What's your history of consoles and their launches?

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msduncan
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What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by msduncan »

The history of console (launches or how I first obtained them) for me:

1. Atari 2600 -- My dad brought it home for us. For a kid this just meant it materialized in our living room. I remember vaguely some fuss about attaching the switch box to the TV, but that began YEARS of usage on that machine
2. Intellivision -- My brother got this one. The thing bloody TALKED if you had the right games and attachments. MANY years of playing Sea Battle on this one.
3. Super NES -- This is the first one I actually asked for. Last minute. Christmas. I didn't expect it, and it was the last present (partially hidden) that my parents let me open. It wasn't around launch by any means.
4. Nintendo 64 -- Bought this during launch with some saved back student loan excess funds. lol Mario in 3D BLEW MY MIND.
5. Dreamcast -- This was my first experience with sold-out situations for a system. I ordered it in advance with some extras. It remains my FAVORITE launch system to date. I vividly remember 2k sports, Seaman, etc. The system seemed so next gen to me. FOND memories.
6. Gamecube -- I don't remember much about acquiring this one. Luigi's Mansion I believe -- and it was a bit underwhelming for some reason.
7. Xbox -- I preordered this one in time and got it effortlessly on launch day. What a COOL machine. I remember MANY Taco bell lunches trying to score a free one. I felt like it was sophisticated gaming for the first time.
8. Xbox 360 -- WHOA the memories of trying to get this thing. A friend begged me to stand in line at Best Buy to try to snag systems. It was in the 30's and raining all night. We were there from 11 pm to 8 am. The available units ran out about 3 people in front of me. DEVASTATION. This was going to be my Christmas present. Instead I gamed the system and bought a massively overpriced bundle from Walmart. I then took the individually packaged extras and returned each and every one of them to my local Walmart store. End result? 360 for regular price and Christmas was saved.
9. Playstation 3 -- I missed the preorders on this one too. It had by this time started to get VERY difficult to snag preorders unless you camped. I was actually looking for a Wii daily in my local gamestops and I when I asked for a Wii one day they said 'nope but we have a PS3'. I IMMEDIATELY whipped my card out and bought it. I went straight home and listed it on Ebay and made a $300 profit. I know.... I know. Well, fast forward a week in my search for a Wii and ANOTHER PS3 had come in. I bought that one too planning to profit again. By that time, however, the kids on ebay had started sabotaging auctions by running up fake bids. My system "sold" twice but the buyers didn't pay. Got my money back from Ebay and decided to keep the system instead. It was a rare hardware backward compatible unit. A couple years later I sold it for the same cost of a new, quieter slim model.
10. Wii -- As mentioned before.... I spend weeks looking for this one. Finally snagged one before Christmas by camping out in front of a store.
11. Wii U -- This console was so unimpressive that I don't remember how I got one. <shrug>
12. Switch -- Preordered this baby and got it on launch, and it has become one of my favorite consoles of all time. It's not as powerful as the others, but it makes up for it in sheer joy to play.
13. Playstation 4 -- Managed to get in on the online preordering gig on this one and got it on launch. I think this was early in the online preordering game and so it was MARGINALLY easier to do.
14. Xbox One -- Managed again to get in on the online preordering and got it on launch. Ditto as above for the PS4.

NOW:
Xbox Series X -- It's getting tougher and tougher to preorder online even. My wife and I were both ready to try to snag this for my son. Amazon's site melted down on her. BAM. She was out of the game and they were sold out by the time it came back up. Walmart was sold out practically instantly. For some reason I started refreshing after the sold out button appeared (I think because I was in denial and shock that it had sold out so fast). Somehow in the madness I accidentally added an additional one to my cart instead of just refreshing my cart. Next thing I know...the order processed and I have TWO Series X consoles on preorder. My son is going to pay for his. I'm trying to figure out a way to raise money for the second one by selling some things.

PS5 -- This was the biggest cluster in the history of gaming. By the time I was aware that stores had broken preorder date they were ALL GONE. Target was the ONLY store that had a trickle of them coming back into stock from payment issues on the pre auth. I tried for hours on end, days on end, for two weeks. That is when a helpful guy on reddit posted a script he had written for Tampermonkey on Chrome. IF you had the system "saved for later" in your cart, the script would refresh over and over and try to click the confirm and complete order buttons. The creator warned that you needed to actually buy something from Target first so that their system would know your card and not ask for the 3 digit number on the back of the card when you checked out. I bought a bag of Halloween candy. So I set the script up at 10:30 in the morning and let it run all day. At approximately 6:00 pm I suddenly received an email confirming my order. I'm just hoping Target's wanky system of continually hitting your card with pre-auths over the next month doesn't cause Chase to bounce the order and decline it. I'm holding on for dear life.


How about you guys? What are your preorder/launch/new system experiences? Memories? Nightmares?
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by hitbyambulance »

1) a home pong console mom got at a garage sale - wish we still had this one. don't remember the brand on this, but if i saw the box, i would recognize it instantly.
2) Sears Video Arcade (rebranded Atari 2600) - parents got this for us so we wouldn't be asking for quarters at the arcade all the time. ha! but we got a ton of games for this, still have it and it still works
3) Atari Lynx - got this as my requested gift for achieving Eagle Scout rank. i had been wanting this since i heard about it in ... 1989, i think. unfortunately i finally got it... just before it was discontinued. i don't know where it is now :/ hope it's still buried in the parents basement.

everything else was acquired in the last two decades, all secondhand. in rough order of initial acquisition:

Sega Dreamcast (x3) (one purchased for $30 from Disc-Go-Round, another was given to me by an acquaintance, i forgot where the other came from)
Sony Playstation (x2 one was $20 from yard sale, and the PSOne was given to me by an exgf)
Nintendo Game Boy Color (x2) (one was from an alley way, another was a freebie from somewhere)
Turbografx-16 (from an alley way, was going to be picked up for trash. in the original packaging!!)
Panasonic 3D0 (friend at the time gave me. used to also have a Goldstar 3D0 for $5 from the yard sale, gave that one away)
Atari Jaguar ($5 at a yard sale)
Microsoft Xbox (x2. one an acquaintance gave me, another i think was free on craigslist and is now modded)
Sony Playstation 2 (x2.5) (yard sale, two free non-working ones - i managed to get one working)
Nintendo Gamecube (x2) (craigslist, an ex-gf)
Nintendo DS (ok, i got a new one in a swap for Microsoft Office)
Xbox 360 (traded away the one from a trash heap, got another later from Goodwill)
Super Nintendo (free from craigslist)
Sony PSP (purchased from coworker)
SNK NEOGEO AES (gift. trying to find games for this for reasonable prices is not really possible)
Atari 5200 (...i think this one was found in a trash pile also)
another two Atari 2600s (one was free and does not work, another for $10 from a local vintage game store. missing the reset lever and supposedly the colors were off but it looks fine to me)
Nintendo 3DS (purchased from Skinypupy here, i think)
Intellivision ($6 from a garage sale)
Nintendo Entertainment System (free pile)
Sony Playstation 3 (craigslist - this is the newest one and i've barely used it. got it for Ni No Kuni, which is now on PC)

i think that's all of them. i'm not including the emulator and imitation/knockoff consoles here.

