not counting arcade games, the first videogame i played is (i think) spyro the dragon for the ps1. thankyou insomniac

My first system was the Playstation.

My first game I played was Pac-Man.

Probably the original Super Mario Bros some time towards the end of 1987, but it was The Legend of Zelda that Christmas, that really got me into video games in general. Me and my parents, along with friends of ours, were on vacation in Hawaii, and my dad actually found a way to hook up the Nintendo in the hotel room, lol. Ever since then, I've associated Zelda with that. ;)



Yeah, my situation was similar. I played SMB 3 about a year and a half before I actually had my own video game system. I used to play NES over at my cousins house all the time when I was really little, but didn't actually get a video game system until Christmas 1992. When my parents got me a SNES that Christmas, I became instantly hooked on Super Mario World and never looked back.

It was either Breakout or Pong back in the 70's

Pong



Cat

Arcade- Ms. Pac-Man

Home: Super Mario Bros.

At home: Super Pong circa 1977.

Outside the home: Pac-Man at the Circle K on 19th Ave & Beardsley, Phoenix AZ circa 1981.

Besides Pong, Pac Man, Asteroids, and Tempest....the first games I got addicted to... played them everyday after school...Elevator Action and PaperBoy

It was something on NES at my cousins back in 1991. It's hard to remember specific games from that long ago, but I know some Ninja Turtles game and Super Mario Bros. 3 were in his collection.

If we're talking about arcades, mine would've also probably been Pac Man. There were machines in almost every place you could go into back then (which lasted in a secondary sense up to c. 1990 even), so I don't remember everything as it happened, lol.

If we're talking about arcades, mine would've also probably been Pac Man. There were machines in almost every place you could go into back then (which lasted in a secondary sense up to c. 1990 even), so I don't remember everything as it happened, lol.



Yeah, I started playing arcade games at a pretty young age. Our local pizza place had a game room with a bunch of arcade machines back in the early '90s. And when it comes to Pac-Man, I still see that game often in Arcade's today. Hard to believe its been out for almost 30 years.

Yeah, I started playing arcade games at a pretty young age. Our local pizza place had a game room with a bunch of arcade machines back in the early '90s. And when it comes to Pac-Man, I still see that game often in Arcade's today. Hard to believe its been out for almost 30 years.

Yeah, a few places like movie theatres still have some of the basic arcade games. Probably because there's enough people around to play them for it to still be profitable. It's amazing how Pac Man, despite being the oldest traditional video game, is still one of the most popular. It's as old now as something from 1953 was then, in 1980!

Not quite sure, but I think it was either Zelda or Duck Hunt.

super mario bros on the nes i was about 3

Maniac Mansion, I believe. The game's awesome.

I am sure when it comes to arcades it was at one of those sit down arcade games, and it was definetly Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
Playing at home, we did have an Atari at home, but it was missing some components and we couldn't play it for awhile. My mom, I believe, bought my brother the Sega Master System back in 1986 or maybe 1987. My brother and I played many games on that.

To name a few:

Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Choplifter
Out Run
Quartet

I am sure when it comes to arcades it was at one of those sit down arcade games, and it was definetly Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
Playing at home, we did have an Atari at home, but it was missing some components and we couldn't play it for awhile. My mom, I believe, bought my brother the Sega Master System back in 1986 or maybe 1987. My brother and I played many games on that.

To name a few:

Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Choplifter
Out Run
Quartet




I think I remember the Master System. It was the 8-bit predecessor to the Genesis, but badly overshadowed by the NES in the mid/late '80s. Someone I knew had one and I always thought it was a cool system.

I think I remember the Master System. It was the 8-bit predecessor to the Genesis, but badly overshadowed by the NES in the mid/late '80s. Someone I knew had one and I always thought it was a cool system.


Yes, eventually Nintendo came out not too long after and really took over Sega. Super Mario Bros. was a huge game and lots of fun. Yet, some of my fondest memories of playing video games are playing them on the Master System and on Genesis.

Here's a picture of the original Master System in all it's glory  :\'(

http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/SEGA-MasterSystem.jpg

Yes, eventually Nintendo came out not too long after and really took over Sega. Super Mario Bros. was a huge game and lots of fun. Yet, some of my fondest memories of playing video games are playing them on the Master System and on Genesis.

Here's a picture of the original Master System in all it's glory  :\'(

http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/SEGA-MasterSystem.jpg



Yeah, I was just a baby when the MS was new, and still being sold in stores, but I loved the Genesis back in the early/mid '90s. I had a Super Nintendo, NES, and Genesis back then, but I still found myself playing the Genesis more often than the others.

When Sonic ran across the water in Hydrocity Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I thought games couldn't get any cooler than that 8)

First arcade game I can remember playing back in 79 or '80 was the old racing game Sprint. I'm sure I've played Pong too but don't remember liking it too much.

First home video game was some type of racing game on the Magnavox/Fairchild F-Channel unit. I never bought one, just played it at the local dept store's electronic section. For 1979 way too expensive a toy at $170.

Calling it a racing game or even a game is a fair stretch of the imagination, believe me.
Compared to the Fairchild, the Atari was a supercomputer in the way of graphics and gameplay, it was that primitive! :D

Loosely related, but speaking of video games, I just realized there seemed to be a "gap" between the first arcades games and the home console era. The Pac Man/Frogger/Asteroids era seemed to be about 1979-'83 or so, and the Nintendo didn't really take off until 1987.

It seemed to kinda fade away in the mid '80s for a little bit, although I'm sure the arcades were popular.

