Video Game Consoles

[PNWRoadgeek]

I've been really interested in video games recently, along with roads it's one of my major interests right now. Though I'm more specifically interested in video game consoles. I'm a fan of many, from PlayStation to Sega CD to the Nintendo Switch, I've spend hundreds of hours of my life playing on these consoles. So I wanted to share this, what are your experiences with video games in general?

[Henry]

My first console experience was playing Atari as a young kid in the 70s, then I switched to the NES in the 80s, SNES in the 90s, and Playstation in the new millennium. Although I don't have as much time to play video games anymore, I've had many great memories to last a lifetime.

[Rothman]

I still have an operational Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Xbox and Xbox One hooked up to my TV.

Still mad Duck Hunt doesn't work with modern TVs unless you do some major surgery to the system.

[Max Rockatansky]

I haven't bought a new game since 2009 a little bit after I bought a PS3.  I tried to sell off the lot of game consoles I had for $200 on Craigslist in 2010 but had no takers.  I guess that I just lost interest in video games at some point?

Occasionally I still play an older 8 bit or 16 bit game.  I usually will test the systems I have every year because one of my wife's family members will want to play something.  This is what I currently have:

-  Atari 2600
-  NES
-  Game Boy
-  Super Nintendo
-  N64
-  Game Boy Advance
-  Game Cube
-  Game Gear
-  Sega Genesis
-  Some Sega CD games (the console got wiped out in a flood)
-  PS3 (with PS1-PS3 games)
 
The first game system I got was my brother's NES shortly after SMB2 came out (maybe early 1989?).  His console had SMB2, SMB1, Sky Kid, Castlevania 2 and Karate.  I ended up buying my 2600 with allowance money at Toys R Us since they cost something stupid cheap like $25 at the time. 

I'd argue that the NES games did a lot for motor skill development and picking up on bad grammar from all the crappy English translations.   I recall beating the original Ninja Gaiden in 1990 when I was 8 years old.  Looking back, I feel that no child that young reasonably should have developed the skill level to complete such a difficult task (much less a game).  I guess that I had that much time to dump into repetitive tasks and mastering memorizing enemy placements. 

[Takumi]

My family's first system was an NES for Christmas in 1988. I was 2; my dad was 24 and my mom 22. My dad played some but mom never did. Later when the SNES came out we got one, which I still have to this day. I currently also have a Switch, with a decent amount of games, and a Famicom (the JDM NES) with one game, that game being World Grand Prix: Pole To Finish, an F1 game that was localized as Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing. (Some of you old enough to remember Little Al's racing career will know that he never raced in F1, so it's a bit of an oddball.)

[PNWRoadgeek]

I haven't bought a new game since 2009 a little bit after I bought a PS3.  I tried to sell off the lot of game consoles I had for $200 on Craigslist in 2010 but had no takers.  I guess that I just lost interest in video games at some point?

Occasionally I still play an older 8 bit or 16 bit game.  I usually will test the systems I have every year because one of my wife's family members will want to play something.  This is what I currently have:

-  Atari 2600
-  NES
-  Game Boy
-  Super Nintendo
-  N64
-  Game Boy Advance
-  Game Cube
-  Game Gear
-  Sega Genesis
-  Some Sega CD games (the console got wiped out in a flood)
-  PS3 (with PS1-PS3 games)
 
The first game system I got was my brother's NES shortly after SMB2 came out (maybe early 1989?).  His console had SMB2, SMB1, Sky Kid, Castlevania 2 and Karate.  I ended up buying my 2600 with allowance money at Toys R Us since they cost something stupid cheap like $25 at the time. 

I'd argue that the NES games did a lot for motor skill development and picking up on bad grammar from all the crappy English translations.   I recall beating the original Ninja Gaiden in 1990 when I was 8 years old.  Looking back, I feel that no child that young reasonably should have developed the skill level to complete such a difficult task (much less a game).  I guess that I had that much time to dump into repetitive tasks and mastering memorizing enemy placements. 

Ahh, the Sega CD. Had some of the best and worst games that Sega has made. Can't believe that Sonic CD was originally on the same console as one of the worst horror games ever made, Night Trap. Also, I find it really funny that it was being grouped in with games like Mortal Kombat in terms of parents whining about it being "too violent". Considering the fact that I don't think it was nearly as popular as MK or any other "violent" game such as Doom.

