When did you start computer gaming?

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Decade?


  • Total voters
    113

whm1974

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2016
9,460
1,570
96
Early 1990's for me. The first big games that I played were A10 Tank Killer, Sim City, XCom, and Civilization.

I believe that I played all of those on an IBM PS/2 Model 50Z, with a 286 processor, a whopping 8 MB of RAM, and a 30 MB hard drive!
8MB of RAM on a 286? Are you sure it wasn't a 486? Hell most 386 desktops only had 4MB at the most.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
8MB of RAM on a 286? Are you sure it wasn't a 486? Hell most 386 desktops only had 4MB at the most.

Yeah, it actually had 8 MB of RAM. In order to squeeze that much RAM in there, it had an Intel AboveBoard in one of the expansion slots. This thing was a hand me down corporate purchase from where my dad worked, and I think that they were trying to use it for CAD.

I remember this well, since it needed some pretty weird DOS drivers to get a 286 to use all that memory.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
68,852
26,641
136
Yeah, it actually had 8 MB of RAM. In order to squeeze that much RAM in there, it had an Intel AboveBoard in one of the expansion slots. This thing was a hand me down corporate purchase from where my dad worked, and I think that they were trying to use it for CAD.

I remember this well, since it needed some pretty weird DOS drivers to get a 286 to use all that memory.
Some of the stuff they did back then was so cool. Everything is better now but not as much outside-the-box thinking.
 

GibbyPruchesi

Member
Jan 18, 2019
32
5
16
Started in the late 1990's and early 2000's on the pc. My dad used to fix computers for other people so our main pc was free most of the time. Anyway I played mainly with my older brother (more often I just watched how he played because I didn't know how to play otherwise). Mostly we played Warcraft 2, Starcraft and Heroes of Might and Magic III.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arkaign

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
6
81
Circa 1988, would have been 3-4'ish when playing a few games on my Dad's Spectrum.

Migrated through the Amiga 500+ to Amiga 1200 then a Cyrix PR200-based Win 95 PC.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,067
1,550
126
I was born in 1980, when I was 4, we got an apple iie and I played games from then on.
Naturally, we switched to IBM Compatible, though not until the 486 generation of intel cpu.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
Started with Atari 400. Mylar 'keyboard' that was really tough to type on. Didn't have a tape or disc drive. Aside from the very few carts my brother and I were able to beg for, we discovered Byte and similar magazines that would have BASIC games printed inside. We could transcribe the code, and boom! New game, albeit a lot of effort and no way for us to save it. Once the power switch was flipped, bye bye.

Moved onto 800XL, STe, Amiga 500, IBM XT, 286, etc in the family. Beginning with a 386, built my own from used bargains mostly for years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IndyColtsFan

JeepinEd

Senior member
Dec 12, 2005
865
54
91
I turn 50 this year. Seriously thinking of bringing out all my old machines for the occasion.
I think it's a mini midlife crisis thing. I turned 50 last year, and have spent the last several months getting my old computers back up and running. I just finished fixing the damage caused by a leaking battery on my Amiga 2000 and rebuilt the PSU. It was amazing to hear the old Seagate 20MB hard drive fire up. I also built a new power supply for my C-64 and am in the process of trying to get the Vic-20 back up and running. The Vic is proving to be somewhat difficult, as I haven't been able to figure out what chips have failed. Next in line will be my old Windows 3.1 monochrome laptop. No idea what shape that thing is in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IndyColtsFan

WhiteNoise

Golden Member
Jun 22, 2016
1,074
184
106
90's for me and I was late to PC gaming. I was 27 when I bought my first PC to play HL.

Started gaming in the 70's though but on Atari and Pong.
 
Nov 17, 2019
10,669
6,391
136
way before the internet (and walkthroughs) was a thing i kept playing SimCity because i believed the urban legend that if you played well enough then at some points the arcologies would lift off into space and you'd beat the game.
Reminds me of 'The Last Starfighter'.
 
