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

[CatTehBus]

Turning 23 in a month.

First game I ever played was Mario Bros/ Duck Hunt, and the first system I owned was the Go Ape Super Nintendo with Donkey Kong

[patrick_710]

I'm the youngest retro gamer/game collector I've seen at the age of 14 but i really enjoy the retro games

[Ro-J]

Started on the 2600, but it's the NES that I love the most.

37.

[drwily008]

I am 35 years old and the Atari 400 was my first system. My Dad won it at a company picnic in the really early 80's and we loved it. I still own it to this day.

[todesengel]

29 years old and started with the NES in 1989.

[Baloo]

I'm the youngest retro gamer/game collector I've seen at the age of 14 but i really enjoy the retro games

I'm 19 and I started collecting when I was about your age too, 5-6 years ago. I grew up on the Genesis, Game Gear, and the NES and always loved retro games. My friends are more in-tune to the N64/Dreamcast/PS1 (Which I did own and enjoy) but I like everything post-crash really, though I'm not into video games nearly as much as I used to be.

Not sure if 19 really counts though when all of the people you know say you act about 30 years older...

[orrimarrko]

Just turned 42 a couple of months ago. Like to consider myself one of the 'older' guys from years past on these boards. ;)

First system was a 2600 many moons ago, I was 7 or 8.

[SuperEliteGamer]

26,younger than lots of you i guess.

[Shingetter]

41 this past May

[goob47]

Well, I figured as much. I must be one of the youngest members. My first system was the Game Boy Color, and I've been hooked ever since then on retro collecting and gaming. I'm 15. :)

[Mr. Flibble]

I'm 32. Really old for a Penguin.

I played the arcades when I was in high school in Gallup, NM. Galaga was my favorite.

[ubikuberalles]

53 Years old.

I don't have a clear memory of the first video game I played. I know when I was a kid my dad would take my sister and me to bowling and we would spend a lot of time playing the arcades there. Maybe Pong was there, I don't remember. Whatever arcades were around between 1972 and 1977.

I do remember the first computer game I played. It was the text version of Lunar Lander where you type in the amount of fuel to use for the next 5 to 10 seconds. That game was running off a pdp 11 that we connected to a teletype via an acoustic modem. My dad paid for a time share with that pdp-11. Expensive!

That Lunar Lander game didn't have any impact on me. What did impact me was the game that was playing on the Altair 8800 my brother built from a kit back in 1976. It was a text version of Star Trek. It was awesome and I played for hours. Later on I learned to program in BASIC and that completely changed my life. I got a Computer Engineering Degree (instead of a EE, which was my original plan).

[Gandhara]

i'm 30, soon to be 31.

The pre-NES systems and the early 80's arcades were always my favorites, was never really interested in what came later and still not ;)

Systems i like most are the Intellivision, Astrocade and Videopac G7400, and computers Oric Atmos, TI-99/4A, and the Apple2e.

[Atarileaf]

Just turned 44 and i'm very thankful that i'm not even close to being the oldest here :D

[Scott45]

I'm 48
Played Space War arcade at the local pizza Parlor and the 1st system we had was an Atari VCS aka 2600.
Still playing, and currently grinding my Characters on Diablo3 for my PS3

[jefis]

I'm 24. Not so retro, but I began with my Genesis, and I'm still playing it, so I have interest in this

[DiEsmitty]

31 Here, started on NES and arcades we had an Atari before the NES but I don't really remember it to well, it was the 80s kids still played outside. Favorite arcade game I think it was called tubbing Usa or something like that. Where your floating down a river, it was later ported to NES i believe.

[ApolloBoy]

I'm the youngest retro gamer/game collector I've seen at the age of 14 but i really enjoy the retro games
I was 13 when I first signed up here. I've actually been collecting since I was about 7-8 but I didn't get serious about it until I was 11-12.

[Sysop]

In case I've posted it already in this thread, I am 21.

[GhostDog]

Turned 27 today (well, yesterday).

I'm 27 as well. I have since parted with my retro games but I still love watching videos of them and have some older games downloaded on my PS3 that I bought from the Playstation store. I'll always be a 90s gamer at heart.

[Serious]

I am old enough that I actually have to think about it when I am asked this question. It turns out that I am currently 42 (the answer to life, the universe, etc..)

My first game console was the Odyssey 2, acquired at either Montgomery Wards (RIP) or Sears (the Amazon of the 20th century.. soon to be RIP?)

I later got an Atari VCS (now referred to as the 2600).

I had some extremely rare games, most of them acquired right after the video game bust in 84.. Sword of Saros, Survival Island, Subterrania, Stargunner.. I don't have my original copies of those games anymore, unfortunately, but I have replaced them..

The rarest thing I still own from back then is a boxed Japanese version of Golf for the Odyssey 2, which I didn't realize until recently how rare it was..

