Your gaming history? What were your first systems?

[Oregon Pacifist]

My first video game was Kung Fu on the NES. I was 5 years old at the time.

 

[Coromasta]

1st ever game was Wings of fury on the Amiga I think

From that point on I was totally hooked, my older brother bought most consoles, up until the Og Xbox. (still mad he sold the dreamcast with my beloved Shenmue).
First console I ever owned myself was the wii.

 

[Sean9014]

My first video game was Kung Fu on the NES. I was 5 years old at the time.

View attachment 333

I have fond memories playing that, California Games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a weird game called Linus Cosmic Space Head (Anyone remember it?) on my cousins NES.

 

[Oregon Pacifist]

I have fond memories playing that, California Games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a weird game called Linus Cosmic Space Head (Anyone remember it?) on my cousins NES.

I have fond memories of all the games you mentioned... except the last one lol. Never heard of it!

 

[Telekill]

My gaming history is vast so I'll break it up into those that were my purchased and used during their lifespans as well as those bought after the fact. This will be my personal gaming history starting with systems that I could say were mine.

Mainline History: I still own Game Gear, Genesis, PS2, PS4, PSV, Wii, Switch

NES - It came with Mario and Duckhunt. I also got Ninja Turtles 2 with it. So many hours on Ninja Turtles. Love that game to this day. Other than Ninja Turtles my favorites included Mario 3, Battletoads and Double Dragon. I got this in the summer of 1991 and I was 10 years old.

Game Gear - I got this in 1992 for having very good grades. I still have it to this day and am working on a project to get a Ninja Turtles alteration on the ROM of Streets of Rage 2. This will be a slow process but worth it in the end. This is my favorite handheld system of all time and I will never be getting rid of mine. Some of my favorite games include Jurassic Park, Sonic Triple Trouble and Streets of Rage 2.

Genesis - I still have mine and have loved many games on the system. Not sure if I'll ever get rid of it but it's one of only two classic systems I still own. While most my friends had SNES, I was always more of a Sega kid due to Sonic but there were many great games on the Genesis and frankly, the physical design of the second model was pretty cool. Some of my favorite games include Sonic 3 and Knuckles Lock-on, Jurassic Park and Comix Zone.

PS1 - Worked my rear off summer of '95 to pay for it with various neighborhood jobs. Saved up half o fthe system's cost and my grandparents paid for the other half as a Christmas gift. Great memory. While I don't have the system anymore, I still have about 50 games that I can play on my PS2 slim. Some of my favorite games include Resident Evil, Tomb Raider 2, Destruction Derby, Oddworld and Twisted Metal 2.

Virtual Boy - I got this when it was on it's way out. I think it was on the market for maybe 9 months before shops started putting them on clearance. I got mine with some birthday money for $35 brand new. I got 3-4 games at $10 each and the AC adapter at $10. While it did give you headaches after about 15 minutes it still had some fun games. Some of my favorites were Galactic Pinball, Red Alarm and Panic Bomber.

Dreamcast - This is the first system I bought with actual job money. My senior year in high school started the same day this launched. That didn't stop me from going to the midnight launch an hour away from my home. I was tired but it was worth it. One of Sega's best. Too bad it was their last. Some favorite games of mine were Shenmue (obviously), Sonic Adventure, and Resident Evil Code Veronica. God... I played the demo of that at the store so many times.

Game Boy Advance - Definitely Nintendo's best handheld. Having a portable Super Nintendo was great, especially when I never had the original. I later upgraded this version to the GBA SP. Some of my favorite games for it were Donkey Kong Country, Tomb Raider, and Super Dodge Ball.

PS2 - I got this the tax season after it launched. A great system to be sure. The exclusive library on it was just insane. I remember upgrading my base system with the HDD and the Network Adaptor. I even bought a USB keyboard for it. All of that was to ensure that my first online Resident Evil experience would be epic when RE Outbreak released. I believe to this day that RE Outbreak is still the game I put the most hours into. My favorite games for this system were RE Outbreak 1 & 2, ICO, Onimusha, and the Prince of Persia series.

Gamecube - I still hold this as the best Nintendo system ever created. It's the Nintendo that got me into 3D Zelda games and I actually had every Zelda on it at one point. When I expanded upon my base system to include the network adapter and the GBA Player it was quite a site to behold. Games like Resident Evil Remake, Zelda Twilight Princess, and Smash Bros blew my mind back when I first played them. Incredible system and it also had one of the best controllers ever made. Probably why Nintendo has had backwards compatibility with the controllers with every console they've made since.

