You Always Remember Your First... (Videogame)

[atomicthumbs]

There are 3 games that stand out the most, though I'm not sure which one I played first.

1) Combat for the Atari 2600

2) Mattel Electronics handheld football

3) Some car racing game (no idea what it was called) where you control an actual plastic car on this screen, and instead of a video screen, it's some sort of strange light-up image of a race track projected on the screen. I think I saw a similar racing game in the first Jaws movie (this one is tough to describe). Wish I knew what it was.

[Avenger]

Super Mario Bros. for the NES....after that i was hooked...prob the sam goes for a crap load of ppl that are on these forums huh ? 8-)

[LiquidX01]

Wow, this topic brought me way back.

Not quiet sure of the title and I have tried to find it online to no end andI havent come across it. It was a game on the 2600 which involved you as a cowboy and the objective was to wrangle all the animals on the farm or whatever it was...I vividly remember it, but cant think of the title, Its been 15 years...

[LiquidX01]

Sorry for double posting since I couldnt edit, but does anyone happen to know the name of that title Im talking about?

[Nz17]

That's a simple one -- it was a soft of Game and Watch-like handheld that I received when I was three when I went on a trip to Germany. You, a Tarzan of the Jungle-like man, were rescuing your girlfriend from the dastardly apes who had kidnapped her. It played across three different screens that folded closed together, sort of like a split compact. I still have it somewhere in the attic and have been meaning to get it out, clean it up, and display it like it deserves to be, for it was this game that set me down the path of righteousness, and began a love that lasts 'til this day. ;)

[grimbal]

Sorry for double posting since I couldnt edit, but does anyone happen to know the name of that title Im talking about?

My guess would be Stampede by Activision. The game moved left to right you roped different colors of cows. And there was one that was solid black that didn't run. If you let more than three of the cows get past you the game was over.

[LiquidX01]

Sorry for double posting since I couldnt edit, but does anyone happen to know the name of that title Im talking about?

My guess would be Stampede by Activision. The game moved left to right you roped different colors of cows. And there was one that was solid black that didn't run. If you let more than three of the cows get past you the game was over.

Yes!!! Thanks for the post. :D

[Bri79]

Astroids on Atari 400

[tom]

Didn't I post this before? getting old !!!

I remember in my local radio/toy shop in Germany they had a Odyssey on display. I looked at it, but in 1975 I was 17 and only interested in girls, sex and music.

Played Pong a few times on someone's TV.

Later, whilst touring with my band throughout Germany, I encountered Pac-Man in those cigarette fume filled bars where we usually played during the weekend. Played Pac-Man during our 'breaks'.

In 1981 I worked for the USA Army in Germany (Bremerhaven), and my USA buddy-friend had a VCS and ....Pac-Man. Loved it on the VCS. I thought the flickering of the Ghosts was very realistic.

Year later my boss got a VCS at work, we played River Raid to the max (yes, at work). That done it for me, I was totally hooked. I got DM 1000.00 and I got myself a VCS (included Phoenix), Ms. Pac-Man, Enduro, and Super Cobra. My wife and I, we played the system until midnight, and in my dreams I had a flickering display in front of me.

My first on computer was New York City on XE in 1985, and Dallas Quest. Couldn't get past that bloody snake for ages....

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I first played a video game when my uncle bought me an NES for my 2nd birthday in 1985. It came with Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and Gyromite. I think one of the latter two titles was my first game, but I can't recall which one!

[max 330 mega]

i guess i cant really remember what my first game was , but i still remember the day when i was at this place called vidiots, it was like an arcade, but instead of stand up machines they had the home systems, you payed an hourly rate blah blah blah.
they had a special room with blacked out windows and a bigscreen with a neogeo in it. i remember playing blues journey, i was amazed, number one by the bright amazing graphics and colors, and two by the humongous tv it was on.... i wanted a neogeo ever since then and finally like 12 years later had the money to get one.. i think i was like 4 when i first played it.
it scarred me forever to be a neogeo lover!