still on my want list:
Vectrex
ColecoVision
Sega Master System
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by naednek »

Playstation 4 Pro was my first launch. It was easy. Preordered at gamestop. Waited in line 60 minutes early and got it with Red Dead Redemption 2.

Playstation 5. Easy and I didn't have to leave the house. Signed up for @ sony for to be on the queue. Got an email the day before stating I was selected. Waited about an hour and bam it was mine.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by dbt1949 »

Atari 2600 played it a ton.
Gameboy still have it and a micro one too
SuperNES 2 Really enjoyed it
XBOX didn't get to play it too much before it died. Didn't like the controls
XBOX 360 Like an idiot got this one and still didn't like the controls
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Sudy »

Game Gear - My first console as a kid, a Christmas gift. I was desperate for a game system; I was the last of my friends to get one by far. I don't think my mother liked the idea, and asking for a portable felt like a compromise. I actually asked for a Gameboy, but times were tough and I think my grandfather was the one to go shopping for it. I think he thought the Game Gear was better because of the colour graphics, or was possibly upsold by the store. I was a little disappointed, but still made a lot of memories with it.

SNES - A Christmas gift a few years after its launch. Between Mario All-Stars and Donkey Kong Country 2, it was one of the best gifts of my childhood.

N64 - A Christmas gift to my sister and I. Also wonderful memories with this one, but the lack of RPGs soon made me realize I'd rather have a Playstation.

Playstation - During my first year of high school I bought this off a frenemy (famous for singeing my arm hair in class with a lighter) who had a "business" acting as a middleman between kids who wanted to sell and trade their gaming gear. Final Fantasy Tactics was the best thing I'd ever played and its dark narrative blew my young mind open. I bought every RPG and strategy-RPG I could find.

Playstation 2 - Bought one of the first ones to turn up used at the neighbourhood game shop. It was obscenely expensive at the time, nearly $500 CAD without accessories I believe. My older friend had also picked one up and immediately began collecting titles, so I had a large library to borrow from. As the first DVD player in our house it was also a mind-expander as I started to rent movies myself and watched a lot of modern classics and weird films late at night after the rest of the family had gone to bed, with its horrible interface.

Dreamcast - My friend got one soon after launch but I couldn't justify it. However, after it was discontinued, rental systems turned up for sale at Blockbuster and I picked one up. Took me a couple tries to get a working one. But once I did, even though my library wasn't large, I agree this was probably the best console of the early 3D era. Other than a controller that wrecked my hands after extended play sessions, almost every decent game of any genre that I played sticks in my memory to this day.

Gamecube - Bought it used for my sister and I, and spent way too much on new games when I was between school and a job. But I know she had a great time with it, and it had probably my favourite Mario Kart since the original.

DS - Bought it from an OOer. Had fun catching up on the GBA catalogue, and have good memories of using it in bed when I had a bad back injury, and also when I travelled alone to meet my to-be wife Mrs. Nym in the U.S.

Wii - Mrs. Nym got it for one another for Christmas a year or two after launch. I remember trying to convince her to let us open it early, but she wouldn't. The Wii was revolutionary at the time, but outside of Wii Sports, the most special memory I have of it is Rock Band. This in turn got me to rent a guitar and try to teach myself how to play, but unfortunately I gave up. I hope I try again someday.


I think that's it. Never owned an Xbox, though definitely awesome memories of playing the first Halo multiplayer at my friend's house. Honestly, since my parents gifted me with my own PC (2000? 2001?) and the subsequent two I've built, bought, and/or upgraded, I've primarily been a PC gamer. I've been tempted by a Switch as my sister and friend are into it, but I haven't been able to justify it. Joycon drift would also drive me batty.

While I pre-ordered several titles back in the day (WCW vs. Nitro: Revenge, Final Fantasy 8, Perfect Dark), I never got a console right at launch. The circuses around launches were intriguing, but it didn't seem a worthwhile use of time or money. There was never a launch title I needed to play that urgently. I probably logged days' worth of time on the N64 demo units in stores though.

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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by coopasonic »

I have no concept of how you guys remember all the details going back to childhood.

I am pretty sure the xbox 360 and xbox one are the only consoles I have ever gotten at launch. I don't remember any details about how I got them.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by hitbyambulance »

coopasonic wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:17 pm I have no concept of how you guys remember all the details going back to childhood.
i was born this way. seriously, the amount of useless junk i can remember exact details for....too bad i can't harness that memory for the powers of good.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Rumpy »

Atari 2600 - That thing was just pure joy. Eventually it stopped working and we sent it away for repairs, but they had sent us a brand new revision model. The black slimline model. That one I didn't like nearly as much. I much preferred the one with the wooden accents.
NES - Our cousins showed up with one the year it came out and they brought it out to our grandparents where we were visiting at the time, and it was pretty much "Hey, check this thing out! Isn't it amazing?" The entire time we were taking turns with Super Mario Brothers, and we had to get one of our own of course.
Sega Genesis - I loved this thing and I probably consider it my favourite console.

Next, there's a bit of a gap because I skipped several generations.
PS3 - This would be my next one since the Sega Genesis. And even then, I got into it fairly late in the game when it was already 3 years away from Sony introducing the PS4.
PS4 - And of course, the PS4.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Lordnine »

3DS – Purchased on release from Amazon…it had like 2 games, it took a long time but eventually became one of my favorite hand-helds. Minor regrets buying on release.

WiiU – Apparently, I am the one person in the world that really loved this console. Received it on release and definitely got my money out of it and no regrets buying on release.

3DSXL – Well, this one was a joke. I bought it thinking more games would take advantage of the extra analogue stick but even games that did support it, did so poorly. This might be my least used video game device ever.

