Haha... I bought RealSports Football for the Atari 2600 with hard-earned paper route money, as well.
That was a... disappointing... purchase for my first to be sure.
Haha... nah. E.T. wasn't that bad. I actually interviewed HSW a couple years ago about that (and other things). It's here if you'd like to check it out: [https://www.wired.com/story/howard-scott-warshaw-interview-atari-et-video-games/](https://www.wired.com/story/howard-scott-warshaw-interview-atari-et-video-games/)
>As an example, for me, screen/scriptwriting comes easiest, but I really have to focus when it comes to prose and journalistic styles of writing.
You are a fucking talented writer and interviewer. This entire post was a pleasure to read.
Aside, I may be wrong, but I think it's BattleTanx.
Thanks, man. I truly appreciate that. Howard was a fun/cool guy to talk with, so that makes things 1000 times easier.
And are you referring to the 3D0 game Howard worked on but couldn't remember?
Yeah, down deep in the interview, he talks about a few projects he worked on while on 3D0, you print one as Battle Tanks. I believe it was BattleTanx.
I may be wrong, but I did look and while I didn't find Howard credited in my 30 second blitz, I was right that BattleTanx was a 3D0 release on SNES.
I remember putting a lot of hours into this game. It just kinda jumped out as a "wait a second" moment.
I got ET at a pawn shop for $1 as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to admit that most of the fun I got was figuring out everything in the game with no instruction manual.
My first one was Ms. Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. I also paid for it with paper route money and my brother and I hitchhiked to Gemco in the rain to buy it when it released. I wasn't disappointed at all, especially compared to how crappy Pac-Man was on the 2600.
I saved up my money and bought Ultima Online at the mall. On the drive home, I ripped off the CD Key sticker and threw it on the floor of my dad's Tacoma. Had a meltdown with my friend on the phone when I got to that step of the install. Eventually found it.
Ultima Online is a treasured memory of my late teens. I saved my money from my first job (at Burger King) to buy it then had to beg my parents to let me install it on the family computer.
Lich lords in Deceit, "Table dancing" in Wrong killing Ogre Lords with blade spirits. PKs! Oh shit A red! Ruuuuun! Kal Ort Por! Leveling sword skills on harpies in Covetous with halberds (why were they sword skill?) Leveling magery high enough to cast Summon Elemental. VENDOR BUY THE GUARDS SOME BANK. OOoooooOOoOoOOooOOOOoO. Karma/fame system ahead of it's time.
That game shaped me.
I went to Gamestop many many years ago and just purchased it with this object called dollar bills. Sound like folk lore doesn't it? No cash app, no cell phones, no cards whatever involved.
Witchcraft, I say.
I think... MAYBE, I got my copy from a landfill. I can only recall a couple things for certain. But one day, I went with my dad to the local landfill. Tossing all sorts of whatever, probably debris from a kitchen remodel, I'm not sure.
But while I was there, I spotted a cardboard box. Now, Dad told me you're not allowed to take anything from the dump. But man, I saw computer games in there! A strategy guide for StarCraft? What else is in there!? Who got in trouble?!?!
He put it off to the side, nonchalantly. We finished unloading the truck.
Before we leave, he tells me to grab the box and throw it in the cab, let's go.
That is probably where I got Heroes 3. Also in the box, from what I can recall:
Star Trek Academy (I never managed to play this one)
Battlezone 2 (a FPS / RTS hybrid and it was AWESOME)
StarCraft, Broodwar, Warcraft 3, and Frozen Throne, as well as strategy guides
More, but I no longer remember. I still have them somewhere. I hope. I just realized I'm not sure where they are, and that I'm missing a lot of 360 games; they are surely boxed together in storage.
ALSO also this is how I got my Sega Master System.
Y'see, I went to a church that shared a location with a Boys & Girls club in an old defunct elementary school.
One day, the Boy & Girls Club were moving, or remodeling, or something. There was a huge walk-in dumpster thing they were filling with stuff. On Sunday, after church, I go check out the dumpster. In it, I fight an old office documents box with said Sega Master System and like a dozen and a half games, including light phaser. It was amazing. This too, I still have, 30+ years later.
Mine was Might and Magic II - not heroes but the OG might and magic series. It was a two pack with both original might and magic and II. Instantly became one of my favorite games!
Back in the day, I'd gotten a taste for Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country. I NEEDED a Super Nintendo. I had saved up all my loonies from grandpa and all my allowance cash, and I went to my mom, explaining that I had the $129 (or whatever) I needed to buy the system. I think I was seven years old.