I spent a great deal of time (and most of my money) in arcades from 1981-1987.. I remember when a new game would come out, there'd be a crowd of people watching you play it, and lots of quarters lined up on the machine's marquee belonging to people who were reserving their turn on the machine. (Why did that actually work? It isn't like the quarter had anyone's name on it..)

[Neb6]

I am old enough that I actually have to think about it when I am asked this question. It turns out that I am currently 42 (the answer to life, the universe, etc..)

My first game console was the Odyssey 2, acquired at either Montgomery Wards (RIP) or Sears (the Amazon of the 20th century.. soon to be RIP?)

I spent a great deal of time (and most of my money) in arcades from 1981-1987.. I remember when a new game would come out, there'd be a crowd of people watching you play it, and lots of quarters lined up on the machine's marquee belonging to people who were reserving their turn on the machine. (Why did that actually work? It isn't like the quarter had anyone's name on it..)


1984. That's exactly the year that I cite as the video game crash too. A few books out there say 1982, but that's not what the gamers saw. Maybe the corporations were beginning to 'suspect' something was goin' down in '82, but the arcades and consoles didn't feel it until '84. Glad to know my memory is working just fine.

You're a year older than me and when you mention the Odyssey 2, I recall seeing one on display at a huge department store thinking, "I want that!" I ended up having to wait until the ColecoVision (at that point I begged.... It worked).

And yes -- 1981 to 1987 was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. '81 to '83 being the most intense, IMHO.

Oh, and the quarter thing. Yeah. It really did work somehow. Must be some type of arcade code-of-honor. :)


So when I turn 42, will the universe actually make sense to me? If not, I'll just load up Q*Bert or some other nonsensical retro game and put logic out of my mind for a bit.

[Gunstar Hero]

I'm 19 and I started collecting when I was about your age too, 5-6 years ago. I grew up on the Genesis, Game Gear, and the NES and always loved retro games. My friends are more in-tune to the N64/Dreamcast/PS1 (Which I did own and enjoy) but I like everything post-crash really, though I'm not into video games nearly as much as I used to be.

Not sure if 19 really counts though when all of the people you know say you act about 30 years older...

I also started collecting and joined this site when I was 14 and I'm 16 now. I'm not sure how I even ever got into retro gaming, probably from searching on the internet for mario games and coming across older ones :) i remember once i found out Nintendo systems went way back to the 80's I became crazy about playing the classics and I love them

[mattmayatt]

I've just turned 37 , my first system was a Commodore C16 , technically not a console but I only played games on it and have been into gaming ever since.
Have collected loads of classic consoles over the years , I still have most of them including virtual boy and a Vectrex :-)

[Aussie2B]

I also started collecting and joined this site when I was 14 and I'm 16 now. I'm not sure how I even ever got into retro gaming, probably from searching on the internet for mario games and coming across older ones :) i remember once i found out Nintendo systems went way back to the 80's I became crazy about playing the classics and I love them

"Way back to the 80's", haha. You make it sound like the 80's were a million years ago. Although I guess it probably feels that way to a 16-year-old.

[Gunstar Hero]

"Way back to the 80's", haha. You make it sound like the 80's were a million years ago. Although I guess it probably feels that way to a 16-year-old.

Yea I was going to make a note of that haha. In my perspective the 80's were 30 years ago which is practically twice my age so to me it seems long ago hahaha. I've always had a curiosity with the 80's in all media forms (movies tv music video games etc), people often say I was born in the wrong generation hahaha

[lendelin]

Had to reboot this thread because I find it interesting.

58, and---holy schmoly--- it's true. 30 years ago I wasn't smarter. It's a sad story, really.

I started becoming more involved with gaming with the NES in 1989. I was already 32 years old. The second I discovered the first warp zone in Super Mario I was hooked.

[celerystalker]

I'm 34 for another month still. My first system was an Atari 2600 when I was 2. I don't have an interesting story about how I got into playing classic games; I just never stopped playing them, and I've never sold any. I just never grew out of them for any length of time, I guess.

[wizardofwor1975]

I'll turn 40 this year. I did not start with the NES. I started with the VIC-20 and the ColecoVision.

[TheBenenator]

25 years old here. First console was a Sears Video Arcade II, which I still have. It was a very rare occaision I got play it, though, and it was boxed up with the games when I was 5. No consoles after that until I was 15-16, when a friend introduced me to Pokemon Red on a GBA SP.

[Daria]

I'll be 32 this year. I grew up with an Atari, and then NES. But I don't really remember the gaming culture of the 80s. Even the Genesis was just a toy I had, wasn't something I really discussed with other kids. I got into gaming as a social thing online in the late 90s early 2000s with my PSX and emulation of classic systems.

