How did you come to enjoy classic gaming?

[mister_C]

I was born in 85, so my first gaming experiences came with my parents' Colecovision (one of their wedding presents--I think it's cool to have a Nintendo-branded game cartridge - Donkey Kong - before they actually made any of their wildly successful home consoles).

My first Super Mario Bros. (my #1 favorite classic game and favorite game of all time) experience was on a Nintendo Vs. System or Playchoice 10 (my grandfather owned video arcades back at that time). I think the Vs. System Super Mario Bros. was modified to be more difficult (kind of like the Jap SMB 2) so that it sucked more quarters from gamers. Of course I just used a key to open the coin mechanism and flipped a switch to give myself more credits lol.

 

[rikuumi]

My first console was a SNES

 

[Attila13]

1. When I was 3 a got my NES with SMB (Still have it but now with 100+ games!

)
2. When I was 7 I got my SNeS with SMW (Still have it but now with 100+ games as well!

)

I still remember when I was in the 1st grade my friends and I were impatient to get home to play!
And my friends were very jealous because I was the only one who owned not one, but two video game consoles!

I know you think that it's weird that in 2000 only a few had the chance to own a NES or an SNeS... But here in Romania in the region where I live was vary hard to find a video game console back then...
But I was lucky with my aunt who lived in Hungary and bought the consoles there!

 

[revron]

I played around with my dad's old Game & Watch, and it kind of moved from there.

Same here! I still have it too. Its Donkey Kong, the one where you climb up ladders and dodge barrels.

I grew up with alot of the stuff most kids call retro games though. My first system was a NES, I own about everything that came after that nowadays.

 

[dsfanatic5]

This may a longer post, but for those interested, this is my experience in gaming.

I was born in 1980, and my first memory of gaming was when my neighbor pushed a bar stool up to a Tron arcade machine so I could reach the controls. This Tron arcade machine had a clear-blue throttle joystick that glowed, and naturally I was drawn to it.

At the age of five, I remember spending the night at my friend's house, and his older brothers had an Atari 2600, and I only watched them play it. Soon my uncle would give me an original Pong machine, and that was fun for a while. Within a couple years, my friends were new owners of the Nintendo Entertainment System, so I was exposed to great games like Castlevania, Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, and many more. It was a while before we would have an NES of our own.

During this whole time, the arcade scene was amazing. Not only were there full-blown arcades all over the place, every bowling alley, movie theater, convenient store, and pizza parlor had a plethora of great games. Back then arcade games were far superior to home game consoles, so you actually left the house to get the best gaming experience. It wasn't strange to think, "Wow, I couldn't even imagine having this at home."

Video games were advancing at a furious pace, and soon the home experience was getting better. I remember when Street Fighter II released for the Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo systems. It was the first time I felt like we owned the arcade experience. As more titles like this released, there was less incentive to go to the arcade and dump quarters into the machines. Pretty soon the home experience was offering up the arcade, and things were about to change.

Keep in mind that there were plenty of console exclusive games that you couldn't find in the arcade, like Zelda (RPG adventure games don't make good arcade games). To this day, I can say that the Playstation 1 was the console that made arcades obsolete. Not even the flashy 3-D games in the arcade could keep someone from playing equal games in their home. Arcades were closing by this time, and machines were disappearing from convenient stores, and many other locations.

Once home computers took off, and became advanced enough, the world of emulation was born. Some may argue that it's piracy, but many enthusiasts agree that it's "Preservation." As if I took a time machine into the future, I was now playing the games that "I couldn't even imagine having at home" (read above). Some of these games have been released in collections on various platforms, but many died in the minds of older gamers, and fell into obscurity. I love emulation, I love preservation, and I often go back and revisit the games I grew up on. That's how I came to enjoy classic gaming, I've just loved gaming since I was young.

 

[PaullyG]

i was born in 1978, grew up with Game & Watch games, Dad bought an Atari 8-bit computer when I was 5 and I've played hell out of that thing over the years (I still have it and it still works). By the time I got to school a few friends had C64's and like has been previously mentioned arcade machines had immense draw back then. My early arcade exposure was to games like Space Invaders, Pac-man, Galaxian, Centipede, Joust, Dig-Dug etc. back in the days when cabinets were mostly wood veneer finished and cocktail table machines were common.

 

[BloodyFlame]

I was born in 1998, no classic gaming there. However, I bought various SNES ports for my GBA, for example, Super Mario World. I later found out that there was an original, which my cousins own. I played it and noticed a lot of other SNES games they had and played them. From there, I discovered NES and various other older generation consoles.

 

[Forstride]

Born in 1992, grew up with the N64 and Game Boy [Color], which are considered classics now obviously. Over the years, I'd end up finding out about classic games through the internet, friends, etc.

I prefer classic gaming over modern gaming, but I'm not one of those people that has their nostalgia goggles strapped to tight to their face.

 

[choconado]

I was born in 80, and my first system was a 2600.

Something else has got my attention in this discussion though: once you get to a (surprisingly still quite old) age, you stop appreciating the arcades. This confuses me because the arcades were still fantastic and king of the video game world into the early 90's at the least (Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat kept them alive quite a bit longer too--now it's pretty much DDR and nothing) Not to sound elite or nothing, but you can't really be a true retro enthusiast without having SOME enthusiasm for the wooden forebears of the genre.