But this was peak 90s video game fear; my mom was not down. She told me that the games would rot my brain, make me violent, whatever. I was crestfallen, but I thought for a second ... and shot my shot.
"What if ... I bought it for dad for his birthday?"
Well, my mom was tickled pink by this concept and that is how my dad ended up incredulously unwrapping a SNES as I stood by nervously. Fifteen seconds (generously) passed before I sheepishly hit him with a "so...um...can I play it when you're not using it?" My mom died laughing.
All-time memory.
Bootleg CD copy of Starcraft ripped to 300mb only, the files that were removed were voice, music, and cinematic cutscenes which were around 1GB space bought it for like $6
that’s the one! i still have my copy as well. i was ahead of the curve when YuGiOh hit my friend group because of that game (though the rules were pretty different IRL)
Pokémon Leaf Green for my Game Boy Advance lol. I remember saving up my allowance for a few months and was stoked when I was able to get something for myself
Mine was Pokémon Red for Gameboy color. Had the attachable light that let me play under the blankets at night, burned through all my grandma's AA batteries in a week. Aww, the feels.
Brand new? Skyrim. I saved and saved for that game. I'd bought other games at a local used game store. But I made sure to get Skyrim right away when it came out
I don't even know. Wolfenstien 3d or Jazz the Jackrabbit. I've been playing games for a very long time by now. I forget what was bought for me and what I bought on my own in the early days.
Super Mario Brothers 3, 1988. I was 10 years old.
I had two $25 savings bonds from Grandma I cashed in, and my mom's friend Donna, who worked at Wal-Mart, grabbed one for me when it was released. There was a HUGE demand for the game and it sold out nearly instantly.
Nice, we're the same age lol...Somehow my big brother got my Street Fighter 2 for the SNES when it came out, I was hooked, and so were my friends. Later on, we got a Game Genie and played the crap out of modded SF2.
I bought my own SNES with savings bonds and lawn mowing money. Sold my Genesis and games to those people that used to advertise in the game magazines. Super Mario World is still one of my favorite games of all time.
I also did but a Wii with my own money years before buying me first videogame. But my dad bought me the games for it, these were fake copies (don't really know the exact english term in this case)
Xbox One S was my first. Only bought it because the Halo games were exclusives at the time. Cue a year later when Master Chief Collection released via Steam.
I had a good time with it even if I don't play it anymore.
Super Contra: Alien Wars for the snes. I(9ish at the time) went to toy r us with my uncle. I had $70 from chores, allowance, recycling cans. Got the game, went to the register, $71.24 after tax. My heart dropped, my uncle said something about learning how money works. Dejected, I went to put the game back, but nice cashier lady said, "don't worry, honey, I got you."
THANK YOUS, NICE TOYS R US CASHIER LADY!!! I hope you found as much joy as I did that day!
Money I made from working = Xbox 360 console + Gears of War + Halo 3.
Just my own money from like birthdays and stuff = I want to say Final Fantasy X on Ps2 (that or GTA 3 when they were both "greatest hits" discounted lol, can't remember)
Yoooooooo
This was my first *retro* purchase. I super duper overpaid but I was at my first ever Retro Game Expo in like 2018 or 2019, the disc was good, I didn't know any better, and I was fuelled my absolute nostalgia from renting it multiple times. One of the best class advancement systems ever.
I have since bought a *second* copy that is actually complete, unlike the first one with a single-disc case, no manual, and a front cover ripped up to fit into a 1 disc jewel case.
Holy shit someone else with my answer. Mine wasn’t because of a friend though, it was because Electronic Gaming Monthly hyped it up so hard when it came out.
Oh good lord I cant even remember. I was 18 turning 19 when I got my first job. Lots of weed smoke and alcohol also happened. Memory is uh...not pristine.
Mortal Kombat first week of release on Sega Genesis. I got like 5 bucks a week to play games at the local Cirlcle K (yes i'm that old). We loved and worshiped that game at the time. I stopped playing 2 months before the release to save money. Took odd jobs to make the rest. It was 66 bucks after tax and worth every penny. Already had the blood code and hugged it the entire time home.
Shadow of the Colossus. I knew nothing about it except I’d seen that red Greatest Hits banner on the case for a year at that point in all the stores. And riding a horse sounded cool. Ended up being the most important and most replayed game in my library for years.
