How did you come across your first console?

[saintlouieb]

I'm not interested in what your first console was exactly, though feel free to share. My question is this: did you share a console with one or both of your parents, or did you ask your parents for your first one?

For me, my dad was (and still is) a gamer. He had an old wood grain 2600 with who knows how many games by the time I was 2 and started playing myself. It was him who started me on my path to being a lifelong gamer.

Coincidently I repaid the favor several years later when he had long stopped playing video games and I left for a tour of duty in Japan. He inherited my PS1 and a copy of Tomb Raider. He was instantly hooked and has played every single one up to and including Underworld on his very own Xbox 360.

So that's it. Did you get you inherit your first console from your gamer parent or beg and plead for it from a reluctant parent or something in between?

[kedawa]

My family had an old Pong clone when I was very young.
My first console was a Genesis that was all mine, but before that I already had an Amiga 500 that was used almost exclusively by me.

[dendawg]

I ended up inheriting the family Odyssey 4000, then a TI 99-4/A.

[Damaramu]

I was 6 years old and I believe it was Christmas of '82 when I got an Atari 5200 as a gift from my parents!

I never asked for one so it was a complete surprise when I opened it up. I guess they must have overheard me going on about my neighbor's 2600 (I LOVED Combat).

Kids came over to my place all the time to play the 5200!

[todesengel]

In early 1989 my cousin got an NES and I played Mario 2 on it. I asked for an NES that Christmas and got the Action Set with Super Mario/Duck Hunt.

[retroman]

mine was the intellivision...my dad was and still is a gamer...i can also remember getting my own intellivision 2 when it came out for my birthday with a game called Sewer Sam and one we all know Burger Time..

[Emperor Megas]

The poll options are pretty limited. My first console was an Atari 2600, around '79 or so. I was 4 or 5 I believe. My dad purchased it so it was sort of a family console, though I used it the most. My older sister played it a bunch at first, but she was put off with the fact that most of the games we got were "shooting games" and lost interest early on.

I imagine many gamers first consoles were family or community systems that they shared with siblings.

[QuickSciFi]

I bought it with birthday money: Nov 17th, 1994 - Sega Genesis Model 2 (Sonic 2).

MSRP = $119.99

[Aussie2B]

If you inherit a system from a relative, wouldn't it more likely be from a sibling than a parent? I think the number of people into games among my generation's parents is pretty small (I'm 28), and even it's even less likely for the parents of gamers older than myself. I mean, my mom and dad were already parents and well into adulthood when gaming first started to take off, and it seems very rare for someone to get into gaming if they weren't exposed to it prior to around 30. Granted, this point is null and void looking at today's kids since they have parents that grew up with video games.

But anyway, I wasn't lucky enough to inherit a system from anybody, and my first wasn't given to me either. While my brother got an NES as a birthday present and sold it off a few years later, I had to save the money I got for my birthday, Christmas, and such (my parents didn't do allowance) for awhile until at 11 I had the $100 or $125 or whatever it was to buy a SNES. That was the stand-alone model with no game and only one controller. I would've had to save much longer to get a game if not for the promotion Nintendo had going to get a free copy of Super Mario All-Stars with a SNES proof of purchase.

With my parents, consoles were usually too extravagant of a present since they didn't want to spend that much on me for a single birthday or holiday. Handhelds I could get away with since they were usually $100 tops. The only exception was the N64, and I'm sure it took my mom some convincing to spend the $200. Even then, we agreed that I would have to buy a game myself (since the N64 had no pack-in, of course). If I had kids, I think I'd be the same. Even if you're well off, I don't think kids should be getting all sorts of expensive gadgets. Kids that never learn that money doesn't grow on trees are the reason why we as collectors have deal with games and systems that were treated like crap because the kids never understood how expensive they were and that it was a real treat that they were given them.

[Kellhus]

Inherited. My parents owned a 2600, so I guess that was my first console. First one I played anyways.

[leatherrebel5150]

My dad had a NES when he was a teenager and I guess bought himself a SNES when it came out. My first memories of video games was on my dad's snes, so most of my collecting efforts go into snes.

[saintlouieb]

The poll options are pretty limited.

Yeah, sorry about that everyone. To be honest being an only child myself it just never occured to me to put inherited from sibling as an option.

[maxlords]

I saved up for my first console and bought it myself

[sheath]

My family owned at least two 2600 consoles at various points, but none of them ended up mine. I would have made sure to take care of them. My first console was a Master System that I saved up for and bought myself. It wasn't a shoe in though, I actually was leaning towards an NES when I went to the specialty shop that had them both set up to play.

[Nirvana]

My oldest brother was a big gamer when he was younger, and when I was 4 I was always playing the SNES. I was exposed to video games at a pretty young age; my life always revolved around them in some way.

Wouldn't have asked for it to be any other way.

[thom_m]

I got an 2600 for my 6th birthday, in 1987 - or 7th in 1988, I'm not quite sure. I didn't ask for it, so it was a total surprise, and I was SO happy. It came with Missile Command, and my parents also bought Enduro. Aside from the year issue, I still remember that day pretty clearly, and that memory always brings a smile to my face.

[SpaceFlea]

Received the NES power pad set for Christmas of '89 when I was in kindergarten. And guess what - that's right - it was placed in MY BEDROOM! How many 5 year old kids had tvs in their room back then, let alone a videogame console! Yeah, I was that awesome!!! Actually, my parents thought the video signal from the console would damage their brand new Zenith; so the next logical step was to put it in my room on the old portable black and white. I'm still awesome though - that's undeniable!

[Flacko]

I do not remember it that well because I was too young, but I know I had an original NES for some limited time (As seen in my home video) and that's all I know about we having NES. Later my dad got us dendy/subor thingy, what played pirated games on yellow carts, like 72 in 1 etc. That's where we got our first console.

[Mr Smith]

I always wanted a Mega Drive at school (my friend had one) and one Sunday, a friend of my dad's came round and with him was a... ZX Spectrum. Not quite a Mega Drive, but still very, very awesome.

[theredlineboss]

Well, though I played the Intellivision when I was a kid, I don't think it could ever rightfully be called "mine". It was more "my parents would let me take out their console every once in a while."

The first one I could actually call "mine" was an Xbox 360 which I think I bought in '08. Oddly enough, I only picked it up to learn how to repair one. Once I got it running, my cousin loaned me Soul Calibur II, which started the whole gaming/collecting hobby.

-Rob