The first game you bought?

[ls650]

It was a copy of Star Raiders to go with my brand new Atari 400 computer!

[Murph74]

It was a copy of Star Raiders to go with my brand new Atari 400 computer!

 

Right after it came out, in 1983, my mom took me to a standalone store that was on the parking lot of South County Mall in St. Louis. I bought Donkey Kong Jr for Colecovision with my own birthday money. I think we also got Pepper II and Looping, as the store was running a special "buy 2 get 3rd free" (or maybe it was buy 2 get 3rd half off? I don't recall exactly, I was 9!) deal, so she bought me a 2nd game so I could get the 3rd free.

 

But it was DKJ that was *my* game, the others we shared with my older brothers. Good haul that day! And yes, I still have a copy- several times over!

 

The first one I bought without my parents present was Tag Team Wrestling for NES in 1985 or 1986, day after Christmas. I wanna say I spent like $30 on it, bought it from Kay Bee in South County mall. A huge wrestling fan, the game blew chunks. Within 2 days I took it back, and got them to exchange it for Gumshoe.

[J.Max]

With my own money? Pac Man for the 2600. My parents didn't want me to buy it either because they heard that it sucked...

[lushgirl_80]

The first videogame I ever bought with my own money was Gauntlet 2 for the NES in '98, along with my first NES system. I still have both.

[Wickeycolumbus]

My first was Donkey Kong for the original gameboy. Got it along with my gameboy pocket for Christmas when I was only 3 years old. Still have them both, although the gameboy pocket was replaced several times (I was very young and droped them).

 

Still have not beaten it

[lushgirl_80]

I remember making it up to level 210 in Gauntlet 2 with my boyfriend from that time. He kept insisting there's an ending to that game(yeah right!),but to me it just keeps going and going.We killed a few dragons but it just got so boring... I had to pull the plug on my bf because he did'nt want to turn it off lol Hell I did'nt want my NES to overheat dang.

 

 

 

Second game I ever bought was Metroid....last game I bought was Zelda 1 I found at the thrift store recently for just 3 bucks. I'm too lazy to beat it. Made it up to level 8 tho.

[fiddlepaddle]

I bought one of the first TRS-80s and wrote space invaders on it in machine language so I could play for free.

 

When it comes to dedicated game machines, my first was probably when I bought a new Colecovision with Donkey Kong, or Vectrex with Mine Storm. I don't remember which came first since I started my first real job, earned some actual money, and bought them both about the same time.

[cybercylon]

I saved paper route money for ages to buy my own 2600 and a copy of space invaders...though I guess combat was really my first since I had to buy the 2600 in one store and go to another to get space invaders.

 

Many hours of fun on a nine inch BW TV.

[thegamezmaster]

Smurf Rescue In Gargamel's Castle from Venture to go with my brand new Colecovision in 82. Ah, good times!

[Inky]

2600 Missile Command.

[cybercylon]

I remember making it up to level 210 in Gauntlet 2 with my boyfriend from that time. He kept insisting there's an ending to that game(yeah right!),but to me it just keeps going and going.We killed a few dragons but it just got so boring... I had to pull the plug on my bf because he did'nt want to turn it off lol Hell I did'nt want my NES to overheat dang.

 

 

 

Second game I ever bought was Metroid....last game I bought was Zelda 1 I found at the thrift store recently for just 3 bucks. I'm too lazy to beat it. Made it up to level 8 tho.

 

That port of Gauntlet (from Mindscape) for the NES was actually a pretty accurate one if memory serves.

[JohnnyBlaze]

I bought Wrestlemania Steel Cage Challenge at Funcoland. I remember wanting that game so bad as a kid.

[Shawn]

First game I got with my own money would have been Final Fantasy 1. Up till then for all my atari and nintendo gaming needs my family bought my games for me.

[Lord Helmet]

I remember very clearly...Combat. It was the day that my brother and I bought (with our own saved up allowance) our 2600. We bought several games that day. I remember going to the store that day with my mom and little brother, and asking for the console and Defender, which had just come out. The sales dude said, "oh, your dad came by this morning and bought Defender for you already!" Coolest day ever.

[hhwolfman]

Adventure and Pac Man, with my 2600 Console, I bought them all the same day.

[Mord]

What was the very first video game you purchased with your own money? Do you still have it, or have a copy of it?

 

First game I purchased with my own money was Asteroids during the video game crash. Woolworth had a bin full of boxes of the game, all for 99 cents each. Don't have any of the atari games I use to have growing up (those particular cartridges anyway) but I've since regained over half of what I use to own plus plenty that I never had.

[Silverfleet]

I had some Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket back in late 1987, and my dad took me to Service Merchandise to get a game for my new NES that I got for Christmas. I got Tiger Heli with that money, I think it was $39.99. Still have it!

[TwiliteZoner]

Caverns of Mars for the 800. I still have it.

[lost child]

Not sure if it counts, but my older brother and I went in together on a copy of Ice Climber for the NES. If not, then later on the timeline, I bought Elevator Action with my own money.

[vdub_bobby]

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the first was when my brother and I saved and saved for weeks and months to buy Metroid. And when we finally had enough money, my dad took my brother to go get it - I couldn't go for some reason.

 

They came back and my brother brought out - Wizards & Warriors! Wait - WTF? What happened to Metroid?

 

Turns out they didn't have Metroid at the store so he got that instead. I was kind of bummed and surprised but W&W, fortunately, turned out to be pretty awesome so it was all good.

