(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.

very nice thread !!!!

I played Goldeneye when I was very young, along with Mario on gameboy, then got into Pokemon on the gameboy and Stadium on the N64, I was a Pokemon freak but I'd say it would be GTA San Andreas that really got me into gaming, I can't remember how old I was but I was fairly young and my brother (who got the game) was 4 years older but let me play it and parents didn't care, caused massive road blocks and then blew up the cars with an RPG, parachuted from the top of the tallest building, and of course chainsaw any body in sight

And I somehow grew up to become someone who was against using violence...

I think I'm just at a point where I feel like (although this is not true to others) there is no good games to play right now. I have been playing minecraft a lot of my PC but as far as PS3 games go I am really looking forward to Battlefield 3 and Need for Speed: The Run. Seeing as I was always a fan of the Need for Speed series I think I'll enjoy the new one and I also played the BF3 beta on PS3 and was amazed at how much I enjoyed it.

ps2 was the first console i ever owned, but i played alot of gameboy. The only games I can really remember from ps3 is ALL of the Spyro, ATV & SSX Tricky. Ever since my ps2 I have always loved video games!

First I had an Nintendo 64, then the Gameboy Color, GameBoy Lite, Ps2, PSP, PHAT PS3, Xbox360(but I sold it), Then another Slim PS3(the other got YLOD)

For me, I ran into a gaming lul recently where I just couldn't be arsed with video games. I was part way though a few games. I was playing Civilisation IV, Final Fantasy VII, Devil May Cry 3 and Zelda: Link To The Past... all of them where actively being played depending on my mood, then I stopped. I think I just burned out. I've instead found myself websurfing most often in my free time, as though I don't have the energy to focus on games so rather than let that slump bother me I've switched to TV/film. I'm getting into the Hallowe'en spirit, with horror films and I'm getting back into some of the gritty comic films. I've always loved DC comics, (Marvel is good, but DC has some better unknowns). While I really like X-Men: First Class, films like V for Vendetta, Constantine, Watchman and the new Batman films are fantastic, so those are my release.

I'd bet, come November, I'll be back to playing video games as I always am but for this month, I've bared played a video game all month except Dungeons Of Dredmor and the odd online flash game. I'd wager you're just in the same gaming lul as I am.

Atrai was boss so was the nintendo, n64, sn , and sega.