What is your earliest gaming memory?

My earliest memory involving games was watching my parents play Pac Man as a very little kid. I used to get scared and cry when one of them would guide the P-Man into a Power Pill and send the ghosts into a blue terror. I'm 25 now and I still laugh my ass off when they remind me of it. If only I had known that the Power Pills were there for the benefit of Pac Man!

What other early memories does everyone still have stowed away? I remeber telling my parents to keep my NES on all day, so I could come home and resume playing the original Mario, that had been left on pause for like 8 hours.

I remember my 5th grade teacher cutting a promo on me for not being able to remember math homework, while pointing out to me that I could memorize codes to Mortal Kombat and the password to unlock all levels on Pilot Wings for Super Nintendo. (If I still remember correctly the Pilot Wings password is 882943...can anyone possibly still have a copy of that to let me know if I'm right)?

I'd love to hear from everyone about their memories from the early years of their gaming experiences. I don't remember hearing this kind of post from anyone in recent memory and I'm sure there are some pretty good stories out there! Thanks for your time everyone.

(That NES my parents had still works perfectly by the way. I just have to give it the 'ol "blow till you're blue in the face" treatment every now and then).

Problem? Report this post

Jason Deaville

May 16, 2009

I remember my father and I playing Pong... after that it was endless hours of Venture on Colecovision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6tqNibcAC4

Report | Reply

Eric King

I remember coming home from school one day and walking into my room to see my Dad playing Super Nintendo. My parents had gone out and bought the thing while I was in school and I freaked out saw him stomping the giant bullet guys in Super Mario World. He gave me the "one more try" treatment for like a half hour before I got a turn! I give credit to my old man for getting me hooked. I just feel bad that he can't enjoy the new generation of games with me, as they're too complicated for him.

Andrew Wilson

When I was 4, the local commissary on the Indian reservation in Arizona we lived near always had three arcade video games set up: Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Dig-Dug. I'd beg my mom for quarters everytime we went shopping there. Once in awhile, if I'd been good, she'd give me a couple. Usually, I played Donkey Kong.

Michael Pangelina

I think I'd have to say it's probably watching my uncle play Empire Strikes Back on Atari 2600.

J.D.

Earliest game that I remember clearly was River Raid for the Atari. I recall the sense of speed was awesome!!!

I remember playing the new version of Oregon Trail(Mac?), around the time I was in 7th grade or so. I would always use the names of my real friends for the people in my party. It always added that extra sense of loss when a buddy would die from a snake bite or some other weak injury. At least they never died from starvation: I always hunted way more animals than I needed to, coming away from the hunt with thousands of extra pounds of meat than I really needed for my little wagon. I always tried to ford the river at the end too, with most of my attempts ending in absolute disaster as my party is dashed on the rocks of the raging river!

Hunter Red

My first gaming memory is playing the original Gameboy version of Tetris when I was three or four. Tetris still ranks as one of my favorite games.

Brett Bates

May 17, 2009

The first game that I remember is Plaque Attack on the 2600 ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaque_Attack[/url]). For some odd reason, it was my parents' favorite game on Atari. And they're not even dentists!

Demian Linn

May 18, 2009

Pong with my friend nextdoor started it all for me. Not much to the story, it was so long ago!

Carlos Hernandez

May 20, 2009

SMB3 is the first game I played probably when I was only a few months old. I'm sure I died a bunch.

A.Wahl

May 21, 2009

I am not sure which memory had come first, but it was either: a Pong clone that my father owned (Executive Games Television Tennis which I still have and it works) or it was Adventure on the Atari 2600 that I saw my babysitter playing.

Rachel Jagielski

At age 4 I remember playing some kind of space shooter on my Dad's old Intellivision. He would bring it out of the closet when they had company over and needed me to stay occupied ;D

Christopher Springer

Mine would be The Smurfs on ColecoVision. I remember impaling my Smurf on a picket fence over and over until I got the hang of jumping. Then I finally saw Gargamel and could never get past the area after he runs away. I was probably 3 or 4.

Allistair Everett

Orb-3D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ADkypJMk4 I still have no clue what you are supposed to do in this game. The music is so nerve-wracking and the gameplay is just insane. I'm sure I could read a guide on how to play, but the developer is doing something wrong when reading a manual becomes a prerequisite of play.

AJ Hurst

I can't actually prove that this game exists, but it was definitely an arcade cabinet game based on Darkwing Duck. I think it was a side-scrolling beat-em-up? After I got my tonsils removed at age 2, this arcade cabinet was in the lobby of the hospital. It's also my earliest memory of anything, gaming or otherwise. Go figure.

Alejandro Moreno

My older brother had an Atari 2600, and I have a few hazy memories about it (I would have been, what? Seven?). My clearest memory is a Christmas morning, going downstairs to the living room (knowing full well my older brother would already be there with his open presents) and seeing my brother sitting on the floor, holding a controller attached to a grey box, itself attached to the TV. And what was on TV? The beginning of World 1-2: blue bricks over a black background, and a small Mario falling to the floor. :)

Christopher Springer: Smurf impaling? Great early memory! :)

Fozzy Boudaz

I remember play Super Mario Bros. on the NES. I remember very little from my NES days, but I do remember a lot from my SNES days. All those nights staying up playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, a censored version of Mortal Kombat, A five pack of Mario games called Super Mario All-stars (containing the original Super Mario Bros along with 2 and 3 and Lost Worlds), and of course there was Street Fighter 2.

Dustin Halfacre

May 22, 2009

Donkey Kong at a National (yes that is the name) grocery store. My mom would never provide any quarters so I just had to watch the demo. Finally around the age of 4-5 I talked her into giving me a quarter. The game lasted less than 1 minute:'(