Significant consoles?

CiDeRmAn

So, just wondering, aside from the favourite titles that we happen to love, what games platforms have made the biggest differences to you?

For me, while I loved my PS2 and Snes, my Megadrive and Gameboy Pocket, the ZX Spectrum was the one.

It was a long time ago, and I was about 12, and I got a Sinclair Spectrum for Christmas.
At the time I my dad had been ill and on sick leave for some time, to this day I don't know how my folks managed to afford one, but they did.
I lost myself in that computer, from learning a bit of programming to playing games.

Okay, so the Spectrum was not as advanced a device as the Commodore 64, but it brought forth some incredible work by developers, from ports of the unportable Uridium, the excellent Tau Ceti, an amazing port of Mercenary too.

But it was my doorway to gaming, with a brief blip in 87 to 89 I was never without a games machine of some type, and started collecting in earnest by 99.

I find it hard to go back though, either via emulation or with the original computer, the Spectrum is not an easy machine to love at this remove.
I wonder if I'll pick up a Vega, perhaps it's a good way to go back to those days.

Tom Mann Centuria

I'll forgive your sacrilege about not finding it easy to love a Spectrum

Don't get a Vega. D-pad is horrible, there are dozens of games on it that are text adventures, with no way of plugging in a keyboard, virtual keyboard all the way and picture quality is only average.

A pi with a spectrum distribution, this new one looks excellent:

http://www.arcadepunks.com/kinguyrons-loaded-zx-spectrum-pi-image-simply-austin-zx-spectrum-base-first-look/

Would be the way I would go, then zxds on one of your DS family for on the go:

http://zxds.raxoft.cz

o1s1n

Megadrive for me. I was 8 years old in 1991 and had two new sisters on the way, so my folks decided to buy me something fancy so I didn't feel left out with all the baby madness. A Megadrive 1 with Sonic packed in was the result.

They were so broke with the imminent arrival that it was bought on higher purchase. My mam spent months paying it off.

I'd been playing my cousin's NES and Speccy for a few years before that, but the Megadrive was the first console I owned all to myself.

They bought me a little Telefunken portable the following year as they were sick of me hogging the TV in the sitting room

It's mad to look back on, at the time I was as excited at the prospect of a TV in my room as I was to get a console.

That TV actually did me right up and through all the PS1 days. I shudder to think of the RF cables I used to use to get it hooked up :eek:

Lemming

Technically not a console, but the C64 was the first significant foray into computer gaming for myself, followed then thereafter by the Megadrive. The C64 wasn't the first home computer (as I said, not a console) in the family home; that accolade belonged to the Commodore Vic-20. But given that we got the C64 when I was round about 10 years of age that pretty much set the stage thereafter.

Inviere

I don't think any console has a big an impact on me than the Snes did. It was a true stalwart of the 'golden era'.

That, and 90's arcade games...CPS1 I'm looking at you!

o1s1n

It's a funny one, I'm most nostalgic about the Megadrive and Snes (and probably always will be) but as far as sheer gaming experiences go, the PS1 should really come out on top. I played the absolute hell out of that thing. It's when the second hand game market really kicked off and I had some disposable income, so ended up with a huge collection that I played night and day.

For me the Mega Drive and PS1 will always be the most significant.
I had regularly played Sega in my friends house and was utterly blown away by the games on offer. We'd play Sonic and the like a bit, but the main draw was always the more violent titles, Streets of Rage, Dick Tracy and even Last Battle, which I have huge nostalgic love for despite even by the lowest of standards, it was pure crap.
Fast forward to Christmas 95(i think) and I got my very own Sega with Mega games 6 vol 1 packed in. 6 year old me didn't leave the telly for the day. I still remember the first game i played was Revenge of Shinobi, simply because it had a ninja in it. I loved it up until i got to the first boss and couldn't figure out how to beat him. Frustration set in so I switch to Streets of Rage. Immediately I find myself in a dilemma. I'm 6 so I hate girls, but my favourite colour is red. what to do?? I put my prejudices aside and picked Blaze:pac:
Everything about SOR amazed me. The variety of enemies, the music, the stage design. There wasn't a single aspect of the game I hadn't fallen in love with.
SOR 1 is still my go to game when I fire up the ol sega these days. Of course,2 gets a go as well but the first will always be the one for me.
As I grew my collection over the next couple of years I experienced my first Rpg, Soleil. I had no idea that games were capable of holding so much information. All the different locations and the fact you could talk to every npc, each with their own unique dialogue. I'd never seen anything like it before.

As time went on, the trusty Mega Drive made way for the ps1 and its incredible 3d graphics. Over the course of its lifespan, games such as Loaded and Duke Nukem 3d satisfied my adolescent bloodlust while the Breath of Fires and Final Fantasys quenched my rpg thirst

Those two consoles will always be the defining points of my relationship with gaming. They could make me feel like I was truly a part of whatever world was contained on the disc or cartridge that was currently in play.
Sadly once the time came to get a PS2 I had hit my teens. Consoles were cast aside in favour of Heavy Metal and girls. Final fantasy games were replaced with Avenged Sevenfold CDs. I was maturing.

Come the PS3 generation I learned to balance social life and got back into gaming, having gotten over most of the angsty teen phase. The magic was gone though. I'd feel like I was just going through the motions playing a game. Even though i'd enjoy my time playing it, I couldnt recall major plot points two months later.
I'll never forget the pure unadulterated fun I had with the Sega and PS1 though and I'm so grateful for it:)

o1s1n

Replace 'Avenged Sevenfold' with 'Nine Inch Nails' and you've pretty much described my exact upbringing on videogames.

jeffy jefferies

The Commodore Amiga 500 / 500 Plus.

