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How did you get into videogames?

RymRym
edited September 2006 in Video Games
Now that you know the whole, sordid past of our videogame-inspired lives, tell us yours. What was your first system?
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Comments

  • Rob From the ArmyRob From the Army
    My first system was an NES, but my sister got a TV that same Christmas, so we had to agree that I could play the game.
  • NinjaNedNinjaNed
    Mine was a Sega Saturn.
  • KatsuKatsu
    NES.
  • AndrewAndrew
    First ever system I guess would be PC. Console-wise though my first was the N64. My parents wouldnt let get one until like the 5th grade.
  • Renshi KakitaRenshi Kakita
    edited September 2006
    NES.
    Post edited by Renshi Kakita on
  • NinjaNedNinjaNed
    This might be a little off topic, but has anyone here played a picked up a game that they had fond memories of as a kid when your older and more experienced at them? It's weird to play something you remember being hard or fun, only to realize that the game was easy and boring. It's kinda sad too.
  • jacobFUTUREjacobFUTURE
    edited September 2006
    My family bought an Atari 2600 - I remember it was christmas, I was about 4 or 5 years old. I got a Care Bear record player and my brother got a 2600. I remember watching Pit Fall, cause I REALLY sucked at it. After that we got Warlords, Raiders of the Lost Ark, COMBAT, E.T., Mario Bros..

    So many good memories.

    Then we got a Commodore64, Sega Mastersystem and by that point I was so ADDICTED. It was cool cause in my neighborhood another family was super into Amiga and Nintendo. So we made each other complete.
    Post edited by jacobFUTURE on
  • thaneofcawdorthaneofcawdor
    A NES my 'friend' (a guy who lived convienently close to me) had, and an Atari 2600 a real friend had were my first experiences with consoles. Good stuff.

    The first pure console I owned was the extremely obscure Amiga CD-32. Very much a groundbreaking system, and I believe it was one of the first 32 bit consoles, even though it was just an Amiga 1200 in a crappy plastic shell.
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    My dear sweet NES. *sigh*
  • AprecheApreche
    I got a Care Bear record player...
    I had a Big Bird record player and a Fisher Price tape recorder.
  • RymRym
    I had a Big Bird record player and a Fisher Price tape recorder.
    So did I.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Atari 2600! Also my first portable was a Gameboy. Which spent 5-7 years under a couch with Final Fantasy Legend III in it. When I finally found it after I thought I had lost it in a ski trip it still worked! Go Nintendo!
  • RymRym
    I'm planning on reconnecting the Atari 7800 to the TV downstairs soon. Scott is so bad at Combat! it's sad.
  • Dr. Zibbelcoot PhDDr. Zibbelcoot PhD
    Atari 2600 but, my Uncle ran off with it soon afterwards. We replaced it with the TurboGrafx-16. I still have it, I just need to find controllers for it.
  • AprecheApreche
    I'm planning on reconnecting the Atari 7800 to the TV downstairs soon. Scott is so bad at Combat! it's sad.
    I'm not bad at combat, wtf? Let's play some invisible tank and then you can talk. Also, I'm going to get me either a 2600 joystick or a SEGA Genesis controller. Your 7800 controllers can suck it.

    yes, you can use Genesis controllers on an Atari, it's the same connector.
  • RymRym
    The 7800 controller was far superior. It had better control, stiffer resistance, and TWO independent buttons. You resist the better controller only out of nostalgia for your far inferior 2600 controller. ^_~

    I also recall totally hosing you in Combat! every time we played...
  • AprecheApreche
    The 7800 controller did not have better control. The resistance on it isn't stiff, it just can't move more than a centimeter in any direction. The 2600 controller had hard rubber near the stick base to provide for a firm, but free-moving action. Also, the 2600 controllers I played with had two independent buttons. One was on the corner of the base and one was on top of the stick. Either way, for most games a Genesis gamepad will pwn because it won't be victim of electromagnetic interference. Also, paddles are the great equalizer. Let's pong it up.
  • RymRym
    edited September 2006
    The two buttons on the 2600 controller do the same thing. The 2600 could only handle one button input from a standard controller, plus up to two axis.

    Both joysticks were entirely digital, however. The 7800, with its much shorter travel, lent itself much moreso to fine control of games.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • ProfPanglossProfPangloss
    Unfortunately, my parents won't let my get any video game systems, even if I buy it myself! The only thing I have that's even close to a VGS would be my Dell PC, but the only way to describe it would be: CRAP!

    They'll let me do whatever I want once I go to college, but I'm going to Ubercon this October, and I'm afraid I'll be shut out of a big part of the convention without a DS!

    They don't even want me to play any VGms at my friend's house, or even demo them at the stores!

