What's your Experience growing up computer and console wise.. What machines did you see and not see.

So simply what was it like when you were growing up, which systems did you see a lot of and which didn't you see at all, what was the common machine to have in your area or friend group

In my social group like 8 out of 10 kids had Spectrums and 9 out of 10 had Amiga's so I really did think this was the norm, then the Internet comes about and I see all this C64 and Atari ST love and realise I was only kind of conscious of my own little bubble. My cousin did have a Dragon 32 at some point and my older brother had a BBC something id normally only see in schools not houses.

As for consoles I was the only one of my friends to have an Atari VCS probably as I had older brothers. You would find the occasional Master System in the odd household but only one kid I knew actually had a NES when they were current. One lad had a GX4000/CPC with like only ever 2 games, one was burning rubber.

When it comes to the Great MegaDrive VS SNES days it seemed like a 50 50 split in my neck of the woods with me being one of very few people to own both. I never saw a PC Engine, I briefly had a Neo Geo at the end of the 16bit days but got it cheap and couldn't really afford anything for it so sold it...

I will talk about more newer things and handhelds later.

kerr, oh boy - cracking thread! I will need to spend a little time thinking back and I won't be around to post until Tuesday. I'm looking forward to hearing about the gaming scene for other GRcadians!

Going to do this by 'era' and ignore the Sinclair QL which introduced me to gaming as I was too young to remember much about it.

The early years (aged 8-12)

Got a Master System for Christmas '89 and instantly fell in love with gaming, not many of my friends had consoles (one had a handed down Atari 2600, another had a Master System and in hindsight probably a couple of my female friends, including my future girlfriend were gaming at that time too), a bit later on I got a Gameboy (with Tetris obvs) and while I had several games I really enjoyed for it, my main gaming was on the Master System, until...

Early teens (13-16)

Got a Megadrive for my 13th birthday (with Street Fighter II: 'CE, then bought Sonic 2 with birthday money) but had already played on one for a while (my uncle had one with Super Hang-on, California Games and Sonic 1), most of the kids at school had either a SNES or one of the multiple home computers available at the time (which I kind of dismissed due to the lengthy load times) the only people who I knew with a Megadrive were my 'girllfriend' (we'd been friends since primary school and the 'relationship' didn't last long after this point , afterwards we rarely spoke which was a shame as she was a good friend)) and one of my cousins. The next major console I had during this 'era' was the Sega Saturn which I got a few weeks before my 15th birthday (avec Virtua Fighter 2, Theme Park and Clockwork Knight ) and I bloody loved it even though most of my school friends had Playstations instead and (incorrectly) looked down on it. Also had my first PC by this point but didn't do much gaming on it other than Sim City 2000, Ciivilization II and Worms 2.


Exit planet school (late teens/early 20's)

Shortly before starting GCSE exams I spontaneously bought a cheap Playstation bundle (console, 2 pads, memory stick, GTA, Pandemonium 2 and Tekken 2), on the agreement that I wouldn't play it until I'd finished revising, which, amazingly, I somehow managed to stick to. I got Gran Turismo for my 17th birthday When I started college (BTEC in IT and computing) nearly everyone I knew had a Playstation, PC, an N64 or some combination of the three (I had all 3 by this point), a couple of years later the Dreamcast came along, which I bought at launch with a few laumch games but it was later games like Crazy Taxi, Shenmue and Soul Calibur that made it one of my all time favourite consoles.

To be continued...

During primary school, it seemed a fair few people had PS1 or N64. Gameboy Colour and then Gameboy Advance (though I myself did not get a GBA until fairly late on). I did not really know about the Sega Saturn. May have heard the name but was not conscious of it being a PS1/N64 competitor until much later on. Also don't really know if any of my classmates had anything older.

