In the 6th grade I got a Commodore 64 from my parents. The best decision they made, ever. It taught me that video games, are really, really fun. That, and it put the seed in the back of my mind that maybe someday I could actually make games for a living.
Many of the games I played on my trusty C64 had incredible depth. (here's a third C64 link)
The original Sid Meier's Pirates and Defender of the Crown come to mind, as well as Jumpman & Jumpman Junior.
Looking at my keychain flash drive the other day, I decided to make an image visually comparing 64K to 1 gig. It's an 1024 by 1024 image (not including the outline), with each pixel representing 1 KB. the little 8x8 brown spot (inspired by the color of the C64's case) in the upper left represents the C64's memory (click to enlarge).
Enjoy:
