What consoles did you buy or acquire new upon initial release?

[Diatribal Deity]

So over the years I have owned many consoles, but upon careful reflection there are actually only a few that I either purchased or was gifted new upon initial release (within 6 months of launch). These were...

- Colecovision (gift)
- NES with ROB
- Sega CD (had to wait a few months because it was backordered)
- Xbox (provided by Microsoft before launch)
- Nintendo DS (provided by Nintendo before launch)

Wow! That is it! And I call myself an enthusiast...

[RPG_Fanatic]

Consoles I've bought at launch are

SNES
Sega CD
3D0
Sega Saturn
Playstation
Nintendo 64
Sega Dreamcast
Game Boy Advanced SP
PSP
Xbox 360 (3 months after, I couldn't find one)
Playstation 3
DSi

[Nebagram]

First one I got at launch was the Dreamcast (if you count 'Christmas after launch' as 'at launch'). After that, GBA, Gamecube, DS, PSP, 360 and Wii. The rest were all second-hand or new long after launch (including my PS3- took some advantage there of those trying to make a profit on ebay and got near as makes no difference £100 off the launch price).

[Baloo]

Dreamcast
Nintendo 64

[duffmanth]

The only consoles I bought within 6 months of launch were the PS2 and PSP. I walked into my local Walmart in January/2001 when the PS2 was still hard to find and spent $520 CDN on it after taxes! The damn thing didn't even last 3 months before is started giving me issues, but the luckily the replacement one I still have and play to this day. I bought the original PSP for $320 CDN after taxes in the summer of 2005 when it came with all of those accessories, which was a pretty good deal at the time I guess?

I was all set to buy the PS3 at launch, but between it being so hard to find and the high price (about $770 CDN after taxes at the time) I decided to wait, and I'm glad I did. I walked into my local Gamestop (EBgames in Canada) in December/2007 and they had one 60GB left for $480 CDN, so I picked it up right away. Unfortunately in the 80's and early 90's I was a little too young to be able to afford to pick up systems at launch.

[Lerxstnj]

Only one on release day... The Resident Evil 5 Limited Edition Xbox 360 in March of this year. I did not pre-order & got the only one they had at my local GameStop. All my others were bought about 1 or 2 generations later, except for Colecovision & Atari 5200 which were bought shortly after launch in the 80's.

[FantasiaWHT]

Wii, and that's it.

Although my wife got me the Gamecube for Christmas real close to launch

[Deadman]

Let's see:

Atari 2600 - got as a gift for Christmas 1979, not sure when launch was, I think it was earlier - like 77.
Vectrex - Christmas gift in 1982, I think launch was earlier that fall
Dreamcast - picked up at launch, when I could find it
GBA SP - red one at launch for my son
GBA SP Pikachu TRU exclusive edition - when it showed up in stores, grabbed one for my son for Xmas
Nintendo DS - grabbed a black one as soon as I could find it
Xbox - got it within a day or two of launch
Xbox 360 - bought within hours of launch

That's probably about it.

[Mobius]

Hm, not as many as I thought. These were all on launch day:

Nintendo 64
Dreamcast
PlayStation 2
GameCube
Game Boy Advance
Wii

And:

Xbox - Christmas a month after launch

I think I'm done buying launch systems, though. I haven't really kept up with new releases since the Wii launch, so I'm a few years behind now. (For example, what's all this hype about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 breaking sales records? I didn't know it was coming out, and only even vaguely heard of the original.) I'd rather stay a few years behind and buy my hardware and games for way cheaper!

But that said, I will be buying New Super Mario Bros. Wii tomorrow...


Edit: Oh wait, I also bought a GBA SP at launch.

[joshnickerson]

The only system I ever bought at launch was the ol' Gamecube. Everything else I've always waited six months to a year for a good library of games to build up (and to catch up on the games I missed on the previous generation).

[scooterb23]

Day of release - only the PS2.

Within one month of release - Wii

The Christmas after release - Gamecube, Dreamcast, PSP.

