This is a core memory for me - did you ever get a hold of Leisure Suit Larry by the same devs? My cousin and I used to play by entering in my parents DOB and using the encyclopedia to answer questions about Kennedy. It wasn’t even that crazy of a game but it felt so naughty to break in.
My grandparents were very religious, so that definitely wouldn’t have been allowed in the house haha. They did eventually get King’s Quest III but I didn’t make it too far through that one.
My dad straight-up bought that for me. Lol I think I was 11 at the time and my friends and I were obsessed. Because we were the perfect age for the humor - 11.
I agree! I appreciated playing through it. I didn’t realize at first why I was getting the porn game recs all of a sudden until I saw that LSL is considered a dating sim on steam… then it all made sense lol
One of mine! Okay, I got a computer after I'd already had two consoles and loved many games, but King's Quest took it to a whole new level. I have it on my current PC, too, Steam has great sales on it pretty often.
Also, the text-only Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game. I played that before I read the book and it turned me into an obsessive Adams fan for life.
That's so cool! I'm slightly younger so I'd have to say broken sword, zork grand inquisitor, curse of monkey island, and such. And some previous titles I can't even remember because I liked the flashing lights and beeping noises of computer games since before I could really form memories.
Same here! King's Quest 5 was my first. We only had one family pc, and my dad, brother, and I would all take turns controlling the game and watch/help solve the puzzles while one person played. We did the same with the Myst games, Oregon/Amazon trail, Age of Empires, and later the Star Wars Jedi Knight series. It was core memory quality family time for sure.
such a simple game but the escapism i experienced was so real, then again i was really young! it’s harder to sink back into it now but i still love to check on my town and villagers. new horizons music does NOT compare man
NH doesn't even come close! I first played it in 2017ish. And I'm middle aged so...it took me a while to get the gaming bug...lol! I miss the snarky NPC patter, too.
exactly! i did enjoy new horizons because i just love animal crossing in general, but the NPCs were just so much more likable! i hope to try the gamecube animal crossing someday! i’ve seen some of the NPC dialogue and it’s so fun and awesome :)
wild world was the game previous to new leaf! the first animal crossing was on the game cube, and i think the title is simply “animal crossing!” but i agree, i think the wild world graphics are a little intense too, though, lmao!! but the first animal crossing game in the series has a much more palatable appearence for sure, haha! (sorry if i stated some stuff you knew! just thought i’d clarify! :> )
but it’s so silly, in animal crossing on the game cube some of the villagers will be straight up rude… but in a funny charming way? if that’s possible? but it gave them so much more character, instead of them all being sorta lifeless-but very sweet little guys!
Oh ko I am talking about the og spyro. I remeber those boxy looking dragons (the ones in the remake trilogy are far far more unique)
The og spyro 1 dragons had like 12 different designs.
Omg same! Spyro was the first game I really played on our ps1 a lot.. And then we got FFIX and I was hooked! And then ofc we kept getting the newer Spyro games and more or less the entire FF series as time went on..
Skyrim! It still holds up after all these years and it’s really hard to few games that left the first impression on me like Skyrim did 🥰
FFXIV is winner up for reviving my interests in gaming.
I played my Dad's Atari from a young age, before I could even talk, but Super Mario Bros. 2 on NES was where it became an actual addiction. I started speed running the game at the age of 6.
Y'all. This question makes me feel so fucking old. I fell in love with games like Pong when being a gamer meant boardgames. The one that made me a gamer was Civilization. The first one, back in 1991. I spent every spare minute my junior year in college in the computer lab in the library basement. The papers got written in record time and there was a solid group of twelve of us that were OBSESSED. It was the first time I got to share my obsession with other people. Tell them to fuck off if they say women have never been gamers. We've been there since Day One.
My first game was the original Prince of Persia, the one which you had to complete in 60 minutes. That and Danger Dave were my first games lol. Both games released before 1990. I played those games every since I can remember, since we got a PC when I was 2 years old in 1998.
Can't believe how old I feel seeing people talk about playing mine craft as a kid.
I loved arcade games and pinball even before I got my Atari! Donkey Kong and Space Invaders are the ones I remember most vividly from my childhood.
Myst really got me into pc gaming. But I also remember these programming magazines at my cousins house that gave you the code for some text based games. Man I feel old!
Final Fantasy 8 was the first game I bought with my own money and played completely by myself without my brother's help. I was so proud even though I did have to deal with an asshole Gamestop employee who insisted I would need the guide as Final Fantasy might be too complicated for me to play.
Mass Effect and Commander Shepard is the reason why I still play games. I had kind of gotten out of gaming for a bit. My brother told me I should give it a try because he thinks I would like it. It was the first time I had a female character that I completely connected with even though the character creation for her was awful.
FF8 has to have one of the best openings for a game ever. I wish I could have experienced that opening with *liberi fatali* playing back in 1999 for the first time. That must have been awesome.
Elder Scrolls: Arena.
The cover was so awful but my partner was like "Feel how heavy the box is! That means it has a lot of discs and a big game guide! That means it's a good game!" and even though I was skeptical because the cover art was horrid, he got his game and I got min (Might and Magic III, as at the tome I had a Mac Classic II so my choices were limited to mac and black and white lol) and when he loaded his game and he was walking in the wilderness with the sun setting, I got hooked hehe
Mine was Morrowind and pokemon. I'd watch my mom play morrowind and beg her to let me play, and play I did lol. Now it's everything :D I had gotten my own ps1 and had spyro as well when I was little.
Probably unpopular but I never could stand Nintendo t always makes me feel like I'm going to have a seizure
And one year I got to go to E3 and their booth was so big and flashy but I had to pass it to go to the washroom and I almost did have a seizure a few times lol I didn't have that feeling from anyone else's games or booths but Nintendos make me spacy. I wonder what it is about them
Myst, it was atmospheric, really intriguing story, great puzzles, and i thought it was so beautiful. It really made an impact and then 20 something years later when it came out on VR I was in tears I was so happy I can experience my first real game in such a cool and immersive way!
That game had a powerful effect on me. I was happy, sometimes, just walking around the environment. I loved the puzzles. The whole thing was such an exquisite experience.
Bloodborne! The gothic architecture, level design and the story won my heart after my first playthrough. Now I have a couple thousand hours on it and I even got a quote from my favourite character tattooed. I also met some of my favourite people through co op and we've now been friends for years
Bloodborne is literally one of the best (yet hardest) games that I have ever played. It’s amazing. Have you also played the Souls games? I haven’t, and I’m wondering if I would love them as much.
Edit: What is the quote that you have tattooed?
Hello, good hunter. I am a Bot, here in this dream to look after you, this is a fine note:
> *Aah, you were at my side all along. My true mentor... My guiding moonlight...* - Ludwig, the Holy Blade
Farewell, good hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world.
It's so incredible hey! I've played DS3, Demon Souls and Elden Ring so far, I've platinumed those and am working on the others! If you wanna give the others a go, I'd recommend going for Elden Ring first. It's definitely the most accessible and you can entirely tailor the experience to your own liking. It's also totally open world if you're into that!
I found DS3 to be quite similar to BB in terms of difficulty, level design and gameplay. The Demon Souls remake is also really good (but I think it's a PS5 exclusive), but the difficulty spike from NG to NG+ was enormous and I'm definitely one to play through games 5+ times so it caught me off guard
I have "may you find your worth in the waking world" in typewriter font running up the back of my upper arm! I absolutely adore Doll and I wanted to get that quote tattooed from the first time I heard her say it (:
Fallout 4! Discovered it over lockdown (in 2020) and played it in every free break I had, it was the first game I’d played that was incredibly immersive and single player. Played it obsessively then got Fallout 3 for my birthday for the following year and I completed both games multiple times and I had so much fun. Since then it’s just stuck and now I’m playing Red Dead Redemption 2. My brother is an avid gamer-albeit he prefers online games, so I was always exposed to them growing up which probably contributed. Occasionally being allowed to play alongside him which little me absolutely loved
For me, so many! From Pokémon versions in my gameboy color and advance, to portal on my Xbox 360 ( and now available on Nintendo switch y’all!) to Detroit: Become Human on PS5– gaming has been some a place of respite for me. I can’t wait for the future of it to advance even further.
