Inspired by a recent viral Tweet by Andy Bush, I want to know what games Kotaku readers finished first. Was it a massive RPG? A small platformer? An action game? A 90s era shooter?
The first game I ever beat was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie on the Sega Genesis. It was a beat’em up where you controlled the Power Rangers and fought waves of enemies. You also occasionally got to control their Zord, a giant mech. These segments were very annoying because only one player controlled the mech. So we would argue over who was better at fighting as the mech. It was usually me, I was older, but I honestly wasn’t that much better.
One day, I think it was later in the evening, we were sitting in the living room playing the game. Something clicked. The final fight was on the moon (because video games in the 90s were amazing) and I remember my heart racing as I fought the final boss alone as the giant robot. Then suddenly I won. My robot jumped off the Moon and some text flew by and the game was over.
It was odd. I remember at the time being excited, we had won and finished the game, but I also remember being sad. Wait, I thought, is that it? No more game to play? We ended up playing it again the next day, but I don’t remember beating it again and I’ll always remember that being the first game I ever completed.
What was the first game you ever finished?
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56 responses to “What Was The First Game You Finished?”
God… I’m so old that I can’t even remember. I *think* it might have been Wizball on the C64…
You think you’re old? I gotta go back another decade to start figuring what the first game was. The decades blur back then. Am thinking one of the old text adventures like Zork or (more likely) Hitchhikers, but cant be sure. Bards Tale, Wizardry, and a few others might have gotten there first as well, depending on their year of release. Too lazy to figure out which was first game out 🙂
Wizball was definitely finished though. I was staying up all night playing that with a mate. We got real good at it, though I was usually the cat. Wasnt the first game I finished though, thats for sure.
As a first though, nice job.
Bruce lee on the C64, and within seconds of completion, our C64 overheated and never worked again
Bruce Lee, the only guy to beat Chuck Norris*. No wonder your C64 had a breakdown after beating the man that beat Chuck.
* – I know he lost other times, just go with the meme 🙂
Super Mario All Stars version of Mario Bros 2, closely followed by Lost Levels
Lost Levels was the second game you ever beat… damn, pro player, here
It was the All Stars version though, so it took a while but I just refused to give up. And I had no other SNES games at the time so just had to grind out what I had.
Spider-Man on Sega Master System. Was only allowed to buy new games after completing one
Hahahaaha geez what an incentive.
Haha there was still a limit. I recall maybe 1 every 6 months or birthday. Was always hard with the bad games to get through them
Not to mention 90 bucks for a game back then was hard going. I think we rented a lot of games back then. I have fond memories of Friday night after school heading to Video Easy to get a game for the weekend. But yeah Birthdays were also a nice treat.
Yeah I’m pretty sure we did the rental thing mostly. Was a lot of choice and we weren’t locked into having one game. I think with the amount of times I rented Golden Axe Warrior I should have just bought it.
Police Quest. Way back when it first came out, I used to work in a computer store and we had some games set up as demos on the display PCs and that was one of them. Played it in my lunch break and when things were quiet. It was a great game!
Sierra made some great games back then. Quest for Glory was my nostalgia hit, but I also loved Police Quest and Space Quest.
The first game I finished, that had a defined ending or last level was Jack Attack on the Commodore 16 plus 4 (it had 4k extra memory allocation). Was a puzzle game moving blocks to squish evil balloons.
But before that first game I clocked (max the score that it loops to zero) was a Japanese imported Pacman LED portable game unit made by Tomy.
If we’re going on clocking the score, I clocked The Six Million Dollar Man pinball in the late 70’s at 8 or 9. We had one in the fish and chip shop my mum ran at the time, so got plenty of practice when dad was doing shiftwork. That might have been the first game I ‘completed’.
Though I remember playing other games before that on my godfathers Apple, and I’m pretty sure I finished a couple of them before that.
Kings Quest II on my Apple Mac Plus back in the mid 80’s.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the Sega Master System.
Same here. That and Wonder Boy.
Yesss! Wonder Boy in Monster Land? Those were the days lol.
Yep. I played the original first and then Monster Land. Great games.
I have a hard time remembering whether I first beat Contra in an “arcade cabinet” (i.e. a NES inside an arcade machine) or Super Mario Bros. in my own NES.
Definitely wasn’t at an arcade cabinet unless you are a divine being chosen to walk among us
Lol nah. Konami Code for the win!
Hmmm, it’s a hard question for me to recall the answer too. I think mainly because games were difficult to complete when I was a kid. My main console was a mega drive, and most of the games I had didn’t have any sort of save functionality. I rarely had huge marathon gaming sessions, so I don’t think I completed any of them.
One that does come to mind is Leisure Suit Larry on our Amiga 500, and I think the only reason it is one of the first I remember completing is that you could save your game. It was over a period of years as I worked out the correct way through, but eventually trial and error got me there!
Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the Master System is the first I remember, no doubt there was something on the C64.
