Thirith on 4/5/2017 at 07:59
Okay, the idea for this post was stolen from the RPS forums, but I like it and am curious what others come up with. It's about the games that introduced you to a genre. Frankly, it's very well possible that I misremember some of my own answers, seeing how I've been gaming since, oh, 1983, but the answers should be close enough. Curious to hear what your personal genre firsts are!
First RPG: The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate, closely followed by Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny. I remember the two games being reviewed in the same magazine; at the time I'd not played any RPGs or fantasy games in general, but I loved what I was reading about these, and they made me fall in love with the genre.
First sports game: International Soccer. This one came with our C64, and I played it to death. It was pretty easy to beat the computer, but I'd still spend hours getting higher and higher scores. The graphics don't get much more basic than this, but show me an International Soccer sprite and I get a stupid nostalgic grin on my face.
First platformer: Tales of the Arabian Nights by Interceptor Micros. (For the first 3-4 years of my life as a gamer, I'd say that 90% of the games I got were by them.) I never made it past the fourth or fifth level, but I still enjoyed the chiptune version of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and the (by now ridiculously bad) speech at the beginning of each level. (First platformer I genuinely enjoyed, though? Bubble Bobble.)
First text adventure: Heroes of Karn, also by Interceptor Micros. It did have graphics, but they were purely decorative. Also, the game would always crash after about half an hour, usually while drawing the graphics, so I never got very far. Not that I would've otherwise, since my English wasn't very good at the time.
First graphics adventure: Technically Maniac Mansion, but I never really got into that one. The first one I actually finished was Zak McKracken, and it's the one I have fond memories of. Fake Elvises, two-headed squirrels, deadly French baguettes, and the omnipresent Hare Krishna at airports...
First FPS: Wolfenstein 3D. I liked it at the time, but I only started to really enjoy FPS games in a big way around the time of Jedi Knight.
icemann on 4/5/2017 at 08:10
To nick my post from RPS:
First Video game played - Bubble Bobble (arcade)
First Console game - Space Invaders (Atari 2600)
First PC game - Alley Cat
First Adventure - Space Quest (PC)
First Educational - Mixed-Up Mother Goose (PC)
First Exercise Game - Dance Dance Revolution (Arcade)
First Fighting - International Karate (Commodore 64)
First Flight Sim - Wing Commander (PC)
First FMV - 7th Guest (PC).
First FPS - Ken's Labyrith (PC)
First FPS/RPG Hybrid - Technically you level up, sort of in Hexen which was first, but I'll say System Shock 2.
First God Game - Populous
First Gun Game (as in one where you used a gun controller) - Duck Hunt (NES).
First JRPG - Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
First MMO - Ultima Online (PC)
First Music Game - Rock Band (PS3).
First Platformer - Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System), Bubble Bobble (arcade) if you'd classify that as a platformer.
First Puzzle - This one I can't remember, so I'll say Tetris as that I remember playing very early on. Likely though to be something on the Atari 2600 or Commodore 64.
First Racing - Grand Prix (Atari 2600)
First RTS - Dune 2 (PC)
First Sandbox - GTA 3 (PS2)
First SHMUP - 1942 (Arcade)
First Sports - Double Dunk (Atari 2600)
First Stealth - Thief (PC). Took me a while to get used to the play style, considering what had come before.
First Strategy - Rampart (Sega Master System). Though if Othello on the Atari 2600 counts, then that.
First Survival Horror - Resident Evil (PS1).
First Text Adventure - Pharoah's Tomb (Acorn computer at school).
First Tower Defense - Robo Tower Defense (Mobile)
First WRPG - Ultima 8 (PC), same day not long after - Might and Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen.
PigLick on 4/5/2017 at 12:53
first text adventure - HHTTG hell yes, that absolutely blew my mind as a 12 yr old
brownian tea and analgesics hurrah!
Harvester on 4/5/2017 at 13:22
Adventure: King's Quest 2
Platform: some crappy MSX game called Escape, manually typed in by my father. Also the first game I've ever played.
FPS: Doom
Multiplayer: also Doom
RTS: Dune 2
Racing: some Formula 1 game on the Commodore 64, forgot its name
Fighting: Yie Ar Kung Fu (MSX game from Konami). I finished it, but I remember YAKF 2 being bastard hard
Sim: either Civ 1 or Sim City
Education: Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego, if that counts
Sports: probably some soccer game on MSX or C64
FMV: The 7th Guest
RPG: Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (emulated). I played it because I liked the music. Still not a big RPG player. My favorite RPG would be System Shock 2.
Stealth: not a fan*, can't remember which was the first of the few games with stealth elements I've played. I guess Deus Ex is my favorite game where you can stealth, but personally I ran & gunned through it.
SHMUP: River Raid
Survival Horror: Alone in the Dark
* translation: I suck at it
PigLick on 4/5/2017 at 13:27
you know all this listing is nice, but wouldnt it be better if we talked about gaming firsts, rather than just rattling off a huge list which no one will ever read? I do believe the OP had the right idea. Explain shit, expand on your lists.
PigLick on 4/5/2017 at 13:30
By OP I mean Thirith, yeh?
PigLick on 4/5/2017 at 13:31
Original Prankster
you know its like the post timer on these forums is made to make me mad
i must post now! and again straight away!
PigLick on 4/5/2017 at 13:33
most of those genres didnt even exist when I played video games as a youngster
PigLick on 4/5/2017 at 13:34
holy fuck but do I remember Yie AR Kung FU i played the shit outta that
PigLick on 4/5/2017 at 13:35
anyone remember Tau Ceti? that was my first explore/sandbox game that I can remember, on the amstrad
