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Game Systems you wanted but didn't get


Gabriel

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Inspired by a thread in the 2600 forum about games you had back in the day, I started a thread there about games you wished you had, but didn't. Of course, the first reply was how one poster wished they had the 2600 system back then, but didn't get one. That inspired me again for this thread:

 

Game Systems you wished you had gotten, but didn't!

 

For me, the list is: Odyssey 2, Astrocade, and Atari 7800.

 

The Odyssey 2 was the system I actually wanted instead of the 2600. I was entranced by Quest for the Rings (I had just gotten into D&D at the time). For some reason, I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world. In retrospect, it's better that my mom got me the 2600, but I still wanted the Odyssey 2 and it's "powerful" keyboard.

 

Toward the tail end of the 80s, I did own a Odyssey 2 for a short time. I played the holy shit out of Quest for the Rings on it. But, I eventually gave it up.

 

The Astrocade was the system no one heard of other than me. I played a demo unit in Woolco and was amazed at it's versions of Galaxian and Pac-Man. I thought the controllers were strange, but DAMN if the games didn't kick ass. I played that demo every time my mom took me to that store. I sure wish I could have gotten one.

 

While everyone else was raving about the NES, I was happily playing my Atari 5200, but I did want a new system. Looking at what was available at the time, and feeling that most of the NES library was utter fucking crap (except for the RPGs), I was the oddball and wanted an Atari 7800. I made an arrangement with my great grandmother that she would buy me one as a present if I improved my grades. So, I dutifully worked hard and brought my grades up, and... she went back on her word. It was the only time that I remember my great grandmother lying to me.

 

My next chance to get a 7800 came years later. The PS1 was big and my aunt was thinking about getting a new system for her children. Ages ago, she had purchased a 7800 for them and told them it was a Nintendo. Being extremely young, they had believed it. But now, they were having nothing of it. They wanted a new system and the 7800 was junk. I begged her to give it to me, and even offerred to pay her for it. In fact, at one point I offerred her more money for it than she had initially bought it for. Instead, she gave it to Goodwill. I was devastated.

 

Of the three systems that "got away," I currently own an Atari 7800. Someday I'll probably get another Odyssey 2. I don't really have any illusions about one day getting hold of a working Astrocade.

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The Sega Master System - By the time I had the money together to actually buy one, Nintendo had pretty much forced most stores to not carry it.

 

Atari 2600 - Never could afford one when they were out

 

Atari 5200 - Used to go to Best all the time and play the Defender they had set up on their display model. Was just amazed at how good the graphics and gameplay were at the time. Alas could never afford it either

 

Odyssey 2 - Had a friend who had one and his dad worked for the company so he would get carts before they were released. Loved playing stuff like K.C. Munchkins and Pick Axe Pete.

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The sms. I got one years later. I wanted one back in 1991, but at the same time in that year I wanted to a nes. I got the nes for christmas. I remembered seeing sms games cheap in a sear catlog from $14.99 to $29.99

 

The neo geo. I always wanted one but the price was to expensive. The only way I would buy one is if I win the lottery.

 

Neo geo pocket color- Cool system but ended before I never had a chance buy it until I saw one of 6 games and with a system at eb games in 2004.

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I wanted a Sega Master System terribly when I was a kid. My older brother owned all of the video games in the house and I wanted something for myself. I spent many hours gazing into the Sears Wishbook that year, circled the games I wanted most, and even calculated the price to make it easier for those with the funds. I must've been bad boy that year because Santa didn't come through for me. I never played a Sega Master System until a year or two ago when I bought one from someone here at Atariage.

 

I wanted a NeoGeo pretty badly at one time. I entered a puzzle/contest that was amidst the ads of many game magazines; The prize for the winner was one of every current console (including the NeoGeo) as well as a huge television to play them on. The entry fee was 10 dollars and they would send you a puzzle each month. Upon completion of each puzzle, you had to mail it back in with another 10 dollars to stay in the drawing. The puzzles started out fairly easy, further enhancing the delusion that I had any chance of winning. Over time, the puzzles became more and more difficult. Finally, several months later and about 120 dollars in, my last puzzle came which I can only fathom was impossible. It frustrated me to the point of tears... 120 bucks is a lot of money for an 12-yr-old; I could have bought 2 or 3 Nintendo games instead! My mother had told me all along that I was being taken for a ride, but I hadn't listened. I suppose it was a lesson I had to learn some time. I've still never played a NeoGeo, except at the arcade.

