Your Gaming History!

[Max M]

Max M, Creatures on the C64!!! OMG how good was that game?!!! Talk about flash from the past, the music was really catchy too. Think I will do a search, maybe somebodys got a fansite. Last Ninja 2 was cool though, wonder if it still holds up today?

There is! It's incredible how much they got out of the C64 in the later years. Compare the early games to this:

http://webhome.idirect.com/~snedeljk/creatures-c64/

Last Ninja 2's aged pretty well. The soundtrack's still amazing and better than 80% of the music in todays games.

[sandwiches]

the hugely under-rated Jumping Flash.

Wow! I'd forgotten about that game! I only had the demo but played it loads...

*heads for e-bay*

[Sieg]

See if you can find a copy of the Japanese 'Jumping Flash! 2' ... it comes with a complete copy of the first game (with English vocal-track) for some strange reason...

Also check out 'Robbit mon dieu !' if you can ... more of the same, but 'mission-based' ~

PS1 was always lovely for weird games like Incredible Crisis and Vib Ribbon, that's something the PS2's lacking in a bit.

You should invest in a Japanese PS2 perhaps - they're still turning out the wierdness like nobodies business for the machine over there ...

S.

[Max M]

You should invest in a Japanese PS2 perhaps - they're still turning out the wierdness like nobodies business for the machine over there ...

I might do actually. My PAL PS2 is ****ing up, the DVD drive is going.

[Ady]

Started with a bizarre Hanimex console with an equally bizarre Pac Man clone called Cat Trax and a Space Invaders clone called Space Attack. The machine was obviously some dodgy HK hybrid of some sort. I have no idea where my dad got it from and haven't seen another one like it to this day.

I then graduated to a VIC-20, which began my interest in computing as well as gaming.

A few years on, my VIC-20 died and my mum got me a Commodore-64. We toyed with the idea of getting a (cheaper) Spectrum, but brand trust, loyalty and sense thankfully saved the day. The C64 is -to this day- the best machine I've ever owned and has provided me with some of my best gaming moments (and I'm talking about the 'proper' breadbin 64 here, not that 64C thing with the bodged SID chip that couldn't play samples...). It was also the first time I'd heard decent computer music. Staring wide-eyed at the screen whilst listening to Rob Hubbard's 'Thrust' music for the first time is a memory that will stay with me forever. I'd never heard anything like that before. Thus, my interest in electronic music began...

I was late to the 16-bit party, I stuck with the 64 when everyone else had Amigas and STs and only got a Megadrive when I was at uni. I used this in tandem with my housemate's SNES. This was my 'ennui' period that all gamers go through and I wasn't really playing much.

I then got introduced to the PlayStation through a friend and was going to buy one until I saw an import N64 running Mario 64. I'd never seen anything like that in my life and knew I had to get one of those. So I did. I later got a PS1 anyway, but that's beside the point.

Next up was the Dreamcast. God rest its soul.

I was late to the PS2 party as well as I was still maxing out my PS1 (which I still think is a better machine) and the DC. I also partly resented the PS2 for killing the DC and didn't buy one for ages out of principle. Got a PS2 eventually, followed by the GC.

I have excluded handhelds and machines I#ve collected years later (eg Saturn, SNES) from this list.

[sininc]

I`m 21 now (just Happy Birthday for yesterday for me )

My first experience of games was over at a friends house he had an Amstrad 464 (I think I was around 6 at the time) green screen and all.

For some reason I thought I would ask my Dad if he had a computer, low and behold for some reason (well the reason was he is a computer programmer, but I was 6 how was I to know) he had an old style Commodore 64 put away in a cabinet in the Dining room.

Allowing me to know this was my parents downfall (and probably put a lot of stress on them) as every day after school I would nag and nag for my dad to get it out and pop it on our kitchen TV.

It was around this time he also showed us a pong kinda game, which is probably in his attic at present or in a dump, at the time that sucked (remember the C64 had Turtles and Ghostbusters and I was 6 or so)

We also found out about this time my gran had a Spectrum which she only used for some Bible Quiz software, the keyboard lasted all of 2 minutes (well thats a lie) once we (I also have a younger brother) started playing games on it.

