Jump to content

Photo

System Sellers


  • Please log in to reply
13 replies to this topic

#1 Cukeman

Cukeman

    "Tra la la, look for Sahasrahla. ... ... ..."

  • Banned
  • Location:Hyrule/USA

Posted 30 October 2017 - 06:49 AM

Saw this question elsewhere and thought it'd be an interesting discussion topic.

 

Explain what games were "system sellers" for you. The games that were so big, or so attractive to you they made you decide to buy the system. A sentence or two describing how you felt before and after getting that game/system, whether it lived up to your hopes, and even some launch memories could be fun to share.

 

I know sometimes you buy a system late, so there isn't one specific game, or couple of games that warranted the purchase for you, but you could still list a few of your reasons for getting the system.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

NES Super Mario Bros.

Before we got the NES me and my sibling played SMB/Duck Hunt at a friend's house. I was too young to be part of the decision to get the system, but if there was one game that clearly stood head and shoulders above the rest, it was clearly Super Mario Bros.

This game doesn't capture much attention nowadays, but back then it was HUGE. Everyone played it and loved it. I remember that as the years went by this game continued to get as much play time as newer games, while others were left on the shelf. It was inherently playable, and always a good play.

 

GB

Again I was too young to be part of the decision, but my Dad surprised me with it one Christmas. I remember seeing friends play Super Mario Land, but I never owned that game (I borrowed it once). I loved the Game Boy and must have dropped it 1,000 times before it stopped working, I even had a rubber band around it to keep the battery lid on because the latch that kept it in place was broken. My main games were Mega Man 2, Battletoads, Kirby's Dream Land, and Super Mario Land 2

 

Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog (& Knuckles)

Sonic all the way. I got this system after the 16-bit era, and as a long time Nintendo user, the Sonic games had all my envy, I wanted to play them so bad. I could see my neighbor playing Sonic 1 (their TV was near a window) and I was blown away playing Sonic & Knuckles in a toy store. I LOVED everything about the new playable character and the mushroom hill zone, the graphics, the music, exploring the layout of the level, it was perfection. Sonic 2 fell short of my expectations (unpopular opinion) but 1, 3 and Knuckles had all my love. I also had Sonic Spinball, which was... okay. I bought Vectorman which is a fave and Clayfighter, and Street Fighter 2:SCE, which was good, but was missing some signature attacks like E. Honda's 100-hand slap (not good) and I bought two 6-button controllers because pressing Start to switch between punches and kicks is just bad. I never really got into the Genesis library beyond that. I guess I did pick up TMNT:HH, which was fair.

 

SNES

I only recently bought one. I used to only play this at my cousin's. He had Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart (which we played endlessly), we also enjoyed Turtles in Time and Street Fighter 2. The first two DKC games were a huge hit with me, and still are.

 

N64 Ocarina of Time

I didn't get an N64 until people were moving on to the next thing, but I got it with OoT, and was pulled in like nothing else. I'll gripe about the game's flaws today, but my initial experience with it was amazing and beyond anything else I'd experienced. I wish I could recapture that experience today. It wasn't till some time later that I finally got my hands on SM64, I had played a little of that at a friend's near release and was completely blown away. Rogue Squadron is also incredible.

 

GBC Link's Awakening DX

While I didn't really know the Zelda games at all at this time (I was too young for them in the NES era), I saw the screenshots of LA:DX in Nintendo Power and just KNEW this game was for me. I'd heard great things about it, and my imagination saw that in the screenshots, and I played a few minutes of it in store- the metallic colors on the reflective GBC screen and the sharpness of its pixels was beautiful! However the GBC was sold out everywhere, I went back to Toy's R Us and KB Toys again and again, hoping they'd have one in stock. In the meantime I bought and played the new Pokemon Red on GB, which was a really great game. Eventually I did get a GBC and fell in love with LA:DX, still my favorite in the series. Shortly thereafter I picked up Wario Land 2 (quite good) and Conker's Pocket Tales (not so good), but I was thrilled with the GBC as a system, and I had a number great titles on it.

 

GCN Zelda/Collections

I picked up a GCN maybe halfway into it's life? Thanks to Zelda Collector's Edition you could now play EVERY existing Zelda game on the GameCube, that seemed huge at the time. Also, Mega Man Anniversary collection was an enormous deal to me, as I loved the NES Mega Man games (my favorite series of all time), and the Sonic Mega Collection was also a must-own for me. And the system had Sonic Adventure 2 battle right near launch! Sonic on Nintendo? Unbelievable!!

