(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Obviously, we're all gamers here, but it was never always this way. This is something I always find makes you into the gamer you are. The first gaming experiences you've had. I don't mean the first game you ever picked up and played, although that could be it for some people, I mean the experiences that made you a gamer. I'm sure my dad probably got me to play 'Pong' or 'Space Invaders' when I was 3 or something, but this isn't what I'm talking about.

The thing I feel molds you as a true gamer is the first game you truly played like a gamer would. You sit there and play for hours, you replay it again and again. You feel a sense of achievement and joy when you beat the game, or even beat an enemy or level... this is the point when you first feel yourself bond with a game. The game isn't just a 5min distraction like a child playing with a doll for a minute or two, it's more than that.

For me there have been a few games that where my formative experiences. The first two where for the Amiga Computer, way back in 1989. I was 4 years old...

Originally Commodore 64 games from 1985, these games where ported to the Amstrad 464 and 664, Apple II, and Amiga Computers in the late 80's and it was there I got to play them. The first game was Paperboy. An arcade game about throwing papers onto mats and into mailboxes and trying not to smash windows. It was a fun game and one I became very engrossed in, I practiced a lot and eventually became quite good at the game and decided I wanted to try something different.



So, after couple of days I got my hands on a second game, given to me by my uncle. This game was Temple Of Apshai Trilogy and I was immediately sucked in. An RPG, my first RPG, I would never be the same again.

I remember it so vividly, the panic whenever I entered the room. The overwhelming desire to make sure I had magic arrows because if I had to rely on my sword a single rat could kill me (I never learned how to use my sword properly). The joy I had just trying to get a little bit further in this game. This game was gaming for me for a solid year. I went back to paperboy occationally, and I was vaguely aware of games like Asteroids and Space Invaders, which I'd tried, but didn't really care for. No, for me it was all about getting to the end of the Temple of Apshai, and to this day I've still never finished this game, but then I was 4 years old when I played this. Amazingly it feels like it was only yesterday.

But the computer wasn't really mine, it was Mums. Sure I was allowed to play on it but it wasn't long before I wanted my own games console. Now, this was UK in 1990. The Mega Drive was comming out that year but at £215 launch price, and being released only in late November there was no chance my parent would have been able to afford it, but hell... I'd be 5 years old, I didn't need a state of the art games console. It would be another two years before the SNES came out, and the TurboGrafx-16, although released in Europe was never actually released in UK so that was out. The Neo Geo didn't even see a European release.

In the end I was asked what I wanted for Christmas, and as all young children did at that age, I wanted Sega because I'd seen all the adverts. So Sega it was. My parents basically had a solid choice between the NES, Commodore 64, Atari 7800, Sega Master System or Colecovision, and they picked right.



Most people wonder why the NES didn't do well in UK, well there's a reason. First of all, there where two versions. Nintendo sold the licence for the NES in Europe to the company Mattel, who made the first NES but they marketted it strangely. Mattel basically messed up the distribution. Instead of putting the NES in toy shops, or electronics shops, or large chains like Woolworths where you'd expect to find the console, it instead drew up deals with the chemist Boots (yes a Chemist) and TJ Hughes, a large chain discount store that while it did have electronics departments was much more well know for it's clothes and furniture lines. Nintendo got annoyed at this, and in reponse released a second version of the NES. The problem was, the two versions are not compatible, so Mattel games only work in Mattel NES's and Nintendo games only work in Nintendo NES, and the only way you can tell them apart is checking the serial codes on the carts... oh and the games cost around £60 (that's about $100) compared to the Master System and Atari 7800 games which cost £20-25 ($32-40), Colecovisions £10 games, and the Commodore 64 and average PC games on DOS or Amstrad at £5 or less... Nintendo bombed in UK and for a damn good reason.

With my Master System that Christmas I got 4 games. The first Paperboy was a game I already knew I loved, and now I could play it on my own console whenever I wanted. Then there was The Ninja, a top down action game that I really enjoyed, but never actually beat... it was hard, I was 5 years old.


The last two however started my love for something new. Platform games. Alex Kidd in Miracle World, and Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse. These are some of the best games made on the system and considering this was a solid year before Sonic even existed and I'd never even heard of Mario, this was an entirely unique experience for me. Platformers have been one of my favourite genres ever since and it's all thanks to these great games.



This was gaming for me for the next year, I got another four games for the system in the year to come. Two for Christmas 1991 and two for my 6th birthday in April 1992. The first two for Christmas where Enduro Racer, a bike racing game that was somewhat frustrating but nicely challenging, something similar to Paperboy but different at the same time. The other one was Golden Axe Warrior, a game that was practically a blatent rip-off of Legend Of Zelda, but I never owned an NES so I didn't care... and wow it was a great game.



For my birthday I got the golf game Putt and Putter which was actually really fun, and I got Sonic The Hedgehog, which is completely different from the Mega Drive (or Genesis in USA) game, not simply an "8-bit version" as people to this day still seem to think.

