What game(s) were system sellers for you!

[Abelardo | 154]

NES: Asked my parents for it solely on the idea of playing Legend of Zelda.

Gameboy: Super Mario Land.

SNES: Pretty much on board since it was announced but being able to play Street Fighter 2 at home seemed a dream come true.

PlayStation: Final Fantasy 7 (and knowing Squaresoft was now going to develop games for the PS).

PSP: Honestly being able to use emulators, seldom played any PSP games.

Wii U: Got one to play Breath of the Wild.

Other consoles I own didn't get them to play a specific game.

[doner24 | 1,197]

Fallout 3 made me buy an XBOX 360 and was my first time gaming since the early years of the N64. 

[Tanooki | 4,952]

Well to be fair when it comes to Nintendo systems on the whole, every single one that had a pack-in the pack-in sold me on it.  It was a combination of that, but also just having Nintendo Power until FutureOne took over and by then the internet.  I could see what was in the pipe and realized it would be fine.  In a rare case like the GBA I had it shortly after it came out in Japan, so I had 3 games early, then got the GBA US releases at eb/software etc upwards of two weeks before the system came out because NIntendo never restricted the game sales.

That said, when it came to other stuff, it depends.  Dreamcast I ignored on 9/9 but ended up about 2-3 weeks later buying one.  What got me really was the change I saw as positive to Sonic but also various other launch and near launch releases as I went straight for Hydro Thunder and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing for instance because the boat game is like crusin' usa on water and R2R was such to me an homage to Punchout which had faded into oblivion.

Genesis I got second hand and I had been using some 90s emulators and roms at that rate.  I got the unit as a trade/thanks for mailing stuff from early ebay to a long distance aussie gf I had at the time who was a sega nut.  She needed a few games, I ended up with a dumpy Gen3 and like 20 titles, and some were just fantastic.  So around the research I saw some amazing DOS favorites on there of utter high quality with Dune and Star Control so I had to have that, then seeing I could from segaparts dot com(back then, they sold super cheap new games on their site but didn't advertise it) for $20 so I grabbed Virtua Racing as $100 at retail shortly before was bs to me.  Those games, Castlevania, Turtles, they sucked me in as did Ristar which is superior to Sonic in every way.

The Turbo Duo, what got me was a wall of second hand imports (cds) and domestic cds and cards I could get for just $5 a pop at a local now dead store, but also turbo zone direct.  Bonk sucked me in immediately, Cotton, Godzilla, Gate of Thunder (with bonk1+2+hidden bomberman), Dracula X, Ys Book 1 & 2, Bomberman 93, and a few others convinced me to order a duo from tzd so I did.  Emulation played a bit of a hand too, I had(still have) Magic Engine so I could try the entire US+JP library, that helped a lot.

Neo Geo Pocket Color -- What got me in, the Sonic Adventure package, best portable Sonic hands down, but also the utterly high quality port/demake of Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Shodown 2!, SNK vs Capcom MM, both Metal Slugs, and King of Fighters R2.

[Nintegageo | 582]

NiGHTS into Dreams commercial really had an impression on me when I was younger. I got a Saturn as an adult and love the game.

[cj_robot | 546]

NES: Super Mario Bros. - This is the game that got me hooked on video games for life. I had to have it. It took all the way until 1990 for me to finally get an NES, and there plenty more games I needed to have by then, but it was Mario sold me 100%.

Genesis & Super NES: Sonic the Hedgehog & Super Mario World - I remember every time we went to Toys 'R Us, I would run to the video game section and immediately have my face plastered against the glass window, staring at both of these games running next to each other. Both totally blew me away and I had a hell of a time decided on which one I wanted more. Ultimately, I went with the SNES first, but I got a Genesis a year later.

Nintendo 64: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire - Probably not anyone else's pick, but it was for me. I was HUGELY into Star Wars back then, and was clamoring for games that put me in that universe. X-Wing and TIE Fighter for DOS were awesome, but seeing those screenshots of the snowspeeder level, with all the texture-mapped polygons just looked so real to me at the time. Didn't turn out to be a super great game, but I still enjoyed the heck out of it.

PlayStation: Final Fantasy VII - I was totally on board to get a Saturn, until I found out about this one coming to PlayStation. Had rented the console a few time (back when that was a thing) and had fun with it, but it wasn't until I played the FF7 demo disk that I knew I had to get one. I bought the console, FF7 and a memory card with my first ever paycheck from my first job.

That was probably the last time that a single game ever had as much impact on me. By that point, I finally had my own disposable income and I pretty much had the idea that I would eventually get every console that came out after that anyway.

[rdrunner | 422]

Pretty much every NES game I ever saw before I got my own system.  :). I suppose more specifically I really wanted SMB, Zelda, and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out the most.

