Xenon 2: Megablast on 5½" floppy on my mum’s work-issued MS-DOS PC (featuring a monochrome orange & black monitor). We also had a flight simulator and a golf game, iirc, but it was Xenon that left its mark.

We later got a cheap NES (this was after the SNES had been released, so they came into our price range) with the Super Mario & Duck Hunt double feature cartridge. That bright orange light gun made me feel like I was in the future.

ZX81. Various games I don’t remember, the one that always sticks in my mind is Forty Niner which we needed a 16K RAM pack for. We also had an Acetronic which predated the ZX81, although I think I may have used the ZX81 first (not entirely sure). Both were part of my early gaming journey.

Probably Lemmings or something similar that ran on DOS. Then the big upgrade to Windows and the pain and glory that was Chip’s Challenge.

My first experience was with my cousin who had the wood grain Atari 2600 which blew my mind. He even opened up a cartridge for me to show that it was all electronics inside. I thought there was some kind of film reel inside but couldn’t figure out how that would work.

Not long after, for Christmas, my parents got me a ZX81, but it was in a beautiful custom wooden case (it’s not this case, but that is the keyboard that was used. I remember those two red LEDs as well for CAPS lock and Symbol Shift lock). It also had the 16k ram pack which was soldered on, all inside the case. There was no worries about wobbles and crashes.

I wish I still had it, my father was a carpenter, so I’m sure he made it. The top was matte black, and it said ZX81 + 16K stencilled into the top in bright red.

And so my love of computers and gaming was born.

Likely the ZX Spectrum with something like Manic Miner.

My grandad had a Vic20. I don’t really remember the games, I was young, but I do remember we put code in from a magazine and it was a game of gorillas throwing bananas at each other.

Proper gaming began when he got a c64 and played games like Kick Start, Kane, Joe Blade, Battle Valley, Boulder Dash, Druid, Dizzy. Loads more. He gave me the c64 a year or so later and it was so amazing!

After that I got a Mega Drive then an Amiga 500+.

The first game I can really say I played was probably Contra 1 or Super Mario Brothers 2

Although first PC game I can recall playing is Hereos of Might and Magic 1. Didn’t remember doing much of anything but recall feeling very powerful fighting and winning with my small Black Dragon stack that had magic immunity

Pac-Land.

My old girl used to take me to a cafe most mornings for a cup of tea and a chat with her friends, and along the wall was an arcade cabinet of Pac-Land, 10p per credit. It was mesmerising for four year old me, and felt like something truly new and revolutionary.

She obviously took note and got me an Atari 800 XE, and that was it - a whole world of cartridges, tapes, and BASIC opened up and never really let me go.

Sonic the Hedgehog on my Sega Master System II

Fucking AWESOME! I had that game on the original Master System. Loved Sonic so much that I kept my hair spikey from ~8yo up until it started thinning at 21-ish. I was obsessed and utterly hated Mario cos it was the competitor to my fave blue hedgehog! I was so fucking gutted when Sega announced they’re leaving console manufacture. I still hold out hope they’ll rejoin one day.

My first game was actually a little before that - Jet Set Willy on the Amstrad CPC6128.

I think the first one for me was probably Donkey Kong country on Gameboy, I just remember the car rides at night where you could only play when the street lights shone through the window