 

GBA Pokemon Sapphire

I waited until the SP came out, then bought it with Pokemon Sapphire, having skipped Gen 2, Sapphire was mesmerizing and incredible to me, such a huge advance! And the rechargeable battery made the system pay for itself! I loved my SP and soon got Super Mario World, Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country, Sword of Mana, and my all-time favorite GBA game Metroid: Zero Mission (I love Zero Mission so much!). Oh, and I got Superstar Saga, that game is a real gem. GBA was definitely great.

 

DS Mario Kart DS

A 3D handheld with online multiplayer? What?? That was jaw-dropping. Apart from Mario Kart DS, most DS games I played were... okay. I put a lot of time into Pokemon Diamond, but it wasn't much of a step forward for the series to be honest. But I had a blast with Mario Kart DS, that and Super Mario Kart are my favorites in the series. I waited until the DS Lite came out to get this system, and that d-pad made snaking wonderfully easy to pull off : )

 

PS2

I got the "Slim" new, direct from Sony, when it dropped to its lowest price. I don't think I had any real specific games in mind when I bought it, but I did revisit Tomb Raider, and Medal of Honor from PS1 and pick up Capcom's Street Fighter and Classic Arcade compilations, and the Metal Gear Solid games.

 

Wii Virtual Console

Being completely honest here, whatever the system had in store, I was dying to play all the old retro hits I never owned before. I was also overjoyed to get Mega Man 9 and 10

 

3DS Pokemon Moon

I guess I was excited about OoT 3DS, but when I saw Pokemon X and Y in action I really wanted to get back into the series I hadn't touched since Diamond. I waited until the next release (Sun and Moon) and picked up a 2DS for just $80 (the standard low price). I've enjoyed my 3DS, it's cool, and I really thought Sun/Moon was a wonderful new direction/entry in the series.

 

(I didn't think my OP was going to be such a wall of text...  :heh:  )


Edited by Cukeman, 30 October 2017 - 07:02 AM.

  • ShadowTiger, Anthus, Eddy and 1 other like this

#2 Norzan

Norzan

    Adept

  • Members

Posted 30 October 2017 - 07:18 AM

Gameboy Advance - Pokemon Sapphire

 

Nintendo Gamecube - A bunch of games like Resident Evil 4 and Wind Waker

 

Nintendo Wii - Skyward Sword and Metroid Prime 3

 

Nintendo DS - Pokemon Pearl

 

Nintendo 3DS - Pokemon Y

 

Dreamcast - I bought it because my cousin also had one with a bunch of games i liked like Crazy Taxy and Sonic Adventure.

 

Sega Saturn - I actually didn't get this one myself, my dad bought it for Christmas. I didn't even asked for it myself.


Edited by Norzan, 30 October 2017 - 07:21 AM.


#3 Deedee

Deedee

    Bug Frog Dragon Girl

  • Moderators
  • Real Name:Deedee
  • Pronouns:She / Her, They / Them
  • Location:Canada

Posted 30 October 2017 - 08:01 AM

Wii: Super Mario Galaxy

Wii U: Hyrule Warriors, Super Mario 3D World, and Super Mario Bros U

Switch: Super Mario Odyssey



#4 Nicholas Steel

Nicholas Steel

    Hero of Time

  • Members
  • Location:Australia

Posted 30 October 2017 - 08:07 AM

The other reason everyone played and knew about Super Mario Bros. was that for most (all?) countries it was included with the console purchase.



#5 Cukeman

Cukeman

    "Tra la la, look for Sahasrahla. ... ... ..."

  • Banned
  • Location:Hyrule/USA

Posted 30 October 2017 - 10:47 AM

The other reason everyone played and knew about Super Mario Bros. was that for most (all?) countries it was included with the console purchase.

 

Well sure, but that's not why it lasted.

 

EDIT: What I mean is, if they had stopped bundling it, it's popularity would have kept it a hot seller.


Edited by Cukeman, 30 October 2017 - 10:57 AM.


#6 Anthus

Anthus

    Lord of Liquids

  • Members
  • Location:Ohio

Posted 30 October 2017 - 11:43 AM

Here's a more thorough list. I'm going to be limiting it to systems I actually purchased, and not include ones we had growing up.

 

GameCube: Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. I knew there was a Mario and Zelda coming out and had planned on buying one anyway, but since I didn't have a Dreamcast, this was my first accessible experience with 3D Sonic. I loved this game back then, and still do like it quite a lot, even if it has flaws.