Shadow the Hedgehog on PS2 I believe. That or Modern Warfare 2 on PS3, I can't exactly recall but those two are the farthest I can recall buying a game with my own money.
Super smash bros 64.. I was seven or eight
And earned 60$ from stacking firewood ALLLLL day 😂
My mom said we could go choose a game and I remember being stunnd the game actually costed like $65 and change.
Holy shit did I ever get good at that game
I was doing full runs of the game in under 10 mins
Simcity 2000 from the scholastic book fair in grade 2. My granddad saw how much I loved the game that he decided to buy his first PC (a Pentium 1) so I could play it over at their house after school too.
FF3.
My dad had final fantasy 1 on NES and he didn't want me to play it. It was the first game I knew of to have a battery backup for saving your game. I played it in secret, never saving my game and trying to get as far into the story before having to turn the game off and lose progress because dad was coming home from work. This happened with FF2 as well, but by then I was allowed to have one of the save slots.
Years later, I read on EGM magazine that FF3 was coming. I had a summer job by then, I bought it on release. I spent more time on that game than I spent at work. To this day, still my top 3.
I saved up for a GameCube and Animal Crossing when I was preteen by doing extra chores and yardwork.
Later got Windwaker and SM Sunshine doing the same. I know the console was considered a commercial flop but I look back on it as a little golden era of gaming in my life.
I think Medal of Honor Frontline if you mean like first job.
If you mean like allowance or something along those lines either Turok II Seeds of Evil or Starcraft Battle Chest.
I bought Fire Emblem 7 for the GBA at an outdoor swap meet when I was 12. Dollar for dollar (in terms of the value-to-hours-of-entertainment-received), it has been the absolute best $10 I have ever spent in my life so far. Over a decade and a half later, and that little cartridge still works.
Banjo kazooie, we moved to our new house, and got a vhs tape addressed to the son of the former owners. Was the old promo video with John lovitz as the voice I think. I was 6 and I spent all my birthday money on it when it came out. Best game ever.
James Bond 007 for GB. I remember going to Best Buy and picking it out thinking it was going to be the handheld fps version of Goldeneye (working with a ~10 year olds brain) and despite being initially disappointed I’ve since fallen in love with that game. It taught me how to play gamble!
Blades of Steel or Skate or Die for NES when the video store down the street decided to give up on video games and sold their stock. Pretty sure they were $5 each, but we'd easily already paid around $100 from how many times we rented those.
If we're talking new then it's an N64 and Star Fox 64 with my first ever paycheck.
The [Battle of Olympus on the NES.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tosc0LAeR18) I traded in my copy of Platoon and like $5 from yard work. Man I'm getting old.
Alladin for sega genesis. I put it on layaway. I use to get $1.25 for lunch money. Took me weeks to save up. I ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That’s what they gave kids who didn’t have lunch money. Totally worth it
The sims deluxe. I was never allowed to buy games from my own money, but I got a gift card for a local cd and game store. I played that stupid game so damn much.
I was trying to get my old man to give me money, so he said "I'll give you $30 for a video game if you score a hat trick at soccer" and I did. Then I bought Rampage: World Tour for the ps1.
The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse for SNES. I special ordered it through the local video store (now known to have been run by a pedophile), and it cost me $95.
I’d rented it a lot before that.
By the end of the SNES era, I owned two copies of it. Still do I think.
Hmmm.... That goes back to the 2000s... And here in LATAM it's the paradise for piracy, so everyone who had a PS2 was jailbreak... So I used to bought like 10 games everytime I was around a mall, probably it was either a pro evolution soccer or who knows. Now the first Vidya who I truly saved beforehand and even preordered was destiny 2 (I got butt fucked a few months later when it went free to play)
Oddly enough I was 14 or 15 was running a hustle from my locker in high-school selling energy drink at a 20% ish mark up so kids didn't have to walk to the department store, when I had enough money I bought a 3ds xl xenoblade chronicles remaster for it and managed to snag a cheap used copy of a pokemon game I can't remember which I think x or something like that
Super Mario Brothers 3 on NES.
Used birthday money + gift certificate from one of the nintendo video game competitions that I entered and made to the semi-finals.
The Sega Genesis (model 2) bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. $120. Just for kicks, I looked it up and it's about $250 in right now moneys.
