Gaming What was your affiliation?

[Shinmaru]

I look back on the years of the Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis regime with fond memories. Those were the times when some of the best games in history came out, many of which I still play. Of course, that isn't the point of this thread. The point is this: which side of the spectrum were you on? Were you a supporter of the Super Nintendo or the Sega Genesis? Why was that your console of choice? And [i]please[/i] put a valid reason and not "because Nintendo roolz" or "Sega ownz" or something like that. I'd hate for this thread to have to be closed, because I'm sure that there are some interesting stories out there.

Me, I was firmly on Nintendo's side, but not because I hated Sega. I hated to admit it, but I had a grudging respect for Sega and the Genesis, because it had it's fair share of great games. The reason that I stuck with Nintendo and the SNES is because Nintendo was all I knew. For as long as I can remember, the NES was the only console that I had for a long time, until the SNES came out. The funny thing is, I had no idea that the Sega Master System had even existed until about a couple of years ago, when I really became a Sega fan. Anyway, Nintendo was the gaming company that shaped my fondest memories when I was a young kid and I couldn't (and still can't) even bear the thought of ever switching my allegiance to a different developer.

Of course, after the SNES came the N64. Now, I loved Nintendo dearly and defended the N64 to the last, but I have to admit that I spent far more time with my SNES (and Super Mario RPG and Super Mario World 2 which were the games I was playing at the time). I was content with the SNES at the time, since I only had a couple of games at the time (Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64). Then, came Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was the game that completely sold me on the N64 like no other. I had so much fun playing it, that I was easily ignoring the taunts sent my way by PSX fans. But then came the dark spot on my squeaky-clean Nintendo record: my grandma got me a PSX for Christmas. I was skeptical at best of it, but I decided to play it. And I got hooked into buying great games for it (Final Fantasy VII and Anthology plus Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night). I have to say that some of those games rivaled even my great times with the SNES.

And now, we come to GameCube, which I have solidly supported (even though I've longed for a PS2 - I just don't have the money, heh). I've had a blast with Super Smash Bros. Melee, Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, and other games (mostly Nintendo, mind you - it's kind of hard to trust the third parties except for Sega). I've been a staunch Nintendo gamer almost all my life and I've defended them as my favorite developer of all time - nobody even comes close to them for me. However, in the past few years, I've become much more open minded and receptive to other gaming companies (*takes the time to thank Treasure for their plethora of amazing shooters*) and games that I never would've bought before. So, even though I support Nintendo to the last, by no means are they the only company I support.

Any other thoughts?

EDIT: Added more to the story, since everyone seems to want to outdo my post lol.

[Semjaza]

Well, I was given a NES when I was like five, so Nintendo was always my thing. When you're used to something, I think you don't really want to give the newcomers a chance. Sega wasn't really a newcomer when the Genesis came along, as they had the Master System (and had been around for decades at that point)... but in the US, the SMS wasn't exactly a hit.

When the Genesis came out, a friend of my dad's let me borrow his along with a few games. I played Sonic and Batman (some import game, but it worked fine) constantly and I really liked them. My sister and I saved up for a Genesis and my mom said we could buy it... but for some reason my dad was an *** and said no. I still don't know why.

I wound up getting an SNES for my birthday years later. Link to the Past was packed in with it. To this day, I don't think a single game had blown me away as much as LttP. The sound alone was way better than anything the NES or Genesis ever provided. So I basically became a huge Nintendo fan, and was one of those dorks that defended everything they did. Bought an N64 eventually.

I borrowed someone's PSX and loved Resident Evil on it... so I got one of those as well. Around this time I stopped really being loyal to any one company. I ordered a Dreamcast from Sega and got it on 9-9-99, and was very happy with that. Got it along with Sonic and Soul Calibur. I picked up a Saturn a bit later.

So I was kind of into everything at that point, although when the Xbox hit I admit I wasn't exactly big about MS getting in on gaming. I still am not, honestly. I'm not exactly going nuts about it though.

Now, I just like games. I don't care what they are on. A good game is a good game, no matter what it is made for. I wish more people realized it.

So in answer to your question, in a short form, I was a Nintendo fan. I still respect them more than most other companies. They are still the only developer where I can blindly buy one of their games and know I'll like it on some level that would make the purchase worth it.

I think the only other company I know that I trust like that is tri-Ace.

