Super Mario to Contra: Games B-Town stars played as kids!

Augumented reality (AR) game Pokémon Go has gone viral across the globe. So much so, it has already surpassed Tinder and Twitter in the popularity stakes. And while the game enjoys its place in the spotlight, we decided to go back in time, and ask celebs to share details of the video games they were hooked onto as kids. Read on to find out more...

Riteish Deshmukh, Actor
I remember growing up I loved playing video games. I know Pokémon Go has become free now, but I still remember the games from my childhood that I really enjoyed. Those were the days of Nintendo and cartridges and you had to use  remote controls to play it. My favourite video game while growing up was Super Mario. I think anyone from my generation will think of it as special. It was a revolutionary game. In those days life moved from Donkey Kong to Atari to Nintendo.

Varun Dhawan, Actor
I loved playing Super Mario.and Super Sonic games (included Sonic The Hedgehog series) as a child. I love playing Pokémon Go now as it’s great fun.

Huma Qureshi, Actor 
My favourite was Super Mario. I was obsessed about it and would miss meals and skip homework for it. All though my friends are hooked to Pokémon Go, I’m yet to discover it.

Manish Paul, 
Host and actor
I spent my childhood in Delhi and at that time we didn’t have any video games at home. I used to go the market, put a one-rupee coin and play games. I loved Contra. I still like shooting games and Contra, I think was the best at that time. I used to play every day for three-four hours. I was a champ at it. My friends used to request me to clear a level for them. My mother was so annoyed with me that she went to the shopkeeper and told him that he should call her if he saw me there!

Sidharth Malhotra, Actor
I loved playing Mario and Pac-Man the most. Mario was super exciting for that time with effects and levels. Pac-Man was fast and fun. And then there was Aladin on PC which again had some really cool, interesting levels. Contra, too, was super for action. So I have played all of them.

Sunidhi Chauhan, Singer
I played Super Mario as a child. And I miss collecting coins the most. I first began playing at age 11. Dad got me my first system and I played alone.

Rashami Desai, TV actor
Bomb Man, Tetris
I have always loved cars and I used to play all the car racing games. Also, Bomb Man and Tetris. It was fun to play with cousins and watch them lose every time. Games are a delight and a great source of fun.

Sooraj Pancholi, Actor
Contra
I only had a Nintendo and I loved playing Sonic, Contra and Super Mario. They were brilliant games. I loved the action. Another game that I loved was Need for Speed on the PlayStation. I guess I played video games till I was in sixth standard.

Purab Kohli, Actor 
Prince of Persia
The first black-and-white version. I had two games on my computer when I was a kid — Pac-Man and Prince of Persia. Clearly, I was not interested in running around in circles, so I deleted Pac-Man and went for the adventure, instead.

Dino Morea, Actor
Donkey Kong,  Parachute
I was completely an outdoor guy playing various sports. I used to play basketball, football and hockey for my school team. I used to hardly watch TV. But my friend had videogames we’d play. I would play Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Parachute. Later on, I would play computer games like Ghostrider.

Sunny Leone, Actor
Pac-Man, Mario Bros
In the 90s, I used to play Super Mario Brothers, Zelda and Centipede. I used to wait for my school to get over so that I can go home, finish my homework and start playing my video games. I used to invite all my friends over every evening so that we could play together!

Rana Daggubati, Actor
Pac-Man, Mario Bros
I was a very heavy Nintendo player, the classics of Mario Bros/Tetris/ other martial art games. Then I stopped playing computer games completely. I don’t play Pokemon.

Shakti Mohan, Actor, dancer
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution was my favourite game. It’s special because I could teach all my non-dancer friends moves and I could also adapt to new forms easily. In fact it’s still stored away in some part of my house and I get it out everytime we have the school and college reunions. My parents used to fuss about how much of space it took but stopped once they saw how me and my sisters bonded over the game on weekends.

Milap Zaveri, Writer/Director
Contra
During our times Atari was the first, Pac Man and Contra were the craze for computer games. I played Donkey Kong, Atari, Nintendo and Tetris. I have never played Pokémon Go.

