If you could relive one console's life...

[NayusDante]

...would you do it differently? What games would you have preordered, instead of buy years later for outrageous sums? Would you have bought a doomed system in the hopes of changing its fate?

What year would you want to start at? How old would you have been, and how old would you WANT to be? Would you game with yourself at that age, even if it meant creating a paradox? Would you give yourself buying tips for the future?

This idea has been bothering me forever, because there's a lot of things I would have loved to do differently. For one, I stayed in the realm of Nintendo too long, and didn't branch out. I also relied on cheat devices, and didn't start REALLY playing anything until I started playing PC games online. I also wish I had been able to stop my parents from throwing out my game boxes, which bothered me as much then as it does now (they don't even keep DVD cases).

[Alfador]

Did you stumble across a time machine? 'Cause if you did....

It sounds like I'm in the same boat as you, my parents made me throw away my boxes too and I was a major Nintendo-only fan. I hated Sega and I didn't even know what a Turbografx-16 was until recently.

I would've liked to have gotten into the TG-16 scene and definitely the Neo Geo scene..

And I wish everyone got a Virtual Boy on launch day like me so it could've been popular and had more games. (I love that thing!)

[NayusDante]

And I wish everyone got a Virtual Boy on launch day like me so it could've been popular and had more games. (I love that thing!)

Same. I got mine for only $30 at ToysRUs when they started trying to get rid of them, along with most of the games for about $5-10 each. A killer FPS would have saved it, but sadly... Teleroboxer and Red Alarm remain my favorites, though I never finished either. Same with Wario Land.

Imagine a VB2... Color, real textured 3D, AC adapter in the box...

[Iron Draggon]

I would've skipped collecting for the N64 altogether and spent all that money on collecting imports for Saturn... it would've been a much better investment!

[thepiratemonk3y]

Probably the NES, and SNES. I have an NES but have really bad games for it and was never really up to date with what was good. I just played what I could get my hands on. I completely missed out on the SNES and wished I had one back in the day. My cousins had one that I would always play and I loved it.

Also wish I got a Dreamcast on release. I got mine about a month ago and I love it. But I had that I have to buy most of my games off of eBay or find junky ones at a used game store.

[NayusDante]

Also wish I got a Dreamcast on release. I got mine about a month ago and I love it. But I had that I have to buy most of my games off of eBay or find junky ones at a used game store.

I actually did get a DC on release, but didn't play much besides Sonic Adventure (though I played the hell out of it). Wish I had gotten PSO before I tried Blue Burst years later.

[Dr. Dib]

I probably would want to relive the N64 and PSX days. Not because of the games that I didn't get on those systems, but because of the classic gaming scene. Who knows how many good deals one could have gotten during that?

[DeputyMoniker]

Great thread, man.
I would like to go back and relive all of them, starting with the NES. I dived head first into the INTV so I have no regrets previous to the NES. If I could go back, I would play a lot more RPG's, which is actually the opposite of what you've asked. (instead of paying outrageous prices for games...) Because, obviously, I'd have paid a lot more than $20 for a good SNES RPG.
All those good times I missed by taking sides in the console wars. All the good games I could have played if I could have convinced my dad to let me mow lawns and wash cars for money.

[turbokon]

For me, it would be around '90 when I was in six grade. I already had the turbo grafx 16 so I would by myself (the other me) all turbo games, turbo duo and turbo express. I really wanted them back then but I knew I was lucky to get even a turbo grafx.

[Steven]

Can I pick a year instead? Oh to hell with it. 1989 :D

NES still in its prime... Genesis coming on... SNES a few years away from US distribution... good times.

I'd love to relive 1989-1994 again. Ideally '87-'95... but I can't get too greedy now ;)

[mr.soul]

i wish i could relive psx so i could get ff7 before advent children came out

relive snes so i could get all those expensive as hell games for less new

[ShinobiMan]

Some of my happiest memories come from the time I spent on my Nintendo Entertainment System. I would give anything to relive those years of my youth.

