How many of you still stuck with the 2600 during the NES years?

[ZippyRedPlumber]

And if so, tell us your story

[TrekMD]

I did.  I never got an NES back then.  I had gone off to college and, instead, I got a 7800 so I could play both 2600 and 7800 games.

 

[Asaki]

I don't think we got an NES until maybe '89 or thereabouts, so yes.

Played it well into the '90s, until it stopped working and disappeared. We still have all the games and accessories and everything, but my console is a heavy sixer now (or Flashback 2.0, or Portable).

[+Atari_Warlord]

I still don't have a NES.  Like TrekMD I bought a 7800 and went to college.

[Mr SQL]

X3 Atari was more fun at college. 

[RamrodHare]

I never got an Atari until I was an adult, but I had the NES when it came out.

[+Karl G]

I got a NES when I was a teen, and back then I was all about the latest and greatest for everything. I rediscovered the enjoyment of the Atari later on.

[+wongojack]

Most of my 80's gaming was on the C64.  I got a NES, probably in 89 (but maybe mid-88).  For the purposes of this question, I had already given up on the Atari well before I even got the NES.  My family put the Atari "away" without their child's consent (me), and I simply didn't think about getting it out and playing it very often.  Although I do have a late 80's memory about me and my friend finding a "Mouse Trap" cart and spending time hooking up the 2600 to play it.  I think we spent more time figuring out the hookup than playing the game - lol.

[reklen]

Still was finding games in the Stores, Toys R Us and Best and Radio shack into the mid 90s.  My brother got a Nintendo so I did buy copies of Elevator Action, Gauntlet, and other games that weren't on the 2600.  Got a 7800 in 1992 with ten games.  Inherited a Nintendo when I got married in the same year, but didn't play it much.  Didn't really get into gaming again until the Genesis in 1993, and didn't really start COLLECTING video games until 2013.  I think I had about 30 boxed 2600 games in 2013 when I started actively collecting for the system.  Had about another 50 loose games.

[+cvga]

Took my Commodore 64 to college with me in 1987. My little brother received an NES for Christmas that same year but my roommates and I were still playing StarLeague Baseball and miscellaneous RPGs. Discovered the joys of flea markets shortly after and purchased a few Atari games and an Intellivision system and games for cheap. I brought my Atari back from home but we admittedly played mostly Intellivision, even buying a new system and several discounted titles at Toys R Us (unfortunately I didn't purchase Stadium Mud Buggies or Spiker even though I vividly remember seeing them just sitting there - you didn't even need to pull a tag and go to the booth as no one cared). Somewhere along the line we all acquired GameBoys and had epic linked Tetris battles. Then in 1991, a friend of mine and I bought a big collection of about 200-300 Atari 2600 games for $200. We had a great time playing them and held a draft to split them up. The Atari was with me nearly the whole time but I started very actively collecting from that point on.

[JasperAK]

I loved playing the original games like Haunted House, Pitfall, Defender, Chopper Command, River Raid, and Home Run/Real Sports Baseball. So much so around 1986, I got a Jr. to replace a failing Vader and Solaris along with it. Mom also got Karateka for me because neither the sales guy nor my mother knew what the hell was what. Others in the neighborhood played The Legend of Zelda, R.C. Pro-Am and Double Dragon, and I was jealous. but I honestly hated Super Mario Brothers, and even though I sucked at it, I still loved Solaris. But the writing was on the wall.

 

I got my NES somewhere around '87-'88 and some of the first few games I got were Star Voyager, 1942, MLB, and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Not long after that I got Bases Loaded. I was set, but once I got Silent Service, Genghis Khan, Final Fantasy, and a NES Advantage, the Atari got packed up. Solaris never having been beaten.

 

I have replaced everything I had in the past and added much (far too much) more. I've introduced my kids to the 2600 (on a replacement Vader), NES, SNES, and Genesis. They love Ice Hockey, Warlords and Golden Axe. They enjoyed most of the games I showed them, but unless they were arcade-like--head-to-head or score competition--, they couldn't quite keep their attention. So today we rock the Switch, but the only retro-system I've set up for the family is the Genesis. Truth though, I have the NES and my hacked Atari Flashback hooked up to my computer monitor. Every once in a while I try for another Activision patch.

[+jeremiahjt]

I had a 7800 and an NES at that time. I still bought brand new 2600 games until I could no longer find them. I remember getting Commando, Swordquest: Fireworld, BASIC Programming, and Double Dragon brand new when those games were on the shelf next to NES and 7800 games.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I didn't own an NES until I bought one at a thrift store in the late 90's. The 80's were mostly C64 for me. I did have a friend who got his first 2600 as a hand me down from some relative around '86 or '87 (probably after they got an NES) and we'd play when I went to his house. I still remember him going on about how awesome he thought Swordquest was.

[Cebus Capucinis]

We went directly from the 2600 to C64 and PC, and I didn't get an NES until well into the SNES times, so definitely "stuck" with it in that sense, though I guess it kind of doesn't count since we did use those computers.

[ubersaurus]

We went from a 2600 to the 7800, and got an NES like half a year or so later. We kept the 7800 hooked up and continued to get new 2600 games for it up through 1992 or so.

[toiletunes]

I didn't buy a Nintendo until 1990. 

[schnuth]

My father refused to buy us a NES since we had a 2600. He thought that upgrading your video game console was a complete scam.

[Fierodoug5]

I still played my 2600, but I also had a Sega master system.

[atarifan88]

I wasn't sold on the NES and honestly I was getting out of video games by the time it came out. Besides the Atari, I also had an INTV II at the time so what money I had spent on buying games for that.

Edited January 3, 2022 by atarifan88

[Asaki]

6 hours ago, schnuth said:

My father refused to buy us a NES since we had a 2600. He thought that upgrading your video game console was a complete scam.

That's what my dad thought, and then he got to play Super Mario Bros...

[schuwalker]

While it technically wasn't the 2600, I still had the Colecovision hooked up with the 2600 adaptor. Pretty sure the last 2600 game I picked up (not counting eBay purchases) was the 2600 version of Atari Star Wars arcade the summer of '85. I got a deluxe NES set in Feb. '86; Colecovision was stored after that... I think that point in time around the '86 era, 2600 and Colecovision product was getting tougher to find.

[schnuth]

4 hours ago, Asaki said:

That's what my dad thought, and then he got to play Super Mario Bros...

   My Dad was an unabashed Luddite for his entire life.  He acted like DVD players were the most confusing thing ever.    I did get a C64 after getting a paper route, but that was acceptable since it was a computer and my Mom was on board. 

[zylon]

We got our 2600, when they were "only 50 bucks", and the next summer I got a used one for $10. We couldn't afford much else, lol. In winter of 87, Grandma got me an SMS, but the tari was our main system up into the early 90s. I still have that old Sears 6er that I paid 10 bucks for.

[+davidcalgary29]

I believe that the first 2600 that I owned was a Ben Heck special handheld, and I picked that one up almost two decades ago. And I didn't own a NES until I bought Osgeld's Nintenputer two years ago. 

[eegad]

Never got NES. Played some 2600 games through the late 80s....Adventure, Superman, Haunted House, Phoenix....but only occasionally. From 1983 or so, I mostly just played games on my 400/800xl.