TLDR I shared my PC gaming story, on how I started with playing my first PC game on my friend's computer to the collection of games I played on my own first PC. Share your PC gaming story in the comments below!

I started writing this post during lunch time at work, thinking it would be a short post with just a few paragraphs talking about my gaming experience on the PC when growing up. As I started to walk down memory lane and started to type my story, I quickly realized this was going to be a long one and I would not be able to finish it on my phone during lunch time. I decided to take this one home and type it out on a proper keyboard, so here goes...

When it comes to gaming when growing up (my own personal retro gaming experience), the SNES dominated my elementary school years. But my teenage / highschool years were about PC gaming, and that hobby / lifestyle lasted to this day.

The first time I got in touch with a PC game was visiting a new friend's house back in grade 5. I think I was 10 at the time and when I got to his house, he brought me to his room. There, he pressed the on button on his Intel 486 PC tower case sitting on the ground; then he proceeded to also press the on button on his 15 inch ViewSonic CRT monitor. After some beeps, crackle, and a bunch of white text scrolled through a black screen, the text stopped scrolling. The last line on the screen showed "C:>" with a blinking cursor, and my friend proceeded to type "cd doom" enter, "doom.exe" enter. Shortly after came a screen a I would never forget. There was a buffed up guy wearing green armor and a grey full head helmet. He was also holding a shotgun in his left hand and shooting a machine gun in his right. There were big blue and yellow letters saying DOOM in the background. Also in the background were some monsters or demons, and everything in the background was red. Just as I was amazed by the startup screen, the game started and my friend started to show me how to play. I was instantly hooked and we took turns playing. When I left home that morning, I told my mom I was just visiting a friend's house for a few hours and would be home for lunch. I ended up staying at my friend's home for lunch and dinner, and my dad had to come pick me up because it was almost 10pm when I left his house.

Before Doom, my only experience with the personal computer was limited to using it for All the Right Type at school. It was my first time realizing that a computer can be used for gaming; not just any gaming, but fucking awesome gaming! Needless to say, this new friend from grade 5 became my best friend in elementary school and I went to his house whenever I had the chance. On top of Doom, we played SimCity 2000, Command & Conquer, Civilization 2, and Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Because it was his house and his computer, often times I only got to watch him play and only got to play when he let me. Even as a spectator, I couldn't get enough of these PC games.

It seems that all good things eventually come to an end. My friend moved to the east coast and we lost touch with each other. By that time, I was starting highschool and of course I told my dad I needed a computer for highschool homework. Not at all tech savvy, my dad went to a computer shop to get them to build me a computer. Centered around a Intel Pentium CPU with MMX technology clocking at a whopping 166Mhz, running on 32MB of RAM, paired with an ATI graphics card and a Sound Blaster sound card, topped with a 56k modem and the typical floppy disk drive, CD rom, and a 2.1GB hard drive, my first rig was modest yet competent for "homework". When the Windows 95 logo first appeared on that NEC 15 inch CRT monitor, I knew my thirst for a computer had been quenched, but my hunger for PC games had just begun and this hunger would probably never be filled.

By then, my PC had taken over my gaming world by storm, but not any ordinary storm, it was a Blizzard storm. I'm talking games by Blizzard Entertainment, hit after hit, hours upon hours played. First it was Warcraft 2 Tides of Darkness and the expansion pack Beyond the Dark Portal. I went through the campaign for both the original and the expansion, as the expansion had already been released when my dad bought the computer, but custom scenario is where the fun is at and where I spent most of my time on the game. Just when I was starting to get bored of Warcraft 2, Diablo was released, and let me tell you, I was never so excited and eager to go to hell. The amazing thing about Diablo was that it supported multiplayer and it was the first time that I could game with my friends without having to be in the same room. We would have 3 or 4 way calls depending on party size and played Diablo while hogging up the phone line. Finally my 56k modem and dedicated phone line for the internet was used for something other than talking to girls over ICQ. Of all the Blizzard games released in the 90s, there was one game that I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing; my favorite PC game from the 90s and one of my favorite games of all time: StarCraft.

I've decided that my time spent on StarCraft and my love for the game deserves its separate post. I hope I will find time to write a full length post about StarCraft soon, but for now, I will just say StarCraft changed the definition of RTS to me. Or more specifically, what can be achieved with an RTS. The gameplay is fluid, the game design excellent, with engaging campaigns and captivating stories. Oh, and did I mention multiplayer? The Battle.net service was groundbreaking; match making with strangers, ladders and casual games, custom maps, games with friends, and of course, LAN play. By the time the Brood War expansion was released towards the end of 1998, the game balance between the three races were tweaked to almost perfection. I loved playing StarCraft and still play occasionally nowadays; however, my reaction time, decision making, and APM have significantly dropped compared my younger days, and have become quite a horrible player...

On that note, I will end my retro PC gaming story, as my own definition of retro is pre-2000. I eventually moved onto playing Diablo 2, then Warcraft 3, then World of Warcraft, but those were all post 2000. Maybe we can talk about those on another post, but I feel this is a good place to end it.

Did you play retro PC games? What were your favorite games to play on the PC? Your most memorable PC gaming moments back then? Share your PC gaming experience and/or story. Go go go!