What Game Turned You Into A Gamer?
Posted by William on Sunday, June 17th, 2007 at 9:42 pm under Gamer Life
Everyone has a great story about their first game or a specific game that basically turned them into the gamer they are today. Here’s my story. Feel free to add yours in the comments. I’m definitely always curious what turned someone into a gamer. Without a doubt it my mind, Dragon’s Lair was that game for me. I was only 6 years old at the time, but it turned me into the gaming machine I am today. While most kids spent their entire allowances that summer on candy or movies, every last quarter I could get my hands on went into Dragon’s Lair.
1983 was the first year I was introduced to the world of video games. I was 6 years old at the time. I would beg my parents to take me to the arcade all the time. I even had my 6th birthday party in one. This was also the year of the great video game crash that lasted over 3 years. This was fortunate for me in ways, because the price of the Atari systems fell through the bottom and my dad bought me one. This was also the year that I found the game that blew my mind at the time. The game was the arcade hit Dragon’s Lairâ„¢.
This was one of the first laser disc games ever made and completely stood out from every other game in the arcades at the time. We would often wait in endless lines to get a chance to play. This was the first detailed game that didn’t use sprites as characters that I ever came across. You basically play as Dirk the Daring, a knight attempting to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil Dragon Singe. What was strange about the game was that instead of controlling his actions, you controlled his reflexes. This was very similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Although nowadays the game wouldn’t get very far, back then the cinematics and story line alone set it apart from the rest of the playing field for a very long time.
“Dragon’s Lair: The fantasy adventure where you become a valiant knight, on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. You control the actions of a daring adventurer, finding his way through the castle of a dark wizard, who has enchanted it with treacherous monsters and obstacles. In the mysterious caverns below the castle, your odyssey continues against the awesome forces that oppose your efforts to reach the Dragon’s Lair. Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits.â€
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June 18th, 2007 at 12:08 am
The original Unreal demo that came with my Packard Bell PC is what got me into gaming
ran at 320×240 res like a dream
at higest res, it would go from frame to frame by actually refreshing downward….
that was the slowest framerate I have ever seen up to this date
I also installed it w/out my mothers permission because it was rated M, the picture of the Skarrj on the front just made my pre-adolescent mind go OMG THAT LOOKS SO COOL….
of course, I took it to her asking if I could install it… she said no, knowing of the ESRB.
Later on I wised up and started it up. I still remember thinking
"I dont think i'll start single player just yet"
"Bot match, hmmm robots seems neat"
and then I started up, and fired the dispersion pistol, "OOOH WIZARD LIKE"
(my short attention span didnt allow me to think of how robots and wizards contradicted each other)
and from there on in, I realized what I was getting into, it wasnt wizards or fantasy, it was what in my mind became the definitive Sci-fi experience. Sure, I had played many sci-fi console games, but this, with its realistic look, and the fact that it made me feel alone, not to mention the violence, made me realize what I was missing out on.
The time that I had started the demo, the Original UT was already out, and when I got online and started doing research, UT03 was soon being heard of and I was excited as ever. I jumped from the demo of U1, to UT03 not even playing UT99 or the full version of U1, the demo got me hooked that much….
June 18th, 2007 at 12:56 am
that's interesting that a demo got you into gaming. I guess I'm starting to get so old. We didn't have demos when I started gaming lol.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:40 am
I won't go into detail (like a story) but it was definitly starcraft. Best. Game. EVER.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:13 am
The first game to really grab me by the nards was Gauntlet. My friend and I would skate down to this local deli which just happen to have a few machines inside. I must've stole a million times from my mother's purse just to play it.
Eventually, Red Alert 2 turned me into a serious gamer, and a serious loser.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:55 am
I remember when i was six years old and my brother just got Age Of Empires II for his birthday. The first time he let me play it i thought it was super cool and i couldn't stay away from it. On the weekends i used to get up at six o'clock in the morning and sneak on the computer in the study just to play it even a little bit.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:57 am
If you mean which game turned me into someone who loved games and wanted to play them all the time - Planescape: Torment
June 18th, 2007 at 8:14 am
I think the first game that turned me into a gamer would have to be Dragon Warrior for the NES. I played that game for hours and hours
June 18th, 2007 at 9:20 am
hmmm, it would have to be Total Annihilation, one of the best games ever!!!! perhaps even… duh duh dummmm Duke Nukem 3D, which my dad introduced me to at the age of… 11 ish i think…
June 18th, 2007 at 9:51 am
The game for me was Star Trek: Elite Force. It is a fast paced FPS, and it got me hooked into the world of FPS games. And wouldn't you know it, even to this day, i reconfigure the control layouts of any FPS's i play to the control scheme from Elite Force, dang, that is a great game.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I truly think I was hooked from the age of six, when the fair came to town and I played Boot Hill. Big thumbs up to Brandon's Gauntlet mention though, the first trul addictive team based game.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Monkey Island.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Doom.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
The year was 1998. The game was Half-Life. I had played several video games before then, but that was the one that made me truly appreciate video games.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I'd have to say that Wolfenstein 3D was my first game that I got hooked on (when I had my old 486), but I don't consider that making me a true gamer, as I didn't have machines that were good at gaming back then. I really became initiated once I was exposed to Quake 3 Arena, after which I had my friend build me a PC for gaming. After that, I never stopped
June 18th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Street Fighter 2
June 18th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Zork I. Mom took me to the Apple Store and the salesman sat me down with a copy of Zork and the next think I knew it was a half hour later and they were telling me I had to leave. I was totally hooked.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Diablo. No question.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
as far as i can remmember , playing DOOM II on my crappy old computer was probably one of the first games i ever played. i loved how everything was "so realistic".
June 18th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
GTA 3 on ps2 need i say more…
June 18th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
The Year, 1994.
The Game: the first console FPS: Duck Hunt.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Street Fighter II. End of (love) story.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Bards Tale I
I'm as old as dirt it seems
June 18th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Socom II for the Ps2 got me heavy into it.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
OK I'm really dating myself (not like, DATING myself, making myself look old… :P) … Anyway, the first game that got me hooked was Ultima I. I talked my mother into spending $600 on an Apple IIe just to play it.