A close 2nd would be the Sega Genesis era and 3rd place belongs to Sega Dreamcast. I remember playing Phantasy Star Online with DP and Bhvrd back in the day. Good times folks.

[ooXxXoo]

Like to go back to 1989..the year I saw my parents for the last time.

[Vectorman0]

I would like to have been alive and several years old by the time the 2600 was released. It would have been great to experience that system in its heyday. I wish I could have seen the arcades from that era as well.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[murdoc rose]

nes all the way for so many reasons. It would be great to be 13 or 14 in the heyday. Most of all I would love to have been older for the thousands of yard sales I went to in the early 90s. A gold mine I only got to pick at so sad. Guess I can't complain I had a hundred nes games by the time I was like 14. Not to mention a love for the toys of the 80s and 90s.

[otaku]

I wish I'd been born in the late 60s or early 70s so I could have lived through the rise of gaming and technology I missed alot by being born in 88.

[DeputyMoniker]

I wish I'd been born in the late 60s or early 70s so I could have lived through the rise of gaming and technology I missed alot by being born in 88.

I was born in '79 and what I remember most about video games in the '80's is the NES. Man, you missed a great ride!!

[Push Upstairs]

I'd go back to 1989/1990 and give myself a Genesis to go along with my NES.

I'd give myself these pointers:

Don't sell your NES...even if you put dumb rub-on stickers all over it.
Beg Mom & Dad for a subscription to EGM, get all back issues, then ditch the mag in 1996.
In 1991 get Sonic the Hedgehog.
Never sell your Genesis.

4,000 posts!

[ssjlance]

I'd like to go back to '84 and get some Vectrex stuff. I found one at a local game store recently, and I"m in love with it. That or the Virtual Boy. I love the Virtual Boy. And I have beaten Wario Land. LOL

Although, the final cat boxer in teleroboxer murders me every time I play. And I've beaten Mike Tyson without cheating.

[tom]

1984, get all the VCS stuff (again), but this time i also would get Vectrex, Intellivision and Coleco (and maybe Videopac (Odyssey2)), and later the A8 and C64 (again).

*Again, as I had all the stuff in the first place.

[Trevelyan]

To have been of a gaming age when the Atari 2600 was in it's prime would have been cool.

these age-old hypothetical gaming question's always stress me out! I wish i'd held onto my old amiga & had more money to buy more games & been more careful with the boxes+instructions...

Maybe I would like to focus more on the NES/SNES, when I was way more into the SMS/Genesis...but tbh i'm just glad I was there when those consoles were fresh, I have so many fine memories

[Trevelyan]

dang, posted twice...:smash:

[fergojisan]

I would go back to 1980 and save all of my 2600 boxes, including the system box. I would buy more games than I did (17). And I would definitely take advantage of the crash, picking up all the games for $5 and under that I saw at the Pathmark (!) and places like KayBee, Tiny Tots, and Consumers. Then, I would continue playing those games until 1986 when the 7800 came out. I would buy a brand new copy of friggin' Tank Command and save it for my future self. I would also save my NES boxes that I buy in the next 3 years.

[guitargary75]

Some of my happiest memories come from the time I spent on my Nintendo Entertainment System. I would give anything to relive those years of my youth.

A close 2nd would be the Sega Genesis era and 3rd place belongs to Sega Dreamcast. I remember playing Phantasy Star Online with DP and Bhvrd back in the day. Good times folks.

I agree wth that 100%.

