I didn't have it... But I knew a guy

[KokiriChild | 1,644]

As someone who grew up playing SNES and Nintendo 64, I played my cousin's Sega Genesis any time I went over their house. Sonic 2 was like Super Mario World's estranged sibling in my child brain.

Also, in middle school I had a friend lend me his copy of Glover for the 64. Then he moved away before I could give it back. I still own that copy of Glover to this day. Adam - wherever you are in the world, thank you and I'm sorry!

Edited November 27, 2019 by KokiriChild

[Californication | 1,477]

There was a guy down the road who had a console that I swear had a fighting game that I had used to play on the arcades. It had guys with swords and armor and then some green guy with a freddie krueger glove. Despite my description the game was awesome and the port looked perfect. I thought the console was an atari jaguar, but all I really remember was the controller being odd.

Its weird because I really think it was an Atari Jaguar, but at the same time I feel like we played a Neo Geo game.

Edit: Ya, we were definetly playing Samurai Showdown.

He must of had both consoles. That game was such a perfect copy of the arcade.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Californication

[toothbrushes | 10]

Close friend had a Vectrex as well as the Sega Genesis upon initial launch. Both were pretty big deals.

Also had a friend that was the first one of us to have Baseball Stars (NES).

Cousin had a PC with Sim City

All of these are fond memories.

[Boosted52405 | 178]

Caveman Games!!!  My cousin had it and we would regularly play it.  Still to this day I mentioned it to him returned with a smile.  (I don't think that game was even fun!)

[twiztor | 850]

man, i grew up exclusively on the NES, and it seemed like all of my friends were in the same boat.  It felt like each friend had different games but they were all awesome. One friend had Double Dribble and Spy Hunter and we would spend all night playing them. Another friend had Battletoads and we battered each other for hours. A third friend's highlight game was T&C Surf Designs and it was glorious.
These became some of the first games i searched for once i started down the collecting trail. SOOO many good memories.

but a friend of mine's family had more money than we did (i always thought they were rich.....now i realize they were lower middle class and we were just dirt poor) but he had a Sega Genesis and i was just amazed at it. He later got both the 32x and Sega CD add-ons. We didn't play either much but thought the fact his Genesis essentially turned into a Transformer was the coolest thing ever!

[Friendsfa35 | 35]

when i started collecting and seeing all the games i never knew existed back then,

i made a list of all the games i remember having played when the NES/SNES was still in stores etc...
and the games i owned myself.
not counting GB games, because i had/have around 30 now, but even back then, i had 2 nephews of similar age to me who had like 50 GB games......which at that point seemed amazing to me, as i only had around 10 games in total.... 

which was pretty much:

myself: Nintendo Entertainment System - Action Set , SMB/Duck Hunt , SMB2 , SMB3 , Donkey Kong Classics , The Addams Family , Ghostbusters II , Shadow Warriors II , Adventures of Lolo 2 , Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles , Mega Man 2
neighborhood friends: SMB 2, Gremlins 2? , Blades of Steel , Arch Rivals , Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
my aunt: Nintendo Entertainment System - Action Set , SMB/Duck Hunt , Tetris , ?NES Open Tournament Golf?
nephews (brothers) : only remember playing Super Mario Bros. 3 at their house, and seeing World 8 for the first time.
guy from school: Donkey Kong Classics , WWF Wrestlemania Steel Cage Challenge
some random kid i don't remember: Super Mario Bros. 3
neighbor: Sega Megadrive 2 , Mortal Kombat II , James Pond, X-men , Sonic 2, Street Fighter II ,
PlayStation 1, Mortal Kombat II? for PS1, Resident Evil PS1 game
other nephew: Super Nintendo + Super Mario World
friend: Super Nintendo + Super Mario kart

old PC games i played when they were new:

Commander Keen? , Duke Nukem 2? , Castle of Wolfenstein 3D (normal and christmas version)
Doom II , Lemmings, The Lion King, Supaplex , Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 1969

Edited November 28, 2019 by Friendsfa35

[8bitsupremacy | 208]

Great thread.  I think about this all the time as well, and since everyone traded games and shared/borrowed in my neighborhood growing up I have some titles burned into my brain as if they were part of my original library.  I have a lot of other memories in the SNES and Genesis era but will just keep it NES for now as they were my earliest gaming memories...

-Older kid that was my next door neighbor, cool ass dude who skateboarded and listened to punk music...he got me into both, and also let me borrow his copy of Skate or Die 2.  I think he also had Commando.

-older kid who lived a few houses past him: my first experience playing ICE HOCKEY, game ruled and always will.

