I’d always been interested in computers, an interest I luckily shared with my dad, so I got my first PC for my Catholic Confirmation (something which is usually celebrated with loads of gifts in Belgium) in 1993. We weren’t particularly wealthy, and neither was anyone in my entire family, maybe let’s say upper lower class / lower middle class, so the purchase of a PC was something that got a lot of preparation. Everyone in the family was instructed to give money for my Confirmation instead of gifts (money that of course went into the purchase), I had to take typing lessons in advance (on an old type writer that nearly broke my fingers) and my dad took some computer lessons (and in turn taught me what he had learned).
1992-1996 was about the period where most people in my environment (friends/family) were getting their first PC, and even though very few games were available in stores pre-1994, a lot of pirated floppies went around. Heck, that’s how I got introduced to the first Larry game, the first Space Quest, Fate of Atlantis (non-talkie), etc.
But my love for adventure games really kickstarted in 1995 when I got a CD-player for my PC. With the rise of CDs, a lot more games were starting to become available in stores, and one of my first acquisitions was a LucasArts box that had Fate of Atlantis (talkie), Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and an X-Wing/TIE-Fighter game in it. It also had a demo for The Dig that I loved, so that was my second purchase later that year.
Between 1995 and 1998 a lot of games were also lent out among my friends in school. There were a couple of other adventure game enthousiasts, and we each owned different games, so I got the first two Simon the Sorcerer games from this friend, the first two Monkey Islands from that one, Zork Nemesis from a cousin of mine (I actually still have his copy – don’t tell him
), The 7th Guest, Phantasmagoria and KQ7: The Princeless Bride from my nieces boyfriend, etc. You get my drift here…
I bought several of those games when they were on sale later (The Larry Collection, 7th Guest + 11th Hour combo pack, Phantasmagoria, etc.). But as you can see, the games I played were very LucasArts-oriented (since I didn’t like dying every five seconds in Sierra games).
Basically, with the right friends, you could experience nearly all of the 90s classic adventures while only having to own a couple of them…