[hiachi]

Although SEGA is my favorite company of now, my only systems were the NES and SNES when I was younger, so I always loved the big N, but around the same time that I got my SNES, i lived across the street from a Genesis owner, and I used to play Sonic and a few other games that are un-rememberable, but I did remember playing Sonic and I had a lot of fun, but I still was a Nintendo lover at that time, although I still love them just as much now, I've just swayed more towards SEGA as well...

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Way back, before the SNES was released, two of my brothers each had a NES. So when the SNES was released, our parents got all of us a SNES, which was bundled with Super Mario World and a second controller, for Christmas. I didn't play it for a few years, since I was only about five when we got it and I enjoyed just watching.

A friend of my youngest brother (who's older than me, though, since I'm the youngest) lived across the street, and he owned a Sega Genesis. Out of the two, they both considered the SNES to be the better system, and his friend ended up getting a SNES of his own after a while. So, I basically spent my early gaming years playing the SNES (and my brother's NES a bit also), and only played the Genesis a few times. Nintendo was pretty much all I knew, and I didn't even know that the Master System existed until well after the N64 was released. (Yes, I also refered to playing videogames as "playing Nintendo," heh).

The release of the N64 marks when I really started to get into gaming. (Well, not its release, I suppose, but when I got one somewhere about a year or so after its release). I was rather biased against the PlayStation, seeing as Nintendo had always been considered better than Sega by me, my brother, and his friend, so we were skeptical about Sony's system. I happily played my N64 for quite a while...then my brother's friend got a PlayStation with Final Fantasy VII to go with his N64. (He got an N64 when it first came out, but I never played it that much. I was still busy with our SNES games, and wasn't quite ready to venture into the complicated world of 3D games).

I didn't play FFVII for a long time (my brother beat it twice before I ever even played it), since I didn't really like RPGs back then. (Yes, I know, seems almost unthinkable now; I was mainly into platformers and racing games back then). I finally decided to give it a try a while after my second oldest brother got a PSX and FFVII, though, and I ended up liking it a lot. I played through the whole thing, though I did go rather slow and leveled up a lot, but I did finally manage to beat both the Emerald and Ruby WEAPONs. (Sephiroth was a joke after fighting those two). That was when I really started "warming up" to the PSX and other systems, so to speak.

Later when my brother moved away, he gave me his PSX and FFVII, so that's where I got my PSX. I haven't bought many other games for it, since I'm usually saving up for Nintendo games. (Yes, I still prefer Nintendo, but now it's because of their awesome first party games instead of a blind faith, heh). That's the same reason I don't have a PS2 (yet), also; too many games on the GCN and GBA that I want to get before I get another system.

So yeah, I grew up playing Nintendo and I still prefer Nintendo more than other systems because of Nintendo's games, but I'd still love to get my hands on a PS2. ^_^[/color]

[Sniglefager]

My parents had an NES before I was even born, and I remember watching them play SMB3, and that's probably the reason that's my favorite game. A couple years later, my uncle got a Genesis with Sonic 2, and I played that game to death. A year later, my mom finally got me a Genesis. Then I played Super Mario World at my friend's house, and knew I had to get a SNES. Eventually I did, and it was bundled with Donkey Kong Country. The weird thing is that even though I wanted SNES just for Mario World, I never even got that game until it came out on GBA. Anyway, for my 7th birthday, my mom got me a Playstation with Crash Bandicoot and a couple other games. I also remember wanting FFVII really bad after seeing the commercials for it on TV, but my moms friend told her it would be too hard for me to play, so I didn't get that game till I was 10. That was also the age when I got my N64. I probably wouldn't have ever gotten that, except that someone at my mom's work had goten it for her children, but they were only 3 so it was too hard for them. So my mom decided to trade our SNES and some of our games for their N64, Super Mario 64, and two controllers. Even though I was excited back then, I realized last year that I would have been much better off with my SNES. Then I got GameCube with Luigi's Mansion, Rogue Leader, a memory card, and an extra controller, on Nov. 18th 2001 as a birthday present, and over the next year got great games such as SSB:M, Pikmin, Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, etc. And then for Christmas 2002, I finally got a PS2, Kingdom Hearts, and FFX. Even though I love my PS2, I like my GameCube more, just because it has a lot more top quality games. I guess I've also gone with Nintendo my whole life, so I have to say I'm a Nintendo Supporter overall, even against Sega and Sony.

[James]

[color=#707875]Interesting discussion. ^_^

My earliest experience with a video game was at the tender age of 4. It was a Game & Watch unit, though I forget the actual game now. In any case, it was a passing interest, but I didn't actually form a passion for games based on my experience with Game & Watch.

