What would you consider the first indie game?

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

This is the counterpart of that other thread.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

That's hard to answer because many developers started self-publishing games during the Commodore 64 era, often by submitting stuff directly to magazines.

 

[Faust03]

I mean, the first one I played was cave story but I dunno if that's what you meant or not

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

I mean, the first one I played was cave story but I dunno if that's what you meant or not

It counts if it counts FOR YOU

 

[χKai]

Probably some weird knockoff bootleg, probably from China because there's a ton of that kind of thing over there.

Edit: Google AI says it's this

 

[Your_Homie_Gale]

Probably Wolfenstein 3D

 

[iamthemilkman]

The first one that I played that I remember getting a lot of critical acclaim was Braid on Xbox 360.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

Hong Kong 97

 

[Bonkers225]

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[ispizzatime]

For me is Cave Story

 

[Darzhgrod]

Spacewar! (1962)

Just kidding it's actually Balatro (2026)

 

[deceptionfalls]

Tenis for Two was actually the first indie game because at that time videogames weren't a thing therefore game publishers did not exist as well. Solved. I am the smartest user of this forum.

 

[JackNoir413]

the only real answer is cave story.
"well if you consider back in the day all games were published by small teams before game publishers were a thing-" oh shut up.

Just kidding it's actually Balatro (2026)

TRUE TRUE THERE WERE NO GAMES BEFORE BALATRO THERE WILL BE NO OTHER GAMES AFTER BALATRO. CMON BABY PAPA NEEDS A FULL HOUSE TO WIN.
i downloaded it today and accidentally sank 5 hours into it already oops teehee teehee

 

[Kremiso]

Mr EE! on BBC ? - great unofficial Mr DO! clone

 

[Big Finger Jim]

Most early computer games were coded by some guy in their basement, so those.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

TRUE TRUE THERE WERE NO GAMES BEFORE BALATRO THERE WILL BE NO OTHER GAMES AFTER BALATRO. CMON BABY PAPA NEEDS A FULL HOUSE TO WIN.
i downloaded it today and accidentally sank 5 hours into it already oops teehee teehee

I don't care for Balatro

 

[JackNoir413]

I don't care for Balatro

tbf you need to be an adult to enjoy it i think cause its just poker youre playing poker.

BUT MAN I LOVE POKER I LOVE GAMBLING CMON BABY I NEED A ROYAL FLUSH THESE FOOLS GOT NOTHING ON ME.

in all honesty tho im more of a blackjack guy i think its the best game ever made but poker is alright too.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

I dunno, Alien Hominid maybe?

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

If we're not counting bootlegs and unlicensed games, then maybe the original release of Umihara Kawase on the Super Famicom?

It was an officially licensed release made by a small handful of independent creators, and was published by a TV station of all things.

 

[aquova]

I mean, Pong I guess?

 

[Nelson2001]

Magic Jewelry (1990) but I don't know if it counts as an indie game being an unofficial Famicom/NES game and also be a puzzle game very similar to Sega's Columns.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Depends on what indie would even mean in that context because you could argue third parties back when Nintendo had a monopoly would be indie, making SEGA, Capcom, Namco, Falcom, Taito, Atari, Hudson, and the like some of the indie dev pioneers since they weren’t AAA or even that well known back in those days for years before that one game or console

Hell you could even argue that Action 52 is an indie game and similar shovelware games

And then there’s old Japanese computers and the many games that weren’t even FOUND oh my

Though in terms of indie games as we know em, a lot are saying Cave Story but I say it’s Touhou, which was around since 1997