The Game That Started It All

[Shorty]

What game was it that you picked up and said, "this shit is awesome, where can I find more of this"? What game started it all for you?

Tomb Raider is the first game I ever played that made me really like gaming and want to look for other games that I might be interested in. I think I picked it up for the first time when I was eight or nine and thought, "this shit is amazing, I never want it to end." I hardly consider myself a gamer - rather, I just kinda play games when I feel like it, but Tomb Raider was the first one that did it for me.

So, what is it, folks? Space Invaders? Mario Bros.? Spyro the Dragon? Pong?

[Pike]

It's hard to talk about when I first became a gamer because I always have been one. I can't remember what my first game was because I was playing games while I was still in diapers and before I could talk. Video games have always been an important part of my life-- there was no "start" to it that I can remember!

Edit: If we are talking about genres in specific, then I have to credit Starcraft for really introducing me to strategy. I played Sim games and other semi-strategy-ish games before that, but Starcraft back in 1999 (or whenever it was released) really opened up a whole new world for me, and because of that, it will always have a special place in my heart.

[Agent Proto]

I'm not really sure what game really got me into gaming in the first place. I might have to say that... um... Pitfall would be that game! For the Atari 2600, or one of the Atari systems. It was the first console my family bought so at the time, it was also the only thing I could play on, and I was also pretty damn good in Baseball, and Burger Time.

[Raistlin]

The first games I ever played a shitton of were the Mario Bros. games (via Mario All Stars on the SNES), Super Mario World, and Kirby on the original Gameboy. I was about 5 when I started playing these, and I continued to play them for years.

The first RPG I played was Super Mario RPG, though I didn't really get into the genre until Breath of Fire III.

[Madame Adequate]

Like Steph I can't remember ever not playing games. When I was birthed, fully formed, from the abominable void beyond reality I already had memories of the vidya even though I had not played one before. Lemmings though, Lemmings was addictive as hell back in the day.

For specific genres I would say Theme Park for management, Civilization II for strategy, and Command and Conquer for RTS.

[Alpha2099]

I'm not really sure what it was that got me into gaming in the first place. My guess would be Super Mario Land for Game Boy. For a specific genre, The Legend of Dragoon really got me into RPGs, even though I had played others before it, like Link's Awakening and Pokemon.

[Del Murder]

Super Mario Bros. When I played it, I knew I found something I would be doing for a long time.

[escobert]

Final Fantasy VII. Before that the closest I'd come to playing a RPG was the first Zelda and then A Link To The Past.

[Hollycat]

Spyro the dragon, crash bandicoot, pokemon

[ReloadPsi]

Podd, specifically the BBC Micro version. It was some kind of tomato thing with legs that you fed verbs and it would attempt to perform them.

[Quindiana Jones]

Pokemon Blue on the Gameboy Colour, and Apache Assault on the PSOne.

[Slothy]

Super Mario Bros. When I played it, I knew I found something I would be doing for a long time.

This. Unlike people like Pike and MILF, I have the luxury of remembering the first title I ever played. My parents didn't play games and we never had them around when I was very very young. My earliest exposure to them was when my aunt got an NES at Christmas and I was able to watch her play and play a bit myself. I can't remember how old I was though, but I was maybe 4 years old at the latest. I'm not sure my parents realized what letting me play that game would lead to.

[NeoCracker]

Super Mario Brothers as well. hell, my oldest memory is getting an SNES and that game. :p

[Laddy]

Might & Magic VI/Heroes of Might & Magic. My dad was a PC gamer, and those titles were the shit, so I got into them. I was like, 4.

[Shattered Dreamer]

What game started it all? If I think back far enough there were 2. First Flimbo's quest on the C64. My older sister had a C64 which came with a cartridge that had 4 games on it. Fiendish Freddy's Circus, International Soccer, Klax & Flimbo's quest. Of all the games Flimbo's quest got most of the play time from me & my sister. Both of us only finished it once each. Flimbo's quest was a mash up of a side scrolling platformer, a shoot em up & an RPG. In the game you had to collect a series of scrolls on each level which when joined together gave you access to a portal to the next level. I think the overall story had something to do with saving a princess :lol: Around about level 7 (I think it had 9 or 10 total) it became unforgivably difficult so getting this far alone was a challenge. I'd love nothing more as a gamer to tackle this game one last time but alas my C64 is long since dead :(

The 2nd game was Street Fighter II. We had 2 take aways in the town I grew up in that both had a SFII machine each & whenever my parents brought me into either (which would of been a few times a month) I'd keep at them until they gave me some change so I could play. If I was lucky I got 40p (enough for 2 credits back in the day) and I rarely made it past the 3rd or 4th fight because I was like 5 was I was really $h*t at it :lol: I used to pick either Ryu, Ken or Blanka. I remember coming across a SFII machine in a gaming arcade while on a family holiday 7 years later and managing to get as far as Vega.

