What is the first video game you remember playing?

I remember watching my older brother play this game at jersey shore one summer. It looked like the coolest game ever to my five-year-old eyes. When I was allowed to put a quarter in, I lost almost immediately.

 

Did you put a quarter on the machine for next?

 

I remember getting wiped out in a hurry playing Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace. But the only video game where I finished with 0 points was Tron.

 

Played Tron. Never understood it. Will never understand it.

Dragon's Lair never held my attention.

 

Pong.
Then I spent weeks and weeks playing the Atari "bomber" game, figuring out the way to the best score was to crank the joystick all the way left, jam your thumb on the "fire" button, and leave it there.

 

We had a couple of Apple II/e games that we got to play in class in fourth or fifth grade, circa 1986 or so. One was Oregon Trail. The other was some game where you were trying to make your way through a castle and had to use different items on the various enemies, but I can't remember the name of it at all.
I think even early NES games were more advanced than those, but they were still fun.

 

Is this the one you're talking about? I had a friend who's dad had an Apple computer (which was too rich for my family's blood) and I watched him play it once:

 

"Early" NES is a vague term, ha. The timeline is all weird, because it didn't hit American shores until October 1985, and wasn't available widespread until late 1986. It debuted in Japan in 1983. Also, games with lots of text - RPGs, graphic adventures - took a lot more time to port and translate. As a result, you'd have stuff like brand new games and secretly old games debuting at the same time for the U.S.

 

I think of "Early NES" as any game with the black boxes and sprite art on the cover. Super Mario Bros., Pro Wrestling, Kung Fu, 10 Yard Fight, those kinds of games. Basically, anything before Konami came in and started giving us actual art on its silver boxes, or the ripoff painting of Michael Biehn for Metal Gear.

 

No, I know it wasn't that one. Castle Wolfenstein is kind of a classic, and this game wasn't it. This one was a lot cruder than Wolfenstein.

 

Does anyone know what the first Nintendo game made by someone other than Nintendo was? (No idea, honest question)

 

Looks like Bandai’s Chubby Cherub in October 1986. Capcom was close behind with 1942, Commando, and Ghosts ‘N Goblins in November 1986.