 

[linuxGuru]

I was born in 1992. I grew up with an N64 and a gameboy. About 5 years ago I found out about emulation and flash carts, and have started enjoying classic games ever since.

 

[pistone]

well for me started when my father bought the firs pc (dos) the first game ever was snake.....also a game with gorillas in top of some buildings i cant really remember its name (no it not kingkong)
then i played the old atari console that my cousin just bough (back in time) and then become mine for like 3 days before die

and in the end my first new console was a rip off of the originaal nes console it was called terminator 2

..........but yeah thats everything

 

[Ikki]

When I was little, from when I was like 6 to when I was like 10 I went to a friend's house and played Super Mario on his NES. Time and time again, Super Mario. Nothing else. Super Mario.

I guess growing up with that game made me love retro games in general.

 

[yuyuyup]

I was born in 80, and my first system was a 2600.

Something else has got my attention in this discussion though: once you get to a (surprisingly still quite old) age, you stop appreciating the arcades. This confuses me because the arcades were still fantastic and king of the video game world into the early 90's at the least (Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat kept them alive quite a bit longer too--now it's pretty much DDR and nothing) Not to sound elite or nothing, but you can't really be a true retro enthusiast without having SOME enthusiasm for the wooden forebears of the genre.

What's to appreciate ? I rarely ever see any new arcade game, they must be a huge investment, this economy simply can't afford such luxury for the little people. Go find a rich relative to buy you a ps3.

 

[Snailface]

I was born a long time ago (don't ask).

I think this was my first system (Odessey2), but it could have been the 2600 (hard to remember -- too many beers between then and now

) . There weren't many games for it, but overall, they were pretty fun. By the time I moved on to the more popular Atari 2600, the great video game crash of 1983 was already well underway. I remember wondering why all the games were suddenly $3, lol. Good times. Then, a couple years later, the NES happened. I've been married to videogames ever since. Oddly enough, I didn't get involved in 'The Scene' until a little less then a year ago.

Best decision I ever made, now I'm reliving my childhood and drowning in nostalgia.

These are the best times.

 

[Arm73]

I born in 1973, so I was around in the early 80s when classic games where still in their infancy...lots of room to improve from Asteroids to King of fighters 94 !
But I must say, I started appreciating classics when I found out about emulators around 1994 ( the ZX Spectrum was the first I found out and then MAME ), since I was bored with newer games at the time ( which nor are regarded as classics on their own! ) I enjoyed playing other 8-bits games I missed on when I was a kid ( C64, MSX, Amstrad CPC and so on ), and constantly looked for newer, better emulators on my PC.
Then the GBA came along, and people started porting emulators, but it wasnt powerful enough.
Then things got better on the DS and PSP, bu there is always room for improvement.
Now that we have emulators for just about everything, it's exciting to see new hardware on the way ( Wii U, PSV ) that would make emulation even better !
Classics will never die, it's especially nice to test new emulators every once in a while that breed new life into older software, like the Virtual Boy emulator for the Wii did just that recently !

 

[Sop]

I was born in 1999.. But my brother let me play his old SNES and NES. And my first handheld was the gameboy, gotta love that ol' gameboy.

 

[Nujui]

My dad had a Nes emulator on his computer, I played that a lot as a kid.

 

[Schlupi]

When I was born back in 1992, my Dad owned a NES and SNES, with a library of over 300+ games. I played and attempted to beat every one at the age of 1 and a half (I actually have recollection to about 2 years). My first ever games were things like Super Mario Bros. trilogy, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong, you know... the classics. Was shot out the womb playing video games, will ALWAYS have appreciation for the greats from back in the day. Honestly... I would rather pick up a SNES controller instead of a 360 controller and play 90% of the time.

 

[VashTS]

being born in the mid to late 80s ( i was born in 84) i think was/is the best time to be alive. you got to imagine what shit would be like in the future, and then experience it. it seems to me like stuff between 1940-late 90s didn't really advance that greatly (tech wise i know it did, but what the consumer experienced really didn't).

now i feel like my son is going to be brought into an amazing time for technology and will not appreciate what it has become. the road to now down the tech highway has really been an amazing journey for me.

it really blows my mind im sitting behind a 4 core 2.4 ghz pc. it seems like yesterday my amd k6-2 400mhz was top of the line. my son will be starting from the beginning like me so he can see what has happened in the past 30 years for gaming.

i got into classic gaming by living through it. honestly the best way to have experienced it. you truly cannot appreciate mario until that is all you have to play. in this day and age if you don't like a game or have a hard time with it, play something else. there are thousands of games to play that can be played for free or if you wish by pirating. really depreciates the quality.

[/rant]

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

Born in 1980, I got to experience the Atari 2600 firsthand at an early age, and the the incredible upgrade that was the NES. Then the Sega Genesis, the SNES, the Sega 32x, the Playstation.
Watching this industry build and transform itself has been incredible. And though we all knew where the games were going, seeing just how far they've gone is truly amazing.
I love my modern first-person-shooters, RPGs, real-time-strategies, tactical RPGs, et cetera..
but I wouldn't trade all my hours competing with my dad in (somewhat cheesy) classics like Combat, North & South, RBI Baseball, Lethal Enforcers, or PGA Golf for anything.