Last to Post 14, I'm sorry but your princess is in another castle.

Earliest game I remember playing was the first Super Mario Bros. My earliest (retained) memory of it involved me sneaking into a family friend's house when I was 4 or so, while we were on vacation out of state, and playing the game. That didn't last long; I was caught as soon as I finished the first stage.

I seem to remember that they had the NES hooked up to a TV on their kitchen table... it was some sort of table, I know that. I distinctly remember needing to climb into a chair to see it.

 

One of my brother's friends brought over a Sega Genesis and a handful of games a few times, and he'd leave them at our house for a day or two. He had the first Sonic game, Herzwog Zwei, Kid Chameleon... I know he had at least one other game, but I've long since forgotten what it was. (Shame---I remember it had some catchy music.) I never owned my own Genesis, so otherwise I never would've played Sonic.

A few years later I created my namesake, but that's a whole other story entirely. >^_^<

 

If I'm remembering right, I believe it's because Sega consoles (or at least the Genesis) had two separate chips to use to make sound. One could do all the heavy lifting for the music while the other handled sound effects and such. It was pretty much able to do twice as many sounds as Nintendo systems of the time. Plus I think that bigger chip wasn't too different from what people were using in synths anyway.

 

The first NES game was the only Gauntlet entry I've ever played, and I've never come anywhere close to beating it on my own ability.

 

The NES Gauntlet game had an ending of its own, I know that much (in contrast to the arcade game). It was contingent on getting a vault combination by beating an assortment of secret levels scattered around the different worlds. In addition, after beating the game's final boss, there are several hidden panels that need to be opened up in order to obtain the objective of the whole quest; going to the exit without it just gives a Game Over.

I've managed to reach the boss all of once via gratuitous save-stating, and never again. I don't know how far my brother got into the game when he played it as a kid.

 

I remember one SNES game I played a lot as a kid. It was this rpg-adventure thing but the gameplay was more like arkanoid. You hit a fireball around the arena to attack while guarding your goal. For the life of me I can not remember what it was called though. All I remember is that I was fascinated by it.

 

Saw my brother play it, never actually tried it myself even with emulation. I do remember it though; there'd be someone saying "Nice try, buddy" if you lost the race.

 

Sonic the Hedgehog being the mascot of blast processing and the Genesis. The glory days of Sonic and Mario butting heads.