Just out of curiosity what was you first ever computer and game console?

[kamyk2000]

Mine was the Commodore 64, and Atari 2600. Then the NES when it came out. The Commdore 64 could kick some butt considering it's specs compared to modern computers. Also consider this a nostalgia thread to wax on about your favorite older systems. I remember the SNES most fondly. I can barely count how many good games I played on that for god knows how many hours.

[SentaiBrad]

kamyk2000 said Mine was the Commodore 64, and Atari 2600. Then the NES when it came out. The Commdore 64 could kick some butt considering it's specs compared to modern computers. Also consider this a nostalgia thread to wax on about your favorite older systems. I remember the SNES most fondly. I can barely count how many good games I played on that for god knows how many hours.

The first one that was purchased for me intentionally? Technically the Sega Genesis with the Sega Channel. It was awesome. Really though... two technicalities. One, my dad had an SNES before that, and I played NES at my cousins a few times. The first console I was really old enough to start knowing how to play, getting in to it and me realizing it was more than a hobby? My N64.

[Jason Carr]

First console was my parents' Atari 2600. That was the only console I had for a very long time. Thankfully, though we had plenty of computers. I probably owe my passion for development to that. I was bored one summer when I was 11 and dusted off my Dad's old 8086 from the basement. Put it up in my room. Took me a while to figure out how to put it together, but I made that thing sing. 640 KB of RAM, a 30 MB hard drive, and "turbo mode". Fun stuff. Ended up using GWBasic to do a bunch of stupid stuff (earlier version of QBasic, came with IBM DOS 3.0). It was IBM DOS at that point, not yet MS-DOS.

[CadetStimpy]

I played friends Atari 2600's (remember Space Invaders?), but the first console I owned was an Intellivision. I still have my Intellivision II with 70+ games. I even have some other stuff for it (can't find one of the other boxes right now - the Music Synthesizer ). I was a card-carrying member of Imagic's Numb Thumb Club, too. Here's a couple of shots of their first news letter from 1982 (front cover and one of the pages inside): I then made the somewhat common transition to the NES and then SNES, both of which I still have (with games for both). I'm such a hoarder when it comes to 'old school' technology.

[Jason Carr]

Very nice. I always wished I lived during a slightly earlier time...to see all this stuff come into fruition.

[CadetStimpy]

Yeah, it was kinda cool to see the advancements as the years progressed. Crap, I think I remember playing an original Pong console (Atari in mid-70's, I believe). How cool - a ricocheting square that bounced off your vertical bar, that you could only move up and down. The color range was somewhat limited, though. Only two - black and white. I think they were about $99 back then.

[DOS76]

I started playing my cousins 2600 when ever we stayed at my aunts. Then my parents got my brother and me a Sega Master System (we wanted a Nintendo) We actually ended up liking the Sega anyway and our grandparents ended up getting us a Nintendo that we could play at their house so we made out. I am glad I discovered emulation because we don't have any of that old stuff anymore.

[SentaiBrad]

CadetStimpy said Yeah, it was kinda cool to see the advancements as the years progressed. Crap, I think I remember playing an original Pong console (Atari in mid-70's, I believe). How cool - a ricocheting square that bounced off your vertical bar, that you could only move up and down. The color range was somewhat limited, though. Only two - black and white. I think they were about $99 back then.

Yea. When I was born, 1990, the NES was close to its way out. By the time I was cognizant of games the SNES and Genesis were starting to go out. I remember those two as my first true console, with having played the NES a bit as well. Anything else I had never heard of until mid 2000's when I actually started to research games and consoles. Now I know a lot about them, but it is very interesting to see how kids grow up with a certain level of technology and see how they view certain things. When I eventually have kids I think I am going to give them an NES first, and tell them that this is what Video Games are before they can reach the outside world. And move them up to more powerful consoles as time goes by. So by the time their 5, ready to kids in the world with friends, they'll have played a bit of gaming history.

[Jason Carr]

Wow, amazing the difference that 6 years makes. Atari 2600 vs. SNES. I'm sort of doing that win my son; I gave him a crappy computer to start with, he could only play 2D games from the past. He's recently graduated to a system that can handle GameCube games. Of all the games he's played, the original Sonic the Hedgehog is still his favorite. He's 6.

[bd00]

My first was also Atari 2600. I too have introduced my son (also 6) to retro gaming, but he gravitated towards Mario. He loves Sonic too, but Mario is his favorite.

[Jason Carr]

I think my son actually *believes* he is Sonic. When he runs he sticks his arms out behind him. He thinks it makes him blur.

[Duckeenie]

My first console and computer were probably Atari 7800 and ZX Spectrum +2. My fondest memories from back then though are the arcades. Oh and being too good at 1942 to finish a credit within my lunch hour; Sadly I can't get 5 mins out of a credit these days. Thank god for turn based strategy

[SentaiBrad]

Jason Carr said I think my son actually *believes* he is Sonic. When he runs he sticks his arms out behind him. He thinks it makes him blur.

I can make that happen... just saying.

[bd00]

Jason Carr said I think my son actually *believes* he is Sonic. When he runs he sticks his arms out behind him. He thinks it makes him blur.

HaHa! I know exactly what you mean! He asks me to watch him run really fast like sonic and I pretend he is a blur. It's funny how similar kids are the world over. Mine also jumps up with his fist in the air And now he is trying to grow a moustache!

SentaiBrad said

Jason Carr said I think my son actually *believes* he is Sonic. When he runs he sticks his arms out behind him. He thinks it makes him blur.