That's it. Everything else I own came at least a year after release, I try to wait until there are enough games I want to play to warrant the purchase.

[Flashback2012]

Hmmm lessee......

As a kid we got the NES the year it came out but not on the first day. I remember we got the ROB the Robot set for Christmas. A few years later I had saved up all of my money and bought a Genesis not long after the launch. I remember it taking a couple of days to convince my dad to take me up to TRU to buy it and taking forever in line 'cuz I paid with rolls of change. ROFL

I didn't buy the original Game Boy at launch but I had 3 of the 4 launch titles before I owned the system. My father thought I was nuts for buying the games before owning the system (a practice I continue to this day as I have 20 or so Wii games and no Wii system). :drinking:

Systems I remember buying when they first came out....

Sega 32X
Game Boy Color
Neo Geo Pocket Color
Sony Playstation
Sega Dreamcast
Sony Playstation 2
Xbox
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo DS
Sony PSP 1000

Aside from the DS and PSP, I flat out refused to buy the current gen systems at launch after the trouble I had with all 3 of my last gen systems. To date I've yet to pick up any of them though I own games for all of them. I'm anxious to get them now that they've priced dropped to a reasonable amount and for the most part have worked out the kinks/problems.

[Pantechnicon]

Just the Nintendo Game Boy, which I purchased new when it was first released in the U.S. back in December 1989. That's as close to the cutting edge of gaming as I've ever been.

[7th lutz]

The Nintendo is the closest I have been to buying a system at Launch.

It was within 6 months of its release. My younger brother bought it at his work with me paying half in February 2007.

[norkusa]

Genesis - probably the reason I love Altered Beast so much. Played it to death because it was the only Genesis game I had for months (13yo and no job).

SNES - same deal as Genesis but with SMW and I was 15yo

Dreamcast - got it 9/12/99

PSP - only system I actually got on launch day - 12:01am at Gamerush

PS3 Slim - day after release

[Rogmeister]

I haven't really kept track of such things. But to the best of my knowledge...

GameCube (the one system I know I got on its launch day)
PlayStation (pretty sure I got it within a half-year of its release)

Systems I got fairly early but possibly not within the first six months of it's release...

Nintendo DS
Sega Dreamcast
Atari 5200

[thom_m]

NONE!!! One thing that pissed me off during mmy child/teen years is that I always had the last gen system. It always took me at least to years to ge a new one because, you knwo, my parents didn't have te money to spend on it.

In fact, to this day I'm pretty behind everyone else. The "newest" console I have is a PSOne.

[jcalder8]

I got the DSL at launch but that was because I found a cheap auction on E-bay that went unnoticed. Apart from that I got my 360 within the first year of it's release which is the best that I have done.

I don't mind waiting though. I have more than enough games while I wait for prices to drop and more games to get published.

[vivaeljason]

-Sega Dreamcast
-Nintendo 64
-Virtual Boy (yeah, I'm hardcore)

I was never into getting systems at their launch back in the day, mostly because there weren't enough options for games to play off the bat. Remember the stunning library of TWO games that were released with the N64? I mean, they were both great games, but it took a dam month for Wave Race to be released and expand the library.

[sebastiankirchoff]

I got my PSP within a month of release day for my birthday in April 2005. I also got my 360 within a year of it being released.

[Fuyukaze]

I've never got a single system at release. Normaly wait atleast 6 months or longer. I'm never in a hurry to part with my $$ at full price.

[tom]

Upon day of release in UK I purchased PlayStation, it just looked an awesome machine.
also on day of release in UK, a Game Cube, because pre-orders of GCs in UK got an inflatable Nintendo chair:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=199715&g2_serialNumber=1

Also:
Tiger game.com
Atari Jaguar

[thunderkid]

Well, I remember taking a personal holiday off from work to stand in front of Toys R us for the Dreamcast. I also was one of the first in my high school to have a GBA because I preordered a japanese unit. Everyone at school wanted one but had to wait until the official US release.

[walrusmonger]

dreamcast, gamecube, xbox (a month after launch), gba, ds, dslite, dsi, ps2, ps3, wii, 360, hmm that's about it.

