How old are the "retro" gamers here? Or how old is everyone, really?

[johnvosh]

I'm 27 years old. My first console was a SNES

[Flam]

33 year old

[Phaneuf]

I am 26, from the NES generation.

[thom_m]

I'm 32 years, five months and five days old. Started gaming with the Atari 2600 I got for my 6th birthday.

[CastlevaniaDude]

29. When I was really little and my brother would hog the NES, I had a 2600 that I played in my toy room on an old black and white tv. I learned to read because my brother was an asshole and wouldn't teach me to play the NES. When he'd go to school, I'd read the instruction booklets. True story. I was about 4.

[T]

I just turned 48 on monday.

My first console was pong that we played on a black and white TV.

My dad didn't want to get burn in on the new color tv.

[JSoup]

Young enough to have been told the stories of the man from the draft board as a child, old enough to not have to fear him.

[ShinobiMan]

I'm 27 years old. Been posting on this forum since probably the beginning of 2001 when it was hosted by ezboard.

Back then, I was 15 years old and quite the baby of the group. Most of the members were pre-crash gamers and there was a lot of Atari, Intellivision etc talk. I actually miss some of that pre-crash banter. I welcome my generation's obsession with Nintendo, but my love for retro gaming goes FAR beyond that.

[otaku]

I turn 25 this july. First console I owned was an n64 but first I played was a snes

[Natty Bumppo]

I believe I am the second oldest member here - I will be 61 near the end of July.

I started console gaming in 1985 with a SNES (followed shortly thereafter by a genesis). Although I was heavily into boardgames since I was a wee bump on the log. (Including that great game "Dark Tower" - which I bought new (and still have).

[WoodyXP]

33 yrs old here. My first console was the NES. Played the @#$% out of my Mario/Duck Hunt pack-in.

[needler420]

I am 24

First console I played was sega genesis model 2 with sonic 2 when I was five years old. Surprisingly I still own the original box and manual to the original sega genesis I played when I was five. Somehow I managed to not throw it away over so many years. I just need a sega model 2 and it will be CIB. Which the genesis at the time was my dad's, it was never intended for me.

[Trebuken]

It seems that (with a couple exceptions) retrogamers do not live to be 50. I guess I should start selling my collection over the next decade.

It seems that gaming started just before Generation X and most people older than that have not been turned onto it (except those couple exceptions).

[animus222]

I'm 25 now, but will be 26 at the end of July. I intend to continue playing games until the day I die (which hopefully isn't for another 50 or so years :P).

[AMG]

I'm 37.

[leatherrebel5150]

I'm 22

Started out on a SNES, but N64 was where it was at during my pre-highschool years.

[plasticMan]

im the new 20's - just turned 30.. or is it 40 is the new 20's, in that case i hope this type of post will be here in 10 years. haha

[Little Miss Gloom]

I'm 27. First console was Nintendo, at five years old.


im the new 20's - just turned 30.. or is it 40 is the new 20's, in that case i hope this type of post will be here in 10 years. haha

Man, 60 is the new 30. ;) So that makes us, what...newborns?


Young enough to have been told the stories of the man from the draft board as a child, old enough to not have to fear him.

You. I like you.

[Wraith Storm]

I'll be 32 in another month and a half.

I started gaming with our Atari 2600 and our PC, but my passion didn't really take off until my brother got a NES for his birthday. A few years later I got a Genesis and was die hard SEGA after that. Hell, I still bleed Blue.

[genesisguy]

I'm 31. I started off with a NES around 1987. As far as I'm concerned I couldn't have started gaming at a better time.

[Submissive421]

I'm 24. Guess I'm apart of the young'un group. Also I don't think there are many female collectors either. Rather play with games then makeup and clothes :)

[bigbacon]

just turned 31 in may

started on 2600 and IBM XT, moved to 7800 then NES, stayed a nintendo kid till the N64 then moved to PC gaming only until like 2005 when I bought a PS2 just to play FF-X, bought PS3 for FF-13. Now I'm going back in time over the last 6 months picking up Sega stuff and more NES/SNES stuff. Decided to focus on 8bit/16bit only.

I had a modded PS1 for a while to but I didn't aquire one until 2000. weird thing is the only PS1 games I own anymore are Megaman legend 1 and 2 and misadventures of Tron Bonne. Love those games.

[Gunstar Hero]

I'm 15 turning 16 in a month.

I believe I'm the youngest member on here and I really have no idea how I got into the whole retro gaming scene, I'm just glad I did :)

[Nionel]

28 here. Started gaming in the late 80s.

