Who here is an experienced gamer (pre-1990)? (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Dave, I believe that's it! Artillery! Yeah, that sounds right...

 

[Derrik Draven]

Started with a Pong unit, as far as consoles go.

As for computers, started with the Apple II+, with a whopping 64k! My parents bought the extra 16k expansion. I think it gave you interger basic...woo hoo...

1st Apple II computer game was Rendezvous (space shuttle sim) and, the original, Escape from Castle Wolfenstein.

"Halt, SS"!!!, "Wass is dass"?, "Kaput".

Loved playing the Scott Adams text adventure games like, Pirate Adventure, Mission Impossible, Voodoo Castle, and can't forget, Adventureland.

Go west, "...you see a large sleeping dragon".

Ahhh...memories.

 

[Dan B]

I'm another "experienced gamer". I can remember when Pong came out, & the legendary Atari 2600. I had an Odyssey 2, but didn't have the add-on voice module (wanted it though!). In between 1987-1992 I didn't play many games. I guess I was really into cars, girls, & other things.

Then came the revalation. One day I was bored & picked up my stepbrothers' SNES & started playing Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. Miyamoto's game changed my life! I also played his copy of Super Metroid that summer. I was hooked.

-Dan B.

 

[Dean DeMass]

I am almost 27 and I started playing video games about 1980 (Pong), I then got an Atari 2600 a couple of years later. Then it was a NES. After that I had a SEGA Genesis and a SEGA CD. I then bought a SEGA Saturn shortly after release. I bought a Playstation on release day and a Nintendo 64 on release day. After that, I bought a Dreamcast on release day. I picked up a PS2 about a year after it's release and a Gamecube on release day. My most recent addition is an X-box. Out of all of those systems, I only have a NES, N64, PS2, Gamecube, and an X-box.
I love video games.
-Dean-

 

[PeteD]

Let's see:
- Merlin (stupid patter recognition game thingy in the shape of a phone.. At least I think it was called Merlin)
- A Donkey Kong stand alone mini game.
- (drum roll please) Atari 2600 I think I played Combat the most.
- Commodore Pet
- Commodore Vic 20
- Commodore 64
These last three, oh man -My Mom (bless her) would go out and buy Computes Magazine and enter in thousands of lines of code and save them to disk. Free games!
- Jasmine XT - ahh.. Leisure Suit Larry and Kings Quest. The fun thing about LSL, is that you had to prove your age by answering skill testing questions.. Ah to be 10 again
- NES
- 386 to Pentium
- N64
- Playstation
- Stupid sick fast PC
The Epoch known as AHT (After Home Theatre)
- PS2
Did I mention this shoulda been posted in the Polls section?
Pete

 

[Romier S]

Another old schooler here
I started with the 2600 and have owned about every console since. My biggest foray into gaming, the thing that just pulled me in was the NES. I couldn't get enough after that.

 

[Andy Sheets]

To start:
I have been playing since the TV pong days. My 1st system was a Coleco Telstar,

Whoa! Mine too
We never did actually get an Atari 2600, we ended up getting the Colecovision (and we made up for not getting the Atari by getting the Coleco adapter). I have to say that the Colecovision might actually be my all time favorite system (although the controllers weren't great).
Then my mom picked up an Atari 5200, which was fun until the controllers broke. So we couldn't play Star Raiders anymore.
Shortly after that we got the NES, which made me a huge Nintendo fan, although I never liked The Legend of Zelda or its sequels (Zelda 64 was actually the first Zelda game I truly liked). My favorites were the Konami and Capcom classics.
I was also playing lots of PC games as well. My dad actually complained to me that I was getting too many Infocom games and that he wanted me to get games that actually had graphics
I never did get into the Genesis. I don't remember why. I think I was just too loyal to Nintendo, and besides the SNES had SCALING AND ROTATION. This was when I still gave a crap about system specs.
After a few years of SNES I decided to gamble on the Jaguar. It would be easy to just write that system off as a total loss but to this day Tempest 2000 is possibly my all time favorite game. Iron Soldier was pretty neat too. This was the lowest time of gaming for me since the whole reason I had to get the Jaguar was because I was disgusted and bored with what the bigger companies were releasing.
Then my nephew and I got the N64 as sort of a joint Christmas gift shortly after that. He probably liked it more than I did but I was very impressed with Mario64 and Zelda64. They seemed to indicate a more exploratory and immersive direction for games which was very appealing to me. They were still a bit too rigidly story-oriented but that seems to be slowly getting fixed in the current generation. And I loved the N64's wrestling games
And that brings me up to the Xbox, which I've been enjoying for the past few weeks. And that's it.

