Are you a Veteran or a Youngster?

started with game and watches the the master system.

 

A vet, but I don't feel like one!

I was lucky to have two older brothers who loved computers, one of them soon became a programmer... I still remember the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and C=64 very clearly. Then the Atari ST/Amiga... oddly enough, although I would drool over the pictures in the gaming magazines, I never owned a console until the Sega Dreamcast popped up in the late 90s', although I certainly had gaming sessions on the SNES, Megadrive and PS1 round friends' houses.

I guess a home computing vet, but certainly not a console vet

 

I played my first game when i was 3 years old, and i remember pong consoles, so i'm a vet, of course.

Never had ZX81, but still have ZX128 and a few clones, and my C64 is still here.
I had square buttons Famicom when this country was called USSR, it didn't last long though and ended in spare parts. AV Fami is a different story - still like new.

 

Veteran. Got my ZX spectrum when I was 4 (I'm 28 now) and then moved onto a Master System and then an Amiga and Mega Drive. It's been nothing but wonderful since then but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to break into modern gaming.

 

im a veteran, I still have a BBC Micro B and BBC Master and a Amiga A600 and went through consoles as I grew up and also at a point of my childhood had the Sinclair, Amstrad CPC, C16 and C64 and the others I cant remember.


ooooooo I had Binatone as well

 

Forgot to mention this, I also remember them! They were so cool and futuristic back then

 

Vet here (I think)

I consider myself a vet having got my first console at age 5 (1987), my family was poor and so I wouldn't become acquainted with computers until the early 90s through my school. my first console was an Atari 2600 bought used from a garage sale by my mother. I would acquire an NES in 1990 after playing my Atari for a few years, and then a snes in 92 after that. after getting and playing an N64 in 96 I began to tire of nintendo consoles and wanted to replay my Atari, which I no longer owned since my family moved alot. I started going through second hand stores and flea markets for old Ataris which at the time were considered trash and very cheap. At one time I owned the largest collection of Atari 2600 games in my city (over 500 of em) at the age of 14.

I was so obsessed with Atari at the time I vandalized an NES travel bag (you know the blue mario one) for my 1st gen Atari lynx, replacing the nintendo logo with a black marker Atari one (stupid I know) I even tried to make a portable Atari with no knowledge of electronics by taping a master system controller to the internal metal box of the 2600 woody model, and screwing a wooden board to the bottom to hold a portable tv set (the big ones not the handheld ones) in front of it hehe, I guess you could say it was the worlds first portable Atari 2600 (even though it still needed the power supply).

I would later acquire what would be expensive systems over the years for virtually nothing considering I started collecting before most systems were considered worth anything. Over the years my mother would force me to sell most of them and it wasn't until after Id sold most of my collection to collectors 15 years older than me (1999) that I realized it was worth anything. I stopped collecting in 98 to pursue a career as a self taught computer tech and wouldn't try to recollect until 2002. today I only collect 1 example of every system made and only the better games for each (except the Saturn, Im going for the entire US library for that, it holds a special place for me.)

Oh I forgot to add that I started messing around with quake mods in 2000 and joined a mod group in 02, adding game development to my hobbies.

 

I'm on the edge of that boundary myself. My first console was a Genesis, but by the time I got it (94 or 95, not totally sure) the Saturn and Playstation had already been released. They were still making 16-bit games at that time, though, so I got to experience part of that. I was exposed to a wide range of hardware growing up. First I had the Genesis, then I got a 32X, then got an N64 a little later, sold the N64 and got a PlayStation, sold the PlayStation and got really big into PC gaming. The consoles I missed at the time of their production were the SNES, the PC Engine, the Saturn, and the Dreamcast. I ended up buying all of those years after they had been discontinued. The really cool thing about the Dreamcast was that, just shortly after it was discontinued (like, 2002-2003), stores were trying to clear them out - so you could get a ton of games and stuff for really cheap. It seemed like a good deal at the time, since a lot of the games I wanted for PS2/GC/Xbox were either ports or sequels to DC games. A similar thing happened with N64 games in the early-mid 2000s. To date I own all of the major systems, with most of them in at least 2 regions (US & Japan). There are plenty of obscure consoles I don't own, but I have all of the mainstream ones except for the 3DO and the Master System. I've never been interested in Atari systems, so that's not something I'm really pursuing - although I do have a 2600 lying around somewhere. I'm generally not very interested in 8-bit games, with the exception of the original Game Boy.

