The Hot Topic Returns

[OCH]

Which reminds me, DQ8 is the most I've ever been impressed by a sequel. 

[Nag]

No "official" question this week... we're coming up to holiday season so I'm guessing I'll be needing people's questions, if you have any feel free to message me and I'll use them over Xmas...👍

 

 

Quote

Nag says... what was your first gaming console or computer and how was this introduced in to your life? And what was the first gaming console or computer you bought using your own money?

 

[shinymcshine]

"Blip" was the first 'electronic game' that I remember us having - albeit it was an electro-mechanical (clockwork) mechanism, moving an LED.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blip_(console)

 

My mate had a Grandstand TV console, then he later got an Atari VCS (his dad worked in oil, travelled a lot, so was relatively loaded) - so played Space Invaders and Combat a fair bit 

 

My older brother got a 48k Spectrum at release, so I played on that loads, my parents then got a Tatung Einstein for free when they bought a TV & VCR in mid 80s, before I bought a 2nd hand C64 myself once I'd started working.

 

[OCH]

There were other, ancient machines beforehand. But I've forgotten them now. The NES was our first console. Christmas '89 I think? It was The Big Thing of that Christmas. It came with Duck Hunt and SMB1. That's all we had for some time and that was enough. In line with the typical Nintendo ethos, the whole family got involved. We all took turns at Duck Hunt and Dad even discovered the 'over the top' warp pipes in 1-2 of SMB 1, before we did. Never let us forget it either..

 

Pretty sure, towards the end of it's life cycle, the SNES was the first console I bought with my own money. It was £99 and came with LTTP and Mario All-Stars. I didn't have it for more than a year. But I didn't buy (or want) any other games for it. Most of the SNES library I played at friends & cousins. Since we were a Mega Drive 2 house.

[DANGERMAN]

the first one I played was a table top arcade machine of Space Invaders that my adult neighbours brought around for some reason. I didn't play it for long because my parents and my neighbours were stood around watching me, not a fan of that at the time, now I'd be grateful of the views 

 

The first one we had was... I think, an Amstrad. I can't remember the order because we got a few things within a few years of each other, but my memory is that we got an Atari after a NES (which was given back to whoever we got it from), so I think the CPC 464 was the first thing we had. My dad said he got it for work, which was optimistic because we didn't have the means to save or print

 

We'd have also had those Tiger games, like the Turtles one, and WWF ones. And I had a few of those watches that were games, from memory a WWF one, Mario, Sonic and Zelda

[Nag]

I'd like to say our first gaming console was some Pong thing but none of the pictures I can find seem to match what I remember so I'll go with the Atari 2600 instead. I had loads of games but some of the ones I remember fondly were Kangaroo, The Return of the Jedi and Yars Revenge.

 

First console I bought for myself was the Playstation along with Resident Evil 2... got it on one of those credit agreement deals with Currys.🤣

[spatular]

Yeah we had a pong thing, well it was my grandads i think, it was bright orange so easy to google, apparently it was a binatone mk 4 or similar, looks like there were a few versions. We had a wooden atari 2600 that was given to us and a vic 20 also given to us so we had these after they were popular so not really sure what order we had them in. Most consoles i had as a kid were either given to us or got for xmas or something, then i played on the family pc a lot, so think the first console i bought was an n64 when they were on the way out as i remember the console cost around £70. Think the first console i bought near (maybe a month after) launch was gamecube.

 

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8408065/binatone-tv-master-mk6-computer-game-computer

[HandsomeDead]

My first gaming thing was this:

 

 

It played a version of Space Invaders that had a Galaga-esque mode as well.  I got this pic from an eBay listing selling it for £750.  Wild.

I'd get a ZX Spectrum not long after this.

 

I bought my N64 with a combo of Xmas and birthday money if that counts.  If not and we're just counting our own earned money well it would be the OG Xbox.  The GC I got a little while earlier was an Xmas gift.

[Jimboxy]

ZX Spectrum 128k was my first computer, I got it for Christmas with a 14 inch telly, I think it would have been 88 or 89, I remember I asked for a computer but was definitely too young to have it probably and would almost certainly have been better with a 2600 or something. First console was a Master System 2 that came with Sonic 1, Barcelona 92 and Alex Kidd built it. Loved that console, had loads of games for it whilst it was the machine I had.