-other next door neighbor, who is actually on this message board and collects as heavily as I do (we have been friends our entire lives, since I was like 1 year old), had a plethora of iconic games but some of the ones I remember most: Rad Racer (borrowed it and fell in love with it), World Class Track Meet (first Power Pad experience), Spy vs. Spy, P.O.W., Double Dragon (first time playing it), Double Dragon II (got a LOT of co-op play over at his house), Skate or Die, T & C Surf Design (borrowed this one and absolutely loved it, still do), Metroid (first experience ever seeing/playing Metroid, ever, it blew my god damn mind), Dig Dug II (one of my favorite games to this day still, definitely borrowed this one), Little League Baseball (this got a LOT of play between the both of us, and any other kid that was over at his house hanging out; it was a fan favorite), River City Ransom (always the go-to for co-op, always).  He also received Super C as a gift at one of his birthday parties and that was a huge crowd pleaser.  Oh and the original TMNT game, borrowed that one for sure, have nostalgic feelings of playing that for the first time up in his parent's study.

-older kid that lived across from him loaned me his copies of Tiger-Heli (which I attribute to my love for shooters to this day), Tetris, and my absolutely most favoritist baseball game ever BAD NEWS BASEBALL...I basically borrowed that one as long as I could until I was forced to give it back.

-kid down the street: Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, still love the game today.

-different older kid next door to him: I never had any reason to go to his house as we were not friends but I hung around and watched him and his cooler older buddies play Gyromite, WWF WrestleMania, Ninja Gaiden, and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out when I was forced to be over there for a neighborhood block party thing one day.

-kid who lived directly across the street from me loaned me a copy of Legend of Zelda and it basically changed my life (he also later loaned me Link's Awakening on the Game Boy).  I would also play Kung Fu at his house as it was my go-to when I would be over there and it was Nintendo time.  He also had Captain Skyhawk and I think Marble Madness.

-friend of mine on other side of neighborhood: fond memories of playing Mickey Mousecapades, °720, California Games, Milon's Secret Castle, and The Jetsons on Saturday afternoons...most playtime was spent on Micro Machines, Contra, and Tecmo Bowl.

-his next door neighbor: CYBERNOID, a game I have been fascinated by ever since but have never beaten.

-different kid down that same street who was a rich boy everyone kinda hated: Anticipation, Double Dragon III, Phantom Fighter...that's all I can remember.

THE MEGA RELIGIOUS FAMILY IN OUR HOOD: yep, you guessed it, Bible Adventures...I was bummed out the one and only time I hung out over there and we went to play Nintendo.

-other friend in the neighborhood, Quattro Sports (yes, really), him and his brother and I would take turns playing the BMX portion competitively against each other.  Also, he had OFF-ROAD I think.

-only girl in the neighborhood I hung out with owned TMNT 2 the arcade game, Casino Kid, and Indian Jones Temple of Doom (I borrowed that one, still have nostalgia for it).  Her and I also played Super Team Games on the Power Pad until we almost dropped dead from exhaustion.  Good times.

-kid I rode the bus with, we played NARC a lot and skateboarded in his driveway together.

-different kid on the bus, Cobra Triangle...I borrowed it and loved it.

-last but not least, older kid down the street who had CABAL which was awesome, but most importantly owned and mastered Battle of Olympus which was a game I coincidentally also owned.  He was basically my Nintendo hotline game counselor anytime I got stuck in that game. I would call CONSTANTLY and his dad would be mega pissed if I interrupted dinner time or something.  I also played Sega Master System over there, the Alex Kidd stock game, as he was the only kid who had one, and it was literally the only time I played one until I was an adult and got my own.

-there is a very hazy, early memory i have of playing Ghostbusters and Rambo at some kid's house but have zero recollection of who he was or his name or anything, just the games lol.  He moved away and a different kid moved into the same house, who's dad designed the SUPER NINTENDO kiosks you saw in stores all over the U. S....needless to say he had a great SNES library we would get down on.  I think he had promo copies of games that weren't even out yet, before official release dates.

 

-someone had Mega Man 2, I definitely didn't own it but mastered the game at a young age and remember borrowing the game from someone...anyway, in conclusion these were all the go-to games I went for first when I first started collecting.  Most games listed are still some of my favorites today.

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by 8bitsupremacy

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

Before I had any video games myself, I would play SNES at my uncles house. He had 4 games:

Super Mario World: This is the first game I remember playing, and it definitely had the most impact on me. I played this one the most, and kept playing it whatever chance I got, such as the remake on GBA, or the virtual console. It was also my first pickup when I started collecting, an SNES with this game and 2 controllers. Not much needs to be said about the game itself, everyone should've played it by now, its a great platformer with fun mechanics, though a bit on the easy side. But regardless, this is the one that has stuck with me all through my life.