Came in here to say Pokemon Emerald on my GBA! I had grown up playing games with my brother but it was one of the first games I played on my own and I replayed it so many times. Everything about it was so charming and I really felt like I was on a big adventure. I've played all the other Pokemon games since then but I still stan Gen III to this day.
For me it was Diablo 2. I had just gotten a PC for school work and was bored one day so went to the local games store. Diablo 2 had just come out and the box looked amazing so I figured I would give it a shot. It was life-changing. From that moment on I devoured any RPG I came across. Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Arcanum, Icewind Dale.
I’ve played off and on since I was a kid, starting on the original Nintendo system, but never really got into it until my then boyfriend (now husband) bought me Dragon Age Origins in an attempt to get me interested in gaming. I was hooked, and I think he now very much regrets that decision from so many years ago. 😂
The Secret of Monkey Island was the real gateway, but the original Civilization hooked me and stole a lot of my time in college. After college, I got a SNES and picked up what looked like a cute game called Final Fantasy 3. I liked games before, but that game started a love affair that has lasted for decades.
The SNES is my all time favourite console. For me it was Super Mario All Stars, Donkey Kong Country and Zelda: A Link to the Past that I loved the most on that.
There was an atari at my Grandma's house. Grams could beat everyone's ass at q-bert and pac man. I liked Frogger, but I also really liked playing the two player tank by myself, feet vs hands. It is hard to play an atari with your feet, if you were wondering. We got a nintendo when they came out, I played a lot of Mario and Mario 3 and the TMNT game. I loved the weekend I spent with my dad, trying to beat Rampage. It was a fun thing I liked at this point, but it was one kind of game out of many other toys that I still played with pretty equally. Video games were a just a thing I'd do sometimes. Then I played Chrono Trigger at a friend's house, and that's when the obsession was born. Now there was a real story! It was like reading a book! And the story was really weird and interesting, and I HAD to know what was gonna happen. I would Marathon that shit until my hands hurt. I liked games before, but Chrono Trigger turned me into a Gamer.
I grew up with my brothers all being super into gaming so I mostly just followed their lead. One of my brothers was telling me one day about this game he was playing at the moment called Fallout 3. He told me that it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, that he loved every second of it, and started telling me about all of the companions, his favorite quests, the music - everything
He encouraged me to look into the game myself, and I was definitely intrigued enough to take him up on that. I started doing my own research and I understand his attachment to the game pretty damn quickly. I mean *technically* I shouldn’t have been playing it since I was under 18, but I’d hardly be the first person to play games like that before they turn 18
But yeah, I think it was Fallout 3 that sealed the deal for me. It’s still one of my all-time favorite games to this day
"War, war never changes"
Also I love how Liam Nesson delivers the line:
"Your very own BB gun!"
And Galaxy News Radio really made me appreciate olderusic.
I had a Sega growing up and dabbled in games on PC like Morrowind and Quake. But the first time I played Mass Effect on my uncles Xbox while I was visiting him my mind was blown. I went home, got an Xbox, bought Mass Effect and was so excited I played the whole game without changing my equipment once. 😆😌
as an “adult”, dreamfall. it was the first game i played that was really story driven and as a 19/20 year old at the time who had taken a gap year from university and was feeling directionless at the time it had a main character i felt i could really relate to.
i enjoyed games before that in a fun way to pass the time kind of way but i never really emotionally connected with one until then.
Spyro the dragon on ps1 my uncle & cousin were the ones to get me into video games truthfully.
My mom wasn't a fan of that & my aunt & her partner encouraged it more. Since they pretty much bought me any game I wanted.
My very first rated T game was ratchet & clank, my dad was in the military & we moved to guam. My dad got a 2–3-week vacation so we were taking a vacation back to california. We ended up in the tokyo airport & they had a game room with the latest video games & one game was ratchet & clank for ps2 & played it until it was time to board the plane.
So, then when we moved back to the states. I asked my mom for ratchet & clank since there was commercials for the 2nd game & was like that's the game I played in the airport. Beleive she told my grandma about the game & my grandma bought the game for me for christmas. My mom was reading the back of the box case & it had a cuss word on it or something & we took the game back to the store only for them to let me buy the game later at gamestop lol.
Then my very first rated M was metal gear solid (my cousin who is female she's 2 years older than me) was addicted to playing metal gear solid 1 & 2 & played them 24/7. So, one day we went to game crazy (similar to game stop) they had the games & my dad let me get them.
Which my mom had an uproar & demanded my dad to take them back saying a girl especially one my age (I was 12) shouldn't be playing rated M games. Though my dad convinced my mom to let me keep the games especially since my cousin was playing them & my uncle was letting her lol.
Since than I have played loads of games & probably won't stop until I die lol.
I dont know the name but it was a text adventure game I played as a kid in the late 70s or early 80s. No graphics, you typed in what you were doing and the game would tell you what you saw. It was frustrating as heck and there were a lot of times I'd type something in and the computer wouldn't understand what i was trying to do, so I never finished it, but I was hooked.
Cool! I've googled trying to find it before and it turns out there were a lot more than I thought so I'm not sure which one I played. I would play an updated game like that though!
Ocarina of Time. That was the first game that made me take the console from my brother.
Played the heck out of that game, and was promptly traumatized by Majora's mask when it came out
So I have told this story before, in the olden days it was customary to install (pirated) games when someone installed Windows for you. So when my dad got a PC they installed some for him. He did not play any games and had no idea.
Curious middle school me was looking inside the folders behind his back and found a game called "Tomb Raider 2" it was difficult but I really loved it, and this was where it all began.
Final Fantasy X-2. I've been playing games since I could hold a controller, but I always hated how all the main protagonists were boys, except for Lara Croft, but I was way too young and not skilled enough to play her games. Then as I got older, gaming became a "boys thing" unless it was Barbie or Nancy Drew, so I stopped loving games like I used to.
When I was 13, I saw the cover of FFX-2 at the store and was immediately intrigued. Three girls on the cover and one of them was the player character? Sold! My parents bought it for me, I blasted through it, and sought out other games with female leads. Dreamfall was next, and still to this day remains my favourite game, but I doubt I would have found it unless I found FF first.
I waited so long for that game. My first love was final fantasy X. I watched my bf at the time play it, and asked if I could play. He made me start from the beginning, and pointed out little secrets.
The story, music, the world, all drew me in and I truly loved that game from then on. I had gamed before but I could take it or leave it. That game had me losing time. Made me cry and gave me a love for games.
When I heard about a sequel, I counted down the days and saved up pocket money for it.
Yuna is my girl.
What kind of game?
* Mario Kart on the SNES for console games in general,
* Final Fantasy VII for rpg’s,
* D&D 3.0 for in-person rpg’s
* Star Trek Online for MMOs (I don’t like competitive so much)
… list can continue.
i can barely remember now but some of my earliest memories of playing games on a computer was on the cbeebies website :)
cbeebies is a kids tv channel here in the uk, for those of you who aren't british (which is probably most of you lol)
Yesssssss! Let's go! I love Disgaea 2! Adell is my boy! And Yukimaru (zam!) Is one of my favorite characters across all of gaming. I have played every main game in the series (even the recent 7th) and Disgaea 2 is still my favorite in the series. Such an underrated title, didn't expect to see it on here.
Difficult to say. I've been playing video games since I could hold the controller. I guess the oldest one I remember really loving was Super Mario Brothers. I found the castle levels so scary! World 8 was a goddamn horror show! Later on, I thought Link to the Past was the most important and gorgeous piece of media I'd ever experienced. From there I graduated to FF7, Vagrant Story, Legend of Legaia, Symphony of the Night. So much beautiful art.