Naturally I loved them both, and this I think is why I love Sega so much. Sure I went back to the PC to play Temple of Apshai occationally and I even started to enjoy the occational game of Pacman or Asteroids, and that same year my dad bought the game Battle Chess for the PC, which I sware is where the first Harry Potter book/film got the idea for "Wizards Chess".



While animated chess was fun occationally, and I still kept going back to Temple of Apshai, my first love in gaming, I had found my gaming home and it was the Master System. I quickly became engulfed by my love for Sega, after all, I now had 8 different games for my console and not a single one of them was bad. I loved ALL OF THEM.

Can you imagine the change in me, from 4 year old kid, barely able to use a computer, to 6 1/2 year old gamer, with his own console and games, having never experienced a bad game in over two years of gaming. It was heaven.

Obviously, as I got older this changed, but this is what made me the gamer I am today. These 10 games where the only games I played for 3 years as a gamer, especially as I didn't get any new games the Christmas of 1992. These where the games that shaped me as a gamer and I honestly feel so pleased. As silly as it sounds, I've watched episodes of the Angry Video Game Nerd many times and thought, "Wow, the NES really had some crap released for it didn't it.", sure the Master System may not have had the greatest library of games, but in my experience, it has much better quality control.

So there you have it, my formative gaming experiences where playing the Temple Of Apshai Trilogy on the Amstrad Computer and owning my first console, the Sega Master System. I think it's nice to look back at the things that made you truly want to be a gamer, so now it's your turn. What are your formative gaming experiences? What made you become a gamer.

Wow, now I feel really old. Am I the only child of the 8-bit age here? At the very least I was expecting most peoples first gaming experiences to have been 16-bit consoles or early 90's PC games... It seems like everyone here started with the PSOne or later.

For me it was Goldeneye:007 on the infamous nintendo-64
And The one and only "Beavis and Butthead" on the sega genesis + I grew up on the original mario series back in the early nintendo days.
Then advanced as the gaming world did. You know ps1 had zelda I believe? And final fantasy

anyways I grew up on all that old school shit, ive had tons of games/consoles within my lifetime.

good thread +rep/thanks

I started on the SNES with Street Fighter 2, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, etc :wub:
Those were the classics, it was great to live through the 90s for gaming as a child but time passed by (n64, psx, ps2) & now I have my ps3 for fighting games

Final Fantasy yes, obviously, SquareSoft moved to Playstation because they where angry at Nintendo for changing their mind about CD's and choosing to go back to cartriages on the N64 as it ment the games had to be smaller. SquareSoft then released almost every single Final Fantast game on the PSOne up to Final Fantasy IX (9), the only one that never got a PSOne release was Final Fantasy 3 who's only english release was on the Nintendo DS. Not sure why, maybe Nintendo still owns the rights to it or something.

As for Zelda, I'm certain there's NEVER been a Zelda game on the PSOne. Zelda is first party Nintendo property and Nintendo would never let another company release games with their characters. The only exception to this is the Panasonic CD-i which was a console released in the Mid 90's, originally ment to be a CD add on for the SNES, the same as the Sega CD was for the Mega Drive. When Nintendo cancelled it's deals however with Panasonic, rather than scrap the project, Panasonic released the console as a stand alone console and used it's limited licence to make some really bad Zelda games and a bad Mario puzzle game. Ironically, Nintendo cancelled it's deal with Panasonic, then started a new deal with Sony and later cancelled that so Sony did the same thing and released the Playstation on it's own without Nintendo. Originally the Playstation was going to be Nintendo's next console, which is why SquareSoft where planning the next Final Fantasy and the sequel to Crono Trigger, called Crono Cross (which has STILL never recieved a European release) for a CD system.

Still, I'm glad you enjoyed the thread. I thought it'd be fun to reminisce on what got us gaming.

I didn't

I remember playing Super Mario World and some racing type game that I can not remember the name of on the SNES when I was really young. I moved on to a Gameboy Color and than a Gameboy Advance as I got older. I would play Need For Speed Underground and of course ALL the classic pokemon games. Next step up was the PS2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Mercenaries and the Ratchet and Clank series were the best for me on my PS2. The game I think I logged the most hours on though was Call Of Duty World at War. I got a PS3 for Christmas and played World at War NONSTOP, I legit abandoned my social life and friends and played that game 24/7 lol. Now Call of Duty is boring as hell and Black Ops ruined the series. Still waiting for the next best thing to grab my attention and make me keep enjoying gaming.

pitfall ii on colecovision is where it started for me. after that though, i think that zelda for NES is what got me totally locked in. probably the fact that i could save it and come back a little later blew my mind lol. and those GRAPHICS!!! at least in 198X were unbelievable.

I see someone else was pulled into gaming by the handhelds. I was the standard child of Sega as a kid, Master System and Mega Drive ruled, but if I'm honest, my Game Boy Colour and Game Boy Advance SP where my most played consoles for a long time. Glad to see someone else was a fan.

If you're still looking for something to grab your attention, what specifically are you going for? There are millions of games out there now, so there's got to be something you'd enjoy.

---------- Post added at 01:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:45 PM ----------



Aye, kids today... they just can't appreciate the wonders of 8-bit graphics.

i think my first was pokemon blue on my gameboy classic