The Nostalgia Factor?

[Flippy8490]

What is your personal most Nostalgic Classic gaming icon/system or even controller? It dosent have to be your favorite console/icon, just the one that holds a special place in your heart.

For me, mine would the the Nintendo NES. The gray box. So many happy memories attached to that thing...some of my fondest childhood memories are staying up all night trying to beat Mega Man games with my sister.

So, you guys?

[RJ]

Always has been/will be the Atari 2600, 1st system I ever played or owned. From 1st seeing & playing it at a friend's, then a neighbor's, then getting my dad to actually rent one & 3 games (Combat, Pac-Man & Space Invaders- hey, it was all I knew!) to finally getting one for keeps.

I've had 4-5 vers. of the 2600 in my time, I think the one I have now is the original I had so many yrs ago, I have the 7800 & Colecovision Atari exp. module but I'll NEVER get rid of the ol' 2600 'til it finally dies.

Just played some Super Breakout on it last night. That game kicks ass.

[backguard]

I loved the Sanusi controller for the NES (maybe made by Hudson?). It was so awesome to get my first controller with a turbo option, and one where you could change the speed at that!

[k8track]

Console:
1st: Atari VCS, my first console. Played the heck out of it, with my brother and with friends, especially my friend Lance, with whom I formed a video game club. Went over to his house all the time to play games and work on our club stuff. Great memories of buying tons of cheap games during the Crash of 1984 (don't let anyone tell you it's 1983, it's 1984).

Very close 2nd: NES. My friend Lance was an early adopter and got his in October of 1986, ushering in our second wave of video gaming. I went to his house all the time after school (we were in high school then) and played tons of Wrecking Crew, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Zelda, Rygar, and others. Still get misty-eyed when I think of that time period.

Not-so-distant-third: Colecovision. I had lusted after this system ever since 1982, and finally acquired it in 1988. That felt great. Scored a huge Coleco lot my freshman year of college and have wonderful memories of playing tons of Coleco games on weekends in my dorm room.


Classic Computer:
1st: TI-99 4/A, my dad's first computer. Learned BASIC on it and composed several music pieces; played tons of Parsec and Munchman, all on a tiny B&W TV!

Very close 2nd: Commodore 64. My dad's second computer, spent a whole summer playing arcade games from one disk (Jungle Hunt, Gorf, Gyruss, B.C.'s Quest for Tires). Acquired my own in April, 1988 and had just the best summer playing it every day.

[swlovinist]

Early childhood was with the Nes, and some Atari, but Sega Genesis and Playstation are probably most dear for me.

The Sega Genesis was key to much of my early teen and high school years of playing great games. Even with the not so popular Sega CD and 32 add ons, I still managed to play the system for about seven years back in the day.

The other great system was the playstation for me. All roomate fights were solved with a round of Tekken 3.

[CelticJobber]

Definitely the NES, it was my first system that wasn't just a hand-me-down from my brother. And I played the hell out of it when I was a kid.

[sebastiankirchoff]

My first system I ever played and one of my favorites is the SNES. My uncle bought his right before the N64 was released, and he got a shitload of games for cheap at yard sales since everyone was moving on to the PS and N64. He brought it over to my house after buying it and everyone was amazed. I even got to play Mario World, and to this day I still play the SNES on a regular basis.

The first console I ever owned was a PlayStation. My uncle (same one) bought one after his dad sold off his SNES. Crash Bandicoot was my first 3D game, and I remember buying one in August of 1999. I begged my parents, and since my mom got a new job and was in a good mood, gave in and got me one. Most of my favorite games of all time have been on the PlayStation, and I still play the original console I bought on a regular basis.

[ooXxXoo]

For me, is the Sega Master System....My old man went trough a lot of trouble getting one for me when it first came out...Around those years, money was a bit tight ..
....
....

[Crystalian]

Wow...I don't know what my most important nostalgia item is, so here comes a long post.

1. First system I ever owned was an Intellivision and it's where I first learned the strategic value of being a total jerk. My brother and I would play Armor Battle and because there was no way to tell which tank you controlled if you didn't move either one, I ambushed my way to MANY bait and switch type victories. Hilarious stuff. Same with Utopia. He'd have fields and fishing boats and try to live in harmony with nature on his little island. Meanwhile I've got quite the little Metropolis going; one hospital with eight factories surrounding it, a fort every three spaces along the coast facing his island, enough housing and schools to keep my subjects happy, and raking in more money than god turn after turn. Ocassionally I'd send my PT boat over to sink his fishing boat when it looked like he might actually catch something to feed his starving citizens, and I'd help the unrest along by putting insurgents on his island to bolster the dissenters that were already getting randomly placed there by the computer! By the end of the game his whole island would be covered with mutinous hobos and he couldn't earn a single gold piece if he tried, my little city-state on the other hand is probably not what Thomas More had in mind when he wrote "Utopia"! But hey, that's literature and this was strategy...