There have been many others since then… Notables are: the Zork series, Wasteland, Red Alert, Age of Empires II, Wolfenstein 3D and then the Quakes (especially Quake III.), Counterstrike, Battlefield 2.
Of course, the ones that I have spent days upon days wit: Ultima Online, Everquest, and now… World of Warcraft.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
The game that got me into gaming was the same as Ex0du5's; Duke Nukem 3D. And after I beat the single player a few times I started playing online which is what really got me into multiplayer gaming.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Mappy Land for NES
June 18th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
The old Ultima games, yes starting with those on the old Apple //e and other old computers like the early IBMs. Ultima still is and always will be one of my favorite storylines and worlds..
June 18th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I would have to say that I was a game from a very young age. I can remember playing space invaders on a Texas Instruments computer, I don't recall the model, but it was just before the C64 came out I believe. That system was my intro. Then my brother and I shared a Sega Master system and we played the hell out of the wonder boy games, and my personal favorite, space harrier. After the master system, I was done with games, other than playing at a friends place from time to time.
I was re-introduced to the world of gaming after I bought my firs PC, I had other PC's but this was the first one that was MINE in my own place! It was a 486 dx2 at 66mhz that managed to o/c to 80 mhz, it was crazy! Quake turned me hard core! I couldn't really play quake on that box, so I had to buy a new one. And then with the newer pc, I discovered a sierra screamin' 3d video card with the Rendition Verite chip. This chip was actually way ahead of it's time in terms of tech, it just didn't have the horsepower of a 3dfx card. But when I fired up VQuake,(rendition's eq to glquake, not quite as good, but close) that was it, I haven't looked back since and gaming has not only been a major part of my life since, but I've introduced my children to gaming on the pc, on a console, games is just part of our lifestyle now, and we all love it.
I can still remember playing GL Quake via modem against my step dad, that and warcraft2 via modem as well. The battles were epic!
June 18th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Duke Nukem 3D, thanks to this game by the time I was actually old enough to go to a strip club I knew exactly what to expect for my dollars.
The game that really took my life away from anything real world would definitely be starcraft, huge downhill turning point in my life.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Cool article !
June 18th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
2 games come to memory.
First was Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight. The thrill of slicing through stormtroopers with my father's lightsaber was unlike any other game I'd ever played. Me and my middle school friends would all hop on the zone and play matches with new maps and mods we got from The Massassi Temple.
The second was System Shock 2. This was the game that truly made me feel that games could do more than entertain, they could be art. It scared the hell out of me, it came to me in dreams, it gave me a whole new appreciation of Alien. This is what made me think "This is what games are about", it's what kept me around to this day. (And waiting for Bioshock like you wouldn't believe)
June 18th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Hmm the old AD&D CRPGs by SSI, the gold box ones, like Gateway to the Savage Frontier, those I'd play for hour son end as a kid, still would if they'd run well under windows
June 18th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
my god i feel old. Does anyone remember wasteland? that's what got me into games, of course, everyone's heard of Fallout, the unofficial sequel of wasteland
June 18th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
I think it was Escape Velocity, back in 1997. I'd played games for years before that, but EV was the one that truly got me addicted. Now I'm going to school for video game design…
June 18th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Pong!!!
– Yeah I'm that old.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I bought a pack of jewel cases with a demo of warcraft orcs&humans and I've been with it ever since. Also another pack with a Thief demo and now I am sneaksie!
June 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Def Dragon Warrior for me too. Excellent Attack!
June 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Old dos games on our old dos computer back in the late 80s early 90s. From there to nintindo, gameboy, gamegear sega and StarCraft was the first real windows game I ever got into. GOGOGO.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
The first game I remember being very serious about was Combat on the 2600. I was only like 7 when we got ours, but I was hooked on games since then.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
first streets of rage 2
then TeraNova got me back into it.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
I used to love DareDevilDennis on the BBCB Micro.
But as for proper "ok, just another half an hour" gaming, Elite, again on the Beeb ate literally months of my life. The next few years were mediocre, but then along came Robocop 3 on the Atari ST, and the keyboard-mouse FPS combo was etched deeply and permanently into my being. Yes, Robocop 3 was actually a really good game, and worth every moment spent swapping floppies.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Amen! I will never ever forget Dragon's Lair. Nerd alert: do you remember that the game was also in the Stratton's mansion in the show Silver Spoons? I'd actually watch the show just to catch a glimpse of the arcade cabinet, that's how obsessed I was with it. It was amazing, and between that and the Tron arcade game I was hooked on gaming forever.
I also HAD to own it once it came to Sega CD!
June 18th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Ahhh, the early days of College. Late nighs playing Red Alert with themes. We'd all name ourselves something Russian sounding and drink vodka and listen to cheesy Russian sounding CDs until the wee hours of the morning. The first real multiplayer realtime strategy game I got into…
I remember what we would call "roaching" … basically your whole army would be destroyed except maybe one lone technician or tank and you'd run around looking for crates, hoping for a mobile construction unit to secretly rebuild your army in a corner of the map. Sometimes it would blow up and that would be the end of your game or you'd inadvertently discover one of the bases and get your poor last man zapped by a tesla coil.
Good times.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Well, this may seem unbelievably cliche, but the game that introduced me to the gaming world was Super Mario World. My brother was dieing of AIDS at the time and, being around five, I didn't know that he was dieing, so when he let me play his games I was stoked. We visited him a lot during that time and I played his games a lot. Eventually my mom told me that he died and that he gave me his Super Nintendo and his games for it. It will definitely be something that I will never get rid of, physically or mnemonically, for it is the only thing that I have of his.