When Sonic ran across the water in Hydrocity Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I thought games couldn't get any cooler than that 8)


Oh definitely!  I still love playing that on the Genesis from time to time. 8)

Does anyone think the fewer buttons actually made the older games more fun/easier? I know when I've played XBox or PS3 era games, half the time I die or get lost really fast because I forget which does what. ;D

Does anyone think the fewer buttons actually made the older games more fun/easier? I know when I've played XBox or PS3 era games, half the time I die or get lost really fast because I forget which does what. ;D


Yeah I would agree.  Besides the arrows and "Start" button, Genesis only had 3 other buttons (unless you splurged on the 6-button controller, which my brothers eventually did).  But PS for example has 9 more buttons. :P  It took me awhile to get used to it.

Loosely related, but speaking of video games, I just realized there seemed to be a "gap" between the first arcades games and the home console era. The Pac Man/Frogger/Asteroids era seemed to be about 1979-'83 or so, and the Nintendo didn't really take off until 1987.

It seemed to kinda fade away in the mid '80s for a little bit, although I'm sure the arcades were popular.



Yeah, that gap between the Pong/Atari 2600/Pac-Man era in the '70s and early '80s, and the NES era was due to what they call the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. Home consoles, and Arcades became extremely popular in the late '70s, but there was a huge drop-off of quality games in the early '80s, and the market became over saturated with consoles, and bad games. Then the infamously bad E.T. video game came out, and the entire market just sort of crashed, leading to a period of almost no consoles or games in stores.

That lasted from about 1983-1986, then the NES came to the U.S. and the rest is history.

Yeah, that gap between the Pong/Atari 2600/Pac-Man era in the '70s and early '80s, and the NES era was due to what they call the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. Home consoles, and Arcades became extremely popular in the late '70s, but there was a huge drop-off of quality games in the early '80s, and the market became over saturated with consoles, and bad games. Then the infamously bad E.T. video game came out, and the entire market just sort of crashed, leading to a period of almost no consoles or games in stores.

That lasted from about 1983-1986, then the NES came to the U.S. and the rest is history.


Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that. I think arcades just got so big, that everyone tried to capitalize off it with home consoles that weren't yet that good. In a weird way, I guess we can thank that for the NES being created. They probably took so long with it because they wanted to make sure they got it perfect this time.

P.S. Dead periods always seem to lead to creativity later (kinda like 1959-'63 was for music, before the Beatles/British Invasion), don't they?

Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that. I think arcades just got so big, that everyone tried to capitalize off it with home consoles that weren't yet that good. In a weird way, I guess we can thank that for the NES being created. They probably took so long with it because they wanted to make sure they got it perfect this time.

P.S. Dead periods always seem to lead to creativity later (kinda like 1959-'63 was for music, before the Beatles/British Invasion), don't they?



Yeah, if it wasn't for the NES coming over here when it did, i'm not really sure where the video game industry would be at today. Coincidentally, Nintendo originally wasn't going to bring the NES over here to the U.S due to the condition of the video game market. In fact, the NES had already been out for 2 years before it came to America. It was released in 1983 in Japan. I'd say were pretty lucky they decided to bring it overseas.

And yeah, dead periods usually lead to something creative, and totally different becoming popular. I think you could make the same comparison with the 1988-1991 time period as well. Even though music wasn't in quite as dead a state as the early '60s, it was becoming extremely stale and repetitive, then in 1992 alternative music exploded and changed everything.

^ I actually heard about it being released a couple years earlier, but didn't realize it was already available in Japan (I assumed it was either in development, or just was slow to pick up with sales until Mario Bros. came out). It's interesting to think that if had kept up the way it was, arcades and video games in general might've died out and been looked at as an "eighties thing!". Although I'm sure someone else would've tried their hand at home consoles, it wouldn't have been the same. 1987 wouldn't be 1987 without NES.

Yes, eventually Nintendo came out not too long after and really took over Sega. Super Mario Bros. was a huge game and lots of fun. Yet, some of my fondest memories of playing video games are playing them on the Master System and on Genesis.

Here's a picture of the original Master System in all it's glory  :\'(

http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/SEGA-MasterSystem.jpg


I remember the Sega Master System.  I loved the 'Rocky' game

super mario bros 3 in 1994

Street fighter

My in-laws bought us "Pong."  That must have been just after it first came out.  It seems so primitive, now!

We bought an Apple 2GS PC during the mid 70's 'cause my kids school was using that model, and I played "Loderunner" day after day for months.

The first really "involved" video game was "The Legend of Zelda."  I remember trying some of those levels (it seemed like) hundreds of times until I had finally beaten them and moved on.  I eventually did complete the game.  I think I videotaped the ending to prove I really had finished the game.

peace...Lee (aka tokjct) http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/pcangry.gif

the earliest i can remember was one of the first three Super Mario Brothers games for Nintendo, and that was in the 90's.

i also remember being obsessed with Kitana from Mortal Combat, and Chun-Li from Street Fighter, who i called "Mouse Girl".

I think it was Mario Party 2.

it was Mario Bros on Nintendo when i was 3!!!!!!!!!!! it  took me a month to get bored because i could not beat it then later i found out about the pattern thing and the hidden pinball mini game!! but never actually beat it!!! :( ;)

Like some of the others, the first game I played was Pong.

The first game I played I believe was Merlin! ;D

But seriously, it was either an Atari game or a TI-99 game called Munch Man. It was definitely a take on Pac Man