What's the first release you can remember?

[§ Gideon §]

The growth process of a human being is a fascinating thing. We pop out of a warm womb, go wah wah wah, and live months without realizing that we're a different human being than Mom.

I realize some people formed their first memory before commercial video games were around, but many of us grew alongside it. Two infants: one with diapers and a crayon-eating habit, and the other--the controller in its hand.

I don't remember exactly when, but at some point I sort of realized these things were kind of new--different from, say, stuffed animals or library books--and it somehow seemed like they were made for me. Mom and Dad didn't play them. My baby brother couldn't play them. Then one day, I realized a new game had "come out". A game that didn't exist before now did... Clearly, it was made for me.

The game was Super Mario Land... So, what's yours? Let's all date ourselves!

[DigitalSpace]

I got my first console, an NES, in 1989. I was 7 at the time and didn't pay attention to new releases - it seemed like all the NES games in the stores were just there.

I think the first time I actually noticed a new release was in 1990, when Super Mario Bros. 3 came out. The hype was all over the place, but as we all know today, every moment of the game lived up to it.

[mailman187666]

my first memory was when the atari 2600 version of pacman was released. I was in the child seat of a carriage holding pacman up to show it off to all the other passer-bys. I even remember my mother telling me to stop showing off. We're talking early 80's here so I don't remember a whole lot. But I think I must have been about 3-4 years old and didn't care that pac-man wasn't arcade perfect and loved the game.

[jajaja]

Hm.. i would think it would be the SNES. I remember reading about it in the Nintendo magazine over here and i really looked forward to it. I got my NES in 1989, but i cant remember like waiting to a certain date for the game to come out. Like DigitalSpace, the games just were in the stores, i cant remember really waiting for a NES game to be released :)

[theshizzle3000]

The first game that I truly remember having big hype when I was a kid would have to be Metal Gear Solid for the PSone. Its a good ways into me playing video games, but I recall it being the big must have game of the time.

[Lady Jaye]

The earliest videogame memory I have is of the Burgertime arcade game and of BC: Quest For Tires on the Colecovision. I was probably aware of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong too, but it didn't strike me as much, probably because I simply wasn't much exposed to arcade and console games till 1983 or so.

[kaedesdisciple]

Not sure if this counts, but my first acknowledgements of new games coming into my house was not really when new C64 games were "released" but rather when they came into my house, one way or another ;)

[neuropolitique]

My first is probably Ms. Pacman for the 2600. My father was big on that game. We went to K-mart to get it and a new, pistol style joystick. I couldn't open it till he got home from work, so I stared at the box till I heard him drive in. Then I ran to the back porch and held it on the porch rail when he walked by so he could see it.

ahh, the good old days.

[p_b]

I can still remember playing my first two games on the PC XT: Decathlon (no idea whether this was a port of Activision's Decathlon or something completely different) and Donkey. That's Donkey, as in not at all Donkey Kong. A simple Frogger-type game, only much simpler :-)

Apart from that I remeber starting to buy games magazines in '88, so I guess I started following the new releases from then on.

[Xander]

As a lot of people here, I played a long time without caring/knowing about release date. Especially since those release date+info were only available via magazines (before teh intarweb!) and I was young, and poor.

My first videogame experience was Adventures of Lolo on NES. My dad hacked some NASA Nes clone, and it was toaster style (still have it :P), he bought me a real NES much later.

My first memory of anticipating a release was probably for either Zelda: LTTP or Contra 3 for SNES. But it was more of just "being aware" that they were going out around that time.

But I do remember camping for Diablo II. 10hours!

[exit]

I remember seeing the Simon's Quest commercial and instantly wanting it. I was 5 around that time and I think I got it that Christmas, or possibly sooner. I also remember when Double Dragon and the original TMNT game came out, me and my brother would sneak into our older brothers room to take them and play in my room, which sometimes didn't end too well on our end. I also remember going to a store with my Mom to get Legend of Zelda for my sister, but that ones extremely blurry.

