Growing up Gaming: which is your system?

[starfox316]

Like many of you DP'ers I grew up gaming. I was born in '86 so some of you are probably older and more experienced.

With that in mind, which console did you grow up (and if you are on this site, in love) with that made games your passion. Just starting this thread as a collective respect board for our old flames in gaming history. Plus, my original psx took the great digital leap into the after-life last week. Captain Frank, my cat jumped and dumped a whole 2 liter of sprite on it, it never stood a chance. So yeah, I got remeniscent and started this thread.


I had an NES in elementary school and was given a Genesis at the early 1990's. But it wasn't until I traded in my 2 month old Nintendo 64 that I discovered: Playstation.
PSX made me the man I am today and it only got better as I imported. First it was Wave Runner, then Monster Rancher and Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil and then, the rpg's. Final Fantasy 7, Wild Arms, Grandia, Xeno Gears, Jade Cocoon, Lunar Silver Star Story. All these games were with me as I grew up and now I have a genuine emotional attachment to the memories I have of playing them. Going to school the day after Pa Rappa the Rappa came out and talking to my friends about how bad-ass the beats were, damn.

Playstation started all this crazy gaming addiction for me. It wasn't that psx created, the NES created it. It was the Playstation that gave me the goods though, it showed me the infinite fun gaming had to offer.

Please keep that in consideration when you answer this thread, too. Don't focus on the first system you ever had. which system was THE ONE, the one that made gaming so much more for you?


Starfox316's playstation: 1996-2007

for all the good times, homie.

[MarioMania]

The 2600 was the 1st one for me..But the NES was the System for me

[Three-P]

Born in '78, I got my first taste of gaming when the Colecovision came out. It also had an Atari 2600 add-on, so it was like 2 systems in 1.

[mrmark0673]

Being 22, the NES was the system I grew up on. I didn't get on the 16-Bit wagon until late middle school, damn cheap parents. I'll thank them for it now, the NES still holds my favorite gaming memories.

[Hawksmoor]

It's really difficult, for me anyway, to answer your question within the parameters you provided. I'm 29, and my love for gaming goes back to the early 80's playing games on my father's various obscure computers (like the Osbourne) and the 2600 my folks got for my brother and I.

I got an NES shortly after it launched and that tided me over console-wise until the Genesis came out in 89. I had actually asked for a TG-16 as my main Xmas gift for Christmas 89, but my brother convinced my father to get the Genesis instead. I was initially pretty pissed off, but ended up loving the system. Around that time I also got heavily into the handheld scene, buying an original Gameboy, then a Lynx I, followed by a Game Gear.

I own virtually every console and handheld released in the last 20 years, with a few exceptions. I can't honestly say that one of them stands head and shoulders above the rest as my definitive favorite. I just love the medium. To me a great game is a great game, regardless of the console or handheld it's made for.

[Nebagram]

83-born, for me it was the Mega Drive. Sonic, Mortal Kombat (yes, yes, I know), Micro Machines, hell, I even had a 32X. So many good times... :-)

[8-bitNesMan]

The handle says it all...

[Steven]

1983 child here. Grew up on NES, Gen, SNES

[CosmicMonkey]

NES, Gameboy and Super Famicom.

But the Dreamcast was the console that got me back into gaming.

[shopkins]

I started gaming with the 2600 and played it constantly. I didn't even know there was a videogame crash, just that we were buying our 2600 games at the flea market lately.

But I guess the NES is the one that really got me hooked, and Super Mario Bros. is the game that did it. It just seemed like such a leap ahead, almost as if it was a little world you could adventure in and explore more than a challenge of dexterity. That was the system I discovered RPGs on, too, with Dragon Warrior, and maybe even adventure games with Maniac Mansion.

[bangtango]

My family always had the classic systems in the house including the Atari 2600, Odyssey 2 and Commodore 64. I used to enjoy those older games but even then, I figured that I'd grow out of them someday and probably not play games once I got a little older.