 

[Joseph Young]

I'm 27, so I started with the Atari 2600. Being a South Bay native, I lived right near one of the Atari buildings. We picked up our system direct from them as opposed to a store. In fact just a few years ago I was working across the street from Capcom (there was a giant mega man in the window).
I remember my first two games on that system were Asteroids and Combat! I loved the game Adventure and remember getting the 'invisible dot' and accessing the 'easter egg' credits room one screen down and two screens right of the yellow castle. And those dragons on the hard difficulty level! You know, I can STILL navigate the maze with my eyes closed after all these years. I was jealous of my friends who got the 5200 when it came out. There were these features called 'cut-scenes' between each level in Ms. Pac Man, I couldn't believe my eyes!
I actually didn't have another system (due to $$ stuff) until '86. Obviously this was the NES. My god this system practically defined my young adulthood, I'm not kidding!
I absolutely loved Metroid. Such wonderful memories of playing that game. Forgive my absolute stupidity in remembering names... but the bubble world? What a great atmospheric game. One has to understand why I was so bothered by the prospect of Metroid 4 being a FPS. It just feels like a violation of what I feel Metroid should be, based on an extreme bias stemming from that time in my life.
My friends had at least one intellivision and colecovision between them as well. I also remember the Atari computers.
I had an Amiga 500 for a number of years as well during the 80's, because at the time S-VGA (much less VGA) did not exist yet, and I was really into Photon Paint and other such million-color pallete programs.
I have been a gamer all of my life. People used to tell me I would lose interest once I 'passed into adulthood.' My interests in games have definitely been refined, but the passion is still there.
Joseph
(edits due to my absolute horrid coding skills)

 

[Joe michaels]

My first system was a pong unit back when they had them at Sears. My next system was a Magnavox Odyssey 2 followed by Atari 2600. I have gotten almost every system since then.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

As soon as I was capable of playing videogames, I was. My brother got a NES the year it came out, plus my dad had an Atari and Colecovision from when they came out. So I've been playing games most of my life, though I did miss out on a lot of great games.

 

[Graeme Clark]

I've been playing games for as long as I can remember. My dad used to be a manager at a department store with a easy going return policy. Because of this, he would from time to time, bring home systems that people had returned, for a few days before it was sent to wherever it was going.

So during these days he'd come home with Atari 2600s, Intellivisions and eventually Colecovisions with a few games for us to play.

We finally owned something when my dad bought a TI99/4a (and we actually ended up owning a few of them) which I primarily used for playing games, two of my friends had C64s which we would spend countless hours playing games one, and another had a Coleco, which was always a treat.

I finally got a used 2600 at a garage sale when the NES was just taking off, then ended up getting a NES, Gameboy and SNES each christmas.

At some point my dad bought a Tandy 100SL computer, which I would have liked to have used for games, but he skimped out and only bought a monochrome monitor, so the number of games that I could play on it were next to nil. When we finally got a VGA monitor, you needed a 386 to play most games. The fact that it only had a LD 5 1/4" drive didn't help either.

So, I'm still playing, still have most of my systems, and am trying to figure out how I'm going to be able to get a Gamecube, XBox and PS2 since I can barely afford one of their games right now.

 

[Yoshi Sugawara]

My video game fever started with the Atari 2600. My brother and I played games like Bezerk, Pitfall, Ms. Pacman at friend's places and we were begging our parents to buy us one. My parents resisted, however, claiming it would interfere with school. I think it was this deprivation that started this thing. We never did get that 2600..

So ages passed by while playing Vectrex, Colecovision (Smurfs!) at department stores while I was envious of the other kids that had all this gear.

Around 1984, I went overseas to Japan where I attended school there for a few months. I made friends, went over to their place and the big toy at that time in Japan was the Famicom, the system that would become the NES. I was blown away by Yie Ar Kung Fu, Donkey Kong, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Xevious, Star Force, and whole bunch of other titles. So after endless begging to my parents, we finally secured a Famicom and brought it back to the States. We could only play Famicom games on it, but there were places that sold them for astronomic prices - I had to dish out nearly $100 for Dragon Quest III !

The rest is history, I guess - Genesis, SNES, Playstation, Saturn, PS2..

Oh, and I also played a lot of Apple II games (almost forgot)! Back then EA made games like Hard Hat Mack and Skyfox. I can't believe I played all those games on a green screen, and 99.9 % of the games I had were pirated. You know piracy is bad when this game called Captain Goodnight came with a code-wheel that made you decipher some message before you play the game.

of course, I was envious of those who had the C64 - but i remember those looooong disk load times. Wasn't there a cartridge that speeded up load time? Ah, the memories....