 

GameBoy Advance: Hmm.. I got Metroid Fusion with it, but I really wanted to get the Mario remakes. I had hoped that they'd make a new 2D Mario, but that' would have to wait till the DS.

 

DS: Mario 64 DS, and I also picked up Rayman DS (which was a Rayman 2 port, and a bad one at that, sadly.) I was also hyped for the 4th generation Pokemon games once upon a time.

 

PS2: Kingdom Hearts. Yep. I never used the PS2 as much as the other systems I had. I never got around to beating KH, cause honestly, I didn't like it that much. I always had more fun watching other people play it. I wanted to play the Jak games but I was never ever to find them/ get around to it.

 

Xbox 360: Eternal Sonata, and Tales of Vesparia. I didn't beat the latter, but the 360 had some good RPGs. I also got Sonic Generations, and the Rayman 3 port ASAP. And Skyrim, but I didn't buy it for that.

 

3DS: Ocarina of Time 3D, and Super Mario 3D Land. Both great games, and some of my favorites of their respective series.

 

Wii: Zelda, initially, but also cause Mario. How did I forget this one?

 

Wii U: Super Mario 3D World, and Wind Waker HD were day one purchases for me. I didn't get one at launch though, I waited about a year, maybe a bit longer. And obviously, that fabled Zelda Wii U was a big deal.

 

Switch: Super Mario Odyssey. For obvious reasons. :P

 

 

"How did young Anthus have so much money?" you ask? Well, my birthday and Christmas are right around the same time, so I always got a lot of money from extended family. I flat out told them, "Don't know what to get me? Just give me money". It was a good strategy.


  • Cukeman likes this

#7 Architect Abdiel

Architect Abdiel

    Kingdom Builder

  • Members
  • Real Name:Michael
  • Location:Florida

Posted 30 October 2017 - 02:14 PM

NES: Super Mario Bros. 3

SNES: Super Mario World/Donkey Kong Country

N64: Ocarina of Time/Mario Kart 64

Gamecube: Four Swords Adventures

Wii: Twilight Princess

3DS: Mario Kart 7/A Link Between Worlds

Wii U: Hyrule Warriors/Mario Kart 8

Switch: Breath of the Wild/Super Mario Odyssey


Playstation: Final Fantasy 8

Playstation 2: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas/Guitar Hero 3

Playstation 3: Dark Souls/South Park: The Stick of Truth

Playstation 4: Dark Souls 3


XBOX: Halo: Combat Evolved

XBOX 360: Fable 2/Left 4 Dead

#8 Shane

Shane

    💙

  • Moderators
  • Pronouns:He / Him
  • Location:South Australia

Posted 30 October 2017 - 03:48 PM

The only system I personally bought was Switch and that was mostly for Breath of the Wild. :P Needless to say, it was worth the purchase!


  • Eddy and Cukeman like this

#9 Dark Ice Dragon

Dark Ice Dragon

    Wizard

  • Members

Posted 30 October 2017 - 05:01 PM

NES : received in gift from a older cousin, whit Zelda 1 and 2 , Super Mario 2,3 and battle of Olympus, may be a child more lucky than this ?

 

Genesis : this is strange,and weird to,  a guy that was in love of my sister actually give me a Genesis in gift, actually he was a strange person,  that belived to made a good impression to my sister whit a lot of gift to her and our family...but seem he was not a good person.​

My dad told me that was better return all his gift to him, we call him by phone for ask it to pass at my home for take the Genesis , he said " i will pass one day when i will have time" but he never returned so i kept it  ;)  

 

GB : this a bit pathetic.. i was sick, sis buy it to me 'cause i had to stay in hospital 2 weeks and had nothing for kill the time, one of the gift i liked more.

 

SNES : this first i asked to buy,  due Zelda alttp. then i discovered the Final Fantasy and one of the best generation of RPGs

 

N64 : actually it was not mine ( again the cousin ) sometimes he lend me it, actually the game i liked are really few,is short Zelda Games, Mario 64, Mario cart and few others

 

PS1 : ths first i pay whit MY money,  it had  many  RPGs, FF VII was one onf the main reasons i buy it, but i must also say that this console gived me a lot of troubles, do you belive that it crash always in the worse moment, like when you kill the final boss and before see the ending ? and the memory cards often lost all data whitout apparent reasons...

