The first time you saw or played _____

[Darryl B.]

Nuts...when I went to link to an old post on another forum, it looks like they had deleted pages of old posts. Crud, had another topic I was going to copy and paste onto here, but oh well...

Anyway, this is in regards to the very first time you saw something special that stuck in your mind.

For instance, there was this one strange game I caught a glimpse of for a few seconds at an arcade...a big one too, so chances are it could have been something out of the norm that didn't fare well with the public. What little I saw of it was some yellow thing being persued by several blobs right behind it in a maze with their eyes facing the yellow thing. "Must've been some weird game that bombed", I thought to myself.

Well, I was plenty wrong on that one, it turned out to be Pac-Man Yeah, I found out how much of a "bomb" it was not long after that, all right!

Another one was Donkey Kong, which I was trying to describe it to a friend who hadn't seen it yet. I pointed it out to him, saying "see? Dumb, eh?" But he seemed kind of intrigued...and, again, it didn't take me long to feel the same way about it too (Just seemed dumb to me at the time...)

I remember Sinistar initially scaring the crap out of me the first time I saw/heard it, with him ROARing his butt off. Scared a friend of mine too...but then the second time I experienced it, I played it. No real big deal there any more. Sometimes you just have to face your fears...

Then there was Stargate...whoa. There was a sign on top of the machine saying it was THE first Stargate machine in all of Houston. Always a crowd around whoever was playing this sequel to the awesome Defender.

I remember my mom's reaction to Mouse Trap, with her laughing at when you turned the tables on the cats, with your mouse turning into a dog and barking, and the cats pitifully meowing when you caught them.

Going back to another certain game for the first time was when, on the way to a camping trip with my scout troop (yeah, I was a Boy Scout, and shut up!), we stopped at a convenience store on the way for snacks, bathroom break, whatever. There was some game there that I hadn't seen before. Either me or a friend of mine put a quarter in to try this newfangled shooter, even though we were pressed for time...which a Scoutmaster had to pull us away, of course, damn the luck. I pressed thrust one last time on the way from the machine, as you were flying over a planet.

A while later, after we had settled at our campsite and had the tents pitched and everything, me and my friend were thinking about that game. "I wonder if you could crash into those mountains", he said. "What was it called, 'Defenser'?" "DEFENDER" I said...important information for a game we might never see again.

Yeah, right

A few there to get us started; so, share yours.

[Carlos]

Some memories that stick out in my mind....

* When I was little, there was a Black-Eyed Pea my parents and I used to go to a lot. In the bar area, there was a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga cocktail table. My dad and I used to play while waiting for our table. I'm not 100% sure if it's the first time I played Pac-Man, but it's the first I remember playing it.

* 1990 Nintendo World Championships. I remember my dad taking my friend and I to that one weekend. I remember getting my picture taken with Mega Man, meeting Howard (from Howard and Nester) playing with the Game Boy games, the only new NES game I cared to try out was Double Dragon II, and making it to the finals that Saturday and winning an exclusive t-shirt and some Nintendo goodies, but not being able to participate the next day because it was on a Sunday, meaning it was a school night.

* I'll never forget the first time I saw Mortal Kombat. The night before, I had a dream (it's crazy I still remember this). In the dream, I was playing Street Fighter II. I was Ken and was playing against M.Bison. I was kicking his ass and about to win, but then M.Bison transformed into this demonic looking skeleton, did the psycho crusher, and vaporized me. It freaked me out so much I woke up in a cold sweat. I shit you not. Anyway, the next day, I go to my local arcade at the mall and see a new game. Two ninjas fighting each other. A yellow one and a blue one. The blue one can shoot ice, the yellow one has a spear. When they hit each other, blood goes everyone. I think it's the coolest thing I've ever witnessed in my young life. And then I saw the yellow ninja rip off his face to reveal a skull and set the blue ninja on fire until he was a pile of smoldering bones. I think I damn near pissed my pants.

* I also have memories of an arcade game I used to play a lot. I think it was kinda ripped off from Indiana Jones. I remember there was a guy with a whip, a girl with a gun, and a 3rd character. I remember there were mud and fire golems and I think it took place in the jungle.

[Darryl B.]

I think I damn near pissed my pants.

Heh!

I remember the first time I saw Berzerk. Weird but cool. Nothing else like it at the time, with it mumbling and all. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"

[Rob]

The first time I saw the original Super Mario Brothers in action. That was the first time I remember being absolutely absorbed by a game. I'd played games on the Intellivision, Coleco, the 5200 and 2600, but this was something new, and something big. It completely changed my life.