What Game Turned You Into A Gamer?
By William on Sunday, June 17th, 2007 at 9:42 PM PST In 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€
CONTRA
I grew up playing Contra with my dad, when he passed video games kinda stuck to me and became a passion.
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.
either Sonic 2 or Super Mario Lnad
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
Starcraft.
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!
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.
KABOOM!!!
Man I’m old. I’d have to say Pitfall or Adventure on the 2600.
The original Wolfenstein 3d (ca 1991) demo was the first game I got into.
Diablo was the first game I REALLY got into.
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.
um…super mario brothers…
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.
> 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.
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
Halo 2. Best game ever.
For me it was Castle Vania III. I was only like 4 or 5 and i have been a gamer since.
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.
TECMO BOWL RULED THE LATE 80’s
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.
Star Wars: Shadows of the empire for the 64. A classic
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
Super Mario World.
Duke Nukem 3D, “Those SOBs are going to pay for busting up my ride”
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…
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.
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.
Pole Position or Spider Fighter – Atari 2600 both games were “Fast” to those standards but eventually Mario stole my Heart
elite on the Amstrad CPC 6128
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.
Super Mario Borthers on christmas day on my brand new 8-bit NES. wOOt
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
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.
I cant believe I’m the first person to say this, but Super Mario Brothers.
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.
OREGON TRAIL! You’ve lost your wagon! OT was my generations GTA…
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
Star Wars Rebellion. Seriously, why didn’t they make a sequal to that thing? The game was badass!
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.
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
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!
Curse of Monkey Island on my uncle’s computer. I used to visit just to play that game.
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
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…
Hard Hat Mack! With three glorious levels.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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