For the last half hour I’ve been trying to remember the very first video game I ever played – but for some reason I can’t.

I don’t know why I don’t remember my first video game; I can recall countless other gaming related memories (you’ve heard about a lot of them by now), but for some reason I can’t recall the very first video game my thumbs hammered away at. Perhaps I was just too young to remember? I don’t really know.

What I do remember though is the first video game I ever owned. It was the first game that actually belonged to me. I didn’t take it from one of my older brothers. It was completely and entirely mine.

So what was this fabled video game I speak of? Well, it’s one of my favourite racing games of all time,Micro Machines for the original Nintendo (NES). It’s  is one of the most difficult, frustrating and totally unforgiving games I’ve ever played – yet I absolutely love it.

The game is very simple, you control Micro Machines (very small Hot Wheels-like cars) from a birds eye view and navigate them in a race over desks, pool tables, kitchen tables and other real locations. The game’s third level, dubbed desktop drop off, has you racing around erasers, rulers, textbooks and pencil sharpeners. You also have the opportunity to drive boats, helicopters and various other four wheeled vehicles.

The entire concept of Micro Machines fascinated me; driving small vehicles around tracks based on everyday objects seemed incredibly revolutionary to me at the time. I remember recreating races with my real life Micro Machine toys on my older brothers desk, it was awesome.

I’d wake up every Saturday morning, grab some milk and cheerios, sit down and try to play Micro Machines while eating my cereal. This process never worked very well and almost always resulted in a very milky controller. Next, it would always be off to Hockey and then back home to Micro Machines. One thing I’ve never understood though, I’d show the game to my friends and they just couldn’t understand its appeal. Where were the guns? Where was the gore or the epic multiplayer mode? I guess it’s made to appeal to a very specific determined audience.

That oil patch always screwed me up.

Surprisingly, I think I had a much longer attention span back then; today I would have given up on that game in a matter of minutes. As a 5-year-old, I must have been insanely determined, I needed to master that game.

At 5 years old, this game was far too difficult for me, it took me weeks to learn the layout of specific tracks. The game’s AI also seemed to give new meaning to the term rubber band. I’d be miles ahead of my opponents when all of a sudden a Micro Machine’s jeep would suddenly zoom past me out of nowhere.

There’s no save points in Micro Machines, you’re limited to a specific number of lives and the game adopts an extremely steep learning curve. To the average modern gamer, Micro Machines seems like it was designed to specifically punish its players.

But for me, there was something different about Micro Machines. I’m pretty sure I had played other video games before it, but for some reason I don’t remember any of them. I think this is probably because this was the first game that actually belonged to me.

Oh and one other thing, I’ve still never finished the game – It really is that hard.

So, do you remember the first video game you ever played? Let me know in the comments section.