PSP - I preordered this without issue. My buddy and I had dreamed up a portable Playstation years before this was announced and had hoped it would come true at one point. This was a great system and I regret selling mine when the PSV released. I used this for lots of video watching on buses. I liked the UMD format that movies would come on. I was using this as a multi-media device before cell phones took over. My favorite games for it were Twisted Metal Head-On, Ridge Racer, and GTA Liberty City Stories.

PS3 - I got the 20GB model at launch for $500. I later upgraded but the $500 mark has always been my top out for buying a game system. While the PS3 started really .... really.... slowly... it later made up for it big time. There were tons of great games on it after the first year and little did I know that a company I had written off as a kid game company would create my favorite series of all time; Uncharted. Uncharted 2 still remains as my favorite game of all time and I genuinely hope that we haven't seen the last of the series. Other than Uncharted some of my favorite games for it included Resident Evil 5, Tomb Raider (2013), and The Last of Us.

Wii - One of Nintendo's worst systems ever created. I hate... absolutely HATE motion controls. There has been a small handful of decent games with motion controls over the last 12 years and Zelda Skyward Sword was not one of them. The Wii and Skyward Sword ruined me on Nintendo for two generations. The only reason I even still have one is because Nintendo has yet to announce a New Super Mario game for the Switch. Best get on that boys.

PSV - Playstation had so far been great and with the promise of an Uncharted game as a launch title, I was all in on the PSV. Games like Assassin's Creed and Need for Speed were coming to the handheld and I could envision an incredible handheld run with the PSV given that it was the first to have dual analog sticks. I really don't know what happened but after the two year mark, Sony called it quits and the PSV died almost quicker than the Dreamcast.

PS4 - Earlier today I decided that PS4 is my favorite game system of all time. It has tons of great exclusives, ports of the best games from PS3 and then remasters or remakes of some of the best games throughout history such as Resident Evil Remake, Amplitude and the upcoming rerelease of Shenmue 1 and 2. I'll definitely be getting a PS5 but I'm in no hurry to move on. Hopefully PS5 will have PS4 backwards compatibility.

Switch - I decided to give Nintendo another try as they were finally off of their advertising that motion controls were mandatory. While it still has the motion controls, it's anything but mandatory in most games and I always play with a Pro Controller. This was great fun getting to the kids as I created a massive clue hunt for them to follow. We ended up going all over town to their favorite places until finally returning home where they found a 14" box painted to look like a question mark box from Mario. Inside was the system, Zelda, Mario Kart and some accessories. Great memory.

After Thought Purchases: I don't have any of these anymore.

Atari 2600 _ Pitfall and Dig Dug.
Game Boy Color - This had Metal Gear Solid.
SNES - Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country and Mario World were awesome.
N64 - Golden Eye... that is all.
Jaguar - Alien vs Predator was pretty cool.
Game.com - This actually had RE2 believe it or not.
Goldstar 3DO - This collected dust.
Sega CD - Loved Sonic CD, Jurassic Park, and Sewer Shark.
Sega 32X - Doom, Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing were the best on here.
Sega Saturn - Daytona and Nights were great.
Xbox - Owned for one whole month before becoming disgusted with the Halo 2 community and selling it.

 

[24Nathan]

We had a SEGA Genesis model 2 (still hanging around somewhere, I believe) with Sonic The Hedgehog 2. I'm pretty sure I still remember going into Walmart and buying it with my parents, even though I was too young to be in school at the time. Some of my earliest memories are playing that at home after my older brother went off to school. We had an Intellivision that my dad had found as well in the trash (he's a trashman), and it worked and had several games. I still have that.

 

[pilman]

My first computer in the late 80s my dad put together.

 

[Henry Spencer]

I'm recounting rather vaguely around the order I got my systems to the best of my knowledge, but man, I don't know how some of you can remember with such clarity what happened decades ago. It's all a haze to me now.

Commodore 64 - sometime in the early 90's(?) I was only like 2 or 3 years old anyway > Master System > Game Boy > Mega Drive > N64 > PS1 > Dreamcast > Xbox > (Gaming) PC > PS2 > Xbox 360 > GBA > Gamecube > Wii > PS3 > DS > PSP > 3DS > Vita > PS4 > Wii U > Xbox One > Switch

I'd honestly say my favourite era of gaming was from the late 90's to the mid 00's (2006, to be exact). Call it nostalgia or whatever, but there was so many groundbreaking games released then and most of my favourites of all time came from then. I enjoyed the games in the mid 90's too but my memory recalls from the games of 1997-2006 the most and still find myself from time to time revisiting some of them too and still enjoying them as much.

EDIT: Forgot about Master System. Alex Kidd, Shinobi and my first Sonic game, how could I forget!.

