The Game That Started It All

[Shorty]

What game was it that you picked up and said, "this trout 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 trout 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 troutton 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.

[Laddy]

Might & Magic VI/Heroes of Might & Magic. My dad was a PC gamer, and those titles were the trout, 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 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 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