My dad had a PS1 but I played on it more than he did. He only used it for FIFA, Smackdown! and Resident Evil. I’d wake up early to play Disney’s Hercules, Inspector Gadgets Crazy Maze, Mickey’s Wild Adventure or Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase before I had to leave for nursery (9am I think). Got a PS2 a year after release in 2001. Think it came with 007 Agent Under Fire. Favourite game for it was Spyro A Hero’s Tail. First game I picked out for it was Spyro Enter the Dragonfly. I loved how many movies got their own game. The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Coraline, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Scooby Doo Mystery Mayhem smacked too. Then got a Game Boy micro with a dual bundle. I think it was Crash N-Tranced 2 and Spyro Season of Ice. Wasn’t really into the GBA outside of Pokémon and Crash Bandicoot. I’ve still never played Pokémon Emerald. Only had Ruby and Sapphire for it. Then got the original DS with Pokémon Diamond, Guitar Hero on Tour and Madagascar. Again, didn’t play much outside of Pokémon and Guitar Hero. Then got a PSP with GTA Liberty City Stories. Favourite game for that was Silent Hill: Origins. Became a huge fan of Silent Hill at that point eventually getting every game for the PS2, PSP and 360. Got the Wii Christmas after release. Spent all of my time on it either playing Night at the Museum 2 or Animal Crossing City Folk. By this point I realised Nintendo just wasn’t for me. The handful of Nintendo games I like, I really liked and could play them for days. But there were just so few of them. Overlord A Dark Legend was my favourite game for the Wii. Then in 2011 I get the Xbox 360 S and lost years of my life to Skyrim, MW3 and New Vegas. New Vegas is still my favourite game. I didn’t turn 18 until 2015 but I kept my 360 without upgrading to a PS4 Pro until 2017.
What about you? Which consoles did you play before turning 18? What games did you have for them? What were your favourite games for each console?
When I was very small, my Father brought home a Vectrex. I played and played and played that thing. I loved Spike, and Armour Attack, and Scramble.
Around my 9th birthday, my Father bought me a Sega Master System. I played Quartet first. On that console, Phantasy Star made me fall in love with RPGs, and Zillion gave me love for what would later be called Metroidvania games. I played some Nintendo at my friend’s houses, but I was thought my Sega was cooler.
The first console I saved up for and bought myself was a Sega Genesis. Sonic 1 and 2, Phantasy Star 2 and 3, Toejam and Earl, and Shining Force 1 and 2 made those some of the happiest video game years of my life… I picked up a SNES later and got into their suite of RPGs. FF6 and Chrono Trigger took my life over for a time.
Sega CD came next. Not exactly a banger, but there was some fun to be had. Sewer Shark and Dark Wizard both stand out the most.
Then came the PlayStation era… Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7, and… Too many to count. I skipped out on the N64 cause RPGs were my life at this point and Nintendo had very little to offer this gen in that regard.
By now I had a job, and steady income, so ever since I’ve just bought every console every generation… PS2, Xbox, and GameCube were a great Trinity to have on the shelf together, though I’d say the PS2 got the most love that generation.
Xbox 360 was my favorite next. I loved the controller, and the UI once the Blades update happened… The Wii was… Ok… The PS3 had a worse controller and an ugly UI imho.
Then the XBox One kind of… stunk? At first at least. I jumped on board with my PS4 and it became my primary console. XBox One was largely ignored save for a few gems. Quantum Break being the one that stands out the most. The WiiU was pretty weak. I think I played a couple RPGs but they all looked pretty bland and muddy.
This gen is pretty even. I LOVE my series X, and I LOVE my PS5. Not sure I could pick a favorite, yet. The Switch is OK… I think maybe Nintendo just had never really been my bag. I like Zelda games, but Mario never really did it for me. I was never really into Pokemon either.
I feel nostalgic now.