Other systems:

• Genesis: Revenge of Shinobi, Sonic 2, Ecco the Dolphin
• SNES: Super Mario World, Gradius 3, Super Ghouls N Ghosts
• N64: Zelda Ocarina of Time, NFL Blitz
• PS1: Castlevania SotN, Final Fantasy 7
• GameCube: Super Monkey Ball
• PS2: Friend offered me a deal when he upgraded to PS3
• X360: Another friend offer
• 3DS: Neighborhood garage sale
• Switch: Tetris 99

[Webhead123 | 687]

2 hours ago, cj_robot said:

Nintendo 64: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire - Probably not anyone else's pick, but it was for me. I was HUGELY into Star Wars back then, and was clamoring for games that put me in that universe. X-Wing and TIE Fighter for DOS were awesome, but seeing those screenshots of the snowspeeder level, with all the texture-mapped polygons just looked so real to me at the time. Didn't turn out to be a super great game, but I still enjoyed the heck out of it.

Shadows of the Empire was a pretty big deal for me as well. I bought and read the novel in hardback when it first came out. I bought an art book for the game and, as I was also into the Star Wars RPG at the time, I bought the tie-in sourcebook for that game.

And I looked on with envy at the video game and constantly poured over articles and screenshots about it. I didn't have the income at the time to get an N64...but as soon as I was able to afford one, Ocarina of Time and Shadows of the Empire were the first two games I bought for it.

I still have all of it to this day (except the artbook, which I lost somewhere along the way). The novel, the RPG sourcebook and the video game all still in my possession.

[Tulpa | 3,537]

13 hours ago, Abelardo said:

NES: Asked my parents for it solely on the idea of playing Legend of Zelda.

Same here for me. I got my NES and Zelda 1 at the same time. I don't think I even played the SMB pack-in until like a week or two later.

[The Count | 531]

PS2 - Gran Turismo 3

 

[T-Pac | 7,588]

On 8/19/2022 at 9:11 AM, Webhead123 said:

Blazing Lazers was the only TG-16 game I was ever able to play for most of my life (played it on a friend's TurboExpress in the mid-90's) up until tracking down a console sometime around 2010. That said, it left such an impression on me that it was the game I had to have in my collection and the first game I fired up when I finally got my Turbo. So yeah, pretty much a system seller for me, too.

 

On 8/19/2022 at 9:13 AM, a3quit4s said:

It’s funny you mention blazing lazers I’m actually playing that on TG16 now. Really fun schmup lol

Heck yeah! I spent a lot of time with Blazing Lasers earlier this year for my 2022 Backlog list.

In the end, the game bested me and I couldn't clear it, but I had a blast playing anyway.

-CasualCart

[T-Pac | 7,588]

23 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

Game Boy: Tetris

4 hours ago, rdrunner said:

Switch: Tetris 99

Wow - even though I think Tetris is amazing, I'm surprised to see multiple instances of someone buying an expensive new console specifically for it. "Falling blocks" puzzle games just don't scream "system-seller" to me.

(This is a fantastic topic, by the way @Lynda Monica!)

-CasualCart

[Lynda Monica | 350]

I actually forgot about the PSP! How dare I!

I had wanted a PSP ever since it came out, but I was waiting for at least three games I was interested in before buying one. The ones that eventually made me buy the system were Prinny Can I Really Be the Hero, Ys Seven, and LittleBigPlanet Portable. I bought quite a few PSP games after that too.

[drxandy | 3,236]

Solid thread, all the memoriesss are so cool to read.

Genesis - NBA jam - played at my sister's friends growing up with her older brother, this and mortal Kombat 1 were the first I had to get when I saved up for the model 1 Genesis I had.

N64: Majora's mask - I had beaten oot at a friends and knew I had to finally get a 64 when Majora's came out. Not too long after it's release, I didn't wanna pay up the 80$ or whatever extra cost it was compared to a regular game at the time and I found an eBay seller in Australia that had bought the game on vacation to Canada not knowing it wouldn't play on their pal console and no one wanted to bid! Ended up getting it for $30? A month wait, and it showed up! Box was a little crushed but everything else was good and I still have it in my collection today! 

Gcn: windwaker! Once it starting getting a buzz I started saving up for a console haha I pre-ordered from GameStop and got the bonus disc with oot and master quest, couldn't have been more happy when I played through it, second game was Metroid prime

 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

18 hours ago, CasualCart said:

Wow - even though I think Tetris is amazing, I'm surprised to see multiple instances of someone buying an expensive new console specifically for it. "Falling blocks" puzzle games just don't scream "system-seller" to me.

(This is a fantastic topic, by the way @Lynda Monica!)

-CasualCart

I spent a ton of hours as a kid playing Game Boy Tetris. It was great for long car rides or on trips where packing up the NES wasn't an option.

[rdrunner | 422]

On 8/20/2022 at 12:49 PM, CasualCart said:

Wow - even though I think Tetris is amazing, I'm surprised to see multiple instances of someone buying an expensive new console specifically for it. "Falling blocks" puzzle games just don't scream "system-seller" to me.

No joke, I played pretty much nothing else when I first got a Switch.  I just really love Tetris with online multiplayer and this appeared to be the ultimate version of the concept.

I have since acquired tons of other Switch games as well that I was also interested in beforehand (notably Mario Kart, Smash, DKC Tropical Freeze), but Tetris 99 was the game that tipped the scales for me.  It took a lot for me to buy my first Nintendo console since the GameCube!

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time made me rush out and buy a PS2. The game was absolutely stunning for its time. I was just starting to get into JRPGs and I loved Star Ocean: The Second Story enough, that getting the next game was inevitable.