PS4 – Picked up for a $100 discount shortly after release otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered. To this day, I think I have a grand total of 4 games on this console that I actually paid for versus getting them from PS+. If I didn’t use it as my media center it would be a complete waste of money.

Switch – Purchased on release and no regrets so far.

As predominantly a PC gamer the only consoles really worth buying for me are Nintendo since anything that is multi-platform I will always buy on PC. First party Nintendo games are also my happy place so I will almost always pick their consoles up on launch.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Skinypupy »

coopasonic wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:17 pm I have no concept of how you guys remember all the details going back to childhood.
Seriously. The amount of detail folks recall about this is amazing to me. I don’t think I’ve ever had a console at launch, but have picked up most of them somewhere along the way.

We had an Atari 2600 growing up, but that was it. Mom and dad never let us have a NES or SNES. Had to go to friend’s houses to play those.

Picked up a Sega Genesis with my own $$, which was the first one I ever bought for myself. Had a Dreamcast for a while, but rarely played it.

I had both PSPs and every version of the 3DS. Ive also had all the Nintendo systems since the GameCube.

I skipped out on the XB1 this generation, but had all the previous PS and XBox systems.
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Daehawk
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Daehawk »

What I remember....

Atari 2600. Played the one in Sears for a couple years and was always begging for one of my own. Christmas I got one and we all had fun with it. Cant remember the year but want to say 1980. My mom and step dad pitched in with my granny to get me this. We got up Christmas and after opening it and me, my step dad, and my step brother played it all Christmas day. Later I became a member of the Pitfall Club from Activision . I still have this packed away with a box of games.
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Microvision. Circa 1980 .,No idea where I got this but think it was hand me down from someone. Had 3 games or so. I remember bowling and some type of minesweeper game but I really wanted Star Trek. Its also here somewhere.
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Atari 800Xl computer. 1982 give or take a year. Had a cassette player and floppy drive. Mom got it at K-Mart and I think it was about $300. My step dad had some of his friends make me some home made games on cassette and they were actually fun. Also borrowed the Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom cart from a friend. One day my granny bought me a copy of F15 Strike Eagle on floppy at K-mart. As I recall it had the Atari version on one side and Apple on the other. Still have it in boxes with all packaging.
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NES around 1989. I was 20 and my wife got this for me. I remember standing in line in Walmart to put this in layaway. Was over $100 .I was so excited. I had played the wrestling game at someone else's house and this brought back memories of having so much console fun when I was a kid. My wife spent so much money on my gaming habit over the years.
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Sega Genesis Core System and SNES Control System. Wife surprised me with both in 1992. Loved them until I got a PC. Both were the core systems and came with 1 controller. She let me open the SNES in November and I guessed what the Genesis was. She never forgave me for that lol. They were both just $99 by then. Wonderful surprise. I sold both at $50 each in 1995 and bought a AMD 486dx-100 CPU with the money. Ive regretted that since then. Now it really bugs me. The Genesis is still my favorite system ever. Starflight and such I rented many many times. On the SNES I loved Zelda.
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PC mid June 1994. My main love for gaming. I'd begged and fussed about wanting a PC for 4 or 5 years at this point. If a store opening were giving away one I was there and would stand there waiting 6 hours if I had to only to lose. One Sat in mid June my wife wakes me up and says "Hey lets get out of here for the day. Wanna go look at computers?"...Well duh of course I did. For some reason we went to Circuit City. Dont think Id looked at them there before. Soon as we walk in I see they are having a PC sale right in front. I started looking and my wife says something like "If you find one thats not too high Ill buy it for you" I thought she was kidding. But she had secretly gotten a credit card so she could get me a PC...to shut me up I think. :) Anyways my mind had been on a 386. keep in mind Id started wanting a 286. So when I saw a AST Advantage 486sx33 on sale for $850 I jumped at it. Had 512k built in video ram from Trident , 2 megs ram, 210 meg HDD WD Caviar drive. Monitor was a 14" Packard bell SVGA .28mm dot pitch beauty for another $150. Should seen me trying to cram that system into a 1985 trans-Am with no trunk for it. The PC was a demo and had no box but the monitor was boxed new. I finally had to shove it in the back seat. I could not stop smiling. We went straight to the mall to get a couple games at EB. Privateer and Master of Orion. I was so nervous parking with that thing in the car. I covered it in pillows ...which Im sure did nothing. That night I played an old game Id bought in 93 before I even had a PC..Star Trek 25th Anniversary.Well after Id called Circuit City to find out what the dang password they had on it was. Even on PC speaker that music touched my heart. The next day we went back and I got a SB 16 Value sound card $99 and a pair of Labtec LCS-800 speakers $35 . That Oct she got me a USRobotics 28.8 internal modem for $200 and finally let me open it early in Nov instead of waiting for Christmas. Also got me a stick of 2 megs of ram from EB for $250 so Id have 4 megs total. I still have the PC with keyboard but sold the monitor and speakers. I have the sound card boxed here beside me still.
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Nintendo Gameboy Color. Electronics Boutique .About 1999 for $49. Always hated the original and never wanted one. Also hated Tetris so didn't have a GB wish. But this one was color and had Zelda and stuff on it. had to have one. I ended up just playing Zelda and a couple other things. Wife did get me a worm light for it. matched the color too...clear purple. Still have it.
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Gameboy SP 2005 or so for $99. Software Etc. I had been wanting a GB Advance because they were wide and I liked the style. Was almost ready to get one when the SP came out. I decided to go with it because of the backlit screen. But I never got a lot of play from it as it hurt my hands it was so compact. Still have it.
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PSP 2000 around 2008. $199 at Walmart. Loved this system but never watched movies on it. Just played USP based games.Was a fun and handy little system. I lost the charger to it and got a off brand one then lost it too. So now it sits dead waiting on a new charger that will most likely never be bought. Still have it.
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Xbox 360 Elite. 2010. Im thinking by then it was $399. The receipt is in the box in the back room if I really wanted to look. A friend brought his over and we played Gears of War and Halo 2 I think it was ...maybe just Halo 1. Was 2010 anyways. That year for my birthday my wife got me the Elite version at a Gamestop in the mall. I used the heck out of it. Last game I played was red Dead redemption 1. Just a tad from the end of that my wife took over the tv in here. I finished that up and left the 360 to her. She streamed movies on it from all the streaming places from then on and used the dvd drive for her disc based movies. Its still there hooked to the tv at the foot of the bed behind me.
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PS4. 2015. Walmart...again a birthday present. I think it was $399 again. Might have been $299. Over the years Ive finished all the Uncharted series of games and many others. The last thing I got for it was Red Dead 2 last year but not played more than an hour. Maybe Ill get back to it if I move it to the tv.
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Had tons of assorted handheld things in the 70s and 80s. Heres a few I remember.