[JohnnyBlaze]

My first was Donkey Kong for the original gameboy. Got it along with my gameboy pocket for Christmas when I was only 3 years old. Still have them both, although the gameboy pocket was replaced several times (I was very young and droped them).

 

Still have not beaten it

 

Don't feel bad. I haven't beaten the game until recently. The last series of levels are those "What the fuck!" Throw Your Gameboy across the room ones.

[lushgirl_80]

I remember making it up to level 210 in Gauntlet 2 with my boyfriend from that time. He kept insisting there's an ending to that game(yeah right!),but to me it just keeps going and going.We killed a few dragons but it just got so boring... I had to pull the plug on my bf because he did'nt want to turn it off lol Hell I did'nt want my NES to overheat dang.

 

 

 

Second game I ever bought was Metroid....last game I bought was Zelda 1 I found at the thrift store recently for just 3 bucks. I'm too lazy to beat it. Made it up to level 8 tho.

 

That port of Gauntlet (from Mindscape) for the NES was actually a pretty accurate one if memory serves.

 

 

Yeah Gauntlet 2 by Mindscape ( not the first one by Tengen) is really alot like the arcade imo. They did a really good job getting the voices down right and the graphics are'nt that bad....prolly the best version of Gauntlet I've played on NES...

 

 

 

This thread makes me think, growing up I never spent any money on videogames ...I was always lucky to have an older brother who was really into videogames and always had the newest system. I remember my bro bought the N64 the day it came out....same with Dreamcast, had it the day it came out.... it really also helped that my older brother also used to be a game tester for Sony when PS 1 cameout(serious,his name is in alot of game credits..)... he used to bring home the newest games too, some games that were'nt even out yet at that time.

 

One of the most underrated(and misunderstood) games I've played on PS 1 was Tales of the Sun lol Got to play the prototype of it too..also knew someone who used to be a gametester for Sega back earlier this decade.

[slampam]

The first game I bought with my own money was Yars' Revenge for the Atari 2600. I was supposed to move some bushes for an old lady. I caught a ride to Woolco, which was only a few miles away from her house, so I decided to walk. I thought I could find a shortcut through some woods, but instead, it took many hours to get there because I kept hitting 'roadblocks' of all kinds: fences, trenches full of bushes and trees that were too deep and wide to cross, vicious dogs, and so on. I'm having trouble remembering how I finally got there, but I did get there. I transplanted the bushes, got paid around $30 and her husband drove me to a department store so I could buy Yars' Revenge for $24.97.

YARS Revenge. This time in a 99¢ bin at TG&Y. This game looked so crappy. WOW!

 

[edit] WOW! as in Holy cow, how did i miss this little gem!

Edited March 24, 2009 by slampam

[+Random Terrain]

The first game I bought with my own money was Yars' Revenge for the Atari 2600. I was supposed to move some bushes for an old lady. I caught a ride to Woolco, which was only a few miles away from her house, so I decided to walk. I thought I could find a shortcut through some woods, but instead, it took many hours to get there because I kept hitting 'roadblocks' of all kinds: fences, trenches full of bushes and trees that were too deep and wide to cross, vicious dogs, and so on. I'm having trouble remembering how I finally got there, but I did get there. I transplanted the bushes, got paid around $30 and her husband drove me to a department store so I could buy Yars' Revenge for $24.97.

YARS Revenge. This time in a 99¢ bin at TG&Y. This game looked so crappy. WOW!

 

[edit] WOW! as in Holy cow, how did i miss this little gem!

I forgot to mention that I still have the same game and I think I still have the box.

[Derek]

What a great memory inducing thread. Such interesting stories, bet you all felt 12 years old again. My parentst bought an Odyssey2 (spelled it wrong, probably) and I recall reeaaallly wanting kc munchkin, as I had wanted an Atari, and that was the O2's offering in that pac man vein. When I initially played it, I thought, 'this sucks, 12 dots and the last pellet keeps running away!' After a while I discovered how many boards there were, and you could also make your own boards. A gazillion times more playability than Atari's Pac-Man with its flicker, bland colors and ridiculously picky collision detection. I wish I still had kc munchkin, but mom put the system and the dozen carts we had in a yard sale for $20 (?!?!?!) one Spring weekend in 1985 when I was away at a Boy Scout camp. I came back to find the tv with no game system sitting under it. I asked where our Odyssey was and her response was that we (my 9 year old sister and I) didn't seem interested in it anymore so she put it in the yard sale. The carts were $40 each and the system was about $200, and she sold it all for $20?!? I was so F#$%$ pissed. Partly because it was gone, but more about the fact that it was mine and she sold it. I know I didn't speak to my mother for at least two weeks till Dad urged me to speak to her as he said that she was feeling bad about selling my game system. After all that, I wasn't even offered the paltry $20 from the sale!

 

Finding a complete 2600, controllers, unit, power supply, two joysticks, two paddles, and nine carts, including Ms. Pac -Man my all time favorite game (which on its own would have made me do cartwheels) for $8 at a yard sale. I turned my back to the table, took a deep breath and turned around holding out a $10 bill hoping to complete the sale before the vendor saw through my poker face and asked for wayyy more. It was mine. I floated on a cloud back to the car. I had no idea whether any of the stuff worked, and once I got it home and found that everything worked perfectly, that was sweet. I think that was 1995 or six, a decade after losing my Odyssey. I played this cartridge a couple of days ago, it still works, and still takes me back to that day. Phoenix and Thunderground were among the nine carts, as I recall, they were fairly rare then.