 

[Joe michaels]

here's a list to jar memories.

* systems I didn't own:

INTRODUCTION MANUFACTURER BRAND NAME

1972 Magnavox Odyssey

1976 Fairchild Channel F *

1977 Atari 2600

1979 Mattel Intellivision

1983 Coleco Colecovision

1983 Atari 5200

1985 Nintendo NES

1986 Sega Master System *

1986 Atari 7800

1989 NEC Turbografx 16 *

1989 Sega Genesis

1990 SNK Neo Geo *

1991 Nintendo SNES

1993 Atari Jaguar *

1995 Sega Saturn *

1995 Sony Playstation

1996 Nintendo N64

1999 Sega Dreamcast

2000 Sony PS2

Fall 2001 Microsoft Xbox

Fall 2001 Nintendo GameCube

 

[Barry S]

I've been playing since I was 8. Got an NES for Christmas in either 1987 or 88. The one that came with Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt on the same cartridge, as well as the cool light gun. The Legend of Zelda was one of the first games that we got, I believe, in January of the following year. I've bought every Nintendo system since (excluding Game Boy Advance and Game Cube) and even a few others, Sega, Playstation, etc.

 

[Cy Jervis]

I started out with the atari and was the master of trick moves in tank. Then we traided up for the vic 20 then the commodore 64, I became the master of congo bongo. When I got into my teens I bought a Lazer computer from sears, talk about being a techno geek, 12 mhz of blazing speed playing games like kings quest and leisure suit larry. Then came the Amiga now that had the best graphics for that time and battle chess was great. I was very lucky that at 12 years old my parents opened a video store and i talked them into stocking video games. I got my fill of the NES and the SUPER NES and could go thru mario about 5 times without loosing a life. Then we had the Sega Genesis and I was introduced to sonic the hedgehog. I was very saddened when the video store closed and all my free gaming went away but I got to keep the super NES and some of my favorite games. A few years ago I got the Sony playstation and was hooked on the new graphics and crash team racing and my sports games. Last year I wanted to buy the Playstation 2 but couldn't find one and then heard about the X-Box and chose to wait. I'm glad I waited, I recently sold the Playstation and will buy the X-Box after X-mas unless my wonderful wife gets me one first. I think the X-Box is the first game system to get me excited about gaming in years.

 

[Derrik Draven]

I had an Amiga 500 for a number of years as well during the 80's

Ahhh...a fellow Amigian! I still have both my 500 and the 3000. They are easily a couple of THE best computers ever made. Never tried the 4000.
Too damn bad Commodore didn't know dick about advertising here in the States. :frowning: Maybe we wouldn't be stuck with the mediocre crap know as the Wintel Cartel.

 

[Ryan Peter]

I was a light gamer with the Atari 2600, mainly because I was about 5-7 years old when we had it. I remember going crazy when my dad's friend let us borrow this big box full of Atari games. Remember playing Spider Man late at night on the Atari too. Atari kinda faded away for me.

Enter Nintendo. I was the first kid on the block to get this, I remember I got it on launch in 3rd grade. I remember being totally excited to go pick it up at Sears. We ordered everything from there, and this was no exception. Except they didn't deliver so we had to go get the thing.

It was great, I played it like crazy. It didn't take long to pass Super Mario Bros.. Shortly thereafter we owned Kung Fu Fighter, and it was just like the arcade! I remember picking up Pro Wrestling at Fargo and driving all the way home to Brainerd and just starring at and studying the box and instructions. It was a great game and didn't take long to pass it either.

I remember subscribing to the Nintendo Fan Club and the first issue was a black and white newsletter. I remember when Howard the president was like some sort of Nintendo Icon and always in the issues.

I ended up becoming the Nintendo Game Hotline for my school. All the kids called me up when they were having trouble with a game. I liked the first two Mario Bros, but the third I wasn't that crazy about. I did like the movie at the time though, which was basically a advertisement for SMB 3.

Enter Turbografx. I got this on its launch. I loved it. The game it launched with was wonderful (the one where the kid turns into the robot) and I continued to play such great games as Legendary Axe and Bonk's Adventure.

The next Xmas I got a Genesis, nice system as well. I think the year after that I got a Super Nintendo. I didn't get that on launch though, I don't think. I waited a bit to get it.