The NES used to keep me up until 4 or 5 in the morning as I tried in vain to beat certain games which didn't have a save feature. We owned that, the Super NES, Game Boy, Game Gear, the 7800 and Master System. I spent all day long playing them sometimes, I certainly was at it most of my weekends and all through the summer. I wouldn't say those systems made me the person I am today.

So although I was gaming regularly even before you were born starfox316, a lot of what I was playing or owned was influenced by parents, siblings, friends, etc. A lot of the games in my home that I supposedly "owned" were mostly part of a shared collection with older and younger siblings. I had a few things of my own but those systems or games were in the extreme minority.

I didn't take the hobby by the horns until I owned a Sega Dreamcast. I hadn't picked up a new video game in several years. When I finally purchased one over at Walmart one night, I picked it out myself and my decision to buy it had nothing to do with what anyone else in my family was playing. I still have this very same unit in the original box and it has been handled with care so I haven't had to write a eulogy for it yet.

I don't know if it counts or not but I've been a gamer most of my life. I just never took an active interest into having my own stuff, all to myself, until around the time the Dreamcast came out.

[Melf]

The first console to hook me was a 2600 back in '79. My friend got one for his birthday and I rode all the way across the neighborhood for the chance to play, even putting up with his jock older brother.

The console that is dearest to me is the Genesis, by far. It was the one that made me desperate to cut lawns, wash cars, etc. to get the cash for games. We've been in love for 18 years now. :)

[Steven]

The console that is dearest to me is the Genesis, by far. It was the one that made me desperate to cut lawns, wash cars, etc. to get the cash for games. We've been in love for 18 years now. :)


On top of this you own one of the best gaming sites out there on the web, making your story truly good stuff. I loved the Genesis from 89-93, but once the SNES really got the ball rolling in '94 I just never was able to appreciate the Genesis the same way. Last year I re-purchased a Genesis looking to reclaim the magic. Just wasn't there, although I thoroughly enjoyed working my way through Shining Force.


Edit:

As for my love of NES/GEN/SNES growing up, the NES wow'ed me with 2 player Contra and Double Dragon II. I remember playing those games to death. The Genny blew me away with its (at the time) arcade-esque quality graphics (esp. coming off the itty bitty NES). My jaw dropped the first time I saw Altered Beast in action in '89 I'm pretty sure it was. ThunderForce III sticks out, as does Sonic. Then you had those cool cult-esque games... Fighting Masters, Trampoline Terror, General Chaos, Haunting, etc.

The SNES though, were the best days of my gaming career. Just that era in general. SFII port blew my mind, Mario Kart, MKII yes blood! etc. The amount of quality arcade ports the SNES had was amazing, as well as the multiplayer games (Bomberman, NBA Jam). It was a great innocent time.

[Griking]

I was born in '69 and grew up with an Odyssey 2 and an Atari 2600 though in the early 80s I migrated over the an Apple II. I've purchased all major consoles in the years since but I've primarily a PC gamer ever since.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I was born in 1971 and started out with the 2600 and i still have all the major systems (NES to the PS3) but the PSone is my personal fav. so many great RPG's on that system.

[ubikuberalles]

I was born in 1960 and so there were no home video games available to me when my age was in the single digits. I do remember playing arcades in my youth whenever the family would go bowling. That was in the early 1970's. One of the games I played wasn't even a video game: my sister and I would each control a flying saucer that was powered by an electric motor. The saucers would only move left or right and we would fire light bolts at each other. If a saucer was hit it would light up and an LED counter would increment. The arcades were my favorite part of bowling night.

So, in short, it was the arcades that got me started in video games.

