subLOGIC Flight Simulator II on tape for the C64.
Yep. I had never before played a game that offered the save game feature. Or if it did offer that feature, I was unaware of it.
I had previously only ever played stand-up Arcade games and Atari 2600 games.
When I was showing my buddy how to play “Alone In The Dark”, he’s the one who finally clued me in: “Why are you starting the game completely over every time?”
I had a whole bunch of Scott Adams (NOT the Dilbert guy) text adventures on cassette. I think the first one I bought was The Count.
Wing Commander 1.
First game anyone bought for me was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego for Apple ][e. This was ‘94 or so
First windows game anyone got me was a pack of flight sims, including Red Baron 2, F-22, and Microsoft Flight Sim ??, don’t remember which version.
First game I bought myself for PC? X-wing vs TIE Fighter with Balance of Power campaign pack. Yes @BrianRubin I am one of those weirdos who prefers this version, because I didn’t know of the older games at the time, bought it with the campaign expansion, and so did not suffer the disappointment of crushed expectations at the time. This game was magical for me. Shame about the release, it’s better than its reputation.
I still got it, and still use the disc as a CD of the Star Wars music from time to time. Yeah, it worked in a normal CD player, just skip track 1.
For my own computer (a C=64): Crush, Crumble, & Chomp!
To play at the local computer store and school prior to that: Computer Bismarck. The cassette had TRS80 and Atari 800 runtimes.
I’m in the same boat as others where it is hard to think of which game I bought vs gift or bought by someone else. I remember buying might & magic for c64. Maybe lance haffner 3-in-1 football for c64. Certainly bought the early gold box games.
The first game I played was loaned from a friend and that was Ultima 2 in the Commodore 64. The first game I owned (that my parents bought for me) was Amazon. A C64 adventure game with static images and a text parser. It apparently was written partially by Michael Crichton.
http://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/l/70625-amazon-commodore-64-front-cover.jpg
I love you. In a non creepy way. I just want you to know that. SUCH a great game.
I was like 13 at the time so I’m not sure how it could not be creepy
And I’m afraid now to tell you that the 2nd game I bought with my own money after that was Jumpman
:)
That was a damn fine game as well!
I played these too. Trivia: Seth Godin was the marketing guy at the company. They later changed their name to Telarium.
First one I bought I think was some golf game for MS-DOS and the monocrhome monitory I had with my first PC, which I got in January, 1983.
Magic Candle, maybe? Or Command HQ.
Yup.5
I wished I hadn’t had a lame first computer (there wasn’t any RPG for it! No Ultimas, no Wizardry! Augh!), but the day of its purchase was still one of the most exciting days of my early life. Which may not be saying much, because being a child sucked, to me. Anyway.
It was an Amstrad CPC 6128. On the day of the purchase, I got to pick three games amongst a lot on offer, to go with it.
I hesitated between 1001BC, a french text input adventure game themed around Greek mythology, Massacre à la Tomate, an isometric arcade-adventure game with a funny sounding parodic title (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. The French adaptation would correspond roughly to something like Texas Tomato Massacre in English. Quite a brilliant translation, for such a minor game), HMS Cobra, a text wargame, and another game whose name I forgot.
The one I didn’t pick in the end was HMS Cobra, and I wouldn’t enjoy historical gaming before my encounter with Pirates!, around 1990.
The first game I purchased on my own was a month or so later, at a little store near my house (I can still remember the precise address), and it was Cauldron II. I had enjoyed Cauldron at a friend’s. Cauldron II was a very different game. I was a bit disappointed, I remember.
Ironically, I remember very well my first day/night in front of the computer, and it was spent not playing any of those silly things, but typing BASIC commands and watching in wonder stuff happening on the colour monitor.
I realize right now, typing this (ha, ha), that typing has always been one of my favorite parts of computing, and it may not be fortuitous that my job requires me to type what accounts to books.
Probably 84, probably ‘Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy’ text based game. 5 and 1/4 drive, and a ridiculous at the time 10 MB hard drive, which everyone told me I’d never fill up. Followed closely by Kings quest 1, and F15 strike eagle when I moved up to a color monitor.
Doom over BBS, and loading .wad files was still the best early gaming experience though.
It was sometime in 1992 when we got a Packard Bell PC. I recall getting 2 games on the same day the PC was bought. I was already backlogging games!
I had already played the living heck out of Sim City on my SNES, so when we got a PC I saw this on the shelf and knew I needed it in my life, I bought it with my own cold hard cash (for a 10 year old kid it seemed like it cost a fortune).
I really liked the box art, and I also recall begging my mother for this so much she threatened to not get the PC at all that day. She said something along the lines of “why do you need 2 games today, you won’t play them both.” :)
I didn’t leave my room for a week, it was glorious.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. I was jazzed to play the equivelant of a D&D campaign on my father’s computer.