The Game that got you into Gaming

I just saw the Games that affected your childhood thread, and it made me think about what specific game got me into gaming. Reading the thread I know lots of people's childhood's were shaped and influenced by video games, but I was just wondering what specific game got you to cross the line from a "Games are Fun!" view to actually following video games and becoming a 'gamer'?

For me, I'd have to say it was either Pokemon Blue, or Age of Empires I, probably the latter. I'd played games a lot earlier, Duke Nukem 3D, one of the Commander Keens (I can't remember which, and I never got very far), and later some N64 games at a friend's, but none of these games really got me into gaming decides just being fun.

Just as a note, most of my early games were all PC based (Fuck yeah Windows 95 and then 98), rather than console (we got our friend's N64 when he got a PS2, that was my family's first console), and I continue to play on PC almost exclusively, despite owning a PS3 and earlier a PS2.

Gran Turismo on the original Playstation.

super smash brother melee me and my sister played it so much when we were young

Pong.

Seriously, I played that a ton when I was a kid on Atari 2600. Other then that probably games like Doom, Secret of Monkey Island and Super Mario Brothers (although I had known them on the 2600 for that weird pipe game before the NES one- I am still not sure which came first, at the time it could have been either one really).

Star Fox 64 when I was 7 I think, that game was amazing and the fact that Nintendo hasn't released a true sequel makes me sad.

Hmm, it was probably Crash Bandicoot on the Playstation.

Goldeneye.

Probably a common one. I think it was including the analog stick that really made it. And the speed runs for cheat modes.

Mario when I was a kid then later I stop gaming for a awhile and got back in to it when GTA3 hit I was hooked again then got into PC gaming from Medal of Honor allied assault.

It's tough to say, but I think it was probably a combination of Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid that me got me to appreciate and enjoy and follow games on a deeper level. 

The game that made me serious about video games? Prolly Rygar for NES.

When I played Hercules for the PlayStation haven't been the same sense.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. I remember playing it all the time with my older sister all the time. Great memories and really the game that created my love and addiction to video games.

You mean the first game I played? or the game that made me think ' videogames are now my favorite thing '?. Probably Super Mario 64 in conjuction with Super Smash Brothers , " I wish there was a game where I could play as Link and beat the crap out of Mario... *1999*... Holy Sh [kids don't curse] videogames! "

goldeneye

It was the 6 minute demo for GTA2. Me and my buddy would play it over and over. We'd go play badminton or soccer or whatever in his back yard then when we'd take a break for water we'd explore the GTA2 demo. There was a certain pleasure in having so much to do in so little time. There were 7 kill frenzies, 6 missions and the entire first map for exploration. Comboing kills for higher scores and getting score multipliers from missions was feeding our competitive nature, but it was also cool to discover things like you could stand at the bus stop for 3 seconds for a bus to show up and you could get in and drive the bus route to make money. GTA2 is still my second favourite GTA game and something I return to from time to time.

Age of Empires II

Super Metroid.

For me, it was Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Super Mario Bros. 3, when I was about 3 years old.

Super Mario World, when i was 4 years old.

Starcraft!

As a youngster I saw my cousin play it at his house and then my dad went and bought it. It was great fun even though I was terrible. It made it last longer though because it took me ages to beat anything in the singleplayer so I spent more time playing. Back then even the singleplayer campaign was horrendously hard for me, thank god I was too young to go online multiplayer or else I'd have been a depressed kid.

Always loved Pac-man and Ms. pac man when I could get my parents to take me to the arcade

but once I played Super Mario Bros. one day at the airport arcade, and then subsequently convinced my parents to get me a NES, I was hooked forever

Been playing games since Sonic, but the moment they switched from amusement to life long hobby might have been Metal Gear Solid. Wait...it might have been Final Fantasy VII.

Handheld Tiger Electronics Marble Madness.

super mario for the nes and a bunch of other games like ninja turtles.