[7th lutz]

Born in '78, I considered the 7800 or the genesis to be my system growing up. I got a 7800 I was 11 and a genesis when I was 14. I was a late gamer for home consoles and I never owned a computer till I was 16 years old. The only videogames, I played was in the arcade and play pole position or Q Bert. If that didn't count then the 2600 jr was when my dad had me pick a game console at Toys'rus back in 1988. Either way, my younger brother and I bought alot of 2600 games at flee markets at the time, when they were depending on the stand for 50 cents or u[ to 2 dollars up to Christmas of 1991, when I got an nes. In 1992, I got a genesis and it a was big deal for me. It introduced me to rpgs and I played a lot of great games for it along with the fact I saw sega commericals for the system and also played sonic 1 at Target. The nes was big to me, but not as much as a sega genesis was. I owned alot of nes games as a teen and between that system and the genesis as a teen.

I picked up the 2600 jr due to the fact, I had 2600 games at home, and my dad looked at price of the game consoles it was between that and the 7800. I didn't play my first system, Intellivision 2 with the voice moducle, and the 2600 moducle. If I did play it, it was for a short time. I think my dad bought during the crash, but I didn't remember playing it along with the fact there were 2600 games with the system, when I saw my dad playing it in 1987. I didn't play videogames from 1984 to 1988 at home at least. The closest thing to a videogame, was simon I played in that in that time period for me at home. It is possible, I didn't play games on a home console before then.

[Cambot]

I kicked the doors down on this world in 1976, so my earliest gaming memories were on the Colecovision - and we also had the Atari adapter making it 2 systems in one. There's a hilarious series of family photos of my mom, my sister and me - with the last few of just mom and sis (I'm in the background lying belly-down on the floor playing Zaxxon).

My best memories are of the NES, though I credit the SNES as my favorite system for all the games I grew to love - even long after the system became old.

[AMG]

I was born is '75 and grew up with the Atari 2600. That is the console that represents my childhood of gaming.

Looking back on all the consoles I've had over the years, the PSX and SNES are tied as my two favorites.

[boatofcar]

I was born in 81, and while my first video game system was an Atari computer, I was 7 in 1988, which I feel was the year Nintendo really took over the world. Of course, I didn't get a NES until 2 or 3 years later, but 1988 was the year I fell in love with it.

[Jackattack]

My first system as well as the one that brought me into gaming was my SNES. Before that time I played on my friends NES, mostly Paperboy. I love paperboy.

[PentiumMMX]

I was introduced to gaming by Atari 2600 and PC, but the Nintendo 64 is what really got me started.

(BTW, I was born in 1991. I'm as old as Sonic the Hedgehog!)

[goemon]

I was born in 85 and my first system was the Game Boy. I played console games at my friends houses and Game Boy everywhere else. I also played computer games -- my father would get old computers from his job and I got to play games on them. He was one of the first people in my hometown to get home internet access, so I downloaded and played lots of crappy freeware games too. (14.4 ftw) Then I got a Playstation and I've been stuck there ever since.

[Gentlegamer]

I played the Atari Video Computer System with my father as a young child, but "my system" was the Nintendo Entertainment System.

My hands would cramp up listing all the awesome games I experienced first hand during that era.

Edit: also, C64 is a close runner in this category

[Push Upstairs]

I started out by playing my brothers 2600 but moved on to an Apple IIc. But the game systems that were "mine" and the ones i'd cite as the inspiration are the NES and Genesis.

Mario got me started, but Sonic solidified my interest in video games.

[Randor650]

My first video games were played on the Intellivision and Atari PC's but the SNES is probably what sealed me as a adict of video games.

[Steve W]

My first videogame obsession was the Atari 2600. It was the machine that defined my gaming addiction for years to come. I had a Pong console before the VCS, and I've had heaps of consoles since, but the 2600 will always be my first real videogame love.

[Hwj_Chim]

born in 85 and have had an Nes since 91. My dad found it at a garage sale for 25 bucks it came with Mario and jack nicholson golf. but I never really got into it until later. When I was younger It was all about the Genny and mortal kombat for me.