[Oobgarm]

I do remember seeing a catalog with Gran Prix(2600) in it and knowing it wasn't out. And I begged for it. I was 3-4 at the time. I learned to read early.

I also remember always wanting Spy Hunter and Bump 'N Jump on the 2600 as well.

I started following releases closely with the NES, and have ever since.

[agbulls]

I'm almost 27 now, but still have vivid memories of trying buy Mario 2 upon release. My good friend who lived down the street actually had a dad who played video games (which I was and still am totally jealous of). We tried for almost three weeks to find a copy of Mario 2 to no avail. It seemed like Nintendo was promoting shortages. Sound familiar? ;)

I remember going to Palmer Video and my buddy's dad asking the owner if he would take $100 for their rental copy. The guy refused it and he offered $125. The owner explained that his two copies rented out for the next two months made the $125 seem like nothing. We understood and left (since there weren't any copies to rent anyway!). I do know that I bought a copy eventually but I really don't remember where or when. I guess the memory of NOT getting it is much stronger. Funny how that is.

[alec]

IIRC it was Legend of Zelda

[Haoie]

I remember in 1990 [or 1991?], the very first Sonic was coming out here in NZ. I wanted it soooo badly, but my folks wouldn't get it for me.

Oh, sad memories.

[mailman187666]

I'm almost 27 now, but still have vivid memories of trying buy Mario 2 upon release. My good friend who lived down the street actually had a dad who played video games (which I was and still am totally jealous of). We tried for almost three weeks to find a copy of Mario 2 to no avail. It seemed like Nintendo was promoting shortages. Sound familiar? ;)

I remember going to Palmer Video and my buddy's dad asking the owner if he would take $100 for their rental copy. The guy refused it and he offered $125. The owner explained that his two copies rented out for the next two months made the $125 seem like nothing. We understood and left (since there weren't any copies to rent anyway!). I do know that I bought a copy eventually but I really don't remember where or when. I guess the memory of NOT getting it is much stronger. Funny how that is.

wow thats funny because I remember waiting in front of a K-Mart or something like that early in the morning with my mother not knowing why we were there and running to get a SMB2. I had no idea that it was hard to find when it was released, but it all makes sense now. My mother and I also did the same thing with SMB3, but I knew why we went to the store that day. (yes my mother plays videogames and has some rare ones too.)

[Captain Wrong]

Space Invaders 2600

That was pretty damned exciting back in the day.

[DarthKur]

Technically the first new/different video game I remember coming out was a color version Pong unit. I'm not sure what specific model it was, perhaps one of the Coleco Telstar's. I wasn't aware of it's existence until I happened upon it in a store one day. I do remember being fairly impressed seeing all those vibrant colors. This was, of coarse, before I'd bore witness to an Atari 2600. Then I was extremely impressed. :) So, actually, the first game that I knew was on the way and greatly anticipated getting my hands on was Space Invaders for the 2600. Sadly there was a huge rush for the game and too little of a supply during that x-mass season and I ended up having to wait for about another month until I finally had it in my possession. I couldn't say how many times that cart got used over the years but it's the only one in my extensive collection that seems to have died from use. Or at least I assume anyway. One day it just stopped working. Now I have several copies just in case. ;)

[Poofta!]

i never remember buying new games when i was a kid. i always had a used nes till like 93 when i got a used genesis. or maybe it was 94. anyway i read mags so i knew new games we're coming out.

the first release i remember actually beggining my dad to buy me was Duke Nukem 3d for the PC. yep. loved that game. the other that comes to mind was Grand Theft Auto for hte PC.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

My first is probably Ms. Pacman for the 2600. My father was big on that game. We went to K-mart to get it and a new, pistol style joystick. I couldn't open it till he got home from work, so I stared at the box till I heard him drive in. Then I ran to the back porch and held it on the porch rail when he walked by so he could see it.

ahh, the good old days.
Hey, that's odd, I was going to mention Ms. Pacman, too. It was the only new game I ever got for my 2600. We bought our system used and it came with a passel of games, then about a year later I managed to talk my mom into getting me Ms. Pacman when I saw it for sale somewhere. Then that was it for the next six years until I got a Gameboy.