[DarthKur]

I would go back to 1970 for various reasons. Firstly, it would allow me to fully experience the entire decade being that I was only three in that year. Obviously, a lot of details slip by you when you are a young'in. I would also chose to shave a decade off my present age so as to be in my 30's instead of 40's. If you're going to fantasize why not go for broke? LOL
Being at the beginning of the 70's would allow me to get in at the ground floor of the entire home computing/gaming scene. It would also make it quite easy to make some wise investments, such as personally supporting the endeavors of the likes of Nolan Bushnell, Ralph Baer, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates, as well as trying to correct a few of the wrong turns made by Jack Tramiel. Buying tons of IBM stock would also be on the agenda. :D
Building the ultimate collection would also be a lot easier. Not only would I make sure to get a good copy or two of each cart and console I could acquire such wonderful rarities as an Apple I, Lisa, Altair 8800,IMSAI 8080, KIM I, etc.
Aside from all of the gaming goodness I'd make sure to attend several shows from each tour from both Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, beginning when they were both still playing bars and small night clubs. Also I'd make sure to go see Star Wars right on opening day instead of having to wait until my folks "got around to it". :wink 2:
The 80's sure would be a blast to go through again as well.
Oh to only have the technology and the utter and complete disregard for disrupting the proper time line and the lives of countless millions. :devilish:

[GnawRadar]

I would go back to when I had the choice to go the N64 or the PS1 route. I took the N64 path and now would have rather went the PS1 route. Don't get me wrong, I like the N64 and had many good times with it, but there are many games I am getting into now that I would have liked to have got when they first came out and when they were easier to find.

[Night Driver]

I would go back to 1980 and save all of my 2600 boxes, including the system box. I would buy more games than I did (17). And I would definitely take advantage of the crash, picking up all the games for $5 and under that I saw at the Pathmark (!) and places like KayBee, Tiny Tots, and Consumers.Ditto.

[CosmicMonkey]

If I was in the position I am now, but back in the early-mid 90's, I'd definitely be heavily into Neo Geo AES and Capcom CPS Changer. I did have a Super Famicom at the time, so I'm sure that I'd have many more games than I did have originally.

In fact I'd have a Pioneer LaserActive on the go too, with both the Megadrive and PC Engine attachments.

And if we're talking proper time travel capabilities, I propose full-on Matrix stylee "I know Kung-Fu' capabilities. As in, 'I know Japanese (and Kung-Fu), so I could sit there with all those awesome anime LaserDiscs.

[XYXZYZ]

I'm happy with most of the gaming choices I've made, the biggest thing I'd do differently is definitely KEEP THE DAMN BOXES. Looking back at the Genesis vs SNES thing, I went with SNES and loved it. Now I' have some Genesis games that I like, but SNES is still the way to go for me. And I'd definitely get in on some clearance price Turbografx stuff.

Once we get into 1995, I'd make big changes there. I bought a Playstation and had fun with it, but if I could do it again I'd get a Saturn instead. I even had a local video game shop that sold imports, and could get me whatever I wanted from the magazines and whatnot.

[Poofta!]

if i could relive one system's lifespan, i honestly would not be able to choose. instead i wish i could relive the 16bit lifespan... the golden day of gaming, id say from 1990 to 1996.or even 1995 (when the jaguar and others still advertised!)


if i HAD to choose only one system? oh man... ok, i say snes! no, genesis!... no... nes!!.. argh! ps1!! oh its hopeless.

[GuyinGA]

I would probably choose '89 - '96 when I had NES, SNES & Genesis. I got rid of all three (d'oh!) by the time I graduated from high school. I think I would have collected more games (definitely RPG's for the SNES).

I somewhat wish the Playstation had a more...robust line-up during its heyday. I have been looking at their release list and I am surprised by how many games that were in Europe & Japan that didn't come here but should! There were a ton that did but it would be cool if more came over here (Another Mind and Tobal No.2 are good examples).

[Fuyukaze]

2600
1.I'd never have gotten rid of the thing.
2.I'd have picked Pitfall 2 over the game I got.
3.I'd have never thrown away a single box or manual.
4.I'd have bought up all the new games I found for less then $5 and kept them that way.
5.Never let my cousin play it. Ever.

This would have eventualy lead me to doing the same for any other game systems I got years down the road. NES, SNES, and all would still be CIB. Same for the TG-16.

