I got my start doing 2D games on the TRS80 color computer and it really gave me a good foundational understanding of computers. Because it was just bare hardware and assembly, you had to do everything manually, graphics, sound, input, memory mgmt, etc.

I think an ideal intro for programming would be if there was an environment where a new programmer could handle all of these things to create a 2D game, but in a simplified way, so they could get the idea without having too much excess baggage just to make it work.