By Mark Rodriguez
It's always fun to remember the games we played in our childhood. It was a different time when most of our concerns were things like getting that high score, or racking up wins in a fighting game for bragging rights. Before rent, bills, filing taxes and adult life. So with this console I'm going to look back at what were the first games we bought for each console, not counting the one that already came with it.
NES- Nintendo Entertainment System- TMNT II The Arcade Game
The NES we bought came with 2 controllers, the NES Zapper and Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt 2-in-1 Game. Mario was a lot of fun and I remember my dad loved playing Duck Hunt.
There wasn't much urgency to get a second game at the time since there were tons video rental stores and we could play stuff like Mega Man 2, Castlevania, Double Dragon and so forth when we needed a break from Mario.
It wasn't until we got TMNT II The Arcade Game for Christmas that year that we had a blast. We were already huge fans of the arcade game, so this was our favorite game for the NES too. While the arcade's plot dealt with the Turtles fighting the Foot and rescuing April and Splinter, the manual made it sound like this was Shredder's revenge after his defeat at the end of the first NES TMNT game, which originally had nothing to do with the arcade. Now due to the NES limitations the game only allowed for 2-player action, and the graphics and gameplay were severely toned down when compared to the original. The addition of new stages and new bosses made it exciting enough though. Back then it was the only way to bring the arcade home.
Another funny thing to note was the Pizza Hut had a promotion with the game. Buying the game gave you a coupon for some pizza. The game itself was plastered with Pizza Hut billboards and advertisement wherever they could fit them in the game. I'm glad Pizza Hut is still around of the game would have been seriously dated.
SNES- Super Nintendo Entertainment System- TMNT IV Turtles in Time
The SNES we got came with two controllers and Super Mario World.
I have to say, Super Mario World was a blast. It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of worlds and challenges to explore. As big Ninja Turtles fans though, we just had to get a SNES when we found out they were doing the second arcade game.
TMNT IV was a feast for the eyes as the SNES really made the game as close to the arcade as it possibly could. Basically Krang stole the Statue of Liberty and when the Turtles try to get it back, Shredder blasts them to different eras through time. The stages include stuff like Prehistoric Times and the future. It was still missing 4-player action, but the game was so fast paced that it was fun with 2-players regardless. The music was awesome, the colors were vibrant, new boss characters were added in, possibly the only downside was that the game was so easy. We had to stop ourselves from beating it on the first day because we didn't want the novelty to die so fast.
This game was so beloved (and easier to get to than the arcade version) that for many people this was the definitive version of Turtles in Time. When Ubisoft did a 3D remake called TMNT Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, fans complained that they decided to remake the original arcade instead of the SNES version. I mean, the SNES version had Slash after all.
SEGA Genesis- TMNT Hyperstone Heist
The Genesis came with Sonic the Hedgehog and one controller
So yeah, you can see the pattern here. We were big TMNT fans. Once we heard about Hyperstone Heist, we had to get a Genesis. Since the console came with one controller we figured we'd have to make do with Sonic until we buy a second controller and finally Hypstersone Heist... except Sonic was a lot of fun. The gameplay was different enough from Mario and I liked the speed as well as the cooler music and graphics.
TMNT Hypserstone Heist was basically this bizzare fusion of Turtles in Time, the original arcade game and some new stuff sprinkled in. Shredder uses the Hyperstone to shrink down New York and the Turtles have to stop him. Since the game takes place in modern day, they took some of the time travel stages from Turtles in Time and adjusted them to look like modern day locations. I guess Konami wanted to cut corners and re-use a lot of Turtles in Time graphics and stuff, but I wonder why they didn't just port Turtles in Time right off the bat. The game did feel a bit faster, and you can actually dash by pressing a button as opposed to it happening by itself in the arcade/SNES as you kept walking. My favorite part will always be the Gauntlet where all the old bosses return. It reminds me of the X-Men arcade.
One thing to note about this game was that one of the bosses was Tatsu, Shredder's right hand man from the first 2 live action movies.
Game Boy- Super Mario Land
The Game Boy came with Tetris and a Game Link Cable
We finally break the TMNT trend with the Game Boy. While we did get TMNT games for that one eventually, the first game was got for this one was Super Mario Land. We had fun with Tetris though, thanks to the Link Cable, Johnny and I would play against each other a lot.
Super Mario Land was a bizzare game. It was kinda like the original Super Mario Bros but you faced all new enemies and the main villain was a space alien named Tatanga that kidnapped Princess Daisy instead of the usual Princess Toadstool/Peach. Even the enemies that look like Goombas and Koopa Troopas were given different names in the manual. The most interesting addition in the game are stages where Mario mans a sub or a plane and shoot the enemies. In fact the final battle is a shoot out in the skies between Mario and Tatanga!