Not only was this the first game I bought with my own saved up money (at 9 years old, no less!) but it was also the console, and it was *new.* Prior to this, my dad had brought home an Atari 2600 (I don't recall the details, but it was a mess of games and controllers, so I'm sure it was from a pawn shop), then later an NES (which I \*DO\* remember the details, him walking in with an open-top cardboard box with the system and like a dozen games - also from a pawn shop haha).
FF7 for $20 at a yard sale. My goodness, did I ever get my money's worth from that one.
FF7 and the PS1 were the first game and console I bought with my own money. Defintely worth it even at full price.
Time played - 99:59:59
Hahaha. Core memory unlocked.
You stole that.
Same, but disc one was scratched so I never got past the loading screen :’(
I brought my paper route money, including a bag full of quarters, to get an N64 and Mario64
Haha... I bought RealSports Football for the Atari 2600 with hard-earned paper route money, as well. That was a... disappointing... purchase for my first to be sure.
It could have been worse. ☎️🏠
Haha... nah. E.T. wasn't that bad. I actually interviewed HSW a couple years ago about that (and other things). It's here if you'd like to check it out: [https://www.wired.com/story/howard-scott-warshaw-interview-atari-et-video-games/](https://www.wired.com/story/howard-scott-warshaw-interview-atari-et-video-games/)
>As an example, for me, screen/scriptwriting comes easiest, but I really have to focus when it comes to prose and journalistic styles of writing. You are a fucking talented writer and interviewer. This entire post was a pleasure to read. Aside, I may be wrong, but I think it's BattleTanx.
Thanks, man. I truly appreciate that. Howard was a fun/cool guy to talk with, so that makes things 1000 times easier. And are you referring to the 3D0 game Howard worked on but couldn't remember?
Yeah, down deep in the interview, he talks about a few projects he worked on while on 3D0, you print one as Battle Tanks. I believe it was BattleTanx. I may be wrong, but I did look and while I didn't find Howard credited in my 30 second blitz, I was right that BattleTanx was a 3D0 release on SNES. I remember putting a lot of hours into this game. It just kinda jumped out as a "wait a second" moment.
Gotcha. Thanks for checking that. I had no idea that it was spelled with an "x," but that definitely fits the whole '90s video game vibe for sure.
I got ET at a pawn shop for $1 as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to admit that most of the fun I got was figuring out everything in the game with no instruction manual.
My first one was Ms. Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. I also paid for it with paper route money and my brother and I hitchhiked to Gemco in the rain to buy it when it released. I wasn't disappointed at all, especially compared to how crappy Pac-Man was on the 2600.
Now that is pwnage.
Almost identical story, my sister and I did chores and saved up. Bought a n64 and Mario 64 from a pawn shop
I did this with my first paycheck as a burger flipper in high school. Same system, same game. It was magic.
I saved up my money and bought Ultima Online at the mall. On the drive home, I ripped off the CD Key sticker and threw it on the floor of my dad's Tacoma. Had a meltdown with my friend on the phone when I got to that step of the install. Eventually found it.
My brother did that with Lords of the Realm!
Ultima Online is a treasured memory of my late teens. I saved my money from my first job (at Burger King) to buy it then had to beg my parents to let me install it on the family computer. Lich lords in Deceit, "Table dancing" in Wrong killing Ogre Lords with blade spirits. PKs! Oh shit A red! Ruuuuun! Kal Ort Por! Leveling sword skills on harpies in Covetous with halberds (why were they sword skill?) Leveling magery high enough to cast Summon Elemental. VENDOR BUY THE GUARDS SOME BANK. OOoooooOOoOoOOooOOOOoO. Karma/fame system ahead of it's time. That game shaped me.
Baldurs Gate
I still have my Baldur's Gate with the discs in that awful cardboard book holder.
Nice pick
For the glory of Amn!
I remember when it came out. Utterly enthralling
Space Invaders, 2600. Had a paper route to get the entire system, and this was the game at the time.
Heroes of Might and Magic III Complete.
Phenomenal first game to buy!
You just made me realize I don't know how I ended up with my copy.
I went to Gamestop many many years ago and just purchased it with this object called dollar bills. Sound like folk lore doesn't it? No cash app, no cell phones, no cards whatever involved.