[rcgamer]

Born in 72, the first system I actually owned was an atari 2600 though a sears pong system was probably the first I played. I didn't really love gaming though until I got my Master System in 86 I beleive, I did have an NES prior to that but didn't get into it as much as I did the SMS.

[shoes23]

The 2600 was the 1st one for me..But the NES was the System for me

Same here. I remember playing games like Combat, Asteroids, Jungle Hunt, and Bezerk on our Atari. That didn't start the obsession however, that title is given to the good ole' NES. I still remember being a 1st grader and hearing a friend describe Super Mario Bros. to me before I had ever even seen it. One of the few games that exceeded my expectations in every way.

[DigitalSpace]

I was born in 1982.

At first, it was the NES that my mom bought for me as a birthday gift and because she didn't want me asking her if I could play something if we were at a store, laundromat, etc that had an arcade cab. I played the games I got as gifts, the games my friends had, and the ones my cousins would let me borrow. Any time I met a kid my age, we'd eventually wind up talking about Nintendo. Every kid wanted to know what games you had and would tell you what they had.

Then, after begging my mom for one, I got my SNES for my birthday in 1993. I did get some exposure to the Genesis, but I didn't really discover what it had to offer until I started collecting and bought one in 2004. The NES was blinky and back then, nobody knew anything about NES maintenance and since it was collecting dust while I was playing my SNES, it eventually got sold at a garage sale. I didn't get another one until late 2005.

As for portables, my mom refused to buy me a Game Boy because it was black and white, but she did buy me a used Game Gear. The only games I owned for it were Sonic Chaos and Mortal Kombat. I hardly ever played the thing on the go due to the poor battery life - I usually played it in my room, plugged in to an outlet. Unfortunately, it broke about a year and a half after I got it, and the games were sold off. But when I was a kid, that was my portable. I'd like to own another one, but haven't had much luck finding one that isn't broken, missing a battery cover, and/or isn't a Majesco unit.

Back to the SNES - I discovered a lot of SNES games through my cousins (who introduced me to Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger and FF III) and the neighborhood kids who'd borrow a game from me (usually Donkey Kong Country) and I'd borrow whatever they offered that wasn't a shitty sports game (that's how I discovered that Biker Mice From Mars and Spanky's Quest were actually a LOT better than their cart labels suggested).

I continued playing SNES through the PS1/N64 era - I got to spend some time with both but until my brother got an N64 late in the system's life, we never had one in the house (except for the time my cousin let us borrow his). Even after that, I continued to play SNES most of the time. Finally, when the PS2 came out my senior year, I got one - the backwards compatibility with PS1 games was a big factor. The SNES eventually was boxed up (the console and most my games were stored in the PS2 box) and went in the closet.

Around Spring 2003, I was bored with the few PS1 and PS2 games I owned, and too broke to buy a new game, so I decided to take it out of the closet again. It never went back in. Later on, I discovered stores that sold SNES games, and started buying games I had missed out on but wanted to play (and games I had played but never beat back then, such as the loose Super Metroid I spotted for $10). I also bought some cheap PS1 games. Then I discovered Digital Press while doing a search for SNES rarity lists and joined the forum, and here I am.

So, the short answer would be "well, I started with NES, and then I got an SNES which eventually fueled the game addict I am today. As for portables, I had a Game Gear for a short time." But no, I had to go and get carried away and make a huge post. Sorry to anyone who fell asleep. :p

[cyberfluxor]

Like many of you DP'ers I grew up gaming. I was born in '86 so some of you are probably older and more experienced.

Being born in '84 I'm not too far off from ya bro. However the first system I touched was a 7800 at the grandparents house at around 4 yrs old. Growing up though we had a SMS in the house and I loved playing Wonder Boy (In Monster Land), Shinobi and Cloud Master to name a few. It wasn't until '95 that I got a GameGear (mainly because I really wanted one and my brother had a GameBoy brick) and got several games for it, which in turn I liked Shinobi 1 & 2, Sonic 2, Zoop, Aladdin and many others I got over the years. Then until 2002 it was pretty much nothing but PC gaming because at this time I finally got my first job. The first system I bought was a Genesis and picked up Columns for it because it was one of my favs! My grandma got me an N64 the previous Fall so I also began buying some of those titles I never owned but saw others play. From then on I've been adding onto my collections and there's been some good times.