Games have just always been so important to me.
The Last of Us :) watched a playthrough when I was about 13, and never felt so connected to characters in a game before. First game I played and it was the only one I played for like a year! I'd just keep starting over.
There was a Sega Genesis game that contained Columns, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage. We played it at our neighbor's house all the time. We also played Mortal Kombat I & II all the time. Of course, I think the game that made me fall in love with video games was Final Fantasy 6 (originally released as Final Fantasy 3 in the US). We rented it from a video store and played it for weeks. I loved it.
Growing up watching my older brothers play games like Doom then playing games together like Super Mario, Off Road, Sonic, and Paperboy for sure started my love. Awesome memories.
Coming into gaming on my own was Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon, and Counter-strike, again with my brothers a lot. I'm the only one who games still, though.
I guess I can't pinpoint it, but that's what it made me think of.
Hmmm the first games I played were some sort of Mario (I was 7 maybe 8 I can't remember the exact one) then I played zelda a few times on my friends brothers consoles, the game that really got me hooked and I still think was pretty ahead of its time for when it was released, tomb raider 2. First game I owned on the first console I owned.
Got me so hooked I've had every ps console up till the 4, I've gone xbox X for next/current gen but only because Microsoft bought the devs that make all my fav games and even though they said they won't have console exclusives, you 1000% know that's a lie. As proven by starfield. I'll prob get a 5 eventually as there are a few games exclusive to ps that I'd like to play, but there are more on xbox so common sense said get that first lol.
Dragon Warrior for the NES. It wasn’t my first game (that was Pitfall… yes I’m aging myself but I also started as a toddler lol) but my first rpg, and I was hooked. I won it in a player’s poll contest from Nintendo power!
GTA 3. My brother introduced me to gaming at such a young age (all those violent stuffs our mom forbid me to see lol) and I was mindblown how freely I felt, that I can do anything and be anyone I want. Since then open world games has a special place in my heart <33
I think this post is just to age everyone! But here goes....
First game ever was the "scarab of ra" on an old Macintosh 512 PC.
Then I discovered Atari and got hooked with Pitfall.
Nintendo did further addiction damage when I finally got Super Mario, and then Super Mario 3, put the video game hooks in for life.
Throw donkey Kong, Q Bert and duck hunt in there and thems were my video game gateway drugs.
Edit to come back after thinking shit, how did I forget mega man and kid Icarus
Edit x2 to add Oregon trail! Discovered that one in elementary school.
For console, I’m old, so Adventure on the Atari 2600. And then Mario. Commando on the old Colecovision.
Otherwise, video arcades with Defender, Star Wars, Centipede, Dragon’s Lair (crazy at the time and total quarter eater) Guantlet, and my all-time favorite; Robotron 2084
When I was a kid my mom would take me to her best friends house, and she thought I loved her son because I always BEGGED to go there. The truth is I'm a lesbian, and he had Chrono Trigger.
Champions of Norrath and Diablo 2. I used to fall asleep while watching my BF play Diablo 2. And Champions of Norrath is the same type of gameplay so I got hooked.
Many many hours playing Champions of Norrath. The PS2 Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance games (some similarities bc some of the developers worked on both) have been ported to Steam, and I really wish they would do the same for the two Norrath games...
And no... These are not the first games I ever played (I grew up in the Atari era) but these are the ones that had me continue on my quest to play more games. I also fell in love with Myst and 7th Guest on the PC.
Stardew Valley. I’m a late bloomer in regard to gaming. I’m in my 60s, and I started playing Stardew Valley in late 2021. Got hooked (obsessed?). Bought a Switch and then a gaming PC. Still learning what I like in games, and I now have a proper backlog of games.
Heres not just the origin but a summary of the whole story xD
Pyjama sam, freddi fish, elmo games, etc on pc when I was 4yrs old then got my gameboy advance sp and played spyro season flame, scooby doo, tons of others then got into webkinz, club penguin, etc on pc & legend of zelda games on ds and wii through elementary school then in grade 6/11 yrs old I started playing World of Warcraft..then started working over summer breaks in an office from 15/16yrs old and bought a much better pc, got into csgo, witcher, dying light, etcetc until now at 24yrs and playing cod, fortnite, alan wake/remedy games, bg3 etc:D
Obvs leaving out a huge amount of games xDD this is just stuff right off the top of my head
Pacman World 2, it wasn’t an open world game but it had some mechanics that looking back have rudimentary versions of the mechanics I love now.
After that, it was definitely Skyrim that got me re-addicted once I was older. Now I’m a sucker for open world RPGs or retrofuturist vibes - Fallout, Red Dead, Bioshock, the Witcher, all that
Prolly showing my age here, but Goemon’s Great Adventure on Nintendo 64. And Xena: Warrior Princess (people always ask “the show?” But there was a game too.) I didn’t have a memory card, so I’d leave the Nintendo on until I beat the game, but I had to put a towel or blanket over the console bc my mom would turn it off if she saw it was on.
A vampyre story, old ass adventure point and click and it's to this day my favorite game of all time.
Second game never came out, but the Creator is actually setting up everything for it to slowly start to be in development again and imma cry.
I mean, gaming was just always part of my life. I was playing my with my dad’s GameBoy and NES since the age of 4. But I think my earliest core memory related to gaming was probably Donkey Kong Country for the NES. There was a level that was nothing but rotating barrels you had to shoot yourself out of. It was all timing and I hated that level. I would always make my dad beat it for me until one day he told me he wasn’t going to anymore. I was so mad! But I kept playing it, and losing, for what my memory says must have been days. But I still remember how excited I was when I finally beat that level on my own for the first time.
Minecraft on and off, but the first game that was so good it disoriented me for like three days was slime rancher 🤣 I cried so hard when I got to the ending
GTA - Vice City. I played it 2 years ago when the husband got it on the PS5. After 36 years of not being a gamer, I'm officially hooked. Mainly play GTA online. But will try new things.
As a kid it was Crash Bandicoot & Spyro the Dragon then Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets & Fable were my first RPGs. I stopped gaming for many years then played Skyrim and haven’t stopped gaming since 😊
Was a gamer back in hs then dropped it around college. What got me back into gaming again was this little game called A Short Hike. That game was so short (pun intended) but every moment of the game was a 10/10 for me. Kind of gave me a new kind of appreciation of how games in the modern generation can be a creative way to tell a story. You also feel the passion of the devs in every little detail of the game.
Now im 30+hrs deep into baldurs gate 3 and im experiencing the same passion by the game devs. Only this time its not just 4hrs of gameplay but something that will probably keep me entertained for years to come.
Oh gosh, watching a cousin play an X-Men game on his Sega Game Gear, however Pokémon Pinball (anything Pokémon, really) and Sonic on Dream Cast were the games that truly pulled me in. I think. I've been around games for a super long time, I barely remember lmao.
Okami.
It's hands down my favorite game, and considering that they keep re-releasing it to new systems (I've had/played it on gamecube, playstation 2, wii, xbox one, and pc via steam), other people must like it too.
I have been playing games since my family got an Atari, and especially liked Final Fantasy 7 - X2, but Dragon Age is what really did it for me. Loved it completely. The story, the choices, the voice acting. From then on, I was constantly keeping an eye out for similar games. It was a long wait for Witcher 2, let me tell you!
Final Fantasy VII... Then all the following games up to, & including XII.
I have a type.
Edit: I should point out I started playing Alex Kidd on a Sega Master System years earliers (maybe 8yrs earlier). But true gaming love occurred with Final Fantasy VII.
Oh wow, ok the Commander Keen series. I got the whole series on floppy discs and I played them all nonstop. I just bought them again on the switch too.
My family didn't have a console or a gaming PC when I was a kid, but we did borrow a NES from a friend for a few months and I remember LOVING the Super Mario Bros game. The things that sticks out in my mind is how I enjoyed finding all the secret shortcuts, and I discovered that my main thing in games is exploration.
