What game made you fall in love with gaming?

[stroopwafel]

Definitely Zelda: A Link to the Past. It was the first time I felt genuinely 'immersed' in a game. Never before did I experience a game where the world felt so 'alive' and authentic. I guess it was also b/c graphics were finally up to a standard where a game could be made with a lot more expression, and Nintendo utilized this possibility to it's fullest effect with this game. Not only that but the music was beautiful too. I was also blown away by the overworld at the time.

I skipped way too much school b/c of this game but in the end I'm glad I did b/c I have way more fond memories of this game than the entirety of fucking school. It's also one of the few(if only) games I think is still as good today as it was way back in 1992. Undeniable masterpiece that turned me a gamer 4 life!

 

[MrMcDoll]

this right here.

I'd played many games before this - since i can even remember, but for my 5th birthday I got hero's quest.

shortly followed by monkey island and the ultima games.

oh and Eye of the Beholder

 

[Louzon]

Christmas morning when I was five, my family got a Sega Master System. The first game we got for it was Astro Warrior, a top-down shooter set in space. I didn't play it for two days because I was scared that I wasn't going to be good at it, but once I tried it, I was hooked. Haven't put them down since, and now my 7 and 4-year-old boys are both pretty dang awesome at Mario Kart 8, so it's nice to pass that forward.

...don't get me wrong, they go out and play sports too.

 

[LarryDavidsAvatar]

Sonic The Hedgehog is the game that flicked the switch for me. I'd been playing my Dad's ZX Spectrum games for a few years up until that point and they were just some of the things I played with. Yet when Sonic came along with my first console all of my own(MegaDrive), my little eyes were widened by the joy of something I'd never seen before. Such colour! Such speed! Such fun!

The level design, the art style and the soundtrack are all deeply embedded in my brain over 20 years later. I'm still playing it to this day, and it's still immensely satisfying to play.

 

[G00N3R7883]

Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Sega Mega Drive, 1992(ish).

I'd played some games before that, mainly educational games on my dad's Spectrum ZX something or other. I can remember being in a shop with my mum and dad around Xmas time, seeing a picture of this colourful cartoonish character on the console box and saying "I want that". I really enjoyed playing the game and the rest as they say is history.

Edit: Is the guy above me some sort of long lost clone? Such a similar story

 

[MrFabulous]

Aaaah, the nostalgic feels flowing through me right now. While I had played games before this one, I wasn't really into video games until this point. Until then I had only played games on consoles such as the Super Nintendo and the Nintendo 64. As good as games such as Legend Of Zelda, Banjo Kazooie and Mario 64 were, they didn't really strike me, though I did complete all of them. But the game that really, really caught my eye, that really birthed my love for the industry, for video games and everything they had to offer was a little known game for the Nintendo GameCube called Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker.

All jokes about it's popularity aside this game was absolutely beautiful and the best in the franchise, in my opinion. The GameCube was my first console, the SNES and 64 were my parents' consoles so I was already over the moon. Now let me be blunt here, the GameCube is also my favorite console and Wind Waker is my favorite game. It was also the first GameCube game I played and the only one I had on the console for a long while, so I was hyped to see what else this console had in store for me when I begged my parents to get me some new games. Wind Waker opened the door for me to some of the other gems the GameCube has hidden away.

But yeah, my favorite game is the one that got me into video games and I still have that disc and Console to this day. And I still love it.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

mmm, I was going to say Super Mario Bros in the NES, but I'll have to go with Frogger, the game was so simple yet so fun for my 5 year old self, that I did not leave my cousin (who owned the Atari) play with it every time I went visiting. Oh good times =)

 

[Savagezion]

These primo graphics and controls in a 3D world which only got better with the sequels.

However, Tomb Raider was more when I started looking at games as a new story telling medium. Resident Evil and Silent Hill ran right along side Lara. But I played the hell out of Lara on my PS1. I was already a gamer by the time she was released.

If I had to decide what game made me a gamer, its probably this guy:

Yay Atari 2600. I kinda don't count him though as Atari was almost another world to me. I was like 5 or 6. I would say the typical duo made me a gamer.

Mario pulled me in having cvame with the console, but the original LoZ was the first game I saved up my money for and bought myself. It was pure gold.

 

[MordreadRN]

Pirates! for my C64. I bought the game while on holiday so I couldn't play it for a week. My English wasn't very good at the time but I still plowed through the manual at least 50 times. And the paper map that was included.. It was magic! And the game itself didn't disapoint in any way, I can't count how many times I have played it over the years on my C64, Amiga and PC.

 

[Velventian]

For me it was Super Metroid.
The reason for it is actually that the game came with guide book. Still don´t know why.
A lot of the game was listed there, maps, a lot of items (not all of them), bosses, a whole lot of stuff.
The game was still pretty hard to beat. The mother brain fight and the following escape sequence will probably be my final bossfight in my own personal hell.

But it showed me that games can actually so large that you can have guide book and still have to look for hidden items. A game could hold your hand with tips but still drop you on your ass in a boss fight.
I played games before but that was the first one i actually dug in. That boss had to go down, i had to get that super missile and that wall of speed blocks could just fuck right off.
It showed me that video games can actually tell a story you get invested in. When mother brain killed samus metroid it actually got to me, she killed my metroid!

 

[Aetherlblade]

Dune 1 and 2 I think, but really just a LOT of games over the years.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Mechwarrior 2, the first PC game I ever owned. I mean now it looks like total arse, but it was 1994 so I can forgive it. Strong lore, an interesting setting. And oh yeah, mechs to blow up.

 

[optimusjamie]

I don't know. I've had video games as a constant presence my whole life, and there's a whole list of games I could say did this for me.
-Roller Coaster Tycoon
-Transport Tycoon Deluxe
-Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (Game Boy Colour)
-Doom
-Gran Turismo
-Ratchet and Clank
-Jak II

 

[Samael Barghest]

I've been game for nearly two decades (I'm 26) and I still remember my first game. It was Duck Hunt with that damn dog that loved to mock me.

 

[WeirdNut]

That´s easy! Mega Man 4.
The Graphics, the levels, the boss and this little blue guy who fights his way to the end. Ohh and the soundtrack!

 

[LongAndShort]

Age of Empires II.

I'd owned and played a few games before AoE 2, but it was the first game that really drew me in, kept me invested. Jeez, I must have played the William Wallace and Barbarossa campaigns a dozen times.

 

[happyninja42]

I couldn't tell you. It was back in like 1982, when I was 5 or 6 years old, and I lived in Alladin's Castle arcade pretty much every day after school. I played just about every game they had. Playing video games is sort of like learning to read for me. I did it so early that I don't have a memory of learning to do so. It's just always been something I've done.

 

[L. Declis]

Civilization 1. For the PC.

It came in a massive box with about five floppy disks.

I never understood a bloody thing, but I used to play the Romans and I'd read all the little Civilpedia things and it got me interested in history. Plus, I was a conquering warmongering little bastard who simply felt that everyone should of course give their cities to me.

I also loved Pokemon Red on the old green and black screen Gameboy brick. It may have been the first game I ever bothered to complete. I was also the only one of my friends to level my Pokemon equally. They'd all bring a Level 99 Bulbasaur and then 5 level 15 HM carriers, and I'd have 6 Level 60 Pokemon who'd have a Phyrric victory over their lead, and then cubmstomp the rest.

 

[hermes]

I couldn't even name it. It was a really shitty race game for the amiga (I think it was called "F1"), which totally blew my mind when I was like 8.

Then I was on and off (had an atari for some time) until I met Megaman 1, and that sealed the deal...