At my most recent count, I had 353 games and 24 consoles. I'm nearing the limit of what I want to own as far as collecting goes. The only games I'm lacking at this point are ones that demand a large amount of money, so it might be a while yet before I acquire all of those. For example, I'd really like to own Radiant Silvergun. I have a handful of rare-ish games, like Sutte Hakkun and Conker's Bad Fur Day, as well as a lot of games that are not exactly rare but not common either. I also have some arcade systems, but I could give an entire guest lecture about that.

 

that was the binatone.

 

I'd suppose youngster is appropriate. I never had a real home console of my own until my PS2, before I was rocking handheld(s) with my sister.

The first console I played was a Dreamcast, and oddly enough I played it with an Australian family in Peru. I remember the struggle they went to import that console, along with an electric scooter for the kid- his family was pretty wealthy and so could afford to do that stuff.

Being back in my hometown, I was always on a Nintendo 64, I'd always go next door and play that with my friend. This was in the years before the Gamecube, but even after that came out we still stuck to playing Golden Eye, Perfect Dark and Smash Bros.
My first own system was an Advance SP, and my sister and I were thrilled that our father decided to get us a game system despite my mother not liking them.

I played those two up umail I met a new friend who had a game cube at her parents apartment. My sister and I, and her and her brother would play Kirbyville Air Ride and have an occasional game of Melee.

After that, I was old enough to have a job (not really, but 13 was old enough I guess). So, I bought a PS2 to complement the PSP I got for christmas.
After that, I began gathering older systems that I knew existed, but I never played. The friend with the N64 had a PS1, but we never had any good games for it.

tl;dr I always played games at friend's houses.

 

I'm a Veteran. My family actually had a Coleco Telstar Pong in the 70s. You can see one in the AVGN Pong episode. We then had computers throughout the 80s but I kept up with the arcade and home console scene and finally convinced my parents to get a Genesis at launch. I remember thinking the Nes was a nice machine but if you knew about the gaming computers of the time (the Amiga especially) it didn't seem as cool. I also distinctly remember walking into department stores and seeing the Sega Master System setup right next to the Nes and thinking how great the Master System looked. Its limited software library just couldn't compete though.

What I had really wanted in the 80s was arcade perfect quality which only existed in the 16 bit and 32 bit realms. Back in the day everything was "ports" which meant they got the game to run on very compromised hardware. The Rolling Thunder port by Tengen for Nes is a great example of the compromise we had in the 80s. By the mid 90s arcade ports were all pretty close to perfect but to get the real experience in the 80s you had to go to the arcades or play them on an amiga (or eventually Genesis).

 

Pong console. They made at least 6-7 models.

 

Youngster sadly. Born in '94 but never got to enjoy any of what gaming had to offer. Parents essentially hid away even the thought of gaming despite the fact my mom grew up with the 2600. I didn't get my first console until 2000/2001 when news about the PS2 exploded.

 

Nope, it was some obscure Soviet PC type of thing. It had PacMan and Pong and some other games.

 

I'd have to say youngster as I really started playing on the Dreamcast, but I feel like a young vet.

Explanation: my first at-home console was a nes in '97 (I know right?) and my first "Bought new" console was a '99 launch DC. But I played a lot of snes/nes and later n64 at friend's and familly's houses from around '93. Had my parents allowed me to buy consoles earlier I'd have been a vet in your terms.

I always liked the 6th gen (DC/GC mainly) and previous gens (nintendo mainly) better then the later ones. To me it was the last gen with a real upgrade over the previous one (3D obviousy) but that still had that little something consoles got over PC. I don't like 7th gen games much except for rare gems (The last of us anyone? Hipster will say it's overrated). I don't plan on buying an 8th gen console until it's retro.