 

PS2 : the "death" of my PS1 and the will to play to FFX at the end push me to buy the PS2, that i really loved it ad it don't give me any kind of troubles.

Other games i really liked was KH2, Rogue Galaxy, Dark Cloud 2

 

PS3 :maybe there was not a true motivation,  i was not to sure at the beginning, the PS3 was already "old" when i buy it and the main reason is that there no more good games for sale for PS2, but now i'm glad i take it, i found a lot of nice game at low price, i also liked FFXIII-2 and many games "tale of.."

 

 Damn, it was a slice of life..


Edited by Dark Ice Dragon, 30 October 2017 - 05:11 PM.

  • Shane and Cukeman like this

#10 Fiyaball

Fiyaball

    I'll stop hoarding RPGs someday

  • Members

Posted 30 October 2017 - 05:57 PM

I usually buy a system just because I know there's a lot of good games on it.

Only time I bought a system for a specific game was when I bought a Japanese Sega Saturn in Japan over the summer, because that same store also had Shining Force 3 Scenario 1/3/Premium Disc. (Later bought Scenario 2 on Ebay when I was back home)



#11 The Satellite

The Satellite

    May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce.

  • Members
  • Real Name:Michael
  • Pronouns:He / Him

Posted 30 October 2017 - 06:02 PM

Honestly the system itself tends to be the seller, at least when Nintendo's involved, because by default I expect a solid lineup of good games in some of my favorite series. Some things might draw me to get them sooner rather than later, but me owning Nintendo's latest console/handheld is basically a given. At this point I have next to no interest in other consoles because I'd rather invest in a gaming PC eventually, since that has almost everything else I want. Plus, I can use a computer for more than just gaming.


  • David likes this

#12 NoeL

NoeL

    Legend

  • Members
  • Real Name:Jerram

Posted 30 October 2017 - 11:54 PM

Including only the systems I specifically asked for/purchased myself:

 

Atari Lynx - Toki

I saw an ad for the Lynx in a magazine or something and was like "Wow! A Game Boy with colour!". There were some screenshots of various games, but the one that stood out to me the most was Toki so I asked my parents for that. When it arrived I was amazed by how gigantic the thing was (and how many batteries it ate), but Toki was a pretty fun (though hard) game. I lost interest in the system pretty quickly and never got any other games for it.

 

Nintendo Gamecube - Super Smash Bros Melee

I bought a Gamecube because I had so much fun with Melee, though funnily enough it WASN'T the first game I got for it. I picked up the GCN mid-late in its life because I never had a job in high school and couldn't afford one earlier, but Toys R Us had a fantastic deal I managed to snap up (console, extra controller, memory card, two game cases (one hard, on soft) and two games for $200 Australian). The extra controller was a cheap third party thing, the memory card was tiny, the hard case is amazing and I still use it today, and the games were top notch. One of them was the Zelda collectors edition, the other was a choice of several older quality titles, including Smash Bros. Since my friend already had Smash Bros. I instead grabbed a game I'd never played but heard generally good things about: Metroid Prime. Was not disappointed. I did eventually pick up a copy of Smash Bros for myself though.

 

Nintendo Wii - The Wiimote + Wii Sports

The tech was weird and interesting and I really wanted to try it out. Pretty simple one.

 

Dingoo A320/Yinlips YDPG16/GCW Zero - Portable emulation

Yeah, screw the hacked PSP route - I went Chinese, baby! I've always had a fascination with these systems, with my love of retro gaming. The A320 was phenomenal and I got serious bang for my buck out of that one, but with the mediocre screen, shoulder buttons, dpad (mine was a bit shonky) and horsepower (the default emulator didn't handle SNES flawlessly) I decided on "upgrading" after a year or two. My next system of choice was the Yinlips YDPG16, an Android-based tablet/handheld. It was atrocious. Sure it could handle Symphony of the Night without a hiccup, but having buttons instead of a dpad (like the Switch, but awful) made everything play like shit. After upgrading the firmware the PSX emulator no longer worked and I couldn't find any way to get the original firmware back. After a week I trashed it and went back to the A320, and have stayed away from Android handhelds ever since.

 

A while later I caught wind of a new handheld in development that would be the spiritual successor to the A320. That would be the GCW Zero. 320x240 4:3 screen, compact and comfortable form factor, 1ghz CPU (plenty solid for SNES and more), open-source Linux back end, sizable modding/porting community... I pre-ordered that sucker as soon as they announced the first limited run (100 units which then became 150 after some more interest). What followed was a bit of a shitshow I won't get into here, but when I finally got my hands on it I couldn't have been happier. Despite lacking a bit of polish the system lived up to its promises, and with a beautiful screen and 8-10 hour battery life I was in retro gaming heaven.

