What got you into it?

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So yeah, that's the question today: What was it that got you interested in gaming in the first place? What was it that made it really "click" for you, to become something that you are really into?

It's a topic that came up on a different forum I go to, and as it led to some interesting discussion, I thought I might repeat it here and see what happens.


I dont have a good answer to it myself; my mom likes to say that I've been playing games since I was a year old, because her and my father had an Atari 2600 at the time. Why they had this, I try not to think about, lest my brain implode. I'm pretty sure I was 3 or 4 though with that, but one way or another the thing was then mine, and it continued from there.... but I dont really remember THAT far back. But I can still remember that time period to an extent (which I define as "before the NES came out").

Super Mario Bros!! !!

I have bought and played this game too many times to count.

I got into gaming thanks to a combination of playing Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Junior on my grandparents' Colecovision and watching my cousins play Super Mario Bros when they brought their brand spanking new NES with them whenever they were babysitting.

In fact, I think I was destined to be a hardcore Nintendo fan as well as a gamer as I was born the year Donkey Kong first came out in arcades

Super Mario Bros 3.
My mother gave my brother (i was too young) a NES and since the first time that i was finally able to play it i was really amazed and into it. Since then almost nothing could entertain me like games do.

My parents got my brothers and me a Commodore 64 when I was six or so. We really loved playing games on that but it was a frustrating experience because most of our games came on cassette tape and took half an hour to load and sometimes they wouldn't work. We did have some cartridge like Terminator 2 and RoboCop but they were rare. We later got a SNES with Super Mario All stars and Super Mario World which really kick started my lovesof videogames. I still have a special nostalgic fondness for Nintendo, Mario and Zelda. Before we got the SNES we played Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES thanks to some Spanish students my mother was teaching English at the time.

I was introduced to gaming at a really young age as my father had an NES and a Sega Master System before I was born. Once I was old enough(old enough to respect them in his eyes, I suspect), he left them around for me, and eventually they became mine by default. Apparently, my earliest games my parents remember me taking strongly to were Astro Warrior, Shinobi, and Ghost House... all for SMS.

Though, I was an extremely active and energetic child, so games were just something that shut me up when I was stuck at home. I believe what really drove my love for games was actually my sporadic visits to Arcades, and practically having lived in a daycare center for a few years during elementary school times that had about ten cycling arcade cabinets and four pinball machines in the back(coin slots bypassed with a credit button). There's something magical about them, and for me, no home console to date has ever come close to being as immersive compared to the feeling of an arcade cabinet regardless of modern graphical advances and home convenience.

I personally would love to collect old arcade cabinets some day, maybe when I'm old... If I ever get the chance. Very expensive hobby that requires lots of space. My favorites are booth shooters like House of the Dead and Time Crisis, vertical shooters, and run and gun types... Those, and I've always loved pinball machines, air hockey, and those classic Namco tables.

I played what my dad and brothers played at first (which also meant Legos and chess). Games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Mana that were colorful enough to catch my attention as a very young child.

Tamagotchi I guess. You know, the cheap ones you could buy in any toy shop some time ago. I used to collect them when I was like 8-12 year old. When I seen one in shop I was like "Woot, I don't have this one yet. Is it 49in1? For real? Sounds cool." and I had to buy it.

Computer games did? :/

My brothers were huge gamers and always let me play video games with them. The moment i really got into gaming was when i played fable on my brothers Xbox. I know fable isn't the greatest game ever but it is the game that got me into gaming. I also remember playing Trauma center: Under the Knife a lot as a child.

Sonic 2 is what got me into gaming. I used to play that game a lot especially with my brother. It took me years to work up the courage to beat the 2nd boss and onward. The purple water and the falling platforms around the boss area used to scare me as a kid. Now, I'm stuck on the oil ocean zone boss.

Sega Genesis. Sonic Pinball in particular although I suppose I played other things first. My memory is fuzzy but there's a chance I actually started with Minesweeper. I'm ridiculously good at minesweeper...

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-Gem Tos

I think what really got me into video games was the PlayStation 1, Twisted Metal 4. After that I've been hooked on gaming. Although my first gaming experience was back on an old Atari at my grandparents house. Or was it the Sega Genesis my dad used to play? I don't remember. But it was the PS1 that spawned my love of video games. I have so many memories of my favorite ps1 games... mainly TM4 and Vigilante 8. I wish car combat games were still a big thing... it was that genre that made me love playing video games. I'm mostly a PC gamer now though.

Three things. My Dad, Dreamcast, and TechTV. My dad thought that video games would help me get into programming, possibly making my own games. That didn't pan out how he expected. He got my brother and I a Dreamcast to play with. We played with that console for years before I got a PS2. I loved the games we had on the dreamcast, and kept increasing my library. As for TechTV, that channel had a show called X Play. Just YouTube X Play, and be astounded at how this show basically paved the way to online video game reviews.

For me, it's because of Super Mario Bros. on the NES and my older brothers.

Arcades were big when I was growing up. It was like a form of low-stakes gambling. Sure, the games were "rigged" but with enough skill and determination, one quarter could go a long way.
I still tend to think of games this way. Starting a video game is like rolling the dice. The excitement of "beating the odds" is what keeps me interested, and it makes me sad to see single player games get easier and more cinematic.