For me, that honor goes to… Pokémon Black/White. My mom and dad took me to the local GameStop early that day. I don’t even think I registered that this was a newly released game— but my parents did. Somehow lol. (I have very good parents.)

Second launch was Skylanders: Giants. Easily my most memorable launch! Again, I didn’t fully realize that there was a new Skylanders game releasing, but my parents brought me to the store, they let me pick up the Started Pack alongside a couple of characters (I chose Fright Rider and Bouncer(?) IIRC). We then went to a really nice pumpkin patch and I remember being so excited to play the game once we got home. Omphf what good times!

And then there was Skylanders Swap Force. And then Skylanders Trap Team. I waited for Christmas to get SSB4. And then I got Mario Party 10, Skylanders Superchargers, Skylanders Imaginators, and then finally The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was from the launch of BotW when I started purchasing a ton of games at launch.

I have not bought many games on release. I think the only two times are two Zelda games. Bought Twilight Princess with a Wii on launch day and preordered Breath of the Wild for the switch even before I had the system.

If expansions count then Warcraft 3 the frozen Throne tops. Man I played a lot of Warcraft 3 back then. Was amazed the family computer that I had taken over could run the thing.

Many games that I buy early I still wait a few days before I buy. Then stumbles on them in a store and just buy it then.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 I think.

The 7th gen was my first as an adult with my own disposable income, and I picked up a Wii and 360 in 2009, though at first I was content to catch up on older releases I'd missed out on.

I picked up a bunch of new releases that year; Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2, Halo Reach... great times.

Oh that’s an interesting question. It was almost certainly an N64 game. I’m going to guess the Collector’s Edition of Ocarina of Time. I was 15.

I distinctly remember picking it up at the electronics counter at Bradlees, a now defunct department store.

Great question, not so easy to answer.

Without internet access in the 1980s and early 1990s, you only read about a new game 1 - 3 months after the release, if there wasn't a preview article.

I'm pretty sure, that I bought the C64 version of "Dragon Wars" instantly after I read the game review (because I loved the predecessors "The Bard's Tale 1 - 3" so much)... but the earliest reviews in German game magazines were in the February issues of 1990, the game launched in November 1989.

The game had one of the coolest box covers ever:

Inside the box there was even a poster of the Boris Vallejo cover art, which was hanging on the wall of my room a few years.

It was also one of the very rare C64 games with a C128 mode, which (slightly) enhanced the game. 

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The first game I bought "day one" of its release was the German Amiga version of "Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge".

I preordered it in a software shop two towns away and on the day it arrived (June 5th 1992) they called me. Of course I collected it the same day, I still have the receipt in the big box. 

A few years ago I met the adventure legend Ron Gilbert and he signed my Monkey Island 2 box and the code wheels of MI1 + MI2.

The German translator of the early Lucasfilm/LucasArts games (Boris Schneider) was also there and he signed the MI2 box, too.

But even if I bought this version of the game at its launch day... the English Amiga version was already available a few months earlier and the English MS-DOS-version even since December 1991... so half a year before I bought the German version.

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So technically, the first game I purchased at launch was the CD-ROM "Full Throttle" (German name of that LucasArts adventure is "Vollgas"), which I bought in May 1995. That version already had the German box cover, handbook and strategy guide, but on the disc was still the English version of the game.

The publisher Softgold offered an upgrade to the localized game for 30 DM (~15 Euro) so the second big box with the new disc (German interface, German voices and German subtitles) was sent to me in September 1995.

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The first console games I bought day one (of the EU release) were "Donkey Kong 64" (December 2000) and "Conker's Bad Fur Day" (April 2001).

Unfortunately I sold them a few years later. Especially Conker is now worth hundreds of Euros, even a used cartridge.

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The first handheld games I bought together with the hardware at system launch were the PSP games "Ridge Racer", "Tiger Woods", "Untold Legends" and "Gretzky NHL" (the pack-in game). I imported the PSP-1000 and those games from Canada, the packages arrived in April 2004... so half a year before the EU-launch of the PSP! I was lucky, and didn't have to pay any customs duties.

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The first home console games I bought together with the hardware at system launch were the Xbox 360 games "Perfect Dark Zero" (Limited Edition), "Kameo: Elements of Power", "Project Gotham Racing 3", "Condemned: Criminal Origins" and "Peter Jackson's King Kong".

The Xbox 360 almost had a global launch (EU launch only a week after the Americas and one wekk before the Japan launch) and I was very hyped. The only console lauch where I preordered the hardware and launch games weeks ahead and stood in line on the launch day (December 2nd 2005).

Gran Turismo 2, I believe. And it was sure worth it!

Probably Link to the Past. Hard to remember. But has to be a SNES game.

With my own money? The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (with the golden Wiimote and the 25th anniversary CD). Christmas 2011 I believe. Was hard to find where I lived, but a friend working at the local electronics store managed to order one for me. Forever grateful to her. I had the time of my life playing Skyward Sword that Christmas and to this day, I still think it's one hell of a masterpiece.

Oh, and the music CD is fantastic. It has some of the best recordings of the Symphony of the Goddesses. Some late renditions, like the 30th anniversay, don't pack the same punch as these originals.

Final Fantasy X for PS2. What a time to be a gamer!

I was never the type of person that going to wait overnight on a line for a game etc. Therefore back when buying a game required going to the store I got games a day or two after release on occasion but I don't think I ever bother going to a store to get it on the exact day it came out. I think my first game I pre-ordered was FF7 (store holds a copy for you on release for up to a week if you gave them $10 that went toward purchases of game so you only lost it if you never claimed your copy I think was the deal). I think my parents did not manage to get me to the store (was to young to drive) about 3 days after release.

First game I played/payed for fully on release day was probably Half-Life 2 since it was first game I could purchase online on release data that I wanted.