Radio Shack Cosmic 1000 Fire Away...a Space Invaders rip off.
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Mattel Football II
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Mattel Baseball
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Mattel Battlestar Galactica
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Radio Shack Pocket Repeat which was basically Simon
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Im sure theres more I cant recall. Ill try to add if I do. I remember an old tennis console that that was all it did lol. Ill never find it online though.
Last edited by Daehawk on Tue Oct 13, 2020 4:11 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Jaymann »

I had the Atari and NES until PC's came out in the mid '80s.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Daehawk »

Think I still have everything except the Genesis and SNES..the 2 most important. Oh well. Life. It sucks then ya die. :grund: :grund: :grund: :grund:
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Blackhawk »

Launches? That's easy: I preoprdered the PS4 from Amazon as a family Christmas gift. It arrived in November and sat in the closet until Christmas. I played on it quite a bit until Michelle moved back in. Since she doesn't game, and we only have the one TV, I don't get the opportunity to play that often, as my free time usually coincides with her time home from work.

The rest of my console history:

Atari 2600: I received this as a Christmas gift in 1980 (maybe 81.) It would be a favorite pastime from then until '84 or '85. I have lots of fond memories of getting my father to play Combat and Outlaw with me. After the Days of Atari faded I went on something of a video game hiatus for about eight years. We didn't have the money for consoles, so I found other things to do. I have no idea where it ended up.

NES: When I met my first wife and we moved in together she had an NES (I was 19 at the time.) I gave it a whirl, and I was hooked. We lived just a few blocks away from a Kroger and I'd make regular trips over there to rent games. I spent a lot of time with the various RPGs and Mario. I have no idea what became of it.

SNES: A year or so later - so 1993, probably - we finally broke down and bought an SNES. We'd spent way too much time ogling the graphics in the stores back when they'd have demo stations set up, and just couldn't resist anymore. More renting followed, and she had a friend who had tons of games we'd borrow. My standout favorites from these days were the Marios, Zelda, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III (now VI because confusion), plus any RPG I could get my hands on. Oh, and Mario Kart, of course. Eventually I traded this, plus my game library, to someone on Gone Gold. I still regret that.

Playstation 1: Around '96 my first wife was long gone, and Michelle and I were living together in Indiana. Her brother had a Playstation that he let us borrow for a few months. After the SNES I was blown away. The biggest draw for me was probably Final Fantasy VII and, later, Warcraft (a port of the PC RTS.) When we moved to Reno in '97, we gave it back to her brother. When we arrived I took a few things I didn't think I'd use anymore, sold them, and bought a used Playstation of my own in order to keep playing my favorites. Eventually I'd give this Playstation to Zaxxon in the early 2000s (I'll touch on that later.)

[Detour] - shortly afterward I was at a store and saw a copy of Warcraft II on the shelf. I was amazed at how much better it looked than the PSX version, and started scheming to get my hands on a PC around 1998. The first was a 133Mhz something with 8MB of RAM and a 640MB hard drive that we got via Rent-to-Own (yeah, I know.) We eventually returned that and rented a better system from a local place, and every PC since then has been home-built. This took me away from console gaming for quite a while.

GameCube + GBA: OOers who were around for Gone Gold will remember this one. It was around 2001 or 2002. I'd discovered the process for manufacturing children and had one lying around, plus Michelle really, really wanted to try GodDAMM (Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee) after seeing it in a store. I wanted to get her a GC for her birthday along with that game, and wanted to have it for the kids as they grew up. This was right after I'd applied for disability, but before I was approved, and we had more or less nothing. I posted on the GG trading forum about some stuff I'd like to sell in order to raise money. A certain GGer who likes things told me he was interested, then kept stringing me along for a couple of weeks (it was getting frustrating!) Around the same time, Zaxxon, who only lived a couple of hours away, said he was going to be in the area and was going to stop by for a visit. He showed up with boxes. He'd taken up a secret collection on OO and had purchased a Gamecube, along with GodDAMM an a couple of other games (plus some GGers had tossed in a couple of others), plus a Gameboy Advance (a bonus first) and brought it. The 'attempt' to buy my stuff had been a delaying tactic. I'm looking at you, Grenard. :hawk: Michelle and I played it a fair bit (including lots of Kaiju fights), but it was a couple of years later when it really took off. After manufacturing a second child, the two of them started to do that thing where they grow. Once they discovered the GameCube, it was on. It was their favorite thing in the world for years, and they played the holy hell out of it. It finally wore out and died a few years ago, after having been through multiple controllers and likely thousands of hours of use. It was a genuinely sad day.

Xbox: Sometime in there Michelle surprised me with an original Xbox as an early Father's Day gift. I was still a PC guy, and the only games I really remember even trying were Voodoo Vince and Halo 2. It just never caught my attention. (Spoiler: The Xbox will return in a later chapter with a bigger role.)

Wii: Around 2009, during a brief attempt at getting back together, Michelle and I were at the store. "Hey, " said she, "These Wiis look cool. Let's get one." So we did. That's the story. Yay!

XBox 360: 2010. I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to consoles since 1998 when I started gaming on PC. I'd played the occasional game for a few hours here and there, or I'd play a match of Mark Kart on the GameCube or some Wii Bowling with the family, but the consoles were largely the kids' thing. Then the kids dug out my Xbox (I told you it'd be back!) They were old enough now to enjoy more sophisticated games, and the Xbox had them. In particular they were drawn to Mech Assault (a Battletech game) and Halo. All at once their interest in Halo exploded. They wanted Halo Legos, they wanted to listen to Halo soundtracks. They played the living crap out of Halo and Halo 2 on the XBox. That year for Christmas I decided to get them an XBox 360 in order to play Halo 3. It was a huge, huge hit. And, for the first time in years, I was hooked on a console, too. The games had finally caught up to the PC. When I found that some games couldn't be played on a tube TV due to their more detailed interfaces, I even upgraded our TV (to the 42" we have now.) The whole family took turns on the 360, and it was a central feature of our household for years.

Playstation 3: I ordered this for myself a year later for my birthday. I'd become a console player, and wanted to try some of the exclusives. When they dropped dramatically in price, I picked one up.

