To combat boredom, here I will ask what consoles, handhelds, etc. you owned when they were new. If you feel like it, what games did you own during this period?


Recently uncovered evidence suggests that our first 2600 was actually purchased after I was born, but I was probably a baby at the time.

It seems most likely that I got my NES for Christmas of 1987 (or shortly after). It was the Action Set.

It got the SNES the day after launch.

Game Boy I got when they started bundling it with Zelda.

I got the Game Boy Color within the launch window, I think.

The N64 I got after the price was lowered to $100, and while they were including the extra purple controller with it. PS1 was also after it reached $100.

I got the Dreamcast after it reached $100 too, the Sonic bundle.

The PS2 I got, not right away, but long enough before the first price drop that I didn't feel bad about it.

Got the WonderSwan Color when FF1 came out.

I got my GBA somewhere in the middle, can't think of anything to pinpoint the time period.

Got my GameCube when it was bundled with the Zelda Collector's Edition disc.

Got my PSP after the Slim was released.


A few that I bought new in a store, but I can't say they were still relevant at the time:
I was pretty shocked to see 3 new Saturns at $30 each in TRU well after they stopped carrying games for it. I spotted another one even later at Kmart.

The Game.com was pretty well dead before I picked one up on clearance. Though games could still be found various places for a while after that.

The Hyperscan was basically stillborn, but you could argue this one, since I think at least one game was released after I got mine.

I got my NGPC when they were selling them on blister cards.


Honorable mention:
There were still games in some stores when I got my Genesis.

I got an SNES when they were still new. It was for xmas or something.

I got my Gameboy with Super Mario Land 2, whenever that was still on the market.

I got a Virtual Boy for xmas when they were still new, so I guess that was about two months after it came out. I still don't see why everyone hates it so much.

I got an N64 the xmas after it launched. Then I sold it a year or two later.

My PS1 was obtained after Mega Man 8 came out but before Final Fantasy 7 came out.

I got a GBC at some point, but it never got much love. Fuck them things.

Then I got an NGPC a few months after it was released. I still have the original box. It's my first completely complete system ever.

I bought a Dreamcast at some point. I forget what I got with it so it's hard to narrow down when. It was still pretty excitingly new back then though.

My GBA I got at some point or another. I forget when. I don't remember what game I got with it so that makes it trickier.

My PS2 I got when Rez was still a big deal, but "hard to find" in stores. I found it sitting in the used section of EBstop.

I got my Gamecube not too long afterwards. It was about when Soul Calibur II had come out, because I reserved that for it.

I got my DS when New Super Mario Bros. was new at the persuasion of a friend. In fact, I got the DS Lite, because that was still new at the time. The original DS was actually slightly more expensive for some stupid reason I think.

I got a PSP Slim & Lite a little under a month before black friday last year. The game I got with it was Puzzle Quest (woot!).

Everything else I own I got years after it became irrelevent.

My parents were normally pretty good on keeping us up with the latest video game consoles mainly because my brother absolutely loved them. So pretty much if the console was released any year before Christmas, we'd have it that Christmas.

These were roughly for my brother:
NES
Super
SEGA Genesis
-I also want to say he got a Gameboy as well one year too.

Over the years my sister and I became fond of video games, so we got these:
N64
Playstation 1
Gamecube -mine! I got it with Luigi's mansion and I think Monkey ball (hated that game though)
XBox- my sister got that.
GBA- I bought a pink one because that was the only color.. I hated it, so I ended up buying another one in white? And again.. I ended up with a blue one too. So at one point I had 3 GBAS.. weird.
GBA SP- because it was cooler than the GBA haha

Then when I moved in with Rene:
Wii- he bought it off of ebay like a week after christmas
Xbox 360- definitely not within the release year, but heck better late than never right?
(he had already had a PS2 and quite a few other consoles, some mentioned, some not)


I remember my sister and I really wanting a Dreamcast when they came out, but my dad never could get himself to get it for us. So he made it up with the PS1. We also had the SEGA CD that sucked horribly (meaning we were only able to play it a couple times before the stupid ass thing broke) and a original SEGA cartridge? to put in the Genesis to play the older games on it. I especially remember the ALF game haha!