[youngamer]

first game i remember was Pinball on the NES



atomicthumbs: the racing game youre talking about is Digital Derby.

[AFGiant]

I can remember playing Super Mario 3 for the NES. That was probably my first. When my dad first brought it home, I couldn't make it past the first goomba. I'd continually just run right into him, die, get a game over, start again, and repeat.
Among my first other games that I can remember playing were Star Wars and Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back for the NES (both of which I now own), Ghost Busters for the Genesis, Spot for the Genesis, and several others. Then my world of videogames evolved into the world of SNES, GameGear, and the likes of those.

[atomicthumbs]

atomicthumbs: the racing game youre talking about is Digital Derby.

Nope, that's not it. It was a full sized arcade unit that you sat down in.


And there were colors...

Oh, so many pretty, pretty colors...

Mmmmm, colors...

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

blades of steel
________
uhwh (http://uhwh.com/)

[dojosky]

Easy 4 me 2 remember ! It was ATARI PONG (at home) in 1974 when I was only 2 years old. My uncle used to work at ATARI for several years .... My first arcade experience has to be either asteroids or space invaders (B&W)... Color has to be Pac-Man and then it grew LOL ...my first arcade cab at home was MINT like new SPACE DUEL cab price: FREE but had to sell it few years ago :( my first home system (interchangeable cartridges) was Tandyvision (intellivision clone from Radio Shack) for christmas in 1982 I actually begged and bugged my folks for an atari 2600 for a while :( then in 1982 I wanted a Coleco Vision my dad said he couldn't find it so he got me the Tandyvision I wasn't too happy at first LOL. So 6 months later he bought a coleco vision for me =) I still haave both systems ! ....then in 1984 my brother brought a trs 80 color computer ... 1986/7 got my NES system my dad did his thing again he got me SMS I said that is not NES he said NES was sold everywhere I told him that I know a store that has NES in stock so my dad took me to toys r us to look at sms games we were the only ones in sms section meanwhile he saw many people at nes game section looking for games to buy hahahah LOL so he said return the sms and buy the nes so I did that LOL ... First game purchased with nes was GOONIES II (super mario bros. Came with the NES system (control deck edition) .....

[dojosky]

Easy 4 me 2 remember ! It was ATARI PONG (at home) in 1974 when I was only 2 years old. My uncle used to work at ATARI for several years .... My first arcade experience has to be either asteroids or space invaders (B&W)... Color has to be Pac-Man and then it grew LOL ...my first arcade cab at home was MINT like new SPACE DUEL cab price: FREE but had to sell it few years ago :( my first home system (interchangeable cartridges) was Tandyvision (intellivision clone from Radio Shack) for christmas in 1982 I actually begged and bugged my folks for an atari 2600 for a while :( then in 1982 I wanted a Coleco Vision my dad said he couldn't find it so he got me the Tandyvision I wasn't too happy at first LOL. So 6 months later he bought a coleco vision for me =) I still haave both systems ! ....then in 1984 my brother brought a trs 80 color computer ... 1986/7 got my NES system my dad did his thing again he got me SMS I said that is not NES he said NES was sold everywhere I told him that I know a store that has NES in stock so my dad took me to toys r us to look at sms games we were the only ones in sms section meanwhile he saw many people at nes game section looking for games to buy hahahah LOL so he said return the sms and buy the nes so I did that LOL ... First game purchased with nes was GOONIES II (super mario bros. Came with the NES system (control deck edition) .....

[XJR15]

My first stash of gaming goodness was an atari and about 7 games.

BUMP AND JUMP was my most favorite game.

[hades]

Pacman for the 2600. It took me a while to grasp the concept you don't move the controller around in the air to move.

Then it took me a while to figure out ghosts kill you. Yes, I'm that stupid.

[atomicthumbs]

It took me a while to grasp the concept you don't move the controller around in the air to move.



It was funny watching my little brothers play videogames that way (and remembering that I did the same damn thing).