Sony Playstation- Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
The Sony Playstation came with 2 controllers and a disc that had several previews and games on it including Parappa the Rappa.
At this time we were big on fighting games, and the local arcade in Mexico was starting to bring over PS and XBox games to play the newer fighters. It was cheaper for them to bring in the consoles than Tekken and Soul Calibur game cabinets.
We went on a trip where we were able to get the Playstation AND SF EX Plus Alpha, right after seeing it in the arcades the week before. The game brings Street Fighter to the 3D polygon era and mixes in the Street Fighter characters with original characters created by Arika like Kairi and Allen Snider. I guess the 'Plus Alpha' name comes from the fact that the PS version of the game added Sakura, who at the time was Street Fighter's newest sensation.
Johnny and I played the hell out of this game. It had enough familiar characters, original characters and hidden characters to keep our interest. The main gameplay feature was the ability to cancel Super Combos into each other. The Arika characters were so well liked that they were featured in their own games without the Street Fighter characters, namely Fighting Layer and Fighting Layer EX.
Sony Playstation 2- A whole bunch of games
The PS2 came with 2 controllers and as far as I can remember, a FIFA game. We got rid of it soon enough.
So when we bought the PS2, it was at a whim. It was in the store and it was at a decent price. However upon buying the home console... we kinda forgot that the fact that we lived in a part of Mexico where videogames weren't readily available. Luckily we had EB Games and they had no problems shipping stuff to Mexico. However the packages were sent through a packaging service rather than regular mail, so it took us a while to get them.
So in one fell swoop we got KOF 2000/2001, KOF 2003/2003, Dead or Alive 2, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, DBZ Budokai 2 and the first TMNT 2003 game... all in one shot. Needless to say, we were gaming like crazy every night on all of these games. DBZ Budokai 2, DOA and TMNT were fun games and we loved having the KOF games finally in our own home.
Nintendo DS- Pokemon Diamond
I decided to get back into Nintendo, or at least the handheld consoles since I like Street Fighter and King of Fighters too much to give up a new XBox or Playstation. As far as I can remember, the Nintendo DS I bought came with no game, so luckily I bought Pokemon Diamond right away.
I missed out on the Pokemon craze, so I never got to play the earlier Game Boy and Game Boy Advanced games, so I got to start with what was, at the time, the newest most advanced looking Pokemon game at the time. The graphics and music were pretty cool and I was capturing and leveling up my Pokemon in no time. The plot, other than going out on a quest to 'catch them all', also dealt with a new villain group, Team Galactic, wanting to kidnap Pokemon for their evil deeds. Combine this with also trying to beat all the Gym Leaders and a lot of exploration, dungeons and Pokemon to capture and level up, and you got a good game that will give you hours of fun. It was the perfect game for me to get used to my brand new DS.
X Box 360- Street Fighter 4
X Box 360 came with one controller and Sonic Tennis. This version did not include a hard drive.
The odd thing was we got the X Box 360 thanks to a deal with our phone company in Mexico. As you paid your phone bill every month we were paying down the cost of the console. The main reason we chose the 360 over the PS3 was because it was cheaper. Eventually when we returned to the US of A, we bought the hard drive and wireless wifi adapter so that we could hop onto X Box Live.
We were quick to pick up the original Street Fighter 4 and play the hell out of it, after buying a second controller that is. The game was a lot of fun and brought back the original 16 fighters with all new graphics and moves, as well as some new characters. Probably the biggest shock was that the game that actually had hidden characters.... within the actual game without it being DLC!!! This game was also the first time that we saw Gouken, Ryu and Ken's master in the actual game as well.
Sony Playstation 4- King of Fighters 14/Mortal Kombat XL
The PS4 only came with one controller and no game.
The reason I put two games here wasn't because I bought them at the same time. I actually bought King of Fighter 14 BEFORE ever getting a PS4. This was mainly due to me knowing that I could not pass this game up and I knew that somehow someday I would eventually get a PS4. That day finally happened last year during a good Black Friday deal.
KOF 14 is fun and packs 50 characters right off the bat. I do need Johnny to stop by and visit some time for some VS matches.
Mortal Kombat XL was the 'complete collection' version of Mortal Kombat X that has all the DLC characters already available. I missed out on the original MKX due to getting a PS4 rather late into the game. The good thing though is now I had the chance to buy games like MKXL and Tekken 7 at a good reduced price.
