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

I never saw a Saturn growing up. I barely remember shops selling them to be fair. One guy I knew at school said he had one but nobody ever saw it and he was a serial bullshitter.

First time I remember actually seeing and getting to try a Saturn was about 5 years back at a retro gaming convention.

Cumberdanes wrote:First time I remember actually seeing and getting to fry a Saturn was about 5 years back at a retro gaming convention.

Warning: frying your console may invaliate your warranty.

Early years

My first console was a hand-me-down Atari 2600 from my cousin. My parents bought us a Spectrum+ and that was my main gaming platform for most of the 80’s. I was given an Amstrad as a hand-me-down at the end of this period


Second phase

I was bought a Master System and it felt like such a step up from the Spectrum. I already had a love affair with Sega games from the arcades so this console scratched that Sega itch at home. I genuinely wasn’t even aware of NES having a presence in this country until decades later. I don’t know why my parents agreed to it but not long after the Master System I got a Megadrive. All my friends had Mega Drives and I only ever knew one person with a SNES. For the most part I didn’t feel as if I was missing out. Again, the Sega games were more than enough for me and there were plenty of third-party games. I only remember wanting to play DK Country (I wasn’t fussed about Mario or Mario Kart). I also begged my folks for an Amiga, promising to use it for school. This was my secondary gaming machine but it holds a special place in my heart. I found out years later that my parents were struggling financially at the time and I feel both really guilty for getting a Mega Drive and Amiga and grateful beyond words that they got them for us.
I did buy a SNES years later but never really got into collecting for it.

32/64bit era

I’d gone off games a bit at this point. My brother got a PlayStation. By the time I was interested in games again the writing was on the wall for the Saturn. It’s the only Sega home console (with a UK release) I didn’t own as a current gen console. This is something I regret despite enjoying the PlayStation. I also missed the N64. I bought a Saturn many years later which I loved. I also bought an N64 when I started collecting retro stuff. If I’m being honest, I only bought it for the two Zelda games

DC/GC/PS2/Xbox

This was the generation I went into overdrive and also massively overboard. I was working and also living at home so I had disposable income for the first time. I bought the Dreamcast a couple of months after launch. This is my favourite console ever and the one I currently own the most games for. If Sega had seen this generation through to the end I doubt I’d have bothered with any of the other consoles. It had a short life span but they were glorious years! Unfortunately though Sega did quit the console market and for the first time I felt homeless. I ended up buying the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox because Sega were bringing exclusive games to different consoles. My opinion on each of them:
Gamecube - I liked this console, the only Nintendo console I’ve ever owned during it’s current lifespan (ie not as a retro console). Probably my favourite Nintendo console. I loved Twilight Princess and the Sega offerings.
XBox - It was fine. My least played console and I would have probably skipped it if Sega hadn’t supported it
PS2 - I owned a lot of games for it. It was a good console and I’m glad I got it for things like Ico, Mark of Kri and SotC. I probably wouldn’t have bought it if Dreamcast had survived or at least not until a lot later in its life.
I think this is the generation where my interest in gaming started to wane, it just didn’t feel the same without Sega consoles. A lot of magic has gone from the company over the years since they went third-party.

Post Sega world

I wasn’t in a rush to get into this generation. I was going to get a PS3 but remember seeing a couple of really buggy games that my brother was playing and opted for an Xbox 360. Honestly, I loved this console, I thought it was great and easily the best Xbox. I didn’t feel as if I missed much at all on the PS3. I ended up getting one in the end but just for the Yakuza games. I wouldn’t have bothered otherwise. I didn’t get a Wii and only really feel I missed out on Zelda Skyward Sword but the motion controls put me off.

PS4/Xbox One/WiiU

This is where my gaming habits have really trailed off. I bought a PS4 late-ish into its life (maybe about half-way through). I’ve enjoyed it but haven’t bought loads of games for it and there have been large gaps where I haven’t played it at all. I bought an Xbox One when I was depressed ( tend to do impulse buys to make myself feel better when I’m depressed to make myself feel better. It never works) I never played it and sold it months later. I wasn’t really aware that the WiiU was a thing.


Current Gen.

There’s maybe a couple of current gen exclusive (not cross-gen) game that I’m interested in and maybe two on the horizon that I’m keen on. Other than that I’d say my interest in gaming is close to zero. I’m just not that bothered with much that Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo are offering at the moment. I have a friend trying to get me into PC gaming. They tried to tempt me with the Steam Deck but I’m not really biting. I’m actually just putting the finishing touches to cataloguing my games collection for sale. Feels weird but I haven't touched them for years, I’d rather someone get enjoyment out of them.

Things that didn’t fit neatly elsewhere

From the 80’s to the early 90s I was really into the arcade scene.