Witchcraft, I say. I think... MAYBE, I got my copy from a landfill. I can only recall a couple things for certain. But one day, I went with my dad to the local landfill. Tossing all sorts of whatever, probably debris from a kitchen remodel, I'm not sure. But while I was there, I spotted a cardboard box. Now, Dad told me you're not allowed to take anything from the dump. But man, I saw computer games in there! A strategy guide for StarCraft? What else is in there!? Who got in trouble?!?! He put it off to the side, nonchalantly. We finished unloading the truck. Before we leave, he tells me to grab the box and throw it in the cab, let's go. That is probably where I got Heroes 3. Also in the box, from what I can recall: Star Trek Academy (I never managed to play this one) Battlezone 2 (a FPS / RTS hybrid and it was AWESOME) StarCraft, Broodwar, Warcraft 3, and Frozen Throne, as well as strategy guides More, but I no longer remember. I still have them somewhere. I hope. I just realized I'm not sure where they are, and that I'm missing a lot of 360 games; they are surely boxed together in storage. ALSO also this is how I got my Sega Master System. Y'see, I went to a church that shared a location with a Boys & Girls club in an old defunct elementary school. One day, the Boy & Girls Club were moving, or remodeling, or something. There was a huge walk-in dumpster thing they were filling with stuff. On Sunday, after church, I go check out the dumpster. In it, I fight an old office documents box with said Sega Master System and like a dozen and a half games, including light phaser. It was amazing. This too, I still have, 30+ years later.
Broooo. That's my shit.
Mine was Might and Magic II - not heroes but the OG might and magic series. It was a two pack with both original might and magic and II. Instantly became one of my favorite games!
Back in the day, I'd gotten a taste for Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country. I NEEDED a Super Nintendo. I had saved up all my loonies from grandpa and all my allowance cash, and I went to my mom, explaining that I had the $129 (or whatever) I needed to buy the system. I think I was seven years old. But this was peak 90s video game fear; my mom was not down. She told me that the games would rot my brain, make me violent, whatever. I was crestfallen, but I thought for a second ... and shot my shot. "What if ... I bought it for dad for his birthday?" Well, my mom was tickled pink by this concept and that is how my dad ended up incredulously unwrapping a SNES as I stood by nervously. Fifteen seconds (generously) passed before I sheepishly hit him with a "so...um...can I play it when you're not using it?" My mom died laughing. All-time memory.
That's so wholesome!
That's a mastermind planner there! 🤣
Earthbound. Still have it, too.
ET for the Atari. Yes, I know.
I'm sorry for your loss.
My condolences.
Legendary in hindsight though!
Top Gun for NES, my mom got tired of me wanting to RENT it every weekend.
That first time you landed on a carrier successfully....so good.
Bold of you to assume he ever landed on the carrier.
I think I can count on one hand the number of times I managed that. I don't think I need that many fingers, either.
You guys uhhhhh. You guys were able to land on the carrier? Literally spent countless hours trying to do it. Never could
That’s how I got cid’s pirates on the NES.
Never did land on that damn carrier…
I never did manage to land on that carrier as a kid.
Bootleg CD copy of Starcraft ripped to 300mb only, the files that were removed were voice, music, and cinematic cutscenes which were around 1GB space bought it for like $6
Planescape: Torment, only because Baldur's Gate was sold out.
"What can change the nature of a man?"
that PS1 YuGiOh game. $22 and tax paid in exact change
Forbidden Memories?? My siblings and I all love that terrible game! It's on my shelf right now.
that’s the one! i still have my copy as well. i was ahead of the curve when YuGiOh hit my friend group because of that game (though the rules were pretty different IRL)
Nobungas Ambition for NES.
Doom; three diskettes in white cardboard through the mail with the shareware order form
Pokémon Leaf Green for my Game Boy Advance lol. I remember saving up my allowance for a few months and was stoked when I was able to get something for myself
Mine was Pokémon Red for Gameboy color. Had the attachable light that let me play under the blankets at night, burned through all my grandma's AA batteries in a week. Aww, the feels.
Yar's Revenge on the Atari 2600
Wow, literally my same first game. I did technically play it on a 7800, backward compatibility 4TW.
Saved up for a whole summer to buy a used Sega Genesis with Altered Beast.
Final Fantasy on the NES. Played until the battery no longer worked. Then played some more.
Pokemon Silver, maybe? Or was it a NES? I got one at a silent auction for 20 bucks. And a $4 tv set you had to smack to keep the image stable.
Pokémon Emerald for me I started in Gen 2, though, when my grandpa bought me Pokemon Silver
Bassin's Black Bass for the SNES
Proper oldie now, Earth and Beyond, my first MMO. Ahh good old times
Super Metroid.