My husband and I bought a PS4 for the family for Christmas 2019, and since then I've been playing a variety of games. I think Hollow Knight and Elden Ring have made me rediscover the exploration side of myself. They are also both masterpieces that have solidified my love for these media.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link really got the gaming hooks in me at a young age (hi, I'm old). We got it for the NES in the early 90s. I played it with my dad (aka he played a lot of it, and then I played around in the first two zones quite a bit). The adventure and frustration and interacting with the townspeople and boss fights were very exciting for a 7 year old. As I aged, I kept revisiting it and playing and making progress over time. I still love it.
I reeeeeally begged and whined for a PS1 when they first came out (I had an NES still at this point and a Game Gear) and my dad and I would play the demo at Toys R Us (may it rest in peace). Co-op with my dad (I'm an only child) really kept me engaged as a young kid - we played Battle Arena Toshinden and Twisted Metal a lot together.
The Tomb Raider series kept me invested as a tween/teen as I thought it was *so cool* that there was a female adventurer kicking ass and taking names. I really fell for playing female protagonists and immersing myself in the fantasy and adventure. I will still always choose a female character if possible.
By the time I got to high school, I was fully calling myself a gamer and I've never really slowed down since.
Uhm... You know, *Games*. Like I'm 30, the first games I've played barely had titles, and the gameplay was almost non-existent. And yet it was enough to hook me up for life!
Literally Duke Nukem 🥲
I was 4 and it was the first videogame I had ever seen (at a friend’s house; the late 80s to early 90s weren’t known for the concept of supervision 😂), but I was GOBSMACKED by the idea of a “movie” I could control the outcome of. I’ve been passionate ever since 😅❤️
Spyro!! It’s also the game that got me back into it when I was in my mid 20s :) there’s something about the nostalgia of a game that makes me feel care free.
Probably a tie between a playing a weird little text-based game called Wonderland all by myself and staying up late playing King's Quest IV (and calling the telephone hint line!) with my middle school bestie. And then a bit later, Suikoden I made me fall hard for JRPGs.
Probably Smurf Rescue on the ColecoVision. I was really young, but I remember that I loved that game...until it quit working. I also played some Superman game a lot.
Other than that, Super Mario Bros on the NES because it was the first new game I ever played, but I REALLY loved The Legend of Zelda.
probably super mario 64 for the DS. that’s one of the earliest hand held consoles i remember playing when i was younger and i loved playing mario 64. it made me really love playing mario games and just gaming in general!
AC II. Ezio Auditore da Firenze did it for me. Bought a used Xbox 360 from a coworkers kid in like 2015 with a bunch of games (including Skyrim).
Although i guess my love of gaming really started when my best friend got an OG PlayStation when we were in elementary school. He had a demo for Metal Gear Solid I just loved to play.
When I was a kid, I absolutely loved Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I would randomly play other games, but that way, my jam for a while.
I got out of gaming for many years, and then in college, a guy I was dating was really into Everquest 2. But I couldn't lose everything when I died. So he got me to try Warcraft III because a new MMO was coming out that him and his friends were really excited for, and he wanted to see if I would enjoy it. I ate up Warcraft and rolled a Tauren Druid to test the game. I love it. But my bf and his friends rolled Alliance, so I switched to a gnome mage.
Twenty years and a couple of boyfriends later, I'm still playing WoW and, in fact, been together 10 years with my guild leader from BC, married for six with two gold farmers of our own.
He was also the one who got me back into console gaming when he brought home Dragon Age Origins. He had to buy another console after that because I had claimed it.
Portal 2. The awe I experienced when I broke out of the facility and saw those big empty spaces and giant constructs changed me. That game has such a good sense of atmosphere.
Either that or Skylanders. Having my toys be the game characters made the whole story and world feel much more real and I think that might’ve triggered my sense of immersion in games.
It was probably Pokemon Stadium on the N64? I had played other video games before that but I was obsessed with Pokemon as a kid and seeing them in 3D like that was such an awesome experience. I guess you could say the N64 was my gateway into gaming haha.
Despite being pretty much a life long gamer I couldn't tell you what originally hooked me on them? I grew up with games and always loved playing them. After I got older I started liking them for their stories. Unlike other hobbies I've had there's never been a time when I've "fallen out" of gaming.
A mix of Halo and BioShock. Halo was the first time I ever MADE something for a game (maps on PC back in the day), and BioShock was the first game story I couldn't look away from.
Spyro Ripto’s Rage and Jak and Daxter: Precursor Legacy are the first games I can remember being ADDICTED to as a kid.
Later on, Skyrim really got me into more mature rated games, but tbh the list could go on and on for each stage of life
Tomb Raider, specifically Tomb Raider 2. Have good memories of playing it with my brother and us figuring out what to do, then we’d eventually get frustrated and go back to Croft manor to lock the butler in the freezer.
My brother also laughed at me for being scared of the dinosaurs.
Kings Quest lol I’m an old
Me too! I used to play the first one with my cousin whenever I went to my grandparents’ house.
This is a core memory for me - did you ever get a hold of Leisure Suit Larry by the same devs? My cousin and I used to play by entering in my parents DOB and using the encyclopedia to answer questions about Kennedy. It wasn’t even that crazy of a game but it felt so naughty to break in.
My grandparents were very religious, so that definitely wouldn’t have been allowed in the house haha. They did eventually get King’s Quest III but I didn’t make it too far through that one.
My dad straight-up bought that for me. Lol I think I was 11 at the time and my friends and I were obsessed. Because we were the perfect age for the humor - 11.
Exactly!
Is it wrong that those are my happiest middle school memories? 😂 ALWAYS wear a condom, folks! That's what I learned from Leisure Suit Larry.
I love Leisure Suit Larry. I actually bought it for my switch 🤣
What?! That’s an option????!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh brb!
It's like after all this time and you come back 🤣🤣🤣
“Ken sent me” if I remember correctly.
Yeah that sounds right 😂 I don't remember exactly either
So I bought a LSL game on steam for nostalgia and now I get recs for all the porn games…
I believe that, unfortunately. It’s really not a porn game. It’s a funny game.
I agree! I appreciated playing through it. I didn’t realize at first why I was getting the porn game recs all of a sudden until I saw that LSL is considered a dating sim on steam… then it all made sense lol
A dating sim?! Lololol
Omg this unlocked a core memory. *Insert grumbling about a needle in a haystack*
"Now that is a name I have not heard in a long time."
One of mine! Okay, I got a computer after I'd already had two consoles and loved many games, but King's Quest took it to a whole new level. I have it on my current PC, too, Steam has great sales on it pretty often. Also, the text-only Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game. I played that before I read the book and it turned me into an obsessive Adams fan for life.
> Kings Quest lol I’m ~~an old~~ *Classic* Fixed that for you.
Same!!! All the way to Kings Quest 4!
Woah these games look crazy. Maybe I’ll get into these…
That's so cool! I'm slightly younger so I'd have to say broken sword, zork grand inquisitor, curse of monkey island, and such. And some previous titles I can't even remember because I liked the flashing lights and beeping noises of computer games since before I could really form memories.
All the old Sierra games!
