Old home video game systems/handhelds you had, what games and when you got them?

[retrorussell]

Hey all.
Search your memory banks as well as you can for all the home game systems or handheld video games and what games you got for them!

Oh man.. I gotta REALLY dig through them old memory banks..

1970s:

In the 70s we had but a PONG type of game for a short while.  Multiple versions in one that had like PONG doubles, Quadrapong, and other paddle games in one console plugged into your TV. 


Handheld games I had: Tomy's BLIP and DIGITAL DERBY I got at some point in the mid to late 70s.  But my favorite handheld was MERLIN, which needed 6(!) AA batteries.  6 games were played on an 11 button pad, also with buttons for New Game, Same Game, Hit Me and Comp Turn.  I was proud I personally saved $37 for this out of my allowance money!




I'll later post my 80s consoles/handhelds.  Including our belated purchase of the Atari 2600 (originally released in 1977).

I also had some mini pinball games (with lights/sfx): POP UP PINBALL and ATOMIC ARCADE from the late 70s.

Have at it!

[Alex]

The first console we had, had simple bat and ball games on it like Pong. I don't recall the make or model. Later on we upgraded to an Atari with big grey cartridges. I remember playing some of the earliest computer games on that. We only bought 3 or 4 games for that though, as the ZX Spectrum came along.

[Rev. Powell]

Hey all.
Search your memory banks as well as you can for all the home game systems or handheld video games and what games you got for them!

Oh man.. I gotta REALLY dig through them old memory banks..

1970s:

In the 70s we had but a PONG type of game for a short while.  Multiple versions in one that had like PONG doubles, Quadrapong, and other paddle games in one console plugged into your TV. 

My family had that one!

The only standalone game system I've ever owned was a 2600. Once PCs arrived I saw no sense in separate consoles.

On the 2600 we had "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids," both of which played well. "Adventure" was cool but once you solved it, you were pretty much done. I think "Defender" translated well. There were a lot of games that didn't play too well on the low-res system; I think they never came out with a decent sports game. Tennis, basketball, football all pretty much sucked.

[ER]

Not 100-percent the same thing but in a thrift store in about 1987 I found this robot called 2XL, made in the '70s, I think, and it came with all these 8-tracks of games and programs. Considering I found it in the age of my dad's Mac SE and its decently advanced games, 2XL was surprisingly fun.

[retrorussell]

We got our Atari 2600 around Christmas of 1981.

Early on we got Asteroids (still one of the best games for the system) and Adventure.  Later on we got Bowling, Mario Bros., Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Venture, Defender, Mouse Trap and others.  I had a monthly checklist to improve my grades/schoolwork and if I succeeded in filling it out I got a new game.
Fun little handheld I got I think the following Xmas of 1982:
EPOCH-MAN

Fun little Pac-Man knockoff that also acted as a calendar, stopwatch, and clock.  I was good enough to play forever on it.  I think I got a TI-99 computer the same Xmas.
CRAZY CLIMBER

Handheld version of the earlier arcade hit.  I was "crazy" (heh) about the game so a handheld version was a dream come true!  My grandparents got this for me probably in 1982 for my birthday.  Cost them 50 bucks!
One more 80s handheld:
COMPUTER PERFECTION
I think I also got this from my grandparents-- early to mid 80s or so.  Play 4 games on a weird console with a plastic pull-back dome.  Not terrible from what I remember.  I think it took 4 9 volt batteries but if you had 3 it still worked!

More memories to come..

[Rev. Powell]

I forgot, Atari's version of "Missile Command" was pretty successful, too.

[retrorussell]

Got my Nintendo Entertainment System a couple years after its US release, in 1987 at Toys R Us.  I got Super Mario Bros. as the pack-in title and also got Kung Fu.  I was totally hooked and impressed at the graphics, as well as the hidden tricks and 1ups.  I eventually got more classic games for it like Castlevania, Blaster Master, Guardian Legend, Bases Loaded, Zelda, and several others.  I had just moved to Auburn, WA from Portland to live with my mom/stepdad for a few years or so.