Jack burton

Sega MD and PS1 for me.

I loved the Mega Drive but the ps1 was the first console I had to myself and was in my room.

I remember how we bought it too. My brother, sister and me all pooled together our savings and backed a horse in the grand national, on the advice of my Dad. This was probably 97 or 98.

Fecking thing won, we were able to get the PS1 and Tekken 2. I remember we didn't stop playing it for weeks.

My mam was away in america at the time for a few weeks and rang the house to talk to her children. This was the second day we had the console, so none of us wanted to leave the TV, and we didn't. My Mam still brings it up today haha

o1s1n

Jack burton wrote: »

I remember how we bought it too. My brother, sister and me all pooled together our savings and backed a horse in the grand national, on the advice of my Dad. This was probably 97 or 98.

Fecking thing won

Haha, that's amazing!

As kids, my grandparents used to bring us to the pub with them every Sunday afternoon. There was always a raffle for 100.

Myself and my cousin won it one weekend and were straight down to Quinnsworth videogame section. Bought myself Quackshot!

Children and gambling, great mix :pac:

The Last Bandit

First console we got has a Telesport SD 050C - pong clone type of thing. It had this stunt bike game which me and my dad got very competitive over, he'd stay up for ages at night playing it to beat my score and then leave the game and TV on to show me in the morning

After that moved onto an Amstrad CPC464, so skipped out on consoles for years. We used to rent out SNES's in college for marathon gaming sessions and house mate had Amiga so never bought a console until the PS2 came out !!

5rtytry56

I owned a 48k speccy.


Considered Original Sony PSP, (you could watch videos on those mini discs, as well as play games)

..but only for the fact Sony abandoned it to concentrate on the full sized PS4.

CiDeRmAn

5rtytry56 wrote: »

I owned a 48k speccy.


Considered Original Sony PSP, (you could watch videos on those mini discs, as well as play games)

..but only for the fact Sony abandoned it to concentrate on the full sized PS4.

There's much wrong with that post!

The PSP sadly didn't play minidisk but rather the UMD, and the system ran concurrently with the PS3 and did pretty well too, just not the numbers the DS did.
Darius Burst, Loco Roco, Ridge Racer 2 and Wipeout Pulse are all excellent reasons to own one.

The PS Vita ran concurrently with the latter days of the PS3 and early years of the PS4 before being quietly dropped

5rtytry56

Beg your forgiveness sir. :'p

CiDeRmAn

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Beg your forgiveness sir. :'p

It's all good!

Infernum

I grew up in the age of the PS1 and Nintendo 64, with the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox starting to creep in. I owned a Mega Drive, grew up playing the hell out of it and it is a very sentimental part of my youth. Having the best of both worlds taught me that graphics aren't important as long as the game plays well.

There's also a soft spot in my heart for the Game Boy Advance. I have an NES-themed SP nowadays, but back then all we had was an original GBA, bad screen and all, and one of those weird carts stacked with Mario (mostly unlicensed hacks) and Tetris.

cursai

Zx spectrum +2 128k

My baby from another mother(Amstrad)

Mancomb Seepgood

My first machine was an Atari ST.Quite the machine in it's day.I had an uncle who was a teacher in the UK and one of his students got all the cracked game compilations so I was well stocked.So many great memories:Carrier Command,Bubble Bobble,Sensible Soccer and all the Lucasfilm games.

I had the ST until about 1994 until it gave up the ghost and then got a used Amiga.A better machine than the ST in most ways but doesn't hold the same place in my heart.College demanded a PC and that was that.I still do most of my gaming on my laptop as I tend to prefer strategy and older games,but I am tempted by the Switch.

brianregan09

Mine was the 2600 with Space Invaders a Boxing game and a game I was addicted to not sure if many will remember it Desert Falcon

CiDeRmAn

brianregan09 wrote: »

Mine was the 2600 with Space Invaders a Boxing game and a game I was addicted to not sure if many will remember it Desert Falcon

I have Desert Falcon on my XE, must give it some time

xckjoo

Megadrive was my first. Loved that thing. So many hours of Micro Machines 2 TT. Sold it later to buy a PS1. Always missed it but didn't regret it. PS1 was the coolest console around at the time. It was also the first console that got me into hacking them. Got myself a modchip and a soldering iron and never looked back.

At some stage along the way, I got an my hands on an N64. Weirdly I didn't think it made that much of an impact on me at the time, but now I find it's the source of some of my fondest gaming memories and made me a life-long Nintendo fan.

Honorable mention to the Dreamcast too. Some great games and even better homebrew scene.

Kimbot

My ranking on them would be SNES followed by the Dreamcast, the 2 most important machines to me when it comes to gaming. I just loved both of them and the games that came with them.

gmisk

Its got to be sega mega drive for me I was definitely addicted to a few games on it
The one that springs to mind
Speedball 2 Brutal deluxe - so addictive - buying and selling players improving them - I am pretty sure it was an endless game as well.
Fifa 95
Micro Machines 2
Golden axe
Desert strike (and jungle strike! and Urban strike!)
Streets of rage 2

My niece and nephew still play it occasionally when they are up with my folks - especially Micro machines 2 as is has little plus in the cartridge to allow all 4 of them to play!

CiDeRmAn

Gods but I remember my launch DC arriving from Japan... just gorgeous!
And I wrung every ounce of gameplay out of Pen Pen, Incoming and VF3tb, not to mention Sega Rally 2.
MSR is still one of my favourite racing games.
I was at the launch party, a blast, with Sega Bass Fishing and such, brilliant!