Early into secondary school it seemed most of my main friend groups had Gamecubes - probably as well as PS2s and Xboxes. That was the only console I had of that gen at the time, growing up as a Nintendo boy with some PS1 experience. Most of my friends would also get the Wii but most of them moved onto the 360 later on. I couldn't really afford one so I felt a bit left out. I don't remember anyone who had a PS3. Certainly did not remember seeing one at t friend's house. Also had a couple of friends who were pretty big on PC gaming by that point.

In terms of handhelds the DS fared a bit better than the Wii predictably. Had a friend with a PSP who brought it in once but didn't see much of it and was not really interested in on at the time.

Primary school: Game Boy and N64. Maybe the odd PlayStation, but it was the likes of Pokémon (yeah!) and GoldenEye (bleah) that captured the imagination. One of my few successful birthday events was four of us in my basement playing Mario Tennis doubles for hours. Hours.

Secondary school: big shift to PlayStation and GTA, with the odd Game Boy Advance and DS cropping up here and there. Right at the end I managed to sway large numbers of people into loving Meteos. It was a good time.

University: I saw a GameCube in freshers' week and nothing thereafter apart from me and my girlfriends on DSes.


That paints a big Nintendo picture and a big me-controlling-the-narrative picture. The truth is, after primary school there wasn't much gaming around me full stop unless I sought it out or brought it in, or if there was I didn't see it. That's why when I discovered online gaming fora, in year 12 I think, I jumped on it and refused to let go.

At primary school it was N64, PS1, PC, Game Boy and then PS2. I remember getting into Zelda because I went to a friend's house and we just spent all our time fishing in Ocarina. That got me to ask my parents for the game for my birthday (and I even remember then being in HMV in town and picking it off the display shelf). I played a PS1 a couple of times at other people's houses (I recall GTA, Toca, Driver and Tony Hawk's). Pokemon was big (of course) right from the off. One of my best friends at the time had an aunt who actually did work for Sony so he always had all of the PS2 peripherals and plenty of games (lots of them press review versions) once that gen came round. Another classmate would sell PS2 cheats - you'd tell him the game then overnight he'd look them up online and print them off for you. PS2 was definitely the biggest thing, although I had one friend in particular who played a lot on PC.

At secondary school I was aware of PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, PS3, 360, Wii, PC, PSP, DS. I'd say PS3 and PSP were the dominant consoles, although there was a lot of 360 going on too. I never really joined in with the COD crowd, but there was a good group of us who would all bring our PSPs into school and play the likes of Monster Hunter, Syphon Filter and Star Wars Battlefront (there was similar with DS but definitely not as much). I do clearly remember someone bringing in their gamecube with the screen attachment a couple of times. We managed to set up 3 player Crystal Chronicles one lunch time with GBAs and everything!

I'd say my earliest experiences were of the end of the era of home computer dominance - most people I knew who were into games in those early years of primary school were playing on Spectrum - lots of tapes were getting traded in the playground and books/mags with BASIC games that you could type out yourself (and then enjoy watching it not work because you messed up a GOSUB somewhere!) were also a constant source of interest in my friendship group. I knew only a very small number of people who had something other than a Spectrum - my cousin had a C64, as did one other kid at school. Same story for consoles I knew two people with a Master System and my cousin also had a NES, but in general the 8-bit era was very much dominated by the Spectrum.

As time went on I'd say about 50% of the computer crowd migrated onto Amiga, mostly with 500's but a few had either a 600 or 1200 (dat AGA ) but quite a few more people were picking up consoles by the early 90s, either in addition to a computer or as their sole gaming system. The Mega Drive was substantially the most popular machine around my school, I'd say upwards of 75% of console owners had one and the SNES was something of a rarity (and was considered the "posh console" - no idea if there is actually a basis for this, was the Nintendo machine noticeably more expensive?) I never saw or knew of anyone who had anything other than one of those options in this era. Handhelds obviously become more of a thing around this time as well, there were a few of us with Game Gear's at my school and the Game Boy was more popular than the SNES was with quite a few of the Mega Drive kids owning one but I always felt like the big handheld boom bypassed me for some reason - there were never big crowds playing/discussing things like Pokémon or Tetris in the way that others seem to describe it. There was one kid at our school who had an Atari Lynx, I remember playing it once and being quite impressed with it but it was also obvious even then that it wasn't going to be a big hit.