So those were the game consoles that I picked up and the games that I first purchased after getting them. Video games have come a long way since the days of the NES, and they're not going away any time soon. What consoles do YOU own, and what game did you first buy once you got that console?
It's always fun to remember the games we played in our childhood. It was a different time when most of our concerns were things like getting that high score, or racking up wins in a fighting game for bragging rights. Before rent, bills, filing taxes and adult life. So with this console I'm going to look back at what were the first games we bought for each console, not counting the one that already came with it.
NES- Nintendo Entertainment System- TMNT II The Arcade Game
The NES we bought came with 2 controllers, the NES Zapper and Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt 2-in-1 Game. Mario was a lot of fun and I remember my dad loved playing Duck Hunt.
There wasn't much urgency to get a second game at the time since there were tons video rental stores and we could play stuff like Mega Man 2, Castlevania, Double Dragon and so forth when we needed a break from Mario.
It wasn't until we got TMNT II The Arcade Game for Christmas that year that we had a blast. We were already huge fans of the arcade game, so this was our favorite game for the NES too. While the arcade's plot dealt with the Turtles fighting the Foot and rescuing April and Splinter, the manual made it sound like this was Shredder's revenge after his defeat at the end of the first NES TMNT game, which originally had nothing to do with the arcade. Now due to the NES limitations the game only allowed for 2-player action, and the graphics and gameplay were severely toned down when compared to the original. The addition of new stages and new bosses made it exciting enough though. Back then it was the only way to bring the arcade home.
SNES- Super Nintendo Entertainment System- TMNT IV Turtles in Time
The SNES we got came with two controllers and Super Mario World.
I have to say, Super Mario World was a blast. It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of worlds and challenges to explore. As big Ninja Turtles fans though, we just had to get a SNES when we found out they were doing the second arcade game.
TMNT IV was a feast for the eyes as the SNES really made the game as close to the arcade as it possibly could. Basically Krang stole the Statue of Liberty and when the Turtles try to get it back, Shredder blasts them to different eras through time. The stages include stuff like Prehistoric Times and the future. It was still missing 4-player action, but the game was so fast paced that it was fun with 2-players regardless. The music was awesome, the colors were vibrant, new boss characters were added in, possibly the only downside was that the game was so easy. We had to stop ourselves from beating it on the first day because we didn't want the novelty to die so fast.
This game was so beloved (and easier to get to than the arcade version) that for many people this was the definitive version of Turtles in Time. When Ubisoft did a 3D remake called TMNT Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, fans complained that they decided to remake the original arcade instead of the SNES version. I mean, the SNES version had Slash after all.
SEGA Genesis- TMNT Hyperstone Heist
The Genesis came with Sonic the Hedgehog and one controller
So yeah, you can see the pattern here. We were big TMNT fans. Once we heard about Hyperstone Heist, we had to get a Genesis. Since the console came with one controller we figured we'd have to make do with Sonic until we buy a second controller and finally Hypstersone Heist... except Sonic was a lot of fun. The gameplay was different enough from Mario and I liked the speed as well as the cooler music and graphics.
TMNT Hypserstone Heist was basically this bizzare fusion of Turtles in Time, the original arcade game and some new stuff sprinkled in. Shredder uses the Hyperstone to shrink down New York and the Turtles have to stop him. Since the game takes place in modern day, they took some of the time travel stages from Turtles in Time and adjusted them to look like modern day locations. I guess Konami wanted to cut corners and re-use a lot of Turtles in Time graphics and stuff, but I wonder why they didn't just port Turtles in Time right off the bat. The game did feel a bit faster, and you can actually dash by pressing a button as opposed to it happening by itself in the arcade/SNES as you kept walking. My favorite part will always be the Gauntlet where all the old bosses return. It reminds me of the X-Men arcade.
One thing to note about this game was that one of the bosses was Tatsu, Shredder's right hand man from the first 2 live action movies.
Game Boy- Super Mario Land
The Game Boy came with Tetris and a Game Link Cable
We finally break the TMNT trend with the Game Boy. While we did get TMNT games for that one eventually, the first game was got for this one was Super Mario Land. We had fun with Tetris though, thanks to the Link Cable, Johnny and I would play against each other a lot.
Super Mario Land was a bizzare game. It was kinda like the original Super Mario Bros but you faced all new enemies and the main villain was a space alien named Tatanga that kidnapped Princess Daisy instead of the usual Princess Toadstool/Peach. Even the enemies that look like Goombas and Koopa Troopas were given different names in the manual. The most interesting addition in the game are stages where Mario mans a sub or a plane and shoot the enemies. In fact the final battle is a shoot out in the skies between Mario and Tatanga!