I’ve dabbled with handhelds but they’ve never been my main console. I’ve owned a Gamegear, GBA SP and PSP but they were all very much secondary or even tertiary consoles for me.

I've found as I've got older and gaming has become more acceptable I actually know fewer people who are into gaming. I know this is probably because I don't have much in the way of friends these days but even amongst acquaintances I don't really know anyone who games. Maybe just one friend, my brother and my nephew and niece

For saying that my mum and dad didn’t have much money, growing up we always had decent gaming hardware.

I had a Vic20 but was too young to use it. Our school was a Sega school so I had a Master System and Mega Drive and Mega CD. At the time I wasn’t as clued up as I am now and wanted a Saturn. Thankfully my brother got his way and we ended up with a PS1 instead.

We still managed to adopt a SNES and N64. The Dreamcast was the first console I ever brought with my own wages, actually a personal treat using accrued holiday pay I hadn’t taken.

I took my GameCube off to Uni and sold my PS2 to my brother. I brought a GBA during that time and discovered a love of portables that never went away. Since then I’ve owned every console up to the Switch.

So onto the Second phase as outrunner called it

I never at the time owned a Master System 1 or 2 although I did see a few and would actually continue to see them for years past there prime... when they came out my Cousin Lee had one and I loved playing on his when I went to his house, I dont remember him having a lot of games for it though. He had a Master System original although what I remember seeing the most was the model 2. I saw loads of Model 2's most of them at the houses of people my Middle brother was dating... My main memory of the Master System 2 is being in strange homes and my brother playing on them with me for like 5 minutes and then dissapering and me playing on it on my own for ages.... I now realize essentially this was him having booty calls when he was supposed to be looking after me and knowing stick me in front of a console and I wouldn't care or realize. I eventually got a Master System 2 second hand near the end of the Megadrives life in order to be able to play it when I wanted for peanuts.

I only ever saw one single NES back in the day and it belonged to a friend of mine Paul, I only actually remember him having Super Mario Bros and that was it, we spent far more time on his Amstrad and we didn't even spend much time on that as he had like 100 board games and a truly massive back yard, so my times with him at that age were more about water gun fights and twister and such. I didn't get a NES till the N64 was announced, it was out of a newspaper from the adds part and came for very little money less than a new SNES game and had about 8 games with it, one of them was Punch Out and I totally fell in love with that game and tried my best to collect as many carts for it as I could.. I think I now have around 100 Nes games and the same for Master System games with videos showing them on my YouTube.

I think I had my Amiga 500 before consoles... my main memories of it are spending a lot of time playing Stunt Car Racer, Shuffle Puck Cafe, A Rockstar Ate My Hamster, Moonstone and Elvira Mistress of the Dark. I also have a lot of memories of copying stuff and of public domain discs including stuff like a video where it showed pictures of the Adams Family and did a midi version of the Adams family theme which I used to love clicking along to. I remember one other friend having an Amiga and my Cousin having an Amiga, and I was hardly even aware of the Atari ST's existence.

With the Megadrive my first ever experiance was one of my middle brothers friends bringing a Japanese one around to our house before it was out here, it was cool but all he had was Altered Beast and Rambo 3.. this wet my appetite though and after they were out a local Video rental place called Cabin Home Video rented a Megadrive out and my mum got it me for a weekend to see if id like one for Christmas. I rented Buck Rogers alongside it and this is the game which basically made me really need a megadrive



about half of my friends ended up with the megadrive as well as a cousin and my middle brother so it was a very common system to see, the other half of my friends had Super Nintendo's though... 2 things sold me on begging my mum for a SNES one was F-Zero which I used to play in a gaming kiosk in my local CO-OP I used to play it on the way home from school until the staff kicked me out. Then my friend who had a SNES quiet early doors had Super Mario World and I loved that. My mum openly told me I could have one and she would start saving like half way through the year... so I started spending my pocket money buying Import games and a convertor, I got whatever I could get my hands on cheap and had a nice little set by the time I got my machine. My school was half SNES half Megadrive.... no one had a turbo graffix or a neo... I did get a Neo years later but only had it for a few months before selling it on, it was to expensive to keep...

I will talk about old hand helds next time.

Saw most systems about places with friends/family but roughly speaking personally owned GameBoy > N64 > GameCube > GBA > PC but there was also a PC when I was very young (that I guess belonged to the family / both sides of my family), MegaDrive (2 in fact again both sides), PS1 and PS2 (never really played the PS2).

Oh I also had a Dreamcast after the PC but unfortunately I was missing the video cable I had to borrow, and it was later stolen, so I never got to play it much.

This is the correct sequence and if you disagree, you can leave.