What was the first game you owned?

[Dai]

For me it was Colin the Cleaner, a classic entry in the much-neglected museum tidying genre. It was a pack-in game with my Sinclair Spectrum +2. That was the one with a built-in tape deck (good idea), but no tape counter (bad idea).

It was also the first game I completed. Since 8-bit games tended to be hard as nails, I think that one lulled me into a false sense of security.

 

[Rui]

It's hard to say because my dad was a gamer so most of my early games belonged to him! I think the first game I bought with my own money was Tetris on the Game Boy. My first platform was the BBC Micro and I'd played most of the classics long before I could afford to acquire games of my own. I didn't even know how games were purchased for a long time because my dad used to trade games with the students he taught so we had a pretty big library. We then moved on to the Apple Mac platform and I continued leeching off my dad's brilliant game collection for years (I lucked out with a ridiculously cool dad.)

My favourite game when I was very young was Dread Dragon Droom, which I thought was mandatory in every school of that era until I discovered that none of my southern-raised friends had the slightest clue what I was talking about. They missed out.

R

 

[Dai]

My main exposure to the BBC Micro was in its natural habitat, the classroom, so the only game I remember seeing on it was the infamous terror of children everywhere: Granny's Garden. Years later I found my high school was still rocking a room full of BBC Micros in the mid-90s; I guess they didn't have much money to splash around for new hardware.

 

[Vashdaman]

Great thread!
Whoa, very cool dad, Rui!! My dad liked the idea of gaming and luckily for me he usually insisted on buying the latest consoles, although I was always slightly disappointed his enthusiasm for new games never went far enough to actually get him to play the things once he bought them

My older brother had a nes and snes which I was really into when I was young and various other 80s and early 90s gaming things like the Amiga and Mega Drive, so I think that's where my passion for gaming stemmed from. My early fav was definitely Duck Hunt, but also Aladdin, SF2, the Michael Jackson game, and I think I only played it once (because it was deemed too difficult or unsuitable for me perhaps?) but I remember sneaking off and playing FF6 and being mystified and intrigued by the experience (why was I taking turns instead of just punching the bad guys? What did the numbers mean? Why was there so much text in a game?). But I think the first game I specifically remember requesting for myself was The Mask on the snes. Good game but I found it ridiculously hard and got nowhere with it. I can remember for some reason badly wanting Robo Cod for the Game Gear but disappointingly ending up with the actual Robocop game, which wasn't bad at all to be fair.

After those the next thing I have any memory of asking for was Abe's Odyssey on PS1, and I loved it so much that pretty much from there onwards I was totally game obsessed.

My primary school had a room full of what I assume was BBC micros! I remember playing a Dragon puzzle game on it, but I'm not sure if it was Dread Dragon Droom, it seemed less colourful than that one looks in the images I can see, it was still great fun though whatever it was!

 

[WMD]

I cant remember what the first game I played was anymore but the first game I absolutely fell in love with was the masterpiece Command & Conquer Red Alert. As far as I'm concerned it's still one of the best games ever made and the remastered edition that came out in June was an absolute joy to behold!

 

[Dai]

I can remember for some reason badly wanting Robo Cod for the Game Gear but disappointingly ending up with the actual Robocop game, which wasn't bad at all to be fair.

I only had half a dozen Megadrive games, since the prices made them strictly the domain of birthdays and Christmas, but I too fell for the allure of the telescopic cyborg fish. I enjoyed Robocod back in the day, but it seems to get battered by the gaming press these days.

 

[D1tchd1gger]

I think it was Horace Goes Skiing which came with the ZX Spectrum + that we got in the early 80s, but my favourite was Manic Miner which we had a recorded version from one my dad's friends. Games were so easy to pirate on the Spectrum, although thinking about it I think it was the only one. Certainly the games I still have are all of the purchased variety:

I have another Dizzy collection with the original games, which were my next favourite games, somewhere as well as my ZX Spectrum +2 which we got later in the 80s.

I've sold or traded my first 3 consoles I had, the Mega Drive, PS1 and PS2. Still have PS3 and PS4.

 

[awadama]

I got a NES with Super Mario Bros 2 (still one of my all time favs), Hook (rubbish) and some random F1-type game (boring).

The SNES was already out and I had the choice of getting that instead, but the only game I'd ever played before was SMB2, so I wanted the NES.

I wish I chose the SNES TBH.

 

[Shadow Cat]

First game I fully owned without it also being my brothers might hae been Pokemon Red I got along with a Gameboy Color for christmas from my nan many years ago

 

[Dai]

The SNES was already out and I had the choice of getting that instead, but the only game I'd ever played before was SMB2, so I wanted the NES.

I wish I chose the SNES TBH.