 

//off topic for a second//

The bit about the contest in the magazines reminded me of this: If anyone has their old Gamepro magazines, there is a page in the November '91 issue that I'd like to have a scan of. Thanks! :)

 

 

Edited by mojofltr
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I always wanted a Neo-Geo, but I never put the insane amount of money aside because I knew that I could live without it. There were a few games that I played in the arcade that i'd like to have the home version of, but I could never justify $600 for the console and $150 for a game.

 

One console that I really, really wanted was the Turbo Express. I've come across them in the wild two or three times, but I never have enough money on hand to buy it. They're pretty hard to find now for a cheap price.

 

I'd always wanted an Emerson Arcadia 2001, because i'd always liked my Emerson stereo, and I wanted to know what a game console from then would be like. But I never saw one, even in photograps, while it was on the market. I still don't have one, mainly because I know now how lame the games for it are, and i'm in no hurry.

 

I've been thinking about buying a Tapwave Zodiac, just for the heck of it. They're pretty cheap at the moment, and it's a nice little footnote in the gaming industry.

 

I'd like to get an RDI Halcyon. Just to fool around with. It's a unique machine, kind of a laserdisk/console/computer combo. From what people have said online, it doesn't look like the console made it into official production.

 

It's not quite a console, but I always wanted the Milton Bradley Expansion System for the TI Home Computer. Voice recognition in 1983? Sweet! According to sources online, there could have been as few as 300 manufactured.

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I always wanted a C64 but instead we got a Schneider CPC464. It was a nice system to but it was to hard to get games for it.

 

Speaking of Quest for the Rings, i won a auction for it. Will set me back 20 euro but it is in near mint conditsion, even the box it comes in.

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It's not quite a console, but I always wanted the Milton Bradley Expansion System for the TI Home Computer. Voice recognition in 1983? Sweet! According to sources online, there could have been as few as 300 manufactured.

1017859[/snapback]

*twitches*

I've been INCHES from MBXes before.

My aunt and cousins used to have one. They broke the thing, and as far as I know, it got thrown out. :mad:

 

For a short while after the 4a died, they were available REALLY cheap in some places. Dad didn't pick one up, and regretted it years later.

 

 

 

As for what I wanted and didn't get...

A 2600. I finally got one many many years later, to place alongside an SNES.

B. NES. Again, didn't get it until AFTER the SNES.

C. Saturn. Don't have one yet.

D. Jaguar. Still none.

E. TurboGrafX. See above.

F. N64. Didn't get it then, don't care now.

 

 

My parents never really gave a crap that I liked video games.

Dad got the Vectrex and 4a because they were neat gadgets and cheap at the time, between those and arcade machines in the grocery store I was hooked.

When the industry came back, I was just old enough to care, but not really old enough to make any sort of rational judgement. So I was begging for 2600s because of TV ads, and NESes because... hey, I'd actually PLAYED them. They made the picture on the TV move when you pushed buttons! And everyone else had one...

...

I don't think I was evr really aware that the Master System was an actual game machine. I saw an ad or 2, even a demo unit once(really pretty hardware).

 

Stupid NES was the top of my birthday and christmas wish lists for 5 years and nothing. Then we got the SNES in its first year of life because MY SISTER expressed a mild interest in games.

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I've gotten every system I've wanted eventually, though in a lot of cases years after it was discontinued. But if I want a system, I never stop wanting it and I don't forget that once you can buy them on Ebay for 20 bucks.

 

But here's my list of systems I wanted but had to wait until later for:

 

1. Atari 2600 - my cousins had one and we played it all the time. By the time I could convince my parents to buy a game system, though, the Intellivision was out and we got that instead. I don't regret that - I love my Intellivision - but I still picked up a 2600 eventually.

 

2. Coleco Vision - my friend across the street (a girl, no less) had one of these and I was over at her house playing every single night. It was like the coolest thing ever, we couldn't believe how powerful it was. I finally got one in like 2001.

 

3. Neo Geo AES - this was always like a holy grail to me, totally arcade-perfect gameplay in a system for rich people. I picked one up in a trade in 2002.

 

4. Sega Saturn - I was a poor college student when the PS1/Saturn were warring and I couldn't afford either one, so I asked my mom for one for Christmas. At the time (1995), the Saturn had a better lineup but it was already clear that the PS1 probably had a better future. So I asked for a PS1. Again, I don't regret that, but I always knew I was missing out on some great games. I finally bought one in 2000 for $50 with the three-pack of games.

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Colecovision is the BIG one of course.  I wanted a Sega Genesis at the time.  I was too old to get it as a gift and I was too broke at the time to buy one.

1017828[/snapback]

 

Sounds a little like me.

