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Firsts in video games


The Pezman
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Would Donkey Kong Country be the first game to break the fourth wall (reference the fact that it's a video game from inside the context of the game)? Or is there another one that did it earlier? As far as I'm aware, Cranky's comments were the first to do this.

I think Bubsy did some stuff like this back in 1992 (knocking on the screen when you leave him idle), though I doubt either one was first. I'd have to think something beat them both by a long while.

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I know that I, Robot was the first game to use polygons.

--back in 1983, a full 10 years before my first exposure to them in StarFox!

And as far as 4th-wall breaking, Adventure had--so I've heard--the first hidden "easter egg:" a hidden room with the developers' names. Does that count?

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If I'm not mistaken they used one swear word at the end of the original Bionic Commando, although I don't remember what it was.

If anyone has played the Tex Murphy games, I'm pretty sure that was the first time I saw FMV and spoken dialogue in a game.

I believe Dragon's Lair (1983) was the first.Tex Murphy games started in 1989.

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What do you mean by "first original music number?" If we're talking original in-game music, popularized by Super Mario Bros., it would date back to the early 80s if not before that.

If we're talking original music with vocals, then it was already said that that would be Psycho Soldier.

Wow, all of a sudden I feel like somebody who works at the Grammys...:?

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Enduro (1983) by Activision for the Atari 2600 was a racing game that featured this 14 years before Harvest Moon :-)

Wow! And the days and nights actually occurred on a specific time schedule? Cause it wouldn't count if they just happened to have some races during the day and some during the night. Nor do I think it should count if it just changed after reaching a certain point in the race (for example change from day to night once you've reached the halfway point of the race).

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Wow! And the days and nights actually occurred on a specific time schedule? Cause it wouldn't count if they just happened to have some races during the day and some during the night. Nor do I think it should count if it just changed after reaching a certain point in the race (for example change from day to night once you've reached the halfway point of the race).

There is no end. Enduro plays like its title suggests... you go until you lose. You have to pass a certain number of cars during the game's "24 hour" period (which is about 5 minutes or so), or you're done. The game cycles on a steady timer, so regardless of how fast or slow you go, you have the same amount of time to pass the needed number of cars.

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Comments on the following topics...

Games with Musical Numbers (or just with songs)

Don't forget that the original Sam & Max game had a song too! I can't remember what it was about, but it was sung by that Conroy Bumpas guy.

...and for the trivia of it all, I'd like to throw in that Gabriel Knight 2 (1995) had a few arias in it, as the game involves you discovering and attending a performance of a lost Richard Wagner opera.

Games with Swearing

In those early text adventures you could type the swear words yourself and get some interesting results.

Also, in You Don't Know Jack (1995), if you keep typing "f**k you" as an answer, the host becomes increasingly annoyed to the point where he says it right back at you and exits the whole application.

Someone mentioned the Nintendo Zapper

According to wiki, the first light gun game was the Seeburg Ray-O-Lite (1936), but that might be going a bit too far before what we would classify as a 'video game'.

Breaking the fourth wall

I suspect The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) might've done this, but can't think of a particular example.

First Female Protagonist

Does Ms Pac Man (1982) count? (and what on earth is a dominant ovary?)

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I might be wrong in this, but I'm pretty sure that The Guardian Legend was the first game to incorporate both scrolling shooter and Zelda-like adventure elements, and on top of that it had somewhat of level-up system, where if you got enough points, your health bar would grow. Honestly, I've never really seen any other game do anything like this, well, except for Starfox Adventures, but even then, there wasn't really an even balance between the flying and adventure portions.

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"Does Ms Pac Man (1982) count? (and what on earth is a dominant ovary?)"

Pardon my alien language. What I meant to say was that Samus was the first non-stereotypical female game character. You know, not a girl who struts around with bows and wearing dresses and stuff. But, yeah, I think Ms. Pac Man takes the title anyway.

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