 

[SCQ]

I'm recounting rather vaguely around the order I got my systems to the best of my knowledge, but man, I don't know how some of you can remember with such clarity what happened decades ago. It's all a haze to me now.

Commodore 64 - sometime in the early 90's(?) I was only like 2 or 3 years old anyway > Game Boy > Mega Drive > N64 > PS1 > Dreamcast > Xbox > (Gaming) PC > PS2 > Xbox 360 > GBA > Gamecube > Wii > PS3 > DS > PSP > Vita > PS4 > Wii U > Xbox One > Switch

I'd honestly say my favourite era of gaming was from the late 90's to the mid 00's (2006, to be exact). Call it nostalgia or whatever, but there was so many groundbreaking games released then and most of my favourites of all time came from then. I enjoyed the games in the mid 90's too but my memory recalls from the games of 1997-2006 the most and still find myself from time to time revisiting some of them too and still enjoying them as much.

Honestly, since last gen gaming has become more of a casual hobby than a passion. Maybe it's because I grew up or just how slow it was to take off, but since the seventh generation of consoles started I just haven't been that fascinated or impressed by games.

 

[Mittens2317]

Never realised there were so many who also started with a C64!

As for games nowadays, it's because we've finally hit that spot where there won't be such a giant leap, just small incremental changes.

The sheer amount of work that has to go into blockbuster titles is already staggering, so to go from an Ocarina of Time to a Shenmue would take far too much time.

Then there's the fact that within that time other releases would've been chipping away at moving towards a similarly ambitious end product.

It's kinda comparable to how the iPhone revolutionised mobile phones. There's not been anything like it since in terms of making a statement like "the future is here".

And besides all that we're older now and (presumably) into much more than just fiction and games.

 

[Henry Spencer]

Honestly, since last gen gaming has become more of a casual hobby than a passion. Maybe it's because I grew up or just how slow it was to take off, but since the seventh generation of consoles started I just haven't been that fascinated or impressed by games.

Thing is, I still have my PS2 and DS, for example and am still discovering new gems for those systems, even now, to this very day. The breadth of variety on those systems was nothing short of amazing. PS3 and 3DS were both a downgrade for me in terms of game libraries (still good, don't get me wrong, but nowhere near their predecessors). A lot of those amazing games I'm only playing for the first time on the PS2, PS1 and DS way after their release by like over a decade now. Only played Vagrant Story for the first time a few years ago and it was brilliant.

I return to some games and they aren't as great as I remembered unfortunately (Zelda games on CDi), but there are some that really exceed my memories of them (Rocket Knight Adventures is a great example of this, honestly one of the best 2D action platformers I have ever played) and get more enjoyment out of now or a greater appreciation of them (Majora's Mask). Some games you can return to which you may have not enjoyed a decade ago and now love to bits or return to an old favourite and realise that your tastes have changed.

I mean that era I was talking about was the birth of 3D games anyway, so most of the "revolutionary" games were being released for PC, PS1, Saturn and N64 back then aplenty. So many iconic games and a massive shift and change.

Never realised there were so many who also started with a C64!

As for games nowadays, it's because we've finally hit that spot where there won't be such a giant leap, just small incremental changes.

The sheer amount of work that has to go into blockbuster titles is already staggering, so to go from an Ocarina of Time to a Shenmue would take far too much time.

Then there's the fact that within that time other releases would've been chipping away at moving towards a similarly ambitious end product.

It's kinda comparable to how the iPhone revolutionised mobile phones. There's not been anything like it since in terms of making a statement like "the future is here".

And besides all that we're older now and (presumably) into much more than just fiction and games.

My memories of the C64 are so vague now. I just remember some ninja game, Postman Pat, Fireman Sam (yeah, yeah, I know, but like I said, I was 2 or 3) and some point and click adventure game. Lifetime ago, most of those systems now.

Our tastes definitely change over the years and a lot of "best of" lists get plagued with nostalgia - look at any point and click adventure game or Japanese RPG favourites lists, lots of people looking back on their best memories of those respective genres. It's like I think a better descriptor for those lists would be something like "Best Game Nostalgia" rather than actual "Best Games I've Actually Played in the last few years". Added to that is your point of yeah, not all of us are playing games half as much as we used to in our childhood and that's perfectly understandable. Life is busy for us all now, if we look at this fanbase (for Shenmue) and this forum, the vast majority of the users on here are in their late twenties-early 40s, so we're an older fanbase to begin with.