[M.Buster2184]

29 here. First console I remember playing was my older brother's Atari 2600. We didn't get an NES until some point between 89-91 due to family finances. Seemed were were always behind regarding the newest releases when I was younger, but we were okay with that. My first memories are of playing Empire Strikes Back, Krull, Keystone Kapers and Pitfall.

[thegamezmaster]

Don't know where I fit in but I'm 57. Remember seeing Pong appear back in the day. Been gaming to the present.

[The Clonus Horror]

37 here...started home console gaming on the 2600, remember Space Invaders being the first arcade game that I ever saw/played.

[Daria]

Another 29 yo here. First gaming system was the Atari, but don't really collect anything older than NES.

[DK1105]

I'm 23 and I grew up as a PC and Genesis kid. My parents had a small business so we were one of the first in the neighborhood with a PC so we would cram around my first DoS box playing every shareware floppy we could get our hands on.

[aryoshi]

I'll be 23 in a month.

[Natty Bumppo]

Another 29 yo here. First gaming system was the Atari, but don't really collect anything older than NES.

Heh!

(* Remembers communicating with Daria when she was but a gangling teenager.*)

[Daria]

Yet somehow Bear you've always managed to be old. :)

[Griking]

44 here and more of a computer gamer than a console gamer.

[Melf]

I'll be 40 next month and have been gaming since the Atari 2600. No sign of stopping now, either!

[MASTERWEEDO]

28. I remember getting the NES way back, like 1987, from there it was the Genesis...one of my friends used to have a 2600 at his grandmas, so we would take the 2 mile walk to play Smurfs and Pitfall....I think I was 7-8. My friends always had the other systems so if I wanted to play the SNES I had to leave my house.

[Mospeda]

36 years young. I remember arcades vividly. I remember my mother buying Demon Attack for me for Easter. I remember when Atari games were going for $1 circa 1983 in retail stores. I remember Christmas morning 1985 when I got a NES Rob set. I remember begging my dad to buy me Contra at Toys R Us even though it was one of the pricier carts at $34. I remember when Double Dragon and Super Mario 2 were impossible to find. I remember discovering Pirate BBSes on the PC and "Warez" but still being drawn to consoles. I remember it all.

[WCP]

I'm 42 right now.


Started playing home consoles in late 1977 with the Atari. Around 1982 or so we got an Atari 800XL. For Xmas of '86 I got a NES system.


I didn't really become a hardcore video game nerd until I was 19 years old in 1990. I got both a TG-16 and Sega Genesis in 1990, and from that point on I was absolutely hooked. Been a hardcore early adopter ever since. In late 1996, I did kind of make a switch over to PC gaming (3dfx Voodoo). Was mostly a PC gamer till the Dreamcast arrived in September 1999.


My favorite video game era over all the years would be from 1989 till about 1996. Those were some really amazing years. The best of the 16-bit era, along with the weird transitional era (Jaguar, 3DO and 32X), and then full fledged 32 bit / 64 bit stuff with Saturn, PS1 and N64.

[sayewonn]

33 years old. I started with the Atari 2600 and have been gaming since. I truly became hooked with the NES.

[jammajup]

Young whippersnappers!!
I was 42 on June 1st,yes i remember handheld games when things were controlled by magnets then ,led,vaccum lit,lcd.....my adrenallin rush was playing Demon Driver lol. I also have fond early gaming memories of Missile Invader, Mini Munchman,Galaxy Invader1000 and Astro Wars (aahhh good times!).

[Damaramu]

37 here. I've had a life-long love for video games, with my first system being an Atari 5200. Got it for Christmas of '81 or '82.

[8-bitNesMan]

I'll be 36 on the 26th of this month. My folks bought me a NES Action Set for my 11th birthday in 1988 and I've loved gaming ever since. May we all game on... :)

[FFStudios]

13/f/cali hmu

No, not really. I'm 17 years old (and a male) with a passion for retro-computing as a whole, with video gaming being an awesome subcategory of that.

EDIT: So young, in fact, that my first console was a PS1. My dad was a cutting-edge gamer for a long time, so when the first successful CD-based system came out, he was all over it. Played games like Twisted Metal and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater as a kid, but I became more interested in older machines as I got older.

[bacteria]

I am 47, lived through the early retro gaming years!

[Alpha2099]

I'm 24 (in fact, today is my birthday!). I started retro gaming around the time I started college.

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

32, will be 33 this Fall.

Started with the Atari 2600 when I was 3 or 4, played it a lot until 1988 and then it broke so my dad threw it all out on me but for some odd reason I didn't seem to mind much. I got an NES sometime in 1989 and played the hell out of it until about late 1993 and got an SNES in which I adored. The 2600 was my first console but the NES stole my heart and because of that I'll always be a classic gamer 2600-N64 era. I do dabble in some modern games but it probably equates to a 90-10 classic to new ratio.