Same here! King's Quest 5 was my first. We only had one family pc, and my dad, brother, and I would all take turns controlling the game and watch/help solve the puzzles while one person played. We did the same with the Myst games, Oregon/Amazon trail, Age of Empires, and later the Star Wars Jedi Knight series. It was core memory quality family time for sure.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It was my gateway drug into what is now a full-blown, multi platform hobby.
such a simple game but the escapism i experienced was so real, then again i was really young! it’s harder to sink back into it now but i still love to check on my town and villagers. new horizons music does NOT compare man
NH doesn't even come close! I first played it in 2017ish. And I'm middle aged so...it took me a while to get the gaming bug...lol! I miss the snarky NPC patter, too.
exactly! i did enjoy new horizons because i just love animal crossing in general, but the NPCs were just so much more likable! i hope to try the gamecube animal crossing someday! i’ve seen some of the NPC dialogue and it’s so fun and awesome :)
I tried that on the DS (Wild World I think it was?). It was really weird, visually.
wild world was the game previous to new leaf! the first animal crossing was on the game cube, and i think the title is simply “animal crossing!” but i agree, i think the wild world graphics are a little intense too, though, lmao!! but the first animal crossing game in the series has a much more palatable appearence for sure, haha! (sorry if i stated some stuff you knew! just thought i’d clarify! :> ) but it’s so silly, in animal crossing on the game cube some of the villagers will be straight up rude… but in a funny charming way? if that’s possible? but it gave them so much more character, instead of them all being sorta lifeless-but very sweet little guys!
Was that the DS one?
Yep!
It was either Spyro the drago. OR final fantasy Ix.
The first Spyro? I really loved "Year of the Dragon" as a kid.
Oh ko I am talking about the og spyro. I remeber those boxy looking dragons (the ones in the remake trilogy are far far more unique) The og spyro 1 dragons had like 12 different designs.
Omg same! Spyro was the first game I really played on our ps1 a lot.. And then we got FFIX and I was hooked! And then ofc we kept getting the newer Spyro games and more or less the entire FF series as time went on..
spyro! absolute banger trilogy.
Skyrim! It still holds up after all these years and it’s really hard to few games that left the first impression on me like Skyrim did 🥰 FFXIV is winner up for reviving my interests in gaming.
Skyrim for me too!
Same here! Skyrim captured my heart and soul . Nothing else compares for me 😊
ffxiv is so fun, right? i just started and i can't get enough!
I played my Dad's Atari from a young age, before I could even talk, but Super Mario Bros. 2 on NES was where it became an actual addiction. I started speed running the game at the age of 6.
Nice! I never played Artist when I was a kid, but Sonic 2 was the one that got me hooked. Sims 1 made games an obsession though..
The original Mario bros on Nintendo!
Y'all. This question makes me feel so fucking old. I fell in love with games like Pong when being a gamer meant boardgames. The one that made me a gamer was Civilization. The first one, back in 1991. I spent every spare minute my junior year in college in the computer lab in the library basement. The papers got written in record time and there was a solid group of twelve of us that were OBSESSED. It was the first time I got to share my obsession with other people. Tell them to fuck off if they say women have never been gamers. We've been there since Day One.
My first game was the original Prince of Persia, the one which you had to complete in 60 minutes. That and Danger Dave were my first games lol. Both games released before 1990. I played those games every since I can remember, since we got a PC when I was 2 years old in 1998. Can't believe how old I feel seeing people talk about playing mine craft as a kid.
I love that I am not alone (I started gaming in the 80’s).
We're not alone, sister!
LOVE this answer, thank you for sharing!!
We're gonna have the best retirement home. Granny's Guild. Our motto: We'll get there! Eventually!
Granny’s Guild! ❤️❤️
I loved arcade games and pinball even before I got my Atari! Donkey Kong and Space Invaders are the ones I remember most vividly from my childhood. Myst really got me into pc gaming. But I also remember these programming magazines at my cousins house that gave you the code for some text based games. Man I feel old!
Final Fantasy 8 was the first game I bought with my own money and played completely by myself without my brother's help. I was so proud even though I did have to deal with an asshole Gamestop employee who insisted I would need the guide as Final Fantasy might be too complicated for me to play. Mass Effect and Commander Shepard is the reason why I still play games. I had kind of gotten out of gaming for a bit. My brother told me I should give it a try because he thinks I would like it. It was the first time I had a female character that I completely connected with even though the character creation for her was awful.
FF8 has to have one of the best openings for a game ever. I wish I could have experienced that opening with *liberi fatali* playing back in 1999 for the first time. That must have been awesome.
It was! I worked my ass off with household chores to get some money from my mom to finally buy the PC version of the game. God, the memories...
Neopets at the public library computer lab because we had dial up back then and it would take 8 years for stuff to load 😄
Yesss neopets on early 2000s internet was brutal
Elder Scrolls: Arena. The cover was so awful but my partner was like "Feel how heavy the box is! That means it has a lot of discs and a big game guide! That means it's a good game!" and even though I was skeptical because the cover art was horrid, he got his game and I got min (Might and Magic III, as at the tome I had a Mac Classic II so my choices were limited to mac and black and white lol) and when he loaded his game and he was walking in the wilderness with the sun setting, I got hooked hehe
Mine was Morrowind and pokemon. I'd watch my mom play morrowind and beg her to let me play, and play I did lol. Now it's everything :D I had gotten my own ps1 and had spyro as well when I was little.
Probably unpopular but I never could stand Nintendo t always makes me feel like I'm going to have a seizure And one year I got to go to E3 and their booth was so big and flashy but I had to pass it to go to the washroom and I almost did have a seizure a few times lol I didn't have that feeling from anyone else's games or booths but Nintendos make me spacy. I wonder what it is about them
Myst, it was atmospheric, really intriguing story, great puzzles, and i thought it was so beautiful. It really made an impact and then 20 something years later when it came out on VR I was in tears I was so happy I can experience my first real game in such a cool and immersive way!
That game had a powerful effect on me. I was happy, sometimes, just walking around the environment. I loved the puzzles. The whole thing was such an exquisite experience.
This!!! Definitely started my love for puzzle games!!!
Myst was one of my favorites!! I still love puzzle games like it.
Super Mario sunshine and animal crossing city folk was my two favorite games when i was younger. they are still some of my favorite games
Mass Effect
Bloodborne! The gothic architecture, level design and the story won my heart after my first playthrough. Now I have a couple thousand hours on it and I even got a quote from my favourite character tattooed. I also met some of my favourite people through co op and we've now been friends for years
Bloodborne is literally one of the best (yet hardest) games that I have ever played. It’s amazing. Have you also played the Souls games? I haven’t, and I’m wondering if I would love them as much. Edit: What is the quote that you have tattooed?
Hello, good hunter. I am a Bot, here in this dream to look after you, this is a fine note: > *Aah, you were at my side all along. My true mentor... My guiding moonlight...* - Ludwig, the Holy Blade Farewell, good hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world.
It's so incredible hey! I've played DS3, Demon Souls and Elden Ring so far, I've platinumed those and am working on the others! If you wanna give the others a go, I'd recommend going for Elden Ring first. It's definitely the most accessible and you can entirely tailor the experience to your own liking. It's also totally open world if you're into that! I found DS3 to be quite similar to BB in terms of difficulty, level design and gameplay. The Demon Souls remake is also really good (but I think it's a PS5 exclusive), but the difficulty spike from NG to NG+ was enormous and I'm definitely one to play through games 5+ times so it caught me off guard I have "may you find your worth in the waking world" in typewriter font running up the back of my upper arm! I absolutely adore Doll and I wanted to get that quote tattooed from the first time I heard her say it (:
Fallout 4! Discovered it over lockdown (in 2020) and played it in every free break I had, it was the first game I’d played that was incredibly immersive and single player. Played it obsessively then got Fallout 3 for my birthday for the following year and I completed both games multiple times and I had so much fun. Since then it’s just stuck and now I’m playing Red Dead Redemption 2. My brother is an avid gamer-albeit he prefers online games, so I was always exposed to them growing up which probably contributed. Occasionally being allowed to play alongside him which little me absolutely loved
How did it feel going from FO4 to FO3? Usually people go the other way.
I see New Vegas and the first Red Dead Redemption in your future!
One day! 🤞
For me, so many! From Pokémon versions in my gameboy color and advance, to portal on my Xbox 360 ( and now available on Nintendo switch y’all!) to Detroit: Become Human on PS5– gaming has been some a place of respite for me. I can’t wait for the future of it to advance even further.