I was going to continue but I relaised I`ve owned dozens of system and it would get boing so :-

From then on I had a Master System,SNES, Megadrive, Amiga 500 Plus and Gameboy bought for me,

I also won an Atari Lynx from a Kellogs cereal competition.

And now that I have to earn for myself I`ve bought 3 Playstations (all sold now), a PS2, a Mega CD, a GBA (sold), a GBA SP, a Megadrive, a Master System, a GP32, a SNES, a Game Axe, a NES, a NGPC and a GC or Xbox will arrive over the coming weeks.

[NeilMcRae]

Space Invaders in our local chippy - THIS started it for me.
Binatone Pong Clone
Atari VCS
ZX81
Mattel Intelivision
CBS ColecoVision
StarChess

ZX Spectrum
C-64

Long break.

Gameboy
Amiga [several of them still got my 4000T]
PC [d00m ye-see!]
Gameboy

Long Break

PC
Dreamcast
PS-2
Gameboy Advance
Gamecube
Xbox

throughout the whole time lots of moulahs in arcades.

Neil.

[dataDave]

17.3.81 - Birth

87 - Spectrum, Atari ST
88 - NES
90 - SNES
91 - Megadrive
94 - Megadrive2 + Mega CD2
95 - 3DO, PSX
96 - Saturn
97 - N64
98 - Dreamcast
99 - 1st decent PC videocard.
00 - NGPC
01 - GBA, Gamecube, Neo Geo AES
02 - PS2 (sold shortly after)
03 - GBAsp, RGB N64, 2nd NES, Portable PSOne (Another AES soon)

[dataDave]

the hugely under-rated Jumping Flash.

Wow! I'd forgotten about that game! I only had the demo but played it loads...

*heads for e-bay*

I played JF to death back in the day.

I remember it playing rather closely to Metroid Prime IIRC.

[C']

My gaming bug started back in summer of 1987. I was on holiday with my parents ( I actually can't rmember where but it was definately a seaside resort). I remember getting split off from my parents (I was only seven at the time) and wandered into an arcade (the noise and lights proving mighty attractive for an impressionable child) and accoridng to my parents when they found me, instead of being deeply distraught at losing them, my eyes were transfixed on these rows of games. When they found me I happened to be 'playing' (you know where you moved the sticks during the attract mode convinced you're playing the game) of Rolling Thunder. My Dad pulled 10p out of his pocket and provided me with a credit.

Obviously I'd like to say that my gaming gift was apparent immediately and I one credited the game with my masterful control of Agent Albatros.

I sucked.

However, I was enthralled and wanted more but parents being parents, didn't want to hang around the arcade all day and apparently I wouldn't stop talking about the game for the rest of the holiday.

Well the incessant babbling paid off and for Christmas 1987 I got a ZX Spectrum +3. My dad won't do things by halves and instead of going for the more popular tape system, went for the 'superior' disk based offering (although in hindsight the machine was a flop). However, I remember playing games such as Mask 2, Joe Blade and Gauntlet with my cousin over the Christmas period and had a blast.

My Dad soon relaised that 16-bits were where it was at and promptly sold the Spectrum in March 1988 to get an Atari 520 STFM together with Mach 3, Star Wars and, joy of joys, the ST converstion of Rolling Thunder. I was in heaven. Being able to play Rolling Thunder at home was a landmark moment and stands out in my memory.

In 1990, we were convinced that the new fangled STe was the saviour of the Atari ST brand and sold the Atari 520 STFM to upgrade to a fancy new Atari 1040 STe. The improvement was negligable, but me and my mate both had an ST and were both happy 'swapping' games.

However, 1990 was the year in which I got into console gaming. I'd played on the NES demo pod in Boots a few times, but never really wanted one. However, CVG's complete Guide to Consoles: Vol 1 (an awesome yellow magazine special that detailed tons of consoles and their software) was released which my Dad saw for sale and passed onto me. Compared to the ST games, none of these looked too special. Except for the software due to be released fo r the Sega Mega Drive. It's sleek black design looked like nothing else, but it was the game screenshots that impressed the most. Seeing games like Ghouls'n Ghosts and Super Hang-On and comparing then to the ST versins I had, there was no comparison. I had to get a Mega Drive. Luckily, my Dad agreed and for Christmas 1990 I (well me and my brother) were the proud owners of a Sega Mega Drive with Altered Beast, Golden Axe and Suoer Monaco GP. Again, the Christmas period, playing co-op Altered Beast and Golden Axe with my brother and cousins was bliss.

