One of the first games I ever saw was the original Super Mario Bros. My cousins had a NES and whenever we went to their house, I was floored by that game. I couldn't play it. however - my cousins saw to that. It was their console, their game and their house. So I just had to look, with mouth agape, anxiously waiting for a chance that I knew it'll never arrive.
Back home, my dad had an Atari with some games. Wasn't his (I think it was the property of one of my uncles) but we still had it and it still ran fine. Another of my earliest gaming memories was playing Montezuma's Revenge with my dad - something special because, after that, my dad never played with me on a game console again. I don't think he ever "got" it. Plus, he was too busy most of the time so I don't blame him.
Anyway, I must've been 3 or 4 years old when my parents got me a special gift for... Christmas, I guess. Or my birthday. They're both in December so I can't actually remember the exact date.
That gift was... a SNES with Super Mario World. Man, I had a SNES. With SMW. For me. My own console. I was finally able to play something on my own without having to beg and wait for my cousins to actually lend me the controller for a short while. No, this was mine and I was going to enjoy it.
And I did. Super Mario World blew my mind back then. I love it, despite that SMB3 might be a better game, or SM64 (which I also adore) is more revolutionary - I love it because it meant so much to me back then. It opened wide the floodgates. I never looked back.