[Zing]

I remember when Double Dragon and Super Mario 2 were impossible to find.

I had talked to someone at Toys R Us and they informed me a shipment of Double Dragon was arriving that Thursday. I called Thursday morning at 11 to confirm the shipment came in. It had; all three copies. They were sold within minutes, so my search continued.

I never did get Double Dragon. Super Mario 2 was another that I didn't get until long after it had been released, due to the shortage. "Fortunately", my friend had borrowed Bases Loaded from me, and proceeded to allow someone else to borrow it. After a few weeks with no sight of my game, I decided to take his Super Mario 2 in exchange. He wasn't happy about it, but I gave him no choice.

I'm 37 and started gaming in the arcade and on the 2600. I was playing the neighbour's and my uncle's 2600 when I was three and four years of age. My first personal gaming system was the Coleco Vision at age six.

[Gunstar Hero]

I'm 24 (in fact, today is my birthday!). I started retro gaming around the time I started college.

Happy birthday then!

[Alpha2099]

Happy birthday then!
Many thanks. :)

[T.A.P.]

I turn 26 in a few hours.

I've been playing this crap my whole life.

[Pantechnicon]

43 years old here. Been playing since 1981 and the Atari 2600 era, and clearly I don't post much here anymore either (so many unknown names....)

[Captain_N77]

35 and gonna be 36 at the end of the year. It's funny, in my heart I don't feel this old, but the bod sure is starting to feel it haha.

The Atari 2600 was my first love, but Nintendo made me a man...or a manchild at least. I'll never stop gaming. :ass:

[Neb6]

You've asked a good question and one that really helps to reveal lots of different experiences and memories from a variety of people.

I'm 41 and often mistaken for a 27-year-old (with the mind of a 10-year-old as soon as the topic of video games comes up).

It all started with a trip to the arcade with my older brother and a game called Tail Gunner.

The arcades of the late 1970s and early 1980s were absolutely insane and -- it seems -- impossible to describe to those who didn't see them. They weren't like the modern arcades. Maybe someday someone will find a way to communicate the raw energy and level of discovery in those places. Parents generally hated the old arcades. :)

Next was the ColecoVision. The closest comparison that I can think of was the lead that the Neo Geo had when it came out. Powerful for its time, offering tons of add-ons and controllers to choose from.

I messed around on a friend's Apple II a lot and eventually got a 6809-based TRS-80 (graphically underpowered but fun).

Then on to the PC and followed by the Amiga in my quest for the arcade experience at home. That led to running out and adding a 1982 TRON arcade machine to my collection (a childhood dream).

The SEGA Genesis was there because of Mortal Kombat. Later, I did some video game development on the N64. As some of you mentioned, crazy things were happening in the 1990s with so many consoles appearing on the market.

I recall the struggles with various platforms trying to do 3D well. IMHO the Dreamcast was the first to do a really good job of it.

Recently I've re-discovered the Vectrex, NES, Master System, SNES, TG-16, Neo Geo, and the Sega Saturn. That's when I really could see that the SNES and TG-16 are remarkable machines with exactly the specs needed for solid 2D gaming.

To summarize, I play every generation of games and find something great in each 'era'. However, the 8-bit arcade machines have been and still are my favorites. The good ones are elegant, inventive, and have great replay value.

For gamers of any age, go ahead and share your video gaming highlights. It helps everyone since there are only so many years in a lifetime and your top 10 or top 20 lists are a great way for people to jump in and experience some of the best games from a time you remember well. Otherwise, for a person just getting introduced to a particular decade in gaming, it can be a bit overwhelming. There were already thousands of video games by 1985 and not all of them were good. However, hundreds of them were great.

[Aussie2B]

Later, I did some video game development on the N64.

What was it you worked on, if you don't mind sharing?