Karateka and Where in the Workd is Carmen Sandiago?

NASCAR Racing 3 and Sim City 2000

I fucking loved those games.

Man this is a tough question to ask, I've been playing games so long that its hard to even remember some of the earliest ones. Barn Stormer for the atari 2600 was certainly one of them but I think the one that really started me on the whole 'i must play games' kick would be the original punch out in the arcades.

Super Mario Bros. on the NES when I was 5.

That is TOUGH. It may have been Golden Axe on the Sega Mega Drive, or one of a bunch of games I was given with my original game boy, like star wars, or perhaps mario bros.

My first few years of gaming is a mad pixelated blur.

Oblivion. I hate it now.

Pokemon Crystal Version. I think I was 5 or 6.

I honestly couldn't say. I've had such an on/off relationship with gaming that I can't recall what game it was that got me hooked completely.

Really, I don't think it was so much a specific game, but rather having someone to share my enjoyment with that changed things for me. Speaking of which, that could explain why, now, I no longer get as excited about games anymore. Having no one to share that excitement with kind of puts a damper on the whole thing for me.

Contra.

Ghostbusters on the good old Speccy! If your not sure what the Speccy is, its a challenge to figure it out! ha!

Some Super Mario game my school had installed on a pc, can't remember what it was called.

Super Mario Bros. when I was like 3-4. My mom told me that in kindergarten we would have to do a one sentence journal every day, and every day I would write "I like to play Nintendo because it is fun." Video games have never not been my main and favorite hobby. People discovering games recently or later in their life is such a foreign concept to me and it's honestly kinda hard to grasp.

castlevania on the commodore 64

i am too old to be posting on video game website :(

Probably Pokemon Red, purely because it's what everyone at school was playing and being able to trade your 'mons with other people was mind-blowing to me at the time. Loved it :D

I guess Super Mario Bros. I had played some Atari 2600 games before it, but none of those games really mesmerized me like Super Mario Bros. It felt like an entirely different world.

Super Mario Land on the SNES.

I've gamed before that obviously, but that one got me "in" to it.

Game and Watch : Juggler, followed closely by Game and Watch : Octopus. My cousin owned Juggler and her dad got me Octopus. I had played arcade games and had owned those Pong/Lightgun based TV RF consoles (a couple from Hong Kong) but it took Nintendo to really draw me in for good.

I'd been playing games for years before, but the first one that made me get serious about it and use some real skill was Persona 3.

Must have been one of the countless Pong clones which you connected to your TV...

I played loads of games as a kid, though it was mostly Age of Empires. But what got me really into gaming was Mario Kart 64.

It was Christmas, and being the hyper little 7/8 year old I was, I woke up at about four am eager to open what Santy had left me. Gran was staying over (as per), so I was crashing in my older brother's room, on an airbed. He hears me get up, and start rustling in my stocking, so he wakes up and convinces me it'll be better to wait for my parents to get up, as they'll enjoy watching me open everything. Complaining that I wouldn't get back to sleep - he suggests we play so Mario Kart, but we have to be very, very quiet so as not to wake my parents. We played for hours and hours. It got to the point where my mum had to come upstairs to make sure we were okay, some 8 hours later.

Best Christmas morning ever.

/Nostalgia.

Super Mario World, Star Fox 64, MechWarrior 2 and WarCraft 2 in some order. I loved gaming long before that, but getting a system to play them was a challenge.

Some of the games you guys are mentioning as your firsts make me feel so old... :/

At the age of three my sister and I played Super Mario Bros. to death on our NES. I haven't really stopped gaming since then.

Probably Aladdin/Lion King for the mega-drive. I remember playing them a lot

Sonic 1 and Mickey Mouse's Castle of Illusion were my first console games which I spent countless hours on but I remember being given a pong machine before that (early 90s).

Also playing Monkey Island and Prince of Persia with an older cousin on a 386.