Thread: Early Gaming Memories

Use this thread to share some of your earliest memories of video games.


The big three for me as a child were the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, NES, and arcade machines. The Atari was just there, some friends had them and I would occasionally have the privilege of playing Adventure, Missile Command and other games. Simple, amusing and quick. Granted, even for an imaginative kid it was hard to figure out what to do. I'd look at the illustration on the cartridge and try to figure out the story and goals. IIRC, at least one person even had an old Pong system.

Soon after it came out, I had a chance to play Super Mario Brothers at another kid's house. After being used to Atari, I was amazed at the graphics. Mario shot pepperonis and when I made it past Level 1-1 I thought the game was over. Dropping into 1-2 found me having met my match. Couldn't make it past that level my first time playing. Fortunately, my dad got me an NES for Christmas in '88 (I thought it was '87, but according to Wikipedia, the Super Mario/Duck Hunt cartridge was not out then). After watching my dad cuss and grunt trying to connect it I was finally in business. Amazing how much harder it was to hook up an RF cable back then was compared to today's home theater components. I'd attempt to memorize the manual and spend hours playing Super Mario, trying to shoot that stupid dog and looking in Nintendo Power and at cheat books for the shortcuts. Those old NES cartridges worked great in the trailer park as well. Much more durable than today's DVD-based games, they saw steady trading amongst a group of us kids. I'd trade my Bump 'n Jump for someone's Castlevania II, then trade that for Super Mario 3. Of course, sometimes it was hard to get your game back. I remember not wanting to give Bionic Commando back to the kid who had my Jaws cartridge. Erol's was a great place to rent games, prior to Movie Time and Video World moving in and Blockbuster buying Erol's out. Babbage's at the mall was the place where T&C Surf Designs and other games were bought. The Game Genie probably came from there as well, it was a Christmas present and one which ruined me for life (still have it, the SNES Game Genie, and a game Shark or Action Replay for just about every system I own).

Before I even got my own NES, however, I was faced with a dilemma. Granted, the NES was the most successful system, but the Atari 7800 and the Sega Master System were both going strong as well. The Master System had those cool 3-D glasses and the electronics section of Montgomery ward had displays of it as well as the NES, making it hard for an eight or nine year old to decide. Throw in the Sears Catalog, with its pictures and descriptions of all three systems and each game, and the problem was exacerbated. It wasn't a simple matter of checking online at reviews, or looking at exclusive games (though having Super Mario didn't hurt the NES). Needless to say the NES did win out as it was not only my choice but the choice of millions of others.

The Commodore 64 was another early game system to me. My stepfather owned it and considered himself somewhat technologically savvy. He would play golf for hours on end, but if I were home sick or otherwise home without him being there I would have a chance to play. Ghostbusters was one of "my" games, as was a flight game where you faced off against space invaders.

Then there was the arcade. The Farm Fresh grocery store had a Rampage machine and I would manage to bum quarters every week to play it while the parents were checking out. Later, Farm Fresh became The Grocery Store and the Rampage machine was replaced by P.O.W. Pac-Man or Mrs. Pac-Man machines were at local Pizza Huts in the form of tabletop machines and Dairy Queens (uprights), and other games such as NARC.

By the time I got my SNES I was very interested in video games, and appreciated the more complex games and graphics the 16-bit systems offered. By that time I was a teenager and had outgrown the naivete of my youth. I knew Super Mario spit fireballs instead of pepperoni, that games consisted of more than one or even ten stages, that games I used to love were actually quite crappy (c'mon, Ghostbusters?). In retrospect, it was great growing up experiencing the rebirth of video games, and watching giants born (Nintendo) and killed (Atari). Though I still have some great memories extending well into the '90s and even 2000s many of my fondest memories of video games are my earliest. When GI Joe was still my primary pastime and acorn fights were the norm for bored kids in the trailer park. Seems like the NES changed everything. Or maybe it's just me.

Oregon Trails is the only early gaming I can remember, I do remember having a SNES and a Sega Genesis, but not too many games on it. I can remember the first time I played N64 and Mario 64 was amazing, we didn't think games could get any better till Zelda OOT came out. There were about 5 years of N64 that I can remember, I didn't have a PS, but my friend across the street did and I got hooked onto the Final Fantasy and MGS series from that. In 2001 I got a Xbox(paperweight) with Halo and was just astonished. Up untill 2002 I wasn't really a gamer, then I got a PS2 w/ GTA III and Final Fantasy X. From then until now I've bought thousands of games, played about 4 MMOs through and kept up to date with gaming news and go to conventions as much as I can.

Beating Mega Man 2 as a kid.

I had to look up the last boss' weakness in Nintendo Power to do it.

When I was 10 I used to throw video casettes at my 3 year old cousin's face. That was a fun game.

Well, in MM2, you could use Flash-man's weapon to freeze the beams and just run the stage that way.

My first game memory was "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" for my grandfather's Tandy computer running DOS back in 1989, soon followed up by a DOS version of "Jeopardy". I credit these games for making me as smart as I am by instilling in me a curious nature and knowledge far beyond a normal 3 year old. I recently downloaded DOSBox and found a copy of the old Carmen San Diego game and played it again, and I was in heaven.