Vivian Dsena, TV actor 
Super Mario
Super Mario. My mom had put a condition if I get 80 per cent in my exams I would get it, and I got 89 per cent. Video games were a big source of entertainment and fun at that time.

Neil Nitin Mukesh, Actor
The Sega Game Gear
I was around 12 years when The Sega Game Gear was launched and as usual kids in class were talking about it.  I requested my father who was abroad, to buy it for me.. I still have it amongst my other possessions and it was the first console that I owned and I will never part away with it. I still have the cartridges and Sonic The Hedgehog happens to still be my favourite character.  Many years later a similar opportunity arose when my brother Naman had a similar demand for a PS, when I was an assistant director with Yashraj Films. I made sure I saved up on my allowance and at the end of the trip, got him his PS just like my father did  and history just repeated itself with loads of memories attached to the possession.

Ritwik Dhanjani, Actor
Super Mario, Contra  
Super Mario! I would also play Contra a lot. I was really addicted to these two games.

Mayyur Girotra, Designer
I started playing when I was 12. With my cousins in summer vacations we used to travel with our video games. We used to do tournaments amongst us. And make charts for a weekend treat the one who scored highest.

Shruti Sancheti, 
Fashion designer
Donkey Kong
When I was growing up, Japanese video games had just made a foray and I remember being fascinated by it. We would be treated to video game parlours once a month and it was the biggest high of our lives.They represented another world. Later, home video games came with names like Donkey Kong, Mickey Mouse, Snoopy’s Tennis, etc.

Arjun Bijlani, TV actor
Road Rash
I enjoyed competing with friends to in car and bike racing games. We used to spend hours playing during vacations. Road Rash and Formula One Grand Prix on the top of my favourite games. 

Tusshar Kapoor, Actor
Pac-Man, Mario Bros
I used to spend a lot of time playing Atari games like Breakout with Joysticks. In the late 80s, I used to play Ninetendo games like Pac-Man and Mario Brothers. I was quite hooked to all these games. All of us friends used to get together and play the full day. What excited us was the competition and scoring points. It was boy thing, I never saw my sister (Ekta) addicted to it. At that time, it was novel because the technology was new to India and we could play it on TV. 

Payal Khandwala, Designer 
Donkey Kong
I used to be addicted to Donkey Kong. It was the sweetest game ever and I think I liked it because it was so simple. I used to spend all my summer vacations playing it. I can still hear the beeping sounds in my head. In fact I loved it so much that I bought it on eBay as well.

Divya Palat, Theatre actor and director
SIMS
I was addicted to a game called Objection, which was a legal game because I loved fighting murder cases and winning. Another game I loved was The SIMS where you got to create these fab fictional lives with super professions. I also played Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? which taught you about all these super cool countries around the globe.

Alesia Raut, Model
Pac-Man
I was quite tomboyish as a child and loved to play Super Mario, Pac-Man and Bricks. I especially loved Super Mario since I am a sportsperson and was a high jumper so it was fascinating to see him jump.

Varun Sharma, Actor
Super Mario
I used to play Nintendo’s Mario game. It was my favorite game. I would wait for my summer vacations to start so that I could go home and start playing Mario. My boarding school was five hours away from home and while travelling my handheld video game would keep me engrossed. Brick and Tetris were my favourite.

Sikandar Kher, actor 
Super Mario, Contra
I was always a gamer.. The 90s was all about my GameBoy. And of course, I had my Sega Saturn and Super Nintendo ... I enjoyed Super Mario Bros the most, then there was Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat .. Not to mention Sonic the hedgehog which was a Sega exclusive .. Contra was also something a friend and I would frequent.

Harmeet Singh, Singer-Composer
As a kid, I was first gifted a hand-held video game. There was a Snake game on the mobiles in the late 90s. Then, of course, it was Pac Man on our PC. Both Manmeet and I would compete to make a higher score.  Thought I don’t get that much time to get any kind of games on mobiles or laptops but I’m sure there is a huge trend that continues to fancy the youth. The difference is that as a kid I’d be all clued in, but now I get to know most about these games from my son and my niece.

