Upgrades of the Past? Which games made you....

WIth a new generation upon us, I just wanted to see what games have made you guys say I need to buy that console or get you to cave in after a while or even, for the PC, which pushed you to upgrade that old graphics card or overhaul your whole rig? I have so many memories of just having that one game that pushed me to spend more than just the $50 bucks for the game.

N64 - GoldenEye 007. Spent so much time asking my parents for it and was the only game I had for a year.

Gamecube - Rogue Squadron II, looked absolutely beautiful.

PS2 - Soul Reaver 2. Actually I was happy with my Dreamcast, even after they killed it off, but found out Soul Reaver 2 got cancelled for it and had to get the PS2 to play it.

PS3 - Killzone 2. I thought it looked so good in previews and just had to jump in. Was very disappointed and ended up with nothing to play on my new PS3 until Uncharted 2 came out later that year.

PC - actually got a graphics card for the first time because of Half Life 2. A crappy FX5200 but whatevers.

Surprisingly I bought an Xbox 360 not for any game at launch, but because I just liked all the improvements to Xbox Live. Didn't feel like I got that it game until Oblivion came out 5 months after launch.

I don't really tend to get systems specifically for a single game. I've had pretty much every major console since the 16 bit era, and trying to think back I don't think a single game was the reason for me to purchase any of them. I guess the closest would be a Dreamcast for Sonic Adventure, though I still remember pretty specifically wanting that system primarily because it was the first next generation system of the time.

PS1- FF7

GC-RE4

DC-SF3

Xbox-rumors of shenmue3

• N64- I just got it as a gift one day (first game was a Blitz 64 and Banjo Kazooie rental for blockbuster)
• original xbox- no real reason (it came with a copy of Mechassault 2)
• xbox360- a combination of benbuja's GTA 4 stunt videos and experiencing CoD4 at my cousin's house (it came with GTA4 included)
• 3DS XL- Luigi's mansion 2 was impossible to play on the standard tiny 3DS screen
• WiiU- It was about time I finally played the Wind Waker

Master System -- Sonic The Hedgehog (last game in the US, but not in Australia by a long shot) ... I played the neighbours Atari 2600 a lot, but this game looked amazing.

Mega Drive -- Sonic and Sonic 2 - yes there is a pattern ... Sonic just looked incredible back then.

N64 -- Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire -- so it may not be AMAZING, but fuck that game looked great. It was then knew I wasn't getting a Saturn. In the end it was Mario 64 and GoldenEye that I actually got with the console.

Game Boy Color -- Pokemon Red, even though it's not in colour, was my reason for owning a Game Boy

PS2 -- I remember getting it and hearing about the upcoming Xbox months later and think the PS2 was doomed and I picked the wrong console. Tekken Tag Tournament was basically my showcase game for that console... it's still my favourite fighting game.

DS -- Wario Ware ... the launch game one. Love Wario, what else can I say. That and Mario 64DS.

PSP -- Metal Gear Acid ... portable MGS was all I wanted. Yes, it's a card game, but I still love it and want a Vita sequel.

Xbox 360 -- The PS3 was LONG delayed in PAL regions and was $350 more than the Premium 360, so it was a no brainer. Call of Duty 2 was the clincher...

Wii -- Wario Ware Smooth Moves ... though this is my LEAST favourite console Smooth Moves made it worth it. That and Wii Sports.

3DS -- I bought it for the gimmick, didn't use it for MONTHS, then got Zelda OOT and knew it was a keeper.

PS Vita -- got it for a job thing, didn't use it much ... now I love it. MGS collection (again MGS on the go is great) was the first game I really loved on it.

PS4 -- Battlefield 4... its multi-format I know, but it what I want. The indie game stuff is the icing on the cake for me.

In between these I play PC games ... but I'm the kind to get a computer and not upgrade it... PCs are primarily for work to me. Some of my all-time favourite games are PC though (C&C Red Alert, Pandora Directive, etc)

The consoles I payed for (not presents):

PS2: GTA: San Andreas

Nintendo DS: Phoenix Wright

Xbox 360: Oblivion

Wii: Super Smash Bros.

PS3: PS2 backwards compatibility and Blu-rays

PSP: Final Fantasy Tactics

3DS: Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright (still waiting for it but there are more than enough good games so far)

Vita: Persona 4 Golden

WiiU: I still don't know, Wind Waker I guess

PS4: ??? no idea ???

For older consoles it wasn't really about any single game, but when it came to the PS2 Devil May Cry seemed like something I needed immediately in my life.

The 360 looked kinda awful until I saw videos of Lost Planet and Gears of War. Gears was eventually the reason for me to shift to a non Sony console.

PS3 was Ratchet Tools of Destruction... I'd get a PS4 day one if there was a Ratchet game at release.

Wii U - Wonderful 101

I was Nintendo only up until I got a 360. So I always just wanted that next Nintendo machine, it was rarely really about that one game. But I can talk about my first game on each console and how I got it.

