What was your College console?

[Rick Dangerous]

Mine was the Wii. I was at UVM from 05-09' so while my gamecube had a it's glory years my freshman year, I mostly played Wii (a great party and 4-8 player local system) from it's release until graduation in 09.

 

What was your college console and what are some of your favorite memories of playing between studies and with friends? I stored the Gamecube once the Wii came out (it was backwards compatible anyway) but I do remember having an N64 (4 Player Tetris, Mario Kart, and Mario Party) and NES hooked up all the way through undergrad. I didn't have room for much more at that time.

 

Pics welcome, I will try to find some as well!

[NE146]

College from 1987 - 1992 . NES at first, (I gave my brother the SMS). Then later the TG16 & Genesis were together for much of it, adding in a SNES when it came out later.

[tep392]

I mostly computer gamed in college on Atari, Apple IIe and PC. Near the end I played some NES when one of my roommates got a job at Blockbuster and could bring home the rental consoles for free.

[Rick Dangerous]

It's weird, 3x Nintendo consoles market timing almost exactly coincided with three distinct four year periods in my life.

 

1997-2001, High School, N64

 

2001-2005, US Army, Gamecube

 

2005-2009, College, Wii

 

I will say I did have a 7800 during college but sadly it was in storage and I didn't even know about AtariAge (wish I had learned sooner....)!

[BassGuitari]

My first stint in college was 2003-2007; my roommate had his PlayStation 2. We also had a Super Nintendo but I forget if it was his or mine; we both owned one at the time. I had a fair chunk of my collection with me at our apartment, which at various times included Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Odyssey 2, Commodore 64, NES, N64, and Intellivision. I remember I got a Channel F System II at some point in there as well.

 

The "old stuff" was mostly kept to myself (none of our friends actually cared to play any of it) in my room, although my roommate was a good sport and occasionally played stuff like Defender on the 5200 ("I...can't understand what's happening." ), Football on the 2600, or would use Type & Tell to make the Odyssey 2 Voice say unsavory things, record them, and use the tracks in some of his spoof-metal songs. Mainly, the PS2 was our primary console, with the SNES and my N64 being roughly tied at #2.

 

My second stint in college was 2010-14, by which time I was married and had a house, so I had my entire collection, which had grown substantially since my first round of higher education, and which has only grown more since. (Now I want to downsize--go figure!) My "Main Console" then was whichever five or six systems I happened to have out around the house.

[+Atari_Warlord]

I had a 2600, 7800, Lynx, and a Portable IBM compatible Computer. My roommate had a C64 and Amiga and a ton of pirated games.

[TDIRunner]

The PlayStation 2 came out while I was in college and probably got most of my attention.

 

However, I continued to have all of my stuff hooked up and ready to use. At that time I had an NES, SNES, N64, PS1 and PS2 all working in my college apartment (2600 was the only thing that got left at home). In addition, my roommates added a GameCube and Xbox to the mix. It was a pretty cool setup for the time and having the older Nintendo consoles was always a conversation starter.

 

Looking back, I'm pretty glad that none of that stuff ever walked out of the apartment. But at the same time, back then, no one wanted that older stuff so it wasn't really an issue.

 

 

Edit: This makes me want to try to find some of my older college apartment pics. I will do some digging tonight.

Edited February 6, 2018 by TDIRunner

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

Mine was a Neo-Geo AES (JPN version).

 

I purchased it off neo-geo.com from Shawn the founder of the site for $210 dollars. It came with a controller, and all the hookups. Its a low serial number unit at 12,486.

 

I promised myself as a boy that I was going to get an AES unit regardless how long it will take. It actually took me years to finally say that I was able to afford one and picked up some common titles soon after. Eventually, I put in a debug chip which is the predecessor of the Unibios chip and never upgraded afterwards it since I was content with it.

 

Still my favorite purchase besides being a college console.

 

Anthony...

Edited February 6, 2018 by fdurso224

[Eltigro]

I didn't do the "go away to college" thing. Went to local colleges and lived at home, so I had all the consoles I had at home at the time.

 

Just out of high school college: This would have been around 93 to 95 or so. I mainly played TurboGrafx and Playstation.

 

Later in life college: Which would have been around '03 to '06 or so. I had several consoles at this time and was probably most into playing Xbox 360... although honestly, this was also around the time that I was really heavily into Everquest and World of Warcraft, so those got most of my playing time.

[Laner]

Bought my first PC (a 16Mhz 386) on the first day of college - that was my only "console" until I bought a PSX after I had graduated.

[+LS650]

Throughout my university days, the only system I had for gaming was an 800XL with a 1050 drive. Great system with a ton of games. I foolishly sold it to buy a 1040ST.

[BydoEmpire]

91-95: primarily Genesis & SNES. I think the SNES got more play overall. I do remember playing my 7800 senior year, one year I sold a bunch of textbooks and bought a TG-16 that was discounted to $69, and one year I brought my Intellivision. I played a lot of games on my 386 as well. Wolfenstein and Doom were mindblowers.