[MetalFRO]

Turned 36 just a few months back. My first gaming experience was either my uncle's 2600 (magical!) playing Pac-Man and Combat, or possibly a Sears-branded Breakout-clone system my dad bought (6 D batteries!) when I was a little kid. I cut my teeth on the neighborhood NES consoles, and other than the family computer, my first gaming system owned was a Game Boy. The Genesis cemented my love of gaming, and then after college and marriage, the PSX and later Saturn helped bring me back from a longtime gaming drought outside of emulation. I've been seriously collecting for about 12-13 years, and have now built a modest, but nice collection. I currently own an Atari 2600, NES (CIB), SNES, Genesis (model 1 DIB & 2 deck), Sega CD model 1, JVC X'Eye, Sega Nomad, Atari Jaguar (CIB), Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA SP, N64, Gamecube, Wii, Saturn, Dreamcast, Panasonic 3DO (FZ-10), TurboGrafx 16 w/ TurboBooster, PlayStation (Dual-shock model), PSOne (mini version), PS2 (fat and slim), PS3 (super slim), 2 Xbox consoles (1 w/ bad DVD drive), and my lovely PSP 2001. Though I've been spending more time on my PS3 of late, to help justify the cost of finally purchasing one back in January, I do still play and enjoy my retro stuff whenever I have time, though with work and life in general, it's hard to always get time to do so :p

[Neb6]

What was it you worked on, if you don't mind sharing?

It was 3D work for a game on the N64 called Tetrisphere.

Ironically, I suck at that style of game. I'm much better at FPS and top-down shooters (and late 70s/early 80s arcade games).

I should mention that the musician (Neil Voss) on that project was amazing at using Trackers to put together songs. He had an entire set of music for it that never got used. Rather unfortunate since the tracks he wanted to use were pretty amazing. Oh well, that's design by committee for you.

[Gatucaman]

Generic kid born in the mid 80s, got to start playin in the 90s, i am 27.

[Lictalon]

36, and getting old and crochety.

[StarMan_NES]

Damn, some of the people here are in their late 30's or early 40's and are still loving and appreciating classic video games as much as they did when they were young whippersnappers. This, in itself, brings a tear to my eyes.

I'm going to be 33 in October and grew up on Atari 2600 and NES, which of course led to Genesis and SNES. Which eventually led to Playstation and N64, which led to......

Well, I'm sure you get the point.

[digitalpress]

Happy to skew the age bracket by being 48. I'm often confused for 47, it's just good genes.

"Retro" is such a broad term. In this day and age, anyone who played on a PlayStation 1 is probably considered "retro". My only real distinction on the timeline is that I was already a teenager when videogames first appeared. My pal Kevin and I were big "gamers", but prior to 1978 that was pretty much relegated to board and card games. It was a welcome change and very clear beacon to us when electronic gaming hit its stride.

[cracked8ball]

I am 30 years old. First gaming experience was on the Commodore 64 when I was 3. Like many others though, my love of games didn't really take off until I got my NES.

[Gamevet]

The arcades of the late 1970s and early 1980s were absolutely insane and -- it seems -- impossible to describe to those who didn't see them. They weren't like the modern arcades. Maybe someday someone will find a way to communicate the raw energy and level of discovery in those places. Parents generally hated the old arcades. :)


I hear you! I'm 45, and pretty much witnessed the arcade boom of the 80s'. I had played games like Key Games Tank in the 70s', but it wasn't until Space Invaders arrived that the video arcade games exploded onto the scene. I'd seen music stores and restaurants being converted to arcades within months after the craze hit. It's really hard to explain how big of a phenomenon the event was, to someone that grew up with 90s' arcades. It seemed like every week there was a new arcade game to play and there was always a reason to visit the local arcade. It was a very social environment, that brought gamers of all ages and genders in to play.

[Tron 2.0]

Damn, some of the people here are in their late 30's or early 40's and are still loving and appreciating classic video games as much as they did when they were young whippersnappers. This, in itself, brings a tear to my eyes.

I'm going to be 33 in October and grew up on Atari 2600 and NES, which of course led to Genesis and SNES. Which eventually led to Playstation and N64, which led to......

Well, I'm sure you get the point.
Pretty much,i'm in my early 40's now and i still enjoy this form of entertainment.I haven't had any body tell me yet that i am to old for it or other nonsense.

[jefis]

24 here

[Neb6]

I hear you! I'm 45, and pretty much witnessed the arcade boom of the 80s'. I had played games like Key Games Tank in the 70s', but it wasn't until Space Invaders arrived that the video arcade games exploded onto the scene. I'd seen music stores and restaurants being converted to arcades within months after the craze hit. It's really hard to explain how big of a phenomenon the event was, to someone that grew up with 90s' arcades. It seemed like every week there was a new arcade game to play and there was always a reason to visit the local arcade. It was a very social environment, that brought gamers of all ages and genders in to play.

Yeah, it was pretty awesome wasn't it? The combination of amazing music, movies, book stores, video games, and food was pretty much a sensory overload. That and the emphasis on cool lighting (I'm so glad color-changing LEDs are bringing that aesthetic back).

Oh, and I love the TRON image that you're using for your avatar. Yet another mind-blowing experience from 1982. For anyone younger than 30 who wants a nice blast of the good 80s, try googling movies and video games of 1982.