I still greatly enjoy video games and play them frequently but can see how I'm in the minority there since most friends and people I know play just League of Legends, Overwatch, Mario Kart and some other multiplayer games, I talk about single player games and they go "oh yeah, heard of it, not interested though" and yet if you were to ask them their favourite games of yesteryear some might surprise you with their tastes then versus now. When I was in my teens, I was actually into films more than games, now I think I'm more into games than movies. I've really enjoyed diving into the most obscure and games I never had the chance to play in the past but can now (also in large part thanks to emulation). Anyway, going off on a tangent now.

 

[Gazmanafc]

The first system I remember having was the ZX Spectrum, though that was actually my brother's.

Eventually after that we would be a Sega Family, getting both the Master System and Mega Drive. (Though my Dad did by us an NES that we never really played) We skipped the Saturn in favour of the PlayStation and then onto the Dreamcast (and learning of Shenmue) then onwards to the PS2. For handhelds it was strictly Nintendo until the PSP came out. (My brother still has all the original carts of the Master System and Mega Drive games we had)

After my brother moved out our console preferences diverged with me sticking with Sony and getting a PS3 and PS4, while he jumped ship to Xbox 360 and Xbox One, though he eventually got his son a PS4, but I think he did it so he himself could play the Uncharted series.

I stuck with PlayStation mainly for the Final Fantasy series, and Metal Gear. Recently I've been diverging into other franchises for my Youtube channel mostly experimenting via demos or cheap second-hand prices.

 

[Mittens2317]

@Gazmanafc Yeah I had a ZX Spectrum n'all but it didn't actually work so I don't count it.

Any chance you're an Arsenal fan btw...? ?

 

[BlueMue]

First thing I got was the original Game Boy with Tetris.
Tetris was boring to me almost instantly and I knew about Mario Land, really wanted that. Was on a flea market and saw if for sale but there was also this huge 150 in 1 cartridge that had Mario on it and it wasn't more expensive at all so it was a no brainer to take that.

Really only hit gaming hard when I bought the Mega Drive with Sonic and Mega Games I from my uncle. Got really attached to Sega and Sonic and pretty much dictates me to this day.

 

[Quiksylver]

C64, Mega Drive, Saturn, Playstation, Dreamcast, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4 (for Shenmue 3) and recently purchased the XB1X.

Never owned a Nintendo console, though I am rather tempted with the Switch.

 

[pilman]

Ok now I have some more time for a more detailed writeup.

Absolute first gaming experience

1987 - 2018 was PC gaming via DOS. I grew up with adventure point and click games, so the original police quest, monkey island, space quest IV, Loom, Kings Quest V. I had some earlier Disney games that used this speaker plugin to my computer. Later got into wing commander, Prince Of Persia 1 and 2, Out Of This World, Doom, Dune II, Wolfenstein. The mid 90s were great when Duke Nukem 3D came out, then the release of games like Red Alert, Warcraft, Starcraft, Total Annihilation. During the 3DFX Voodoo days, I played Quake online via Mplayer which was amazing for the time. The release of Half-Life blew me away, it was a great time to be a gamer. I started getting into mmorpgs in 1999, I played a game from Turbine/Microsoft called Asheron's Call which was my first exposure to an open world environment. I was in the beta in 1999. I tried Everquest but never quite was hooked. Max Payne and Deus Ex were also fantastic.

1989 -1992 I had a Nintendo Entertainment System. My grandpa gave me a bunch of games, I had Duck Hunt, Ninja Turtles, Chip & Dale Rescue rangers, Mario 1 and 2, some Olympics style game, Few other games I am having difficulty recalling. I had some memories but compared to PC gaming, the NES didn't really have as much impact on me and felt dated at the time.

1992 - 2001
Sega Genesis I want to say I probably obtained around 1993 and used it at least until early 1996. It was probably one of my favorite consoles as it was seen as edgey and more mature. My cousin used to get all the violent games. It was the system to play Mortal Kombat. I remember I had Mortal kombat 1 2 and 3, vector man. Sonic 2 and 3, sonic & knuckles, sonic spinball, xmen, toy story, road rash or road kill, wwf raw, wwf the arcade game and i am sure I am missing a few. I remember sega channel but parents wouldn't let me get it at the time. I had a chance to test it at Disney.

SNES I obtained I believe 1992, games were more colorful and story driven in some ways. I had super mario world, jurassic park, lion king, zombies ate my neighbors, wwf raw, and probably my favorite being Super Mario RPG. I don't recall having too many games for the SNES and was not played as often.

Playstation I obtained in 1996 and my first games were Tekken 2, ridge racer, I had demos of twisted metal, wwf attitude, resident evil 1 and 2, wwf in your house, I think I was one of the few kids to have a playstation.