We stuck with our Mega Drive / Amiga combo for longer than most in our house (though the Amiga was swapped out for a PC in 1995) and didn't move to the next generation of consoles until Christmas 1997, the intervening years were a painful period of watching others get hold of new shiny machines that I could only look on at enviously - PS1, Saturn and even a couple of Jaguars starting to show up in friends houses. However the upside to this waiting game was that by the time we did come to take the plunge it was pretty clear which horse to back! As long time Sega fans we had been toying with the idea of going down the Saturn route for a long time ("it's Sega we know what they do! Sonic will be there! Look how amazing Nights looks!...") but come the end of '97 when me and my brothers knew our parents were going to be able to take the plunge and get us a new system we could see that the PS1 was the way to go - so many more people were on board with it amongst our friends and more and more amazing exclusives were on the horizon, whilst the Saturn already seemed to be dead in the water by that point. I never actually played a single Saturn game on a machine owned by anyone I knew, that's how rare they seemed to be - I only ever had a few goes on one where they used to have them setup in game shops to play. N64 was also a bit of niche thing among friends, but had a dedicated following nonetheless. MANY an afternoon was lost to multiplayer games of Goldeneye, and it felt like playground discussion around OOT seemed to go on for years with people sharing how to get past various bits or claiming new discoveries (many of which were classic gamer bullshit)

Over time things seemed to get much more homogenous in the market and so by this point you just had a fairly decent spread of everyone having one or more of the main systems - XBOX, GC, PS2 -> 360, Wii, PS3 etc. but we did have a bit of a dedicated Dreamcast following at my school for a while which was probably the last "outsider" holdout. In terms of later generation handhelds I don't know why but these seemed to tank in popularity in my friendship groups - GBA was still relatively common, but I don't know anyone who owned a DS, 3DS, PSP, or Vita - they just didn't seem to make any dent. To this day I still don't think I've ever actually played on a Vita, the others I've had a go on demo systems in shops.

I was a little bit later than some of my friends getting to the really decent stuff. I was still on ZX Spectrum till 1992 when I got my Amiga 600, after a very envious couple of years round friend's houses playing on their Amiga's. It was like time travelling from the past into the future. Probably my favourite few years of gaming. Ever.

In early 1996 I got the Playstation and sold my A600 (which I now consider a mistake). I bypassed early Nintendo/Sega consoles completely.

And finally, early 1998 I got into PC gaming and have remained there ever since. (I did get an N64 in 2000, but only played Ocarina of Time and never bothered with the console again).

I've never owned a PlayStation of any kind. Going back and playing PS1 games via ROMs, I've got to say, I simply don't understand why this console was so popular. N64 games have on average aged far far better gameplay wise. During the PS2 era I missed out on a great deal of games, but more than made up for via GameCube exclusives.

As for the PS3, the only game I'd like to play from that platform is MGS4 which I believe is coming soon via those collection re-releases. By then I had a powerful PC to play all the ports as well as PC only titles. Same with PS4, though all fighting games seemingly going PS exclusive in this era had an effect on the games I play.

Primary School: Most of the kids i knew had things like the ZX Spectrum, but in the latter years, a lot of them started getting Megadrives.

Secondary School: I was the only one who had both a Megadrive and Super NES, most had Megadrives, and one kid only had a Master System because he was like Kenny from South Park (i earned the right to ridicule him this way because the bastard stole my Casio F-91W watch).

Later on, when i was living off grid, i had a PS1 and N64, and then got a Dreamcast in 1999.

After that, i never really played games with people as an adult, so i was busy playing the likes of the Gamecube, PS2, 360, PS3 and so on in the same manner that i do now.

