USgamer Community Question: What was the first game you were really good at?
What was the first video game that just "clicked" with you?
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Even if you're not especially good at video games, there should be at least one game you remember mastering in your own clumsy way. Maybe it was even a game that others still find difficult, but you baked it firmly into your muscle memory thanks to practice / patience / perseverance / mild insanity.
How about it? What's the first game you remember getting gud at?
Mike Williams, Editor
Super Mario Kart. I remember when the game first came out, I owned a Nintendo Entertainment System and a Sega Genesis. I didn't know anyone who had a Super Nintendo yet, so I would bike down to the local Toys R' Us and play their demo unit for hours. I had liked games before that, but that was the first one that really hooked me.
I loved Super Mario Kart so much that when my father bought me a Sega CD for the following Christmas, I played it for a day and returned it to the store to pick up a Super Nintendo and Mario Kart. I do not regret that decision in the slightest.
Nadia Oxford, Staff Writer
When I think of games that taught me how to play platformers, I think of Super Mario Bros 3. The first time I played the game was at a friend's birthday party, where the boys hovering around the computer monitor let me have a turn. I promptly burnt through all three lives by running into the Goomba that toddles towards you in Level One of Grass Land. The boys surrounded me kindly cheered me on like a two-year-old learning how to swing a bat for the first time.
From then on, I played Mario 3 whenever I had the chance; my mother's employer at the time had an NES, so I stuffed whatever practice I could on the rare days I accompanied her at work. Slowly, slowly, Grass Land became easy for me to play through. Then Desert Land. Then Water Land.
By the time I secured an NES and Mario 3 for myself, I was pretty darn good at the game. I also discovered mastering Mario 3 granted me the reflexes I needed to surmount every other platfomer that came at me. I suppose those skills still serve me well when I play 2D action games today. Thank you, Mario!
Caty McCarthy, Staff Writer
Kingdom Hearts, for real. My mom got me Kingdom Hearts when it came out, thinking it'd be another game for both of us to bond over. Instead, only I was absorbed by it. It was the only game I owned on the PlayStation 2 for years, actually. I became obsessed with it, doing self-timed speedruns (I think I got as good as under ten hours, but don't quote me on that) and most importantly, I grinded my way to get the Ultima Keyblade and defeated the incredibly difficult Sephiroth secret boss. I've never felt more accomplished than I did then.