"Retro Gaming" when you were a kid

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Most kids first game system would typically be whatever's relevant at the time or whatever was out a generation prior, though I guess that would depend how long ago the last generation ended. My question here is how much exposure did you have to retro games when you were a kid. Obviously "retro" here would be relative to when you were growing up. For instance, the PS1 wasn't exactly retro yet when I dabbled w/ it when I was young,which had to be no later than 2001 at that time.
However, I do recall playing Sonic 2 on what was my brother's Game Gear when I was like 5 or so. That was definitely an old system by the time I played it. I also had Pokemon Yellow when I was around 3rd grade, I would consider that an old game since generation 3 was already out by then. Though most notably I had the Power Player Super Joy III plug n play console when I was a kid, which if any of ya'll remember was that bootleg system w/ a bunch of built in NES/Famicom games. Though bootleg or not, it was still my introduction to a bunch of classic NES/Famicom and arcade games from the 80's. But beyond that, I mostly stuck w/ the current gen systems for my time, which was the 6th gen and 7th soon after. I didn't become consciously aware of games and systems prior until my early teens. Heck, I never even knew what a N64 was until 2008. Though how about you guys, did any of you get much exposure to older games when you were little?

 

[YIGAhim]

I was always a generation behind ish.

I got a DS when the DSi came out. I got a Wii when the Wii U was out. I got a Wii U towards the end of it's life but before the NX was announced. I got a NN3ds XL after the 3ds was out for like 5 years...

I had plug-n-play stuff though, and have had an Atari for a while, so I was exposed to the retro games

 

[Princess Niki]

I got my first game system when I was 10, it was a Gameboy Pocket with a copy of Pokemon Red and that was in fall 2002. At that point the GBA had been out for a year and RS came out the following year. So I started out as a retro gamer basically. At least at home, my neighbors and cousins had a Gamecube.

 

[DekuNut]

A fair amount.
I got into gaming with a GBA and a Gamecube. However, I also had:
Sonic Mega Collection
Zelda Collector's Edition
Yoshi's Island (the GBA remake but it's still a SNES-era game)

 

[Turo602]

My earliest memories are of the N64 and Playstation, which my older brothers had. However, I was also exposed to the NES and Sega Genesis as they were remnants of their childhood.

On NES, we had Super Mario Bros./Duckhunt, Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Battletoads,
and Darkwing Duck.

On the Sega Genesis, we had Sonic 1, 2, and Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Batman Returns, and Aladdin.

I'm sure they had more growing up, but by the time I was around, that's all they had left. We still played with both systems quite frequently despite my brothers owning the current gen systems at the time, because we didn't really own too many games for those systems, since they were too expensive and we didn't really have a clue as to what was out there.

That's about it for me in terms of retro games. Though, I also remember having 2 Tiger Electronics games. Sonic and Doug. I think my mom may have gotten them for me and my sister.

 

[Quin]

None. I started gaming when I was very young and im 26 now so most things i played were fairly new.

 

[Spirit]

I was born in 87 and was playing LOZ and AOL on the NES before i understood the concept of video games, so nothing was was really retro to me growing up.

I dare say I was born at the perfect time to be a naturally cultured gamer because i got to experience every major jump in technology as it happened, i wouldnt change that for the world.

 

[misskitten]

There wasn't really a lot of retro gaming around when I was a kid (I was born in 84'). My first game experiences were on an Amstrad machine (that stored games on cassettes) and the NES and both were pretty normal systems to have around. I guess the closest I can get is those separate handhelds that each had one game, like you could move this figure between three set spaces to either save someone from a burning building (bouncing them from spot to spot) or score a goal.

 

[Castle]

I'ma 90s kid in cast that already wasn't readily apparent, but I didn't start gaming till the late 00's with the gamecube. I didn't have much exposure to retro games and consoles before that. Oh sure there was super mario and duck hunt in my neighbor's basements and family rooms. I played a bit of golden eye with friends a couple of times. One of my earliest Zelda memories was watching a girl play Ocarina and Majora's Mask all night at a company party one of my dad's co-workers used to host. I pretty much knew what I was seeing was a thing at the time, but I didn't really know what it was. It wasn't until years later I even understood she had been playing two different games that evening. I remember her fighting ganon and I took a crack at it myself and lost lol. I also remember her waiting for the invisible guy to appear in Termina field.

But for me my experience with retro gaming is the cube. Melee, Luigi's Mansion, F-Zero, Animal Crossing, Wind Waker and Ocarina, Harvest Moon were among some of the earliest games I played.

Of course, there's also Myst which I was playing on PC long in advance of Nintendo. The original Sim City was another early favorite on PC.

 

[Nicolai]

I had a Gameboy, a SNES, and an N64 growing up. I guess the SNES and Gameboy were a little behind my time, but other than that, the closest connection I had to anything that came before it was a copy of Super Mario All Stars, and whatever pacman-like thing I could find for free on the internet. But back then, pretty much everything was blocky and pixelated anyway, so nothing really had a retro "feel" to it. I knew N64 and Playstation games were higher-tech than Gameboy games, but I had no concept of when each console was developed, so I didn't see either as being older than the other.

 

[funnier6]

Retro games for me were those things that must’ve existed but that for reason didn’t exist anymore, I’d played a PS2 and Xbox and GameCube and all that but weren’t there game consoles before that? Until I played smash bros brawl I was only dimly aware that the N64 used to exist and that the PS1 must’ve existed and didn’t even know Sega used to make consoles so you can see my exposure to retro games was very limited for a long time.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Retro games for me were those things that must’ve existed but that for reason didn’t exist anymore, I’d played a PS2 and Xbox and GameCube and all that but weren’t there game consoles before that? Until I played smash bros brawl I was only dimly aware that the N64 used to exist and that the PS1 must’ve existed and didn’t even know Sega used to make consoles so you can see my exposure to retro games was very limited for a long time.

yo this was basically me, b/w those 8-bit games and the gamecube,I figured there must have been SOME system or two in between,but heck if I knew what it was; and then super smash bros brawl had that ocarina of time demo and it was mindblowing to discover what that "X" system finally was before the gamecube,and I'm pretty sure this was how I discovered the super nes was a thing too [I had like no exposure to 16-bit games when I was a kid]

 

[the8thark]

did any of you get much exposure to older games when you were little?

Older as in retro games released when we were young? Or titles that were alreadt considered old when we were young? That's two questions and your OP does not say which you are asking.

Older as in retro games released when we were young?
Yes. I did play NES games back in the day.

titles that were alreadt considered old when we were young?
No. I didn't get into the pre-1985 gaming scene. Commodre 64, Atari, Colecovision, Intellivison, etc etc. I've not played many of those games and the ones I did were all emulated and very recently.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Older as in retro games released when we were young? Or titles that were alreadt considered old when we were young? That's two questions and your OP does not say which you are asking.

"Obviously "retro" here would be relative to when you were growing up." as in what would have been considered retro at the time that you were a kid, hence why I mentioned that the PS1 didn't count for me since it was still relevant at the age I played it in,but the Game Gear did since at that age, it was already an old system
so yes,I'm talking about the latter

 

[the8thark]

"Obviously "retro" here would be relative to when you were growing up." as in what would have been considered retro at the time that you were a kid, hence why I mentioned that the PS1 didn't count for me since it was still relevant at the age I played it in,but the Game Gear did since at that age, it was already an old system
so yes,I'm talking about the latter

Thanks for letting us all know. Appreciate it. We're not all mind readers who know what you mean before you say it outright on the forums.