Super Mario Kart: This one was always fun, but for whatever reason back then I didn't find it that interesting to play. I thought the karts controlled kinda weird. Going back to it now, I enjoy it a lot more than I did back then, definitely a stand out title on the SNES. Not sure what I was thinking back then, haha.

Super Smash TV: This game is great. I thought the control scheme with the face buttons acting as the direction of your shot was brilliant, I wasn't aware of the arcade machine back then, but it was a lot of fun. Always found it really hard though, couldn't get too far. I pop it in every now and then, but need to really put some time in to make it any where near the end.

Spider-man X-men Arcades Revenge: This one is a bit on the mediocre side. Its odd, I think the design of the levels could be better, but I find the control and abilities of the characters to be excellent, especially Spider-man. Really, this could've been just a Spider-man game, with a bit more tweaks to the level design, could've been a friggin sweet game. This is also a very tough one, I'd still recommend if you like a challenge, but not if you get frustrated easily.

[Control Issues | 18]

Kyle had Super Mario 2.

Jeff had Mike Tyson's Punch Out and Metroid.

Kirby had an SNES and Super Mario World and a computer with Wofenstein 3D.

Jason had ROB and Gyromite and a Master System (but don't remember what games he had for it).

[Lago | 219]

One game I can remember in particular was Tecmo Super Bowl.  a friend from school had it.  He called me daily to tell me about his progress, stats, everything.  At the time I was blown away by, well all of it.  He did eventually let me borrow it.  I eventually picked this game up at a Wal-Mart for 79.99.  That is a whole other story, though.

Another friend had X-Men and Mortal Kombat for the Sega Genesis.  It didn't matter how much I played X-Men, I never could beat it.  I was a NES kid, primarily.  Although I did get a Sega Master System as a consolation gift when all the NES systems were sold out.

A different friend had Super Off-Road.  We played the crap out of that game.

And a cousin had X Games for the PS1.  His dad was the master at lake Tahoe.  We would whip him on every stage except that one.  He won every time.

[Trickytoon | 2]

My dad ran a shop that sold games during the 8 bit era (during the early and mid '80s), so really I was "that kid" that used to have access to the obscure or new systems and titles as and when they came out. He used to bring a different system home every weekend and me and my friends would feverishly make through as many games as we could before Monday rolled around and he had to take the system back to the store. A large part of my collecting now is focused on revisiting that era, particularly systems like the Ti99/4a / Vic 20 / MSX which were never popular in the UK but I have incredibly fond memories of as a child.

Later on Sega was so dominant where I lived in the early 90's that the one kid who had a SNES was semi famous, and had a near constant stream of people wanting to visit him. He even started recording video cassettes of him playing games and handing those out, and until relatively recently my only experience of the SNES library was watching a tape of him playing Super Mario Kart and Pit Fighter (urgh). He later sold almost everything he owned to buy a 486 PC, became famous all over again for being the only guy to have access to Doom, and started churning out gameplay videos of that too.

Great thread, thanks for the opportunity to reminisce!

[Br81zad | 629]

2 hours ago, Trickytoon said:

My dad ran a shop that sold games during the 8 bit era (during the early and mid '80s), so really I was "that kid" that used to have access to the obscure or new systems and titles as and when they came out. He used to bring a different system home every weekend and me and my friends would feverishly make through as many games as we could before Monday rolled around and he had to take the system back to the store. A large part of my collecting now is focused on revisiting that era, particularly systems like the Ti99/4a / Vic 20 / MSX which were never popular in the UK but I have incredibly fond memories of as a child.

Later on Sega was so dominant where I lived in the early 90's that the one kid who had a SNES was semi famous, and had a near constant stream of people wanting to visit him. He even started recording video cassettes of him playing games and handing those out, and until relatively recently my only experience of the SNES library was watching a tape of him playing Super Mario Kart and Pit Fighter (urgh). He later sold almost everything he owned to buy a 486 PC, became famous all over again for being the only guy to have access to Doom, and started churning out gameplay videos of that too.

Great thread, thanks for the opportunity to reminisce!

Dude, you were living the dream! lol

[Nintendo Historian | 43]

A  childhood friend of mine that have not seen since childhood had “Simon’s Quest “while I had CV1 and 3 ..I could never get into CV2 growing up ,I love it now though ..This same friend of mine was the only I knew of that could figure out all the “Cryptic riddles/clues in CV2 as well ..

