How did you come across your first console?

[Phantar]

When I was born, my parents (or, to be more precise, my sister who is 8 years older than me) already owned a Philips G7000 Videopac (in the US known as the Magnavox Odyssey²). However, I never "inherited" the system in that sense, since it was eventually tossed out when I was about 4 years old - only a few cartridges that were forgotten remained in my possession (I think they are in storage somewhere). I inherited the family Commodore 64 eventually.

I still got my first console, that me and my other sister (2 years older than me) got for Christmas '88, a Japanese import Sega Mega Drive.

Oh, and my parents weren't gamers - they considered computers and consoles to be toys for kids only...

[gruzniak]

Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Donkey Kong Country Bundle, May 16th, 1996. Happy 7th Birthday to me!

May very well have been one of the most joyful moments of my life tearing the wrapping paper off that box, and realizing what it was. I can remember it like it was yesterday.

I will NEVER sell that system or game.

[SpaceHarrier]

I simply remember my mother bringing an NES home one day and setting it up (In 1987 or '88). Recently I asked her why she bought it and she said I begged and begged for it. I do not remember this.

[otaku]

first console I played was the super nes my cousin owned I believe I was seven and the year was 95?

[Lerxstnj]

Got an Atari 2600 from my parents for Christmas around 1980. Have fond memories of my dad, brother and I playing Combat and Air-Sea Battle for hours at a time. My bro and I bought a 5200 and Colecovision when they came out. Don't still have the 2600, gave it away to a cousin around the late 80s when we got out of video games. I got back into gaming when PS1 came out.

[Parodius Duh!]

my dad was 20 when i was born so he was young and big into the 2600, therefore, it was passed unto me.

[Baloo]

My first system was inherited, but it wasn't from one of my parents, rather from my Aunt. Her NES was my brother and I's first system. And then we had the Genesis at almost the same time, a birthday gift for my brother in either Christmas of '89 or '90, so those were the two consoles I grew up on, and my first two consoles.

[MIZPHIT]

First system I owned was an Atari XEGS. Christmas of '87. I wanted an NES, but the parents couldn't find one so they got me that instead. I was quite pissed. lol

Didn't get the NES until Xmas '89.

[Flack]

I guess I'd say inherited. My parents bought our family a Pong system in 1977 which I still own, and an Atari 2600 in 1978 or 1979, and I still have that too.

The first system I got that was truly mine was my Commodore 64, in 1985. It was my uncle's and it was broken. He gave it to my parents, they fixed it, and gave it to me. I still have it (it's hooked up upstairs right now).

The first console I bought with my own money was an NES in 1990. A fast food co-worker was selling it and about 10 games for $100 so he could buy a SNES.

[Yashichi]

Mine was a funny story.

When I was about 3 my dad told me he'd take me to Cedar Point one weekend. Well, before this I had played a few arcade games with my parents' help (they'd bring me crates to stand on at the laundromat so I could play the arcade machines or just hold me up themselves) and that particular weekend it started raining and I was inconsolable.

That same day my dad rushed out and got an NES with Super Mario Bros. A couple months later he got me an SNES with F-Zero and a couple other games.

Got tons of games later on, mostly from Capcom and oddly enough, Square.

[The 1 2 P]

My parents bought an Atari 2600 back in the day. We all shared it. I now look back on it as one of the worst consoles ever but thats mainly because I'm not as easily entertained as I was back when I was a kid.

[Black_Tiger]

The first console that was my very own was an NES. It was a Christmas/Birthday present from my parents. My friend and I just happened to walk into the store when my parents were paying for it, so I got it a month or two early. It was the Power Pad set.

[smii]

My first console (well, the "household" console) was a SNES, came as a bundle with SFII and a super scope. My dad won it from a competition. I'd never played any games up until that point, but lots of fun was had. Soon after came Mario Kart and Mario World, and then later a Mega Drive + Sonic 2. Addiction took over from then on.

[ImBob]

Santa Claus brought me my first console, the Atari 2600 back in the 80s, still have it but its been packed away for over 20 years back at my parents house, I should probably go dig it out.

[YoshiM]

Interesting poll options, though as another said, limited. The first consoles that I came across were essentially for the family, even though I played it the most. First was a Telstar Arcade (which broke eventually-the gun wouldn't work unless, and memory could be wrong, you pulled the hammer back and let it snap back into place) that my parents bought. Second was an Atari VCS that my family won at a K-Mart Moonlight Madness sale raffle (memory has it they found an unclaimed ticket on the ground) back when we lived in Nevada around 1982 that stayed there when we moved back to Wisconsin.

So the first game console that *I* had was given as a Christmas gift back around 1986 or 1987: an Atari VCS with a bunch of games. First computer I owned personally was a TI-99/4A.

[pixelsnpolygons]

I asked for it and some excruciating six to twelve months later I received it. It started something like this:

My friend's brother received a SEGA Master System for his birthday. I drooled over it and asked for one of my own. We didn't have the money for a console. I went many, many weeks and months (can't even remember now) dreaming about getting one. Finally, one day in a K-Mart my begging and pleading finally broke through. They were really pushing the Master System II and had a few dozen boxes stacked in a pile on the floor. I convinced my mother to put one on lay-by (layaway). A shorter while later it was mine.

Everything console after that was achieved relatively easy. The damage was done, I was a game addict and, I guess, she'd come to terms with that.

[Dr. Dib]

Technically my first console was a NES. My dad bought it sometime before I was born for himself and my older brother. Sometime in 1992, after I was born, my dad purchased a SNES for himself and my older brother and quite possibly me. I only know the exact year when my dad purchased a SNES because he bought it to play a Link to the Past, which he never purchased.

The first console that was all mine was my SEGA Game Gear. I got it as a present while I was in preschool, probably '94, and was hooked on it. I loved being able to play a Sonic game from the comfort of my own couch.

[Benc]

My dad used to buy a Sega Mega Drive in the '90s, although unfortunately I don't really remember much of me playing it (I was like 3-4 years old?). I don't have the console anymore though, after it failed to work and was thrown away back then