[Querjek]

24 as of 33 days ago.

I feel like my age doesn't match that I've been on this forum for nearly ten years. Eh, whatever.

[Submissive421]

Seeing all of the age groups come together is awesome. I was told to grow up, sell everything for a profit and that playing games is childish. For a second I thought I was doing something wrong and maybe it was time to grow up.....then I realized their opinion sucked ass. I'll happily collect and play games till I'm in a grave

[Canadian Psycho]

36 here. The NES is the reason I am here today.

I also must say that Digital Press was magical when I discovered it 10 or so years ago. I learned a lot and expanded my collecting, which was rather Nintendo centric at the time, having played the NES and SNES almost exclusively during my formative years.
For some reason, I don't come on DP as often as I used to, even though I am still collecting and playing videogames as much as ever (having a young son interested in the medium keeps things even more fun/fresh).

[InsaneDavid]

31 myself, 32 in a couple months. I started with my Uncle's VCS and then my own when I was three or so. Grand Prix was the first video game I ever played and I still have that specific physical cartridge from all those years ago. I believe I was given an NES during Christmas of 1988 so that would make me seven at the time. I never got out of early gaming because early gaming never got out of being fun.

I may age but my avatar never will, HA!


Most of our older members have disappeared. I remember when I first joined several years ago, I felt like I was a young'un compared to most of the regulars (I was in my early 20s back then). Now I'm 30 and I feel as if I'm among the oldest members, although apparently I'm not out of those who have posted in this topic.

I remember back when I first joined there were a lot of regulars who were still very big on playing and collecting pre-crash consoles, but I guess as those people left, yeah, NES is about as early as most of our current regulars go. I have to admit that I'm included in that, seeing as I own and play very little of systems that came before the NES.

Same here. I remember when first joining I was on the upper end of the younger spectrum - just some dope trying to figure out basic repairs and region mods for a JVC X'Eye... well in that case, it looks like my time around here has at least been successful.


26. I like it here, you guys make me feel young. :)

LOL Stick around, that'll change.


I would later purchase my first game, Pac-Man (and later Haunted House), with money I had gotten for my birthday.

That makes me laugh as I distinctly remember buying Haunted House at a Sears when I was four or five years old (a few years after the crash) and desperately wanting Keystone Kapers upon visits to different stores. I don't know if it was because I grew up in the backyard of so many game companies of the era but I remember VCS / 2600 games retaining decent prices in stores, especially Activision and Imagic titles. Same thing with joysticks. Then again, I also remember that my copy of E.T. was the cart and manual in a plastic bag from among a ton of them piled in a bin in the entrance to a Kay Bee Toys. Dunno if they were returns or liquidated stock that went unboxed to save money or what.

Pretty awesome to see so many familiar names post in this thread!

[Ex_Mosquito]

34 here :/

[Schiggidyd]

Just turned 24.

[yeah1526]

23
23

[Lady Jaye]

It seems that (with a couple exceptions) retrogamers do not live to be 50. I guess I should start selling my collection over the next decade.

It seems that gaming started just before Generation X and most people older than that have not been turned onto it (except those couple exceptions).

I think this isn't so much a question of outgrowing games (although it is the case for some people) than the fact that people born in the mid 1960s (therefore closing in to 50) are the first true generation of gamers, since they were in their teens when the first consoles came out. I believe that the older you are when first exposed to videogames, the less likely you are to adopt the gaming culture, unless it really suits your personality, of course.

For instance, my parents, who are 59 and 61, are absolutely not gamers. They just don't care for it, despite playing some Ms. Pac-Man back in the day on my Coleco Gemini when I'd be sleeping and a few other titles (my mom really likes Myst). This being said, even the rest of my family isn't really a good point of comparison, since no one is really a gamer aside from me. Not even my cousins who grew up with the NES and Genesis -- they're not so much gamers than geeks in other spheres of interest (one of them is more of an otaku than a gamer).

[Terminusvitae]

28, here. I got started on gaming when my much-older brother got an NES for Christmas in '88. We played Super Baldwin Brothers and The Legend of a Guy Named Zelda for months upon months until he gave me his NES upon his high school graduation.

[stargate]

43 years old here. I remember when the Intellivision was considered next gen and the C64 was a powerhouse computer.

[Oldskool]

I'm 36.

Got started on the Atari 2600 and it's competitors - but really started to hone my skills with the Atari 5200.

Then the NES came out and by then I was in full stride. After the NES came out I got into the Genesis which I went total crazy hardcore on and is my favorite console by far to this day.