...word is bondage...

[Howie6925]

The first game I can remember coming out is the Legend of Zelda for the NES, I saw the commercial of the guy in the room freaking out of the monsters in the game. When I saw the commercial I was about 8 or 9 I thought the game was going to be retarded because of the commercial, I was so wrong.(see below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUxnF48RKVU

I did not see this one at all back then but it is pretty funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HoY3O8WYi0

[exit]

Anyone else remember the Mario Bros 3 commercial? A bunch of people chanting Mario and it gradually zoomed out, showing all the people forming Mario's face.

Man was that the shit back then.

[RetroYoungen]

I'm actually writing out a lot of this stuff just so I won't remember it in the future. My first game was Super Mario Brothers when I was about three, and I remember it pretty clearly for an early early memory. Don't remember how well I did (I doubt very well), but I was addicted to that game for weeks. Didn't beat it until years later though. ^_^;;

Then SMB3 came out a few years later... and that's why I'm here and not saving the planet or anything. My superpowers are now eating Pringles instead of flying, like they started out as. Meh.

[Flack]

Another vote for Space Invaders for the 2600. If I remember correctly, it was the first coin-op conversion for a home console, and it was a pretty big deal at the time.

[MarioMania]

The only release I got was Street Fighter 2 Turbo (SNES)

I was at the Mall before the Captron opened, I was at Kay-Bees waiting for it to open to get it

Even before Months before the release..I was keep look at the release date at Kay-Bees..the best $75 ever

..and Super Street Fighter 2 (SNES)

[boatofcar]

Anyone else remember the Mario Bros 3 commercial? A bunch of people chanting Mario and it gradually zoomed out, showing all the people forming Mario's face.

Man was that the shit back then.


This was the first game I ever got excited for the release for, and one of the few video game commercials I remember seeing from the 8 bit days. It's funny, whenever I see commercials for stuff like the SMS or Atari XE on Youtube, it just blows me away, because I know I never saw them then.

[eric nintendo]

The first release I can remember anticipating was Rampage for the 7800. I had the 2600 version, which was pretty awful. So I was looking forward to a more faithful port of the arcade game, which at the time was my favorite.

Later on I got an NES, which had possibly the best home version. Then I looked forward to releases all the time, like Super Mario Brothers 3, Mega Man 3, and TMNT: The Arcade Game.

[Gentlegamer]

I remember the premier of the NES - "Now you're playing with power!"

The first game I remember "first coming out" is SMB 2.

[gum_drops]

First new release I remember getting:
Double Dragon II nes (still one of my top 5 favorite games all time)

First new release I wanted specificially:
Sonic 2 when it came out for the genesis

First game I remember playing on any system:
Tarzan for the atari

[omega_squid]

For the Genesis. That and Street Fighter 2. My little bro and some other friends got to play them at our daycare once we got 'old' enough to not have to sleep during naptime, lol. That was about 96-99, and I was like 5-8 Years old. Good times...

First Release I really remember was the N64 and especially the Dreamcast. Lots of kids in my 4th Grade class talked about wanting both. Me? I was clueless, but I did get a GameBoy Color - Kiwi - with my own $69 and also got Pokemon Color Red. Played that GBC non stop, and still have it to this day, in great shape!

[diskoboy]

I was too late for the Odyssey 1.... But I remember the early years of the 2600.

The first game I remember seeing an advertisement for was Haunted House for the VCS.

The fist video game I ever played was the arcade version of Space Invaders when I was 4. I remeber it like it was a few hours ago, to be honest... Surfside Pavilion. Myrtle Beach, SC. I barely could see over the control panel.

[Tron 2.0]

Earilerest video game memory hmmmmm.

Say probably around 81 or 82 going to timout to play some pac-man.

Those were the days, long lines on some machines while hearing a lot of beeps and bloops.