One console i never had a chance to try was the original XBox, it kinda passed me by as i didn't know anyone who had one either. I've also never played on a Wii U, or a Switch.

My parents got me a SNES because I think they believed the Mega Drive was for violent games. Same again when it came to N64 vs PlayStation.

I was very much in the minority. I don't know about Nintendo being considered posh – round here it was that they were considered to be "for girls"!

I think it then went through the years from the phenomenon of Pokemon to a more casual GTA fanbase, while I had a friendship group that was into N64 and GameCube multiplayer. I do remember playing a lot of a friend's PlayStation 2 as well.

I drifted away from gaming for a long time, distracted by things like skateboarding, drugs, alcohol, and, worst of all, girls. I vaguely remember owning an Xbox at one point .

Got back into it somewhat with Wii Sports at university, which was briefly a critical point of competition among a decent group of us. But I was mostly still distracted by the above, swapping out skateboarding for football.

The Wii U was my first 'moved out with a full-time job' console. Hours and hours of joy matched and exceeded by the Switch, which I still play frequently to this day.

Oblomov Boblomov wrote:distracted by things like skateboarding, and, worst of all, girls.

He was a skater boy, she said, "See you later, boy", He wasn't good enough for her...

The beginning (1980)

The first home computer I saw was at a friends house around 1980; I didn't know what it was - my friend's older brother was pressing something and words were appearing on the TV screen. I was amazed! At about the same time, an older friend got an Atari VCS (2600) and that was my first actual go on a home gaming system. The first games I played were Combat (super two-player battling) and Adventure (a simple but, for the time, pretty involved title).


Getting involved (early 80s)

My family had a Binatone console that played Pong/tennis/squash and that was our first gaming system. I think we got it for free when my dad bought a new TV. By 1983 I was at secondary school and we had access to a few BBC B computers. I joined the computer club (it was alright, though - I didn't get a kicking as I played football, too) which meant we could use them after school and this is where I first started using BASIC coding and seeing a few games. Some of my school pals were getting computers like the Spectrum (most popular), the C64 (a few but not as many) and the BBC B (which only kids with rich parents had!). Our first proper computer was a Commodore Vic-20 that my dad bought us in March 1984. He got it from our local Rumbelows (a new-defunct electrical retailer) and he chose it because it had a decent keyboard and it came in a pack with a cassette deck and a few games. The system was low-tech (just 20 character width across the screen and 3.5k RAM ) but I blooming loved it . In 1985 my pal got a Commodore 16 and I was hugely envious of the increased memory and improved graphics. This spurred me on to wanting to get a "better" computer and I started saving up my daily paper round money. In December 1985 I got the Commodore 64... wow, what a system! Two of my pals then got Amstrads (CPC 464) and It was a fun few years having access to both the C64 and the Amstrads.


Consoles and 16-bit (Late 80s)

I got my first console in 1987. I picked up a Sega Master System in late August; I believe on the first weekend that the system had arrived in the UK. I'd been working a summer job and so just about had enough cash to buy it. The Master System was pretty popular; a large range of games was available and there was plenty of advertising - I never knew anyone who had a NES at that time. In 1991 I got the Mega Drive, picking up an imported Asian model that could play UK, Japanese and US titles. Over the next few years it seemed that everyone had a MD, with about half as many having a SNES.

Running alongside these new consoles were the 16 bit home computers. I started work in 1989 and bought myself an Atari STe. It came with the Power Pack, a set of twenty (!) pretty decent games. I can imagine that many folk just played these rather than buying anything new! I thought the ST was a great system but, within a few years, it was clear that the Amiga was proving more popular and in 1991 I switched over, getting an A600 and, soon after, an A1200. By 1993 the Amiga was the last big-selling home computer on the market as ("IBM compatible") PCs were just starting to arrive in homes. They were very expensive, though, and not too many people that I knew had one.