Ouch, I bet that stung when Mario All-Stars was released.

I only ever knew one person with a NES. The Master System was more common in my area (that was my first console), but most had a Spectrum or C64 in the 8-bit era.

I did know one unfortunate soul who had a GX4000. The horror.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Wow, a nostalgia soaked trip down memory lane. Can't remember the first (desktop) game I got on floppy disk back in the day but Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis was one to start a love of Lucasarts' hilarious point & click adventure games. Diverging a bit, other games that stand out in my memory include, the original Zelda: link's awakening on Gameboy (have to get the new switch version!), the amazing command & conquer again on desktop, and my first experience with a turn based RPG (I too wondered why take turns and not just fight in real time heh) in final fantasy VIII (which despite not being the best in the genre remains my favourite to this day and also led me to FF VI and the realisation that I should've gone for a SNES and not the megadrive previously!).

 

[Dai]

final fantasy VIII (which despite not being the best in the genre remains my favourite to this day and also led me to FF VI and the realisation that I should've gone for a SNES and not the megadrive previously!).

FFVII is my favourite in the series, but all the PS1 entries are great, and I replay them at least once every couple of years. I especially like how much it's possible to abuse the junction/GF system in VIII. Once I learnt my way around it, I could get all characters to level 100, defeat the hardest optional boss and finish the game in about 45 hours (I'm sure some could do it a lot quicker).

It's a shame that the UK was so poorly served by Square during its golden age. I had to import US versions of some of their best games like Xenogears, Parasite Eve, and Final Fantasy Tactics. And yet they thought the UK needed Chocobo Racing...

 

[awadama]

Ouch, I bet that stung when Mario All-Stars was released.

It haunted me for so long. There was a SNES bundle sitting in the window of my local Index store for absolutely years at a really good prize, but I wasn't allowed to get it. It just sat there, taunting me.

There was finally some closure (in my mind, not for Index - they were already long gone) when the Wii version came out, but I'd stopped caring by then and only played it for about an hour before I lost interest.

I wish I could lie and say I didn't regret getting the NES, because I had loads of good games for it, but even I can't stretch the truth that far. If only the person in Toys R Us had tried to sell me on the benefits of the SNES a bit harder, maybe my life would have turned out differently.

 

[Professor Irony]

People talking about buying and owning FFVI on the SNES in the UK, wew. I remember magazine ads from importers wanting £70-80 in 1990s money for a US copy, if they could even get stock...

 

[Azar]

Crash Bandicoot, Tekken 3 and Ridge Racer Revolution. I got a PS1 for Christmas when I was around 5, along with these games.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

FFVII is my favourite in the series, but all the PS1 entries are great, and I replay them at least once every couple of years. I especially like how much it's possible to abuse the junction/GF system in VIII. Once I learnt my way around it, I could get all characters to level 100, defeat the hardest optional boss and finish the game in about 45 hours (I'm sure some could do it a lot quicker).

It's a shame that the UK was so poorly served by Square during its golden age. I had to import US versions of some of their best games like Xenogears, Parasite Eve, and Final Fantasy Tactics. And yet they thought the UK needed Chocobo Racing...

Objectively for me both FF VII and VI were the best epics in the series, of what I've played, but yeah the ps1 titles were all fantastic overall. I do think the gf system of VIII was fantastic but still required the hard work of grinding unless I'm missing something (I remember spending a good while drawing 300 Ultimas from Bahamut I think it was heh).

UK/EU were certainly very poorly supplied by Squaresoft back then. I was abroad so managed to get some others. Loved the first parasite Eve with it's concepts and hybrid turn-based/real time combat. I don't think they ever brought chrono cross to UK, but that was excellent and a fitting sequel to chrono trigger (I was always hopeful there would be more in that series but alas).

 

[D1tchd1gger]

owning FFVI on the SNES in the UK

I got it for the PS1, but only because it had a demo for FFX which is a bit random seeing as X was a PS2 game, but I guess PS2 was backwards compatible, so both were playable on it:

Never finished it though. There's a certain big event in the game and I couldn't figure out what to do after it.

 

[HWR]

Lego Island for PC if my memory serves me well. I still have a copy somewhere.

 

[unknownfate]

I played Pong. First game I owned was something like Crystal Castles or Qbert for the Atari 2600. First game I bought that I can remember was for the Mega Drive.

 

[Arbalest]

First Game I owned? Hmm. My parents owned a lot themselves for the Megadrive and Game Gear when I was a kid, but they weren't "Mine" to be precise. However the first game that I owned, or games rather, was Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country, as I got a SNES for my 5th birthday.
The first I played however, was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Game Gear.. There's a thing. Maybe it's why I prefer tougher games....