I moved on to the Sega Genesis in either 1990 or 1991.  John Madden Football, ESWAT and Altered Beast were some of the earliest titles I got for it.  Later the first couple Sonic games, DJ Boy, Insector X, and several other games.  Also got the Game Genie cheat device for it.


And also got the Game Boy handheld system.  Some of the games I remember having: Alleyway, Solar Striker, Burgertime Deluxe, Dig Dug, Tetris, and Balloon Kid.  Great fun, albeit with an awful olive screen.


More to come later..

[ralfy]

Mattel Electronic Football Handheld Game

Pong

Game & Watch

[zombie no.one]

console-wise we had a Master System 2... then moved on to Playstation 1... both consoles were ace.

We only bought 3 or 4 games for that though, as the ZX Spectrum came along.

my dad won a zx spectrum in a competition on the back of a box of cornflakes. spent half my childhood / teens on it. I also spent a couple of years trying to write a football management game (like there weren't already a zillion others) but by the time I'd got it mostly completed, the spectrum was pretty much done with...

there were literally thousands of zx spectrum games. too many to even list my favourites but Jet Set Willy might be my all time fav

[WingedSerpent]

The very first console I owned, and by that I mean I owned it-not my brother, or was a family system was this:


Never had a Game Boy, I had this.  It was the superior system and I will fight you to prove it.

[Alex]

console-wise we had a Master System 2... then moved on to Playstation 1... both consoles were ace.

We only bought 3 or 4 games for that though, as the ZX Spectrum came along.

my dad won a zx spectrum in a competition on the back of a box of cornflakes. spent half my childhood / teens on it. I also spent a couple of years trying to write a football management game (like there weren't already a zillion others) but by the time I'd got it mostly completed, the spectrum was pretty much done with...

there were literally thousands of zx spectrum games. too many to even list my favourites but Jet Set Willy might be my all time fav

Never did manage to complete Jet Set Willy, although I did get Manic Miner done.

[HappyGilmore]

NES- first one I recall having. Had a bunch of games for it, too many to recall, but games I recall loving included: Blades of Steel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, American Gladiators, X-Men.

N64- I still have this system and a bunch of games.  Hours were spent playing Goldeneye, Mario Kart, WCW/NWO Revenge, WWF No Mercy

Playstation 1--Fun times. Favorite games included the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, and a bunch of fighting games.

PlayStation 2- Still have. I'm currently playing Dynasty Mode for NHL 05. I'm in my sixth season as the Philadelphia Flyers and have won 5 consecutive Stanley Cup titles. WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain is a great wrestling game and features a stacked roster including legends like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Roddy Piper, The Legion of Doom, George the Animal Steele and The Undertaker.

[ER]

What bums me out about this thread is how ephemeral video games have been and in many ways still are, though things may be getting better there. A new generation of console or a new operating system comes in and the titles you used to love become obsolete.

What I wouldn't give to meet up one more time with my 2000s friends in the Holy Land Clan, play Medal of Honor Allied Assault Online, and brutally kill them over and over.

[zombie no.one]

Never did manage to complete Jet Set Willy, although I did get Manic Miner done.

kudos. never completed either, to this day (and I have a spectrum emulator now)

that's a thing about games in those days... you almost didn't even expect to complete them half the time.

Playstation 1--Fun times. Favorite games included the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, and a bunch of fighting games.

absolutely loved Tony Hawk. especially the 2nd one. so good

Everybody's Golf 2 was another PS game that was way too much fun... and I don't even like golf!

[retrorussell]

I got the 2nd model of the SEGA CD not long after its 1992 US release, and later in either 1993 or 1994 the cool CD player/Sega CD/Genesis console SEGA CDX.
For these I got:
ROAD AVENGER (my favorite), FINAL FIGHT CD (great), HEART OF THE ALIEN, SEWER SHARK, NIGHT TRAP, THE ADVENTURES OF WILLY BEAMISH, PRINCE OF PERSIA, SONIC CD, ECCO THE DOLPHIN, LUNAR (very cool), some Sega arcade classics compilation and probably others.