Originally Posted by MalReynolds

Reminds me of my parents.

They 'accidentally' bought The Matrix on DVD, when DVD players were first coming out, so they had to get one. They told us they accidentally got The Matrix. Then the player was already home.

At the time, I wouldn't have put it past them to screw up that majorly (despite the massive size difference between a DVD and VHS Cassette) rather than trying to 'surprise' my brother, sisters and me, because these are the same parents who consistently called Dunkaroos, the KANGAROO SHAPED COOKIE THAT YOU DUNK, Dunkadoodles. Whatever the fuck those were. Doodles that you fucking dunk? Like, a picture of a sailboat that you scribble out in 5 minutes that you proceed to dunk in icing? Is that what they thought the pinnacle of snacking might be? The name 'Dunkaroos' was self explanatory for Christsakes.

'We got you Dunkadoodles!'

EDIT: Earliest gaming memory is being afraid to jump the very first gap in Super Mario Bros. for the NES, because I felt horrificly responsible whenever Mario would die and was too afraid to attempt the jump. When he died, I would cry and cry and cry.

Moreover, in Mario 64, when Mario would fall off the map, I would get vertigo, or when he would get killed by any other monster, I would feel a pang of regret, but I could not under any circumstances play the water levels, due to the insanely in-depth way that Mario struggled for breath and drowned when you ran out of life. It freaked me out, and set the standard for my inability to adequately play underwater stages where you have a limited oxygen supply in any game thereafter, including Shadows of the Empire and Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox.

+repped

I think an arcade version of Pong or Frogger or something would have been my first gaming experience but I would have been REALLY young. I got a Snes when I was about 6 and fell in love with Street Fighter II, Super Mario Bros. All Stars, Donkey Kong Country and many, many more.

Originally Posted by MrTroy

LOL, I used to do this, not because I felt bad for Mario, I was just afraid I was going to fall in and die, so I would pause the game, go find my mom, and have her make the jump. Eventually she got tired of it and made me do it. I was like 5.

Reminds me of my son. I'm a great parent that let him start playing GTA San Andreas when he was six, and he'd always ask me to put in cheat codes for weapons. He hated it when I took his freshly stolen cool car and wrecked it all to hell, but I'd make it up by putting in the code to repair it.

The original Zelda. My Mom and Dad had bought an NES shortly after I was born, and had bought that game. They played it all of the time, I even remember them playing it, and when I got a tad bit older I remember playing it and beating it at the age of 6. Then I found out via a Nintendo Power magazine that you could type in Zelda as your name and start on the second quest which was totally different from the first! So I done that and beat it once again. I also remember playing the original Mario Bros, this one soccer and volleyball game (in the soccer game you could like tackle people and stuff it was cool), River City Ransom (FUCKING LOVED THIS GAME), Simon's Key, Astyanax, Double Dragon, Dragon Warrior (my first real RPG that I had played and left me hooked we got our copy with Nintendo Power), GunSmoke (I remember my cousin little John was the only person I knew that could beat the game), Mega Man 3 (played this a ton, although could never seem to beat Snake Man I had to get my brother Tim to do it for me).

Now when we got a SNES, I remember we got two games with it. My brother got Pilotwings, and I got Gradius III (BEST FUCKING SIDESCROLLING SHOOTER GAME EVER MADE!). I played Gradius III quite a bit, and we all remember a famous cheat code (up up down down left right left right b a) well yeah that unlocked all of your weapons except your lasers (although I did this quite often, I did in fact beat the game without it). Now to the defining time of my SNES era... and many of you will laugh I am sure. The game was Mystic Quest. I got it for christmas the year it came out, I played it a ton, I remember having dreams about being in the game, going through Bone Dungeon, Focus Tower, and the Ice Pyramid. It was addicting, fun and just an all around amazing game.

I rented Mystic Quest, but had already gotten into the original Final Fantasy in middle school (there were three of us who always discussed the game) and was much more into the "real" series. FFII (IV) was my SNES game of choice until III (VI) came out. Of all the game, FFIII was the first I actually owned, though I have a version or three of every game through IX now. I actually purchased Mystic Quest on Ebay a few years ago and never received it or my Married with Children NO MAAM t-shirt. I was more upset over the shirt, but did want to relive my disappointment with MQ.

My earliest gaming memory is playing duck hunt on NES at my baby sitter's house.

I remember being pissed off because I finally got my virtual boy but it was so uncomfortable to use

I was pissed off because I couldn't afford a Virtual Boy with my $5/month allowance.

I was pissed off because I didn't buy the Virtual Boy when Wal-Mart was clearing them out for $5.

Originally Posted by fm2176

I was pissed off because I didn't buy the Virtual Boy when Wal-Mart was clearing them out for $5.

WHAT?!

Originally Posted by KT.

WHAT?!

