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| I first met video games by chance, at a time when this term was still far from being widely spread. It was in Summer 1982, during the holidays. I was visiting some friend of my mother's and started reading a toy catalogue. I then hit on a page where some new kind of game machine was presented: a game console. It was of course a very basic black and white console, with 10 integrated games, all variants from Pong with portentous names such as 'Tennis', 'Ping Pong' or 'Badminton'... No matter how primitive that system might have looked, it has been a revelation: "that's what I want for Christmas!". I was only 11 years old, and could not afford to buy the machine right away. But Christmas was still a long time away, would I still want this thing by then, or was my revelation just a flash in the pan? Time passes, school is on again, and my new passion is still burning. I want a game console for Christmas. My father tells me there are other, more evolved consoles, and he shows me several advertising with strange-named consoles; Philips Videopac, Atari VCS, and some others that never became known. The Atari caught my attention. Apparently, this one offered lots of different games, and you could switch games by inserting different cartridges, unlike the other basic consoles that only offered a limited number of integrated games. And by comparison, it had great colored graphic capabilities. Christmas time is near. At the foot of the Christmas tree, I know the big parcel is for me. On December 25, 1982, I begin my travel into the video game world. |
It is now 2022, video games still exist. They were not a shooting star as some had believed. Video game has been accused of evil things, like Rock music and Role-Playing games, it has been heavily, and still is criticized, but it has finally reached a very wide audience. It did not compel me to become a murderer, a child eater or a sorcerer, it did not make me (or my friends) a social misfit, a retarded man or a lunatic. Video games are merely a leisure activity, like the cinema, music, reading, and contrary to simpy watching stupid television shows, playing video games makes you active in front of the screen. In the last 30 years, I played hundreds, maybe thousands of games on very different consoles and computers. My goal is not to recount the history of video games (many other sites are doing that), but to tell you about my personal gaming experience. History of a veteran gamer, volume 1... |
Atari VCS 2600
CBS Colecovision
Commodore 64
Commodore Amiga
Nintendo NES
Nintendo Super NES
Nintendo Gameboy
Nintendo DS
PC
Sega Dreamcast
Sony Playstation
| ASTERIX | ASTEROIDS |
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| BATTLEZONE | BEAMRIDER |
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| DECATHLON | ENDURO |
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| MOON PATROL | OBELIX |
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| PAC-MAN | PITFALL! |
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| PITFALL II: THE LOST CAVERNS | RIVER RAID |
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| SPACE INVADERS | |
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| DONKEY KONG | DONKEY KONG JR |
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| MOUSE TRAP | THE SMURFS |
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| TURBO | |
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| ARKANOID | BARBARIAN |
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| CAULDRON | CAULDRON 2 |
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| COMMANDO | COMIC BAKERY |
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| ELITE | GHOSTS'N GOBLINS |
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| LIGHTFORCE | SPY VS SPY |
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| SUMMER GAMES 1 | SUMMER GAMES 2 |
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| THE HOBBIT | THE LORD OF THE RINGS |
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| THE WAY OF THE EXPLODING FIST | WINTER GAMES |
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| BATTLE SQUADRON | DEFENDER OF THE CROWN |
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| GREAT GIANA SISTERS | SILKWORM |
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| SUPER FROG | |
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SUPER MARIO BROS 3
| SUPER GHOULS'N GHOSTS | SUPER MARIO KART |
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| SUPER MARIO LAND | TETRIS |
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MARIO KART
| DOOM | DUNE 2 |
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| FAR CRY | LANDS OF LORE |
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| WOLFENSTEIN | |
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| VIRTUA TENNIS | VIRTUA TENNIS 2 |
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| DESTRUCTION DERBY 2 | TOMB RAIDER |
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Consoles and micro-computers that I had the opportunity to use since 1982.
These are the consoles and micro-computers I've owned
Atari VCS 2600
Commodore 64
Commodore Amiga
Microsoft Xbox
Nintendo Super NES
Nintendo 64
Nintendo Game Cube
Nintendo GameBoy
Nintendo GameBoy Advance
Nintendo GameBoy Advance SP
Nintendo DS
PC
Sega Dreamcast
Sony Playstation
Sony Playstation 2
Here are the consoles and micro-computers I had the opportunity to use but never owned myself
Amstrad CPC 464
Amstrad CPC 6128
Amstrad PC1512
Apple II/e
Apple II/c
Apple Macintoch (classic)
Atari ST
CBS Colecovision
Mattel Intellivision
Microsoft Xbox360
Nintendo NES
Philips Videopac
Sega Master System
Sega Megadrive
Sinclair Spectrum ZX81
Sony Playstation 3
Thomson TO7/70
Thomson TO9
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