My Life Told Through Games Part 1

I didn’t like playing games as a child. In fact if anything I was scared of them. That said I do remember playing some pretty questionable games as a kid which may have contributed to my lack of enthusiasm. Some of the earliest games I remember playing were actually on PC because I didn't have a console till later in my life. One of the first games I can recall playing was educational and had something to do with spelling, grammar and magic. I can’t really remember but I think it was a sprite based 2D platformer that involved strange looking kids (i remember that there was a choice between a boy character and a girl character) and using magical spells to defeat worms and talking books. My memory is sketchy but if this is how the game actually was its understandable that I hated it. Not a great first experience with games.

I had a better experience with a game called “Secret Agent Sam” which my Dad was a big fan of. I remember it being really challenging and it was pretty much all I played as a 5 year old. I might actually download it and give it another try at http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/game/124 to see if i still find it as difficult as I did then. So instead of playing Mario I was on a crappy PC playing Secret Agent Sam and some weird educational magic game.

The next stage in my weird gaming history involved playing lots of demos over and over again on my dad’s computer. I think my Dad used to get PC magazines which came with demo disks that became my only source of games. One that stands out for me was a little user made game that won a competition and was made available for free in the magazine. I don’t remember the title but it had a knight trying to save a princess from giant ants. Again, sketchy memory so this may not be true. What is a definite fact though is that I was terrified of it and couldn't even stand to play it. I used to seize up when I tried. In fact I had to watch my younger sister finish it cause I couldn't. Looking back, that game is probably the source of my fear of anything with more than four legs.

My Dad had a whole box full of floppies like this with weird little DOS games on them. I seem to remember watching a lot of games being played rather than actually playing them myself due to my weird fear of them. Some games that come to mind are an RTS set in World War 2, Tomb Raider, one where you were a guy that went back in time to fight tigers, Syphon Filter, Max Payne and Metal Gear Solid. I'm sure there were others too.

The first console I got was the Sega Mega Drive. I don’t even know why I got it cause I didn't ask for it and I wasn't really interested in it. I didn't even know it existed prior to getting it. Looking back, playing on my Mega Drive probably would have been beneficial to my gaming history but as it stands I have a huge Mega Drive shaped hole in my gaming knowledge that is slowly being filled up by the Retronauts podcast.

I think we sold it in the end due to neglect.

COMING UP: Getting a PlayStation, Gameboy memories, Gaming Magazines and more…