So, Christmas is over for yet another year. Presents have been opened, food has been consumed in vast quantities and much fun has been had by (hopefully) all.
This is the first Christmas that Switch has been available, and we assume that it will have contributed to many a household's latest festive memories, but what about all those big holiday milestones from your gaming past?
We popped the question to the Twitterverse and had some impressive replies:
https://twitter.com/DamienMcFerran/status/945594706691534848
Our friends over at iRetrogamer always do a good line in Christmas videos, and this year's is no exception:
Hopefully all of that has gotten you in a suitable nostalgic mood, so what are you biggest and best gaming-related Christmas memories? Are you old enough to have received a NES or Game Boy from Santa, or was the SNES your first console? Perhaps the N64 era was your time, or the GameCube period? Maybe you're a young whippersnapper and can count the DS or Wii as your first Christmas consoles?
Whichever system you got, we'd like to know - so why not post your memories below?
Comments 39
Playing games with my siblings over Christmas in general.
I got an SNES with Mario World and DKC many Christmases ago. DKC2, Mario All-Stars, Yoshi’s Island and many more were gifts in the years after. I got an N64 with Smash Bros, Star Fox 64, and Mario Kart 64 after getting a fantastic score on my school’s standardized test one year as well. It was the start of a lifelong obsession with gaming.
So many Christmas video game memories. Too many to pick out a single one. But all were great times.
@scully1888 I had those pyjamas as a kid as well.
Haven't played much over Christmas. Played Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut on the Wii U gamepad yesterday for a couple of hours. It's going very well so far.
Getting the N64 with Super mario 64 in Christmas1996. Played the crud out of that amazing looking game with my dad. Was like stepping into the future.
A particularly good one was actually last year, when I got a bunch of Famicom games for Christmas. I'd brought the console to my parents' place for the holidays and my nephew, then seven years old, asked what it was and if he could give it a try.
So, for the rest of the holidays (around Christmas until he went back to school in January), he'd spend his days asking if he could play Famicom and then together (along with other family members) we'd try out a few games each day. As he began to pick favorites, we mostly ended up playing a lot of Twinbee (the first game) and Boulder Dash.
Receiving Super Mario Bros. 2 for Christmas 1988. This game was THE hot item that year. Finding a copy on store shelves would be like finding an NES Classic on store shelves today - virtually impossible. We lived in Virginia but my mom worked for a company that had several locations around the United States. She picked up the phone and called a coworker in Michigan to see if any copies of the game could be found there. Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened! Someone I don't even know in a state far, far away was able to find one and send it to my mom, who then wrapped it and gave to me.
Interesting to note that a week or so before Christmas that year, I was walking around my Granny's house and snooping into rooms I shouldn't have been snooping around in. I walked into her bedroom and right on her dresser was the game! I had to hide my excitement and act like I never saw it. Waiting to unwrap that gift was and still is the longest seven days of my life. lol
Snes was my first console but I didn't get it for Christmas as such, I got it for my birthday in June. When I think of a nintendo Christmas its always playing super Mario 64 for the first time on Christmas day that always springs to mind. (that and Diddy Kong Racing)
I don't think any Christmas has ever matched that feeling before or since.
Probably my most memorable gift was getting my DS lite quite a few years back, I played the heck out of New Super Mario Bros, 64 DS, and various other games. My parents had apparently planned on getting a Wii originally for my family, although this fell through since the system's first holiday in the US was pretty crazy, and it being almost impossible to find. Ironically them getting the DS instead ended up leading to my fascination and potentially addiction with handheld games.
I have three memories:
1. When I got my Sega Genesis (that's the Mega Drive in case you don't know) that came with Sonic 2. I can remember trying to play 2-Player with my sister, but it only came with one controller.
2. When my grandmother gave me Super Mario 64, then I got my N64 that Christmas. Yes, my family had a sense of humor. The best part was renting Mario Kart 64 after that.
3. Getting Super Mario Land 1&2 for my Game Boy along with two large plush Mario and Yoshi toys (the ones from BD&A during the N64 days) that would talk when you pressed their hand. That was my favorite because there was a sense of magic: My grandparents came to visit us when my family and I were trying to work in a boy's ranch in Missouri, and that Christmas made up for a crappy life there. Not long after that we hated it so much we packed our bags and left!