I remember watching them get reduced to $20 when Wal-Mart still had a large inventory. A few months later I saw one or two on the clearance shelf for $5. Every now and then something might pop up at a large retailer years after it has been discontinued. I got my Atari 2600 paddle controllers in the mid '90s off a K-Mart clearance shelf for $1.

Dying video game systems can be bargains. I bought duke Nukem 3-D and Quake II for the Saturn for $5 each, they still had a valid $10 rebate coupon, which I never sent in. Toys 'R Us sold the NES Advantage for $5 and most NES games for around the same price when the NES finally died out. I recall seeing an ad for a new Atari Jaguar with two controllers and ten games for around $50 in the late '90s, and faintly recall similar deals on the Turbografx and other systems back in the day. Part of the reason I bought my Dreamcast instead of a PS2 was the fact that I got the system, keyboard, ten or twelve, VMUs, extra controllers, and a Game Shark for the same price as a used PS2. IIRC, the Sega Genesis 3 was sold for $20 during the last days of 16-bit systems.

Now it's time for a word from our sponsors:.

I remember playing Rampage in the arcades a lot.

Not quite as early as other memories I've shared, but I do remember swinging by the mall to buy my Playstation while on house arrest. I had permission to go to and from work and had rented Super Mario RPG to consume my off-time, but that new Resident Evil game and the upcoming FFVII made me risk my limited freedom to stop by the mall. Resident Evil (of course), and Agile Warrior were two of the first games I picked up. Tecmo's Deception and D were a couple I picked up a short while later.

Hahahah, I just remembered that marshmallow guy from Mario RPG

I remember playing Ken Griffey Jr. Slugger on my either yellow or black gameboy color outside of a Fedco in my mom's car.
I also remember going to my friend's house to play Megaman X and her little brother memorized the code for the various levels with our progress so basically he was our memory card.

Speaking of baseball, I was addicted to Bases Loaded and Bases Loaded 2. Hawaii in the first game was my team, I recall one slugger who could hit two or three home runs a game at a minimum. I played RBI baseball some too, but never got into it like I did Bases Loaded.

My first arcade game (outside of excitebike and mario at the sit-down arcade box at Pizza Hut) was the X-men arcade game, which still holds up today as one of the best arcade games EVAR!!!

Originally Posted by Mr. E

My first arcade game (outside of excitebike and mario at the sit-down arcade box at Pizza Hut) was the X-men arcade game, which still holds up today as one of the best arcade games EVAR!!!

We had a sweet arcade in the Chuck E. Cheese in my city, so I'd play The Simpsons, TMNT, and TMNT: Turtles in Time there. For my Street Fighter II fix, I'd have to go on shopping trips with my dad to this one mall. The convenience store outside my apartment had Golden Axe, which I loved as a kid. Unfortunately, the only X-Men arcade machine we had was in downtown Toronto, which wasn't that far, so I'd go play that often as well.

Also here's some pics I took of the SUNY Purchase Campus student center:





(all the games were free to play)

Oh man, that Simpsons arcade game was hella hard, but also hella cool. Before I understood propriety I always rented any Simpsons game that came out on console in hopes that it would be the Simpsons arcade game.

Originally Posted by Nermy2k

Also here's some pics I took of the SUNY Purchase Campus student center:



(all the games were free to play)

LOL, I would always play as nightcrawler.

Originally Posted by sycld

yeah it fucking was.

also i did find a pc version of that game. i think i owned a copy of it, and i have no idea where it went. the graphics (lol) were not as good, but it was pretty much the same thing.

We would usually run out of quarters after the Wrestling boss.

Originally Posted by Nermy2k

We had a sweet arcade in the Chuck E. Cheese in my city, so I'd play The Simpsons, TMNT, and TMNT: Turtles in Time there. For my Street Fighter II fix, I'd have to go on shopping trips with my dad to this one mall. The convenience store outside my apartment had Golden Axe, which I loved as a kid. Unfortunately, the only X-Men arcade machine we had was in downtown Toronto, which wasn't that far, so I'd go play that often as well.

Oh yeah, Chuck E. Cheese. I faintly remember the arcade, but my parents were too cheap and I was too active to take advantage of it. The old one in Chesterfield had a play area set up behind the stage, where parents could eat and watch their kids from afar. The old Toys 'R Us was in front of the place. Chuck E. Cheese became Showbiz before moving, then everything else within a few miles of Cloverleaf Mall died out. Sadly enough, most of the arcade games have been replaced by those damned ticket-producing machines. I took my daughter there for her birthday and had to wait 30 minutes just to get in. Previous experience has me no longer eating there, and giving up all hopes of locating the kids when I want to leave. Yeah, Chuck E. Cheese in the as a kid in the Eighties was great. As a parent in the 2000s it is a nightmare. But that is the topic of another thread.

Back on topic. NARC, the anti-drug campaign arcade game that was remade a few years ago and then made into a movie. I mentioned it once already, but did not mention how much fun I had playing it when I could find it (a local Dairy Queen and an arcade in Ocean City each had a machine). Unfortunately, the NES game did not live up to its standards, though I still recall it being tolerable. I never did play the Simpsons game, only Bart vs the Mutants.