My First Computer
Oct. 26th, 2007 02:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sessifetI can remember my first computer. Well, it wasn't mine, of course, but I was allowed to use it. It was around 84-86, but I could never remember exactly. I still can't. What I remember is this green on black screen and a game that helped me tell the time (in English). There was this monkey that climbed up the pole a notch every time you guessed what time it was. If you got five in a row, it'd get to the top and do a silly little dance.
The other game I remember is guiding an explorer around the screen avoiding the mummy and finding the key, with this incessant little tune in the background. We hummed this during holidays with our cousins. An utterly annoying little tune. You will probably catch (or have caught) me humming it at some point. I am not responsible for the results.
And there was an airplane game as well. Something with an airplane and a very annoying background drone. My dad played this game a lot.
There was a fruit machine as well. My sister played that until my eyes bled. I'd be playing interesting games where she could go 'Left! Right! Up! Left! Slow down! Shoot the buggers!'(1), and she'd be playing stupid things like fruit machine.
I also remember a little bouncing man in a cave. There was this flying creature, sort of like a pterodactyl and if you hit him, you'd lose. I think the objective was to get out of the cave.
I remember the little bouncing man in a cave game had the same name as the most important game I remember: It was about a little man who had to find his way through a maze. There were ghosts and hedgehogs and poison dripping from the ceiling and ladders and you had a gun and you could pick up bottles and treasure to regain health and all you needed to do was to get to the outside. And after you'd finished a certain amount of normal levels, you could design your own final level and you'd win.
I won once. Once. I played this game for years and I won once. I never won the mummy, or the airplane game. Heck, I never even finished the first level of the jumping guy game. I detested the fruit machine game.
The computer eventually passed on to my aunt and uncle, and we got a shiny CGA instead. I was introduced to King's Quest, Space Quest and, of course, Leisure Suit Larry(2). I left childish games behind and immersed myself in other things. But eventually (when I was around 13 or so), I wanted to find these things again. However, there was no internet(3), no fount of knowledge I could ask.(4)
And for the past fifteen years or more, I've been trying to find the games I played on my first computer. Not necessarily to play them, but to find them again. To know their names. To know that I was not delusional. To know they were real. Eventually I sort of gave up. And then I encountered A.F.P. and #afp. Many many geeks congregated here. Geeks my age and older! They'd remember! They'd know! I just never really got around to actually asking. Over the years, I made random remarks and asked circumspect questions.
I also had a serious discussion with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
da_pol when he was here. I was so sure it was an AMBRA. He gave me a few other avenues to pursue. Tonight I finally did what I should've done years ago: I asked mum. She said it was a CRM. She said it was between 1984 and 1986. I googled and found nothing. I mentioned the CRM bit to da_pol andshevek. And then I mentioned the years and colours to shevek and they wondered if it might be the Amstrad CPC instead of the AMBRA. It sure seemed liked it. And then they linked me to a game. And told me they have an Amstrad CPC.
And on youtube, I found the games. Every. Single. Last. One. Of. Them. Every damned game I played from the moment I was tall enough to look over the edge of the desk until I was old and computer savvy enough make dad go "Try and find out!" when I asked "What does this do?" after discovering the del command.
- Oh Mummy! Oh heavens. So bad, so addictive, so simple.
- Harrier Attack If only you know how many Sundays this brings back. So many afternoons of dad playing this and being utterly, utterly frustrated with it, and having so much fun.
- Fruit Machine Yeeeees, still just as boring as I remember. I'm sorry, sis, but I still don't see the appeal.
- Roland In The Caves Argh! Frustrating! I never got out of the damned first cave! I tried and I tried and I failed.
- Roland On The Ropes Oh my. Oh my, yes. Everything exactly as I remembered (only I saw it in green and black, not colour). The sounds are the same and so are the obvious clunky controls. The graphics. The hedgehogs and the ghosts and the dripping poison and the treasures.
Oh my paws and whiskers. Oh dear heavens. Fuck, I don't think there is any expletive that can adequately express my glee and happiness. I'm damned well crying here. I'm sobbing with happiness because, after fifteen. damned. years I finally found them. I can't wait to show mum and sis. And there is a CPC on sale on e-bay. I can buy this thing in working order and get the games and play them and be utterly frustrated out of my damned mind like before. And I want to. I so very much want to just do something stupid and irresponsible and just buy it. It's part of my childhood. It's part of me, of our family, of our heart. We don't need it, really we don't. But wouldn't it be nice to have?
(1) Hey, we had a liberal education.
(2) There were other games. Oh my, yes. It's just that...Leisure Suit Larry kinda stuck in your mind, for some reason...I was 9 or 10 at that time. Do I need to explain anything else?
(3) Yes, yes, there was. I just didn't know, okay?
(4) Yes, I know I could've asked my parents. I point you to the following piece of information: I was thirteen. I rest my case.
PS: (I also found something to make someone on my friendslist happy: Trap Door. If you buy the game and smile nicely, you can use the system ;).
The other game I remember is guiding an explorer around the screen avoiding the mummy and finding the key, with this incessant little tune in the background. We hummed this during holidays with our cousins. An utterly annoying little tune. You will probably catch (or have caught) me humming it at some point. I am not responsible for the results.