[youngamer]

atomicthumbs: Could it be this? http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyerdb&subpage=flyer&id=368&image=1

[RetroYoungen]

My first game, like many others, was Super Mario Bros. on the NES. It's also my earliest memory: It was Christmas of 1986, and I was two, when my sister was given an NES with, what else, SMB. She let me pick up the other controller and play with her as Luigi (which is why I'm a bit partial to the little green sidekick). I didn't get very far (I was two, so not very surprisingly), but I was allowed to play it for as long as I could as often as I had time. So I would play for hours on end, only that game, the only weird thing is that it took me YEARS to beat it (I beat it in Super Mario Bros. DX for the GBC).

The first game I ever owned (that was mine, not shared with anymore) I said in my Lore entry: Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins for the Game Boy.

For some reason, I never got into the whole "move the controller to move the little dude on the screen" movement; maybe I was slow. :o

[atomicthumbs]

atomicthumbs: Could it be this? http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyerdb&subpage=flyer&id=368ℑ=1

That is DAMN CLOSE! I LOVE IT!!!! It's about the same except that instead of that flat car, the car was more like a plastic toy car. Thanks, I loved the pic!!!

[SebasC]

Cookie Monster on the Atari 2600...

[FlufflePuff]

Well, my sense of chronollogy from that time period is a bit off, but I remember the first two games that I played. The first was Crystal Castles for my 2600. God that was a sweet game. Although, I definately remember the graphics being a lot sweeter then they actually were. I also remember waiting in line for 2 hours to play Super Mario Brothers at my local arcade. Ahhh, good times.

[Fuyukaze]

My first console game brings back memories. Pitfall. I will never forget because it was the first game I ever got, and it was also the first game I ever took back. It came free with the cart case I got but, it wasnt a cart case for the 2600. Think it was for the comadore? First arcade game is completely lost to me. It could have been asteroids, but may have been pac-man.

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[mediamachine]

Easy, first ever game i played was black hawk on the commodore 64, i have the rom on my c64 emu which i play occasionally.... first arcade game would be difficult to remember but i would say rampage, my aunt lives in derbyshire in a small villiage called hadfield (where the league of gentlemen was filmed incidentally!) and they had a small cafe with an arcade area downstairs and i remember my uncle and i went in there and they opened the room up for us and i was hooked on rampage for quite a long time from what i remember..

[videogameking26]

All I can remember I think it was Super Mario Bros on NES, it was on XMAS of 1985

[fergojisan]

Arcade Space Invaders. My friend Steve and I used to sneak in to our local racquetball club, and that was the only game they had. This must have been in 1979-80. I remember they even had a large piece of paper hanging next to the machine where the members wrote down their high scores

[El CiF]

donkey kong for game boy. i was 5 years old or something and i kept getting my ass kicked. it really pissed me off :angry:

[izret101]

Super Mario Bros. arcade cabinat. It was where my mom worked waitressing and i remember that i had to use a foot stool to see and use the play and the when i died i would run to my mom for more quarters.

[racecar]

i do remember playing duckhunt @ my neighbor house back in 1989 in hong kong ..it was really hot out that summer so i went to my neighbors(with kids my age) house(cause they have airconditioning and my family have electric fan) then i saw their nes system and they show me how to play.. it took me a good half an hour to get in to it....then i can't stop playing it ..until my mom came and drag me(i was cryingcause i still wanted to played the nes) home for dinner....the next day ..samething happened actually the whole summer the same thing happen, until my parent brought me a nes system in october of that great year of 1989..

[NintendoMan]

Well I got an NES with SMB/Duck Hunt for my 6 or 7th birthday. I also got Kung-Fu that day as well.
I am pretty sure I played Mario Bros first though.

[pixelsnpolygons]

No, I actually don't - because I was about 3 and it was in an arcade... it is all a blur. First game I actually owned myself was Alex Kidd in Miracle World for the SMS.