Basically I grew out of that in high school until the PSOne came around. We had to stay over night at a hotel because they were remodeling our house, the hotel was next to Target so we just hung out there for hours. Playing the PSOne. The 3d fighting game was our favourite, and thanks to that experience we ended up getting a PSOne. My friends came over and played games like Twisted Metal, and soon they owned one as well. I had it for a while, but wasn't interested enough to get the N64 or the Saturn. At that point I got more into PC gaming and spent tons of money on video cards and better systems.

Finally the DC came along and wooed me enough to get it. Well that's pretty current. Heh, I got a little carried away with this, just enjoying some old memories.

 

[Todd H]

Heck, I'm 32 and have been playing videogames since the 70's. I've owned almost every system and computer imaginable. That's why I laugh when I see the fanboy arguments because I remember having the same arguments myself...Atari 2600 vs. Intellivision, Atari 5200 vs. Colecovision, Atari 800 vs. Commodore 64, Amiga vs. Atari ST, NES vs. Master system, etc., etc., etc. The more things change...

 

[JasonK]

The earliest I started playing games was during the Atari 2600 era. I would have been 6 or 7 years old at the time (I'm 22 now) and I didn't have the system, but my neighbor's did. We'd play Tennis, Donkey Kong, Keystone Capers, but always returned to Pitfall. I also played games in the arcade's whenever possible, at Pizza joints and whatnot. Stuff like Centipede, Elevator Action, and so on.

And then the NES came out. I didn't get one right away, but my best friend's older brother did. I'd be over at his place every weekend gaming. Staying up until the wee hours of the morning, working on Castlevania or Contra (imagine how thrilled we were after we heard about the 30 guy code) or Metal Gear. Some fond memories from a time gone by.

But then in 4th grade I got a NES for Christmas. It came w/lightgun, + the Mario/Duck Hunt cart. Being too young for a job, I'd bug my folks every weekend to rent games, or trade with my pals. Zelda, Mike Tyson's Punch Out (I knocked him out back then...something I can't do now.) I now own 80 NES carts, and still have it hooked up in my room. My bro and I play it from time to time. River City Ransom was the latest we worked on (again.)

As the NES was on its last legs, I recieved a Sega Genesis for my birthday. This was a few months before the SNES launched. I was amazed at Sonic and his "blast processing." Streets of Rage occupied a lot of my time. Shining in the Darkness was one of my favorite RPG's. And the sports games were terrific.

Eventually, I bought an SNES too. For Zelda, actually. But I also enjoyed Super Castlevania, the new Contra, and of course, the Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy 3 was the first in the series I got into. I borrowed it from a friend, and played it one day when I stayed home sick from school. I stayed home an extra 2 days, because I was hooked.

Then, I got the Sega CD. I was playing FMV games, like Sewer Shark. But no 32X for me.

I bought a PSX instead. On launch day. Along with Battle Arena Toshinden and Ridge Racer. But, to be honest while I enjoyed the PSX, I didn't play it (or any 32-bit era stuff) nearly as much as the 8 and 16 bit stuff.

Then, a few months after launch I got an N64. I waited because I wanted to avoid the 'launch drought.' Little did I know that even after I bought Mario Kart (the first title I got) and NBA Hangtime, and Mario 64, that the drought would last a loooooong time. Until Goldeneye. The most played multi-player game I've ever owned.

Well, my gaming interest was rekindled with the Dreamcast. I bought it on launch day, with 5 games. I still play it from time to time, and I will miss it. From Shenmue to PSO (my dude is Dodekahedron) online with Jeff, Joel, Dave, and Romier (aka the HTF Avengers) the Dreamcast was a gem of a system.

Next up, the PS2 on launch. This past quarter I am reminded why I bought it. MGS2. GTA3. Silent Hill 2. Devil May Cry. Baldur's Gate. And, in 4 weeks (maybe less) Final Fantasy 10. I have not played such great games in such a short timespan in a long time.

Oh, I can't forget "the portables" either. I had a Gameboy (love Link) and a Game Gear (drain my batteries, please) and now a GBA (Castlevania COTM worth the system.)

The future? A GameCube, hopefully over winter break I can save up some $$$ and order it thru my work. And, if XBox has more Halo-caliber games, I'll get that too.

All in all, I've had a lot of fun over the years with these. I hope it continues.

Thanks for reading,

Jason

 

[AndyVX]

Hmm, I can't remember exactly what came first. My Apple II/c or the NES. Either way, it was one of those two that I started gaming on.

I'm only 20 years old now, but wow...to think that I was so young when I started playing videogames.