So the SMS was what started it all but actually thanks to ROM emulation on my PC during the 90's I got to play many cart games never seen and today I buy those I enjoyed or look interesting and I didn't play.

[Emuaust]

First console was a SMS and ill be a SMS gamer till i stop playing games, That system
will always be my system of nostalgia/choice.

[RJ]

Born in '71, Atarian to the end.

1st gaming taste was on a neighbor's VCS 10 yrs after. Influenced by this, we rented a VCS & 3 games from Discount Video (Combat, Pac-Man & Space Invaders- hey, it was all I knew! Though I debated renting Activision Skiing). I once had my dad take me to the mall where Wards or JC Penney had 5-6 systems set up to play. I figured I'd soon get a VCS rather than him spending time/gas whenever I got a gaming jonesin'. Must've been an Xmas soon after I scored a VCS. I dont think I was ever w/out a game system from then on! 2 friends in gr. 6 had ColecoVision, I once biked to one's house, the other I got a ride from Dad. I remember another friend being mad b/c I got Spider Fighter before him. I'd also bike to another mall on wkends for a movie & arcade games at Circus. Good grades=tokens: 3 for an A, 1 for a B.

From there I moved up to an 800XL in '84. I pooh-poohed other systems awhile, even after a good friend got an NES. (He actually had an 800XL b/c of me to swap games.) You may say I was quite anti-Nintendo. The only time ever playing SMS was once on a store display. Didnt have mauch to do w/ 16-bit games 'til late 80s when I got a dogbone Lynx w/ my own $$$. Got a Jaguar in the early 90s after moving out, & picked up the rest of my systems here & there. At Best Buy I got the next-to-last PS2 on Launch Day, Oct 2000. My latest are a Yobo, bought last yr, & a ColecoVision a few months ago.

[alxbly]

I grew up playing lots of different systems.The oldest I remember was a Pong machine, and there was also Atari systems, VIC20 and Commodore 64, NES, Megadrive and others. I never considered gaming to be a hobby until 3D games started appearing; Doom was the one that got me hooked. As to what console is the one I treasure the most, it has to be the Nintendo 64. Games like Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 just blew me away. Those were the defining moments of gaming for me.

[Hardcore]

Rolling in from '76 here. Bicentennials, give me a holla! :)

Seriously, the 2600 was one of the first systems I played, but I'd say the 5200 was my console. My mother and I would wear out the controllers, then use tin foil to help with the keypad contacts and fire buttons. :)

[Chaz From Phantasy Star 2]

That's nobody's business but my own.........

[skylark]

Born in 73. Intellivision was the first, but I spent most time on the PC. Xbox was the first console I bought.

[RJ]

BTW Hwj_Chim: I'd LOVE to play that Jack Nicholson golf game! Does he threaten people w/ his 5-iron if he shoots poorly?

[Nognir]

I'm born in 1982 and my first console was also the Atari 2600. But my favourite system is still the Commodore 64 (although its no console)
There was a german RPG called Die Dunkle Dimension which I used to love to play. It was game inspired of Ultima IV and has nearly the same gameplay although it has its own story and monsters and such.

Also I played games like Pirates a lot along with the AD&D RPGs from SSI. It was really a great time back then..

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Well, I was born in 1978 and had a 2600 and later an NES and later a Genesis, but I don't consider any of those to be among my most loved systems.

