Which console made up most of your childhood?

[Raticon]

For me it was an Amiga computer at first, rather quickly replaced by the SNES. In my teens it was the PS1.

[KeeperofLindblum]

It was a bit of a process for me...

Game Boy was my first game device in general although I played some of both Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Brother had a PS1 and I played the demo discs he had. (PlayStation Underground FTW)

My first console was a Nintendo 64 and played that pretty much anytime I could.

From there I jumped to...Xbox then traded that for a PS2 and also got a GameCube. Anything beyond that isn't really childhood anymore. Lol

[Skippy B. Coyote]

During my childhood it was definitely the original Game Boy and Sega Genesis. The Game Boy was my first system that I could call "my own", and I got it for Christmas when I was 6. I spent innumerable hours playing that black and green screened wonder, especially late at night under the covers (when I was supposed to be sleeping) with a Coleman electric latern to provide enough light to see the screen. I totally blame the Game Boy for why I ended up having to start wearing glasses a few years later.

 

When I was 8 I got my first home console for Christmas, a Sega Genesis with the recently released Mortal Kombat. I told my parents that I wanted a Genesis for Sonic the Hedgehog, since it wasn't on the Super Nintendo, but I'm pretty sure that they saw right through my ruse and knew that I just wanted it to play the best home console version of Mortal Kombat. So I ended up getting a Genesis with Sonic 1 & 2 and Mortal Kombat to boot, and man did I ever have a blast with that system! Platformers and fighting games on the Genesis made up the bulk of my childhood gaming from there on out, and to this day I still feel incredibly grateful to my parents for getting me a Genesis instead of a SNES (which is what all my friends had, since their parents didn't want them playing the gory version of Mortal Kombat) as a kid.

 

My teenage years were dominated by the original PlayStation and then the GameCube, both of which I spent more hours playing than I could possibly count, but my childhood was all about the Game Boy and Sega Genesis.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Jin

[Silverfleet]

The first console I ever played was the Colecovision. My sister had gotten it for Christmas in '82, and that was the year I was born. I used to watch her play it, and eventually picked up a controller for myself. Also, some of the games used to scare the crap out of me! The alien captain in Space Fury and the green tentacle monsters in Venture used to send me running. There was just something about the sound chip in the Colecovision that made some of the sound effects terrifying to me when I was very small. My favorite game to play on that system was Cosmic Avenger... I could play that for hours!

 

My cousins also had a 2600, and while I remember playing it while very young, it didn't have the same effect on me. First game I remember playing on the 2600 was Air-Sea Battle.

 

But the first console that was "mine" was the NES. I got the R.O.B. set in 1987 when I was 5, and I still play the hell out of it regularly. The NES changed the world back then. It was THE console to have. Kids would rate potential friends on what games they had. Stories were told on playgrounds all over about the triumphs and failures kids had experienced while playing the NES. Tall tales were told about how their cousin's friend's dads worked for Nintendo and could get free games... Maybe it was because I was too young, but I never heard people talking about other consoles like that. It was more than just a toy... it was a way of life.

 

Then, when I was around 8 or 9, my neighbor got a Genesis. MIND BLOWING. He had Altered Beast, and the graphics and sounds were nearly identical to the games we played at the local arcade. I remember seeing a weird system once called a Turbo Grafx 16, and I wanted one, but the Genesis looked cooler and there were more games available for it. I eventually got my own around 1992. Sega fanboy status achieved! I was a late adopter to the SNES, but I played it plenty at friends' houses. Once I got my own around 1995, I snagged a bunch of the classics on the cheap. Side note: I did try and save up for a Turbo Duo back then. I kept seeing ads in Electronic Gaming Monthly for it for $199, but I could never find it in stores. Bummer.

 

As I progressed into being a teenager, I picked up a Saturn from a friend for cheap. He got rid of it so he could get a N64, which didn't interest me at the time. I played the Saturn a little, but found myself playing the Genesis and SNES more. I missed out on a lot of the A+ titles, with the exception of Guardian Heroes, which came with my Saturn when I bought it from that friend. Man, that game was great! But once I saw that there was a new 3D Zelda game coming out for the N64, I had to have one. Other than Zelda, the N64 wasn't doing it for me, so I tried my hand at the PSOne. At this time, I was nearing the end of High School, and discovered Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo 2, and other games that were unreal at the time.