Gaming becomes "acceptable" (1995)

After that... the big change was PlayStation in 1995. I was in my mid-20s and nobody at work ever spoke of gaming; until the PS1 arrived. All of a sudden, gaming stopped being thought of as geeky and acquired a cooler image. Prior to this, gaming was generally thought of as being "for kids" and Sony's marketing reached out to an older crowd; perhaps targeting the late-teens and 20-ish age group. Plenty of my work colleagues had a PS1 and the system really took off.
I didn't know anyone who had a Saturn, 3DO or Jaguar and the home computers were virtually gone by this time. Nintendo was spoken of and a few people I knew got N64s in 1997 but it felt like PlayStation was the real leader for this era.

The decision (2003)

I stuck with my PS1 - and, later, PSone - for quite a few years. Money was a bit tight and I never went for Dreamcast (it looked great and there seemed to be loads of in-shop demo setups around) or PS2 (the launch range, and first year, of games just never grabbed me). By 2003 I did have some dough to spare and I had a choice of PS2, GameCube or Xbox. I spent a couple of months deciding and went for Xbox.... even though I'd been a PlayStation gamer for around eight years. I really liked the Xbox; it felt powerful and it was a big step up from PSone. Most people seemed to have PS2s with the odd GameCube around; Xbox was pretty much in the middle. After a few years I was ready to upgrade and I stuck with Xbox, going for the 360 but a few years after launch - I got it on the day Bioshock launched in the summer of 2007. What a great machine! Plenty of people seemed to have a 360 and it seemed to be the most popular system through until 2011 when PS3 turned things around.

Everyone had them! (2009)

There have been relatively few systems that I felt like everyone had them. Two consoles do stand out, though - Nintendo's Wii and DS. Man, all of a sudden even people who never played games - most of my family and friends! - had a Wii, and many had a DS, too. I'd say that 2009 was the peak, with even my mum and dad having a Wii console by this time! Yeah, there was a lot of shovel ware and some pretty bad games... but there were plenty of good ones, too. The Wii just seemed to be something that everyone had. Even subsequently, with things like the Switch proving popular, I don't think it has had quite the impact that the Wii did. I was super-reticent at first and didn't get one until 2009... and yet it became a system that I remain incredibly fond of.


Changing horses again (2013)

In that previous gen I had owned a 360, PS3 and Wii. What an incredibly strong era that was! However, the combined costs were pretty high and I didn't want to do that again. I had picked up the Wii U at launch in late 2012 and - of course! - I loved it... but I used Miiverse and the web browser far more than actually playing games. In late 2013 we were approaching the launch of Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I'd been a mainly Xbox gamer for the past two gens but then... well, as we know, Microsoft played it all wrong in the eyes of many people. The PS4 become the red-hot new console and I switched back to PlayStation. In that first year there wasn't too many "must haves" and I continued playing on my 360... but, after that, a deluge of great games arrived. I was fully into PS4 and, when I sit back and think, I'd say that the console has been my all time favourite. I still have great fondness for many systems but, for me, PS4 has been the best.


Now

I picked up Switch just after launch and I guess it's now in the last year or two of big new games arriving. I really like Switch; a terrific system with a vast array of good games and, for me, the dual handheld/TV play mode elevates it to greatness. I don't love it like, say, my PS4 Pro, though. Nintendo has, in my eyes, lost a little too much of their renowned quirkiness that we saw in the 3DS and the U. I know that I'm in the minority with this, though, and I do hugely enjoy gaming on Switch.

And I'm still on PlayStation, picking up a PS5 in August 2021 due to a fortuitous situation of having some spare cash and the console being available to buy from a local Argos. It's a super console and yet it's the least I've ever used a new system. I have bought games for it and they're smashing... but I just haven't got into playing games on my living room TV; I still prefer to sit at a desk in my box room and use my PS4 Pro.