 

Nintendo Wii U - Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper... I think?

I was always going to get a Wii U because I like Nintendo, and it was just a matter of waiting for a decent bundle. I ended up grabbing the Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate bundle (despite not really liking Monster Hunter Tri on Wii that much), and the first game I wanted to pick up after that was I believe Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper. I love Dynasty Warriors but without a Playstation I could only play the PC ports, which were (at the time): 4 (dated), 6 (bad) and Warriors Orochi (spinoff, but enjoyable enough). 8 hadn't been released yet. Wii U had Orochi 3, and while it's a bad port of an average game... eh, make do with what you've got I guess. Nowadays the only available one I go back to is 4. It's dated, but still more fun than the others.

 

Nintendo 3DS - Nothing in particular, just wanted an upgrade to the GCW

Grabbed a 2nd hand 3DS XL a guy was selling with OOT3D, aLBW, Starfox 64 3D and Pokemon X. Good games, good price. Later sold the XL to grab a smaller, New 3DS instead (I prefer the smaller size and beefier hardware).

 

I haven't picked up the Switch just yet (waiting for a price drop) but Mario Odyssey is the biggest draw for me so far. That said, if Zelda wasn't released on Wii U you bet your balls I would've "Switched" on day one.


Edited by NoeL, 31 October 2017 - 12:00 AM.

  • Cukeman likes this

#13 ShadowTiger

ShadowTiger

    The Doctor Is In

  • Members

Posted 31 October 2017 - 11:34 AM

The first console I "bought" was a used N64 from a friend that was giving his away.  I guess I bought it for Ocarina of Time.  The original Smash bros came way later.

 

Then the console I actually bought for real on my own was a refurbished Gamecube.  Real cheap.  Got it for Smash Bros Melee.

 

The first real official NEW console I bought was the Wii, way back in 2006, for Smash Bros Brawl.  I think I was playing a lot of other games on it first,

 

Then there was a Nintendo DS I bought from someone back in College when I first started.  I got it for all three Castlevania DS games.  They're so good! ^.^

 

Then I bought a Nintendo 3DS from a College buddy of mine to play the new Smash Bros.  I have no other games on it at all.

 

I upgraded my PC to an m.2 240 GB SSD for the speed AND for Skyrim, Fallout 4, Dishonored 2, etc's fast loading times, if that counts. :shrug:


  • Cukeman likes this

#14 Beefster

Beefster

    Human Being

  • Members
  • Real Name:Justin
  • Location:Colorado

Posted 06 November 2017 - 12:38 AM

Most of these don't exactly count for me since I just asked for them for Christmas or my birthday. Doesn't have quite the same impact emotionally when you aren't buying it with your own money.

 

GC - Pikmin / Starfox Adventures. The ads for Pikmin looked really interesting and some other boys in my 5th grade class were talking about all the cool stuff in SFA.

 

Wii - TP. I was following the game on and off and eagerly awaiting release. It took a while to get a Wii due to the scarcity.

 

DS - New Super Mario Bros. It looked cool and the demos at Walmart were pretty neat. This I bought (mostly) with my own money. Though it was mostly gift money, so still not quite the same feeling.

 

3DS - MM3D. That was my shut up and take my money breaking point. I also got Sm4sh while I was at it.

 

WiiU - Star Fox Zero. Lotta fun. Sadly not as good as SF64.

 

Switch - Still haven't bought one. I'll get SMO eventually. Probably will be waiting for Metroid Prime 4 to get it... Or maybe when Indivisible releases since that's the platform I'll be getting the physical copy for. Maybe earlier. No idea.

 

New PC - all the games I couldn't play before. I was going to get it anyway, but that was definitely a driving force.

 

And then to throw in a non-game example:

Hulu - Danny Phantom. I've been wanting to watch through it for a while, but it wasn't on any other subscription plans (my parents have Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts I can use) unless you paid $2ish per episode. I was originally looking for the latest episodes of Once Upon a Time. I was a little unsure since the first 6 seasons tied up basically every loose end and I wasn't going to hop on the subscription just for one show, but when I noticed Danny Phantom was in there (being promoted as a Halloweeny title), I just went for it and jumped on the 1 month free trial.


  • Cukeman likes this


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users