Nov 17, 2019
10,669
6,391
136
Got a MaggotBox 25" CRT TV with a few Odyssey games (Hockey, Tennis, Pong and some kind of tictactoe) built in not long after they came out in the mid 70s. Had two hard wired 'controllers':
kzvv4pq6f1h21.jpg
 

mopardude87

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2018
3,348
1,575
96
2006 and it was with a Dell Dimension 2400. Slapped a 6200 le pci based gpu in there and got something of a playable BF2 experience. I cringe whenever i come across those Dell towers. Was so glad when the motherboard bricked, i had a fun time flinging the entire thing against a brick wall. I didn't know much about computers then but i knew i had a steaming pile of junk. Not like the $40 i paid for it indicated i had a beast anyways.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
29,098
146
way before the internet (and walkthroughs) was a thing i kept playing SimCity because i believed the urban legend that if you played well enough then at some points the arcologies would lift off into space and you'd beat the game.

hmm, why do I recall this actually being a thing that happened, with SC 2, or 2000 (forget which one)?

I know I played both of those pretty religiously, especially SC 2k, and certainly within internet time, but it was before I ever used the internet, so I'd be ignorant of such a legend. This is actually the first time I heard about this being an Urban legend....but I seem to recall a late city of mine, completely filled with Arcologies...starting to take off at some point in time. Nearly every block of space was an Arcology at some point, and every plane at every airport would crash into them every day or so, lol. ...and then I recall them just....FLYING AWAY!

wtf. maybe the myth started with an earlier version and wasn't true, but the one I recall best added it in as an homage?
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,444
2,084
126
wow, apparently
hmm, why do I recall this actually being a thing that happened, with SC 2, or 2000 (forget which one)?
ok so, i had to google this because i genuinely did not know, but apparently: https://simcity.fandom.com/wiki/Arcology
Launch Arco Trick
The Launch arco trick can be done in the DOS & Mac v1.1 and also Window version of SimCity 2000. After building 301 launch arcos & after the year 2051, a message will appear saying: "The exodus has begun" and the arcos will appear to explode one by one (a process which takes over two minutes to complete) and the game will show another message: "Your launch arcos have departed into space to find new worlds. You have been compensated for the construction."

mind you, this did not actually happen in MY games. 300 launch arcologies is waaaay more than i'd ever care to wait around for. Also, we thought this was date-related only, and did not know you had to hit a certain number.
 

Nereus77

Member
Dec 30, 2016
142
251
136
1990's.
Good times for console gaming.
Very good times for PC gaming.

UT99
Quake III
Test Drive 4
Monster Truck Madness
Need For Speed III
CnC 1 & Red Alert
X-Wing Alliance
Age of Empires
SimCity 3000

All on my Pentium 166 MMX PC.

I probably forgot a few...
 
Last edited:

jhansman

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2004
2,768
29
91
The first real game I got that challenged me was one called "Colony," circa 1989. You traveled around the surface of a planet (no textures to speak of) in a first person craft , hunting for captured hostages. Structures were all wire frame, no 3D or much else. Actually lots of fun on a 10 MHz 80286, 512k RAM, 40MB Miniscribe HD, EGA (16 color) video card, 13" CRT monitor, all of it running on DOS 3.3 !
Ah, those were the days....:cool:
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,444
2,084
126
The 80s/90s had some truly memorable games, my guess, pushed by the limits of hardware.

i won't make a list because there's too many, but really, so many games that today would not be considered as must-play, were groundbreaking. Think Eye Of The Beholder, The Incredible Machine, Elite, all proper C64/80286 stuff. It was more the concept rather than the execution that mattered.

Because honestly, most games in those years were at least partly unplayable. How many times did we get stuck for DAYS on Monkey Island trying to figure out a ridiculous puzzle or find a button hidden on a pixel. (leaving out the many times when you bought a game and it just didnt run on your machine because of some missing .dll )
 

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,981
3,318
126
The first real game I got that challenged me was one called "Colony," circa 1989. You traveled around the surface of a planet (no textures to speak of) in a first person craft , hunting for captured hostages. Structures were all wire frame, no 3D or much else. Actually lots of fun on a 10 MHz 80286, 512k RAM, 40MB Miniscribe HD, EGA (16 color) video card, 13" CRT monitor, all of it running on DOS 3.3 !
Ah, those were the days....:cool:
You sure it was 1989?
 

Ackmed

Diamond Member
Oct 1, 2003
8,476
523
126
Late 80's on Apple, but I wouldnt really consider my first PC gaming until JK Knight and Moto Racer on PC.