2. Nes: the amazing machine of my childhood. I remember having to have my uncle show me how to beat Glass Joe in Punch Out! just so I could get to the second guy! I remember grinding for nearly a week so I could clear the Marsh Cave and beat Astos, and then I was so buff I didn't have to grind again until going to the desert leading to the Mirage Tower as an adult character in Final Fantasy 1! Crystalis is such a big part of my love for that system that I used it as my handle for this forum! I remember doing the warp trick in Crystalis so I could get items and spells I wasn't supposed to have while I was still level one and grinding all the way to level sixteen before i even used the windmill key! Never did an NES title try to be an SNES title harder than Crystalis did... Contra, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Rad Racer, R.C. Pro-Am, Pro Wrestling, The Punisher, Swords and Serpents, Terra Cresta, Casino Kid ( I beat the Casino King with a Royal Straight flush!), Aventures of Lolo, Kirby's Adventure, TMNT 2: The Arcade Game, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Castlevania 1,2, and 3, and so many more... All games I've pulled all-nighters with growing up. I dreamt where to find the Silver Arrow in the Legend of Zelda for crying out loud. I couldn't kill Ganon no matter how many times I turned him brown and didn't understand, so I went to sleep that night mad as heck and saw the room that looked like the way to the boss in level seven but it was in Death Mountain. Even better, it's like I instinctively knew how to get there, even though I hadn't been to that area of Death Mountain yet... I woke up the next morning and had Ganon whacked in less than an hour; then proceded to walk right through the flames to get to Zelda because I didn't know you could put them out with your sword and the Magic Whistle didn't put them out when I blew it... The Nes is probably the system that will never be topped because almost every game I have enjoyed since owes it's existence in some way to an idea, game mechanic, whatever that first originated in 8-bit glory on this system of systems.

3. The SNES; like the NES on crack. I bought my first one at Toys'R'Us with money I had saved from doing yard work around the neighborhood ($150). I thought I was only going to have enough money to buy the system and have Super Mario World and have to borrow games from friends until I could save more. Little did I know that this was toward the end of the system's lifespan and they had marked down SNES G2's to $49.99 packaged with Super Mario World/All-Stars! I could buy a game too. After some deliberation I got Illusion of Gaia and kept the rest of the money to blow on other stuff since I was so relieved I didn't have to spend it all on just the system! To this day Illusion of Gaia is still one of the best games for that system, and is the game currently occupying the cartridge slot of the region-free mint G1 SNES in my master bedroom; I guess you could say I was feeling a little "nostalgic"... I also borrowed a friend's Final Fantasy 3 and kept it all summer long I enjoyed it so much. Lots of great stuff and good memories, just not as many as on the NES. Probably would have been better if I'd gotten it earlier...

4. N64: I only have one console puzzle game addiction, and it's name is Tetrisphere. Sooo many nights up playing this one. The best Super Mario game ever was on this system and, according to some, the best Zelda game too. Kirby 64 didn't have the "magic" but it's weapon combinations were great (Darth Kirby with a double-bladed lightsaber, anyone?). Star Wars Podracer and Mario Kart 64 with the MUCH-improved rainbow road and beach courses, Pilotwings 64, Wargods, Killer Instinct, Wave Race, Fighter's Destiny, Mischief Makers, Goldeneye (sooo many long nights with this one too), Cruis'n World and many others sucked up a lot of my time growing up. The Mario Party franchise got it's beginnings right here too. A very solid system that for some reason gets a lot of hate for sticking it out with the, in many ways superior, cartridge format for one more generation. I'm happy they did, I don't think some of my games from that era would have survived if they were as fragile as a CD, and I've never had to get my copy of Goldeneye "resurfaced" either...

That about brings nostalgia to a close for me, anything after N64 just doesn't strike me as "classic gaming". That's probably why I only really hang out in this section of the site... Oh yeah, Nights into Dreams, Vectorman 1 and 2, Splatterhouse (all of them), Chakan, Chocobo Racing, and numerous others from systems I have but didn't mention also have great sentimental value even though their parent systems didn't get the nod in this post. Lastly Final Fantasy Legend 2 always should have been a console title, so that's why I only play it on the Gamecube Game Boy Player anymore; incredible game...