[Lemmi_Is_God]

i got the Atari 7800, TG16 and Genesis

the other 30 consoles ive owned were 2nd hand systems or bought new years after release usually when the system hit $100 or under

[ryborg]

I was never into getting systems at their launch back in the day, mostly because there weren't enough options for games to play off the bat. Remember the stunning library of TWO games that were released with the N64? I mean, they were both great games, but it took a dam month for Wave Race to be released and expand the library.

Absolutely this. The only older generation systems I had at launch (or close enough) were gifts, such as the NES, SNES and Gameboy.

I honestly don't remember when I got some of my systems relative to launch. I don't know how you guys remember stuff like that from years ago, unless you pre-ordered and/or got it on the first day. I remember buying a Dreamcast sometime in 2000, but I can't narrow it down further. Same with the N64. I think I bought that when Goldeneye came out, but I could be wrong.

[HYB]

-GC, Because I was big into nintendo, and had been waiting for it to come out. I skipped school back then to go in right as the store opened, and found no-one was there to get it except me. It's still one of my favorite systems.
-360, We happened to be christmas shopping at launch day, and since they didn't have Dawn of Sorrow for the DS my mom suggested getting the xbox instead. That was the strangest thing that happened to me but hey, who was I to complain. Never again will my mom suggest herself buying me a more expensive console (or one at all) for christmas. Must be mom power why my launch console still works perfect to this day.

Also bought myself a Wii a few months after release, because the store had messed up my pre-order. I think I got GBC within the first 6 months after release as well, but I'm not too sure.

[The Clonus Horror]

The only console I ever bought myself within six months of launch was the Sega Genesis.

[Aussie2B]

The N64 is the only system I ever got at launch, one day before actually. I was so hyped up for it that I went to Toys R Us several times that September just to stand and play Super Mario 64 for 30-60 minutes on the displays.

I'm pretty sure I got the GBA as a gift within 6 months of launch, probably GBC too. My boyfriend insisted that we get the GameCube and Wii early on, so those may have been within 6 months also.

And if it counts, I got the Star Ocean limited edition PSP as soon as it came out, but obviously the PSP in general had already been around for awhile.

[Steve W]

I bought the Atari Jaguar in late 1993, long before it was on sale across the country (Dallas, New York, and San Francisco were all in Atari's test market). It was probably a month after it was brought out, and maybe seven or eight months or so before the national roll-out.

The Dreamcast was another game console I bought sort of at the spur of the moment. I snapped and bought one that December (close to my birthday) in 1999, and I had to take back an ATI Rage 128 video card to CompUSA because it didn't work in my oddball Mac clone, and I used the store credit to buy three games (Hydro Thunder, Vigilante 8: Second Offense, and Soul Calibur).

I ended up buying a Gizmondo right after visiting the mall store right after the US launch. It was such a cool little device I ended up driving halfway home then turned around and went back.

I bought a Nokia N-Gage QD the day after that model was brought out. I was impressed with the screen quality of the original N-Gage, but not the ergonomics of it. The QD fixed that, and I love underdog consoles, so I pre-ordered it.

The Nuon-enhanced Samsung N501 was another model I bought weeks after it was rolled out. I'd been hearing about "Project X" in all the game magazines and hearing about Jef Minter's work on it, and I was waiting patiently for the 'good' Nuon DVD player to come out. I finally tracked down a Best Buy that had a couple models in stock, in the bad part of town. They opened the box to look at something inside, and since they opened the box, they marked it down under their open box discount policy from $229 to $189. And the opened it up right in front of me, so I knew there wasn't anything missing, they just checked to see there was a pack-in DVD if I recall. Boom, immediate $30 discount.

[SPAZ-12]

Hmmm.... I think that I got my Gameboy Micro for Christmas in its first year.

My younger brother bought the GameCube when it was still current, but I don't think that it was within six months of release. However, I think he did buy his Wii around release.

Other than that, our first few consoles were bought for us by our parents once the price had dropped to $20 for the console and 10 games.