It was actually because of him that I was allowed to play videogames. Until then, my mom wouldn't allow videogames in the house EVER! Sort of mixed feelings about the whole thing…
June 18th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
The game that dragged me into the life to never look back was Dragon Warrior for the NES. I had played some other games for my NES like duck hunt and super mario bros. to name a couple, but nothing effected me like Dragon Warrior. I have been an avid RPG player since then. I guess I'm getting old too cause I've been playing for 20 years now. No demos when I started either, and also no place to rent games in my town.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Starsiege….
June 18th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Dungeon Master on the Atari ST, then on the PC.
I am old, yes, I know
June 18th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
2 games.
The original Castle Wolfenstein (no, not the FPS) and Wizardry, Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. I returned to gaming via WC3 and now I play WoW a bit. I am really more waiting for SC2 tho.
pwn ya noobs!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
That would be the first game I ever played - Moon Patrol for the Commodore 64. I still remember plugging that cartridge into the keyboard for the first time…
http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/moon-patrol/screenshots
June 18th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Pokemon.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
CONTRA
I grew up playing Contra with my dad, when he passed video games kinda stuck to me and became a passion.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Atari´s 2600 Frostbite!
I was very young, and could never, ever, stop. Then came Sega and PC Games.
Doen anyone remember that lame but very funny car game called Stunts? That was my first PC hook.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
either Sonic 2 or Super Mario Lnad
June 18th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
now it would have to be Perfect Dark. has to be one of the best shooters ever made. only because it was like goldeneye 2.0
June 18th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Starcraft.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
After playing Atari 2600 with its awesome graphics from 1982-1984, I became disinterested in video games until a fateful day in 1987 when I played Super Mario Bros. on NES and was COMPLETELY blown away by it…the graphics were EVEN BETTER than Atari!
My brother and I did many hours worth of chores to save up enough money to buy a NES. It came with two controllers and a few games (I believe they were Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and Gun Smoke). Not long thereafter we got Kung Fu, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, and Legend of Zelda. The rest is history!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II was my first real game. It was extensive in single player, and was a multiplayer game on the MSN gaming network. Way back in the early days of fps multiplayer. The game played like a dream. It was endlessly fun, and had a huge modding community, along with custom campaigns and maps and all sorts of extra crap.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
KABOOM!!!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Man I'm old. I'd have to say Pitfall or Adventure on the 2600.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
The original Wolfenstein 3d (ca 1991) demo was the first game I got into.
Diablo was the first game I REALLY got into.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Considering some of the responses this is gonna make me look really old.
Starflight around 1988/89 was the first game that really made me just forget there was even a real world for a while. Hours became minutes while feverishly searched for a way to save the galaxy
oh and I played it on a tandy 1000sx with 320k of ram and DOS 3.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
um…super mario brothers…
June 18th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
There were a few other games that were fun, but nothing was as powerfully addictive as Starsiege Tribes. Now the game is free to download — and just as fun as ever. Google it.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
> Bards Tale I
I'm right there with ya. Wizardy 1 (apple iie) had me before Bards Tale though. That and Yar's Revenge on the 2600.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
For the sports game junkies… I remember the late night battles and tournaments on Madden '93 and NHL '95 sega. NHL 95 is still my favorite hockey game
June 18th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Halo 2. Best game ever.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
For me it was Castle Vania III. I was only like 4 or 5 and i have been a gamer since.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Have to go with Jungle Hunt for the Atari 2600, it was probably the first game I ever played. I was like 5 and at my cousins house and I played the game for hours. I remember shortly after that getting my own Atari and since then there hasn't been a time I wasn't a gamer.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
TECMO BOWL RULED THE LATE 80's
June 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
duke nukem 3d, along with nukem 1 2 and 3, the ski game on windows 95, and some game that was so freaking badass but i dont remember what it was called, but you were in the future and going through some big office skyscraper buildings avoiding slime blobs and shooting lazers and cameras, oh man leisure suit larry was radical, the store here used to rent computer games years ago and i rented that and enjoyed it very much as i was a young lad that fancied naked cartoon babes.
But, on gaming note,
red faction got me into online gaming.
i owned everyone, i was the best, then everyone quit playing
first games (of a good size and length) that i beat were resident evil and metal gear solid. rock.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Star Wars: Shadows of the empire for the 64. A classic
June 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Chuckie Egg (1983)
Still plays well to this day.. i used to play this game in my sleep
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuckie_Egg
Next to that.. basically a lengthy list os Speccy games.. it was more the Spectrum that made me a gamer rather than a specific game I guess
June 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Super Mario World.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Duke Nukem 3D, "Those SOBs are going to pay for busting up my ride"
June 18th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Reading the comments makes me feel REALLY old too… and I´m only 22…
When I was around 4 to 6 years old, I used to play TMNT, Street Fighter 2 and Golden Axe (among others) on Arcades across my dad´s job. I remember having and gathering lots of coins just to be able to play…
He also introduced me to Sim City on a black and white computer monitor at his job, and Super Mario Bros. on the NES later.
On PC there was also Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Maxis Sims, Doom, etc..
Sweeeeeet 486…
Sweeeeeet 8 bits…
Sweeeeeter 16 bits era…
June 18th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Rings of Power for the megadrive…
I was too young to understand the actual gameplay… but the freedom was cool..
Even if it was actually released the year I was born.. I was playing 6 or 7 year old games… damn.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
CHRONO TRIGGER.
If you didn't play it when it came out then you'll never understand how it blew the collective minds of everybody who played it then. No random battles, 12 endings, beautiful story, an absolute joy to play. I played it till I had nothing left to do.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Pole Position or Spider Fighter - Atari 2600 both games were "Fast" to those standards but eventually Mario stole my Heart
June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
elite on the Amstrad CPC 6128
June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
My Cousion started me with Super Mario World back on the SNES. first time I played I beat a level he was stuck on in the forest Zone. after that I got a GameBoy and have been gaming ever since.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Super Mario Borthers on christmas day on my brand new 8-bit NES. wOOt
June 18th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Jeez..either you guys are really young or just didint get into gaming till later…anyway
Mike Tysons Punch Out
and this may sound horrible but
Superspike Vball..i mean what other game can u dish out mad spikes being the double dragon twins?!
and it got ridiclously hard after like the 3rd match
June 18th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
The original Zelda for NES got me into RPG gaming. Final Fantasy 7 sealed it for me, after watching the gametime counter hit its max of 999 hours was the point I knew I was going to be a gamer for life.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I cant believe I'm the first person to say this, but Super Mario Brothers.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I would say that LoRD turned me into a gamer. Remember that game, Legend of the Red Dragon? It was probably the first MORPG - although generally, unless you were part of a large BBS, there were only a handful of over people playing with you.