Game Boy - My first gaming device and I don't remember when I got it. It was a gift from my mom and the pack in was Tetris, so that was probably my first game.

Super Nintendo - I remember really wanting a SNES really badly and asking it for Christmas. I didn't get it that year, but my mom eventually bought it for me. Super Mario World, was naturally my first game.

Game Gear - I wanted this just because I thought it was a better version of the Game Boy because it was colour. Got it for Christmas one year along with a few games from various members of my family. I played Sonic Chaos and a Donald Duck game the most.

Nintendo 64 - Again, I asked for this for Christmas, but didn't get it. I struck a deal with my mom where I would pay for half of it and she would cover the rest. Mario 64 was my introduction to 3D games.

Game Boy Colour - I don't remember when I bought my first GBC, but I do recall having to buy a second because I accidentally smashed the first. I may have seen it just as an upgrade for my old Game Boy. Link's Awakening DX and Pokemon Blue saw the most action on these machines.

Game Cube - My first console I bought with my own money, and the only one I've managed to pick up opening day. I waited in line before the store opened and managed to snag one. Rogue Leader was the game I played at launch.

Game Boy Advance - I skipped the initial model and didn't buy a GBA until the SP game out so I could play Minish Cap.

Wii - I thought this would be easy, just like picking up the Game Cube. Waited in line super early in the morning to pick it up at the same store on launch day, but I didn't get one. Months later I managed to get one through air miles points. I bought Twilight Princess for the Wii before the console launched because ign's Matt Casamassina said that was the version to get. I regret this decision.

Nintendo DS - I was an early adopter. Got the original ugly model and Mario 64. Upgraded to a DS Lite later on.

Xbox 360 - The Wii wasn't providing me with my gaming needs, so I decided to get a 360. As a huge fan of the Original Perfect Dark, I was probably most excited to play Zero despite the terrible things I heard about it. Having tried it myself and confirmed those terrible things, I moved on to games I would enjoy like Bioshock and Mass Effect.

Playstation 2 - I picked up a cheap PS2 out of curiosity to play games I had missed while I only had a Game Cube. I got Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts, Jak and Daxter, God of War, MGS2 and 3. But sometimes it's hard to go back and I never really gave these games the attention they deserved.

3DS - Glowing reviews of Super Mario 3D Land convinced me I needed to buy a 3DS.

Playstation 3 - Journey was actually the game that motivated me to get a PS3. The Uncharted games were a major factor as well.

Wii U - Just a few weeks ago I had a craving to play Wind Waker HD I couldn't ignore. The fates conspired by giving me a futureshop gift card and a tax refund when I was at my weakest.

I played an Atari and the NES when I was young. I have played every console since then, but now that I'm counting them I realize I have personally bought and owned a total of 4 game consoles. I'm lucky enough to have a friend who buys every console day 1, so it usually comes down to a damn good game or a price drop before I feel like I need to own a system.

I saved up lawn mowing $ for the N64 that was bundled with Star Wars Episode 1: Racer. I knew about Goldeneye, but Racer was the only game I owned for like 6 months and I loved it.

Then I bought a Gamecube for Rogue Squadron 2. It is one of about 6 games I own for the system including Rogue Squadron 3. Both Rogue games still hold up as long as I can find a CRT tv!

I split the cost of a 360 with my college roommate for TES: Oblivion. I was already a fan of Morrowind and Oblivion ran better on 360 than my PC at the time. I actually returned the PC copy of the game and came home with a 360 and the 360 version of Oblivion.

By the time I bought a PS3 there were a lot of games that I wanted for it and the price was right. It was bundled with MGS4 and Uncharted 2 had just come out.

Dark Ages PC: Nethack

NES: Megaman 2, SMB3

GBC: Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow (THERE ARE ONLY 152 POKEMON!)

SNES: Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country

Sega CD: Snatcher

Saturn: Symphony of the Night

Neo Geo: Neo Turf Masters, Metal Slug series, Samurai Shodown 2

N64: Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Rush 2

Late-90s PC: Starcraft, Diablo, Half-Life, Deus Ex

PS1: THPS2, FF8

PS2: Ico/SotC, MGS2/3

Xbox: ??? Never owned one. Halo maybe?

X360: Oblivion, Gears of War, Dead Rising, I guess? It's weird to think how long this console generation lasted.

PS3: MGS4

2000s PC: Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal

NES - Battletoads

SNES - Street Fighter 2 Turbo

Gameboy - Pokemon Red

N64 - WCW vs nWo World Tour

Gamecube - Smash Bros. Melee

Xbox - Halo

Ps2 - GTA San Andreas

Xbox 360 - Gears Of War

Ps3 - Don't have one but Metal Gear Solid 4 would be it

PS1: Crash Bandicoot

Game Boy Colour: Pokemon

PS2: Metal Gear Solid 2

360: Dead Rising

PS3: Metal Gear Solid 4

Wii: Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

3DS: Super Mario 3D Land

Vita: Persona 4 Golden

WiiU: No specific game, just got it to compliment my gaming PC. But I am hyped for the new Smash Bros. and more recently Super Mario 3D World.