[Nag]

My brother had Astro Wars... I had this bad boy.

 

 

I'd spend hours on it.

[mfnick]

Master System. Specifically the 2nd updated model with built in Alex The Kidd. Was given as a gift & had a proper tiny Tv in corner of the room they set it up for me with. Instantly hooked.
 

First one I bought with my own money was a 2nd hand Commodore 64 with a loads of games (a lot of copies) during the MD or Saturn era - not sure which. Got it for under £20 for the lot. 
 

First new console I bought for myself was the original Xbox. First console owned at launch was a 360. 

[one-armed dwarf]

My answer is boring, got a ps1 when I was 10 which had the immense FA Premier League Stars on it. If I recall the ai was so bad that goalies couldn't handle cross ins, or I might be thinking about one of the ISS games not sure.

 

Bought an xbox 360 during the first month of my first part time job at 16. Played Oblivion on a tiny CRT, I think it looked better on that CRT. 

 

Then the xbox died 3 months later. lmao

[HandsomeDead]

I think it was Xmas 97 I got a PS1 so I was 13 but growing up poor meant I did experience a lot of early gaming stuff but then it moved so fast then.

I did have an OG (the most beautiful) Master System but I only ever played the in built version of Super Hang-On an California Games. My mother never bought games for it until we upgraded to a Mega Drive, which came bundled with Sonic which must have been Xmas '91 (I'd be 7 soon 8 ) so my experience with the pre 16 bit era was a very brief thing.

 

Oh yeah, and I played my Spectrum on a small black & white TV.  Hooking up to the living room colour was a rare luxury.  That's my it was all fields in my day post

[DANGERMAN]

3 hours ago, HandsomeDead said:

My first gaming thing was this:

 

 

It played a version of Space Invaders that had a Galaga-esque mode as well.  I got this pic from an eBay listing selling it for £750.  Wild.

I'd get a ZX Spectrum not long after this.

 

 

I bet this would still look pretty cool. I think I saw one at a convention and it still looked sharp. Maybe not worth £750 but I'd like one 

[Nag]

11 minutes ago, HandsomeDead said:

Oh yeah, and I played my Spectrum on a small black & white TV.  Hooking up to the living room colour was a rare luxury.  That's my it was all fields in my day post

 

Pretty much the same thing for me, gaming on a black and white TV with that dial thing that you had to search for the signal like a radio... Barbarian II on the colour TV was a rare treat indeed.😍

[shinymcshine]

Yep, basic CRT TVs were so expensive years ago - so you usually ended up with the old B&W one (or a B&W portable) for the computer when family 'upgraded' to a colour TV.

 

I remember renting my first colour TV before finally buying one on HP from Rumbelows - back when a 24" screen was considered a "big screen".

 

 

[HandsomeDead]

10 minutes ago, DANGERMAN said:

 

I bet this would still look pretty cool. I think I saw one at a convention and it still looked sharp. Maybe not worth £750 but I'd like one 

 

It is a cool thing.  The screen is more like a port hole you look through where the actual display is further down in the system.  I was fascinated with it as a kid.

[retroed]

4 hours ago, HandsomeDead said:

My first gaming thing was this:

 

 

It played a version of Space Invaders that had a Galaga-esque mode as well.  I got this pic from an eBay listing selling it for £750.  Wild.

 

I still have mine. 😊

 

 

They don't go for that much typically, most completed listings on eBay unboxed are around the fifty quid mark. Great game, though.

 

 

[DANGERMAN]

If we're talking first consoles we bought, mine was a 2nd hand Game Gear. If I had to guess, it will have been Christmas and birthday money to get it from the local 2nd hand shop. 

 

My first new console, to the surprise of no one was the Dreamcast, which I got on the Japanese release (then PAL release). After that it was the Neo Geo Pocket Colour 

[radiofloyd]

First computer we owned was a Windows 3.1 PC which had Fantasy World Dizzy on it, which I loved, and a very simple game called Gorillas (or Gorillaz) which involved throwing boomerangs over skyscrapers to hit each other. It was fun. 
 

First console I bought with my own money was probably the 3DS. Still need to play the 3DS library properly though.