first gaming console you bought with your own money?

[MaximRecoil]

In 1985, when I was 10, my older brother showed me a flyer from K-mart or Zayre with an ad for an Atari 2600 for $35 (the all black "Vader" model, no pack-in game, only 1 joystick). He told me how our neighbors' (Ross and Jeff) parents had spent $200 for one a few years prior. I didn't need any convincing; I'd wanted an Atari for a long time. I had $40 of allowance money saved up at the time, and now I just needed to get to Bangor to buy it (45 minute drive each way). My brother and I convinced our parents to go to Bangor that night. I didn't think I'd have enough money for any games, but Ross and Jeff said I could borrow theirs (they had sold their Atari, but had kept a few games).

 

When I got the Atari to the counter, there was a bin with a bunch of Atari games, for $0.99 each. My brother couldn't believe it. He told me how they used to be so expensive (we didn't know anything at all about the "video game crash" at the time). He told me how Jeff had shoveled driveways all winter a few years ago to buy Missile Command for $50 because it was his favorite game at the arcade. So I picked out 5 games: Defender, Asteroids, Space Attack, Armor Ambush, and Star Raiders. My brother sprung for the sales tax.

 

All of the games were good except for Star Raiders, which was useless. It seemed like a good deal because it came with that keypad. Armor Ambush was fun, but it required two players, like Combat. In hindsight, I should have gotten Yar's Revenge or Berzerk like my brother suggested, instead of Star Raiders. As a side note, Space Attack is a highly underrated game. Some people just can't figure out how to play it (I couldn't either when I first tried it, until my brother read the instruction manual), and others complain that it is too easy. It is indeed easy, if you have the difficulty switches set to "B". Set both of the difficulty switches to "A" and you'll be doing well to beat the game at all, much less beat it without losing a life.

 

When we got home and hooked it up, Ross and Jeff came over, and Jeff gave me his copy of Missile Command for free. They stayed for a while, and we all took turns playing the various games. That was a fun day, hanging out with the cool older kids, playing my very own Atari. Ross ended up coming over to play Atari quite a bit over the next few years. We had the most fun with Dragster, Skiing, Tennis, Ice Hockey (all from Activision), Missile Command, and Video Olympics. Even though by '88 I had an Atari 7800 and NES, we still mostly played the 2600 games when he came over.

 

About 4 years ago, I saw Jeff and told him to come over because I had something to show him. When he walked in and saw my original Missile Command arcade machine, he couldn't believe it. Then I handed him a quarter, and he said, "You mean it actually works??" As I said earlier, Missile Command was Jeff's favorite arcade game when we were kids, and he hadn't played the actual machine since about '82. On his first game he only got about 25,000 points, and he laughed, saying, "I guess I won't be getting my free 6-pack of Coke" (back in the early '80s, the arcade in town used to award a free 6-pack of soda to the people who had the high score for the week on each game).

 

Sadly, Jeff died of cancer last year, at the age of 45.

Edited September 24, 2015 by MaximRecoil

[AtariLeaf]

Not a console but I saved up my money from a summer job in 1986 to buy a Tandy Color Computer 3, then in 1988 when I moved away from home for the first time, I bought an NES which I promptly played a helluva lot more Duck Hunt than SMB with. Then in 1989 I bought myself a TG-16 at launch. The only machine I've ever bought at launch, again, unless you count the coco 3 which I did buy close to launch IIRC.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

In 1985, when I was 10, my older brother showed me a flyer from K-mart or Zayre with an ad for an Atari 2600 for $35 (the all black "Vader" model, no pack-in game, only 1 joystick). He told me how our neighbors' (Ross and Jeff) parents had spent $200 for one a few years prior. I didn't need any convincing; I'd wanted an Atari for a long time. I had $40 of allowance money saved up at the time, and now I just needed to get to Bangor to buy it (45 minute drive each way). My brother and I convinced our parents to go to Bangor that night. I didn't think I'd have enough money for any games, but Ross and Jeff said I could borrow theirs (they had sold their Atari, but had kept a few games).

 

When I got the Atari to the counter, there was a bin with a bunch of Atari games, for $0.99 each. My brother couldn't believe it. He told me how they used to be so expensive (we didn't know anything at all about the "video game crash" at the time). He told me how Jeff had shoveled driveways all winter a few years ago to buy Missile Command for $50 because it was his favorite game at the arcade. So I picked out 5 games: Defender, Asteroids, Space Attack, Armor Ambush, and Star Raiders. My brother sprung for the sales tax.

 

All of the games were good except for Star Raiders, which was useless. It seemed like a good deal because it came with that keypad. Armor Ambush was fun, but it required two players, like Combat. In hindsight, I should have gotten Yar's Revenge or Berzerk like my brother suggested, instead of Star Raiders. As a side note, Space Attack is a highly underrated game. Some people just can't figure out how to play it (I couldn't either when I first tried it, until my brother read the instruction manual), and others complain that it is too easy. It is indeed easy, if you have the difficulty switches set to "B". Set both of the difficulty switches to "A" and you'll be doing well to beat the game at all, much less beat it without losing a life.

 

When we got home and hooked it up, Ross and Jeff came over, and Jeff gave me his copy of Missile Command for free. They stayed for a while, and we all took turns playing the various games. That was a fun day, hanging out with the cool older kids, playing my very own Atari. Ross ended up coming over to play Atari quite a bit over the next few years. We had the most fun with Dragster, Skiing, Tennis, Ice Hockey (all from Activision), Missile Command, and Video Olympics. Even though by '88 I had an Atari 7800 and NES, we still mostly played the 2600 games when he came over.

 

About 4 years ago, I saw Jeff and told him to come over because I had something to show him. When he walked in and saw my original Missile Command arcade machine, he couldn't believe it. Then I handed him a quarter, and he said, "You mean it actually works??" As I said earlier, Missile Command was Jeff's favorite arcade game when we were kids, and he hadn't played the actual machine since about '82. On his first game he only got about 25,000 points, and he laughed, saying, "I guess I won't be getting my free 6-pack of Coke" (back in the early '80s, the arcade in town used to award a free 6-pack of soda to the people who had the high score for the week on each game).

 

Sadly, Jeff died of cancer last year, at the age of 45.

Awesome story!! Sorry about your neighbor and friend Jeff passing away.

[AAA177]

There are some great stories in this thread. Dragonstomper's was particularly fascinating (I am saddened to read that your friend passed).

 

I don't have a story behind this, but I believe the first system for me was the NES. I still have it. After that, the Genesis.

[mikey.shake]

I grew up playing my friends' NESes, got a GameBoy in '89. Folks bought my sister and I an SNES in '92, never got a 5th Gen console at our house.

 

My first year of college (2000), I bought my then-girlfriend a Sega Genesis and bunch of carts (mostly Sonic games) at GameStop for probably less than $25 total, as a surprise gift. She loved it. So I guess that was the first one I bought completely with my own money.

 

A few months later, she and I went halfsies on a front-loader NES. We're still playing that Nintendo, and we're long since married.

[malducci]

Parents bought us our Mattel Aquarius, ColecoVision and then an NES/Sega Master System and then I was on my own. My brother was no longer interesting in gaming.

 

So I was 17 in 1990 and bought a brand new Sega Genesis at Circuit City for like $119? I can't even remember the price, but I used my money I made helping my dad. It came with the Sonic the Hedgehog pack in cartridge. I also bought Bulls Vs. Lakers. Then a couple of years later, I bought a Panasonic 3DO console. It was an open box special at Circuit CIty for like $129 or something.

 

 

1990? Sonic didn't come out until summer of 1991, and a pack in 1992 IIRC.