My earliest memories of using a PC or console are when I was very young – possibly 3 years old – playing Chase HQ on a ZX Spectrum (I think this is correct – I would need to reconfirm with my dad as I keep forgetting what he confirms it is!). However, looking at some screenshots on Google, the graphics on the Spectrum version are far more basic than I believe I was seeing. The Sega Master System port looks more accurate to my memory.

All I really remember is being sat in front of the “big” TV (that’s a 4:3 CRT under 24” back in those days) in the living room with my cousins and aunts and uncles. My aunt was having her go and missed the shortcut or took a wrong turn, which was exclaimed by all as a mistake.

I don’t even know if that is factually accurate to the game but it’s what my brain has decided I remember. Just a snippet of a memory that may not even be a memory at all.

I know we also had another copy of Chase HQ on another computer at a later date, but I’m sure that version of the game had completely different graphics. This was all a very long time ago (30 years or so!), so please forgive my vague memory.

When I was a little older (still in primary school) we had an Amiga 500 which was bought for me by my maternal grandmother. It was an old office computer from the Milk Marketing Board she was able to buy whilst she was working for them. Eventually it ended up in my bedroom.

I had a floppy disk storage box, which not shockingly, was full of floppy disks. I miss physical media. I could delve into it but I think I’ll save that for another day.

I can only remember what a handful of them were. I suspect a lot of them were demos or software that would not have been interesting or useful to a young child.

I know for sure that I had Batman (1989 by Ocean); Desert Strike (1993 by Electronic Arts); Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge and Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 (1990, 1991 by Magnetic Fields); one of the Sensible Soccer games (for some reason I would always pick to play as Czechoslovakia, as it was known at the time, just because their kit was red and blue); Noddy’s Playtime and Noddy’s Big Adventure (1992, 1993 by The Jumping Bean Company), which spanned a total of 7 disks and even at that age I thought it was a little ridiculous!; Lemmings and Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1991, 1993 by DMA Design – quite a leap to Grand Theft Auto!).

The Lemmings games probably were played the most. My dad loves those games too. They are such lovely simple games and the sounds of the Lemmings falling to their deaths when you get it wrong or the “Yippee!” when they reach the end of the level when you get it right, are permanently etched into my grey matter.

In the scheme of things, I don’t think I actually played on the Amiga all that much. I suspect I occasionally turned it on early in the morning at the weekends for a short while, but I think at the time, my box of cars and boxes of Lego would have taken most of my attention.

I also have no idea what my Amiga’s fate was. Did it die? Or was it deemed obsolete by my parents or taking up too much space in my bedroom? Another question that requires further investigation. By that time, Windows 95 was probably already out, and my dad’s computer was where I could experience some properly good games.