeyt - BEEP" of the practical and generated sound effects are something that I will never forget as long as I live.

    Holy shit I used to play that too.

    That one was embedded deep into my subconscious.

    I grew up in a very technology focused house, so I'm sure I played a lot of stuff I don't remember because it was so early. (I learned how to read with DOS commands)

    UEAKCrash on
  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    as a young'n, i believe the first few games i played were super mario bros, duck hunt, and one of the NES TMNT games

    first games i really got quality time with were FF4 (as FF2, of course) and super mario world.

    there was also a bunch of PC shareware stuff, and some of the learning company games like treasure mountain

    Dehumanized on
  • TaminTamin Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    My first computer was an Apple IIGS:
    Milestone 2000. Which I'm looking for, by the way, if anyone has the rules.
    Explorer GS
    Some RPG I'm trying to recall the name of
    Xenocide
    The early King's Quest / Space Quest games.
    Plenty of shareware games; I really don't recall all of them.

    I'm young; sue me.

    Tamin on
  • KitsunaKitsuna Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    The first game I remember playing was on the BBC Microcomputer. I'm not sure which came first, but it was either a chess program or Elite.

    It has to be said that I wasn't particularly good at either of them. I only ever beat that chess program once and my attempts to become an ace pilot in Elite were drastically hindered by my total inability to dock at space stations.

    Kitsuna on
    MGRSig2.jpg
  • AllforceAllforce Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    UEAKCrash wrote: »
    Intellivision

    console_intellivision.jpg

    intellivision.jpg
    "Baseball"!

    411SUMPw6oL.jpg
    "Boxing"!

    s_FrogsAndFlies_1.png
    Fuck yeah Frog Bog.

    Holy shit this was about mine. I remember my uncle had one hooked up to a big ass FRONT PROJECTION big-screen TV at their huge 4 story condo. The thing had like motors on it that drew the front of the TV out and had three big ass green/red/blue bulbs that went up on the screen.

    I would get terrifed when he'd play Dungeons and Dragons and he'd get to the actual dragons lair. The sound was horrific.

    Allforce on
  • useless4useless4 Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    My dad's store had the best arcade ever (1980-1983ish):
    Mr. Do, Mr. Do's Castle, Sinistar, Zaxxon, Black Knight pinball, Jungle Jim, Battle Zone, Tron and more
    Then we moved and his new arcade had:
    Double Dragon, APB, Ikari Warrior, Black Tiger and more

    We had a TI 99/4a:
    Parasec, bunch of games you had to type in from the computer magazines

    Atari 2600: (Which got stolen with over 40 games):
    Pinball, Warlords!, Stampeed, Indy 500, Laser Blast

    Then IBM PCjr:
    GHOSTBUSTERS! (So many hours lost), Pitfall 2 on cartridge... for a pc... it was so cool, King's Quest (The original version!), Police Quest, Thexder (About to be re-released on the PSP or the DS I saw) and on and on.... For christmas the first year I got Jet (From Microsoft), Flight Simulator (Ver 1 I believe), King's Quest and Seven Cities of Gold which I played a ton.

    I never had a NES but I think I more than had a great gaming childhood.
    Of course now I have two of most systems... maybe I am trying to make up for lost time.

    useless4 on
  • DangerousDangerous Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Fuck yeah, fishing derby!

    fishing_derby.png

    My brother and I would play it for hours. We had a ton of other games on atari but that is the first one I can remember.

    Dangerous on
    sig2-2.jpg
  • MaceraMacera UGH GODDAMMIT STOP ENJOYING THINGSRegistered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Magic-School-Bus.jpg

    There were a few game-ish related computer programs related to this sublime television program back in the day. While a far cry from what we'd call a game today, they were my first introduction to the idea.

    Macera on
    xet8c.gif
  • [Michael][Michael] Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Midnight Rescue and Ancient Empires are the first two I can remember playing. Midnight Rescue scared me. I liked Ancient Empires the best. There was some other game, but I don't remember much about it. It was kind of like the Exile games I played a few years later, in that it was tile based and an RPG and you equipped your character in a similar way, but the thing that stands out the most is that I'd always end up running into a manticore early in the game and I'd get killed. :( The first console I got was an SNES, so I was limited to computers for a while (born in 1987, so only until I was 4 or 5).

    [Michael] on
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    You know the magic school bus was a series of books before it was a TV series, right?

    BahamutZERO on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • NocturneNocturne Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I'm also pretty sure a good part of my generation grew up with:
    oregonTrail.jpg

    Nocturne on
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Ohhhhhh yeah, Oregon Trail. That brings back memories.

