Cool topic.
1st: My older brothers had some football/space invaders type handheld machines which seemed cool and I got to play a bit.
2nd: This is where things started to take off. My neighbors had Atari and we would play Asteroids and other classics, while my family had a ColecoVision. This is when I met Mario and have enjoyed his jumping antics ever since.
3rd: NES. Videogame craze took over me and all of my friends. The first Christmas that guys started getting them was crazy. Every parent was nuts trying to find an NES and every kid was obsessed with the mysteries of Super Mario Bros. What cassle was that princess in? Being the first to fire a silver arrow into Gannon's wicked heart was a lifetime highlight, lol.
4th: SNES. Such an amazing system where I picked up lots of games. My family still plays it to this day. Street Fighter. Super Mario. Donkey Kong. Final Fantasy. Castlevania. Super Bomberman and MarioKart saw lots of multiplayer matches. This may have been my peak as far as gaming, even if NES was more of a classic and interesting time.
5th: None. Got out of gaming for a while. Was in University and had other things sucking up my time. Played a little PC. Some friends had either Playstations or N64's but neither system really drew me in. Early 3d was a bit sloppy and the divide that formed between 3rd parties that I loved and Nintendo games that I loved frustrated me such that neither PS or N64 was a total sell. Years later I picked up OoT and MM and I have to say they were absolutely incredible to play on the borrowed N64 I had at the time.
6th: XBox, PS2, PSP. Toward the end of my collage years my roomates had an all-new XBox and I played Halo. I was once again a gamer. The game was groundbreaking for me. I ended up also getting a PS2 and I was really impressed. Loved FFX. PSP was my first handheld and it had a great high-tech feel. Eventually I bored of it though and I doubt I would buy another handheld. I was also jealous of the cheaper DS and NSMB. I wished I had bought that instead, especially as phones started functioning as MP3 players.
7th: Wii, XBox360. After totally rejecting Nintendo during the purple Gamecube years, I returned when I saw the Wii. I was so very impressed with TP, WiiSports and Mario Galaxy. I didn't have an HDTV so I had no need for an HD system. Wii was outstanding fun with friends and the system itself was cool. The Virtual Console was like revelation. Once I picked up an HDTV I wanted HD gaming. Got an XBox in a sweet deal and it took over quickly as my prime system. Got tired fo motion controls and the game selection on 360 was just better with the 3rd party support.
8th: WiiU. First system I bought at launch since SNES. Very impressed. After Wii I feel very confident that some great 1st party games are coming and 3rd party support might be good. Nice to finally play Nintendo in HD. Tablet makes for a great media center. I am closely watching both Sony and MS to see if what they offer will coax me to buy a second system.
