We're still some time away from our next new hardware release from Nintendo, but it's always an occasion to savour. Before attention falls to sales, the library of games, online services and all of those shenanigans, there's that glorious first day when all is new, shiny and full of potential.
It's arguably even more exciting for younger gamers, those without generations of systems under their belts. New things are always exciting at a certain age, especially when those new things play video games.
This is a feeling nicely typified in a new video from the iretrogamer.com YouTube channel, which we've covered in the past. In this case the video host shares the exciting day when he was surprised with a Super NES on launch day.
It's rather charming, so check it out and share some of your favourite new console memories.
Comments 33
Mario World and Mario All Stars were my favourite. I also love the Super Game Boy! I love the Super NES.
It was a cold November night when Dad came home late from work with a large box under his arm. It was a Sinclair Spectrum ZX 128K +3 Action Pack, with a lightgun and a joystick. It was the first computer I'd ever seen or touched.
The family gathered in the lounge with the wood fire burning, we hooked it up to our GoldStar TV, and we all played Bullseye.
From that moment on, I was hooked on games. It is one of my earliest memories and it introduced me to a hobby that I love to this day. I used to read the manual at bedtime, just pouring over the information in there and dreaming of what hardware I might own some day. Other home computers and consoles came, but that first introduction? A cherished moment.
(As for the first console I owned that wasn't my brothers? My Sega Saturn, still used to this day with many of the games I picked up on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, 1997.)
That's one game I never get tired of.
The SNES was the first system I bought myself. I saved up for several months while working at a toy store, and bought it on launch day.
My earliest gaming memories is playing Mario All Stars and Street fighter II on my SNES
I didn't get one at launch, but I did get one at my 9th birthday party (which also happened to be the last one I ever had..huh just remembered that). That gray box of joy and I became verrrry acquainted as I ended up in the hospital a few months later. Began my lifelong love of Zelda with that system. Still have it too.
No SNES of my own back then, had to go to friends' houses. I remember seeing a demo of SMW at Costco and thinking it was super cool looking. I had my Gameboy though and to this day I prefer handhelds to home consoles
@EllenJMiller What a fantastic story! Thanks for sharing!
Regarding the SNES video, as you all know Tyler is a long-time friend of the site and has done video content for us in the past. When I watch these clips I can't help but get emotional, not just because Tyler's dad has since sadly passed away, but because it's so easy to share the excitement - we've all been there, that place of utter joy when you get a new piece of gaming hardware, and Tyler's little snippets of his gaming life resonate with all of us.
I was one of those people who sold all my NES and Gameboy stuff to FUNCOland back in the early 90's to get baptized by sega and needles to say its taken my years to find it all again. Now I live by the "never sell it" rule. So many games sold for 1 cent and 75 cents and 2 dollars. what were my parents thinking!? unless I was that annoying....hmm....
@EllenJMiller Great comment,brought back a few memories for me there.My first console was the 2600 but like you it was the Spectrum +2A that really started my love affair with gaming.I also had Bullseye and can remember playing several games with my Dad.Fantastic times.
I remember when my parents got me my first home console, which happened to be a PlayStation (PSOne model, to be precise) back in 1999. Or was it 2000? My childhood memories get kinda blurry at times, but surely I'll never forget opening my eyes a little while my parents at early Christmas morning (around four AM), believing me to be asleep, placed some boxes on a chair next to my bed. I was too sleepy to care at that given moment and fell asleep again. Imagine my surprise when opening my eyes and seeing a PSOne, alongside my dream game at the time (Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped) right in front of me. It was one of the best Christmas memories I could think of, and I played that game to death. I still have the disc, in fact!
Good times. Thanks for reminding me of why I love gaming as a whole, @ThomasBW84.
Still the greatest console of all time.
@EllenJMiller Since I'm old as the dinosaurs, the story for me was with the ZX Spectrum 48k.
I definitely remember firing that thing up for the first time. Blew my mind! Those colors, those graphics, that sound!
Thank you nintendolife for articles like this. It brings me back to my own childhood memories. I was in the hospital for a year and a half recovering from a stomach surgery I think I was around four or five. My nurse came into my room one day suprised me with a NES and the rest is history. I played that sucker every day while I was in the hospital. If it wasn't for that moment I don't think I would have loved nintendo as much as I do now. It was awesome being able to experience NIntendo's magic at such a young age.
I didn't have any memories quite like this until the Gamecube; these types of video remind me of times playing NES and SNES in my grandparents' basement. I earned all my Super Mario Bros chops down there.
Awesome vid. I remember that feeling, pure joy and really something special.
Last time i really had that feeling was with the N-64, i bought it with(or maybe it came with) Mario 64 and Waverace 64. Great times.