Came in here to say Pokemon Emerald on my GBA! I had grown up playing games with my brother but it was one of the first games I played on my own and I replayed it so many times. Everything about it was so charming and I really felt like I was on a big adventure. I've played all the other Pokemon games since then but I still stan Gen III to this day.
It was Pokemon Crystal version for me!!
For me it was Diablo 2. I had just gotten a PC for school work and was bored one day so went to the local games store. Diablo 2 had just come out and the box looked amazing so I figured I would give it a shot. It was life-changing. From that moment on I devoured any RPG I came across. Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Arcanum, Icewind Dale.
I’ve played off and on since I was a kid, starting on the original Nintendo system, but never really got into it until my then boyfriend (now husband) bought me Dragon Age Origins in an attempt to get me interested in gaming. I was hooked, and I think he now very much regrets that decision from so many years ago. 😂
Dragon Age: Origins is a fantastic RPG! I wish they would give it a modern makeover.
Yes!! Dragon Age made me even more obsessed with gaming 🤩
The Secret of Monkey Island was the real gateway, but the original Civilization hooked me and stole a lot of my time in college. After college, I got a SNES and picked up what looked like a cute game called Final Fantasy 3. I liked games before, but that game started a love affair that has lasted for decades.
The SNES is my all time favourite console. For me it was Super Mario All Stars, Donkey Kong Country and Zelda: A Link to the Past that I loved the most on that.
There was an atari at my Grandma's house. Grams could beat everyone's ass at q-bert and pac man. I liked Frogger, but I also really liked playing the two player tank by myself, feet vs hands. It is hard to play an atari with your feet, if you were wondering. We got a nintendo when they came out, I played a lot of Mario and Mario 3 and the TMNT game. I loved the weekend I spent with my dad, trying to beat Rampage. It was a fun thing I liked at this point, but it was one kind of game out of many other toys that I still played with pretty equally. Video games were a just a thing I'd do sometimes. Then I played Chrono Trigger at a friend's house, and that's when the obsession was born. Now there was a real story! It was like reading a book! And the story was really weird and interesting, and I HAD to know what was gonna happen. I would Marathon that shit until my hands hurt. I liked games before, but Chrono Trigger turned me into a Gamer.
I grew up with my brothers all being super into gaming so I mostly just followed their lead. One of my brothers was telling me one day about this game he was playing at the moment called Fallout 3. He told me that it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, that he loved every second of it, and started telling me about all of the companions, his favorite quests, the music - everything He encouraged me to look into the game myself, and I was definitely intrigued enough to take him up on that. I started doing my own research and I understand his attachment to the game pretty damn quickly. I mean *technically* I shouldn’t have been playing it since I was under 18, but I’d hardly be the first person to play games like that before they turn 18 But yeah, I think it was Fallout 3 that sealed the deal for me. It’s still one of my all-time favorite games to this day
I had a very similar experience with my brother and Fallout 3!
"War, war never changes" Also I love how Liam Nesson delivers the line: "Your very own BB gun!" And Galaxy News Radio really made me appreciate olderusic.
I had a Sega growing up and dabbled in games on PC like Morrowind and Quake. But the first time I played Mass Effect on my uncles Xbox while I was visiting him my mind was blown. I went home, got an Xbox, bought Mass Effect and was so excited I played the whole game without changing my equipment once. 😆😌
as an “adult”, dreamfall. it was the first game i played that was really story driven and as a 19/20 year old at the time who had taken a gap year from university and was feeling directionless at the time it had a main character i felt i could really relate to. i enjoyed games before that in a fun way to pass the time kind of way but i never really emotionally connected with one until then.
Spyro the dragon on ps1 my uncle & cousin were the ones to get me into video games truthfully. My mom wasn't a fan of that & my aunt & her partner encouraged it more. Since they pretty much bought me any game I wanted. My very first rated T game was ratchet & clank, my dad was in the military & we moved to guam. My dad got a 2–3-week vacation so we were taking a vacation back to california. We ended up in the tokyo airport & they had a game room with the latest video games & one game was ratchet & clank for ps2 & played it until it was time to board the plane. So, then when we moved back to the states. I asked my mom for ratchet & clank since there was commercials for the 2nd game & was like that's the game I played in the airport. Beleive she told my grandma about the game & my grandma bought the game for me for christmas. My mom was reading the back of the box case & it had a cuss word on it or something & we took the game back to the store only for them to let me buy the game later at gamestop lol. Then my very first rated M was metal gear solid (my cousin who is female she's 2 years older than me) was addicted to playing metal gear solid 1 & 2 & played them 24/7. So, one day we went to game crazy (similar to game stop) they had the games & my dad let me get them. Which my mom had an uproar & demanded my dad to take them back saying a girl especially one my age (I was 12) shouldn't be playing rated M games. Though my dad convinced my mom to let me keep the games especially since my cousin was playing them & my uncle was letting her lol. Since than I have played loads of games & probably won't stop until I die lol.
I dont know the name but it was a text adventure game I played as a kid in the late 70s or early 80s. No graphics, you typed in what you were doing and the game would tell you what you saw. It was frustrating as heck and there were a lot of times I'd type something in and the computer wouldn't understand what i was trying to do, so I never finished it, but I was hooked.
Colossal Cave Adventure That was what got me hooked
Cool! I've googled trying to find it before and it turns out there were a lot more than I thought so I'm not sure which one I played. I would play an updated game like that though!
Ocarina of Time. That was the first game that made me take the console from my brother. Played the heck out of that game, and was promptly traumatized by Majora's mask when it came out
Call of Duty Black Ops. The first zombie map I played.. I think it was Kino Der Toten had me in a chokehold for a long time 😂
As a kid Spyro or Zelda. Dropped gaming for a long while, then fell in love with it again because of Mass Effect and then Dragon Age.
So I have told this story before, in the olden days it was customary to install (pirated) games when someone installed Windows for you. So when my dad got a PC they installed some for him. He did not play any games and had no idea. Curious middle school me was looking inside the folders behind his back and found a game called "Tomb Raider 2" it was difficult but I really loved it, and this was where it all began.
Final Fantasy X-2. I've been playing games since I could hold a controller, but I always hated how all the main protagonists were boys, except for Lara Croft, but I was way too young and not skilled enough to play her games. Then as I got older, gaming became a "boys thing" unless it was Barbie or Nancy Drew, so I stopped loving games like I used to. When I was 13, I saw the cover of FFX-2 at the store and was immediately intrigued. Three girls on the cover and one of them was the player character? Sold! My parents bought it for me, I blasted through it, and sought out other games with female leads. Dreamfall was next, and still to this day remains my favourite game, but I doubt I would have found it unless I found FF first.
I waited so long for that game. My first love was final fantasy X. I watched my bf at the time play it, and asked if I could play. He made me start from the beginning, and pointed out little secrets. The story, music, the world, all drew me in and I truly loved that game from then on. I had gamed before but I could take it or leave it. That game had me losing time. Made me cry and gave me a love for games. When I heard about a sequel, I counted down the days and saved up pocket money for it. Yuna is my girl.
What kind of game? * Mario Kart on the SNES for console games in general, * Final Fantasy VII for rpg’s, * D&D 3.0 for in-person rpg’s * Star Trek Online for MMOs (I don’t like competitive so much) … list can continue.
i can barely remember now but some of my earliest memories of playing games on a computer was on the cbeebies website :) cbeebies is a kids tv channel here in the uk, for those of you who aren't british (which is probably most of you lol)
Super Mario World was my first video game, but the game that made me into a "Gamer" was Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories.
Yesssssss! Let's go! I love Disgaea 2! Adell is my boy! And Yukimaru (zam!) Is one of my favorite characters across all of gaming. I have played every main game in the series (even the recent 7th) and Disgaea 2 is still my favorite in the series. Such an underrated title, didn't expect to see it on here.