Right now none of my IRL pals play games. My two elder nephews do but they're reaching an age where they'd rather go and hang out on the streets and try and get into a pub. My family and friends know that I'm still into gaming, probably thinking that it's on the geeky side rather than being cool. I really enjoy using GRcade and Twitter so that I can chat with other folk who are into the gaming scene. Although I do get sometimes get frustrated with gaming becoming "big business" and the rising costs involved, it's still something that I like and want to get involved with.

Long live videogaming!

Through various friends I had some experience of C64, Spectrum and Amstrad CPC 464. Mainly the Amstrad and Harrier Attack which I thought was pretty good.

Playing Super Mario Bros 2 on a NES was the real game changer. Guess this was all around the late 80s as I think it was after this that I wanted one for myself. I didn't end up with an NES but an Atari XE which I think I got Xmas 88.

That soon broke, and had been discontinued, so after a very brief spell with an Atari 7800, which my parents, who had got into the Atari XE, also realized was a bit gooseberry fool/dated at this point I ended up with a C64 GS.

I personally didn't have the best consoles in the early days/mid days. My best experiences came via friends. So around this time/this way I'd also come across the Master System and Alex Kidd.

The next two significant moments were, not sure which was first:
1. My friend bringing his Megadrive around and playing Streets of Rage 1.
2. Getting a Gameboy for Xmas 91. I'd never got a TV, so getting a console and a TV at the same time was a big ask.

I loved my Gameboy. I played it solidly for at least 4 years. Xmas 95 was the first time I asked for something other than Gameboy games. I must have had a least 80 games for it in the end. I remember I traded most of them at a shitty Cash Convertor store in 1997 for a crappy Panasonic Discman.

Another big moment was Xmas 93 when I got Links Awakening for Xmas and my friend got a SNES with Mario Kart.

Around the early/mid 90s period my younger brother really got into games so it was either through him or friends that I played a lot of the classic Megadrive/SNES/Playstation stuff. Around this time, when I was 16/17 I'd rather have got other things for Xmas/B'day presents.

It was not until uni, 1998, that I had some disposable cash so bought an N64 with Goldeneye, Shadows of the Empire and Starfox. My N64 lasted all the way until 2000 by which time I had most of the classics and had met my GF who took my gaming to another level.

For Xmas/Birthdays I ended up with Dreamcast, GBA, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, Wii.

I traded most of that in for a 360 in September 07 and have been pretty much Xbox (and a bit of Switch) since.

I'm sure I have listed out my computer and console collection a few times over the years, but I will say that the one mainline computer I never saw when I was a child was the Amstrad CPC. It is much maligned when compared to the C64 ( ) and Speccy, but, looking at some of the graphics it could put out, it looks like a solid bit of kit.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:I'm sure I have listed out my computer and console collection a few times over the years, but I will say that the one mainline computer I never saw when I was a child was the Amstrad CPC. It is much maligned when compared to the C64 ( ) and Speccy, but, looking at some of the graphics it could put out, it looks like a solid bit of kit.

Yeah, the CPC was a great machine. I didn't own one myself in its heyday (85 to 89) but my best pal had one and I got to use it quite a lot. Having a monitor with it was really nice and the picture quality was very good. Technically it was kind of a cross between the Spectrum and the C64; it had the same CPU (the Z80) as the Speccy but the graphics were bright and blocky like the 64. In later years I had a CPC 464+ for a short time and it was a lot of fun.

Growing up, I had a Megadrive. Then my parents bought a PC and so I didn't have another console until I bought my own GameCube at the age of 14. One of the best bargains ever. Bought myself a PS2 at the end of the generation to catch up on some of the exclusives.

Oh, I also had a Gameboy Colour and, later, an Advance. DS came out while I was still at school but was old enough to buy it myself.