[Sonicwolf]

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is the symbol of my childhood. It was the first video game system I recieved. It was a christmas present from my parents, December 25th, 1994. I will always have a special place for this system in my heart.

[j_factor]

In chronological order:

Turbografx-16. The first console I had that was actually mine (previous systems in the house belonged to my dad). When the Duo came out, it became the first system that I bought with my own money (albeit combined with trade-in credit). Although I had already played a decent number of games, lots of secondary personal "firsts" are on this system -- first shooter (Blazing Lazers), first strategy game (Military Madness), first proper adventure game (Loom), first FMV game (It Came From the Desert), first CD-ROM game (Monster Lair), first dungeon crawler (Double Dungeons), first pinball videogame (Alien Crush), first FPS of sorts (Silent Debuggers), and first import (Avenger). I was the only kid with a Turbo, and this was a source of pride, as I had access to (and the ability to show off) games that none of my friends did. I spent lots of time on games like Bonk's Revenge, Dragon's Curse, Vasteel, and so on. I sold it off in '96 or '97 to buy Saturn games, and got a Duo again in '05. I still hold the system in high regard, although I've found that some games are awfully difficult to acquire, and can be very expensive.

Genesis. Even though I already had and enjoyed my Turbo, like everyone I wanted a Genesis for Sonic, but strangely enough, I also really wanted Toejam & Earl. The Genny was something of a secondary system (and I felt like I was the coolest kid on the block having two systems), because all my friends had it, so I could play games at their house and occasionally borrow games. When the Turbo peetered out it became my primary, and favorite system. I got an SNES eventually but it always seemed weak and played second-fiddle, although I loved some of the RPGs. I also got a Sega CD, which I got a lot of enjoyment out of (having already done CD gaming with the Turbo). To this day Genesis (with Sega CD included) is probably my favorite system. I ended up trading it in towards a Playstation in late '98. Genesis also became my first "retro revisit" when I bought one again (a Nomad this time) at the end of 2000.

Saturn. This was the first console I got when I was already vested in gaming, knew about it before it came out, paid attention to the launch, etc. It was also the first system I got within less than a year of launch (which would be repeated for NGPC, GBA, Xbox, DS, and Wii); I got one at the end of '95. Although I'd had one friend with a 3DO, and it seemed kind of cool and high-tech, once I got a Saturn I was glad I'd passed on it. It was a most exciting time having a "next generation" console (thanks, Next Generation magazine), especially with all the games that were coming out for it. I remember for the first full year I had it, being completely swamped with how fast lots of games I wanted were coming out. I started trading in old stuff towards Saturn games. My second year owning it, new releases were thinning out, and I imported a couple of games. My third year, I wondered where all the games went. In late '98 I traded it in (along with my Genesis) towards a Playstation. But I missed it, and got one again in 2001.

Playstation. In late '98 I grew frustrated with gaming. 16-bit gaming was dead, Saturn games just plain stopped coming out, my local arcades seemed to be getting fewer and fewer new games, etc. Playstation seemed my only real choice -- N64, IMO at the time, was a joke. Although I had long been one of the few with multiple systems, I decided "fuck it" and sold it all off for a Playstation. Playstation was my only console for a good two years, and my only current console for almost three. It did the job quite well and I never felt like there weren't enough games. I have never been a one-system guy since, but I fondly remember my time with the PSX, and my first PSX games are the games that I've had the longest continual ownership of.

[Misto]

Two quickly come to mind for me.

1) Playing the original Legend of Zelda when I was 3-4 years old with my dad. They had the NES before I was born, and when I was born the NES always held my interest wiith the sounds and colors. So I was basically born a gamer thanks to my parents.

2) When I was 5 my parents traded the NES in to get me my own Sega Genesis. One of the games we got eventually was Lethal Enforcers. Me and my dad used to play this for an hour or two almost every night for months. We even ordered the second pink gun too. I wish I would've kept them, I doubt I'll ever find a blue gun again, let alone the pink one.