 

I really feel that video games grew up in parallel to the kids my age. When I was born, games were primitive, but they grew up with me. The games now are unbelievably detailed and complex, just like the lives of other people my age. It's pretty cool to be able to say that!

[+stupus]

Colecovision & intellivision.

 

C64, amiga 500 & coco1.

[cimerians]

Childhood: Atari 2600, Colecovision, C64.

[Nebulon]

The first console I ever played was the Colecovision. My sister had gotten it for Christmas in '82, and that was the year I was born. I used to watch her play it, and eventually picked up a controller for myself. Also, some of the games used to scare the crap out of me! The alien captain in Space Fury and the green tentacle monsters in Venture used to send me running. There was just something about the sound chip in the Colecovision that made some of the sound effects terrifying to me when I was very small. My favorite game to play on that system was Cosmic Avenger... I could play that for hours!

 

My cousins also had a 2600, and while I remember playing it while very young, it didn't have the same effect on me. First game I remember playing on the 2600 was Air-Sea Battle.

 

But the first console that was "mine" was the NES. I got the R.O.B. set in 1987 when I was 5, and I still play the hell out of it regularly. The NES changed the world back then. It was THE console to have. Kids would rate potential friends on what games they had. Stories were told on playgrounds all over about the triumphs and failures kids had experienced while playing the NES. Tall tales were told about how their cousin's friend's dads worked for Nintendo and could get free games... Maybe it was because I was too young, but I never heard people talking about other consoles like that. It was more than just a toy... it was a way of life.

 

Then, when I was around 8 or 9, my neighbor got a Genesis. MIND BLOWING. He had Altered Beast, and the graphics and sounds were nearly identical to the games we played at the local arcade. I remember seeing a weird system once called a Turbo Grafx 16, and I wanted one, but the Genesis looked cooler and there were more games available for it. I eventually got my own around 1992. Sega fanboy status achieved! I was a late adopter to the SNES, but I played it plenty at friends' houses. Once I got my own around 1995, I snagged a bunch of the classics on the cheap. Side note: I did try and save up for a Turbo Duo back then. I kept seeing ads in Electronic Gaming Monthly for it for $199, but I could never find it in stores. Bummer.

 

As I progressed into being a teenager, I picked up a Saturn from a friend for cheap. He got rid of it so he could get a N64, which didn't interest me at the time. I played the Saturn a little, but found myself playing the Genesis and SNES more. I missed out on a lot of the A+ titles, with the exception of Guardian Heroes, which came with my Saturn when I bought it from that friend. Man, that game was great! But once I saw that there was a new 3D Zelda game coming out for the N64, I had to have one. Other than Zelda, the N64 wasn't doing it for me, so I tried my hand at the PSOne. At this time, I was nearing the end of High School, and discovered Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo 2, and other games that were unreal at the time.

 

I really feel that video games grew up in parallel to the kids my age. When I was born, games were primitive, but they grew up with me. The games now are unbelievably detailed and complex, just like the lives of other people my age. It's pretty cool to be able to say that!

Ah yes, the freakin' monsters in ColecoVision Venture. The sound when they came in through the door when you took too long to clear a room.... Very freaky! That used to give me chills.

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

^me too!

[gamecat80]

The first console I ever played was the Colecovision. My sister had gotten it for Christmas in '82, and that was the year I was born. I used to watch her play it, and eventually picked up a controller for myself. Also, some of the games used to scare the crap out of me! The alien captain in Space Fury and the green tentacle monsters in Venture used to send me running. There was just something about the sound chip in the Colecovision that made some of the sound effects terrifying to me when I was very small.

 

 

Ah yes, the freakin' monsters in ColecoVision Venture. The sound when they came in through the door when you took too long to clear a room.... Very freaky! That used to give me chills.

 

 

Yep:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNRC0u5zc70

 

Go to 5:30 for the green hall monster.

[chuckwalla]

Early teens: Atari 2600

Mid-teens: VIC-20; C64

Early 20's: Sega Genesis, SNES

Late 20's: ColecoVision, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari computers

[Gabriel]

Yeah, if we expand it to be "most important console to you at each phase of life" then for me it would be:

 

Tween = Atari 2600
Early teen = Atari 5200
Teen = Commodore 64 / Apple II
Early adulthood = Genesis/Sega CD
Mid 20s = PS1
30 something = PS2
Old crotchedy 40 year old POS = PS3