[underexposed+]

NES Super Mario Bros. was my first game I ever played. SMB also was the first game I ever owned a few months later.

Mark

[RockyRaccoon]

Carnival for the 2600.

My dad had an Atari. He let me play once when I was like... 4 or something. sheesh.

[Hollenscythe]

My room mate says he doesn't remember his but I sure as hell remember mine - Street Fighter II.

I'm a relative newcomer to gaming

[SKVermin]

The first home game would have been "Tennis" on the Telstar. The first console cart I played was Combat on a friend's Atari 2600, and the first cart that I actually owned myself was Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack on the INTV.

The first arcade game I remember playing was Space Invaders.

[Black_Tiger]

I can't rember which exactly, but the first games I saw or played were those dedicated units like Pong that had names on their faux wood finish like "Video Tennis".

One in particulr I remember being impressed by at a cousin's house was very similar to Ikari Warriors(but was too advanced to be my first).

[kirin jensen]

Even though this is an older topic, I had to reply: my first videogame memory IS playing Death Race! God, did it rule!
Home system-wise, I always jonesed for an Odyssey2. Even now, when I play the best of the Atari 2600, I end up going back to the O2. I've already decided I'm going to have write a homebrew for it. Anyway, I can't tell you the number of hours I put in at appliance stores playing their demo model. KC Munchkin sooo kicks Pac-Man 2600's ass.
A further note: you know, if you're going to write a homebrew or hack for a system; these are the systems to write for. Systems like the O2, the vectrex, the Turbografx - the ones with fewer games. The fans will be much more grateful.
Other great gaming memories: seeing Tempest for the first time and thinking this must be what it's like to be on drugs, trekking through the downpour to play a single quarter's worth of Wizard of Wor, seeing the Star Castle implode for the first time, my fave left-right shooters Spiders and Space Firebird, and the time I found a Star Wars arcade machine(vector) with hundreds of credits. All groovy.

[EricRyan34]

Super Mario for Nintendo

[jdc]

I came to video games rather late when compared to most people.

I never bothered until my friend who always owned a Genny bought the brand new launch day N64. One look at THAT....and I was hooked huge.

My first system was the N64 and game was Super Mario 64 along with Mario Kart on the same day.

I've since been forwards....and back. As I type this I've got Predator 2 running on one of my Gennys.

Gotta love it.

[unbroken]

duck hunt and smb

[Jasoco]

Come with me now, back to a time before time.

The year is 1986. It is Christmas day. We got our NES. Hooked it up. Plugged in Super Mario Bros.

We were addicted.

I remember the first time I got to the water world.. I did not know how to swim. It was my father who suggested repeatedly pressing A. I guess I should thank my Dad for teaching me how to swim in a video game. I literally remember the whole thing vividly. It had such an impact on me.

[Gzilla23]

First game i played was Operation Wolf in the arcade.

[SegaAges]

i still remember my very first, even though i wouldn't count it as my 1st experience. my first was one of those little donkey kong lcd arcade things. i still remember it to this day.

the home day care i went to when i was a kid had a nes. i remember countless days of playing super sprint and tearing it up. circus capers, king of kings, it was fun.

but yeah, my first was one of those mini arcade things that was donkey kong. i have no clue what all i did yesterday, but i can honestly remember that being my first

[XxMe2NiKxX]

Pacman.

[ZiggyStardust91242]

Maniac Mansion for nes

[GamblinMonkey]

Super Mario Bros. for the NES. I remember that it was actually the 2nd NES we got that day. My dad got it for my older brother for his birthday, but at first he got the one that only came with that old Nintendo strategy guide for some of the big titles and no game. Of course my brother wasn't very happy, and rather than buying a game for it, they took it back and got the Mario/Duck-hunt version.

I was amazed at how you could control that little guy on the TV by pressing some buttons. I sat and watched my older brother and sister play for hours until I finally got a turn (I was about 3 at the time). Needless to say, I was hooked since day one.

[JesterDev]

Pac-Man (arcade).

