anyone remember the game/s that convinced them to buy the console

[Sigourney Beaver]

Mastersystem - Sonic 1
Megadrive - Sonic 2
Saturn - Daytona
32x - Virtua Racing Deluxe
Dreamcast - Shenmue
Gameboy - Tetris
Gameboy Advance - Mario Kart Super Circuit
DS - Nintendogs
SNES - Mario Kart
N64 - Mario Kart 64
Gamecube - Rogue Leader
Wii - Red Steel
PSOne - Gran Turismo
PS2 - Gran Turismo 3
PS3 - F1 Championship Edition
PSP - WipEout Pure
Xbox - Halo
Xbox 360 - Dead or Alive 4

[Kit]

Nes - My dad bought me one when I was a kid with Super Mario 3 thus getting me hooked.

Snes - Super Mario Allstars bundle. Well worth the years worth of paper round money I needed to save.

Playstation - I drifted away from games then bought a huge bundle (30, all totally ****) with one gem. Resident Evil.

N64 - From then on I was hooked on Resi series so as soon as Zero was announced I bought one.

Dreamcast - Zero cancelled? are you kidding me? OMG! is that a Resident Evil game? *Bought*

PS2 - 'Resi 4 announced? I’ll have some of that.' Pre ordered one at launch with a copy of Tekken Tag. Well worth it.

Gamecube - Are Capcom taking the piss? Resi 4 cancelled for PS2, oh what’s this a Resi remake…

Then I built a pc specifically for Doom 3. What a waste.

Wii - TP and Resident Evil.

PS3 - when 5 comes out I’ll get one.

[Wools]

Seeing an absloutly blinding looking game on the cover of CVG on the way to Scotland when I was a kid.

It was Sonic Adventure and I dont think I'll ever get those feelings back of playing a game again. Truly next generation, beautiful and it felt so new.

Brillant game.

[Family Fry]

Cool thread indeed, although there are some things for me that were bought because they were new technology and i had to have it.
Also some which I saw a game on and instantly wanted/bought the console for.

Megadrive - New Tech 16bit LOOKED SOOO GOOD!
DS - Touch Screen
PS2 - Was the right time to buy.

Master System - Spellcaster
NES - Super Mario Bros 3
SNES - Mario World
Mega CD - Final Fight CD
Playstation - Wipeout
Saturn - Virtua Fighter 2
Dreamcast - Sonic Adventure
N64 - Super Mario 64/Goldeneye
Game Boy - Tetris
GBA - Castlevania Circle of the Moon
Neo Geo Pocket Colour - Sonic Pocket Adventure
Game Gear - Shinobi
Xbox - Halo 2
Xbox 360 - PDZ

Think i have convered most in my life.

[Ady]

Nice thread.

In no particular order:

Megadrive : Strider (The first game I ever saw on the MD, courtesy of my mate's 'grey import' - completely blew me away)

SNES : Zelda LTTP (It was the first time I'd ever played such a finely crafted and tuned adventure game, and I wanted more)

N64 : Mario 64 (Duh!)

PS1 : FFVII (That and the fact that a friend modded it for me so I could play imports. A PAL-only PS1 would've been a waste of money)

Saturn : Panzer Dragoon Saga

Neo Geo : Samurai Showdown 2

Dreamcast : Shenmue & Bangaio (That and the DC/Mult-region DVD player offer my local Gamestation had on - it would've been rude to pass that up and what a Christmas that was!)

PS2 : Ico & Freak Out (Played these on my friend's PS2 one smoke-filled evening and bought one the following day)

GC : Super Monkey Ball (I didn't actually get a 'Cube for AGES, but SMB was the game that convinced me I needed to invest at some point...)

After much deliberation and despite hating the controller, I was all set to get an XBox for Halo and MAME, but I ended up blowing the money in the pub instead.

The Wii is actually the only console I've ever bought at launch (I've always waited at least a year before getting any console) simply because I was sold on the entire concept of the thing.

I've excluded handhelds from this list.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

PS1 - Gran Turismo
DC - F355 Challenge/Virtua Tennis
PS2 - Pro Evo Series

[Mr M0by]

To be honest most of my console purchases over the past few years have been because I've had the money and can buy them at launch (don't smoke, drink little, no need for a car or have any comuting costs) rather than the real lure of a particular game - like when i was younger!
Anyhoo of the systems i've bought or part paid for towards Xmas presents etc:

Commodore Amiga 600: Geoff Crammonds' F1GP.
Amiga CD32: Beneath A Steel Sky (with speech!).
Playstation: Wipeout. Though i bought one within a couple of days of having read previews for Formula One & Resident Evil.
My first PC!: Championship Manager 2.... although by the time i finally bought one Champ Man 3 was nearly released.
PS2: F1'01, though GT3 & Resi: Code Veronica weren't far away.
Dreamcast: F355 Challenge & Metropolis Street Racer.
Gamecube: Super Monkey Ball & the Nintendo games to come.
GBA SP: No one game in particular. I recall the link up to Animal Crossing on the GC being a selling point though!
Xbox: PGR 2 & Top Spin.
NTSC PS2: Socom 2 (6 months before the PAL release).
DS: Could afford to import at launch. So did.
PSP: Ridge Racers.
Xbox 360: PGR3.
PS3: Motorstorm.

