First game I remember:

Playing a friend's copy of Pokémon Red. Many a late night was spent getting as far as I could without being allowed to save.

First games I remember owning:

Sega Genesis 6-PAK with Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, Columns, and Super Hang-on. Mostly played Sonic. Mom forbade us from playing the "violent" games, so we'd get in trouble if we were caught playing GA, SoR, or RoS.

First game I have fond memories of:

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage. This was one of the first games we got when we upgraded from the Genesis to a PS2, and I played it many times over from the start before we invested in a memory card. The first game I actually beat start to finish without saving. I fondly remember 100%ing it over a weekend, leaving the PS2 on overnight while I slept.

Wizard of Wor. Gameplay here.

Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door on GameCube. I am super excited for the switch remake.

how about the earliest game that had a profound impact on you? Ultima Exodus for me. it had an immersive world you could explore way bigger than zelda. lots of hidden side quests and some mind-blowing secrets. i mean, tracking the phases of the twin moons was actually part of the game. some of the secrets were essential to completing the game which is why i never was able to complete it until i used a walk-through years later.

years later as a veteran DM, it was absolutely the most influential game i ever played.

I think it's either Super Mario Land on gameboy, or Super Mario Bros on NES. I can't remember which.

Descent. My dad had a joystick setup for it and I remember being stunned by the graphics and the ability to fly around

Xonix lol

Minecraft Buzzy Bees update. I still remember my first few days on the school computers, getting ore, digging a hole, finding a village...

I don't have the world anymore, but I have, as you say, fond memories.

either Super Mario Bros. on a famiclone or Circus Charlie.

I remember being spooked the fuck out by those "fire rings". man, they looked and still look otherwordly. the whole game gave me creeps.

Iirc it was a Sega Master System racing game. Can't remember the name.

Crash Bandicoot was also my first game! I was only around 2 years old give or take. I enjoyed the NES and Sega genesis a lot more until I got a bit older as it was easier to get the hang of.

The second game I saw(but did not play) was tomb raider. It made me cry when the wolves jump scare you in the first level lol.

Technician Ted

It's weird reading through the posts and seeing how vivid these moments are for some. I think I may have a memory problem because it's honestly hard to say what I played first. It was sometime around 1988, and my guess is original Mario for NES since it's the first console my parents got, and it came with it. I remember playing it but it's hard to say if it was the first since I may have played something at a relative or friend's house. Played a lot of random NES games after that. My parents also owned an intellivision so it could have been something on that as well.