Edited February 6, 2018 by BydoEmpire

[derFunkenstein]

College from 1996 to 2001. Started with a Genesis, got a PlayStation in 1998. I am not nearly as nostalgic for the PlayStation as I am for the Genesis. I got it at a good time - Final Fantasy VII was out, and so was Gran Turismo. Great games. Just not much nostalgia.

 

Got a PS2 after college, which was fun.

Edited February 6, 2018 by derFunkenstein

[godslabrat]

Good question! N64. Tons of GoldenEye played, and I spent a lot of time on Majora's Mask.

[+GoldenWheels]

I had an N64 while my friends were in college, and they had one as well. I just lived on their couch every weekend and brought my games. This was 98-01.

 

I truly believe the n64 was the best local multiplayer console ever. 4 controller ports and many great games which actually utilized that feature.

[derFunkenstein]

Good question! N64. Tons of GoldenEye played, and I spent a lot of time on Majora's Mask.

 

 

I had an N64 while my friends were in college, and they had one as well. I just lived on their couch every weekend and brought my games. This was 98-01.

 

I truly believe the n64 was the best local multiplayer console ever. 4 controller ports and many great games which actually utilized that feature.

 

Yeah the N64 was perfect for the dorm. My first roommate got an N64 at launch and we played a ton of Mario 64 and Waverace 64 at first, and he got both MarioKart and Goldeneye when they released, too. Our Goldeneye was probably very different than most peoples', though. We always did one-hit kills using power weapons. Rocket launcher kills through the wall, and sometimes you could get two-fer deals if you happened upon two guys who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

[BydoEmpire]

Freshman year dorm room, featuring my 386 and Genny:

[+GoldenWheels]

 

 

 

Yeah the N64 was perfect for the dorm. My first roommate got an N64 at launch and we played a ton of Mario 64 and Waverace 64 at first, and he got both MarioKart and Goldeneye when they released, too. Our Goldeneye was probably very different than most peoples', though. We always did one-hit kills using power weapons. Rocket launcher kills through the wall, and sometimes you could get two-fer deals if you happened upon two guys who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

 

Goldeneye was tough for us because we had a small-ish tv and two of us were WAY better than everyone else, making matches somewhat (totally) unfair. As one of the two better players though, I never minded.

 

We played a ton of WCW/NWO Revenge, Mario Party 1+2, and Mario Golf. When my friends were home I had a 64 and a PS1 in my garage where we hung out...getting stuck with the PS1 meant you were the 5th one to show up, and you sat in the corner and played Bloody Roar, acting like you weren't upset you missed Mario Party roll call.

[Silverfleet]

I started college in the fall of 2000, and like others, I commuted from home. I also maintained a part time job and was in a band too, but I still found time for gaming. I still had all my old game consoles, but I wanted the latest and greatest.

 

As far as my "college console", I'd say it was the PS2. I would have bought one at launch, but they were sold out everywhere. I had to wait until March of 2001 to actually find one around here! First game I bought was TimeSplitters, and I also bought a multitap so I could play with the friends who were still around at the time (many had left for college themselves). It was all of the awesome.

 

I also picked up a GameCube, Dreamcast, and Xbox, but the PS2 received most of my play time. It also did double duty as a DVD player, and was the sole DVD player in the house until we got a HDTV in 2006 with an upscaling DVD player to go with it. Still love the thing and play it all the time!

[TDIRunner]

While I mentioned that the PS2 probably got the majority of my attention in my college years, the N64 would have been a close second. The funny thing is that I hardly ever played the N64 when the system was active. I didn't own one until many years later. We spent HOURS playing Mario Kart in college.

[Flojomojo]

http://lowendmac.com/1987/mac-se/

 

[Gabriel]

I went to college late. So mine was the PS1. I didn't buy games while I was in school, but I did buy Final Fantasy Anthology and Front Mission 3. I remember coming home from lab and sitting down to play Front Mission 3 or Final Fantasy VI for the rest of the evening. I also played a lot of Time Crisis and Need for Speed 3.

 

Gameplay time with friends was usually tabletop RPGs, but when we played video games it was usually Soul Blade, Tekken 3, Battle Arena Toshinden 2, or Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

[thetick1]

386SX clone PC - Commander Keen was my favorite game.

Edited February 6, 2018 by thetick1

[ToddUGA]

First couple of years (90-92) I gamed exclusively on this...

 

 

Remaining few years of college I upgraded to this...

 

[Tanooki]

Initially it was the Nintendo 64, but after Sony and their media cronies smeared it into some kiddie box I looked elsewhere. Shame really as at the time that lie popped up it had more T/M stuff than Sony.

 

But in the larger picture not a gaming shame, it made me go multi-hardware maker and I ran straight to NEC buying from Turbo Zone Direct/TTi a Turbo Duo and a few CD and card games off them, then much the rest from a once great deal really reliable shop out west. Loved it so much that's why I finally relented and got back into that this year on the Japanese side with PC Engine.