Things stayed settled for a year, but then 1992 saw the release of Nintendo's Super Entertainment System. Again another leap forward had been made and my Dad saw fit that we should have one. I remember the Friday night, coming out of school then going straight to Toys R' Us to buy the machine along with Super Mario World, F-Zero and Super Tennis in May of that year (it was a bank holiday weekend as well so I had 4 days off school to enjoy it ). The purchase was made on the understanding that the Mega Drive was sold which happened in August of that year.

The end of 1992 also saw me giving up on the Atari ST brand of computers. by this point, it had become clear that the Amiga had won so we sold off the STe and for that Christmas we got a Commodore Amiga A1200 along with Zool and Pinball Dreams. My other cousins had had an Amiga A500 for years and it was Zool that made me want an Amiga so badly (the ST version did come later but it was too late).

Again, 1993 was relatively quiet. Just got on with playing the great agmes like Super Mario Kart and Turtles in Time. however, for Christmas that year I was bought a Nintendo Gameboy. Handheld gaming had never been something that particularly inspired me, and whilst it was a nice enough present. It didn't do anything to major and went largely unused until later when i discovered Pokemon in 1999. Tetris never grabbed me in the way it has so many people.

1994 probably saw me make the biggest gaming mistake I've ever made. Drawn in by Sega's hype for the new 32X add-on I swapped the SNES for another Mega Drive with a school acquaintance. The appeal of Virtua Racing was such that I was willing to sacrifice those great SNES games. However, the 32X never happened as my eyes were drawn more than ever to the lando fhte rising sun. Playstation and Saturn had just been released and I wanted some...

The cost of consoles, and still being at school, meant that I was solely dependent on my parents providing my cgaming machines as presents. There was no way I was going to get bought an import Saturn/Playstation at Xmas 1994 prices so I had to wait until 1995. I spent that whole year rather disappoiinted with gaming generally. Knowing what the Japanese were playing on their PS/Saturn consoles I found my Mega Drive wares rather uninspiring and whilst the Amiga offered a few solid gaming moments, I knew better was out there. However, the decion to go with Sony of Sega still wasn't made.

Sega ****ed up.

Namco's spectacular showing for the Sony hardware in Ridge Racer was impressive but I refused to set my stall in the Sony camp until I saw Daytona USA converted to the Saturn. Surely that would trump all over a rushed PS RR conversion. Frankly I thought Saturn Daytona was a disgrace and when Virtua Racing proved even worse, Sony had my vote. Christmas 1995 was another spectacular moment. Tekken, Ridge Racer and FIFA 1996 were so much more spectacular than anything previous. Definately my favourite generational leap.

1996 - 1997 was a settled gaming time yet also one of my favourite. The PS continued to push out some great gaming experiences (Resident Evil, Tekken 2, Ridge Racer Revolution being standouts), everything Capcom touched in the arcades seemed to turn into gaming gold, and we even had some great gaming magazines in the form of Maximum (RIP *sniff*) and a great time for, the now utter ****e, CVG.

At the end of 1997 I got a PC which has proven less exciting than I imagined it would have been at the time.

In 2000 I got a Sony Playstation 2 as my 21st birthday present (along with Tekken Tag Tournament, but it was SSX which I got for Christmas that proved to be that system's early star).

Getting that machine early was no great shakes to be honest. It took a year for the machine to really get into it's stride. Which is why in July 2001 I bought a Sega Dreamcast. With the machine abandoned by it's developer, and games prices tumbling, I bought in the knowledge that it was a low risk investment. It was one of the best decisions I made. Every game felt like the best of it's genre and I kicked myself for not buying earlier. Crazy Taxi, Soul Calibur, Third Strike et al. All brilliant games.

In early 2002 I bought a Nintendo Gameboy Advance, and was much more impressed with handheld gaming in this form. In September i purchased a Nintendo Gamecube when the PAL release of Resident Evil came about. And for Christmas that year I got a Microsoft Xbox and discovered the joys of Halo: Combat Evolved. i may not use the machine that much anymore, but I don't regret owning it thanks to that marvelous game.

this year, I bought a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP and could finally see those GBA games that had impressed me year previous

[Ish]

Briefly...