Actually, when I was five, I went to a friend's birthday party. And she had a NES. I had no clue what a NES was, but I remember sitting down to play Super Mario Bros. because I was bored. And it completely sucked me in like nothing else ever has. I was so excited about it, that I did little else but talk about Mario for weeks on end afterwards. My parents saw my enthusiasm and purchased a NES for me on my own birthday. ~_^

I remember playing the first world in my room, and spending an entire night getting to World 1-4 (or what [i]seemed[/i] like an entire night -- it was probably only a couple of hours at the time lol). In any case, I remember that in the morning, I actually got to Level 2-1. I was utterly shocked that Mario was running around on trees! Everything was different! Mario was in a new world! I was so excited by reaching this milestone, that I woke my mother up and explained how cool it was. lol

I actually owned more NES games than SNES games. I had about 50 NES games, and maybe about 40 SNES games. My dad used to buy a new NES game for me every Thursday. It was more feasable then, because the games were much cheaper than they are now...and my dad was getting a bit addicted too.

Heh, it's funny. I vividly remember the day that my dad bought Super Mario Bros. 2 for me. I was really sick that day -- I couldn't eat or even walk. And so, my dad bought me the game as a surprise. You can imagine how quickly I got better. ~_^

Then, Super Mario Bros 3. My dad hadn't bought a game in a few weeks, and when my mother picked me up from school, I asked if dad had brought one home that day. She lied and said "No, I don't think so". But sure enough, Super Mario Bros. 3 was sitting on the kitchen bench at home. ^_^;

And then there's the story of Super Mario World...I won't go through it all, but basically, I remember the Mario games very vividly. I was [i]always[/i] a huge Mario fan, from the very beginning. And to this day, I haven't lost the passion for the franchise.

If it weren't for Mario, I don't know if I ever would have really gotten into Nintendo generally. There was something about Mario that attracted me in so many ways, when I look back on it. When my dad was away working, Mario was my company. There are many reasons why I have such strong feelings for that particular franchise.

As far as the SNES/Genesis thing...I can't say that I ever really got into the "SNES vs Genesis" issue. Although I owned a SNES long before a Genesis, this was primarily due to Mario. The only other games that I actually became very fond of back then were Zelda and Castlevania. I'll never forget playing the first Castlevania on the NES. It was at my uncle's house...he had every single NES game ever released here (he was crazy lol). So going to his house was like visiting some bizarre parallel universe or something. o_O;

Also, I remember playing Genesis (called Mega Drive in Australia) at a friend's house regularly. I also played Master System at his house too. And I became a pretty big Sonic fan. The early Sega games (like Shinobi and whatnot) were all pretty cool to me, though I never actually owned many of them.

When I bought a Genesis eventually...I ended up buying a Mega CD and so on. And I discovered (at that time, anyway) that Sonic was a pretty big drawcard for me. Sonic CD was an absolutely brilliant game...and to this day I'm kicking myself that I ever traded that Mega CD in. What a massive mistake that was. X_X

So yeah, Nintendo's always been number one for me, but that's largely because of my experiences with them as a child. Although I still feel that Nintendo produce the world's greatest video games, generally. But, now that I'm older...I definitely appreciate a far broader selection of games and publishers. And even though I'm a PlayStation 2 and Xbox fan, I still find that I have a slightly stronger attraction to consoles like GameCube and Dreamcast.

I mean, I love "mature" games and so on, but I definitely have a child within me. And I love to indulge that side of myself, which is why I adore bright and colourful titles like Super Mario Sunshine. Hell, I was really excited about Yoshi's Story when it came out, although it ended up disappointing me due to its shortness/easiness. V_V

These days, lots of different elements affect my thoughts on developers. Today, I'm much more interested in the business side than I used to be. In the case of Nintendo, I'm passionate about the company itself -- maybe even moreso than the games. When I did work experience there, my mind was made up -- [i]this[/i] is where I want to invest my career. Everything about the company's history, the innovation and the basic drive and professionalism of everyone who works there...it's such an amazing atmosphere to be a part of. And it really helped to colour my view of the industry today.

