For Discussion #3: Your First Time
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Remember when you were like that kid up there, so young and fresh and STARING? Well, we want to talk about that time. What was the first game you ever played? Alternatively, that you remember playing? Personally, I remember playing adventure games with my father as a child, him reading the text to me. I played King’s Quest a lot, and other licensed stuff like the Inspector Gadget game (which was, at the time, fantastic). The first console game I remember playing was Sonic 2, which I got when I first got my Genesis. I was so utterly terrible at it I couldn’t beat the first level’s boss, who is, as I’m sure you know, easier than waking up on Christmas. Of course, I’m much better at games now, but it’s always good to remember how bad (or good!) you were as a child compared to now. So go ahead! Tell us your stories. We here, we like stories. Especially if they are embarrassing ones about you as a kid. We love those. |
My first experience was with Chrono Trigger. I recall having a similarly difficult time getting past the first hour. When I finally did finish the first dungeon, my 2 year old brain couldn’t fathom the concept of doing something else after that! So I would proceed to restart the game and repeat the process. This cycle went on for several weeks I believe until my parents decided it would probably be a good idea to introduce me to another video game. (Side note: it wasn’t ’till I was 15 that I beat Chrono Trigger when it was re-released for the DS 😛 )
I think it was Sonic 2? I could never beat it myself 😛 I still have trouble beating it now!
I can never remember whether my first game was Jet Moto or Rayman way back when both were fairly new games for the PlayStation 1, but I know it was one of those two. I remember not finding Jet Moto that interesting while loving Rayman (which I still hold as a fantastic platforming game to this game). I don’t know if it was really that hard or if I just sucked at games due to being so new at them, but I didn’t actually complete Rayman until years later. Even then, I could only do it by using a trick to get more continues or just flat out cheating to get extra lives. To this day, I have yet to beat Rayman without any kind of tricks or cheats, but I want to fulfill that goal eventually.
Since that’s a rather short and not very interesting story, let me share the little stories of my first games I got for each of the consoles I have.
After the PS1, I got a PS2, but I honestly have no clue what my first games for that were. One of them was probably Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (since my parents knew I liked Naughty Dog games), but I’m not sure.
After a long stint with just those two Sony consoles (as well as an always inexpensive and underpowered PC) and their respective games, I eventually got an Xbox 360. My first exposure to HD graphics blew me away, and it probably helps that the very first Xbox 360 game I played was BioShock, which had great art deco aesthetics. Unlike most people, I was underwhelmed with BioShock’s actual FPS gameplay, which was a rather harsh blow for my initial venture into a new console after years of my previous two consoles. Fortunately, the second game I got was the Orange Box, which I greatly enjoyed through and through, minus the underwhelming experience of Half-Life 2: Episode 1. I recall playing hours and hours of Team Fortress 2 while my complementary Xbox Live trial lasted.
Since I was finally starting to earn my own wages sometime after that, I picked up a PS3 much quicker than the time in between transitioning from PS2 to Xbox 360. My first game for that (which was probably part of a bundle) was LittleBIGPlanet, which I quite enjoyed despite its quirks. The second was inFAMOUS, which was also quite good. The PlayStation 3 has the virtue of being the only game-playing device that I own where both of the first two games I got were good. Every other system had one good and one bad or mediocre choice.
I can’t remember whether it was after the Xbox 360 or the PS3 purchase, but I bought a Wii sometime around then. Besides whatever mini-games were bundled with it, the only game I really have for it is Rayman: Raving Rabbids. I fall into that stereotypical “almost never uses their Wii” category, but it’s not due to a lack of games I’m interested in. I suppose I just always got distracted by some Xbox 360 or PS3 game I wanted to play before getting another for the Wii.
My most recent (but still some time ago) system purchase was a DS. Not one of those 3DS things, just a regular old DS handheld. My first game for it was not actually a DS game but rather the GBA game known as Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. For reasons unrelated to the game’s quality (which I thought was pretty good), I contemplated completely quitting the hobby of playing games because of FFTA. As you could probably guess from my work here on NMM, I didn’t carry on that idea forever. My second game was actually a DS game, and it was known as Okamiden. I have yet to progress more than a few hours into that game, but I consider it one of the most disappointing gaming experiences I’ve had since I adored Okami but not Okamiden. It’s definitely something I intend on writing about if and when I actually force myself to finish Okamiden.