Around primary school age, I played pretty much exclusively on the Mega Drive, which was my brother's. I think the odd friend of ours had a Mega Drive or SNES, but it wasn't something we really bothered to talk about - they were just another 'toy' along with everything else, I guess. I remember on school trips people having Game Boys or Game & Watches, but I guess my interest in games at that age was pretty surface level, so I didn't pay much attention.

In the late 90s and secondary school, that's where things ramped up. Loads of people had a Playstation or N64 (or both), and there was a lot of discussion among friends, swapping and selling of games at school, etc. Pokemon Red and Blue was all the rage at one point too, where it seemed like everyone was playing it. This pretty much continued with the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox, but - in school at least - there seemed to be a bit less conversation about this. Amongst me and my friends though, there was a lot of multiplayer, and again the borrowing of games, etc.

I didn't know anybody during this time who had a Saturn or a Dreamcast. My only exposure to the latter was in Toys R Us, playing on Sonic Adventure 2 and Toy Commander. I remember thinking that the controller was horrible, but that was the extent of my time with the console.

As time went on I continued playing games and getting more consoles and playing on PC too, and my circle of friends did too. I knew a few people at university with 360s, Wiis, and various handhelds, but I've never known anyone with a PS3, PS4, or any of the recent Xboxes (in 'real life', anyway). Gradually I've lost touch with my friends from back then, and I think only one of my friends now plays games, but I don't see him very often. He has a Switch, which I've played on occasionally. Don't know anybody with a PS5.

I was young and wanted an NES but my tight fisted father got me an Intellevision instead. Couple of years of playing my cousins C64 and I begged for one of those but got a ZX Spectrum 48k+ instead. That one didn't hurt as much as the Intellevision. I eventually got an NES and C64 though, but I only ended up with about 4 NES games due to the price. Castlevania, TMNT and can't remember the others. Was Pinbot an NES game? If so, I had that too.

I can also remember playing River Raid on my dad's Vic 20, and playing some of those horrendous Grandstand machines. Dreadful.

I thought id let some of you tell me a bit about your experience and then id go into mine in a bit more detail. Like I said In my social group like 8 out of 10 kids had Spectrum's back in the day. For me it all started with a set of 2 hand me downs a hand me down Atari VCS the old woody type which I still have with a lot of the original carts from back then as well as some I have picked up over the years, I used to play on this a lot during my very early years, particularly while my other hand me down loaded. My other hand me down was a 48k Spectrum that had belonged to my older brothers.... my first memory of every playing a game was on the spectrum it was a Spectrum game called First Steps with the Mr Men and my Dad had me sat on his knee playing it super super early like when i was 2 or 3 it was all stuff to help you work out your colors and such, I still have this somewere as well although I dont think I have that particular Spectrum anymore though, I think my mum gave it away to someone less well off when I got a 128K Spectrum +2 for Christmas along side a Matsui 14 inch Portable TV. The TV was a massive improvement as before this id been playing my Atari and Spectrum on a 4inch black and white.. I still have this Spectrum and all my games plus others I have grabbed along the way...

I played a lot of Commadore 64 growing up as well because my best friend Andrew had one and a whole bunch of games, I have lots of memories of his grandma walking me and him to his house after school getting us sausage rolls from the bakery on the way and then us playing loads of C64 games at his house they are really happy memories, we would watch things like Visionaries and other cartoons or play darts or play board games while the C64 loaded... I found a lot of my fave games on the Spectrum through first playing them on his C64 and deciding I wanted to be able to play them at home. I rememeber him having this cool game Fernandez must Die or something like that and then I saw it a bit later on a Spectrum Magazine cover tape and had to buy that magazine to get it.... Cover tapes where such a huge bit of my gaming life back then as were budget £1.99 titles.#

my older brohter had a BBC I ocassionally got a go on as well as school having one, A cousin had a Dragon 32 or 64 not totally sure which and then one friend had an Amstrad but it was mostly Spectrum after Spectrum in every kids house with the odd C64 thrown in... The only game I remember playing on the Amstrad was Prince of Persia

to be continued.....