Of course Duke Nukem 3D then tossed me so far into the gaming realm that I would never return to normality. Connecting with my friends at 14.4 baud for an awesome multiplayer experience was priceless.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
OREGON TRAIL! You've lost your wagon! OT was my generations GTA…
June 18th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
tekken 3 when i was young. my dad bout it for me
i still love it, and to this day, its my favorite fighting game. but the first game i obsessed over wa,from what i can remember, halo
June 18th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Star Wars Rebellion. Seriously, why didn't they make a sequal to that thing? The game was badass!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Pitfall was the first game I remember playing with any real regularity. My parents had an atari in their bedroom and I loved it. Myst was the first computer game I ever played. I still love adventure games because of it.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
games that got me into gaming were:
* Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple IIE
* DrJ vs Bird for the Apple IIE
I left gaming during my college years and then came back in late90's. Game that got me back was Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the PC, Shogun Total War, and a few other games
June 18th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I'd have to say in my childhood, it was Donkey Kong Country 2 that really got me addicted…ah super nintendo, that was my dream console at the time.
(and any games on the old school apple computers…like oregon trail or number munchers.)
Then it was final fantasy 7 and zelda: ocarnia of time that really got me into games hardcore.
Good times! The memories!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Curse of Monkey Island on my uncle's computer. I used to visit just to play that game.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
ummm how about final fantasy 7? name another game that in depth with that many game play hours.. then when you beat it realize you didnt find every secret… thats what started it all for me
June 18th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Atari 2600 games. We played Astrioids to death. Me and my bro flipped the score 7 times in one sitting.
After that Apple II games, nes, TG16, snes, etc…
June 18th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Hard Hat Mack! With three glorious levels.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
My college roommate played Starcraft. At first I used to think what kind of loser did I get hooked up with. One day I finally gave it a try and have been playing games ever since.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Guerilla War for NES was the first game that I ever played, but the game responsible for getting me into gaming (as well as cultivating a RPG tendancy) was Exile III: Ruined World.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Starcraft… I remember going to a friend's house one day and watching him play this game and thinking how cool everything was. The battlecruisers, seige tanks, the gritty graphics and the buttons. I had an N64, I had Orcarina of Time, Mario, Goldeneye but the only thing that I wanted to play was Starcraft. The fact I'm still playing it today is a testament to how great of a game that was.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Street Fighter 2! The beginning of the last great period of the mighty arcade marked my beginning into gaming. The competition at my local Wal Mart was fierce, but when I could swing a trip to the larger arcades around for some serious comp, I was in heaven.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Super Mario Brothers on NES and Super Nintendo my parents bought me as a kid turned me into one lol…. I still play all the classics Emulated on my xbox
June 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
While I started on an old floppy disk DOS setup with Number Munchers and Q'Bert, I got hooked when Nintendo Power offered a free copy of Dragon Warrior with a subscription. I asked for it for Christmas, and played that game for hours on end. The 'rents attribute it to me really wanting to and learning how to read.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Halo 1.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
First game I bought with my own money: Ultima III for the PC (that was 1986 or 1987). Before that i got hooked by Bard's Tale playing for months at a friend's C64.
Gosh, I feel old now.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Commando……
June 18th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
The first one I can remember playing was Combat! for the Atari 2600, but it wasn't until The Legend of Zelda that I was truly hooked.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Dune, that was the best strategy ever! Then Fallout.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I would probably think Super Mario Bro.'s. Now I know that sounds cliche, but that was the first game I really played hardcore back in the day. I mean, we(my family), owned a Atari 2600 and I jammed out on Pac-Man and Pitfall, but that was just me gettin' my foot in the door. So when Nintendo came out and threw down some hype ass side scrollers. Thats what got me down.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I must be older than most of you.
Donkey Kong - yes, the original, got me in to gaming. Pac Man was great but I really excelled at Donkey Kong for some reason & that became MY game.
PC gaming? That would have to be Duke Nukem 3D.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Diablo II and Starcraft are the games that turned me into a Gamer.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Donkey Kong was the game that originally got me into the fray. Super Mario Brothers netted me my first NES. The Bard's Tale was my fix for PC. Sonic the Hedgehog got my goat for Sega. After that it was an unstoppable line of RPGs with names like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, and Legend of Zelda. My favorite among them has always been Planescape: Torment.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Mine would have to be back in the glory days of Sierra: All the "Quest" games - Space quest, Police Quest, and King's Quest. I learned how to spell and type with those games - I remember being six when I would get up at like 5am, figure out how to launch the game from DOS and then try to spell the various commands: "xamn grnd" - Crap! "examn grond" - Crap! "examin grond" - Crap! "examine grond" - So close! "examine ground!" - Yay!
True "edutainment" before there was such a concept!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Gauntlet was it! I had 2 brothers so it was hard to find a game all three of us could play at the same time. And since we played D&D it was the best game ever!
I also remember liking the game Rampage because it was 3 player
June 18th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Either King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride or Grim Fandango. I'm a pretty young fellow so eat it.
"My scythe–I like to keep it next to where my heart used to be." - GF
June 18th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Pitfall II for the Atari 2600. I was maddeningly frustrating, but I just wanted to get a little further each time I played.
My parents had bought the Atari for them, but they quickly found that me and my brother were the ones who were enjoying it the most. For multiplayer we loved Bowling and Combat. (Why is my comment being flagged as spam?)
June 18th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Wow, i cannot believe no one has mentioned the original Final fantasy for NES?!?