SNES - FF game

PS1 - tenchu

GAmeboy - Pokemon

360 - kingdom underfire

PS2 - metal gear solid

Wii - Madden NFL 12

For me, it's always been the promise of good things to come. I don't think I remember specifically wanting a console to play one thing. Every new Nintendo platform had built in expectations for their specific franchises. I new there'd be a new Mario and Zelda and that was enough for me. With consoles like the PS2 and 360, I new there'd be cool stuff if not immediately, then later on.The only thing specific I can think of is the Pokemon games. It's something I've always enjoyed playing and I new I had to get the newest Nintendo handheld because there'd inevitably be a new Pokemon game for it.

I guess the most recent example for myself is my decision to get a Ps4. Infamous second son, Destiny and Watch Dogs all incentived me to get a next gen system, with only the first making me specifically want that particular system. You may say, well some of those will be available on current systems. Why get the next gen version? It's rather simple, because of the promise of improvement and all around superior nature held in the next gen versions.

N64 - ocarina of time

Gamecube - super smash bros melee

xbox- halo

wii- wii sports

360- halo 3

ps3- infamous

ds- pokemon diamond

3ds- fire emblem awakening

The only time I've been rational enough to wait for a certain game to come out before buying a console was with MGS IV and the PS3.

No single game has ever been the reason. It's always been a batch. But there were definitely single games which held priority. Half-Life 2, then Civ V and Skyrim. That's been the extent of my upgrade path since the age where I've been buying everything myself.

On the console side?

Atari 7800: Gifted, but definitely Food Fight for me, personally.

NES: Gifted as a Christmas present with a TON of games, but definitely Mario Bros 3 and possibly Dragon Warrior for me.

Genesis: Gifted, but definitely Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Gameboy: Gifted, but definitely Mario Land.

GBC: Gifted, but definitely Link's Awakening DX.

GBA: Gifted, but definitely Super Mario Bros 2 (I was very much ready to get a GBA console anyway).

DS: It was early in my life of having disposable income, and so I bought it knowing that a new Metroid game was coming, but I ended up buying one of the incredibly weak launch titles in Spiderman. That game is a pile of garbage.

Gamecube: the first console where I was operating on my own money. The game that pushed me over the edge was Wind Waker, and to this day that game is one of my favorites.

Xbox 360: I bought a system with Burnout: Revenge as a pack-in, but bought it specifically for Gears of War and whatever the future might hold.

3DS: Mario 3D Land and the many other releases at the time and upcoming. It was purely good timing in buying a (slightly used - to the point of being nearly indistinguishable from a new) system which included the ambassador games for a price around $100 that got me to bite. Was also looking forward to the Ocarina of Time 3D remake and Fire Emblem, though.

snes: actraiser, f zero and final fight

gba: final fantasy tactics advance

dreamcast: soul calibur

ps2: tekken 5

ps3: little big planet

2007's big pc update crysis 1

At first I'll just post my first game for the console, because I was given them as gifts until I was a teenager.

NES - Mario the first

SNES - Link to the Past

N64 - Banjo Kazooie

GB - Pokemon Blue

PS1 - Final Fantasy 8

From here I started buying my own stuff.

PS2 - Final Fantasy X

I upgraded my PC in 2003 to play Final fantasy XI

DS - Phoenix Wright

PS3 - Grand Theft Auto 4

Wii - Silent Hill Shattered Memories

360 - Mass Effect 2

And then I upgraded my computer here to play SWTOR

I also bought a WiiU and Assassin's Creed 3, but... that was more because I could and less because I had to.

All bought with my own money that's why I started with the Saturn :

Saturn - Magic Knight Rayearth

PS1 - Parasite Eve

Dreamcast - Soul Calibur

PS2 - Final Fantasy X

XBox - Jet Set Radio Future

DS - Rub Rabbits (not joking)

GC - Resident Evil 0

Xbox 360 - GRAW

PS3 - nothing in particular, maybe Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan

Wii - Zack and Wiki

PSVita - Gravity Rush

3DS - Resident evil revelations

Wii U - Zelda Wind Waker

Latest PC - Starcraft II

PSX- Resident Evil

PS2- The Bouncer (I just wanted a PS2)

Xbox- Halo

GameCube-REmake and Eternal Darkness

PS3- MGS4

Xbox 360- Gears of War

for PC it's often been a specific game for me.

Doom 3 - FX 5700 ultra
Oblvion/battlefield 2 - 7800 GS
Crysis - 8800 GTS 320mb
Crysis - 8800 GT 512 SLI (damn you, Crysis!)
Duke Nukem Forever - 470 GTX (I really should have waited for post release impressions before upgrading)
Watchdogs - 770 GTX (Which was pushed back while the card shipped to me. Good Stuff!)

Just one really, the other ones I got for more than 1 game but I specifically got a PS3 (backwards compatible) for the Persona games. Now with PSPlus it is probably the console I own most games for.