    And with the Wii coming out, two words: I'm screwed.
  • crowecrowe
    edited September 2006
    My videogame history has pretty much been rooted in the PC camp from a very early age. I had a Game Boy when it came out, then moved to the Game Gear when it came out (which did have more than 6 good games!), then sold them one by one. I never had a console as a kid, but I got to rent the NES, SNES and N64 on occasion (I think I rented the PSX once; it was never really on my radar). My first home console was the Dreamcast, and I got a PS2 a couple of years after that. Somewhere in between I wound up with a GBA, which I played the utter crap out of for the first couple of years of university (Aria of Sorrow FTW). More recently I got a PSP last summer and fell completely in love with Lumines, but after about 6 months I realized that the PSP was being woefully mishandled and sold it to get the Mario Kart Red DS. The latest system I got was my DS Lite when it came out a few months ago, and I don't really plan on buying any new systems for a little while (maybe Wii in the next 6 months, and I'll wind up with an X360 some day, but not right away...).

    I've been in or around or interested in video and computer games since I've been old enough to form conscious memories. Doesn't quite beat Rym's in-utero playing, but then again I'm still down the rabbit hole playing stuff and following industry news all the time, so there you go. :)

    All that history aside, I think my favorite memory about videogames as a kid was the passwords. My friend had Mega Man and I had Bionic Commando (Both Game Boy versions though) and we both had these little spiral bound notebooks that had page after page of arcane combinations of symbols and grids, annotated extensively with where exactly in the game the password would take you. I kind of wish that modern games could capture that sense of obsessive documentation and lore around them. Now it's all save game-death-reload ad nauseum.
    Post edited by crowe on
  • phoenix116phoenix116
    Pong was my first "system" (if you can even call it that) but I didn't start getting into games until coin op and the Atari 2600. I also played a lot of Intellivision at my friend's house, but I don't remember the games. Here are some of my favorite old school games from years past:

    Coin op:
    Pac Man
    Gyruss (I was the undisputed master)
    Karate Champ
    Moon Patrol
    Tron

    Atari:
    Missile Command
    Tunnel Runner
    Yar's Revenge

    NES:
    Pro Wrestling (title?)
    Metroid

    SNES:
    Street Fighter II
    Super Ghouls n Ghosts
  • spiritfiendspiritfiend
    My first video game system played pong exclusively. If player 2 scored one point the game would end because the service button for that player was busted...

    Second hand systems... Good times.
  • PhantasosPhantasos
    edited September 2006
    I didn't get an NES until Mario 3 had already come out. Again, the 'rents trying to keep me from the evil television and make me go outside. But I got my cumuppance. Now I'm a CS major and shun the bear filled outdoors.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • KieyKiey
    edited September 2006
    The first game console my family had was a Sega Master system, I think I might be the only one lol. The only games I can really remember as this 3D shoot down missiles that flew at you game that you had to wear these special glasses for, and Spy vs. Spy and that was the shit.

    I played my first NES at a girl's house (ZOMG!) and got one for myself less then a year after that I think.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • JasonJason
    Can't remember my first game, but the first console was definitely the Atari 26-got-damn-00. The absolute best game on there was River Raid, which I played for hours and hours on end. The pinnacle of Atari-ing was when I learned you could hook up a Sega Genesis controller because they both used the same pinset. I actually bought a "buttonless" sega controller that had pressure sensitive touchpads for lightning-fast flying. Awesome.
  • RymRym
    River Raid was a fantastic game. I also have fond memories of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr, Choplifter, and Ms. Pacman. ^_^
  • baltmatrixbaltmatrix
    Mom bought Dad a 2600 for Christmas of '84. He never really played it, but I did. Then enter Christmas 1987 and the NES.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    edited September 2006
    My very first video game experiences were with old coin-ops (Galaga, Pac-Man, etc.) and an Atari that I very vaguely remember. We never owned one, but a friend of mine WAAAAAAAAAAAAY back when did.

    The first console in our house was an NES. I played it for the first time ever at my friend's house, and begged my parents to get me one.

    As an interesting note, my older sister was actually the first one in my family to ever beat a game on it; she beat Super Mario Bros. before anyone else in the house did.
    Post edited by TheWhaleShark on
  • JasonJason
    edited September 2006
    Scott mentioned the new iTunes 7. Guess what, farkers -- its DRM has already been cracked:

    http://blog.wired.com/music/index.blog?entry_id=1556053
    Post edited by Jason on
  • One SinOne Sin
    As a wee lad, I had either an NES or an SNES, but I didn't get into gaming for real until either Ocarina of Time with the N64 or Pokemon Red on the Game Boy Pocket. I forget which one I played first.
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