June 18th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
i started really really really early into my childhood. i think i was in preschool or maybe earlier. i used to go to my cousins house and we would just play duckhunt and i remember being obsessed with the original street fighter. at my friends fourth birthday street fighter was all that was on my mind!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
The Original Nintendo Gameboy and Age of Empires 2. Those were the days!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Hmm.. The game that got me hooked into gaming would have to have been either Kings Quest 4 or Dune II. The latter didn't run so quick on our 286.
Sometimes I think that my parents got me hooked on adventure games as a kid just to get me learning how to read at an early age.
I still remember getting REALLY scared playing Manhunter: New York.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
captain midnight on an apple computer. must have been 1986-7
June 18th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Three games back for the sega genesis. Mortal Kombat 2, Sonic the Hedgechog, and ToeJam & Earl.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Zork.
/sips on his Metamusal and shuffles off to watch The Price is Right
June 18th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I would have to say it was Cylon Zap on a Vic20, when I was like 6. Typed in out of a "Computer Gazzet" Magazine I believe. HAHAHAHA Yes they used to publish the basic code for you to type in yourself. HAHAHA
June 18th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
started gaming with CRASH BANDICOOT - very first game of the series when the ps1 what lik e 'OMFG I JUST HAVTA HAVE ONE' and i was like 7
currently -im a big metal gear solid harcore fan and lover of all things 1st person and im playing world of warcraft, waiting for warhammer age of reakoning because warcrafts becoming boring =p
June 18th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
A demo cd, Encarta, and Dangerous Creatures came with the first computer my parents purchased. Those two programs, and the demo of the game Hocus Pocus got me started. Then Doom (one) cemented my love for games.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
It'll be a DOS game for me - I think it's a tie between Digger and Tomcat.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I'll go a little off the mainstream.
The Dark Heart of Uukrul
Rise of the Dragon
and yes…Bards Tale 1, 2 and 3.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Sonic The Hedgehog was the game that got me into gaming. But FFVII was the game that made me really enthusiastic about it.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I stated gaming before i can remember anything, first game memories: quest for gory (in the middle east), kings quest 3?, DOOM (dads computer at work because mom wouldn't let me play such a violent game, space quest3????, Mechwarrior2 (i have every one after that, 10 differnt games including addions).
June 18th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Mine came form five different places.
1) NES with super Mario Bros. 1,2, and 3
2)Sega Master System with Sonic the Hedgehog
3)My moms old Mac with Doom 2
4)The PlayStation
and finaly,
5)Every GTA game on the PS1, PS2, and soon X360
June 18th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Adventure - the original version on the PDP-10. That was over 30 years ago. Scary…
June 18th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Donkey Kong JR. the Game & Watch version and Jetpac on the ZX Spectrum
June 18th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Final Fantasy 1 for NES emulated on my performa 6100 with a gravis game pad.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
As far as consoles go, the first game to get me into them was Super Mario World for the SNES, as I never had a NES
When it comes to PC games? Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was my favorite.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
HI
June 18th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
i said super mario brothers before, but the game i've probably played the most has to be super mario kart for the super nintendo. holy. crap. so many countless hours spent in high school with my friends playing battle mode. if you want a true skill game, play the original battle mode with someone who's played a lot. none of the others really compare being that the levels are more complicated, and the items changed, i feel, to make it easier. i still play it every so often.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Interstate 76' I will never forget all that made the game so great…I still rock the "redbook audio" CD that came with it as the "play disc" Anyone else even ever heard of the game??
June 18th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Final Fantasy VII on PSOne. I saw my big bro playing the game back in 1999 and i fell in love with the cut-scenes…. Still love em! Since then I bought every FF and many other games - but mostly RPGs… Just gotta love them games!
June 18th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Has to be Zork I got me into the whole video game idea. But Ocarina Of time got me hooked, damn that was only 7 years ago..I was 11 years old..how time flies.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Wolfenstein & Spear of Destiny..
before that… cannot remember name but it was for the Atari 2600
June 18th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
In all seriousness…Police Quest; back in good old 1988 with our old XT - 16MHz with the turbo button on and something like 50k of RAM. Pretty sure if I looked hard enough I could find a save game right before the start of the poker mini-game (although wouldn't have a drive to read the disk :P).
look locker
open locker
get gun
After that I discovered things like Sim City, Pirates and Civ.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
I used to play on the snes at my friends house, and loved it- zelda, and mario, and starwing etc.But Sonic 2, on the sega- my first console, was the game that realy got me into gaming. I played it for months before i completed it (i was quite young). It is still a brilliant game. And pitfall was a good one as well. And micro machines. And desert strike. man i loved those games! i wonder if i still have them?
June 18th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Elite of course
BEST. GAME. EVER.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
The old Star Wars games turned me into a gamer
June 18th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Had to search for it; PGA Golf (DOS) and Shufflepuck Cafe (Mac);
http://users.pandora.be/mpq/software/screenshots/pga_golf.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shufflepuck_Cafe
June 18th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
First game with a keyboard: Arkanoid on pc.
First game to keep me awoken whole till 2am: Marioland on Gameboy.
First game to keep me from sleeping whole night: Diablo.
First game to ruin my studies (hopefully I threw my pc away after 10 months): CS 1.5
June 18th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Bombermaaaaaaaaannn!!!!
June 18th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Super Mario 64 turned me into a gamer. Rock The Classic's!!!
June 18th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Does anybody remember Pilot Wings for the N64? That game was damn addictive, I've been playing console and PC games ever since.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
well it was on an 8bit computer and it was called MARIO!!!
June 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Right on Corey….Zelda for NES. The first game I played ALL night long. 1987-Couldnt find the game ANYWHERE so I rented it. Fell so hardcore into it, I went back to the video rental store to report it: STOLEN FROM MY CAR WHEN I WENT INTO A 7-11 FOR A PACK OF SMOKES, HOW MUCH DO I OWE YA? The best 50 bucks I ever parted with. Oddly enough, the next game that had me up all night was Moto GP 06 for the 360. Some cool cats from the UK gave me set up tips on-line, and I was in another dimension. "Whats that wierd noise(Early birds chirpin)…Oh shit the suns commin up WTF? You guys gonna be on here tomorrow? Talk to you then "Mate".
