So, I was wondering how some of the "Old timers" here on the Vizzid boards got their start in gaming?  What was your first system?  What was your first game?  Did you get your first system and game(s) as a gift?  A hand me down?  Bought it yourself?

Back when everyone was obsessing over the new Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), I found myself in the local Salvation Army with my family.  That was where I found an old Atari with three games.  I managed to beg an extra few dollars out of my Dad so I would have enough to pay the $15 they were asking for the system.  With it were Breakout, Space Invaders, and Missile Command. 

I was so excited to have my very first video game system, that when I got home, I was completely heartbroken when I found out that I was missing a cable needed to attach it to the TV.   I had to look at my new console, with my three games in the corner of my room for more than a week before I could afford  the part I needed so I could finish hooking it up to play it. 

Of my new games, Missile Command was my favorite by far.   Over the next few weeks, I played the game so much that I had it down to a science, sniping missiles almost as fast as they appeared on the screen at times, . . . Good times!  Oddly enough, I can hardly stand it anymore, instead, Breakout has become my staple whenever the console comes out.

I spent a lot of time playing that console over the next few months.  Until I found a NES under the Christmas tree.

It wasn't until years later that I found a box of Atari games at a garage sale and I had an excuse to drag the old system back out.  Every once in a while, I still stumble across an old Atari game I don't have, whenever that happens, I drag it back out for a few days again!

GateKeeper_A : Cute story   I played computer video games at a very young age at my babysitter's house in the 80s.  That's where I played NES before I got one in 3rd grade (1990   I think my very first introduction to gaming though was when I went with my parents to a picnic at this house that belonged to a rich family from my church.  The kids in the family took me upstairs and opened their hall closet.  In there they had a little TV with what must have been an Atari hooked up and I played Pacman
and I was in love with video gaming...must have been around age 5 or 6   Ah memories!  Happy gaming, everyone!

magimangr :   I remember that old NES, I had the same version!  All three games were on the same cartage.  I know that all three games in the set saw a LOT of play in my home, but Duck Hunt probably saw the most use. 

Super Mario 3?  To this day, I still think that's the best game in the main series (Still like the RPGs better.) 

GateKeeper_A : Yeah I prefer RPG's too. I didn't really get into them on the NES for a long while though. I think I had already gotten into the Sega Genesis RPG's like Shining Force 1 and 2 and Phantasy Star II - IV. Then I went back and got into the Dragon Warriors and Final Fantasy. I actually owned all 4 Dragon Warriors for the NES, but sold them since I can play them on here.
I still have most of the Final Fantasy games from all systems. I was glad when they remade many of them for the Nintendo DS.

All good games!  I'm particularly fond of the early Final Fantasies (1-6) and the early Dragon Warrior games (1-4.)  It also wasn't too long ago that I played through the Shining Force games and the first four Phantasy stars as well!

GateKeeper_A : my first game was loz a link to the past for gba it was a huge part of my childhood i miss it...it broke cuz a kid broke it by spitting in it

kirbmanboggle :

That kind of sucks.  I hate it when people break your things out of sheer meanness.

Have you tried finding a replacement copy online?  I just took a look at Amazon and it looks like it starts about $20 US, and starting around $18 US on eBay.  A lot of pawn shops, second hand stores, and even the occasional garage sale, will have old gameboy stuff as well, and sometimes you can get a really good deal on things that way (That's actually how I usually buy games, and its saved me a small fortune over the years.)  I don't know if that helps or not, but I hope it does.

GateKeeper_A : its all in the past man but this sort of thing was wierd!he spit in it and fried parts of the game and when i tried to play it it wouldn't work so when it did work i had a crazy glitched game like i could be at the last boss fight with no items what soever and i was a giant pot at one point and then i was bunny link with all useable equipment, i could see enemy's that were walking around in water it was total madness but i have vizzed so i can play whenever i want so ya know whatever

The first system I ever owned was a Nintendo 64. But I got my introduction at the age of 1 playing Doctor Mario with my Mom. I saw my Mom playing, and I wouldn't stop trying to take her controller from her. So, she plugged in the 2nd one, and turned it on, and let me play with her. Within a few days, I had the hang of it. I was a 1 year old getting close to my Mom's high scores on Doctor Mario, who is a master at Tetris and other puzzle games.

I got introduced to gaming by my dad playing Medal of Honor(I think it was Frontlines). I was watching him play them he let me play it. I had no clue what was going on and had no clue what to do but I eventually learned how to move and shoot. I sucked back then and still suck at FPS now. I was around 1 or 2 but it wasn't until i was 5 where I got the Sony PlayStation with Crash Bandicoot,Gran Turismo,FIFA 2000,Harry Potter 1 and Crash Team racing.

My older brother had an Amiga 600 and a bunch of games, so that was my beginning. I cant remember exactly what my first game was but I do recall putting a lot of time into "Rick Dangerous" and "Toki: going ape spit". It was also the only system my mother liked to play, she got really into "pushover"

I was born in 1981 and my first experience as a kid was the Atari 2600.  I remember playing Spider Fighter and Plaque Attack.  We got the Atari 7800 not too long after and games like River Raid and Adventure and Pitfall were available.  Food Fight was the best of the old, old games.  Those games were fun because they were basic and simple and you didn't need much of a menu or twenty buttons.  You picked up the controller and started shooting at stuff.  It was fun to watch the progression of video games from nothing to the games we have nowadays.  But those first Atari games?  Those guys were fun.

GateKeeper_A : The first system I ever used... my first memories of this are of me playing my friend's NES (Metroid and Super Mario Bros. 3) and Sega console(Sonic the Hedgehog), the former of which we borrowed so my father could take turns with me to play Metroid. After a year and some sampling of other systems in other people's homes, the 1st console I actually owned was at the age of 9, I was given the N64 for X-Mas back in '97. With it came Super Mario 64 and Starfox 64, the latter of which I found relatively easy but especially short (except for the earning of Medals).

I admit, I snuck a peek in my parents' closet (their favorite hiding place for gifts) as they did not mind me exploring their room, before Christmas to find my N64 and games before they were wrapped, but that was all. The early discovery did not hamper my excitement  at all. Good times!

MysteryMan007 :   Very nice.  Metroid has always been among my favorite, and was among my earliest NES games.  And Super Mario Brothers 3 is probably my wife's single favorite game from the NES.  Both were (And still are) some amazing games!

I played a lot of point and click games on my granddads computer at first.
He also had some text adventures, and I remember always trying to get dirty words through it
Then, my uncle got me and old atari, and a new NES. 
My first NES games were Mario Bros, and Duck Hunt. On Atari, I was rocking pong.
Can't remember any of the point and click games I used to play, just that some of them were obviously meant for a more mature crowd.
Not that they were X rated or anything, just that they had a lot of mature themes.

Mine was in the late 70's... Pong.. My mom would bring it out, plug it to the little black & white TV and we would play for hours.. Then a few years later... Atari came out...