Playstation 4: I opened with this one. We'd become console players, and the PS4 was simply the winner that year. It was our first preorder/launch purchase. The kids by this time had begun to drift in their own directions Caiden preferred the PC, and Ian had become a Nintendo junkie, so this was largely mine. And believe me, I got my money's worth!

Playstation 2: Yep, out of order. I missed some PS1 titles that I wanted to play again, and I'd skipped the PS2, so I bought myself one for my birthday, along with a small library of games (at that point they were two or three bucks a shot, and some folks on OO hooked me up as well.) I was able to fill some holes in my gaming experience this way.

Wii U: In 2014 I caught The Cancer. My treatment encompassed the spring, summer, and fall. Everything was put on hold. I had to cancel all of the kids' summer plans, which was absolutely heartbreaking. But it freed up our summer budget, which I spent to buy them a Wii U instead. It certainly got lots of play!

Switch: Oh, I do love the Switch that I never get to see. This was a surprise gift from OO a few years back. I got to play it off and on for a couple of months... after which Ian adopted it. I'd have to schedule time a week in advance if I wanted a turn on it these days, and Ian would probably stand behind me staring daggers at me the whole time if I did. But I understand there are some good games for it!

NES 2, SNES 2, Nintendo 64: Yeah, these are way out of order. Ian is such a Nintendo nut that we've gotten him all of the older consoles for birthday and Christmas gifts over the last few years. He's got our old tube TV in his bedroom with all of these hooked up to it.

Going forward: I'd love one of the new consoles (I'd really have to research which one), but I'm back into an extended 'no money' phase. There's also the issue of the TV. Michelle is going to be changing schedules soon, and I hope it will free up some time to actually play the consoles I have. I've considered getting a small, cheap monitor of some sort and hooking the PS4 up to that, but haven't been able to pull that off yet, and sitting in a chair with a small monitor isn't as appealing as a couch and a 42" TV (plus getting headphones that will work with it.) The ideal solution, of course, would be to replace our decade-old TV with something nicer and a little bigger and move the old one into the bedroom, but that isn't happening any time soon, either.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by TheMix »

coopasonic wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:17 pm I have no concept of how you guys remember all the details going back to childhood.
Totally agree.

I know we had a Pong system. And at least one Atari. I don't know which one, but I think the earliest model. And possibly a replacement. 'Cause I think maybe the first one broke.

After that I had nothing for many, many, many years. I did finally buy a PS2 well after it came out and everyone else was done with it. It's still hooked up. And I bought a WII several (or more) years after it came out. It's also still hooked up.

That's it. I don't remember dates or costs, though.

Edit: Oh, I have a portable system too. NintendoDS, I think. Definitely not the 3D one. And I don't think it's a Gameboy.

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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Rumpy »

I somehow forgot to add the Wii. I remember them being sold out everywhere, but I think it was the following Christmas, my brother and his Wife surprised me with one.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

The PS5 is the first console I’ll get at launch, assuming Amazon’s pre-order isn’t super delayed.

My brother and I tried to get a Sega Genesis at launch. We convinced one of my friends to buy our NES and we’re going to use the money to get the Genesis. But when my dad found out he wouldn’t let us sell the NES or get the Genesis because he didn’t trust that it would last (not that he had any idea). So instead my friend who was going to buy the NES got the Genesis at launch.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by NickAragua »

First console I got was an original XBox, thanks to a... well, anyway, it was a gift. Played a lot of games on that through college.

After that, still during college, I think I picked up an original PS1 so I could play Chrono Cross. Which was kind of disappointing, but that's a story for another thread.

Got a 360 as well. Bought a Wii for my daughter just last year.

Pretty sure I missed every single launch, though.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Daehawk »

Am I the only one with a Microvision?

Always wanted a Vectrex but never got one. My last chance was around 1991 and there was one in a pawn shop...and I passed because it was too expensive even then and there. I just wanted to play one of my favorite arcade games...Omega Race.
Last edited by Daehawk on Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by hitbyambulance »

should have gotten a Vectrex at the Seattle Retro Game Expo in 2015 - there was one for 'only' $225 there - they've about doubled since then. and a few years ago local retro game store Pink Gorilla had a small pile of Vectrex games with their manuals and screen overlays for about $20 each totally missed out on all that :(
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Eel Snave »

I have never, ever once bought a console at launch. The soonest I got a console was the 3DS a month after launch and it was bad. The best game on it for a few months was Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. It soured me pretty good.
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What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Zarathud »

Pong

Commodore 64

Commodore 128D (built in disk drive)

Bought my kids a 3DS then the Switch.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Holman »

We had an Atari 2600 in 1979 and a Colecovision in 1982. In between, I played on Intellivision at friends' houses.

Everything else for me was TRS-80, Apple IIe, and then on to 386 PCs and the future.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

2600, mom bought one shortly after launch, surprised my dad and I with it. It was shocking because 1) it was really expensive (for us) at the time 2) mom hated all our computer/electronics stuff (my dad worked for MDSI and brought a lot of stuff home to play with). She just brought it home and smiled as we sat there in stunned shock.


XBOX. Pretty sure I bought this used several years after launch from the OP. It was someone on GG at any rate.


XBOX 360, PS3, Xbone, Wii U, no idea. None at launch. Usually a.few years after launch on a price drop.

Got a PC Jr. in 84. Everything else was franken PCs built from swaps and parts from my dad's friends. Except the 2MB hard drive that dad charged $2K on the credit card. :lol:
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by The Meal »

My best console story is also my first. We got a Sears Video Arcade (a branded Atari 2600) for Christmas of 1977. My three older brothers (not sure who the ringleader was) decided the four of us were going to all chip in and get one for our parents. Mom and Dad were... astounded when the opened the box. I don't think either of them has ever held a joystick in their lives.

Turned out it was a great gift though. Kept the four boys out of their hair for years...

My brothers did have to talk me into it, of course. Fortunately there was enough money in my savings account so I could make the appropriate contribution. I do recall being dragged off to the bank so that I could make the appropriate withdrawal. (It was some number of years later when a similar occurrence happened that had me getting strong-armed into selling bonds grandpa had given us at birth, which were originally intended to go towards college; however, I don't recall the circumstances behind that particular act of brotherly love.)
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Daveman »

Here we go...

1. Atari 2600 - Had all the classics, mostly remember playing the Activision titles the most. Actually mailed in a few screen shots (on a Polaroid!) for some of the patches they offered.