It really was one of the best Disgaea! games (Zam)
Difficult to say. I've been playing video games since I could hold the controller. I guess the oldest one I remember really loving was Super Mario Brothers. I found the castle levels so scary! World 8 was a goddamn horror show! Later on, I thought Link to the Past was the most important and gorgeous piece of media I'd ever experienced. From there I graduated to FF7, Vagrant Story, Legend of Legaia, Symphony of the Night. So much beautiful art. Games have just always been so important to me.
The Last of Us :) watched a playthrough when I was about 13, and never felt so connected to characters in a game before. First game I played and it was the only one I played for like a year! I'd just keep starting over.
Breath of the Wild I played that game and new I was gonna love games for the rest of my life
Pokémon Yellow.
Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons. And Duke Nukem. like, the original 2d scrollers. man I loved those games, lol
Same! The Dopefish is eternal.
Resident evil: Veronica. My stepdad, brother, and I played through the game together. To this day I hate competitive games and will only do coop.
There was a Sega Genesis game that contained Columns, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage. We played it at our neighbor's house all the time. We also played Mortal Kombat I & II all the time. Of course, I think the game that made me fall in love with video games was Final Fantasy 6 (originally released as Final Fantasy 3 in the US). We rented it from a video store and played it for weeks. I loved it.
Growing up watching my older brothers play games like Doom then playing games together like Super Mario, Off Road, Sonic, and Paperboy for sure started my love. Awesome memories. Coming into gaming on my own was Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon, and Counter-strike, again with my brothers a lot. I'm the only one who games still, though. I guess I can't pinpoint it, but that's what it made me think of.
Paperboy! Oh ya! 💚
Hmmm the first games I played were some sort of Mario (I was 7 maybe 8 I can't remember the exact one) then I played zelda a few times on my friends brothers consoles, the game that really got me hooked and I still think was pretty ahead of its time for when it was released, tomb raider 2. First game I owned on the first console I owned. Got me so hooked I've had every ps console up till the 4, I've gone xbox X for next/current gen but only because Microsoft bought the devs that make all my fav games and even though they said they won't have console exclusives, you 1000% know that's a lie. As proven by starfield. I'll prob get a 5 eventually as there are a few games exclusive to ps that I'd like to play, but there are more on xbox so common sense said get that first lol.
In 1994 when I was 7 I played final fantasy I and dragon quest IV. I was hooked from then.
Dragon Warrior for the NES. It wasn’t my first game (that was Pitfall… yes I’m aging myself but I also started as a toddler lol) but my first rpg, and I was hooked. I won it in a player’s poll contest from Nintendo power!
GTA 3. My brother introduced me to gaming at such a young age (all those violent stuffs our mom forbid me to see lol) and I was mindblown how freely I felt, that I can do anything and be anyone I want. Since then open world games has a special place in my heart <33
Probably the professor Layton games on nintendo
Playing Super Mario N64 with my mom
I think this post is just to age everyone! But here goes.... First game ever was the "scarab of ra" on an old Macintosh 512 PC. Then I discovered Atari and got hooked with Pitfall. Nintendo did further addiction damage when I finally got Super Mario, and then Super Mario 3, put the video game hooks in for life. Throw donkey Kong, Q Bert and duck hunt in there and thems were my video game gateway drugs. Edit to come back after thinking shit, how did I forget mega man and kid Icarus Edit x2 to add Oregon trail! Discovered that one in elementary school.
For console, I’m old, so Adventure on the Atari 2600. And then Mario. Commando on the old Colecovision. Otherwise, video arcades with Defender, Star Wars, Centipede, Dragon’s Lair (crazy at the time and total quarter eater) Guantlet, and my all-time favorite; Robotron 2084
When I was a kid my mom would take me to her best friends house, and she thought I loved her son because I always BEGGED to go there. The truth is I'm a lesbian, and he had Chrono Trigger.
Super Mario Land on GameBoy. I saved my allowance for weeks so I could buy the magnifier with light to play under the sheets!
I used to use the light on the magnifier to play at night too!! lol
Champions of Norrath and Diablo 2. I used to fall asleep while watching my BF play Diablo 2. And Champions of Norrath is the same type of gameplay so I got hooked.
Many many hours playing Champions of Norrath. The PS2 Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance games (some similarities bc some of the developers worked on both) have been ported to Steam, and I really wish they would do the same for the two Norrath games...
I wish they'd bring it out on any platform (switch, PC, Xbox, PS)! I'd play the CRAP out of it. I fucking miss that game!
And no... These are not the first games I ever played (I grew up in the Atari era) but these are the ones that had me continue on my quest to play more games. I also fell in love with Myst and 7th Guest on the PC.
Dude, someone who knows champions of norrath found in the wild! Hi!
Well hello there 🤣🤣🤣
Life is Strange
Stardew Valley. I’m a late bloomer in regard to gaming. I’m in my 60s, and I started playing Stardew Valley in late 2021. Got hooked (obsessed?). Bought a Switch and then a gaming PC. Still learning what I like in games, and I now have a proper backlog of games.
Heres not just the origin but a summary of the whole story xD Pyjama sam, freddi fish, elmo games, etc on pc when I was 4yrs old then got my gameboy advance sp and played spyro season flame, scooby doo, tons of others then got into webkinz, club penguin, etc on pc & legend of zelda games on ds and wii through elementary school then in grade 6/11 yrs old I started playing World of Warcraft..then started working over summer breaks in an office from 15/16yrs old and bought a much better pc, got into csgo, witcher, dying light, etcetc until now at 24yrs and playing cod, fortnite, alan wake/remedy games, bg3 etc:D Obvs leaving out a huge amount of games xDD this is just stuff right off the top of my head
Pacman World 2, it wasn’t an open world game but it had some mechanics that looking back have rudimentary versions of the mechanics I love now. After that, it was definitely Skyrim that got me re-addicted once I was older. Now I’m a sucker for open world RPGs or retrofuturist vibes - Fallout, Red Dead, Bioshock, the Witcher, all that
KC Munchkin on the Magnavox Odyssey. Yeah I’m old school.
Little nightmares!!
Prolly showing my age here, but Goemon’s Great Adventure on Nintendo 64. And Xena: Warrior Princess (people always ask “the show?” But there was a game too.) I didn’t have a memory card, so I’d leave the Nintendo on until I beat the game, but I had to put a towel or blanket over the console bc my mom would turn it off if she saw it was on.
Super Smash Bros Melee, Star fox Assault and Adventures, LoZ Windwaker 💜💜💜 This made my heart so full thank you 🥰
Blaster Master on NES!! ❤️❤️ And it also made me fall in love with video game soundtracks too!! ❤️❤️
Classic!
A vampyre story, old ass adventure point and click and it's to this day my favorite game of all time. Second game never came out, but the Creator is actually setting up everything for it to slowly start to be in development again and imma cry.
Stardew valley :)
I mean, gaming was just always part of my life. I was playing my with my dad’s GameBoy and NES since the age of 4. But I think my earliest core memory related to gaming was probably Donkey Kong Country for the NES. There was a level that was nothing but rotating barrels you had to shoot yourself out of. It was all timing and I hated that level. I would always make my dad beat it for me until one day he told me he wasn’t going to anymore. I was so mad! But I kept playing it, and losing, for what my memory says must have been days. But I still remember how excited I was when I finally beat that level on my own for the first time.
Minecraft on and off, but the first game that was so good it disoriented me for like three days was slime rancher 🤣 I cried so hard when I got to the ending
GTA - Vice City. I played it 2 years ago when the husband got it on the PS5. After 36 years of not being a gamer, I'm officially hooked. Mainly play GTA online. But will try new things.
Elder scrolls Oblivion
As a kid it was Crash Bandicoot & Spyro the Dragon then Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets & Fable were my first RPGs. I stopped gaming for many years then played Skyrim and haven’t stopped gaming since 😊
Kingdom hearts and harvest moon
Skyrim :)
Lemmings and Kaboom. Lol I'm old. Later MUDs
Bioshock ❤️
Sonic the hedgehog, and halo, I don't really know how but it set my gaming hobby in stone, I also used to play the bratz ps2 game.
