How did you get into gaming?

[Rome's rightful successor]

The first video game I ever played was this motocross game on my dad's PS1.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Pretty sure the earliest was playing something co-op with my uncle for Atari 2600 or NES. It's extremely vague because I was like 2 or 3.

Earliest clear memory was playing Super Mario Bros with my parents. First game I remember playing by myself was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES. It frustrated the shit out of me.

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

As a non-english speaking kid I randomly bought some real fucking bangers here in yurope, or maybe they only imported good games? Just randomly off the shelf or in bins;
Kingdom Hearts, Dynasty Warriors, Theme Hospital, Zoo Tycoon, Spiderman 2, Downhill Domination.

I never really got into anything niche and simply followed what ended up being the vanilla of the west. CS, WoW, GW1, TES, Halo. I guess that's better than being a RISK autist.

 

[Captain Quazar]

I remember the DS Lite being my first handheld system and absolutely loved it. I no longer have it sadly, but I did get an OG DS at a retro game shop a few months ago and I am making sure that I never get rid of it.

 

[Bixnood]

parents bought me a gameboy pocket and a copy of super mario land, all down hill from there.

 

[Dysnomia]

My friends had an NES and I got to play Duck Hunt and Mario 1&2. Later I used my Communion money to buy an NES of my own. My first Zelda was AoL so I actually found the original Zelda awkward at first because it was 3/4th overhead view and seemed weird to me.

 

[The Last Stand]

As a non-english speaking kid I randomly bought some real fucking bangers here in yurope, or maybe they only imported good games? Just randomly off the shelf or in bins;
Kingdom Hearts, Dynasty Warriors, Theme Hospital, Zoo Tycoon, Spiderman 2, Downhill Domination.

Is it true that ESL people could learn English from other media? I guess you picked up some English from video games.

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

Is it true that ESL people could learn English from other media? I guess you picked up some English from video games.

Oh hell yeah. I'm not sure where I specifically learned english before having it in school, but it helped a lot. It might've been before WoW, so WC3 and other such online games that weren't quite "write a novel in guild chat" levels of socializing. Gaming terms basically become a second language. I remember playing with a friend and his little brother who could barely spell but he knew what a 'boss' was in relation to end-of-level big guy. As in 'boss' and not the local equivalent.

I've done a -lot- of volunteer translation on Steam and a 14 year old would sooner know what a sentry gun is than whatever "automatic rifle" equivalent we'd come up with. I envy the japanese simply throw a "-u" onto the term and call it a day. I'm currently seeing a lot of articles about the youth using english terms instead of our fine native equivalents. Quite an interesting development really.

However I remember my friend picking up a final fantasy game and us knowing just little enough that we never made it very far cause they're text heavy. Pokemon and such games, you just spam A until it doesn't work then you spam B. You really underestimate what trial and error does to a kid with no other means of entertainment. "Leer? Idk but it doesnt do any dmg so it sucks".

 

[MazonLabs Recruitment Rep]

Blew my little 4 year old mind when my folks brought it home.

 

[Jace on ice]

When I was a kid my grandfather bought me a PS2 and FFX.

Based old dude, the original of my RPG autism.

 

[Broseph]

My brother had an NES when I was very little and I have some vivid memories of playing Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt and P.O.W. with him and my sister.

 

[Terror Sandwich]

I think I first played games when I was like 2 or 3 at a neighbors house, it was ether an SNES or a Mega Drive, I remember playing a power rangers beat them up. Later my parents bought me a Mega Drive, probably because I annoyed them that I wanted one. I think the first game we got for the Mega Drive was Sonic 2. Luckily I didn't turn out a Sonicfag. Mario games are so much better it's not even a fair comparison.

But I think what actually made me really into games was playing SM64 and Majora's Mask some years later.