I was 6 years old (1980) and my uncle took me to an arcade. As the doors swung open for a brief moment I could see inside these machines with flashing colors and wonderous sounds that filled my senses. I couldn't wait to go inside but he wanted to talk with a friend first. I swear I was going to burst if I didn't find out what those machines where. As soon as he was ready I ran in before him and was mesmerized but the treasure I had found. I ran right up to the only open game and climbed up on the stool so I could see what was going on. I started to play with the joystick hoping to get it to work. My uncle just laughed at me as he popped in a quarter. I swear to this day everything sound in the whole arcade seemed to fade away as I heard that quarter find it's way down to the coin box, and create that one of a kind sound. He told me to press the player one button, and me not being sure which one it was I just started pressing both buttons. I played for about 30 seconds for my first death. Not sure what my score was, but I couldn't get enough. When I was done I ran over to what I remember was asteroids, but in my memory it looked allot like the Atari 2600 version..

[mr_jiggles_13]

cosmo on DOS. still play it to this day actually.

first arcade machine i played was pac man, my grandma had a gas station down the road that had one in and i played that every time i went to her house. then i got my GB(big original one) w/ pac man and tetris) and it all started rising from there.

[The Great Dane]

I don't really remember much about the game, but I remember when I was about 3 or 4 my Dad and brother let me play some racing game on some Atari system years ago. The game I have better memories of is Super Mario Brothers. I remember my mom took me to her friends house and her friend had a son who was a little older than me and he had an NES (right when they had just come out in the US) and he let me play SMB. WOW :eek 2: I was addicted right then and there. My mom actually got worried when she came into his room to get me to go home cause she said that my eyes were open wide and they were glued to the tv like I was hypnotized or something. Great stuff :D

[puxley]

My mom took my to a pizza plac ein Fort Worth called Crystals, which was owned by the Spencer guy of Spencer's Gifts fame. I was about 5, maybe 6....

They had had mechanical arcade-type machines for years, and they were the first to get new-fangled video games, too.

I saw a teenage guy playing this massive wheeled contraption, the original INDY 4 game from Atari. I was entranced - it was huga and mystifying. My mom let me play it, and I stood on a chair to steer while the teenage guy gave me tips and operated the pedals.

The race may not have lasted very long, but the memory stayed with me forever. I remember very clearly thenotion slowly dawning on me that I was actually controlling the little car on the screen. That was a totally new concept for me, I could only vaguely figure out what it meant....but the repercussions would be startling.

It took me years to finally identify the phosphor dot fossils in my brain, and find the name of the game.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=I&game_id=8188

It opened a door to my imagination.

[Cirrus]

I believe it was either Pacman on the 2600, or Jungle Hunt at the local Chuck E. Cheese. Jungle Hunt is a pretty ruthless "first game." It is hard to expect a toddler to understand physics well enough to jump from rope to rope with any real accuracy on his first try. My parents should have put me in front of a driving game or something.

[GLASSJOE]

Combat for atari 2600

[esquire]

Arcade: Space Invaders. As a boy, my family went camping a lot and the campsites always had what they called back then "recreation rooms" with foosball tables, air hockey and pinball. I remember there was this one place in Holly, Michigan called Holly Hills and they got in Space Invaders and one other game, sort of like Sea Wolf where you look through a periscope and fire torpedos at ships moving across the screen. Well I pumped a lot of quarters into that Space Invaders machine back then. It was my first arcade experience.

Home: My first home videogame was a dedicated Pong machine by Atari. My dad brought one home one day and my brothers and I played that like crazy. The first "cart" game I ever played was some sort of airplane combat (Spitfire?) game on the Fairchild Channel F owned by a friend of mine. It wasn't until I got a 2600 for Christmas a year or so later that I experienced video gaming in my own home playing Combat.