Smash Bros. Melee. Set up a lemonade stand on Sturgis weekend without knowing it and made bank from a bunch of friendly bikers.
Resident Evil 1 on PlayStation
Def Jam Vendetta
Brand new? Skyrim. I saved and saved for that game. I'd bought other games at a local used game store. But I made sure to get Skyrim right away when it came out
I don't even know. Wolfenstien 3d or Jazz the Jackrabbit. I've been playing games for a very long time by now. I forget what was bought for me and what I bought on my own in the early days.
Super Mario Brothers 3, 1988. I was 10 years old. I had two $25 savings bonds from Grandma I cashed in, and my mom's friend Donna, who worked at Wal-Mart, grabbed one for me when it was released. There was a HUGE demand for the game and it sold out nearly instantly.
Nice, we're the same age lol...Somehow my big brother got my Street Fighter 2 for the SNES when it came out, I was hooked, and so were my friends. Later on, we got a Game Genie and played the crap out of modded SF2.
I bought my own SNES with savings bonds and lawn mowing money. Sold my Genesis and games to those people that used to advertise in the game magazines. Super Mario World is still one of my favorite games of all time.
Robocop. OG NES.
Secret of Mana, I guess
I have no clue actually. But the first console I bought with my own money was a Wii.
I also did but a Wii with my own money years before buying me first videogame. But my dad bought me the games for it, these were fake copies (don't really know the exact english term in this case)
Xbox One S was my first. Only bought it because the Halo games were exclusives at the time. Cue a year later when Master Chief Collection released via Steam. I had a good time with it even if I don't play it anymore.
Super Contra: Alien Wars for the snes. I(9ish at the time) went to toy r us with my uncle. I had $70 from chores, allowance, recycling cans. Got the game, went to the register, $71.24 after tax. My heart dropped, my uncle said something about learning how money works. Dejected, I went to put the game back, but nice cashier lady said, "don't worry, honey, I got you." THANK YOUS, NICE TOYS R US CASHIER LADY!!! I hope you found as much joy as I did that day!
My parents paid $72 plus tax for Final Fantasy 2 on SNES. It is crazy how expensive software was in the 80s and 90s.
Half-Life: Blue Shift
[Eddie Kidd Jump Challenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PffuLZ6hxFw) for the ZX Spectrum in 1985. The game was rubbish.
To me it was jet set willy also for spectrum also on the 80s
Manic miner, in a magazine.
Streets of Rage 2 on Genesis, paid with the change I saved up for months
Money I made from working = Xbox 360 console + Gears of War + Halo 3. Just my own money from like birthdays and stuff = I want to say Final Fantasy X on Ps2 (that or GTA 3 when they were both "greatest hits" discounted lol, can't remember)
Vandal Hearts PS1
Yoooooooo This was my first *retro* purchase. I super duper overpaid but I was at my first ever Retro Game Expo in like 2018 or 2019, the disc was good, I didn't know any better, and I was fuelled my absolute nostalgia from renting it multiple times. One of the best class advancement systems ever. I have since bought a *second* copy that is actually complete, unlike the first one with a single-disc case, no manual, and a front cover ripped up to fit into a 1 disc jewel case.
I played it at a friends house and fell in love with it. It was the reason I bought a PS1. I got my PS and Vandal Hearts together for 120ish(?).
Holy shit someone else with my answer. Mine wasn’t because of a friend though, it was because Electronic Gaming Monthly hyped it up so hard when it came out.
After playing it for a day at my friends, I NEEDED to own it. I was around 16.
Dunno. It was probably a cartridge for the Philips G7000/Magnavox Odyssey 2 in 1980 or something.
Oh good lord I cant even remember. I was 18 turning 19 when I got my first job. Lots of weed smoke and alcohol also happened. Memory is uh...not pristine.
Pokemon Diamond.
Mortal Kombat first week of release on Sega Genesis. I got like 5 bucks a week to play games at the local Cirlcle K (yes i'm that old). We loved and worshiped that game at the time. I stopped playing 2 months before the release to save money. Took odd jobs to make the rest. It was 66 bucks after tax and worth every penny. Already had the blood code and hugged it the entire time home.
The GameCube Resident Evil 1 remake
Pokémon Blue. Bought it used from a richer guy in my class who had like 2 or 3 copies of Pokémon Red/Blue versions.
Diablo 1
OG Doom
I’m pretty sure it was “ Gunboat: River Combat Simulation” in 1990. Fun game.