[Emir]

PS2 - Devil May Cry & MGS2
GC - Resident Evil
360 - Dead Rising

[jassi singh]

SNES: Bugged my dad to buy it me solely for SFII. ^_^
N64: Super Mario 64
Dreamcast: I want to say Soul Calibur, but Ready 2 Rumble pushed me over the edge...lol! Saw it running in the shop, and I could not believe how great it looked.
PS2: Gran Turismo 3 was the game I got with the console, but I was really waiting for MGS2.
Xbox: Capcom vs SNK 2 Online.
Xbox 360: Dunno...bought it at launch, and just picked up tons of stuff then and after.
Wii: Twilight Princess.

[BaudAttitude]

I didn't own any consoles before the Genesis because I didn't see the point of them, the games were so expensive and you had to play them with the silly little pad things instead of a proper joystick on a computer.

Then... I saw Sonic and it made me think, uh, maybe there are some things you can't do on a computer (at the time, anyway).

So:

Genesis: Sonic

TG16: Legendary Axe

SNES: SF2 and the release of the no-game core system. That is to say, so my jaded and cynical late-teens-early-twenties self didn't have to suffer the shame of actually owning a "Mario" game, which I'd convinced myself were strictly for kids.

Saturn: "What, I can buy it NOW? It wasn't supposed to be out for five months! And it's a Sega console, so it's going to have a new Sonic, and a new Phantasy Star, and..."

Yes, there were a couple of disappointments. Still my favorite all-time system though.

PS1: Toshinden. OK, let's be frank: Ellis. I like 'em cute and annoying I guess. I'm a guy, I have no shame.

N64: Doom64

Dreamcast: "OK, Sega, this time you DID put out a new Sonic, so I forgive you." Also Blue Stinger looked really cool.

PS2: I loved Saturn Gungriffon and the PS2 had the sequel.

Xbox: My wife bought this. I asked her why and she couldn't remember. We think maybe the Buffy game.

360: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2. Did I mention, I have no shame?

Wii: Rayman Raving Rabbids, also the sheer shock value of being in a store at the moment they unloaded the truck and Wii boxes came out.

GBA: Purely because they released the NES-skinned one and it was too neat to pass up.

PSP: I was in Japan, they were playing lots of Loco Roco advertisements on the monitors in the train and it sucked me in. Also, there was a Katamari game for it, that helped tip me over the edge.

DS: New Super Mario Brothers. See above note on SNES, I'd lost some of my holier-than-thou attitude in the intervening years.

[katamari]

Saturn - Sega Rally
Playstation - Resident Evil & Soul Blade
DC - Soul Calibur
PS2 - SSX
GC - Resident Evil (remake)
PSP - WipEout Pure
360 - Dead Rising
PS3 - Motorstorm

[gossi the dog]

TBH most consoles I've purchased for the expected future goodness as opposed to anything being available that I really wanted. The Dreamcast, GBA, DS, PS2 and PSP were all purchased for this reason. The only real exception is the PS1 which I purchased to play Breath of Fire III and Brian Lara Cricket.

[Mus]

DC - Shenmue
PSP - Wipeout Pure
X360 - Crackdown
PS3 - Wipeout HD (Pending)

[Shozuki]

Megadrive: err, well my mates were going mad over it at the time, especially for Sonic. Sadly the game on it that 'converted' me into gaming fully was (please dont laugh...) Mortal Kombat 3...

Playstation: Tekken 2, but I got into the full swing of gaming from here onward.

Nintendo 64: As I hadnt owned a Nintendo system prior I had no idea what to get on it, so I ended up with the dreadful Fighters Destiny. Got it sorted now though...

Saturn: Virtua Fighter 2, actually got my saturn very late. I'd come home having just played Virtua Fighter 3 in the arcade and knew I wanted more, hence the purchase.

Dreamcast: Noticing a pattern here? Soul Calibur and VF3 were the culprits here! Naturally. Played it loads with my mates, and brought them and the system in japanese (my first imports). Mates we well jealous!

Playstation 2: The trend continues, this time with Tekken Tag Tournament.

Gamecube: A break in the chain! my Playstation had made me very fond of the Resident Evil games, hence my reason for the cube. Resident Evil REmake

Xbox: Dead or Alive 3, I had been gagging for more since playing 2 on the Dreamcast...

with the other stuff: PS3, 360, Wii, DS and PSP, I got them because they were out basically...

[peeveen]

SNES - SF2
N64 - Mario Kart 64 (huge disappointment)
PlayStation - The abundance of Japanese shoot-em-ups.
PlayStation 2 - Same.
XBox - I just had too much money in my pocket.
Dreamcast - Ikaruga (late to the party)
XBox 360 - XBox Live (not really a game, but ...)