[phreakindee]

Well I have never bought on launch for myself, and only in the past year or two started even buying games at launch... But come next gen, I will be!

When the PS3 came out, me and some friends who worked at Target camped outside of our store that night. And I got hooked, so much freaking fun! Talking with other gamers, random passersby, and the news crews... A few drinks and ladies later and we stumbled inside and got our PS3s. And sold them on eBay for almost 3 times the amount. Now, I'm not proud of scalping, but hey. College kids do what they do. But the experience was amazingly awesome. Did it again with the Wii.
And I will be out there again next console launch. As much as I don't want the next gen anytime soon, I do because its just such stupid fun. Maybe with Natal and Sphere coming out...

[betamax001]

I got the GBA about 2 weeks after launch for my birthday. I got Rayman Advance and Super Mario Advance. That was a fun day : D I ordered the Rock Band Bundle PSP for my birthday about 10 days after it came out. I ordered it from Amazon because i wouldnt have to pay taxes or shipping.

[MeTmKnice]

Ps2, Wii, PS3 .. granted I sold them all for a lot of money, but I still bought em on launch day.

[Marriott_Guy]

I have purchased many consoles close to their release date, but the only system I acquired on it's launch day was the Panasonic 3DO. I remember being quite nervous standing outside my local Electronics Boutique store that day. I did not have a great deal of discretionary cash at that time, but I ended up taking the plunge anyway for $699 (plus tax).

Wow... great system (still one of my favorites for whatever reason), but if I had waited a little longer I could have had it for 1/3 that price.

[j_factor]

The only game system I've ever attempted to purchase at launch day was the Wii. Unfortunately I was 44th in line at a store that received a measely 39 systems, but I got it one week later by waiting in line at Best Buy for their second shipment.

I got a Game Boy Color for my birthday in 1999, which was almost exactly 6 months after its launch. I didn't put too much significance on it though, as I didn't really think of it as a new system, I thought of it as an upgraded version of the Game Boy.

I got a Neo Geo Pocket Color very close to its launch. I remember that it was exclusively available at eToys.com for like two weeks, but I don't remember if it had a firm "launch date" for being available in stores. If it did, I got it shortly after, not on that day.

I got a Game Boy Advance for Christmas 2001, a bit over six months after the launch. Within a week I went out and bought a "light shield" accessory which was unsatisfying.

I got a Sega Saturn in December of 1995, three and a half months after its official launch, but it was actually a used system.

Technically I got a Turbo Duo very soon after it was made available, but that wasn't a new system, and I traded in my Turbografx and CD unit towards it (so it wasn't even new to me). I think the Super System 3.0 card was made available at the same time as the Duo, so you could say that I got a Super CD right after its "launch".

The only other systems that I bought within even a year of launch were Xbox and DS. With most systems, I've waited.

[BydoEmpire]

N64 - first console I ever preordered, and got the day it came out w/ Mario 64 (out of college for a couple of years and had money for a change!). SM 64 was simply amazing.

Dreamcast - didn't get one on launch day, but after playing NFL2k at a friend's I scoured Chicagoland and found one within the first week. I actually bought NFL2k and Soul Calibur a few days before finding the system. One of the strongest launch lineups ever, imho.

GameCube - got to play it at the E3 prior to launch, preordered a bundle from EB (I was going to buy the games in the bundle anyways - Rogue Leader, Luigi's Mansion and Wave Race). Not the most spectacular launch games on paper, but man did I have a blast with all three.

Wii - first time I ever waited in line for a system launch, but it was a lot of fun (went a little nuts and picked up Zelda, Rayman, Tony Hawk and Red Steel. In hindsight I could have done without Rayman and Tony Hawk - didn't play either very much).

[gameofyou]

Only two did I ever buy at launch: Sega Saturn & Sega Dreamcast.

[p_b]

The Gamecube, the Wii, the GBA (not the SP though) and the DS (old version).

Can you see a trend here?