Possibly Commander Keen 4, it’s one of the earliest I recall. We also had Jill of the Jungle and I recall beating that also. I don’t recall many of the old 5 1/4 inch floppy games we had.
Oh yeah, Secret of the Oracle, I might have clocked that as a kid, I dunno, played the hell out of it though
I can’t be certain but it was likely Super Mario Land.
I played this last year as part of a retro Mario playthrough. Didn’t it have like 12 levels total… a good one to get the ball rolling as a kid 🙂
For me too. At least it’s the first I remember beating. I loved that you could play it over again and it was different and harder.
Beat it 3 times and you get a level select
That’s… a very long time ago. The first few games I played were infinite arcade games (eg. Space Invaders and Outpost) but the first with an actual end was one of those puzzle solving adventure games on the Apple IIc. You know, the kind that you got from the Scholastic Microzine. I’m not sure which one it was but the most memorable first completion of a game was Escape From ANTcatraz.
Lode Runner, on the Apple IIe, in 1986.
My guess for the first game I finished is Ocarina of Time. That game was my childhood. I know I eventually got to collecting everything… every gold Skulltula, the masks, the big poes and the last bottles, heart pieces, biggoran sword. Man, games will never feel immersive again
I’ve 100%ed that game at least 5 times. Same for Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing etc. Ahhh to be a kid with unlimited time but limited money.
Theatre Europe on the Amstrad CPC464. I fought the Cold war in many shades of green and it still has an atmosphere strategy games never seemed to of matched even decades later.
..or it could of been Dr Who and the mines of terror in which the Doctor and his famous robot companion Splinx the cat try to outwit the master
Apparently I’m not as old as a lot of others here lol. The first game I finished was Halo CE on Xbox, it was the first story driven game I’d ever played and it changed my life.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the PlayStation 2. It was the one based off the CGI movie TMNT
Double Dragon at the local fish and chip shop.
Console / Computer wise, I cannot recall. Something on the C64. Upon getting an Amiga 500 I reckon it was either Wings (WW1 pilot game), Flood or Dogs of War.
Either Pokemon Red or Gold. I played Gold first but can’t remember which I finished first.
That’s a tough one. My first console was the Atari XE, which I got in 1991. I don’t know which game I finished first but I do remember finishing Donkey Kong Jr.
Probably some kids PC game that I can’t remember (I remember playing both the Lion King and Aladdin games but can’t remember if I beat either of those even).
First I can specifically remember would be Super Mario World on the SNES, or possibly Bubsy but I’m fairly sure I used cheats to beat that so it probably doesn’t count.
Tough question since I’m going back almost 40 years and given how most of the games I played didn’t have Victory conditions.
But I’d say it’s either Adventure or Superman for the Atari 2600z
First game I ever saw a credits scene on was Sam & Max Hit the Road. Most of the other things I had played before then were sandbox modes or games I wasn’t good enough to complete considering I was around 6 or 7 at the time and I feel like games used to be a lot harder.
Prince of Persia, on an old Macintosh (IIsi, I think?). I remember that game felt so long, when in releality you only had 60 minutes to finish it.
Dune 2 on my parents 486 (which I still have)
I can remember watching a friend beat Super Mario Bros., but the first game I completely finished myself was A Boy And His Blob.
Admittedly, once you know what to do and where to go, it’s not a difficult game, and can be beaten in under 20 minutes.
But when I first got my N.E.S., it was the only game I had, so I would finish it over and over and over again.
Mega Man
Probably sonic the hedgehog 1
Sonic ths Hedgehog on my MasterSystem II. Stayed home from school with an ear infection, destroyed that game around dinner time. It was a heady time to be alive.
Probably Super Mario World on the SNES. While the NES was the first system I had as a kid, I don’t remember having the patience or ability to beat any of the few games I had on it. Most games had to be beaten in a single playthrough and only being allowed to play in the school holidays also made it hard to get good. They were also difficult – some of the games, like Punch Out, TMNT, RoboWarrior and Top Gun I wouldn’t be able to beat without using save states.
When the SNES rolled around, the increase in skill plus battery backup made things a lot easier. After SMW, I remember beating Lost Vikings co-op with my sister, then Super Metroid and Megaman X. Games in general were probably easier and being old enough to quickly set it up (and put it away) myself also allowed me to sneak in a few extra sessions, too.
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago? on an Apple II ~1986 🙂
Double Hawk on Master System. 2 player with the kid next door though.
Quackshot! on the Mega Drive. Had a Master System II before that, but never got to finish Alex Kidd!
It was Kid Icarus for me and it sucked trying to beat it at like 5 y/o
I’m pretty sure the first game I properly finished was Metal Gear: Solid.
I used to get up to the last ‘level’ of a game and just give up if I couldn’t beat it easily.
– Mario 1, 2 and 3
– Sonic 1 & 2
– Altered Beast
– Alex Kidd 1 and 2
– GoldenEye (the ‘hard’ 20th level)
Mine was Jet Set Willy on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Purchased on cassette tape, lol! Yeah, that dates me, I know 🙂