2. NES - Loved this to death, I think NES Pro Wrestling was my favorite playing against my friend. I still remember the shiny gold Zelda cartridge and being crushed when I beat it, called some NES America phone number (long distance, to California!) to put in for some prize and was told it had been claimed a looong time ago.

3. Texas Instruments 99-4/A - I think this was after the NES, or around the same time. Technically a "home computer" but we just used it to play games. Tunnels of Doom (had to load each game on audio cassette!) was our favorite.

As much as we loved Nintendo we took a break and veered off into Sega territory next...

4. Sega Master System - I don't remember much about this, besides loving the original Phantasy Star and that we had a F-16 flight sim-like game that played on some memory card slot vs. the usual cartridge slot?

5. Sega Genesis - I also don't remember much about this either, besides being disappointed in Phantasy Star 2 and 3.

In the early 90s I got my first real PC and PC gaming took over with all the classics of the era, Wing Commander, Civilization, Star Control, X-Com, etc. Didn't get back into consoles until...

6. Nintendo Gamecube - Absolutely loved this. Looking back I think Zelda: Wind Waker and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door were my favorites.

7. Nintendo Gameboy Advance - Various iterations of this, loved Advanced Wars, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga.

8. Nintendo Wii - Great console, had it's fleeting cross-generational moment of playing Wii Sports and similar games with our kids and in-laws.

9. Not sure exactly where the Nintendo DS fits in the timeline but it's well represented here too. Without a doubt, Elite Beat Agents is our favorite title, one I still break out now and then. Quite possible ranks up their with classics like Civilization on the PC for total hours spent playing too.

10. Nintendo WiiU - I was shocked to hear this didn't do well overall, we loved it and thought having a separate display on one controller opened up a lot of cool gameplay options. Still hooked up to our main gaming TV along with:

11. PlayStation PS4 - Our 17 year old son bought this and I've enjoyed it for a few titles but haven't had much time to play on it. I finished Last of Us, have played a few hours of God of War and recently started playing Star Wars: Squadrons.

12. Nintendo Switch - We managed to get one of these "for the kids" back around Easter, when Covid was really starting to sink in and supplies were starting to dwindle. I like it a lot but like the PS4 haven't had much time to play it... except for Hades which I'm mildly addicted to at the moment... have meant to check in on that thread :)
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by YellowKing »

Great thread idea, MSD! My recollections:

- Atari 2600 - My first console. Got it for Christmas from "Santa." I almost feel like crying looking back on it now, as my mom was working a minimum wage job and sacrificing meals so my brother and I could eat. And yet somehow she managed to scrape up $200 for this thing which is roughly equivalent to about $800 today. I still don't know how she did it.

- NES - The NES was up next. I had the complete set with R.O.B. the robot, the light gun, etc. Absolutely loved the system. Not that I had any other options at the time, but I was full-on Nintendo fanboy to the extreme. I had the Nintendo Power pin, I had the Zelda posters on my wall, etc. I was obsessed with this system.

- Sega Genesis - At the time this came out I was struggling to figure out whether to go with the Genesis or the TurboGrafx 16, and finally (and thankfully, in hindsight) went Sega. I really adored this console and bought into it in a big way.

- SNES - I wound up buying an SNES, but honestly I didn't get a whole lot of use out of it. I was still heavily into the Genesis, and I have trouble even recalling what games I played on it other than Mario stuff.

- N64 - The N64 was what finally won me back over to the Nintendo camp. So much so, in fact, that I waited well into the PlayStation's cycle before I bought one. Interestingly enough, this trend would continue with almost every future PlayStation iteration. The PS4 was the first Sony console I bought within a year of launch.

- Gamecube - Bought one but by this time my Nintendo love was waning again. Got very little use out of it. Probably my least used console I've ever owned.

- Xbox - I jumped hard on the Xbox launch, despite it trailing Sony by a large margin at the time. With my love of PC gaming and my tech support background, I was already immersed in Microsoft daily, so it wasn't a big jump to be more attracted to their console.

- PS2 - I didn't buy this until at least a couple of years after it had come out, and then only to play some exclusive JRPGs

- Xbox 360/Wii/PS3 - This firmly established my trend of Xbox being my primary console, PlayStation being my JRPGs/exclusives console, and Wii being the thing I bought to recapture the love of Nintendo which then collected dust

- Xbox One/Switch/PS4 - See above. :D

We'll see how it goes, but this generation I've only pre-ordered the Xbox Series X and don't have any immediate plans to get a PS5. If it mimics past cycles, however, there's always a good possibility I'll pick one up in a year or two. I've been burned on the last two Nintendo iterations - I bought both the Wii and the Switch for my kids, and they just wound up ignoring it and playing Xbox instead. So I'll likely pass on any future Nintendo consoles.

As far as launch woes go, I don't really remember ever having a big issue trying to get a new console. Probably the most difficult time I've ever had was trying to get the Xbox Series X, and even then I managed to snag one only an hour and a half after the initial launch time. I don't know if I'm just lucky or I just have a really bad memory. I'm inclined to believe it's more the latter.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by gameoverman »

Pong, I think it was a Sears brand version of it. We'd seen and played Pong in various places like the local barber shop. So when a home version became available my parents got one. I played the hell out of it.
Atari 2600 was next, although back then it was the Atari VCS. We played the hell out of that one too.
My older brother then got an Intellivision when those came out. It was his but he allowed me to play it. There were some really cool games for that, like Astrosmash and Utopia. Plus I never got tired of the baseball game "Yer out!".
Atari 5200, I got this one when it came out. It was mind blowing to me, like having the arcade games at home in their true form. The floppy joysticks were the only questionable thing to me. A company called Wico had these arcade quality third party joysticks for the 2600 and I could never understand why Atari didn't make something like that for the 5200.

Then the videogame industry crashed and burned. I moved on to the Commodore 128, which ran C-64 games and so ended my videogame console days. By the time the Nintendo revived videogames I was no longer even playing computer games. Doom got me back into the fold when it came out and it was all about computer gaming from there.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Kasey Chang »

I owned no consoles... ever. I've only owned PCs.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Daehawk »

I think NES Pro Wrestling was my favorite playing against my friend.
I loved that. Used to play against others and always won as Starman

I forgot that I had a Atari 800xl. Used it only for games. Cartridges, cassette, and disc games.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

I posted about the consoles I got at launch, but didn't really go through my console history.