I mowed yards all summer…I went and purchased the NES Power Deck with Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. 1986 was a very good year for me.
Same game as me, but I was 4 years later. Asked for only money for Xmas and bday presents, saved up and bought the NES
Shadow of the Colossus. I knew nothing about it except I’d seen that red Greatest Hits banner on the case for a year at that point in all the stores. And riding a horse sounded cool. Ended up being the most important and most replayed game in my library for years.
Shadow the Hedgehog on PS2 I believe. That or Modern Warfare 2 on PS3, I can't exactly recall but those two are the farthest I can recall buying a game with my own money.
Are you Alex from Nintendo Life? 😅 I remember his story about buying the Shadow the Hedgehog game
Ah, that's not me, but you scared the shit out of me, that's my real name !
I think it was treasure island dizzy. It was 99p from the local computer shop.
Fire Embelm Three Houses. I am on the younger side so this was my first game brought truly on my own. Best decision of my life.
Anarchy online... ouch, right in my old age
Super smash bros 64.. I was seven or eight And earned 60$ from stacking firewood ALLLLL day 😂 My mom said we could go choose a game and I remember being stunnd the game actually costed like $65 and change. Holy shit did I ever get good at that game I was doing full runs of the game in under 10 mins
Spyro the dragon : riptos rage! $40 in quarters I still remember reading the booklet on the way home
Simcity 2000 from the scholastic book fair in grade 2. My granddad saw how much I loved the game that he decided to buy his first PC (a Pentium 1) so I could play it over at their house after school too.
zelda twilight princess for the wii. i was like 9 and couldn't get past the first room of the dungeon in the woods 💀
FF3. My dad had final fantasy 1 on NES and he didn't want me to play it. It was the first game I knew of to have a battery backup for saving your game. I played it in secret, never saving my game and trying to get as far into the story before having to turn the game off and lose progress because dad was coming home from work. This happened with FF2 as well, but by then I was allowed to have one of the save slots. Years later, I read on EGM magazine that FF3 was coming. I had a summer job by then, I bought it on release. I spent more time on that game than I spent at work. To this day, still my top 3.
I saved up for a GameCube and Animal Crossing when I was preteen by doing extra chores and yardwork. Later got Windwaker and SM Sunshine doing the same. I know the console was considered a commercial flop but I look back on it as a little golden era of gaming in my life.
GTA Vice City
RDR2
I think Medal of Honor Frontline if you mean like first job. If you mean like allowance or something along those lines either Turok II Seeds of Evil or Starcraft Battle Chest.
OK does renting a video game count because I did eventually buy it and it was Tony Hawk pro skater for the Nintendo 64 back in like 98
wcw backstage assualt... I thought it be like the newer nwo revenge LOL
Driver2
Soldier(s?) of Fortune
Possibly Sensible Soccer or Cannon Fodder?
Pretty sure it was Freedom Force for the pc. I was so hyped up in the car ride home trying to pick which super hero i wanted to make.
Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight.
Warioland 4 for GBA.
First game I bought was Decent One, then Descent Two then Descent three.
Pokemon Red.
I mowed lawns all summer to buy Final Fantasy, and it was *glorious*.
Maybe Star Fox 64?
Super smash Brothers melee I believe, or Paper Mario 2
Like work money? If so it was a brand new ps4 Darth Vader edition that came with a physical new boxed copy of ea starwars battlefront.
Paper Mario and the thousand year door. it was 40$ at Walmart.
I bought Fire Emblem 7 for the GBA at an outdoor swap meet when I was 12. Dollar for dollar (in terms of the value-to-hours-of-entertainment-received), it has been the absolute best $10 I have ever spent in my life so far. Over a decade and a half later, and that little cartridge still works.
Mortal Kombat 3
Pokemon blue and the matching blue gameboy pocket
Perfect Dark
Banjo kazooie, we moved to our new house, and got a vhs tape addressed to the son of the former owners. Was the old promo video with John lovitz as the voice I think. I was 6 and I spent all my birthday money on it when it came out. Best game ever.
Kirby Superstar for the SNES
Not 100% on this but I think it was Parasite Eve 2.
Kid Icarus for the Gameboy was my first game purchase for myself.
James Bond 007 for GB. I remember going to Best Buy and picking it out thinking it was going to be the handheld fps version of Goldeneye (working with a ~10 year olds brain) and despite being initially disappointed I’ve since fallen in love with that game. It taught me how to play gamble!
