First Games Machine

[gurnard]

fantastic stuff. I inherited one of these (octopus game and watch)
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Nintendo/Octopus.htm

Then we had a ZX spectrum.

First console I bought was a Sega Megadrive, Sonic the hedgehog.

[James Stacey]

Dragon 32 for me. I think my parents got it cheap when the machine was on the decline to stop us clamouring for a computer. Remember struggling to get games for it anywhere other than from the magazines. I did manage to score a copy of Chuckie Egg on it which I spent many months mastering. First console was the lovely Master System. The original black and burgundy one. I got it second hand with a pile of games. It was like an arcade system in my house. Good times.

[gurnard]

Man I just found this site you can play all the game and watch games, fantastic:

http://www.pica-pic.com/#
http://www.pica-pic.com/#/octopus/

[Recrewt]

Still, I always felt I had the poor-man's choice (coming from a poor family) and lamented not having a Master System or NES.  Only in recent years did I discover that the Amiga 500 was the more powerful than both those consoles successors!

Ha, its funny when you see some of the different generations posting on here what is considered good.  The amiga was a fantastic machine - my mate had one and I was well jealous.  Those machines were frickin ace and miles better than a Master System or NES.

For me, my first console was an atari 2600 with a lovely but of wood-panelling  .  This was mid 80s and it wasn't bad for the time.  I remember a game called Tutankhamun that I was quite fond of.  A few years later I got the C64 Light Fantastic pack for xmas (best xmas ever).  I played sh*tloads on that little beauty and had it for ages.  In fact, I still have it - that baby is going nowhere!

Since then there has been a Megadrive, Game Gear, PS1, PC, GBA, PS2, DS and PS3.  But, like someone else has mentioned - when I was a kid I had loads of time but could afford bugger all whereas nowadays I can buy what I want but hardly have any time to play.   

[CrazyFoxMachine]

The first console our family got was a wonderful Sega Mega Drive in the early nineties. Loved that thing. GOLDENAXE!!!

[Professor Bear]

My dad was always a sci-fi buff so knew that home computing was going to be a big thing and bought me and my brother a ZX Spectrum to learn to code on, which we did quite quickly as even a monkey could do machine code on a Speccy, and then we informed him what we needed to learn further (a more expensive computer).  We were shit poor so that didn't happen and we used it for gaming instead - quite a revelation to see all these worlds thought up by dudes in their bedrooms, with some computing mags like Sinclair User giving away dozens of games with each issue.  Even now some of what was achieved in files smaller than the average .txt document is pretty amazing and a testament to what you can do with a bit of imagination and focus.
Playing the likes of Knightlore, Starquake, Colony, Dizzy and Rex was probably why it was years before I even thought of getting a console and by then they were going for buttons so I'd got the Mega Drive and SNES more or less at the same time and couldn't really tell them apart - if anyone asked which I preferred I said Mega Drive only because I wasn't sure if SNES was pronounced "snezz" or "ess enn ee ess."  I think I've played more SNES and Mega Drive games via emulation or through compilation bundles than I ever did on the actual consoles themselves, though.

[Pyroxian]

First game was a Donkey Kong game & watch, then a ZX81. My step-sisters then got an Atari 2600 (which I used to monopolise during holidays at my Dads' house ), then I got a Speccy 128k, then an Amiga 500, then a 1200, then a 486 PC. Once I started work, I then got all the consoles (well, most of them  - still missing a Coleco, Intellivision and Jaguar...)

[Third Estate Ned]

I remembered what the first system was...http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=3&c=1035

That looks remarkably like our first console, the Grandstand. It's forever associated with memories of Saturday afternoons and CHiPS.

[radiator]

I wasn't sure if SNES was pronounced "snezz" or "ess enn ee ess."

Former in Europe, latter in US. Just so you know.

[IronGraham]

My earliest memory of a game was Toe Jam and Earl. My dad was playing it and i was three running pass in the hall look at the flashing lights not looking where i was going when I did look I knocked myself out on the door frame and split my head open.

[radiator]

I once got so pissed off with M. Bison beating me with his chessy moves in Streetfighter 2 that I kicked the glass-fronted unit that housed the VCR, then recoiled in horror as it shattered into a million pieces before my eyes. I got in trouble for that.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Oh my god yes. I loved that game it's pure class.

Also I only JUST heard an American say "es-en-ee-es" instead of Snes and WAS APPALLED.

[IronGraham]

weird

[Rog69]

My first home system was also a Grandstand TV game that I'm pretty sure was the same model as Neds.

I then progressed on to a ZX Spectrum before moving to an Atari ST and then an Amiga. After that it was PC's all the way.

[dweezil2]

A Binatone was my first console followed by the good old Atari VCS!

Next stop the Spectrum 48K.