    BahamutZERO on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • The Rocking MThe Rocking M Brisbane, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2009
  • pyromaniac221pyromaniac221 this just might be an interestin YTRegistered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Pokemon Red was the first game I ever played. Not a bad way to start

    pyromaniac221 on
    psn tooaware, friend code SW-4760-0062-3248 it me
  • CorbiusCorbius Shepard Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Oregon Trail was that game I played on the school library computers during free time. So awesome.

    Corbius on
    wrexsig1.jpg
    PSN: Corbius
  • TaminTamin Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    useless4 wrote: »
    We had a TI 99/4a:
    Parasec, bunch of games you had to type in from the computer magazines

    I'm not sure on the timeline, but I actually have a non-working TI-99/4A; as it came out long before the Apple IIGS, I may have used it (at least a little).

    Such exciting titles as Exceltec Extended Basic, Number Magic, Video Graphs, Household Budget Management, Touch Typing Tutor, and BuckRogers are sitting in storage.

    Still need to find out what's wrong with the silly thing and get it running again.

    Tamin on
  • The Reverend Dr GalactusThe Reverend Dr Galactus Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I have vague memories of a piece of almost-edutainment, first-party bundle software that came with the Tandy 1000. It was called Tandy Town, and took the format of, I suppose, an activity center. There was a handful of mini-games in it, and I think they were sequential. The centerpiece was an illustrated town center where you had to do some sort of task between several buildings, perhaps deliver something; I'm not sure. I know one of the buildings was a Tandy store.

    The more I think about it, the more I'm pretty sure it also functioned as a primer on how computers work. I remember diagrams of some sort, and, if I'm not mistaken, it taught little 7-year-old me what RAM, a ROM, and a CPU all were.

    It's interesting to see that a Google search for "Tandy Town" and "Tandy 1000" together turn up nothing. The title may very well be lost to time.

    The Reverend Dr Galactus on
    valar-moreshellus.png
    PSN:RevDrGalactus/NN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
  • The Reverend Dr GalactusThe Reverend Dr Galactus Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Nocturne wrote: »
    I'm also pretty sure a good part of my generation grew up with:
    oregonTrail.jpg

    Even if we never quite learned what dysentery actually is, we all learned it was something you really didn't want to catch.

    The Reverend Dr Galactus on
    valar-moreshellus.png
    PSN:RevDrGalactus/NN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
  • useless4useless4 Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Tamin wrote: »
    useless4 wrote: »
    We had a TI 99/4a:
    Parasec, bunch of games you had to type in from the computer magazines

    I'm not sure on the timeline, but I actually have a non-working TI-99/4A; as it came out long before the Apple IIGS, I may have used it (at least a little).

    Such exciting titles as Exceltec Extended Basic, Number Magic, Video Graphs, Household Budget Management, Touch Typing Tutor, and BuckRogers are sitting in storage.

    Still need to find out what's wrong with the silly thing and get it running again.

    i had Number Magic! I had the whole series too... like gator something (grammer?) and algablaster

    useless4 on
  • BladeOfSanjuroBladeOfSanjuro Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    game_watch_marios_cement_factory.jpg

    BladeOfSanjuro on
    steam_sig.png
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    A couple Atari 2600 games were among the very first I ever played. Two I barely remember and certainly do not know the names of. Chopper Command and Pitfall are the ones I remember most.

    I actually played Chopper Command for hours and hours. I would practice "landing" on the little convoy trucks on the bottom of the screen and everything. Heh, I even came up with little stories each time I played. Ah, to be young again. :P

    I only really remember Pitfall because it is so famous now and because it completely infuriated me way back when. I don't think I ever beat it.

    I also remember playing a fair bit of Defender as well. I can still hear the sound my ship's lasers made. :D

    Missile Command was another game I remember fondly.

    I've always had some kind of video game system growing up, but it wasn't until much later that gaming actually became a big part of my life. That is thanks to two games, Command & Conquer and Baldur's Gate. Later on Everquest would also play a huge role in my gaming life.

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • useless4useless4 Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Does pitfall have an ending? I thought it was endless... Pitfall 2 does have an ending I did see it once.

    useless4 on
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    One of the first games I remember playing was Ecco The Dolphin. Quite the game to start off with D:

    Zombiemambo on
    JKKaAGp.png
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    useless4 wrote: »
    Does pitfall have an ending? I thought it was endless... Pitfall 2 does have an ending I did see it once.

    I don't know I never beat it :P.

    According to Wikipedia you had 20 minutes to get 32 treasures. So I guess maybe you could "win", but it doesn't sound like it had an actual ending.

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • TaminTamin Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    In conversation with my brother, he's found the name of the guy who programmed Explorer/GS. A Jason Smart; he'd like to get in touch with the guy to say 'thanks', but can't find any more information on him. Does anyone happen to know what happened to him? Did he get hired by a larger company; did he die; did he fade away?

    Tamin on
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