Here's my entry. So, when I was 4, I laid eyes on Final Fantasy for the first time via Final Fantasy II (IV in Japan). My mind was absolutely blown. Up to this point, I had only played NES platformers and a few other random games, so the content of the game was massive to me and the story and characters was unlike anything I ever experienced. I was completely entranced and I begged my cousin to let me borrow his SNES to compete the game. He told me I could borrow his system, but unfortunately the game was just a rental and needed to be returned the following day. So, I needed to find a way to get the game on my own. I asked my friend who also recently got a SNES if he owned Final Fantasy, to which he said, "yeah." I immediately entered hype mode and asked to borrow it. He told me he didn't really like it, so I could have it. I was absolutely floored. Naturally, I couldn't wait to get home and play it. So, after hanging out for a short time, I ran home at top speeds and slapped the game in. Nothing could tarnish this moment. Then, the game booted, displaying a cutscene of some robots walking in the snow. I remember being so confused. Did I grab the wrong game from him? I looked at the label and it definitely said Final Fantasy. Then, why is the beginning of the game so very different than I recalled? You see, being only 4, I hadn't yet learned what Roman numerals were. The game I was playing was Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan). I of course ended up playing through it anyways and absolutely adored every second of it. Then, next time I saw my cousin, I returned his SNES and told him that I played a completely different version of Final Fantasy, which he didn't believe. So, I showed him and as a result, we went years assuming every cartridge of Final Fantasy was unique and different. It wasn't until Final Fantasy X came out (Age 8) that I realized the Roman numerals existed and knew how to read them. Man did I feel stupid. Anyways, that's my overly drawn out memory of playing Final Fantasy for the first time.

 

Waking up on Saturday morning 6 o'clock, eating Pizza leftovers from my parents, drinking cocoa and playing Mario Kart 64 or Beetle Adventure Racing.

 

Retro games were the best had most console and games.

But my favourite memory was when me and my brother used to play the original Sensible world of soccer. we would bet a small amount of money on who would win. one day while my brother was in the toliet I changed the next match from 2 player to one player verses computer on hard. i made it look like i was playing and my brother was getting so frustrated cause he couldn't score against "me" he picked up the joystick with the suckers on the bottom and slammed it on the tv screen and broke the TV

We are now adults and he still doesn't know I changed it to him playing the computer on hard.

 

I was born into a house with an NES, and we didn't update our console until the N64, so all of my earliest retro gaming memories are from that console. I can remember games like Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Contra being the first games I truly could get into as a kid, the things I actually got lost in and would play ad-nauseum despite being a tiny child and completely unable to pass more than the first few worlds/stages in either, (lack of save slots didn't exactly help either), but my fondest memories with those games come from my sister and I playing together in co-op. Those games were hard for me, and even harder for her, being 4 years younger than I, but with enough coaxing I could get her to at least begin playing with me, even if she would die soon. She'd often get frustrated and want to quit, which is why it was so hard to get her to play in the first place, but I think it was being able to share those worlds and experiences I loved with someone else and work towards a shared goal together, offering encouragement and covering each other's backs, that left some of the biggest impressions on my memory. Maybe it isn't exactly retro-gaming-centric as much as it is tangential, but it's the first thing that came to mind when I thought of my favorite and most prominent memories playing retro games.

 

It sucks when you come from a big family and you would always spend time with them growing up and then finally.... you all do grow up. As of now, i'm the only child left in the house and that is only because i drive to college while my siblings live on campuses at different schools, or are married. When we were all young and still in the house, i remember times where it was way passed our bedtime, but me and my twin sister Sydney would always play Mario Kart 64 way into the night. What was so memorable was a lot of the times, our parents would walk in and they wouldn't immediately send us to bed, but rather they would pick up the controllers and play with us. Those were always fun times. Some of us would sit on my bed while others would sit on the floor and almost all 7 members of my family would be playing or watching us play Mario Kart. We could have played the gamecube or the xbox, but we always went to Mario Kart. It was something our whole family could do and wanted to do. I miss those days.

 

To be honest my dearest memory is not a very appealing one i was 6 and i wasnt doing too good in school and my father told me, if i did well in the next exam he would give me an N64, so i studied and got a B and he said ok les go buy it, my class ended late that day so when i was out it was around 18:30 the store closed at 19 so i went running there and i didnt realize there was a glass door, open on one side closed on the other and BAM right in the door with my face i busted up my lips and my front theet got abit out of place.

While my lips all swolen up i still said to my dad we will get the console and them take care of the rest lol, i left the store with an n64 and mario kart64 as my first console ever and a broken bleeding lip and theet.

then years later i had to wear braces to put my theeth back in the correct place but i still remenber that day of getting my n64 with mario kart 64 with found memorys.

 

may luck be in my favor! that looks cool, but onward with my gameboy memory, because hell yeah i have some of my best memories playing gameboy.

me and my grandmother were very close growing up. we spent a ton of time together. my parents were very young (and loved to party hard) so i was sent to her house quite a bit. she used to take me to the grocery store at like 5am when i slept over. one morning we walked past the customer service desk at Shoprite and i spotted a gameboy game called Serpent. it looked awesome from the box art and it did not disappoint. i spent many hours playing serpent and to this day i still do. i have world record for any % completion on speedrun.com!

every time i play, i remember my grandmother and its in her honor. she died in 2008 very suddenly from a heart attack after years of diabetes.

 

I loved playing pokemon yellow on the gbc. I remember my uncle finding the game on the ground and giving it to me. Didnt have a gameboy at that and managed to get one cheap, so i could play the game.

 

I remember when the SNES was released and playing Super Mario World i spent hours playing beating and completing that game it took a long time to complete some of my best memories with that system and being a kid i wish i could bring those days back.