I have many, but I'll point out the one that began my own console owning career: Christmas 1988 when I got an NES. I had the basic deck with two controllers. My first two games I ever owned were Ghostbusters and Excitebike. It's a good thing my brother intervened and directed my parents to get an NES-- I was asking for an Atari 7800 of all things at the time!
Getting my Game Boy Pocket. It was my first gaming system, came with a couple of crappy games, but I picked up some better ones. Then Pokémon blue came along, and everything else is history.
The year we got our Coleco Vision and I played Donkey Kong with my brother until I fell asleep. Those were some good times.
About 24 or so years ago I got my Super Nintendo for Christmas, with Super Mario World and two controllers in the box, and I think Street Fighter II Turbo and Super R-Type too (I'm sure I had those games day one but I'm old so God knows if it was day one or day five or whatever, lol). I remember spending the whole day in my room (and the next few weeks alike), sitting on my wee single-seater sofa and playing these games with my two foster care mates for hours and hours. It was a magical time--and the moment I truly fell in love with videogames and decided I wanted to pursue a career in the industry too (which I did and still do to this day).
So many memories, but if I had to, I choose the Christmas I got Turtles II The Arcade Game on the NES. My brother and I spent hours on that gem!!!
@NintenNinja16 That’s a story that sounds frighteningly familiar
Bit soppy but my then to be, now wife buying me a GameCube with Mario Sunshine. This was around 2002 and I was struggling to make ends meet at the time so felt so left behind! We had just moved in together, still have it now and every Christmas since about 2003 check in our Animal Crossing village.
So many Christmas gift games
I got the n64 in 96 (I think) with Super Mario 64 and Wave Race but my favorite was Wheel of Fortune that year.
Mario Kart 64 was a later Christmas gift since I had to pick at first and chose Diddy Kong Racing when it came out. I still have both those cartridges - so many memories especially with MK.
In 2001 I got the GameCube with Luigi’s Mansion and Madden 2002. I remember bugging my dad to see if Blockbuster was open Christmas Day (I was kinda stupid) so I could rent the game I wanted most of all - only to find that my last gift was in fact Super Smash Bros Melee which I proceeded to play all day.
Ocarina of Time for me, i pretty much locked myself in my room for a couple of weeks, those memories will stay with me forever!
Christmas '97 - I got Banjo-Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing and Mischief Makers for N64!
Christmas of 90 my brother and I got a Gameboy each. Bundled with Tetris we had some 2 player games but more time was spent on our additional games. Turtles: Fall of The Foot Clan (mine) and Super Mario Land ( my brothers). We always shared games so we completed both. Later Christmas years would see the NES followed by the SNES and Megadrive 2. Wonderful memories of simpler times.
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time. My mom lied and told me they sold out. I was a young adult at the time.
Sega mega drive with outrun, streets of rage and sonic the hedgehog
Sega was massive when I was growing up and use to share games with friends and family. Played a big library of mega drive games as well as master system with a converter that sticks on top which took card games and carts. Good times.
Miss the good days of sharing games
2005 Christmas I got my beloved pearl blue AGS-101, with the Power Rangers SPD game, before that I had to always borrow my sis' classy red SP, so I was really happy to get my own.
A few years ago the hinge kind of cracked, sometime later a cat got in the way and it fell opened from a shelf, the shell tore into several pieces. (I let out some tears)
Thanks to some nice determination (and some UHU) I got the thing working better than before the hinge got cracked!
https://i.imgur.com/GY0UZwU.jpg
I'm a 90's kid. The Genesis was the first game console I got, technically the SNES was our first but my sister got that when I was really young with Super Mario World. Pretty sure that is the only game we ever owned for the SNES, some games we would occasionally rent but that was about it.
Genesis was my thing as a kid, my parents didn't even get me any games for it besides the bundled Sonic Spinball game because they set it up with Sega Channel pretty soon after. Now I fondly remember Sega Channel, it was the video game streaming way ahead of it's time and I remember it working great. It was probably the thing that got me into gaming as a kid since I had so much access to whatever game I wanted to play.
Now as far as Christmas presents go, I think the Sony PS1 is probably the console I freaked out over getting. I was at the appropriate age to really appreciate a new game console, and after I had my Genesis and Sega Channel went down the PS1 just seemed so amazing, like the true next gen, and it was probably the biggest gaming leap I ever experienced.
