Was the Atari 2600 your first video game system?

[calfranklin]

Yes and no, my wife and I bought a Coleco Gemini in 1984, shortly after we were married, which played Atari 2600 cartridges. I still have the original console and the unique dual control controllers, but have long since discarded the carton and foam insert. I hope to someday find another carton to complete my collection. I also still have several of the original Atari games I bought back in 1984 during the "video game crash." Interestingly, at that time I didn't fully understand why discount stores were almost giving these games away, and had bought so many them, that I gave many of them away to my nephew and nieces because they were really into Atari at that time!

[jamesk]

I totally remember getting my Heavy Sixer. Tahoe at 1980 Christmas family reunion and my Uncle gave his used 2600 to us. It had some text label games. Combat, Breakout, Slot Racers and Star Ship. I can still remember playing Combat for the first time that day. The 2600 was big growing up. 12hr Maze craze sessions were big with me and a friend well into Jr High.

[PAC-MAN PRIME]

The 2600 was *almost* my first video game system. The first was an Atari 400, which we got in '82, but several months later we got the 2600. So I guess technically the 2600 was my first "Video Game" system, since the 400 was designed primarily as a computer, but it was was purchased solely for the purpose of playing the games and not once ever used for its computer features.

[LYNXGUY]

One option that's missing is that you DID have a 2600 back in the day but you had something else BEFORE it.

 

There should definitely be a "No, my first console was even older" option

 

No. I had a different system back in the day option covers both the above statements IMHO

Edited September 2, 2010 by LYNXGUY

[thebiggw]

My parents got the coleco gemini system as well when we were kids. Mom got it for us through the Columbia House cassette/record program but it was for Atari games and such. The first three games we got was Frogger, Zaxxon, and Jawbreaker. We were so excited as kids I remember ripping all the boxes open (If I had only known how collectible they would have been ) We sat and played for hours at a time like most kids did.

 

btw I was not sure how to vote either since Coleco Gemini was not an option

Edited September 2, 2010 by thebiggw

[BigO]

You guys know this topic is 5 years old right?

This perplexes me on web forums. Where did the concept of "don't post on old topics" originate? To me, if somebody wants to talk about the subject and is contributing something new, what makes an old topic off limits for discussion?

 

Now posting an off-topic comment, I can totally see how something like that would make people upset.

Edited September 2, 2010 by BigO

[LYNXGUY]

This perplexes me on web forums. Where did the concept of "don't post on old topics" originate? To me, if somebody wants to talk about the subject and is contributing something new, what makes an old topic off limits for discussion?

 

Not to go off topic but I WAS a member of 2 computer forums that absolutely did not allow posting to threads that were more than 30 days old, we had to start a new threads about the same thing.

 

So after a few days of discussions and arguments on both sites I told both sites to stick it up their's and never went back.

[toiletunes]

I had a chance to play 2600 back in 1981, but didn't get my own until 1984. It was my first system.

[Video]

It wasn't the first system I played, I think I played pong machines and I know I played Fairchild chF back before that. But in 83 for christmas, my parrents got me my own console, a Vader 2600, which I still have and play a bit to this day.

[lastkill3r]

I have got one, bought this summer. My first system was the MegaDrive/Genesis or the Pegasus. I don't remember.

[The_Laird]

I had a Sinclair Spectrum before I got the 2600, which was my first console.

[marlinlee]

I started with a Radio Shack Color Computer in 1982 and have been a computer gamer ever since. My first video game console was an Atari 2600 which I purchased in 2009. Since then I've added a NES, Sega Master System, Genesis, N64 and an original Playstation to my console collection.

[Karyyk]

My first system was the Atari 2600 Jr. which I received during Christmas '86. Everyone else was getting the NES, but I wanted the 2600 (had been wanting it for years, but my father had been resistant to allowing me to get one on account that I should be "playing outside in the yard"). I guess he caved after so much time, so I ended up getting the $50 2600 Jr. with a copy of Space Invaders (Chopper Command and Battlezone would soon follow). Good times...and 24 years ago.

Edited November 8, 2010 by Karyyk

[Austin]

My parents had a 2600 when I was born ('82), and they kept it until we got the NES (most-likely '87 or '88). My first gaming memories came from the 2600!

[Koopa64]

I may not have had a 2600, but I had an Apple //e! That's pretty much the same as far as impact goes, right? Right??

[AussieAtari]

My first job out of school was selling video games, consoles and micro computers. That was in 1984 and I had to take each machine and game home to learn how to play so I could demonstrate them - HOW COOL WAS THAT?

 

And the first console I brought home - a 2600 of course.

[Ranthulfr]

I had a Microvision with a few games before I entered the world of Atari. It was great!

[toptenmaterial]

My sister and I bought the NES together in 1988, that was our first system. My dad also had the IBM PC. I bought my first VCS in 2006.

[akator]

The poll doesn't include my experience. Our VCS arrived in 1980, but I had already been playing arcade, calculator, computer, and electronic games for some time.

 

The same time I saw Star Wars at a mall 45 minutes from our house, we went to the mall arcade I had already visited many times before with my parents. It was amazing that my father gave me $5 to play games, an enormous amount of money to me back then.

 

The number of hours and rolls of thermal paper I went through on a TI-59 is incalculable. I can't believe how much my father must have spent just on thermal paper just for me to play "Star Trek."

 

I first played Colossal Cave Adventure on a teletype machine at my aunt's boyfriend's apartment. I went through enormous amounts of tooth-fed paper, literally boxes over a weekend, until I got "cut off" because I was costing too much.

 

Our VCS showed up and I loved it... but it didn't meet my father's dream of me not wanting to play arcade games at the local supermarket. Even with the VCS, every time we went to the grocery store I begged him for money to play Space Invaders. Later it was Phoenix, Missile Command, Defender, on and on. His dream of the home Atari that would stop wasting his quarters was foiled...

[Vic George 2K3]

I got my first Atari 2600 as a Christmas present in 1981. My sister Vicky bought Space Invaders for it a day or so after.

[Ataritard]

We got an Atari 2600 after my dad's friends convinced him that he had to get one for his kids. Space Invaders was the first video game I ever played... as soon as my dad was done playing.

[CorTat-G]

Our first Video game console (My brother and I) was a Nintendo NES our parent's got at a garage sale.

I forget what were all the games we had but I definitely remember "Duck Hunt", "Kirby's Adventure" and "Yoshi".

 

Then in about c.1998 (I was really young) We got a Nintendo 64, Quite possibly the Greatest console ever! we had "Super Mario 64" (Still my favorite game to this day), "Mario Kart 64", and "Space Station Silicon Valley".

 

Later in about c.2009 I found Atari 2600 games, Played them online, Found Atariage, Bought a 2600 online, and the rest is history!

[Mangia-Boy]

My first system in the early 80's was the Intellivision. I can remember the games I had: Space Armada, Pitfall, Skiing, Donkey Kong, Triple Action, Basketball and Tennis.

 

Then I stopped playing video games for more than 25 years, on my 40th birthday I bought my first Atari 2600, about 500 games followed.

 

Then Colecovision, Schmidt TVG (German version of Emerson Arcadia) and an Atari 5200.

[AtariVCS101]

My first video game system was a PS2. I soon got the 2600 right after that by about 5 years.

[YAGRS]

Some of these responses are making me feel old.

 

The 2600 was my first console. It was a family console, meaning I only got to play it when my older brothers weren't. We followed it up with an NES, but by that time, my brothers had outgrown video games, for the most part, so it soon became mine.