Edited December 8, 2019 by NES CONNOISSEUR

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I first played a NES at the girl next door's house when her brother got an Action Set and we would play SMB/Duck Hunt. I'm still doing it over 30 years later, so thanks a lot Alaine! 

[Tulpa | 3,492]

On 12/4/2019 at 8:04 AM, Trickytoon said:

Later on Sega was so dominant where I lived in the early 90's that the one kid who had a SNES was semi famous, and had a near constant stream of people wanting to visit him. He even started recording video cassettes of him playing games and handing those out, and until relatively recently my only experience of the SNES library was watching a tape of him playing Super Mario Kart and Pit Fighter (urgh). He later sold almost everything he owned to buy a 486 PC, became famous all over again for being the only guy to have access to Doom, and started churning out gameplay videos of that too.

 

Holy shit, he was a proto-Let's Player.

[Control Issues | 18]

I guess you could say that I might be someone else's "guy" they knew.  People always talk about how they knew the TurboGrafx was a thing, but never knew anyone with one.  I had one.  Got it when I was in high school in the early 90s.  Not sure of the exact year, but it was before the SNES was out in North America.  Still have it, too.  It's the system that I've owned the longest.  Added a few games and controllers after it was discontinued.  Got some of the same games I had rented before when the store sold off their rental games.  But there might be someone out there thinking, "I knew a guy back in high school who had Blazing Lazers."  lol

 

[TDIRunner | 2,733]

Caveman Games on NES.  I had several friends who had this game, and I always wanted it just because it looked cool at the rental stores.  I remembering playing it at their house and not really understanding how to play it properly, but still wanting it.  Sure enough, many years later when I started picking up NES games as an adult, it was on my early list to grab.

Also, I knew ONE guy that had a 3DO while it was still an active system.  He bought it right after the first round of price drops.  It seemed awesome at the time.  We always played Gex and PO'ed.  I eventually got a PS1 instead, but I was super happy when I realized that a slightly better version of PO'ed was available for the PS1.  I played the hell out of that game.  

[Tulpa | 3,492]

33 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

 

Also, I knew ONE guy that had a 3DO while it was still an active system.  He bought it right after the first round of price drops.  It seemed awesome at the time.  We always played Gex and PO'ed.  I eventually got a PS1 instead, but I was super happy when I realized that a slightly better version of PO'ed was available for the PS1.  I played the hell out of that game.  

My freshman year roommate had a 3DO (Goldstar version.) It was okay, but he kept saying "I should have gotten a Playstation."

[Br81zad | 629]

34 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

Caveman Games on NES.  I had several friends who had this game, and I always wanted it just because it looked cool at the rental stores.  I remembering playing it at their house and not really understanding how to play it properly, but still wanting it.  Sure enough, many years later when I started picking up NES games as an adult, it was on my early list to grab.

Also, I knew ONE guy that had a 3DO while it was still an active system.  He bought it right after the first round of price drops.  It seemed awesome at the time.  We always played Gex and PO'ed.  I eventually got a PS1 instead, but I was super happy when I realized that a slightly better version of PO'ed was available for the PS1.  I played the hell out of that game.  

To this day I've never played a 3DO. 

[TDIRunner | 2,733]

1 minute ago, Br81zad said:

To this day I've never played a 3DO. 

If you can get your hands on one cheap like I did, it's worth it, otherwise, I wouldn't bother.  There are a lot of fun games, but not really worth the current asking prices.  

[Br81zad | 629]

Just now, TDIRunner said:

If you can get your hands on one cheap like I did, it's worth it, otherwise, I wouldn't bother.  There are a lot of fun games, but not really worth the current asking prices.  

I can't say I'm curious enough to go out and buy one. But there's typically a dedicated vintage play room set up at a local arcade Expo every year. I've played a Vectrex and Virtual Boy there in years past. I might pop in there and see if anyone has a 3DO set up this year 

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

22 minutes ago, Br81zad said:

I can't say I'm curious enough to go out and buy one. But there's typically a dedicated vintage play room set up at a local arcade Expo every year. I've played a Vectrex and Virtual Boy there in years past. I might pop in there and see if anyone has a 3DO set up this year 

If you mention it beforehand I'm sure somebody will bring one.

Besides Way of the Warrior and Return Fire (if you have a second player), you're not missing a ton.

I also think it has the best Road Rash version besides PC.

[RH | 4,903]

My younger cousin had a Virtual Boy.  I was jealous then and I'm jealous now.