My very first game was Galaga. I loved that game, but for some reason, a lot of the arcades I went to only had Galaxian. Boo! Hiss!
I played the old school DOS/AppleII games at first. Oregon Trail. Odell Lake. Star Control (I was awful at it!) Sopwith. Defender. And oh my IPU did I love Scorched Earth.
I eventually got a NES, and I loved Mario Bros and Tetris. I played the hell out of Tetris.
And as much as I loved the newer, flashier, console games, I always kept an eye out for new computer games. You remember those old disks you could buy in the bargain bin with like dozens of crappy games bundled together? I got those. I hated most of them, but still held out hope for some reason.
Then came X-COM and Command and Conquer, one practically right after another. Those two absolutely blew me away. X-COM with its engrossing melding of strategy and tactics, Command and Conquer with its stellar cutscenes and voice acting.
X-COM was great because you legitimately had no idea what you were getting into - it was wondrous and terrifying at the same time. For those of you who never experienced it firsthand, encountering a Chrysalid for the first time was like that Chestburster scene in Alien, that's exactly how my brother and I reacted, too. Absolute terror followed by a visceral revulsion and a righteous hatred that burns hot to this very day. You will never ever forget your first Chrysalid wipe. No amount of overkill is too much for those...things.
I played UFO Defense out to like 2068 or something, which was like hundreds of hours of gameplay. I researched everything. Back then, you didn't know exactly what you were looking for, and kinda just had to puzzle it out, stunning random aliens on the hopes of some "interrogation" payoffs. That game was a gigantic mystery box and I loved it. I even read the novelization during summer camp. It was actually really good, imo.
That game single-handedly set me on a path of strategy gaming that I will remain on as long as I draw breath.