Which System Made You a Gamer?

I know people have asked what was your first gaming memory? or what was first system you have owned. But a couple bombcasts ago, the guys were talking about how some gamers, could seriously put the Xbox 360 or even PS3 into a category of being their first game system. So, not the first game system your played or owned, but what was the first system that you had where you felt like a gamer, reading reviews, taking the time to consider your purchases and not buying a game because the box art looked cool, actually knowing when a game was coming out?

For me it was the Dreamcast. I had a SNES and N64 before hand, but I was about 14 when I got the Dreamcast, and that is when I also started reading GamePro and GameSpot. Reading the reviews and thinking about stuff like online play and framerate.

The Original Xbox, got me into DEEP gaming. Halo CE and Halo 2 for Hours on End.

Perfect Dark on N64 was also in there.

Xbox for me. Just fooled around off and on w/games before that. More like arcade cabs really, but got hooked on video games in 02 on the OG XBOX. Second game I bought was Halo:CE too. Good times. :]

Probably the Game Boy Color. Mighty fine games that came out for it that made me want to play video games. (Pokemon Yellow, Super Mario Bros Deluxe, Wario Land 3, etc.)

Gamecube.

I had a SNES and N64, but I didn't really start to buy a lot of games, read magazines, know about upcoming releases until the Gamecube/PS2/Xbox era.

Even though I've played Sega.

The system that made me into a gamer was the original PlayStation, and first game I rented was Hercules, cus he was aswome.

While I played a considerable amount of Atari 2600 games (at a very early age), it was the NES (nintendo entertainment system) that hooked me hard, I played every game that I could put my hands on for it (I used to rent an unhealthy amount of games)

PS1 probably. I basically just played whatever games my parents bought me for the Genesis, so that doesn't really count.

It might not have been until the PS2 that I got really deep into gaming though, to the point it basically consumed my life.

MSX and this game :

NES with a bootleg 50 games in 1 cartridge put me on the road, and the PC in the late 90s is when things really took off.

Every word of this is also true for myself.

I'll have to say the GameCube, while I do remember playing on earlier systems, the GameCube just had great games that pulled me. Some examples are Wind Waker, Luigi's mansion, and super marrio sunshine.

My first, the PS1.

TurboGrafx-16, I sold my NES and worked all summer for $2 an hour to buy it the day it came out, I played the crap out of it for 2 years and when it failed I completely quit games for years, the next game I owned after that was FF7, so I was out for awhile.

NES

Oh, well PS2 I guess? I've been typing gamesages.com since SNES days so..

The PS2, I had so, so many games for that thing. At the end of its life, some shops were doing crazy stuff like '6 for £10' promotions. I had a ps1 and genesis earlier, but I played whatever was there and rarely got new games. This was also the time when I was reading ps2 magazines and intentionally reading all the previews to get me super-pumped for games. Seems silly now.

Atari 2600.

First experiences were with a SNES I think, but then the Sega Saturn and N64 started to get me into more and more gaming. The Xbox, and a while later PS2 got me thoroughly into gaming.

Atari 2600.

No lie. I played Defender for hours a day. And that Pac Man a lot of people whine about, I played the shit out of that game.

The NES was really the first gaming system I encountered, and also the one that hooked me hard.

Arcade machines I guess? Played Ms Pac-man and whatnot long before I owned a console.

Then the NES

Yeah the first systems I had were the original Game Boy and N64. But I've got to say the first system where I actually started doing research on games and keeping up on news, etc. was probably when my bro and I got a Gamecube and started using Gamespot. Basically when I started following the current GB crew and others, such as, Rich Gallup.

Definitely the GameCube before I got an Xbox. I originally had a SNES and Playstation 1 but I only ever played a few games here and there (Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Mortal Kombat on the SNES -- Spyro, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk on the PS1).

The GameCube was a champ when it came out and even though I got an Xbox later on for Halo, I played just as much Super Smash, Mario Kart and mostly everything third party on GameCube until I purchased a 360.

The NES. I had a 2600 and played it some but the NES is what hooked me bad.

The NES back in 94' (I was 5 at the time) was my first system, but I didn't get deep into gaming and reading about games until I got my PS2 in 03’

This is my situation as well.

The NES is the one for me.

But arcades made me a gamer long before that. Soon as I could walk I was drawn to the arcade machines from what my parents tell me.

Atari 2600 or my GameBoy.

NES and PC.

NES and PC.

As soon as my Dad gave me a Game Boy with a copy of Interstellar Assault in it, I fell into my own little world and was pretty much stuck there until it ate all of the AA's in the house. That Christmas (I got the Game Boy in the middle of the year), I got a SNES and was completely absorbed with Donkey Kong Country and, later, Super Mario Kart as well as others.

However, Super Metroid was the game where I was really blown away. I mean, those other games were awesome, and I still played them, but... Jesus. Super Metroid. I couldn't tell you why at the time but the entire thing just mesmerized me for days, not in a trance-like "I'm entertained" way, but more in an engaging "my mind is blown" sort of way. I had never come across a game that let me explore so much, and not only expected me to explore but was also quite willing to let me get lost. I'd never played something that wasn't just a bunch of rigid, linear levels. I had also never really seen something actually dark. I was 6 when I got Super Metroid, and my parents surrounded me with bright colors and kiddy songs. Which I ate up, but Super Metroid was my first step into something a little darker and more mysterious. There are some places in that game that are kinda creepy. They were pretty terrified that the game was going to be scary or something, and it kinda was when I was 6, but I couldn't let that game go.

Unfortunately, I no longer know where that cartridge or my Super Nintendo is. Fortunately, there's a copy on my brother's (unused) Wii, so I'm going to go replay it now.

NES and Master System. I can't remember which I got first.

I guess it'll be the ones I've started with. The NES and The Sega Genesis.

The NES. I remember the spark in my brain the first moment I saw Super Mario Bros. I couldn't understand why the person that owned the console was so indifferent towards something that seemed like magic.

Arcade, then NES.

My first memory is playing Ridge racer on the PlayStation in 1999 when i was 5 years old.

Original Nintendo and PlayStation 1

NES, then N64.

Although I played quite a few NES games, I didn't get around to checking out reviews till the SNES came out since at that point I was getting Nintendo Power in the mail and other gaming magazines.

Coin-op arcades at first. I'd bug my grandmother for quarters to play games whenever and wherever I saw them. Eventually, she figured it would just be cheaper to get me an Atari 2600.

It wasn't. I'd buy 2600 games and still go to the arcades.

SNES.

The Super Nintendo circa 1993

I owned and played a lot of the snes but I dont think I got really deep into games until sometime in the Playstation era.

The Intellivision was the first I played, but the NES was the system that made me a lifer.

NES, as a four year old I played 1-1 like a 1,000 times.

I suppose the Gameboy,

PC GAMING 4 LYFE

please don't call me a gamer. I'm just a guy that plays a lot of video games.

PS1

First time I can remember starting to read reviews, get excited for upcoming game releases, and knowing the day they were coming out would probably be for the SNES. I had a NES before that though.