I wonder where it's gonna go next?
June 18th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Eternal-Lands. It's a no-name 2D game, but it's still going strong.
http://eternal-lands.com/
June 18th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Even though I played plenty of games for the Super Nintendo (first console owned) I really didn't play anything hardcore. Of course I played Mario and whatnot… the first game to turn me to the dark side:
Goldeneye 007.
This probabaly still stands as the greatest FPS I have ever played. The graphics… the play style. The awards for beating different levels at different difficulties and time, etc. I had never even seen a Bond movie… I still rank Goldeneye on my top 5 list of games ever.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Super Mario World. I was five. Best thing ever.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Super Mario World!
June 18th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
1986 GUNSHIP AH-64 Apache Helicopter Simulation
on a Commodore 64
June 18th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Zelda: Ocarnia of Time on the N64. I still think it is one of the most enjoyable, immersive games ever.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
So there I was, playing outside, like a normal child, at the age of 5. This was about the 1990's. I found a fern in my back yard, which was next to the woods. I wanted to keep it, so I made for my house. In the garage, I saw a wasp, and tried to swat it with the fern. I got stung, and it appeared that I was deathly allergic to wasp stings. I swelled up so much, my throat began to close up. So after a day of nearly dieing from a wasp sting, I spent the night with an oxygen mask. At the time, my mother played some insane Zelda, like all the time at night time. That night I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up watching her play. I became fascinated with the game, and started to play after. It took me nearly all summer to beat, but once I did beat it, (with some help from mom) I became hooked. All thanks to nature and my biology. Weird??
June 18th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
scramble was the first game i played, i was 5 years old and it was in the back of the bar in the town where i lived(pop 1200). i loved that game and still play it on emulators,lol
June 18th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Secret of Mana. Saturdays at "the place" were the best.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
consoles, dig dug on the Atari 5200. Acrade, Asteroids, good physics for the time. PC MS Flight Simulator 98.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I'll go with purepwnage… assuming he's talkin about the same game: Escape from Castle Wolfenstein. Used to play that on my dad's old IBM PC Jr in the early 80s. He also had some cheesy football game and a Submarine game called GATO.
Around the same time, I used to play stuff like Alpiner and Hunt the Wumpus on my grandma's TI99.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Mortal Kombat 3, I played that game every day for about 5 years, got it when I was 6
June 18th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Super Mario Brothers! Played when i was about 3 or 5 and ive been a gamer ever since
June 18th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
The Firt Game That Turned Me Into A The Awsome Gamer I Am Today.
I was 5 and my best friend had just got a N64 and Super Smash Brothers 64 along with Mario. (yes i am young) He,Furtunately, had a NES and about 20-ish games along with it. since he had no use for it then he gave it to me since i had no video games what so ever. along with the games was Legend of Zelda. i thought it was a game for girls so put it off and played donkey kong and a game with all the mario games in it( real old ones). when i got bored i poped in the cubish grey legend of zelda cartridge. i was hooked. had to play it every waking moment and even had dreams about how i was saving the princess of hyrule. I remember when i first got into the dark world i was amazed,scared,and mad. so mad that i had only beaten half in what seemed like months. i stopped playing for a while and played N64 with my friend. super smash brothers 64. when i saw link i was delighted and the next day went back to play it again. Ever since that moment ive gamd any second i can and own any game with zelda/link in the game/title.
June 18th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
"Thru The Wall" on the Horizons demo tape that came with the ZX Spectrum. 1983.
June 18th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Vanguard—
atari 2600—1982
June 18th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Dune 2 , now that was a good game.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Whatever game I could get my hands on.. I was addicted to pixels… the more colors and pixels you could squeeze into the screen the better.
Dragon's Lair blew me away also when I first saw it on the amiga 500… I used to go to this store and stared it for hours… However when I found out how it actually plays it was a bit dissapointing. At the time, I thought your character could freely move in this vividly animated world… interact with everything, and the camera switches according to what is the best view for a given situation. But of course today it's all possible.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Sega genesis. My friend matt had a NES and I must admit to visiting him solely to play it. Then I myself got a genesis. Soon followed ALL sonic games available. For PCs however (the superior gaming system) it was Starcraft, 1998, on a mac, (also at a friend's house :P).
June 18th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Check another for Dragon Warroir, but before that I love Star Raiders on the Atari 5200.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Max Payne.
Definitely the best game and story.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I had played Pong and it was alright but the game that really captured my imagination was the violence and action on a Sega at a friends house. They were playing Golden Axe and I could not wait to buy a Sega machine and get this game. Then Genisis came out with Sewer Shark and that was awsome.
The adiction to these action games continued and goes on
June 18th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
commander keen, of course
June 18th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Mario for the NES started my gaming days way back when…..but ZELDA did it for me ultimatley
June 18th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Super Mario Bros. 3
I've been playing that game since I was 5. I'm never gonna stop.
June 18th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Starsiege Tribes and Tribes 2 were my gateway drug, spend countless hours of 56k glory with those two games, over 3 years were dedicated
another was starcraft, sum good times there
June 18th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
when i was in first grade i had my appendix removed, for three days i played the hospital's snes, mostly mario, when i left the hospital my parents got me a gameboy that i still play to this day
June 19th, 2007 at 1:10 am
First game ever played was the original Contra, my dad took me through that game when I was 5 and barely comprehending what's happening on the screen, we shared priceless memories with that game.
But if you mean the game that turned me into a gamer, it had to be the first Age of Empires I played during 6th grade, had hours of fun with my friends on that game, none of us were entirely competent stratergists at the time but it was great fun just being in the spirit of the game.
That was a pleasant wave of memories.
June 19th, 2007 at 2:32 am
QUAKE
The first game you could actually look up and down. That got me into games.
I did play Doom and other Doom clones but Quake did it for me.