Sony Playstation- Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
The Sony Playstation came with 2 controllers and a disc that had several previews and games on it including Parappa the Rappa.
At this time we were big on fighting games, and the local arcade in Mexico was starting to bring over PS and XBox games to play the newer fighters. It was cheaper for them to bring in the consoles than Tekken and Soul Calibur game cabinets.
We went on a trip where we were able to get the Playstation AND SF EX Plus Alpha, right after seeing it in the arcades the week before. The game brings Street Fighter to the 3D polygon era and mixes in the Street Fighter characters with original characters created by Arika like Kairi and Allen Snider. I guess the 'Plus Alpha' name comes from the fact that the PS version of the game added Sakura, who at the time was Street Fighter's newest sensation.
Johnny and I played the hell out of this game. It had enough familiar characters, original characters and hidden characters to keep our interest. The main gameplay feature was the ability to cancel Super Combos into each other. The Arika characters were so well liked that they were featured in their own games without the Street Fighter characters, namely Fighting Layer and Fighting Layer EX.
Sony Playstation 2- A whole bunch of games
The PS2 came with 2 controllers and as far as I can remember, a FIFA game. We got rid of it soon enough.
So when we bought the PS2, it was at a whim. It was in the store and it was at a decent price. However upon buying the home console... we kinda forgot that the fact that we lived in a part of Mexico where videogames weren't readily available. Luckily we had EB Games and they had no problems shipping stuff to Mexico. However the packages were sent through a packaging service rather than regular mail, so it took us a while to get them.
So in one fell swoop we got KOF 2000/2001, KOF 2003/2003, Dead or Alive 2, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, DBZ Budokai 2 and the first TMNT 2003 game... all in one shot. Needless to say, we were gaming like crazy every night on all of these games. DBZ Budokai 2, DOA and TMNT were fun games and we loved having the KOF games finally in our own home.
Nintendo DS- Pokemon Diamond
I decided to get back into Nintendo, or at least the handheld consoles since I like Street Fighter and King of Fighters too much to give up a new XBox or Playstation. As far as I can remember, the Nintendo DS I bought came with no game, so luckily I bought Pokemon Diamond right away.
I missed out on the Pokemon craze, so I never got to play the earlier Game Boy and Game Boy Advanced games, so I got to start with what was, at the time, the newest most advanced looking Pokemon game at the time. The graphics and music were pretty cool and I was capturing and leveling up my Pokemon in no time. The plot, other than going out on a quest to 'catch them all', also dealt with a new villain group, Team Galactic, wanting to kidnap Pokemon for their evil deeds. Combine this with also trying to beat all the Gym Leaders and a lot of exploration, dungeons and Pokemon to capture and level up, and you got a good game that will give you hours of fun. It was the perfect game for me to get used to my brand new DS.
X Box 360- Street Fighter 4
X Box 360 came with one controller and Sonic Tennis. This version did not include a hard drive.
The odd thing was we got the X Box 360 thanks to a deal with our phone company in Mexico. As you paid your phone bill every month we were paying down the cost of the console. The main reason we chose the 360 over the PS3 was because it was cheaper. Eventually when we returned to the US of A, we bought the hard drive and wireless wifi adapter so that we could hop onto X Box Live.
We were quick to pick up the original Street Fighter 4 and play the hell out of it, after buying a second controller that is. The game was a lot of fun and brought back the original 16 fighters with all new graphics and moves, as well as some new characters. Probably the biggest shock was that the game that actually had hidden characters.... within the actual game without it being DLC!!! This game was also the first time that we saw Gouken, Ryu and Ken's master in the actual game as well.
Sony Playstation 4- King of Fighters 14/Mortal Kombat XL
The PS4 only came with one controller and no game.
The reason I put two games here wasn't because I bought them at the same time. I actually bought King of Fighter 14 BEFORE ever getting a PS4. This was mainly due to me knowing that I could not pass this game up and I knew that somehow someday I would eventually get a PS4. That day finally happened last year during a good Black Friday deal.
KOF 14 is fun and packs 50 characters right off the bat. I do need Johnny to stop by and visit some time for some VS matches.
Mortal Kombat XL was the 'complete collection' version of Mortal Kombat X that has all the DLC characters already available. I missed out on the original MKX due to getting a PS4 rather late into the game. The good thing though is now I had the chance to buy games like MKXL and Tekken 7 at a good reduced price.
So those were the game consoles that I picked up and the games that I first purchased after getting them. Video games have come a long way since the days of the NES, and they're not going away any time soon. What consoles do YOU own, and what game did you first buy once you got that console?
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