I got a Power Base Converter for my Genesis in 1995 and that was really the first system that I loved even though I'd barely heard of the Master System before 1995 (I had a friend who had one in the late '80s but we rarely played it). As looking for Master System games inevitably meant hitting up lots of flea markets and such, I ended up picking up a Colecovision a couple years later and fell in love with it, too. Then the Dreamcast and Neo Geo Pocket came out and I was in heaven. So, oddly, the system I grew up with didn't leave as much of an impression on me as ones that I only discovered much later.

Nowadays, I'm loving the DS a hell of a lot. If the thing can surprise me and not fall apart like it feels like it will, I think I'll be playing my DS for decades to come.


...word is bondage...

[Lady Jaye]

Well, I was born in '75, so my first gaming experiences were with the Atari 2600 and the Colecovision. However, I didn't have any console till 1987, when I got a Coleco Gemini (Atari 2600 clone). So, although I was exposed to the Colecovision first, the Atari 2600 really was my first console (the Coleco was played very occasionally at my uncle's house, while I played the Atari every day or so at my friend's house when I was 10).

[Kitsune Sniper]

Born in 1980... I remember my brother playing Frogger in a borrowed Coleco back in 1985. I got my NES in 1988 and it kept chugging along for ten years (the thing is finally dead). I kept my SNES around but I stopped playing almost completely in 1998, which was when I got my first computer.

In 2002... I got a Dreamcast as a gift from a former girlfriend. This made me get back into gaming and I haven't looked back since.

I never got a PS1, Saturn or PS2. I barely bought my first PS2 a few months ago.

[DarthKur]

I was born in 67 so arcade machines whether they be mechanical, early video type or pinball were what originally got me into gaming. That and board games. ;) My first console was a light sixer Atari 2600, which I still have and use. Not too long after that I bought an Intellivision then a Colecovision and Atari 5200. I got a NES for a gift some time later but didn't get too many games for it since I was, at that time, wasting way too much time and money on hell raising. It's only within the past few years that I've really gotten into gaming hardcore again and have made it my mission to obtain almost everything I can get my hands on.

[xtremegamer]

Growing up we had an NES, but the system that really got me hooked in the video game scene was the Sega Genesis. I got my first Genesis for christmas in 93', I was 11 then. It had such a great selection of games, ecspecially sports titles, which is what I was into then. Also, it was the first system I could call my own, since the NES was our family system.

Also, by owning the Genesis it introduced me to the 32X and Sega CD which I was a pretty big fan of and still am. Yeah they weren't the greatest video game systems in the world, but I've always enjoyed these systems.

[Clownzilla]

I'm a child of 1979 and my first love was the NES in Christmas of 85(?). I owned (and loved) many systems since, but the NES was my first love! I still play NES games to this day, and I pity the current-gen gamers that think it's an outdated piece of trash.

[mailman187666]

my start with videogames actually came from the arcades. I was born in 1982 so the arcade scene was pretty big at the time. I also had an atari 2600 at the time, but the arcades are what sparked my interest. Then when the crash happened, we had Apple 2e which had some fun games on it. NES is what officially got me really into games, and it wasn't until about 2005 that I got addicted to collecting the classics. The Saturn library is what got me into collecting.

[segagamer]

Odyssey 2

[Cambot]

Rolling in from '76 here. Bicentennials, give me a holla! :)

HOLLA!

[DefaultGen]

.....

[djbeatmongrel]

the genesis was my first home console and it still sucedes in getting my rocks off properly.

[cosmicpsycho]

nes and then the turbo grafx 16. i love the snes and genesis also, but the turbo grafx just amazed me for some reason. i'm surprised no one else has mentioned it. oh well, i know its not that popular of a system, but it seems the people that like it are fanatics. i am anyway.

[FAMOUS]

Sega Genisis

[Cloud121]

I'm in the same boat as StarFox316. I got a MegaDrive in 1990, and Super Famicom a year later, but it was the PlayStation that ruled my life for years. Granted, it was my Saturn that turned me into the hardcore collector that I am, but the PSX made me what I am in the long run.