[Ed Oscuro]

I dunno, I hate my memories. Right now I'm not feeling very nostalgic about Mario Teaches Typing or Mavis's Bacon or Tron on IBM or Super Solvers or Oregon Trail hunting on a Mac or playing SMB for the first time in a friend's dirty house or watching somebody else play Super Ghosts 'n Goblins at another house or playing a few minutes of Mode7 3D in Super Star Wars at another person's dirty house. Also, Netdragons' Vagabonds' Quest (96 version) was like Zork + constant grinding, but iMacs made it better because you could almost pretend it was a game of shufflepuck. I recently discovered that SpectreVR on Win95 doesn't feel right at all, which saddens me to no end. I liked that game on the Mac, way back when.

[Steven]

NES was my first memory of console gaming, and I'll always look back on those nights spent in the late '80s beating Contra with my brother and uncle with a real deep fondness.

The SNES though is my ultimate nostalgia factor machine. I think because I was just old enough to really REALLY remember it, yet still young enough to be blown away by the "fantasy" of it all.

Honorable mention to Genesis (bridged the gap between NES and SNES) and Saturn, the system that I loved throughout my undergrad college years 2001-2005...

[Nirvana]

Console: Definitely my Super Nintendo. It was the first system I've ever played. I would play games like NBA Jam, Cybernator, Xardion, Mega Man X...so many.

Games? I would definitely say

Mega Man X. Hearing the music almost makes me tear up because of how much I loved this game.

Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III on SNES My brother would set the game to two player, so I would control Edgar and Cyan all the time. However, I didn't have to do the wandering ^_^ I was seriously like 6 years old o_O

Secret of Mana Again, I would always be Sprite as my brother was the main character who had to lead the way. Lovely game.

[lazyhoboguy]

My gameboy. It was my very first video game system. Back then the fact that the screen is impossible to see unless you have direct light was oblivious to me. I played that things for so many hours its ridiculous. Killer Instinct was my first game ever and I got really good playing as thunder. I also remember playing my very first mario game ever, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. I sucked at it back then. Never could get past that space level with all the stars until I was older.

[Iron Draggon]

Genesis

it wasn't the first system I ever owned, but it was the one that started it all for me... so I always thought that its name was ironic, and very appropriate

[AMG]

The Atari 2600 for me. It's the console I grew up on as a child and spent so many hours playing.

[cyberfluxor]

There are a couple:

#1 early/mid 90's PC
I own a good number of systems from the later 90's, perfect to playing the older DOS games without slowdown (P-II’s & P-III’s), have better graphics cards (most early AGP), LAN cards for network play (no dial-up, except on a few boxes), and wonderful SoundBlaster cards. As the source of my early gaming habits as a teenager I still have all of the original games for replay today in addition to others I've picked up since. Amazingly very few floppy disk games have been corrupted, and of those so I've downloaded the images and formatted/written back to the original disks. I stash the images on zip disks, as I'm sure that comforting fact makes some squeamish. But nothing beats playing with an IBM model M keyboard and mouse along with an InterAct PC Arcade stick (game port) and Logitech Attack 3 (USB).

#2 Sega Master System
Still holding onto the original system my dad bought around ’90 and the games. Although we only had several games for over a decade (i.e. Shinobi, Cloud Master, Wonderboy in Monster Land, Afterburner to name a few) I’ve since tripled the size and enjoy the system a lot. Although my NES collection dwarfs my SMS it’s a powerful and wonderful system to have even today, and underappreciated by many. None of my friends growing up had a SMS but they constantly received the latest and greatest console after trading in their old, so it’s somewhat of a pride that I still have my childhood system and play it today.

#3 Arcades
Growing up in summer camps and after school programs there were plenty of trips to skating rinks and bowling alleys where I had little spare money to play many arcade credits. Then there was a massive arcade that went under around ’99 that was two stories and connected to a movie theater. Since then I’ve been wanting to replay many of those in the original form and continue sharing the experience with others. This has gotten me into the arcade realm and I continue to wonder where I’ll go with it, but either way it’s become a very interesting venture. Maybe in a year or two I’ll have a little arcade room in my own house, but we’ll just have to see what happens.

[chrissylas]

The Atari ST


The Atari 1040ST was my first love. My sister and I used to play the ST all of the time. We had tons of games: Brataccus, Star Wars, Nebulus, Sun Dog, Ninja Mission, War in Middle Earth, Indiana Jones and Metro Cross. Ahh.... the list goes on. We had an Epyx 500XJ Joystick and it was absolutely fantastic. I recently decided that it was time to recreate my childhood so I've picked up a few STs and just recently won a few 500XJs on ebay. Can't wait to show my husband how awesome the ST is!