So yeah.. video games have been everywhere! :P

Strizz, i think most people hate the Virtual Boy because it causes massive headaches if you try to play it for more than five minutes. You know there's something wrong when the warning label states it can PERMANENTLY damage the eyesight of young children. :laugh: You may be one of the lucky people it doesn't affect, but it absolutely destroys me if i try to play even moderate 15 minute sessions. That and a lot of the games are just ViewMaster versions of other, better games. It's not comfortable to use as a console and it's far too bulky to be realistically portable. I get that you like it, but you can't seriously be confused as to why people don't. :)


Here's everything i can remember:

Atari 2600: It was just there when i was born.

NES: Christmas....possibly two years or so after its release? I don't remember. I was really happy with the 2600 for a long time.

SNES: Probably the Christmas most closely correlated to its release. I remember my parents being pretty on board about buying it after seeing previews in Nintendo Power.

Genesis: I bought one after we'd had a SNES for a while, and sold it about a year later after buying only two games or so for it. Now it's my most-collected-for console. :)

Game Boy: My brother and i each got one shortly after they started the Zelda pack-ins. I remember getting it very distinctly, as i stayed home from some Christmas-related church event to play Zelda. And it was awesome. :laugh:

Playstation: Purchased not too long after FFVII came out. I remember that game was really the reason i got one. I still hate that generation of games, and only owned a small handful of titles for it until recent years.

N64: Purchased for Goldeneye and Ocarina of Time and those were the only two games i owned for it until *years* later.

Sega CD: Got this along with the 32X and a couple-dozen game kickstart to my burgeoning Genesis collection several years ago.

Dreamcast: My parents got one for me for Christmas the year it died, along with a handful of games. It was an awesome gift, and the timing allowed me to go on to buy like 80 games for the thing (i think i still have like 60 of them?). For a long, long time it was my most-played console. Probably up until about two years ago, actually.

Saturn: Purchased with a couple games for $25 from a co-worker in 2002 or so.

Gamecube: Also purchased from a co-worker, same job, same approximate timeframe, for about $100.

Xbox: Same as the Gamecube.

PS2: Bought it shortly after the release of GTA III, along with said game.

GBA: Bought one when they were new, bought two games, and never played it because i couldn't see the damn thing. Replaced with an SP eventually.

Neo Geo Pocket Color: Got it a few years back when GameStop was selling them blister-packed with a bunch of games. Got another blister of games to bring my library up to ten, and haven't bought anything for it since. I'd play it more if it was backlit. :(

DS: Bought one for me and one for Kelly oh, only a few months before the DS Lite, i think. Damn you, Nintendo!! Hers has since been replaced with a Lite, mine has not.

360: Purchased late in its first year. Still going strong on my original, yay! :)

Wii: My brother picked one up for me a couple weeks after launch. Doomed to join the Virtual Boy and the N64 as my least-enjoyed consoles. Thanks, Nintendo!

PSP: Got it what, a couple months ago? If that?


That's the major stuff...i've got a few garage sale and thrift store consoles kicking around here...the TG-16, Odyssey2, 7800, Game Gear...but their stories are all so similar as to negate my interest in telling them.

It never caused me eye-strain or headaches or anything like that. I enjoyed Wario Land and Mario's Tennis, and I've been meaning to break it out again for my more recent purchases (Panic Bomber and Teleroboxer). Sure, it's not exactly portable, but it's still fun. Then again, I also less than three the NGPC, Master System, and other consoles that were decidedly unpopular.

It usually gives me some eye strain after a while, but so do a lot of other things. No big deal.

There's really no good way to play it though. Sit it on a table, face stuck into it? Not too appealing. I usually lie down with it resting on my face, but then you need a towel or something over your head to keep light out, and something to cushion your nose or it starts to hurt.

It's a fun system, but it's kind of a mess.

My back will start hurting after a while, but I just pause it, stand up and walk around a while, all is good.

I've been catching up on AVGN, and it looks like he found a good way to play VB: