TechThursdays: What the first video game you played?

Posted on September 15th, 2011. Written by Rico.

I was once a young kid walking around the neighborhood grocery, waiting for my mom to finish her shopping list. Eventually, I was drawn to the row of for-rent Family Computer units near the checkout counters.

The area was full of other kids. Watching them take control of a solider and blast through levels of enemies was very hypnotic. So when a slot opened up I paid 10 pesos for one hour and sat down to play Contra.

The shoot-em-up would later become a classic, a way for people around my age to say they were around when video games started becoming popular in the Philippines. (Just like how gamers who grew up in the 80s and 90s know what up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-b-a-select-start means). Contra was also my introduction to the world of Super Mario, Double Dragon, and the dreaded Legend of Kage, my road of video gaming that eventually led to Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 today.

The question for this week’s edition of TechThursdays is: What was the first video game you played? As always, you can answer here by leaving a comment or on Twitter with the #TechThursdays hashtag. Like last week, I’ll compile the answers into a Technograph feature.