First Games

A while ago, Rob from I Played the Game! wrote about the excitement of getting a new console. He talked about the endless possibilities that come with a new console, and how there is always the “first game” that comes home with you, or is purchased digitally before any other game. Console by console, he walked through his past as a gamer, and his article is well worth your time and stroll down memory lane!

I loved this idea, as it seems like a spiritual successor to my life in video games. Like Rob, I won’t be including PC games, since years and systems and timelines are fuzzy, but here is my earliest, earliest computer game memory:

Playing a game on an old Apple IIe (or maybe a IIGS… I don’t remember and they look sort of similar) that let you pick a planet in the solar system, type in your age, height, and weight, and the game would convert your Earth stats to the other planet’s stats. It even had a little pixel boy who stood on the screen and didn’t change. Thrillsville, right?

But… yeah I loved it. And I’m sure my poor sister loved always having to type in the C:\ prompts so I could open the game, too, when she watched me when our parents were out… 😛

Anyway, here we go for real now. New year – new consoles – new games.

NES – Super Mario Bros. or Kirby’s Adventure

I put two here because the NES was technically my brother’s, so my first gaming experience was with Super Mario Bros. However, Kirby was my first game that was really mine, if you don’t count the creepy Sesame Street game or M.C. Kids…

At any rate, I am sure I used to drive my dad nuts when I would play Kirby because I loved the high-pitched trill Kirby made when trying to inhale an enemy.

…and may have imitated it once or twice.

SNES – Mario Paint

Again, this was my brother’s console, so I got to play it when he wasn’t around or when he had moved on to bigger and better things. So… I’m pretty sure this is the first game that I personally played on this console independently. I loved playing around with the music creator, and the art canvas (and my dad set up the camcorder so I could “save” my work by making a short recording of it), and even playing this weird bug-slapping game.

I dunno. Maybe I was a weird kid, but it was a lot of fun and the first memory I have of the SNES.

If we’re going with games that I was invited to play, it would be Street Fighter, during which my brother absolutely creamed me and poor Blanka.

Nintendo 64 – Super Mario 64

It was the rare occasion that I received a console for myself. To be honest, the N64 was the first console that was actually purchased for me along with Super Mario 64 and the then-just-released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But I had played Super Mario 64 at my sister’s house, and so that was probably the one I played first once the console was nestled happily under the television.

Of course, almost as much fun as the game was distorting poor Mario’s face on the title screen. It’sa me, Gumby?

Playstation – Q*Bert/Frogger

Yep. These were the first two games I received with my Playstation One. I loved Q*Bert from my NES days, and loved the few times I played Frogger-esque games in arcades, and here we are. My brother dumped a whole bunch of games on me, like WWF Smackdown, Jedi Power Battles, and Metal Gear Solid, but this was the game that started my tenure with Playstation.

Playstation 2 – Crazy Taxi

I drove my parents nuts playing this game in the arcade when we would go on vacation, so you can imagine my excitement when I received my own copy with my brandy-new (it was used) Playstation 2.

This is also the game that got me into the Grand Theft Auto series, as my brother sold it to me as “just like Crazy Taxi”… and I believed him. While Crazy Taxi and Spiderman were often my go-to games, this gateway into darker games made me feel brave enough to try Metal Gear Solid 2, and I suppose the rest is history with that one.

Playstation 3 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

I purchased this along with Shadow of the Colossus/ICO, but MGS4 was pretty much the reason I puchased a Playstation 3. There were a bunch of games I found that I thought that perhaps I’d be interested in playing eventually, but MGS4 was really the catalyst. Mind you, it was far, far after its release, but it was still the first game.

Wii – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I purhased the Wii a little after the Wii U was released, and literally just to play Twilight Princess. I have a happy little collection of games now for it, and one of them is on my to-play list, but this was, for a while, not only the first game, but the only game.

Playstation 4 – It’s complicated…

The games that came home with me were Uncharted 4, Ratchet and Clank, The Witcher 3, and Dragon Age: Inquisition. To the surprise of no one, Inquisition was the first game I played on the console, even though I had already played and completed it on the PS3.

However, the first game that I played on PS4 that was an actual, bonafied PS4 game was, again to the surprise of everyone, I’m sure, Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Steam – It’s again complicated…

I attempted to play a game called The Black Death but fumbled around with the controls so much I eventually gave up. The real first game I played was Baldur’s Gate, and I couldn’t be happier about that.

 

Xbox 360 – Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

I am so very tempted by some of the other games I have acquired with my recent Xbox 360 purchase, but I am starting with the one that is the “reason” I finally purchased an Xbox. As of writing, so far I’ve turned the console on and set up the menu, but by the time you read this, this will be the first game being played on it!

Honorable Mention: Game Cube Sort Of

I never owned a Game Cube, because when it was released I got so angry at Nintendo for expecting me to start my collection all over again, and, after stubbornly sticking with my N64 for years and years, and eventually hearing that the Playstation 2 was backwards compatible, I ditched Nintendo for Sony. But the Wii can play Game Cube games, so the very first Game Cube game I played was…

Zelda II from the Collector’s Edition…

…which really isn’t fair since I’ve played it before.

Otherwise, it will be The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, once I get around to it 😉

Whew! There we go! One thing I found so interesting about writing this is that I found myself having to stop myself from talking about my favorite game on the console, or the one that I played the most. It was actually harder to remember some of the “first” games of older consoles, especially if they were eventually passed over in favor of other games that I enjoyed more, or have more memories from. But overall, it was nice looking back and seeing… yikes how many consoles I’ve purchased just because of one game I wanted to play.

I guess when you know your type, you know your type.

What about you? What are the first games you’ve played on your consoles? PCs? Handhelds? Let me know in the comments! And thanks again to I Played the Game for such an awesome idea!

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon!
~Athena

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