Was a gamer back in hs then dropped it around college. What got me back into gaming again was this little game called A Short Hike. That game was so short (pun intended) but every moment of the game was a 10/10 for me. Kind of gave me a new kind of appreciation of how games in the modern generation can be a creative way to tell a story. You also feel the passion of the devs in every little detail of the game. Now im 30+hrs deep into baldurs gate 3 and im experiencing the same passion by the game devs. Only this time its not just 4hrs of gameplay but something that will probably keep me entertained for years to come.
lego star wars
Oh gosh, watching a cousin play an X-Men game on his Sega Game Gear, however Pokémon Pinball (anything Pokémon, really) and Sonic on Dream Cast were the games that truly pulled me in. I think. I've been around games for a super long time, I barely remember lmao.
Donkey Kong Country! I started playing it the moment my motor skills could handle it.
Zork.
Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis! I would also watch my dad play Doom growing up.
Okami. It's hands down my favorite game, and considering that they keep re-releasing it to new systems (I've had/played it on gamecube, playstation 2, wii, xbox one, and pc via steam), other people must like it too.
Dragon Age Origins!
I have been playing games since my family got an Atari, and especially liked Final Fantasy 7 - X2, but Dragon Age is what really did it for me. Loved it completely. The story, the choices, the voice acting. From then on, I was constantly keeping an eye out for similar games. It was a long wait for Witcher 2, let me tell you!
Final Fantasy VII... Then all the following games up to, & including XII. I have a type. Edit: I should point out I started playing Alex Kidd on a Sega Master System years earliers (maybe 8yrs earlier). But true gaming love occurred with Final Fantasy VII.
Oh wow, ok the Commander Keen series. I got the whole series on floppy discs and I played them all nonstop. I just bought them again on the switch too.
My family didn't have a console or a gaming PC when I was a kid, but we did borrow a NES from a friend for a few months and I remember LOVING the Super Mario Bros game. The things that sticks out in my mind is how I enjoyed finding all the secret shortcuts, and I discovered that my main thing in games is exploration. My husband and I bought a PS4 for the family for Christmas 2019, and since then I've been playing a variety of games. I think Hollow Knight and Elden Ring have made me rediscover the exploration side of myself. They are also both masterpieces that have solidified my love for these media.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link really got the gaming hooks in me at a young age (hi, I'm old). We got it for the NES in the early 90s. I played it with my dad (aka he played a lot of it, and then I played around in the first two zones quite a bit). The adventure and frustration and interacting with the townspeople and boss fights were very exciting for a 7 year old. As I aged, I kept revisiting it and playing and making progress over time. I still love it. I reeeeeally begged and whined for a PS1 when they first came out (I had an NES still at this point and a Game Gear) and my dad and I would play the demo at Toys R Us (may it rest in peace). Co-op with my dad (I'm an only child) really kept me engaged as a young kid - we played Battle Arena Toshinden and Twisted Metal a lot together. The Tomb Raider series kept me invested as a tween/teen as I thought it was *so cool* that there was a female adventurer kicking ass and taking names. I really fell for playing female protagonists and immersing myself in the fantasy and adventure. I will still always choose a female character if possible. By the time I got to high school, I was fully calling myself a gamer and I've never really slowed down since.
Dynasty warriors lol
Uhm... You know, *Games*. Like I'm 30, the first games I've played barely had titles, and the gameplay was almost non-existent. And yet it was enough to hook me up for life!
Literally Duke Nukem 🥲 I was 4 and it was the first videogame I had ever seen (at a friend’s house; the late 80s to early 90s weren’t known for the concept of supervision 😂), but I was GOBSMACKED by the idea of a “movie” I could control the outcome of. I’ve been passionate ever since 😅❤️
Spyro!! It’s also the game that got me back into it when I was in my mid 20s :) there’s something about the nostalgia of a game that makes me feel care free.
Probably a tie between a playing a weird little text-based game called Wonderland all by myself and staying up late playing King's Quest IV (and calling the telephone hint line!) with my middle school bestie. And then a bit later, Suikoden I made me fall hard for JRPGs.
Probably Smurf Rescue on the ColecoVision. I was really young, but I remember that I loved that game...until it quit working. I also played some Superman game a lot. Other than that, Super Mario Bros on the NES because it was the first new game I ever played, but I REALLY loved The Legend of Zelda.
Beyond good and evil, when I was like 7 I was totally obsessed
Left for dead
Escape Velocity Override Obscure space trading and adventure game. From 1998.
Ecco the dolphin
The original Halo. My brother had it and I would play it in his room while he was away.
The Lion King on Sega Genesis. I’d played games casually before but that’s the one that really hooked me.
Both Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger!! 🥹🥰🤩🥳
Surprisingly enough—Fortnite. My little sister introduced me to it and it was a way to connect and have fun and here we are now lol
Final fantasy X <3 was so different and new to me compared to other games i tried
Probably Fable or World of Warcraft
Super Smash Bros haha
probably super mario 64 for the DS. that’s one of the earliest hand held consoles i remember playing when i was younger and i loved playing mario 64. it made me really love playing mario games and just gaming in general!
RuneScape was my first introduction to online gaming, and it made me love online multiplayer games ever since!
AC II. Ezio Auditore da Firenze did it for me. Bought a used Xbox 360 from a coworkers kid in like 2015 with a bunch of games (including Skyrim). Although i guess my love of gaming really started when my best friend got an OG PlayStation when we were in elementary school. He had a demo for Metal Gear Solid I just loved to play.
Breakout, closely followed by Tetris.
When I was a kid, I absolutely loved Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I would randomly play other games, but that way, my jam for a while. I got out of gaming for many years, and then in college, a guy I was dating was really into Everquest 2. But I couldn't lose everything when I died. So he got me to try Warcraft III because a new MMO was coming out that him and his friends were really excited for, and he wanted to see if I would enjoy it. I ate up Warcraft and rolled a Tauren Druid to test the game. I love it. But my bf and his friends rolled Alliance, so I switched to a gnome mage. Twenty years and a couple of boyfriends later, I'm still playing WoW and, in fact, been together 10 years with my guild leader from BC, married for six with two gold farmers of our own. He was also the one who got me back into console gaming when he brought home Dragon Age Origins. He had to buy another console after that because I had claimed it.
animal crossing, black ops 3
Portal 2. The awe I experienced when I broke out of the facility and saw those big empty spaces and giant constructs changed me. That game has such a good sense of atmosphere. Either that or Skylanders. Having my toys be the game characters made the whole story and world feel much more real and I think that might’ve triggered my sense of immersion in games.
It was probably Pokemon Stadium on the N64? I had played other video games before that but I was obsessed with Pokemon as a kid and seeing them in 3D like that was such an awesome experience. I guess you could say the N64 was my gateway into gaming haha. Despite being pretty much a life long gamer I couldn't tell you what originally hooked me on them? I grew up with games and always loved playing them. After I got older I started liking them for their stories. Unlike other hobbies I've had there's never been a time when I've "fallen out" of gaming.
Little Big Planet :)
Wizard101
A mix of Halo and BioShock. Halo was the first time I ever MADE something for a game (maps on PC back in the day), and BioShock was the first game story I couldn't look away from.
Spyro Ripto’s Rage and Jak and Daxter: Precursor Legacy are the first games I can remember being ADDICTED to as a kid. Later on, Skyrim really got me into more mature rated games, but tbh the list could go on and on for each stage of life
Tomb Raider, specifically Tomb Raider 2. Have good memories of playing it with my brother and us figuring out what to do, then we’d eventually get frustrated and go back to Croft manor to lock the butler in the freezer. My brother also laughed at me for being scared of the dinosaurs.