Anyway, I guess that's a bit off the track, but it's all part of my "affiliation", I guess. ~_^[/color]

[hiachi]

Hehe, NES/SNES and Genesis across the street....sounds like me, Desbreko...heheh

[SonicSlash]

Well, i was 5 and didnt have the power of money, so my dad got a sega genesis...i didnt even know there was a company called nintendo, because my dad handled the games...if i could go back in time, i would have asked for a nintendo...the sega games were good, but nintendo has more classic games, like the original zelda, harvest moon, and kirby.

[Ogki]

The first time I can remember playing a videogame I was 2 years old. My family had an NES and I got to play SMB, well actually I didn't get to play untill I was older. My siblings would hand me an unplugged controller and told me I was playing. I didn't actually didn't get to play untill I was at least 5. So, as you can imagine, I have a hard time remembering these days.

The SNES days however I can remember very well. My brother recieved one for Chirstmas and we played ALL day that day. After a month or two we had completed Super Mario World, and decided we needed another game. At the time however, we couldn't afford any new games, so we were stuck. I still enjoyed Super Mario World (in fact about a week ago I restarted it and I'm almost done) but we needed another game to play ANY other game. One day at a garage sale we got two games, my brother bought Super Ghouls and Ghosts, while I got Street Fighter 2. I instantly was hooked on both games, Capcom remains my favorite developer to this day.

Two years afterward I recieved a Sony Playstation, it was the first system to be ALL MINE. So of course it is/was my favorite system. I recieved Crash Bandicoot and Tekken 2 that year, I remember staying up untill the next day at 5 [i]trying[/i] to complete CB. I didn't complete it untill the year after, due to the fact I never got a memory card. After reading these stories, I'm thinking that the Crash Bandicoot series, was for me, what Mario is to most of you. It's what really got me into gaming. Crash Team Racing was really fun too, many multiplayer memories.

A while laterI got an N64 with OOT, Mario 64, and Super Smash Bros. Not much to say here except I fell in love with the system and all of the games.

As for the whole SEGA thing, the only Sega system I ever purchased was a Genesis, which I got [i]after[/i] my PSX. I got it, two controllers, and 5 awesome games, for 50 dollars. I'm still trying to find some Genesis games, I [b]NEED[/b] to find Sonic 3D blast. I became a big SEGA fan with this, but I never bought a Dreamcast because of the bad reviews most of the games were recieveing at launch. By the time the best games for the system were coming out, the PS2 was well on it's way.

Naturally when the PS2 came out, that is the system I wanted. And, as with the other systems COUNTLESS hours have been spent completing games.

I just recently recieved a Gamecube for my 14th birthday. I have not had as much fun with it as I expected, probably due to the fact the only game I got was TWW. TWW is a great game, but I'm not patient enough for it. It will take me forever to beat it, but I sure as hell will.

So I guess that is where I am on the gaming map...or something.

[b]Edit:[/b] I finished it off.

[b]Edit #2:[/b] I'm bored, so I'm going to add more.

[nkid99]

I remember the 1st times i played the NES. I was around 6 years old and the neighbors had one. EVERY DAY i would go over there, ring the doorbell, and say "can i play your Atendo?" There was some1 down the street with a sega system, but i never played it. I was 2 much into MARIO. My parents even told me that the neighbor said that i had an uncanny ability to play games....well neway, i asked for one and i got an nes! wahoo! and this was after the SNES came out... I remember going to a friends house and he had an SNES and i remember playin a metroid game....(reason i remember that was cuz of the robot like thing on the screen and that he said that it's a girl). i never got an snes.... oh man... i remember the Christmas i got the N64.... I remember ripping the paper to find one. then i opened another gift with some PSX games in it and i remember thinking or some1 saying that those were the wrong games. well awhile later i opened another gift to find a PSX...HEH.... well let me tell u this...... i never got a PS2 cuz i remember playing n64 MUCH more than my psx.... heck, i think i got one more game for PSX that i didnt get that Christmas.... And I dont think I can count all of my n64 games.... so newayz, back to the point, when i heard GC was comin out, i drew the line (oh, and once GC came out was when i kinda started being an avid gamer. although i was more into games than every1 else in the n64 age, i wasnt really a "geek" yet). i wasnt gonna get a ps2. and im still not wanting one. i have an xbox, but i really only rent games for it.... i have a ton of gc games so i think ive pretty much always been on nintendo's side... and im not thinking of changing my opinion ne time soon.



P.S. I also got a DC somewhere in there.... got 2 games for it....sonic adventure and nba 2k or 2k1.... if DC hadnt have died out i might have put more emphasis in this post on sega...