[NESVIDIOT]

The very first game would have been a version of pong- it had 6 different paddle and ball games built into it.
The most memorable was the year Atari 2600 came out- my mom and dad were out for an evening leaving me home alone- I had a key to my dad's den and as soon as they had left I was in there rooting around when I found our christmas present- the new Atari 2600 with games packed in- so that night I got an early preview of what was to come on christmas morning!!
This was great until a couple days later mom found the den key in my pocket while doing laundry. Needless to say my siblings weren't too pleased with me when they withheld the Atari until new years to punish me for my actions...
I lived in the local arcade as a kid- played a ton of Donkey Kong but then again I played a lot of all the games I liked!!!

[jslithy]

I was thinking about this a few days ago, and it must be Pitfall for the 2600. At least that's the earliest memory I have of playing games.

[RedHerring]

Must have been Plague Attack for the Texas Instrument. I don't remember the game at all I just remember the name.

[RedHerring]

And by plague attack I obviously meant plaque attack.......

[Djfinny]

Arcade Game: At first I was sure it was an old black and white game in the mall called Bi-Plane way back in 1978 or 79. However the more I think about it, I believe I remember and even earlier 1st arcade game encounter...

It was at an arcade at the beach - this HUGE machine (OK, I was probably 5 or 6 so cut me some slack!) had 2 big metal "anti-aircraft" guns. The object of the game was to "shoot" the picture images of the jets that flew across the screen. It was probably light gun technology. When you scored a hit the plane was quickly replaced by a big red splotch, followed by an explosion sound. The game was timer based. It was probably 1974 or 75. My poor dad... I used my "pre-Star Wars" child Jedi mind trick 'powers' (aka - the WhAA!) to 'force' him to hold me up so I could reach the gun! The poor guys arms must have almost fallen off after 10 minutes of that! What a great guy!

On that note - lets here it for our folks, grandparents, or maybe uncles/aunts who, in some way, made it possible for us to get our first taste of video game bliss! :D

Can anyone remember the name of this old arcade game? I gotta call my dad and remind him of this story. :)

DJ

[shopkins]

My first home game was almost certainly Combat on the 2600. Not sure what my first arcade game was. I remember playing Phoenix with my dad, which is why it is still one of my favorite games.

[adams_ale]

The first game that I recall playing was back in 1983 or '84; born in 78. The game? Ghost Manor/Spike's Peak for the Atari 2600. I remember my older brothers playing the double ender and I asked to play. I'll never forget my first game experience, though I may forget the specific date. :) For the record I played Ghost Manor first and Spike's Peak second. Frogger was third. After that I can't recall. To this day I love the Atari 2600 and these three games.

[tuxedojoe]

The first game that I remember playing was Ninja Gaiden on the NES. My cousins were visiting from California for a while and they brought thier NES with them. I absolutely loved it! For the longest time I has no idea what it was called, but I remembered what it was like. Now that I am into retro games, I picked up this game and said to myself, "Hey! I remember this one!"

[Lord Contaminous]

Super Mario Bros. 1 (NES) The first week I played it, I always used to run into that very first goomba cuz I didn't know the science of jumping in video games.

[videogameking26]

I believe it was Sper Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt...but can't honestly recall because that was 21 years ago X_x

[EricRyan34]

Excitebike for NES

[drewbrim]

Console: Bump n Junp Intellivision
Arcade: Not sure, Yie ar Kung Fu (spelling?)

[gruzniak]

Like so many others my first game was Super Mario Brothers. Played it at my cousins house when i was 3 or 4.

[squidblatt]

It would've been something on the Intelllivision.

I remember all my Infocom games much more vividly and fondly.

[Howie6925]

pong with my dad when I was about 3 or 4.

[SuperNES]

either wheel of fortune or Ecco: the tides of Time on my genesis 3 which i still own after all these years. okay its only been 8 but still i almost threw it away a couple times.

[ghostangelofcky]

My mom got me a Nintendo NES when I was a kid and my first game was Dragon Warrior

[shoes23]

Jungle Hunt on the 2600. I must have been about 4 at that time.
Either that or possible Double Dragon in the arcades.