Sonic CD has one of the best soundtracks of all time though, period.

[Max Rockatansky]

I haven't bought a new game since 2009 a little bit after I bought a PS3.  I tried to sell off the lot of game consoles I had for $200 on Craigslist in 2010 but had no takers.  I guess that I just lost interest in video games at some point?

Occasionally I still play an older 8 bit or 16 bit game.  I usually will test the systems I have every year because one of my wife's family members will want to play something.  This is what I currently have:

-  Atari 2600
-  NES
-  Game Boy
-  Super Nintendo
-  N64
-  Game Boy Advance
-  Game Cube
-  Game Gear
-  Sega Genesis
-  Some Sega CD games (the console got wiped out in a flood)
-  PS3 (with PS1-PS3 games)
 
The first game system I got was my brother's NES shortly after SMB2 came out (maybe early 1989?).  His console had SMB2, SMB1, Sky Kid, Castlevania 2 and Karate.  I ended up buying my 2600 with allowance money at Toys R Us since they cost something stupid cheap like $25 at the time. 

I'd argue that the NES games did a lot for motor skill development and picking up on bad grammar from all the crappy English translations.   I recall beating the original Ninja Gaiden in 1990 when I was 8 years old.  Looking back, I feel that no child that young reasonably should have developed the skill level to complete such a difficult task (much less a game).  I guess that I had that much time to dump into repetitive tasks and mastering memorizing enemy placements. 

Ahh, the Sega CD. Had some of the best and worst games that Sega has made. Can't believe that Sonic CD was originally on the same console as one of the worst horror games ever made, Night Trap. Also, I find it really funny that it was being grouped in with games like Mortal Kombat in terms of parents whining about it being "too violent". Considering the fact that I don't think it was nearly as popular as MK or any other "violent" game such as Doom.

Sonic CD has one of the best soundtracks of all time though, period.

I'd hesitate to call Night Trap a horror game.  Pretty much every death in that game is hilarious and I've never been able to determine if it was intentional.  Being part of the "SCAT Team" got a lot of laughs out of my friends in the 1990s.  I always opted to spring the last trap on Dana Plato.

The Sega CD port of Mortal Kombat was probably the best out there.  Sonic CD has two great soundtracks, but I'm probably in the minority of liking the American iteration.  Snatcher has a really sold Sega CD port also.

[1995hoo]

My brother tells me our old Intellivision III is in our mother's basement and still works. I'd consider retrieving it, along with the cartridges, except I'd have to find an adapter to be able to connect it to any of our current TVs. I don't know whether the System Changer is stored with it—we had an add-on that allowed you to play Atari 2600 games on the Intellivision.

We have a Wii in the family room but have not played any games in a long time.

[Rothman]

Now I'm wondering what happened to the Intellivision my grandparents had.  It'd be amazing if the plastic overlays for the grid controllers still exist somewhere and are usable.  Think my cousin ended up with it.

[ZLoth]

There is an active retro gaming community out there. Surprisingly, I never owned a console as I have too many unplayed Steam games on my computer. Then again, I consider myself part of the "PC Master Race". 

[Daisy Rahman]

I haven't bought a new game since 2009 a little bit after I bought a PS3.  I tried to sell off the lot of game consoles I had for $200 on Craigslist in 2010 but had no takers.  I guess that I just lost interest in video games at some point?

Occasionally I still play an older 8 bit or 16 bit game.  I usually will test the systems I have every year because one of my wife's family members will want to play something.  This is what I currently have:

-  Atari 2600
-  NES
-  Game Boy
-  Super Nintendo
-  N64
-  Game Boy Advance
-  Game Cube
-  Game Gear
-  Sega Genesis
-  Some Sega CD games (the console got wiped out in a flood)
-  PS3 (with PS1-PS3 games)
 
The first game system I got was my brother's NES shortly after SMB2 came out (maybe early 1989?).  His console had SMB2, SMB1, Sky Kid, Castlevania 2 and Karate.  I ended up buying my 2600 with allowance money at Toys R Us since they cost something stupid cheap like $25 at the time. 

