What was your first experience with a video game?

The year was 1992. My dad came home with a Super Nintendo. It came packed in with Super Mario World. At first, I was a little afraid of it. I only watched my dad play at first. I didn't like the sound the game made when Mario died. It was too intimidating to try playing by myself. My dad explained the buttons and how to exit a level by pushing start & select. At first, I would only play Yoshi's Island 2, the beginning part where you bowl over like 10 koopas with one shell. After I did that I would immediately exit the level, restart the level and do it again. With time, I got brave enough to beat the whole level. Then I went on to beat the game.

Note: Beginning of video is misleading. Game is not "Super Mario All-Stars" it is "Super Mario World".

How about you?

Honestly I don't exactly remember. It was over 40 years ago and was most likely an arcade machine at some restaurant.

Fair enough. Mine was only 25 years ago. I was 2.

I'm pretty sure it was playing Duck Hunt with my big bro when he got his Nintendo. Soon after I had my own Sega then from that point on I was a gamer lol

My parents bought me and my brother a Texas instrument t-99 (I think that's the name of it) computer in the early 80s. It had mostly educational games on it but I loved playing it.

1986 on an Atari 2600 in the Utility Room with a tiny 13" Zenith TV. Played Haunted House, River Raid and Kaboom! My parents wanted to see me grow up to work with computers and thought that video games would get me into them. Guess they had that parenting thing all figured out... Who knew?

It was around 1996. 1997, I was 4. Donkey Kong Kountry 2 on the SNES. I watched my sister play and I became entranced. I've loved video games ever since.

@Sam3231: you've never had to put up with the pain of a game loading from a cassette tape then? what a sheltered life you've lived ;)

for me it was around '85 on the powerhouse that was the amstrad cpc 464 and this hidden gem of a platformer

Hmmm good question...

It was either something on PC or Sega Master System.

@Macutchi: Nope, at worst I've only had cartridges, which at worse I had to blow on sometimes.

@Sam3231: This probably changes every time I answer, was given a mountain of old games on various devices when I was little, with that, only about 1/10 of the games still worked.

My memory tells me it's Kirby of the Stars 3. It was already pretty old a game when I played it. Yet I think it must be that game, explains why I still adore the game so fondly. And I recall it being a big part of my early childhood, before I was old enough to game in the arcades.

@Sam3231: My first gaming experience was in 1993 when my parents got me my first ever gaming console SNES along with Mario World, similar to your first game with Super Mario World.

I learn how to play the game on my own cause I was a fast learner how the controls work and from that point on, it took me I think maybe 3 months to beat Super Mario World.

It was 1972 when as an 8 year old I placed my eyes on that fantastic arcade machine with the logo PONG stamped on it..... man, so many quarters went into it ...

It was with super mario and duck hunt. Trying to jump with Mario or too close to the tv to shoot the duck. Probably around 87 or 88 when I was 5

I played my fair share of bad NES game once I got one. I remember one of my cousin had ROB and I was like "he is really useless"

I'm 37 and I cannot remember what my first video game experience was. Video games have always been a huge part of my life but trying to remember what started it all is like trying to remember my own birth. As long as I can remember I have had a controller in my hand. Just based on my age I would assume my first video game experience was either an arcade or my atari 2600 but I couldn't tell you for sure nor could I tell you what the first video game I ever played was.

Duck Hunt. I used to sit as close as I could to the screen, and give myself headaches from focusing so hard LUL

I still remembered my first experience of playing games.Because it is a wonderful experience.My brother taught me how to do, and I followed his advice. That's not important, what impressed me most is the setting, the sharp 4k image. At that time, we are not rich enough to buy expensive equipment, my older brother installed a Blu-ray ripper to convert the video.My brother is so clever in my mind.

It was either an arcade machine at a pizza place or a Tiger handheld of Simon's Quest one kid brought at summer camp. First home system was an Adman Grandstand hand-me-down from 1981. Not sure which came first.

My first experience was 1990 i played bouble bouble double dragon golden axe on arcade

Seeing a friend play on his Commodore 64. It was love at first sight. Year later I'd saved enough money from chores to buy my very own C64...