I can make that happen... just saying.

Anyone remember the coin on a string trick? Not that I ever would or did... but you know... I heard about it. *Edit* I think I may of misinterpreted Brad's post. I thought his response was to Duckeenie saying "Sadly I can't get 5 mins out of a credit these days" but it looks like he was referring to running fast like Sonic and becoming a blur. I just felt compelled to clear that up. Video editing? Or are you just really really fast?

[kamyk2000]

@Jason I had something of the same sort going on back then too. I wrote all kind of programs for the C64 in basic. I even created some games if you could call them that nowadays. Then I moved on to Dos and batch files. It was amazing what you could do with those simpler languages. I even managed to create a graphics/paint type of program out of a batch file, so this batch file experimenting with Launchbox is making me dust out old long unused corners of my brain. Sadly, when things moved up to proprietary languages like C++ I started getting lost in the shuffle. Now I couldn't program my way out of a paper bag. I never know where all the damn () {} and [] go. That is adorable about your son, btw. I have a nephew close to that age that hasn't been introduced to video gaming yet. I can't wait to see him do stuff like that too @bd000 Omg, that coin on a string thing. That's such a funny idea, lol. Why not make Mario more real for you kid? @CadetStimpy Yes, I remember the Intellevision. A friend of mine had that the same time I had an Atari 2600. We played action games at my house, and "rpg" games at his. Sadly I even remember when pong first came out at the local bowling alley before any of this. Then Pacman, and everyone was like OMG isn't this amazing! What really sucked up my quarters though was Dragon's Lair and then Space Ace. At least back then. Mid-nineties it was all the Mortal Kombats. @Duckeenie Arcades were some of my fondest memories too, Especially the aforementioned Mortal Kombats. My personal game that I could go for hours on one credit though was the original Strider. I could go from beginning to end on one life. Me and a friend of mine used to compete for high score on it. That and the pinball game Black Knight 2000. @DOS76 I am grateful for emulation too because otherwise some of my best memories would be lost to time. I understand the whole copyright ownership thing, but I think that if something is in danger of becoming lost to history it ought to be able to be preserved. As far as that goes though, everything I emulate I either still own, or once owned. <---(Obligatory legal statement). @SentaiBrad As far as that subject goes, it will come in handy for introducing your children to old school gaming. I think that is a fantastic idea. Even starting later than some of us, you still played back in the day, so I'm sure you can still appreciate how oftentimes the current generation loses out by missing the older games. There were a lot of good oldies that current kids would blow off because they are pixelated 2d games. Back then it was more about gameplay and less about "wow look at the sunlight refract off the bump mapped HD transparent water you can see fish swimming in, and causing ripples in when then jump out of it". So kudos for wanting to keep gaming history alive.

[Kriven]

The first game console I ever played was my mom's NES when I was maybe a year old. Either Super Mario Bros. or Balloon Fight. When I was about four my uncle gave me his old SNES, so that was the first console I actually owned. The first game I ever played on a PC (which, for me, was an eMachine running Windows ME) was the PC port of Sonic R. Well, I suppose it was technically this little called Pig Pen (some weird Pac-Man clone) my friend had running on his computer (which was an old bugger. I don't even know what OS it ran). He also had a text game called Rockstar, though I didn't play that so much as exist in the same room while my friend played and narrated it to me. At school there was SkiFree, but I can't remember if that was before or after I was playing on my own PC.

[Hippyshake]

My first computer was a TRaSh-80 model III at school, and a TI-99/4A at home. For the TI, my father slowed down a portable cassette player to the proper speed of the tape drive peripheral, as a pretty clever way to save money. I programmed tons of Pac-Man clones and text adventure games on that thing (but added music and color screens as well). First console was the Atari 2600. For many years I was a collector, at one point amassing over 300 SNES games alone, complete with boxes and books. Multiple consoles (somewhere in the neighborhood of ten 2600 consoles alone), thousands of games and peripherals. Eventually, it grew so large that I had to rent a storage unit. After several years of storing them this way, I realized I had spent much more in storage than what the collection was worth, and dismantled it all...giving much of it to friends and family and (sorry) dumping the rest. Such is my tale. Good to meet you all. :)

[Jason Carr]

Wow, you go way back Hippyshake. Interesting about your collection too. I do somewhat of the same thing, I'll collect something for a few months and then ask myself what I'm doing...and just stop. Lol. Kriven, I actually remember SkiFree for Windows 3.1. It's embarrassing how many hours of my childhood were wasted on that amazingly stupid game. Ha.

[Hippyshake]

Jason Carr said Wow, you go way back Hippyshake. Interesting about your collection too. I do somewhat of the same thing, I'll collect something for a few months and then ask myself what I'm doing...and just stop. Lol.

Yeah, it's hard to completely squash the collector bug. :) My girlfriend bought me a PSP a few years ago, so I have a collection of about 300 games for that, but that's all I have now (and about 30 games for the XBOX 360). I've managed to save a lot of my MS-DOS collection on DVD for the most part (I used to run a couple of BBSs back in the day), and I do have a few dozen manuals I've kept, but at least they don't take up space. These days, my addiction is sated mostly digitally, which is why I love LaunchBox so much, as my purchases are spread out all over the web...800 on Steam and 400 on Gog alone. o_O I have that "what am I doing" feeling a lot, especially when I think about how I'll never have enough time left on this planet to play all the games I already own....and then click the "purchase" button yet again. :D

[Jason Carr]

Hehehehehe, yup...sounds familiar.