My earliest gaming memory is of my dad bringing home a Pong machine. And playing some of the early arcade games in the local 'kid friendly' pub. I seem to remember playing mostly Mr Do, Space Invaders and Galaxian. But I was only tiny so god knows if thats 100% correct or not!

Then my dad bought a Dragon 32. And thats when I really started gaming.

Next up was a BBC B. Hmmmm..... Elite. I played that game obsessively from the day it came out for years and years. After the BBC was a Master 128. And Exile. Another top game .

I kind of missed the SNES and MegaDrive first time round. Moving from that to the world of the PC. My fondest memory from earlier PC days being the Ultima (6 and 7 particularly) and Wing Commander games.

At the same time I was spending loads of time round my mates on his SNES. And that led me to the world of consoles.

Started with the PS1. Backtracked to the SNES and MegaDrive. And since then kept upto date with the consoles but still play on the PC.

Importing... my first taste of importing was games for an unchipped DC using a boot disk thingy. And then a GC and an XBox (my PS2 for reasons that are a mystery even to me is PAL).

And thats it.

I think I've played and finished most of the 'classics'. And tonnes more beside.

And after that 24/25 years I still love gaming

[FelixofMars]

Computer/Consoles I have owned;

Spectrum +3 (1987)
NES (1989)
MegaDrive (1992)
SNES (1993)
PC 486SX(1993)
N64 (1996)
PC (400mhz)
GameCube(2002)
PC (700mhz)
PS2(2002)


Dates maybe incorrect

[TheForce]

Atari2600:First it started with the Atari 2600 with only one game (no money)
Arcade:then it was playing a lot of games in the Arcades (shinobi, robocop, 1942, psychic5....
C64 : here it really started ! (last ninja2, ghost 'n goblins, Delta, Hawkeye, and many many many more great games)
S-nes : my first taste of nintendo magic !
Amiga500 & 1200 and CD32 : I think the Amiga days were excellent ! Turrican2, BloodMoney, Gods, Chaos Engine, and moooooorree.........
Psx (jap & pal) : I had to sell my amiga and all games to fund my jap psx (stupid stupid boy) but RidgeRacer made me soo happy....
N64(US) : the console with the best games, ever !
afterthat it's no more history, but I enjoy myself now with these :
DC(US), PS2, Gamecube and X-box, PC

[Scythe]

It all started with an Atari 2600 (i've no idea how old I was) round a neighbours house, immediately got the 'bug' but got told off by my mum for getting upset and shouting at the screen (somethings never change!).

My parents then got me a Phillips Videopac (anyone remember these) which bombed but had some good games on it, again got told off by my mum for sulking and shouting at the screen! Sattelite attack and a game with 'cowboys' in it were my faves.

Then a C64 with games like Wizball and my all time fave Turrican, there were others like Exploding Fist and Yie ar Kung Fu. Then my mate got an Amiga which I couldn't afford and my C64 was frowned upon by my graphics whore self!!

A bit of a Break until I played Final fight and SF2 in the arcades, Final fight was good, SF2 was a revelation! I pumped 20p after 20p into it until I finished it....I then got a SNES on launch day (was this before SF2 in arcade?) with Mario and Super Tennis, then paid ?80 for jap SF2 with adaptor, my love of importing and Nintendo started here!

I then got a Saturn, my bro a PS1 shortly after, I was snobby towards the PS1 but Wipeout on xmas day was pretty awesome, but nothing compared to Sega Rally on the Saturn still my fave driving game of all time...

N64 US (RGB) which I still own, while everyone in the world appreared to be enjoying playstation I had this and M64, 1080, waverace, OOT, Goldeneye, JFG etc etc. Still probably the zenith of gaming for me.

DC: Jap, spent a ridiculous amount on importing for this, some true classics, and many an hour spend defending the machine to PS2 owning basts!!

PS2: Briefly just for pro evo really, but also enjoyed MGS2, DMC, Rez etc, regretting getting rid of it though with SH3, Pro Evo 3 and now siren looking so good.

GC Jap: Current machine and the machine which has revitalized my interest in gaming.

[Ady]

GC Jap: Current machine and the machine which has revitalized my interest in gaming.

The GC has had the same effect on me too. Not bad going for a so-called 'failure'...