N64 I ended up getting in November 1998. I had played it at friends houses and felt quite jealous as I saw the games available like Zelda 64, Mario 64, WWF No Mercy, Pokemon Snap, Hey You Pikachu, Pokemon Stadium, WCW, Waverace 64, Pilotwings 64, Goldeneye 007, there were just so many fantastic titles that I had a preference over the Playstation.

2001, I bought the Xbox at launch with DOA 3, Halo and Project Gotham Racing. I originally was interested in Dreamcast but by the time I had the funds, Dreamcast was not available at stores
It disappeared quickly. There were some decent titles.

2003 I ended up getting a gamecube and shortly after I found a Dreamcast.

Additional mentions, I had an original gameboy which my favorite was pokemon yellow, I also had a game gear which was impressive for full color display at the time, the absolute worst portable platform I had was called a game.com, it had internet access but gameplay wise it was terrible.

 

[Gazmanafc]

@Gazmanafc Yeah I had a ZX Spectrum n'all but it didn't actually work so I don't count it.

Heh, ours at least worked. I think we threw it out eventually because it did stop working in the end. I've contemplated buying a replacement on eBay for my brother, probably not to play, just as nostalgia.

Any chance you're an Arsenal fan btw...? ?

Yup. You got that right.

 

[Jakester]

The first gaming system I owned was an Amstrad CPC6128. My parents bought it for me and my siblings in 1987. It had a built in disk drive but we also bought cheaper cassette games which we loaded through a cassette player. I remember typing the code from the back of the manual to play games like Bomber and thinking I could become a games programmer

My brother and I really wanted an Amiga500 but in the end we waited and bought a second hand Sega Megadrive from my brother in law's mate. This was our first console and I grew to love Sega as a result.

Having come perilously to buying a Sega 32X we then bought a Sega Saturn in 1995 and I remember this as the golden age of my gaming days. So many friends had PlayStations but I never regretted my choice. I even remember buying a second controller a month or two before the console and just sat there playing with it!

I bought the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 and took it to uni with me. It was a shame it was Sega's last console but with games like Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia it was worth every penny.

My final console was Microsoft's Xbox 360. My brother bought it for me as an Xmas present though I got the ring of death after the warranty expired so bought the elite version as a replacement. Whilst I've enjoyed it, I guess I've reached an age where I don't play games as much or at least not the sort that took up my life as they used to, so I didn't buy the Xbox one or any of the PlayStations. I expect I will venture into a new console again at one point. I was almost thinking of getting a PS4 just for Shenmue 3!

 

[SledgeNE]

My very first contact with a home-computer was "Vectrex". My father had let me play that in the early 80s, i was too young to play that thing. I still have many good memories with that computer. The second was a Atari VCS System. The big milestone was the NES in the 80s, after that SNES, N64, PSX, Dreamcast, XBox, Gamecube, PS2, XBox 360, PS3, Wii and finally PS4. I still have a picture where i play on the NES. So many wonderful memories with that systems. One of my friends had SEGA-only console-systems.

 

[Kiba]

Around 4 years old I became fascinated with this pinball machine in town. Then a neighbor had a Colecovision, but all of this video game stuff was still just this weird magic thing. From there my father showed me his IBM PCs in the late 80s, very early 90s. I logged hundreds of hours on amber phosphor Flight Simulator. Once I learned how to read, I played some text adventures on them too. Loved the amber. It was hypnotizing and felt futuristic. I didn't know DOS wasn't a game, so I had fun figuring out the various commands to make the computer do interesting things. Cousin showed me his new original Nintendo that blew my mind because it had colors and it was on the TV. The first system I owned was the original Game Boy in the summer of 1989. Then I moved on to graphical adventure games on my father's new PCs in the very early 90s. Then for Christmas 1993 my parents got me a Sega Genesis with Sonic 2, and I was completely hooked for life. The speed, the precise control, the animation, the colors, the sound, the design... it was all pure magic. Made me a Sega fanboy for life. Upgraded to a Sega Game Gear the next Christmas, although I never stopped playing Ren & Stimpy's Space Adventure and Tetris on the old Game Boy. By then, the next generation of console gaming was heavily underway, and while the Saturn and PlayStation looked incredible, by the mid-90s my interests had gravitated back to PC primarily. The only thing that brought me back to console gaming was the N64. When I saw Mario64, I was completely blown away. Then I really REALLY became obsessed with the impending Dreamcast release as the 90s closed out, but that is beyond the scope of this thread, and it's the same story with all of us. We're all here because the Dreamcast and everything it stood for was awesome. I also loved the GameCube after the Dream died. Now I retro game and emulate everything on my PC & GPD. End of happy rant.