Last Ninja on C64, pretty bad ass game.

so true, especially those pixel perfect jumps you had to do...

E.T on the Atari 2600. It's a miracle I still game.

I played mario on the cartridge loll cant even remember the name of the console it was so little i think it was called media or mitashi or terminator

I remember when I played space invaders for the very first time on a hand held system back in 1982 dam I'm showing my age

If I could remember, I had my first videogame experience when I played NES games like super mario, soccer, duck hunt (I think) on a clone console I think. My dad also brought a Playstation 1 (the original one not the slim) at home and we played games but it lasted for a night because later on, it couldn't read games anymore and that's how my love for videogames began.

Arcade games and early Atari 2600 games blur together in my mind and I can't be sure what was first. It was the late 70's and I was quite young.

My first real experience with video games was Lara Croft Tomb Raider 1 and 2.

I think Super Mario 3 was one of the first games that I played when my family had Nintendo. I always loved playing it

Earliest memories are with Ocarina of Time, my older siblings played it a lot so I wanted to try. When they went to school, I would run into Hyrule Field and start rushing towards the castle, then it would turn to night, those zombies would come out and I would get scared and turn off the N64. That was all I ever played of the game until recently.

Sega Mega Drive is where it all began for me. Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Never stopped ever since. We think back and it's crazy how there was no need for a save point. how you would complete a game in a sitting or write down the codes for the next level.

Now we are so spoiled by auto-saves and checkpoints :-)

I got my PlayStation in 1999 - 2000 (when I was 10) but I remember playing Atari before that.

I don't remember, but it either was something on the Master System (probably Alex Kidd) or something on IntelliVision.

First experience of gaming, it was on a Grandstand system my Dad had. It played Space Invaders, so that was addictive.

It was 1992, I was only 6 years old. My mom was dating a guy (cannot remember his name) and his family decided to buy my older brother and myself a SNES; which came with Super Mario World. I sort of went backwards from that to some degree with the NES and the Atari once I was old enough according to some family members. I have been playing video games since then. It has been about 25 years since I first played.

@yuhyang: For real?! That crazy! I got my PS1 at that exact time. I was 10 too! But it was far from my first gaming experience. PC was what we had since I was a baby.

I honestly do not remember, but it was close to 30 years ago. Probably an arcade game or early console game.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs in an arcade at a coffee store. First run-in with home gaming was on a Master System II with Sonic/ Alexx Kidd in Miracle World.

@PETERAKO: Really? PS1 was one of my happiest childhood memories haha.

My earliest memory is playing Tetris and Dr. Mario on the NES when I was 4 or 5. So around 1994-1995. I remember hearing my parents saying sh*t when they messed up so that's what I said when I messed up lol. They were a little upset.

My first gaming memory is my PSX and having Cool Boarders, Adidas Power Soccer and Porsche Challenge. Coincidentally, that was also the best Christmas I've ever experienced. I always find it frustrating how clunky games of the past are now. What a time to be alive!

I distinctly remember playing Megaman 4 on my gameboy when I was 3 ,way before donkey kong country came out

Playing Pac-Man in the arcades during the early 1980s as a teenager. Thus my interest in video games was born. My first PC game was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure on Apple II in college during the mid 80s.

Yes, I am old.

My first ever gaming experience was in an arcade gaming arena near my place back in early 1990s. It was a FPS sort of a game, more like Duke Nukem 3D which came a few years later on PC. It was not that though, but similar, guns and monsters. Since then, I am hooked to FPS games. I have played many. From 2015, I witnessed a little change in preference in FPS games and after siege, I am totally drooling over tactical FPS games.

I am playing siege and arma 3 reguarly.

Well it definitely was not for me back in the 90s or 80s since I am from the techie generation. My dad had a real passion for video games and got me into it when he let me play Little Big Planet. That was the proper first game I fell in love with and played when I was about six or seven. Seven years on, I am a teenager who has played many games. I am proud to say that was the day when I was given my rite of passage into gaming.