Commodore 64 - I think the first game we got was Temple of Apshai, but I honestly don't remember much about it. My parents like telling the story of how my kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her "a disk drive". She had no idea what that was and had to ask my parents about it. We did get a disk drive and my cousin sent my brothers and me about 130 games he copied on to disks. I still remember trying to get Mail Order Monsters to load up; sometimes it would load right away, sometimes it took half an hour, and sometimes it would never load. But it was worth it!

NES - my brother got this a year or two after it came out. I loved that system, but he kept it in his room so I couldn't play it whenever I wanted. I remember a friend getting Zelda and letting me play it at his house. I lusted after that damn golden cartridge. I think we got it eventually. We also got a bunch of accessories for it, including the Powerglove (oof), and the pad for track and field games. Unfortunately, my mom made us return the pad because we were shaking the whole house.

Genesis - as mentioned above, we eventually got the Genesis. Golden Axe was the main reason I wanted it; I played the hell out of that game in the arcades.

SNES - at some point we ended up with an SNES, but I have no memory of when/who bought it.

Playstation 1/2/3/4 - I think I've had all the Playstations. Before we got a PS1, though, my friends and I would rent it from Blockbuster for some obscene amount; I think maybe something like $60 for the weekend and two games? I know we did that at least a few times; we probably could have just bought the damn thing with the amount we spent.

Xbox 360 - my brother got this close to launch. I don't remember everything he did to get this, but he was obsessed with finding it. Honestly, though, I don't remember using it all that much.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Kurth »

Sega Master System - My first console. Got this in 7th grade with a Toys R Us gift certificate I won on the Nickelodeon game show, Double Dare. In hindsight, probably should have gone with the NES.

Sega Genesis - Bought this used at a Gamestop in Crystal City, VA. Was my first purchase after I graduated college and no longer had my roommate's Genesis available for use for Madden. Got it home and realized I had made a stupid decision given that the Playstation had recently been released and was so much better. Returned it after a week.

Playstation One - Bought this at said Gamestop after returning the used Genesis. Loved this console. X-COM was the first game I bought for it, and I played that to death.

-- long interlude with no consoles as I went full-on PC gaming (and found my way onto Gone Gold)--

XBOX360 - Was a holiday purchase about a year after release in 2006-2007. By then, the PC I had build was getting long in the tooth, and I was tired of upgrading it and wanted to get off the new graphics card every year or so cycle. Played the hell out of that console and ended up getting another one after the first RROD'd on me. The Rock Band games (especially the Beatles edition) were probably my highlight.

Wii - Christmas present for my kids from my sister Holiday 2007. Seemed like more of a novelty than anything else, but they (we) had fun with some of the Wii Sports titles. I just remember them beating the hell out of each other with swords. Good times!

Playstation 2 - Got this used from a friend at work in the 2009 timeframe because I wanted to check out all the classic PS2 exclusives I had missed (Shadows of the Colossus and ICO and God of War were my standouts).

XBOX One - The only console to date that I got at launch. This was totally due to pressure from my eldest son, who, by this point, was in 4th grade and becoming crazy about all things technology-related. Although the XBOX One is still my primary gaming console seven years later, and I've enjoyed some great gaming on it, it was largely a disappointment at first. The whole Kinect thing was a disaster, and Sony seemed to win out on the exclusives.

Switch - Bought this as a present for my youngest son in 2017 at launch. He was into it for a while, but he gradually lost interest and migrated to his own XBOX One. I've actually ended up using the Switch a ton, especially pre-COVID when I was traveling. Great console. Maybe one of my favorites.

Playstation 4 - Another Christmas present from my sister, this time gifted to me and my boys jointly. That hasn't worked out so well, as it has mainly lived in my eldest son's room. Got this one for much the same reason as I got the PS2: There were a bunch of Sony exclusives I was itching to play, including God of War and Last of Us, both of which were awesome!

Now, again largely due to my son's influence and a love of XBOX Game Pass, I've got an XBOX Series X preordered and set for delivery next month. I'm cautiously optimistic this XBOX edition is going to be better than the last one, but truth be told, it's not like I didn't get my money's worth out of the last one anyway. Of course, my son has taken his savings from his summer job and pre-ordered a PS5 for himself . . .
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by coopasonic »

Pong - got it in grade school, very little recollection
Atari 400 - got it in middle school-ish. Dad got it from the air force base. Everyone else got the 2600, we got the 400. On the plus side, our games looked pretty much like the arcade versions, way better than the 2600 versions. I could also program my own stuff. Down side, it was the worst keyboard I have ever experienced and it saved to a cassette tape that took FOREVER to save/load.
Atari 2600 - eventually got this as well to play all the games that never made it onto much smaller install base 400.
NES - I was in high school when we finally got our hands on this. I had to deliver a LOT of newspapers to pull this one off. Wow. Zelda! So many other amazing games.
Genesis, SNES - While I was in college...
3D0 - huge waste of money, but Road Rash was awesome
Playstation - a whole new world of video games opened up
XBOX - so many great games I don't remember!
PS2
XBOX 360
Wii
PS3
WiiU
XBOX One
PS4 - Best console ever
Switch - Still no game seller for me, but the kids love it. Despite the early years, nintendo doesn't have any exclusives I love.
PS5 - one day I will get one... looking pretty unlikely for launch, but hey, I'll be busy with PC games anyway. See you in the spring PS5!

Oh yeah, I had a smattering of Nintendo portables, but I really don't remember the details there. DS, 3DS, 2DS, a couple XLs. I had some gameboy in college, 93-94-ish, no idea which one.

Again, no idea how you guys remember any of the details of anything before the current gen.
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Daehawk
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Daehawk »

I remember everything...when and why they were got and where and what I loved best....maybe even some prices here and there. Just didn't post it .

EDIT: Ok went back and edited my post completely.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by gbasden »

Kasey Chang wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2020 10:51 pm I owned no consoles... ever. I've only owned PCs.
Ditto. I started PC gaming on the Apple 2+. I did buy an XBox 1 since I am an employee and got it at a good price, but it's basically been a glorified Roku.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by JCC »

The first home game console I ever played was one of the many Pong clones. I can't remember if this was something my grandprents had or one of my cousins had. I remember being mesmerized by it but I was very very young.

Fairchild Channel F - this was the first console my parents got for us kids. It was totally mind blowing at the time. Looking back it had quite an unusual controller. The game I remember the most on it was blackjack but also had baseball and a few others.