Sadly I didn't get my SNES until 1994, a good 3 years after launch. And a mere 3 years later in 1997 I got an N64. So I didn't get to experience the SNES as much as I would've liked. Plus I was in my pre-teen years for its entirety and had a total of 7 games for it. I've since caught up with a lot of the great games thanks to virtual console and buying used games online and in local shops. SNES is easily one of the best consoles ever released.
I'd say my greatest memories as far as console launches go, would be the Gamecube, since it was my first console I got to experience at launch. I remember driving to Toys R Us in desperation hoping to find one after unsuccessfully finding one in stores for the first few days of the console's launch. I lucked out and they just got a shipment in. I didn't get any games since the only one I wanted was Smash Bros Melee and that didn;'t come out for another 2 weeks or so, but I went back and picked that right up with no problems.
aw c:
@EllenJMiller that's a great story. My families first console was a pong set, we played the heck out of that. NES was a birthday present to me and my brother since our birthdays are 5 days apart, SNES we each payed half. My mother loved duck hunt and was pretty good at it. Good times and memories.
What a cute video!! I love the unbridled joy of 2:15-2:20. So heartwarming!
My first console was the SNES, I got the Donkey Kong Country Edition. Man I loved that. My dad bought for me. I had Super Mario All Stars, Wario Woods, Tetris Puzzle Attack and Toy Story. My little brother and played the heck out of these games. My first handheld was an Atomic Purple Gameboy and Pokemon Red. My little brother and I would trade Pokemon. Man I miss those days.
This video made me smile.I want to have children someday and bring them up in the highest quality of games from the past and present.Will make sure to take plenty of videos with them and someday play it back to them.
@Damo My dad passed away in 2011 on Christmas Eve, but I try and keep in mind all the memories I have. How he'd sit cross-legged in the sitting room, typing away at a program only to become more and more frustrated when it wouldn't work. He'd growl in anger at tape loading errors, too. I still remember showing him off some silly little program in BASIC I made that made the screen and borders change colours.
One summer he brought me this little black and white portable TV, with a built in radio and alarm clock. It was only a 4 inch screen with a telescopic aerial, but I watched so many things on that. I even hooked up the Spectrum to it, and my brother's Master System when I was ill. (It was a rare treat to hook a console up downstairs on one of the colour TVs, because Mum was worried we might mess something up. I still remember playing the 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog game in colour for the first time when my brothers were out at a school disco. Green Hill Zone was so verdant, and the Special Stage was like a cityscape at night, neon lights everywhere. Fantastic.)
I remember playing Streets of Rage 2 and TMNT with my Dad on his Sega Genesis! Good times!
Loved the video! The last time I was that excited for a system was when I got my 3DS XL. I really wanted one but never dreamed of actually getting it. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. My husband took me out for a birthday dinner at one of my favorite places. While we were eating he announced the next place we were going was to Best Buy to get me a 3DS XL. It was the fastest I've eaten in my entire life lol.
I still have it even though I recently got a Majora's Mask one. I'll never get rid of it. Keeping it reminds me of the joy on my husbands face from seeing how happy I was.
@EllenJMiller That is such an amazing story! I recall getting a cheap and battered portable TV as my first - it was covered in stickers from the previous owner and the remote control was missing, but it served me well. However, I only realised how terrible the RF signal was when I plugged my Mega Drive into a SCART socket on a friend's Sony - it was like looking at an entirely different machine!
I actually feel kind of sorry for kids growing up today, in this era of perfect HD quality visuals. There's something about playing games in monochrome which are supposed to be in colour!
My first home console was a Wii in X-Mas 2009, I corrected the modern technology by getting a GameCube in Christmas 2013, and going to get an N64 this year.
If anyone dares judge...
Things sure were magical back when you didn't have internet from which the discover all sorts of details about upcoming consoles. I remember when my Dad was considering buying me a Nintendo 64 and for some reason I can still remember him talking about how a friend of his had one and the fact that you could see the shadows under your feet and hear your steps as you walk in Ocarina of Time always seemed to amaze me. Granted this wasn't on launch day but for me it was a special moment where you feel pure joy and excitement, much of that coming from the eyes and perception of a younger version of myself. I will never forget those days and I have to say it feels good remembering being a kid again, that is why you should appreciate every moment of every day because you don't want to be looking back regretting that you should of enjoyed life more, enjoy the simple things!
Aww, that was incredibly heart warming. Makes me want to go give my parents a huge hug for being so awesome!
Same age as the guy in the video but my parents refused to get me videogames at that time.
@TimeFart yup. Born in 1981, I finally got the Nintendo I practically begged my parents for every year... In 2002 when I was 21 years old. Needless to say, I went over to Game-X-Change to get some games for it, and I was instantly hooked!
Sad part was, that boxed NES Action Set had been sitting in the garage for nearly ten years. My mom had gotten it for me at one point, then stashed it away in the garage for Christmas, and plum forgot about it!
Never had a SNES, I didn't like the breeze block look... I imported the Super Famicom instead!
Still the best console ever made IMHO (along with the Dreamcast).
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