Sorabh Pant, 
Stand-up Comedian 
Excite Bike
Back then, there were no mobile phones to play games on. As a kid, I would go to Shimla during vacations and instead of exploring the scenic beauty of Shimla, I would play Mario Bros., Excite Bike, and Contra for hours a day at a gaming arcade owned by my uncle. I don’t remember its name but there was this one game that I liked where a snake would go kill rabbits. 

Swapnil Shinde, Designer
Mario Bros
I was around 12-14. I was a loner when I was kid so used to play alone. Mario Bros have also inspired me and I have made a collection using them as an inspiration in past  at LFW.  

Ankit Tiwari, 
Singer-Composer
 Contra
Contra and Super Mario were my favourite games as a kid. I dont remember a single day of my summer vacations without playing it. I remember my mom used to get very angry and she used to lock it inside her cupboard so that my brother and me could go out and play with  our friends.

Pria Kataaria Puri, Designer
Super Mario
Growing up we did not have many options in video games. I remember playing Mario. It was a major craze in the early 90’s. I played a bit with my son on his playstation. Infact I am currently in San Fransico and playing Pokemon Go. It’s insanely popular here in the US.”

Rohan Shrestha, Photographer
Mortal Kombat
Games are an addiction, but good addiction to have because it takes away your stress after your work. Ever since I can remember, I have had video games. I used to love Super Mario. I never liked Pac Man because I didn’t like dying. A lot of fighting games too like Mortal Kombat. As I grew up I started playing a lot of sports-related games like cricket and football. I am a geek and I will want to check it out Pokemon Go.

Aditi Singh Sharma, Singer 
Super Mario
I played Super Mario as a kid and a lot of car-racing games on Nintendo. I always played video games with my friends. I’d use the Nintendo Entertainment system to play at my friends’ homes or while visiting my siblings in Canada.

Gabriella Demetriades, Designer
Super Mario
“I did love Super Mario Bros. I wish they would bring back Nintendo. I haven’t and don’t intend to play Pokemon. ”

Amaal Mallik, Composer
Sonic The Hedgehog
I started playing Media NES at age six or so, starting out playing three hours daily... Got hooked onto the 99-games-in-one. Masi and Mom gifted it to me. I loved playing Super Mario. With time, when Sega came in, I started loving Sonic (The Hedgehog). Nintendo 64 was the new upgrade to playing Super Mario and Luigi, The adventures of Super Mario, Super Mario World. All Mario games were awesome!

Sajid Khan, Director
Donkey Kong
I loved playing Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Popeye, Pac Man, Indy 500 racing and Asteroid. I absolutely loved them because they were new tech in the 80s...with great sound effects...plus the feeling of beating a machine was unmatched...I even took part in the video arcade championship in 1984 and came fifth out of 45 kids.

Aamir Ali, Actor 
 Pac Man
I still play play soccer on the PS4. As a kid, I would play Super Marioand Pac Man. There was a PCO booth outside my house and in it there was this arcade. I would always go down and play these two games. Later I got into combat games. I am glad Pokemon GO is here. 

Bejoy Nambiar, Filmmaker
Super Mario 
I might sound like a relic, but it was Super Mario for me. We used to play at least four-five hours every day. This was before the satellite invasion and there were no TV channels. I remember all my building friends would get together to play. We had to cross several levels, so we stopped, we had to start all over again. We figured out a system wherein you can disconnect  the video from where you have stopped and connect it from where you don’t have to again cross the earlier levels. 

Rohit Roy, Actor
Donkey Kong
I remember when I was in school, we had gone mental over Donkey Kong! But it was nothing what it is with Pokemon Go. Go is a virtual best friend for the whole world who you are dying to see everywhere you go. I’m dying to download it only to know about the game. I’m an addictive personality, so can’t risk it for too long!

Sanjay Gupta, Director
Space Invaders 
My childhood favourites were Space Invaders and Tetris. I preferred watching films to playing computer games. Thankfully, both my kids are also the same.