I don't remember getting video games before Christmas 1997 with a N64 and Goldeneye 64. I pretty much rented the 64 before that through the year leading up to it.
My brother bought most consoles before that and I would play what he had. I do vaguely remember big ones like Super Mario World and Zelda Link to the Past, but don't believe those were given to me on Xmas.
Of course many things before that starting with a Atari 2600, NES, Gameboy and Game Gear all between that time. Genesis I believe was second. I don't really remember when I received all of them.
The one other console/add-on I do remember getting for a Xmas gift was the SEGA CD and about 10 games...after it had failed of course.
Probably when I got a GameCube with Mario Sunshine and Mario Kart Double Dash as a kid. That system was absolutely incredible, and I have so many fond memories of it.
I got a SNES in the Christmas of 1992. As usual, we had to go visit family on Christmas Day so......every place we went I took the SNES with me and hooked it up to any TV i could find. F-Zero was (and still is) awesome to play!
Forget the year but i remember getting a Gameboy Color with Pokemon Red and playing it all the time over and over again pretty sure it was the only game i had for my Gameboy Color for quite some time
I dont have any pictures but getting our NES with Mario and Zelda on Christmas day around 1991 or so.
The 2 best gaming Christmas for me were 1992 and getting the Street Fighter SNES bundle and 1998 when I got the best game ever. Ocarina of Time.
I got an NES for Christmas in 1988 with Mario 2. That was the best present ever because my mom had no money and we had just moved. So when I got an NES from Santa, it made me believe in Santa for a few extra years. I also got a SNES for Christmas in 92 (I think) with Zelda. That is a close second since Zelda was so awesome.
My first 3 consoles were either hand me downs (Intellivision) or were ones I bought myself (NES, GENESIS). So I would have to say Christmas '96 when I got the N64, SM64 and then bought SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE with some Xmas cash. I was officially back with Nintendo and it hasn't stopped. From that point on I always bought the Nintendo console of that particular generation first.
@Xcape_DuCkMAN_X
Me too! That was a great Christmas!
Christmas 1999, my parents were planning a long road trip for January so they got me and my brother Gameboy Colors, in my case with a copy of Pokemon Red in Spanish.
It began a lifelong hobby, and my dad kicks himself for that to this day.
My favorite memory was sneaking into the living room to tear open just a small portion of the wrapped Xbox 360 so my brother and I could admire the images on the box, before quickly taping it back up if my bro or I, whoever was on watch for my parents, heard a noise of any kind. Did the same thing for the box of The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivon, I looked up info on that game and the system every day for a month while I was at school. I have never been as excited about a system and game as I was for that one and when the moment finally came to play it, it was simply glorious. Out of all of my Christmas gaming memories that is the one I will always remember and cherish the most.
The first and only year I went snooping I learned I was getting a Sega Genesis for Christmas. So that was cool. Though nothing tops the excitement I felt getting the original NES at Christmastime. Never used ROB for much more than decoration, but I do have fond memories of duck hunting with my family, who, despite their lack of interest in technology, were aces with the user-friendly light gun.
1) My 3 brothers & i Christmas 1978 or 79 waking up to an Atari 2600 under the tree
2) all 4 of us Christmas 1982 waking up to Atari 5200 & Colecovision under the tree!! Zaxxon and Donkey Kong blew my mind!!
After that I bought every console on launch day until:
3) Christmas 2000 my wife surprised the hell outta me with a ps2!! Wow! I say wow cause she hates video games lol. Why didn’t I get the ps2 on launch day?? I was so entrenched in Dreamcast land I didn’t even give ps2 a thought- and I wanted Sega to bounce back and crush Sony so bad!! We all know how that went lol 😂
Christmas 1993 probably stands out the most for me. Got my first ever Nintendo console in the form of the SNES with Mario All Stars. This started my obsession with the excellence of Nintendo games and I haven't looked back since.
Easy one for me; Chrimbus '04, I was 12/13 at the time. I'd opened a buttload of Christmas presents with my brother, and we were reeling because we'd got loads of awesome stuff, Lego and Gamecube games and the like. Good haul, good year. Now I should say my grandparents had just come back from the states. About midday when they arrived, as they always did, they pulled out a box each for my brother and I. Inside; Nintendo DS's, months before their release in the UK. I lost my mind and my brother couldn't stop laughing. Best Christmas ever.
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