June 19th, 2007 at 2:33 am
umm Legend of Zelda NES
June 19th, 2007 at 2:40 am
One word: HALO
June 19th, 2007 at 2:51 am
back in 1982 I think, it was Freedom Fighters on the Phillips G7000 (Odyssey 2), after that it was Manic Miner on the ZX Spectrum! and a host of other games particularly the Ultimate (now Rare) games.
June 19th, 2007 at 2:56 am
It was defenitly "The Game of Robot". Published in 1986, even though i couldn´t walk at that time i started playing videogames with this one on my dads 286 somewhere around 1990. still a great game idea. check it out:
June 19th, 2007 at 3:10 am
pac man ftw!
June 19th, 2007 at 4:47 am
The first game that really hit me was Manic Miner for Commodore 64, then I started my PC times with Prehistorik 2, now that was a cool game!
June 19th, 2007 at 5:31 am
the first game i couldnt put down was prob EA hockey for the Megadrive! but i played my sinclair spectrum 128k to death before that.
you peeps that have put Halo 2 down etc… you not a true gamer til you have waited 45 minutes to load a game on your spectrum, listening to the horrible screeching noises of it loading, only for it to crash at the last minute!……good times! : )
ps - god of war is f-ing amazing!
June 19th, 2007 at 5:58 am
The original mario got me started as a casual gamer but it wasn't until Final Fantasy VII that I went hardcore.
June 19th, 2007 at 7:08 am
The original Heretic game
June 19th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Space invaders and brick-out.
then a long wait until I got a 486 DX 2 and Wing commander. OOOh I loved wing commander 3, that was the first epic game i ever played with a kick arse story!
June 19th, 2007 at 7:23 am
For me, it was King's Quest 2. My dad brought it home the day it was released in our local Babbage's, I think it was (he was a big fan of KQ1) and we excitedly installed it on our old IBM. Man, that takes me back.
Adventure games for life.
June 19th, 2007 at 8:28 am
RAMPAGE FOR THE NES! that game was like crack! i would play it til my thumbs blistered soo bad! i would not stop playing until i beat it everytime! eating screaming people rules!
June 19th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Super Mario Bros 3! Amazing game…
June 19th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Guild Wars :3
June 19th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Streets of Rage 2. Not the first game i played but its what kicked me into gamerhood and Thrill Kill kept me there.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Deus Ex on PC - got it with my sound card ages ago - played it at least 4 times trying to take a different path through each time lol - from then on i knew i loved games
June 19th, 2007 at 10:25 am
honestly…..
"Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular" for the NES. such an awesome game (:P)
can't blame me though…. i was four.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Hello from Italy.
This is an interesting question, it took me about five minutes to come up with an answer.
I believe it was Las Vegas' Poker & Blackjack on the Intellivision (yes, the game which came included with the console), we simply couldn't get enough of the dealer's facial expressions (especially when he lost, obviously
)
My father bought other consoles before that, a Pong clone, the Saba Videoplay (the FairChild Channel F system) and another console, but the Intellivision caused the spark, I'm fairly sure
June 19th, 2007 at 10:44 am
It wasn't a game that turned me into a gamer, but a system. The Atari 2600. I had my own old black and white tv set up in my room (in the early 80s I was video game god to my friends because I had my own tv to play on, even if it was black and white). I then moved on to the NES. What made me a computer gamer was Wolfenstein. I spent 2 hours one day in an office supply super store playing Wolfensteins demo on a public demo system. I then got my own computer, and the Doom demo. I remember spending 100 bux at a wal-mart for a 3 meg upgrade just so it would play better, and 300 bux on a 300 Meg HD so I could have the room I would need to allow my new obsession to grow.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Hell, back in the old original apple computers, black and green screens.
MoonRaker, and a Karate type game. , and of course DUCKHUNT, Quack Quack
June 19th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Max Payne
June 19th, 2007 at 10:53 am
I miss it so much
June 19th, 2007 at 10:53 am
I miss it so much
June 19th, 2007 at 11:29 am
The only one I can truly remember was Seven Kingdoms Ancient Adversaries. A classic.
June 19th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Grandia for the PS. I played it for 3 Months to get EVERYTHING! by the time i made it to the last boss and saved i had no health or mana potions and could not go back to get any. I have never beaten that game but i have played video games nearly everyday for the last 11-12 years. FTW!!!!
June 19th, 2007 at 11:40 am
It was sinclair that really got me into home gaming.
First the ZX81 and a game called 3D Monster Maze -
find the exit to a randomly generated maze while being chased
by a trex.
You would read the line "TREX has seen you" and you'd panic
find yourself in a cul de sac and turn round — aaargh there he is!!
With the sinclair ZX spectrum the games became more advanced.
Lots of drawing your own maps on bits of A4 paper.
Jet Pac Atic Atac
June 19th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Diablo II with expansion. I got the battle chest for Christmas from my friend, and I was hooked on computer games from that point forward.
June 19th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Elite for the PC. Ran it on my 286 with CGA I believe. Played that game forever. I think I was too young to be able to follow the plot through the ginormous galaxy. I just liked slave trafficking, and flying around, upgrading my ship and finding the best trade routes.
In close second was Civilization. Overall spent more time with this game, but it was after Elite.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Super Mario Brothers
My aunt bought my family an NES for Christmas when I was 5 and I have been hard-core gamer ever since.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Pitfall for the Atari "Woodgrained" console.
Something about a digitized Tarzan Yell while swinging over gators ROCKED!
Now what made me almost obsessive was once I got older Double Dragon came out at the Arcade.
That was back when every game only cost a quarter.
I wish I had one of those machines still.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Master System's Sonic, I completed it thousands of times…
Quake introduced me in computer gaming, the best game in his time I think
June 19th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
excite bike…that definitely made me a gamer at the tender age of 4. i used to kill that game. making my own tracks was the shit
June 19th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Pfff… the original mechwarrior. Consumed my entire senior year in high school.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
The only game that i cant put down since starting to play it is QUAKE1, quakeworld rather, which is a multiplayer optimized version. The game came out in 96 and is definately the fastest paced game there is out there today. You can bunny hop which tricks the game into thinking that you are gliding along the floor and lets you gain speed. They took this feature (some may say bug) out of the quake series because it is harder for the avarage person to pick it up and play it, it takes quite some time to master the skill.