Atari 2600 - not long after that we got this. Absolutely loved this and had shit loads of games and loved it when we would visit my cousins and could play their games which I didn't have. Adventure was probably my favorite (and yes someone told me how to get to the Easter Egg). I played the shit out of that. Loved lots of Activision games too. And yes, went mad to get Pac Man as a kid and of course it sucked. I also had the Supercharger for it (you used it to load more powerful games from a cassette player. I loved Phaser Patrol and Dragon Stomper (which was probably the first CRPG I ever played).

Commodore 64 - Not technically a console and I actually did use it as a computer, but it was obviously a video game machine first and foremost. This probably is my all time favorite video gaming device. Played Ultimas 1- 6 on it - which are still among my all time favorite games. And of course thanks to Fast Hack'em I had thousands and thousands of games for it. I literally used my C64 from 6th grade through college. I didn't buy another computer until after I graduated college.

NES - My brother got a NES when I was in high school. Obviously an all time console. Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 plus Zelda were amazing. Loved plenty of other games including Blades of Steel~!

SNES - Didn't properly own one until around the end of college. But played the SNES a ton in college. Zelda A Link to the Past is obviously an all timer - a game I have owned for many systems and replayed a ton. I remember how mind blowing the graphics were in Donkey Kong Country. Great console!

Playstation - I guess as much due to the ads for FF VII as much as anything I decided to buy the Playstation. I never came close to finishing FFVII and generally didn't fall in love with this system. My malaise over this console is what finally catipulted me into PC gaming. I did enjoy Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain though I never finished it. It pisses me off this isn't on Steam or GOG. By and large, I regret not buying a N64 instead of this.

Gamecube - As a "grown up" this is by far my favorite console. I got this well into its lifecycle as I had sworn off consoles for PC gaming after not really being into the Playstation. But having not played any of the N64 games (I had only really seen a friend play a couple of them at times) I decided I wanted to scratch a Nintendo itch. I loved this console so much and bought a shit load of games for it. Eternal Darkness was an amazing game and it infuriates me this has never had a sequel (or spiritual sequel). ED was about a billion times better than the RE games of that era (I could never get over the tank controls) and it's really a shame it was locked in the Nintendo eco-system since so many never got to play it. Anyway, tons and tons of great games for this system - as it's the last time Nintendo tried to be cutting edge and had good (if beginning to erode) 3rd party support (for current games). (It still got tons of games and my PC handled any missing.) Obviously the Switch has a ton of 3rd party games but they are mostly "last gen". I really liked the gamecube controllers too with their distinctly shaped buttons. I know they weren't everyone's cup of tea. Absolutely loved the Wavebird. One of the best controllers ever.

PS2 - I inherited this when I met my ex. I liked Okami a lot and had fun with God of War but never played it much. I just don't like the Playstation controller as I never have found the left stick placement comfortable.

Wii - This is one I got near launch. I was desperate to play Zelda: Twilight Princess and didn't want to do it on the cube. I loved the system for the first year or so when it got Zelda, Metroid Prime 3, and Super Mario Galaxy - but after that the motion controls had worn thin and I started craving more "normal" games.

XBox 360 - Bought this a few years after release. Eventually bought a 2nd due to the RROD. Loved this console. Loved the controllers. Still use 360 controllers on my PC. Had to get this for some HD gaming. Really loved this console for a long time and had a buch of games for it. Eventually cooled on it in favor of PC gaming.

PS3 - Half the reason I bought this was to get a "quality" Blu Ray player. I did buy Uncharted and a few other games, but never quite warmed to this as a video game machine. Once again the controller is a big issue for me. It was a great Blu Ray player and streaming device - until the drive started having issues. Generally, regretted buying it overall.

Switch - At this point in my life, I would guess I am done buying consoles not made by Nintendo. I had to get the Switch to play Zelda and managed to find one about a month or so after launch. (Zelda was of course awesome.) I have bought a handful of games for it. I generally use it more in portable mode than on the TV but think it's really cool you can do both. I like this but don't love it. Really wish Metroid Prime 3 and a Zelda sequel will come out but I fear they will both be pushed to the Switch sequel. One of my friends added me to his "family" so I can play the NES/SNES games which is fun. Stil don't use this as much as I could...

A quick note on portables. I have owned Gameboy SP, DS, DS lite, and the 3DS. I have liked all of them to varying degrees. Especially the DS/DS Lite not so much for the dual screen aspect as just having tons of games and GBA backwards compatibility. I did *hate* the touchscreen controlled Zelda games for the DS. The hand cramping plus the wretched timed/reset temples enraged me. I finished the first one but couldn't force myself through Spirit Tracks. I bought the 3DS on a business trip for something to do. Playing Ocarina on a hand held was pretty damn cool. A Link Between Worlds is a fanastic sequel to A Link to the Past. But by and large haven't used the 3DS very much.
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by hitbyambulance »

JCC wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:11 am Commodore 64 - Not technically a console and I actually did use it as a computer, but it was obviously a video game machine first and foremost. This probably is my all time favorite video gaming device. Played Ultimas 1- 6 on it - which are still among my all time favorite games.
i forgot Ultima VI was 'backported' to the C64 - this is a pretty good summary of the changes made:

https://ultima.fandom.com/wiki/C64-Port_of_Ultima_VI

due to space limitations, it had no sound effects!

i remember Origin games being one of the drivers of upgrading from our 286 PC to a 486-DX. (Wing Commander and Ultima VI would each take up half of the 20MB hard drive, and the EGA graphics mode of Wing Commander was clearly a hack)
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by Daehawk »

Does renting a Sega CD at Blockbuster a few times because it was neat count?
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by JCC »

hitbyambulance wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:26 pm i forgot Ultima VI was 'backported' to the C64 - this is a pretty good summary of the changes made:

https://ultima.fandom.com/wiki/C64-Port_of_Ultima_VI

due to space limitations, it had no sound effects!

i remember Origin games being one of the drivers of upgrading from our 286 PC to a 486-DX. (Wing Commander and Ultima VI would each take up half of the 20MB hard drive, and the EGA graphics mode of Wing Commander was clearly a hack)
Yes it was pretty much unplayable on the C64. I got pretty far into it but finally quit it out of frustration. I ended up finishing it on the SNES version in college (which was much better and seemed more faithgful than some of the other ports of Ultima games to the SNES). I have since completed it a few times on the PC. Great game! All of Ultima 1-VII.5 were!
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Re: What's your history of consoles and their launches?

Post by dobberhd »

My first computer had a 110 mb hard drive. In order to use the word processor, I had to uninstall Ultima 7 every time.
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