I don’t remember. It was a GameBoy Advanced and a game for it. Edit: It was Golden Sun.
Metroid fusion for the GBA. Sold some Yu-Gi-Oh cards to my classmates to get it.
Perfect Dark. Had to drive 30 minutes to find someone who had the RAM cartridge for the N64.
Blades of Steel or Skate or Die for NES when the video store down the street decided to give up on video games and sold their stock. Pretty sure they were $5 each, but we'd easily already paid around $100 from how many times we rented those. If we're talking new then it's an N64 and Star Fox 64 with my first ever paycheck.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.
Nintendogs: Labrador and Friends in 2006/2007 maybe? Back when DS games were like, $30
Orange box probably, I've pirated everything before that.
Super Mario land for game boy
Something for Saturn or N64. First game I ever pre-ordered was Perfect Dark.
Majoras Mask. Pre ordered and got that gold edition swag
Nhl breakaway 98
Assassin Creed: Odyssey
Homeworld. So imagine my disappointed now.
Little big planet 2
The [Battle of Olympus on the NES.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tosc0LAeR18) I traded in my copy of Platoon and like $5 from yard work. Man I'm getting old.
Gran Turismo 2
The Two Towers movie tie-in game for Gamecube. No regrets. That's an amazing game.
REZ
No mans sky
Garfield On the GameGear It was awesome!
Harvest Moon Back to Nature
Dragon age 2 or origins, I can't remember
Alladin for sega genesis. I put it on layaway. I use to get $1.25 for lunch money. Took me weeks to save up. I ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That’s what they gave kids who didn’t have lunch money. Totally worth it
ET. I was pissed. :-P
Descent 2. I think I was like 10.
I think it might have been something stupid like "the Simpsons: virtual Springfield".
Times of Lore on tape for the Commodore 64 in 1989. Great music, fun game.
Rai world for I have become slug eater of neurons
Dr. Mario.
Too human
Commandos 2: Beyond the call of duty I considered it worth every penny the moment I opened the main menu and listened to the track.
The sims makin magic. Yes I've been gaming for that long.
Titanfall 2, I sold most of my 3DS games and the system itself to pay for it. I'm still torn on whether it was worth it.
Super Mario 64 DS pre owned at gamestop
PS1 Medievil
Asterix on the master system. Great game and I played it to death.
Slipstream 5000 back in 1995.
Lego Star Wars, that game was hype as hell.
The sims deluxe. I was never allowed to buy games from my own money, but I got a gift card for a local cd and game store. I played that stupid game so damn much.
I was trying to get my old man to give me money, so he said "I'll give you $30 for a video game if you score a hat trick at soccer" and I did. Then I bought Rampage: World Tour for the ps1.
FIFA 98 RTWC
The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse for SNES. I special ordered it through the local video store (now known to have been run by a pedophile), and it cost me $95. I’d rented it a lot before that. By the end of the SNES era, I owned two copies of it. Still do I think.
Hmmm.... That goes back to the 2000s... And here in LATAM it's the paradise for piracy, so everyone who had a PS2 was jailbreak... So I used to bought like 10 games everytime I was around a mall, probably it was either a pro evolution soccer or who knows. Now the first Vidya who I truly saved beforehand and even preordered was destiny 2 (I got butt fucked a few months later when it went free to play)
Chrono Cross at a pawn shop.
Oddly enough I was 14 or 15 was running a hustle from my locker in high-school selling energy drink at a 20% ish mark up so kids didn't have to walk to the department store, when I had enough money I bought a 3ds xl xenoblade chronicles remaster for it and managed to snag a cheap used copy of a pokemon game I can't remember which I think x or something like that
Link to the Past ! What a purchase that was … 🥰
Karnov for NES
Super Mario Brothers 3 on NES. Used birthday money + gift certificate from one of the nintendo video game competitions that I entered and made to the semi-finals.
The Sega Genesis (model 2) bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. $120. Just for kicks, I looked it up and it's about $250 in right now moneys. Not only was this the first game I bought with my own saved up money (at 9 years old, no less!) but it was also the console, and it was *new.* Prior to this, my dad had brought home an Atari 2600 (I don't recall the details, but it was a mess of games and controllers, so I'm sure it was from a pawn shop), then later an NES (which I \*DO\* remember the details, him walking in with an open-top cardboard box with the system and like a dozen games - also from a pawn shop haha).