So QUAKE 1 is definately the game that made me a hardcore gamer.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Everyone keeps saying Super Mario Bros. for the SNES, but, hello people, Mario Bros. 3 for NES was sooo much better. First game I owned, and still one of my favorite to play.
June 19th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
I played off and on as a kid like most kids but the game that got me hooked into gaming and really got me into games especially RPGs….
CHRONO TRIGGER FTW! I moved into the FF series and many others
and eventually into the world renowned Everquest. I'm now a
consistent WoW junky owning noobs every day.
June 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Then Frogger, Pole Position and Q-Bert came along. Seriously, I am THAT old people.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Wow, not only was that fun to read, it was fun remembering back. Pong was interesting, but never really did more than cause fights. The game that caught my imagination was Jurassic Park on Sega Genesis. I could not believe any game could look that real - and we would giggle every time the T-Rex would say "SEGA!" as it loaded.
But my true timewaster was Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on the NES. I remember battling odd looking zombies way into the night.
Thank you for fun memories!
June 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I think I gave my age away when I mentioned I was 6 when Dragon's Lair came out lol
June 19th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Missile Command on the Atari. Also, Big Five and Pole Position. Classics.
Pong also had some involvement and the heavy hitter of Super Mario Bros. 1 (and later 3) confirmed the addiction from the age of 3/4. I once remember throwing the cartridge for SMB3 across the room in anger about 'something' in it before worrying that I might've broken it. Good ol' Ninty, just blew the dust out and it worked, just like the NES still does. Don't forget Sonic 2 though (we got that before 1, strangely). Together, these rocked so damn much.
June 19th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
I'll have to say that C&C: Red Alert originally got me into gaming, but i also have to give credit to Diablo(2) and ultimately Halo.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:05 am
When I was 4 years old (circa 1989) I got an NES, and four game carts. Super Mario/Duck Hunt, Megaman 2, Castlevania, and Zelda.
The first game I played was Megaman 2. That is definitely my favorite game of all time and the game that started this chapter of my life (of which has continued to this day, I am 22). From the amazing opening theme, to the ingenious design of the stages, weapons, and the overall soundtrack, the game, at least in my eyes, is perfect. I STILL play it to this day, whether it's on the Anniversary Collection or on the original NES cart. I have the entire soundtrack (and dozens of remixes) of the genius musical score on my PC/MP3 player.
This game is a part of my life. It always will be. As sad as this is, sometimes when I think about it, it brings me to tears because all the memories come flowing back, and it's just a beautiful piece of artwork. Megaman 2 is fantastic. Words can't even describe my love for this game.
June 20th, 2007 at 5:19 am
Donkey Kong Country.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:22 am
this is kinda lame but for me it was yoshi'story
June 20th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Pong. My parents bought the console game, when it first came out, hooked it to the TV, had 2 controls, that were just 2 circular dials, to control your paddle. That did it. Been a junkie ever since. That had to be around 1977, or so. I'll give an honorable mention to two other games, Leisure suit larry in the land of the lounge lizards, and Elite. I spent ten years playing Elite, by now I should have earned the title. Never got beyond very dangerous.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
sonic the hedgehog
June 20th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Space harrier in the arcades with me dinner money! Then after many years disappointment Snake Eater turned me once again into a "Gamer"!
June 20th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
June 21st, 2007 at 12:10 am
outpost. the first one. lol
June 21st, 2007 at 10:26 am
super mario bros./duck hunt/track and field
three games, three different controllers, one life assimilated
RESISTANCE IS FUTIL
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:41 am
either duck hunt (my brother is older so we had it) or thps 1 demo. i bought that demo at a sony outlet store when i was like 6 im 14 now.
June 23rd, 2007 at 1:11 am
Seven years of age, 1992, I remember it well. My dad had brought home some swank 386 processor computer from work at the Air Force Base back in Vandenberg and after buying a stick of extra 8MB RAM, we installed the shareware of DOOM (with no soundblaster… just PC Speaker) and my life turned to gaming from there on out.
Regrets? None, I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
July 8th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
[...] What Game Turned You Into A Gamer? - File Front [Posted by Marxi Julien on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 2:16 AM.] Click here to read more | Source [...]
August 9th, 2007 at 3:09 am
Of coure I played alot of Mario and Zelda in my day but Halo really made me the gamer i am today. I was only 8 but i was determined to get better. 13 now and I think of gaming as a profession.
August 16th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
the games that got me into gaming are sonic the hedgehog 2 and the legend of zelda ocarina of time.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Pac-Man… lol My parents also bought an Atari 5200 around that time at a dept store called A&S. Must have been 1984 or 1985. Although it wasn't until Super Mario Bros did I start socializing with other people as a gamer. SMB was *THE* talk of the schoolyard xD
November 8th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
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May 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I played games since I first heard about them. Mario Brothers, etc. But I remember gaming even before that. The Apple II had frogger, that one game where you used the joystick with the button on the side much like an atari controller and you jumped the boxes. I played a lot of NES. I Played silk worm on the amiga, I played a TON of sega genesis, street fighter, alien storm, sonic, altered beast, streets of rage, you name it. On the computer I played older PC games like black thorne, mortal kombat, myst and before that i played duke nukem 1 and 2, commander keen. Wing commander, wolfenstein 3d, i had this on a 385 @ 20mhz with a turbo button! There wasn't enough room so we had to use 'double space' to make it all fit. I was addicted to multiplayer games when I first got red alert 1, nurple maps were totally cool, Desert Fox anyone? of course tiberian sun, which i'm making a private server for, tsunserv.com and i played just about every other major game from then on. Now i play them for just a couple hardcore days, then i stop and move on. And i'm only 23!
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:21 am
Mazogs and 3D monster maze turned me into a game junkie at 14 … then I had to write my own game