The first time I ever saw Pac-Man, I couldn’t even reach the controls without standing on my tiptoes. It was 1981, I was 7 years old, and my dad had taken me to the bowling alley where he played in a Thursday night league. While he warmed up with the other middle-aged men in polyester shirts, I wandered toward the hypnotic electronic sounds coming from the small arcade section tucked in the corner. There it…
The first time I saw Star Fox in action was at a Toys “R” Us demo kiosk in early 1993.…
The first time music made me cry, it wasn’t a sad movie score or a heart-wrenching pop ballad—it was the…
It was the summer of 1995, and I was working at Electronics Boutique in the Woodland Mall—one of those summer…
There’s something deeply satisfying about the clean, definitive moment when a puzzle clicks into place. That mental “aha!” sensation when…
I still remember the first time I saw Sonic the Hedgehog in action. It was summer 1991, and I was…
My first real couch co-op experience happened in 1988 when my brother Dave finally let me be Player 2 in…
The first time I booted up Myst was at my friend Tony’s house in the winter of 1994. His family…
The summer of 1989 was defined by two things for me: a horrifically awkward growth spurt that made me look…
October 1996. I was 18, fresh out of high school, and working part-time at a local video store that had…