[Tanooki]

I don't think I ever replied in this before, but I'm 38 and have been for some months now. In the arcade my first was Pac-Man not too long after it came out. At home I got the 1985 launch Nintendo Deluxe Set (before it was called that) along with also Super Mario Bros and Hogan's Alley. I did have some exposure to older stuff as my mom and her friend had the Fairchild Channel F system with a pile of many games, and I had friends who had the 2600 too which much of it did little for me but I did like the arcade ports (even the Nintendo ones.) First portable games were the Tiger things, but really it would be the 1989 release of Gameboy I got that year for Christmas too like the NES 6 years earlier.

[AdamAnt316]

32, here. Grew up with the Atari 2600 (briefly) and NES, followed by the SNES and Sega Genesis. I consider the beginning of my retro-gaming interest to be the day when I found a boxed Atari Super Pong Ten on the side of the road when I was in the 5th or 6th grade. I eventually started numerous other pre-NES systems (starting with the Intellivision and Atari 7800, of all things), and now have a pretty good collection of systems ranging from the original Magnavox Odyssey to the Nintendo Wii.
-Adam

[Gamevet]

I'll turn 40 this year. I did not start with the NES. I started with the VIC-20 and the ColecoVision.

Oh yes, the VIC-20. I had a friend that had a VIC-20 that we goofed around with when I was @ 15. He got a Colecovision the following year, and had about a half dozen games for it.

[wizardofwor1975]

Oh yes, the VIC-20. I had a friend that had a VIC-20 that we goofed around with when I was @ 15. He got a Colecovision the following year, and had about a half dozen games for it.

My VIC-20 originally belonged to my dad and he passed it on to me when he upgraded to the C64. He bought his VIC in 1982 and it still runs like a champ. Back in the day I remember playing Radar Rat Race aka Rally-X and Avenger aka Space Invaders on it. Good times. :)

[deltoidsteep]

27 years old! The first game I played was Super Mario Bros. on a neighbours NES. The first system I owned was a model 2 Genesis. The Genny remains one of my favourite systems to this day and my original one is still running smoothly.

[A.C. Sativa]

I'm 33, started with the NES.

[Gamevet]

My VIC-20 originally belonged to my dad and he passed it on to me when he upgraded to the C64. He bought his VIC in 1982 and it still runs like a champ. Back in the day I remember playing Radar Rat Race aka Rally-X and Avenger aka Space Invaders on it. Good times. :)

I picked Radar Rat Race for the C-64 (cart) last year from Half-Price-Books. I don't think it's quite as good as Rally-X, but I do remember the hype that the game got in computer magazines of the time.

My old man bought a 32k TRS-80 (CoCo) back in the early 80's. It was an okay computer, but nowhere near as cool as the Vic-20. I ended up buying a C-64 @ 1985, after experiencing all of the great games for the system at a friend's house. I still love that computer.

[kai123]

32, and my first system was my Dad's custom 386 I am guessing at the time. He even had a case he made from wood because the other ones were too bulky. I remember he and his friends shared games all the time and he would come home with floppies all the time with new games. The one that blew my mind was Wolf 3D. I will always remember when I got a sound blaster 16 with a cd-rom drive bundle from Radioshack for my birthday. It was so amazing to me at the time that my PC could change with just swapping some hardware out.

My first home console experience was a Colecovision that we also had the 2600 adapter for. My brother and I were always playing Smurfs and Galaxian on that thing. It was always so amazing to me. The colors and sound were so great and everyone would sit around and play trying to beat each other's scores. My first system that was mine was a hand me down 486 and then a NES system a little later.

[wizardofwor1975]

I picked Radar Rat Race for the C-64 (cart) last year from Half-Price-Books. I don't think it's quite as good as Rally-X, but I do remember the hype that the game got in computer magazines of the time.

My old man bought a 32k TRS-80 (CoCo) back in the early 80's. It was an okay computer, but nowhere near as cool as the Vic-20. I ended up buying a C-64 @ 1985, after experiencing all of the great games for the system at a friend's house. I still love that computer.

Agreed. Rally-X was a groundbreaking game. According to GamesRadar it was the first game to have continuous background music. Kinda crafty though how Radar Rat Race's developers cashed in on some of Rally-X's success. Radar Rat Race was IMO the best of the Rally-X clones. I think the NES had a clone too. I think it was called Jovial Race. These days though I prefer Rally-X or New Rally-X but who can forgot Radar Rat Race's Three Blind Mice background music. Its very cheesy...LOL

http://www.gamesradar.com/gamings-most-important-evolutions/?page=2

Nowadays, I also play a lot of Sword of Fargoal and Key Quest on my Vic. Have you tried Key Quest? Its very similar to Tutankham. If you like Tutankham then you'll probably love Key Quest. Its very addicting.

http://www.retrogamer.net/top_10/top-ten-commodore-vic-20-games/

+1 on loving the C64. Recently, I really scored and picked up for my C64: Parallax by Ocean, Archon (Still in shrink wrap!!!), Navy Seal by Cosmi, and Infiltrator. July was a great month for C64 pickups!!! :D