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I have actually bought a few on release day. Here are mine:

SNES - Surprised me, actually. One Sunday, my Toys R Us said they would have it in stock Sunday morning..and I was reading the ad on Sunday morning!! I asked my Dad for the rest of the money I needed and rushed over there on my bike. I was like the first one in there and was anxious the whole way through. Brought my ticket up to the counter, bought it, and waited for a guy to come to the counter and give it to me. I rushed home, hooked it up, and loved it since then :)

Sega CD - A Kay-Bee near my house had one out of nowhere and I got the last one that day. I was so amazed to see the video in Sherlock Holmes and hear the music in Sol-Feace.

3DO - I worked in a Macys and when you entered the mall next to it, there was an EB right next to it (man, I cant tell you how many times I wasted time in there lol). A friend there told me they got 3 in and one was mine :) My sis drove me home that day with my $699 ( :( ) baby in my hand. Even though in hindsight it wasnt that great with what I got that day, seeing clips of the Batman cartoon in full color (take THAT, Sega CD!..I thought), seeing some nice graphics in Crash N Burn, and being teased with trailers for upcoming games (most of which never came), I was lovin those days...

N64 - Ugh. I believed the hype and actually took a cab to the only DieHard Gamefan nearby (out in Long Island!!) and bought the import on day one (only import system I bought on day one.) along with Pilotwings and Mario 64. I had some fun those first days..probably the select few I had with that system...

Saturn - I went to my friendly EB in the mall again and the guy shocked me telling me it was in (this being May not Sept as they said it would be!) I rushed home, got the rest of my money, came on back and brought my new Sega system home. I liked what I got but actually felt a little underwhelmed. I remember a few days/weeks later I got Daytona on release day and, while I liked it, seemed to be choppy to me. In June of 95, I decided to buy my first import system, the Playstation along with Tekken and Ridge Racer, and, sure enough, I rarely went back to Daytona. It wasnt until a few months later that I really started to appreciate my Saturn and all of its wonderful imports :)

Dreamcast - Bought mine on good ol' 9/9/99. That was a fun release day. Lined up with like 25 people and got my system and enjoyed it the whole day through. Never even knew that would be the last Sega system ever released :(

Wii & PS3 also purchased on Day One

[Vectorman0]

Dreamcast, PS2, GBA and Gamecube I all picked up on release day. Xbox I received for Christmas a month or two after release. Wii I bought from Amazon.com just prior to Christmas just a month or so after it had launched.
GBC, NGPC and PSP I all bought within several months of their debut's. Everything else was bought year(s) later.

[BetaWolf47]

Within 6 months of release:

N64
Gamecube
Wii
DS
DS Lite (Mario edition)
Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance SP

Gah, that's it. I didn't get an NES until way late in its life.

[Game Freak]

I got a Wii 10 days after launch here in the US of A. I'm extremely grateful it was only a day after my mom was able to dig up a copy of Twilight Princess, or I would be drooling over that game for weeks!

I got a DS in Christmas of 04. We have been looking frantically for one every month til then. Does that count?

I also believe I got a GBA SP within the first week or so of release.

[The Old School Gamer]

I tend to try to get them at launch if I can afford it.

SNES: I got it for Christmas the year it came out.
32X: I also got this one for Christmas right after it came out.
Dreamcast: Got it on 9-9-99, my first ever system launch!
PS2: Found one about 2 months after launch.
GBA: Got it right after it launched.
Gamecube: Got it on launch.
Xbox: Got it 3 or 4 months after launch.
Xbox 360: Got it on launch.
PS3: Got one 3 months after launch.
Wii: Found one about 6 months after launch.

[TurboCro]

SNES, Sega CD, 3D0 and PS1.

My original SNES is still hooked up and working, unlike my XBOX.

[heybtbm]

I picked up the DS and PSP on their launch days. That's it. Most other consoles have been close, but usually I pick them up a few months later.

Although, I do remember the Playstation and Saturn launches very clearly. I was working at Target (in Electronics) at the time and remember laughing at the "idiots" (as we thought then) coming in that morning and buying Saturn's for $399.99.