As for my frist consoles that would be the the atari 2600.

Still i didn't get one untile afther the so called crash of the early 80's.

Pretty much when i needed games.. i could get them from TRU &KayBeeToys.

They had plenty of nos to choose from.

[Pantechnicon]

I remember all my classmates being excited for the release of 2600 Asteroids and subsequently disappointed that the game's graphics were so radically different from the arcade machine. Bear in mind this was 6th grade in 1981 so nobody in my circles really understood the difference between raster and vector display systems. I myself did not have an Atari at the time so it was hard for me to appreciate the zeitgiest.

Six months later I got a 2600 and so the first release I remember getting really hyped up for was 2600 Pac-Man. I wasn't even really that much of a Pac-fan at the time but the Atari marketing apparatus made it sound like this was going to be bigger than the Second Coming and, like all 12-year-olds, I readily believed everything the TV told me and implored my mom day and night with "gotta have...gotta have".

The resultant bad reviews didn't deter me a bit. In fact I have a pretty clear memory of reading through some videogame-tips guide paperback in an old Grand Central department store and coming across an appendix which contained a pre-release review of Pac-Man statingm in effect, that it sucked. "That's impossible," I thought, "It's Pac-Man in your house. It's got to be good."

My family wasn't making a lot of money back then and in retrospect I'm glad my mother never caved in and paid full-price for the Pac. I eventually picked one up in the middle of the 1984 crash for $2 in the bargain bin at Walgreens so it all worked out.

[RadiantSvgun]

I'm 22 and I remember seeing the commercial for Super Mario 3. Man, I feel old.....

[Ruudos]

Super Mario Bros. 2

[Sanriostar]

Space Invaders 2600

That was pretty damned exciting back in the day.

This was my exact same reply. Sears had different Atari sounds from.... (crap, Air-Sea Battle, Outlaw, Combat... COMBAT! That was it) Combat, and there was this *HUGE* line, it even had older adults in it and store workers around to keep the group orderly. This was something big. I wasn't able to play, Dad had too much shopping to do, but he let us (my brother and I) watch for a while.

[Zing]

The first games I looked forward to before release were Super Mario Bros 2 and Zelda 2. Both of these were released the same holiday season and both were (intentionally) out of stock everywhere. My Toys R Us would get, literally, three copies in a shipment. It as absurd.

One day my mom went to Kmart without me and I told her to look for either of the games. She came home empty handed. She said there was some new game called "Adventure of Link" or something, but not the games I was looking for. I was dragging her back to that store within minutes. Luckily there were still a couple copies on the shelf or there would have been some serious temper tantrums.

[diskoboy]

This was my exact same reply. Sears had different Atari sounds from.... (crap, Air-Sea Battle, Outlaw, Combat... COMBAT! That was it) Combat, and there was this *HUGE* line, it even had older adults in it and store workers around to keep the group orderly. This was something big. I wasn't able to play, Dad had too much shopping to do, but he let us (my brother and I) watch for a while.


My parents would do the same thing. Whenever they went shopping, I'd head to sears or one of the department stores (when most of them still had full electronics sections) and sit on the Atari kiosks. The one in Sears was awesome because it had a switch on the kiosk that would change the games. I always remember playing Seaquest, Venture, or Yar's Revenge while my folks shopped.

That came to an end after Adam Walsh got kidnapped. My parents wouldn't even let me go to the bathroom in a mall, by myself, after that.

[FantasiaWHT]

My best friend had parents who bought him everything that came out. I distinctly remember spending several days waiting on his porch for the UPS man to bring a Sega Genesis. I remember playing Altered Beast after he got it. Same thing happened for the SNES, and I remember playing SML and renting first Chessmaster (because everything else was gone from the rental store) and then F-zero.

The first release I paid attention to myself was the Gamecube. At that point I was working PT at EB so it became second nature.

[Griking]

The first release I remember was reading about that caused me to make a purchase was for an Apple II game called Wizardry. I made me buy my first computer, the Apple II.