[PentiumMMX]

I'd go back to 1999 and get an original PlayStation to go with my N64 (Rather than waiting until 2004). Maybe I'd have a PS2 by now had I got a PSX in 1999...

[Flashback2012]

This is easy. I would totally relive the console life of the Turbografx-16/Turbo Duo. Second place would probably go to GB/GBC/GBA. :smash:

[Coleman]

Ok here goes:

I would start at 1980 as a junior in high school. - Remember the arcades anyone???
If you have never had a good experience at an arcade then it is kinda hard for anyone to relate to this but almost nothing compares to the feeling you get standing in front of a cabinet for a couple hours as a group of people begin to crowd arouond you and watch you desimate the high score list and show of your skill/talent in games like defender all for the price of a single quarter (lets not discuss how many quarters it took you to get that good...). Now obviously we all now that the arcade market crashed in 1984 and spiraled downward with limited moments of sucess when things like street fighter or after burner or smash tv became popular and i would like to change this. No video game crash... ever (unfortunatly i don't think this would have been practical as consoles became just as good as the "real thing").

On to phase 2 the dawn of the C64!!!

Definitly would have gotten one of these at launch. in part of the whole phantasy land that i am living in i would probably buy 2-3 games a week with an endless supply of money so I would not have to work. At this point I am post high school so that is not a problem either! While everyone was playing with there NES or other inferior console, I would be playing thigs like steel thunder - the gold box series (the way it was meant to be) - and lets not forget some of those great obscure titles that will never see the light of day on a console "space taxi anyone"?

After the greatness of the C64 wore off of people and the next generation of gaming begins I would freeze time and collect all of the systems and games that i missed out on while locked in my house playing infinite hours on my commadore. At this point Nintendo games were selling for like a buck (I picked up a dragon warrior 3 and final fantasy for a dollar a piece at this time) and collecting videogames was pretty much un heard of. Once i complete the collections for everything leading up to the playstation / sega saturn era I would unfreeze time and allow it to continue while opening up a game room that allows people to play all of the games that i have collected over the years and begin collecting cabs and pinballs while staying current with the console market that is available at the time!

I may have put a little too much thought into this...

[Coleman]

You know as i read and re-read this thread I have noticed one common theme with most of the people that post on here. 2D GAMING!!!
So I am going to ask an additonal question... (I'm not trying to hi-jack the thread here)

If a new console were to come out that only incorporated 2d graphics but included all of the advances of modern day technology. Open source programing was encouraged and the language was easy enough to understand that any hobiest could program for it. And with the console out of the box you had all necessary hardware to program and play the games for this machine - what would something like that be worth to you?

[NayusDante]

You know as i read and re-read this thread I have noticed one common theme with most of the people that post on here. 2D GAMING!!!
So I am going to ask an additonal question... (I'm not trying to hi-jack the thread here)

If a new console were to come out that only incorporated 2d graphics but included all of the advances of modern day technology. Open source programing was encouraged and the language was easy enough to understand that any hobiest could program for it. And with the console out of the box you had all necessary hardware to program and play the games for this machine - what would something like that be worth to you?

It's called the GP32 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP32). Also, see XGP. For something a little easier to come by, the PSP does the trick, though firmware modification is involved.

[zektor]

It's called the GP32 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP32). Also, see XGP. For something a little easier to come by, the PSP does the trick, though firmware modification is involved.

The PSP not only does the trick, but is the best in this field bar none...for a handheld that is.

[NayusDante]

I use my PSP almost exclusively for homebrew, with real UMDs (ripped to ISO and compressed) being a nice bonus. The homebrew scene has created lots of neat apps, like PSPRadio and IRShell, but the games department is a bit lacking. Homebrew games are either ports (DooM, Quake; good, but not original), or they look like something made in a free editor with ripped sprites.

I want to see some classic game clone-engines for PSP and other platforms. From there, an included editor would mean an instant community of modders and players. Megaman Powered Up did this perfectly with its editor and online level sharing, why isn't there anything else like it?