Not coming from money, my parents bought me a hand-me-down Atari 2600 and a few games in the early 80's but when I saw the Colecovision that my spoiled cousin got, the 2600 never quite looked the same after that. That Colecovision system had my total envy for many years after UNTIL I finally had the money and splurged on a bunch of systems and accessories with new/sealed and used games. This is my prized classic game collection today.

 

The Sega Genesis came out at the time I graduated college but didn't have much money to spend and sure as heck didn't dare ask my parents to buy it for me. BUT, I scrounged together the money and bought the original system (the Sega Genesis 1 system w/ Sonic 1, which I clearly remember nervously forking out $140 in cash to the Electronics Boutique cashier the week before Christmas) and over those following years accumulated a great collection of games which I still have today and play (my second largest collection).

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The Atari 400/800/XL/XE line of personal computers, which would eventually include the XE Game System. I only borrowed the XE Game System from a friend of mine for about a year in 1993-94, including whatever game disks he managed to keep. My only contributions to his collection were Pac-Man, Star Raiders, and Pole Position. Not bad, but still I wish I could've gotten that as my family's personal computer rather than the Timex Sinclair 1000.

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Odyssey 2--Quest for the Rings was the reason I wanted this system more than a 2600. I was into D&D as well. At the time (1981) the quality of games between the two systems wasn't so clear cut. I vacillated between the two before my parents got me a 2600 for Christmas. They made the right choice for me.

 

Intellivision--Always wanted one to complement my 2600. I would have loved to have owned all three systems, but only remember one or two kids who had more than one same generation system back then. And it was the really rich kids.

 

Atari 5200--Okay, my first computer was an Atari 800 XL and this system takes me back, without all the disks and other crap to mess with.

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This is harder for me to answer, cause most of the systems that I wanted growing up, I went back and got later. Really, the only one that I can think of wanting back in the day that I still don't have is the Jaguar CD. (I guess I had kind of a passing interest in the NEC FX and the Amiga32)

 

I suppose I didn't get an xbox360 for christmas or my birthday like I kinda hoped. But that's really no big deal. I've been kinda lukewarm to the 360 thusfar anyway.

 

But here is the list of the ones I didn't get in their time, that I had to go back for later:

 

Atari7800

Mastersystem

TurboDuo (Turbografix 16)

Neo Geo AES (and CD)

CD-i (though the magnavox top load and not the original phillips front load like I had really wanted)

Jaguar

3DO

 

 

and then some ones that I had never had any interest in in the day, but have developed interest in later and bought later:

 

Odyssey 2

Atari5200

Intellivision

Collecovision

Commodore128

Atari800XL

 

And a system that I had no interest in at the time, and would like to get now, but still haven't got is the Commodore Amiga.

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I've always wanted to invest in a neo geo console..even more now that when I was growing up; I was/still am a big fan of all those old neo geo fighters from back in the day, and always thought playing them at home would be very nice.

 

aside from that, the neo geo cd console..and I'd like to start collecting the japanese counteparts of some of my fav nintendo consoles eventually..dunno why.

 

oh, and I'd like to buy a top loading nes so that I could once again enjoy my carts worry free.

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Oh, I forgot. since I'm a semi huge nec fan (console wise) I've always wanted both the supergrafx and the aforementioned nec pc-fx consoles. at the time when they both debuted I didn't have enough to import them and now that I found some places that sell them, I see they are still going for high prices.

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Someone else mentioned it, which reminded me.... I always wanted an Amiga CD32. Only one store in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex carried it, as far as I know. They had it for $300, and all their software was full price, if not slightly inflated above the suggested retail price. Metropolitan Computers was a Commodore dealer, and they never, ever discounted anything. They had four and five year old game programs sitting on their shelves for $50 each, even though they probably wouldn't run on the then-current AGA Amigas. They had bad customer service, so I didn't like shopping there. If they weren't such jerks to customers who weren't buying a fortune worth of computer equiptment, I might have bought a CD32 from them. I've never seen a CD32 since, and i've regretted not buying one for all these years.

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I always wanted a ColecoVision. The Games & Gadgets store had one in their big display of consoles and I'd hang out and watch the older kids play Donkey Kong.

 

Years before that I really wanted an Odyssey 2. A neighbor had one and I loved the Quest for the Rings game. I had a 2600 but my limited selection of games didn't have anything like that.

 

I also remember really wanting an Arcadia 2001, of all things. They were on sale for some incredibly low price at Luskin's, a electronics discount chain back in the day, and I begged my Dad to get me one. He took one look at the screenshots on the box and realized that I'd just be disappointed, so no Arcadia for me. Maybe I'll see one at a yard sale some day. :)

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