So Flimbo's Quest & Street Fighter II are pretty much were it all began for me

[escobert]

First game I ever play was the original Zelda at my fathers house. Then when my mom got married my step father had a MacPlus and I played Sim City on that.

[Mercen-X]

It'd be hard to pick a first for me. I'm one of those older generation gamers who started out on the Atari. It hadn't been my choice to pick up a game and try it 'cause it looked cool. It is possible though, that I picked out Crystalis at some point for the NES. I still have about 20-25 games for the NES (three copies of Mario Bros). My dad, my uncle, my mom, and I all used to take turns doubling on Twin Eagle. My dad beat it once or twice (I had been partnered up til near the end... then I died my last death and just watch him finish the game).

[krissy]

Amiga - Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Intro + last race) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui8xYi0nL-k)

Amiga Longplay [061] Turrican - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70xp5mnsx1A)

[Faris]

It's hard to talk about when I first became a gamer because I always have been one.

This. But I remember, before I could understand how to play, I loved watching my dad play the early Legend of Zelda games (NES and SNES)

[Tigmafuzz]

The very first video game I ever played was Super Mario Bros. followed by The Legend of Zelda and then a bunch of other NES games (lol StarTropics) and then some SNES stuff and then I moved on to the Genesis and had a pure awesomeness overload in my brain the first time I played Contra Hard Corps. I had some good times on the PlayStation after that and on the Game Boy, but I always kept going back to the older systems.

[Sephex]

I...don't remember. I played games on ancient PCs at my mom's place of work at the time before the NES console truly exploded. All I knew at such a very young age that I loved interacting with a screen.

[DMKA]

Pac Man for the Atari 2600.

It wasn't until adulthood that I heard it was the worst port of any game ever. :p

[Skyblade]

The first game I can remember clearly was, I think, Castles.

Followed closely by the original Master of Orion, and the Super Solvers edutainment games.

There's another game from the early floppy era that I can remember in bits and pieces, surprisingly detailed at times, in fact, but haven't ever been able to put a name to.

[theundeadhero]

In 1988 my dad brought home an NES and The Legend of Zelda. I watched him play though Zelda and then picked it up myself. I was five and I loved it - sometimes amazing people that I could beat the game when they as adults couldn't :p I also sporadically played Mario Bros. From there my life-long hobby expanded although I didn't get into RPGs until FFI in 1994. Dragon Warrior was my first RPG a few years earlier but it didn't draw me in as much. It was more of a different style of game to play.

[Pike]

What game started it all? If I think back far enough there were 2. First Flimbo's quest on the C64. My older sister had a C64 which came with a cartridge that had 4 games on it.

YES fellow C64 friend! The C64 was where I started as well.

Because of that I can make some educated guesses on what my first game was. It would've been something like Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Donkey Kong, Pitstop (a racing game), Q*bert, Crystal Castles, maybe Gorf... one of the many arcade classics that was ported to C64.

[Jiro]

Sonic, or maybe Double Dragon. I played a bunch of RPGs on the SNES too at one point, but don't remember much about them at all (in fact I have tried to track them down a few times here unsuccessfully). If we move further forward in time, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Those are the two I remember playing quite a bit, but by this time I would have already been "into" gaming, as such, so I don't know. Somewhere between Sonic and Spyro, I guess?

[Vermachtnis]

For me it was Mega Man 4. I remember the first time I beat Pharoh Man. I used to play R.C. Pro-Am all the time too. One of those two were my first games. My first RPG was Mystic Quest.

[Jessweeee♪]

Tomb Raider II!

[Shorty]

aw yeah Jesswee gimme some TR love!

[Jowy]

Super Mario 3, man.

[edczxcvbnm]

I have no idea. I either started playing stuff on the C64 or the Atari but I can't remember. Asking this question is like asking "What TV show got you interested in TV?" I can't answer such a ludicrous question because I don't have memories that go back that far. Games just have always been there and you play games.

That said, I can't even remember the names of any Atari games my parents had and I can no longer remember C64 games either...except for kickman, Mario Bros (Not Super Mario...just Mario Bros.) and Montezumas Revenge(Awesome Game). These I know are not the first but they are awesome all the same.

[theundeadhero]

I used to play R.C. Pro-Am all the time too. My dad gave me that game for my sixth birthday. It's all kinds of fun but there's never any ending! Just the tracks repeating over and over and over again. I made it to somewhere in the late 30's before stopping once.

[Iceglow]

Sonic 1 on the Megadrive.
Cannon Fodder on the Megadrive
Lotus Speed Challenge Racing on the Megadrive (I think that was the name I remember it was a Racing game with Lotus)
Streets of Rage on the Megadrive
Tetris on the Gameboy.
Mario on the Gameboy.
Afterburner on the Master System.
Legend of Zelda on Gameboy.
Final Fantasy Legend 3 (actually the very first FF game I ever played and not one of the main series)

Each of the above games could claim to be some of the first games I ever remember playing and thinking shit I needs me some of this!