And there was an airplane game as well. Something with an airplane and a very annoying background drone. My dad played this game a lot.
There was a fruit machine as well. My sister played that until my eyes bled. I'd be playing interesting games where she could go 'Left! Right! Up! Left! Slow down! Shoot the buggers!'(1), and she'd be playing stupid things like fruit machine.
I also remember a little bouncing man in a cave. There was this flying creature, sort of like a pterodactyl and if you hit him, you'd lose. I think the objective was to get out of the cave.
I remember the little bouncing man in a cave game had the same name as the most important game I remember: It was about a little man who had to find his way through a maze. There were ghosts and hedgehogs and poison dripping from the ceiling and ladders and you had a gun and you could pick up bottles and treasure to regain health and all you needed to do was to get to the outside. And after you'd finished a certain amount of normal levels, you could design your own final level and you'd win.
I won once. Once. I played this game for years and I won once. I never won the mummy, or the airplane game. Heck, I never even finished the first level of the jumping guy game. I detested the fruit machine game.
The computer eventually passed on to my aunt and uncle, and we got a shiny CGA instead. I was introduced to King's Quest, Space Quest and, of course, Leisure Suit Larry(2). I left childish games behind and immersed myself in other things. But eventually (when I was around 13 or so), I wanted to find these things again. However, there was no internet(3), no fount of knowledge I could ask.(4)
And for the past fifteen years or more, I've been trying to find the games I played on my first computer. Not necessarily to play them, but to find them again. To know their names. To know that I was not delusional. To know they were real. Eventually I sort of gave up. And then I encountered A.F.P. and #afp. Many many geeks congregated here. Geeks my age and older! They'd remember! They'd know! I just never really got around to actually asking. Over the years, I made random remarks and asked circumspect questions.
I also had a serious discussion with
da_pol when he was here. I was so sure it was an AMBRA. He gave me a few other avenues to pursue. Tonight I finally did what I should've done years ago: I asked mum. She said it was a CRM. She said it was between 1984 and 1986. I googled and found nothing. I mentioned the CRM bit to da_pol andshevek. And then I mentioned the years and colours to shevek and they wondered if it might be the Amstrad CPC instead of the AMBRA. It sure seemed liked it. And then they linked me to a game. And told me they have an Amstrad CPC. And on youtube, I found the games. Every. Single. Last. One. Of. Them. Every damned game I played from the moment I was tall enough to look over the edge of the desk until I was old and computer savvy enough make dad go "Try and find out!" when I asked "What does this do?" after discovering the del command.
- Oh Mummy! Oh heavens. So bad, so addictive, so simple.
- Harrier Attack If only you know how many Sundays this brings back. So many afternoons of dad playing this and being utterly, utterly frustrated with it, and having so much fun.
- Fruit Machine Yeeeees, still just as boring as I remember. I'm sorry, sis, but I still don't see the appeal.
- Roland In The Caves Argh! Frustrating! I never got out of the damned first cave! I tried and I tried and I failed.
- Roland On The Ropes Oh my. Oh my, yes. Everything exactly as I remembered (only I saw it in green and black, not colour). The sounds are the same and so are the obvious clunky controls. The graphics. The hedgehogs and the ghosts and the dripping poison and the treasures.
Oh my paws and whiskers. Oh dear heavens. Fuck, I don't think there is any expletive that can adequately express my glee and happiness. I'm damned well crying here. I'm sobbing with happiness because, after fifteen. damned. years I finally found them. I can't wait to show mum and sis. And there is a CPC on sale on e-bay. I can buy this thing in working order and get the games and play them and be utterly frustrated out of my damned mind like before. And I want to. I so very much want to just do something stupid and irresponsible and just buy it. It's part of my childhood. It's part of me, of our family, of our heart. We don't need it, really we don't. But wouldn't it be nice to have?
(1) Hey, we had a liberal education.
(2) There were other games. Oh my, yes. It's just that...Leisure Suit Larry kinda stuck in your mind, for some reason...I was 9 or 10 at that time. Do I need to explain anything else?
(3) Yes, yes, there was. I just didn't know, okay?
(4) Yes, I know I could've asked my parents. I point you to the following piece of information: I was thirteen. I rest my case.
PS: (I also found something to make someone on my friendslist happy: Trap Door. If you buy the game and smile nicely, you can use the system ;).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-10-26 08:21 am (UTC)I don't think I really got into games. I had a couple for my first home computer (a Tandy TRS-80 which you loaded from tape casette !!) (very early D&D adventure stuff), but I enjoyed tinkering and programming more, and when the web came along , surfing for obscure facts and sites.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-26 08:35 am (UTC)About a year ago I went on a similar quest, and after lots of googling and asking Barry which questions to ask/sites to go to, I found another game that I used to play on the Amstrad. I found it! (can't remember the name right now) and I found a simulator and a copy to play! Whee!
Now I want to play Oh Mummy! and Roland on the Ropes again. I never won it.. and now I want to!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-26 11:16 am (UTC)There was a Hobbit game too, but it was notoriously pedantic - if you didn't phrase things in *exactly* the right way, you got nowhere!
CCA
no subject
Date: 2007-10-30 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-02 12:02 am (UTC)Thank you! *hugs*