I'd argue that the NES games did a lot for motor skill development and picking up on bad grammar from all the crappy English translations.  I recall beating the original Ninja Gaiden in 1990 when I was 8 years old.  Looking back, I feel that no child that young reasonably should have developed the skill level to complete such a difficult task (much less a game).  I guess that I had that much time to dump into repetitive tasks and mastering memorizing enemy placements. I have several consoles at home and I play constantly. Moreover, it is a part of my life - I work as a game developer. Maybe even thanks to my parents, I became who I am. I always wanted to play video games but I did not have the opportunity, so I achieved this myself. But maybe I calm myself down this way.

I never had a console until I started making money myself. When I was a kid, my parents would go to friends who also had kids, and I would play on my friend's console there.

[Takumi]

Relevant bump, as while going through my dad's house after his death earlier this year I found the PS1 we had at his place growing up, and have been playing it frequently after getting a bunch of games for it. So far I've spent by far the most time on Gran Turismo 2, but I've got a handful that I've also been playing on occasion such as Lunar: Silver Star Story, the first Crash Bandicoot, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

[ZLoth]

Relevant bump, as while going through my dad's house after his death earlier this year I found the PS1 we had at his place growing up, and have been playing it frequently after getting a bunch of games for it.

NICE!

[achilles765]

My first was a Super Nintendo as a kid. Soon, I also got a sega genesis which began my life long love of sonic the hedgehog haha.
I've also had a sega Saturn, sega Dreamcast, N64, Wii,Wii U, and PlayStations 2,3,4, and now I own a PS3 and a PS5.

PlayStation have been by far my favorite systems. I had two roommates in the past who had Xboxes but I'm a PlayStation guy. I'm not a fan of Microsoft anything.

[Max Rockatansky]

Sonic 1-3, & Knuckles and CD were some pretty top notch platform games. 

[ClassicHasClass]

First console was a Tandyvision One (Intellivision clone), though the folks had an Atari Pong Doubles. I still have the Tandyvision (see http://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2024/12/composite-and-hard-reset-mods-for.html ).

I later bought a Dreamcast, and I still have it as well ( http://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2022/11/refurb-weekend-sega-dreamcast.html ).

Other consoles currently hooked up and playable are a Darth Vader 2600, Bally Astrocade, Allied Name of the Game II ( http://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2022/12/another-weird-mos-pong-console-1976.html ), Xbox 360, and a PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. We play New Nintendo 3DS systems on the road and I also have a TurboExpress, Treamcast, original Gameboy and an Atari Lynx for portable play. Not connected, but ready, are an Odyssey 3000, Commodore TV Game 2000K and 3000H, my own Atari Pong Doubles and an Atari Video Pinball.

[LilianaUwU]

I own a PS2, a Wii, a handful of DS and 3DS, and a Switch.

I know I'm not paying $800 in Canadian dollars for a Switch 2. There's enough games on my original Switch, and there's literally only one game that's worth it on the Switch 2 (and even then, it's just Mario Kart again).

[ET21]

First console I played is the N64, but my first console owned would be the original Xbox. First handheld I played is the GameBoy Color, first one owned is the GameBoy Advance.

Consoles I've owned:
Xbox
360
XBONE
XBONE X
Series X

GBA
Wii
Original DS
Switch

SteamDeck

[kphoger]

Growing up, I had a Game Boy, complete with one of those clip-on lights.  I only ever had Super Mario Land, Tetris, Dr Mario, and Mega Man.  I was excellent at the first three, and I sucked at the third one.

At college, I learned Mario Kart on a Nintendo 64 that a dorm mate had in his room.  We'd play will three in the morning.  I flunked out of college.  I've also played a few other versions of it, but N64 is still my favorite Mario Kart.

I came into a GameCube when my wife and I got married, but we didn't really play on it all that much.

Nowadays, we have an Xbox One and a Wii.  The boys love both of them.

[Max Rockatansky]

Mega Man games on the Game Boy are generally a big step down from the NES.  The Mega Man sprite was never resized and it is way too easy to get hit.  I did dig that Capcom tried something different in the fifth Game Boy games with the Star Droids.