 

Hard to say, half-veteran/half-youngster?

Started playing NES when I was 3 y/o (circa 1991), then got my SNES in '95, GBC & N64 in '97, and GC at launch day in 2001. But really started collecting at late 2005-early 2006.

Cheers!

 

I think im a veteran than.
Started in 1987. First contact was the NES from my brother. If i remember right, i got with 6 than my own NES. Was really nice xmas ^^.
After that, i was really more on Nintendo stuff. My first RPG was Faxanadu. Cant belive i beet this game back in the days. Its so hard when i play it today again.
Another really great part was the golden SNES/SFC timeline. I import me all this wonderfull games like Chrono Trigger, Front Mission or Seiken Densetsu 3 over the great Video Games (german Mag). Really loved the Squaresoft and Enix stuff. For me the biggest time for Japan games. It goes on with the N64 and the PS1. Was really a great time at all, and im happy to be a part of it. Today its really hard for me playing "square-enix" games. -.-. Square was canceled for me once Sakaguchi left. Well maybe before with the level5 guys. At the end a JRPG Fan. And current gen i think the Tales of Series do it right.

 

Veteran, I guess?

First saw a NES in 1990, was immediately hooked and subsequently played any video games I could find. I finally got a GB in 1992 after much begging... Played Genesis and Game Gear at my neighbor's. Got a Game Gear in 1993. I remember when there were crowds for Street Fighter II in the arcades and I could practice at a pizzeria. I also saw an Atari Jaguar demonstration at a department store and both Amiga CD32 and 3DO demo kiosks. Remember lolling at my friend's older brother's Master System games in between Sonic 2/3 sessions. In 1994 I saved for a SNES after playing Aladdin at my pediatric dentist's. At the counter I was tempted to buy a cheaper NES2 instead. Started playing imports in 1996 but I couldn't afford any since EVERY title commanded US$70+ apiece, used. Played an imported N64 at Japanese launch (had to rent time at $3 per 10 minutes). Started seeking out 8-bit games to play and collect and also discovered emulation in 1997. I bought a flea market NES with at least two games for $8, and actually returned it because it blinked lol. I remember when Nomads were on clearance for $70. So were TurboGrafx games, which I actually confused for a non-Japanese console by the box art, didn't learn to appreciate until 2000. I was the last person I knew to get a 32-bit console but finally got my modded PS in late 1998. In 1998 NES games were considered worthless and many people would GIVE you them. Plus any game that wasn't Final Fantasy was typically $1-3 at my flea market, Final Fantasy commanded $15. I sold off 3-4 consoles with around 60 games in 1999 for between $200 and $400 pittance just to clear up space and focus primarily on Neo Geo, PS and Dreamcast. I remember teasing a few kids that I had Pokemon Silver before they did in early 2000. In 2000/2001 I had seller's remorse and I also got bored with emulation and current gen so I started eBaying and collected for a solid 5 years. Now each generation I fall further and further behind; now I only buy heavily discounted consoles and used games in bulk which I can't be bothered to play, using giftcards.

 

Veteran here. My older brother got an NES in 88 which I started playing in 89-90. We got a PC in 92 on which I had Wolfenstein, followed by Doom the next year (We didn't believe in that censorship bullshit). I played Genesis at other people's houses from around when it was new till the end as I didn't own one during its lifetime. I got an SNES for my birthday in 93 with Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Mortal Kombat. Christmas 94 was amazing as I got DKC and Megaman X. I could keep going, but I think this adequately touches on veteran vs youngster status. The thing I probably miss the most about gaming back in the day is the arcades, the magazines, trying to figure out how to beat things with my friends with no gameFAQS and the sense of accomplishment when we succeeded, and the glorious lack of people tying the type of games they play to their level of maturity. A good game was a good game, period.

 

Vet for sure. Started out on the Intellivision then got a Power Set in '88. From there it was SNES in '91 and then a GEN/wSCD in '92. I imported my first system (Saturn) in '95 and have been going strong since. I've never really gotten out of gaming and can count on one hand the stuff I've sold so I pretty much still have everything I 've bought.