As a kid I was never allowed a video game console or computer as they were not educational. So while my friends had ZX Spectrum's, Amstrad 464's and Commodore 64's I had to make do with an Acorn Electron. Whilst yes I did have games for it, I was actually bought it as it was similar to the computers we used in school, BBC B, which eventually I owned also. I can remember going to my local toy shop (the Toy Box I think it was called) and looking at the rows and rows of Spectrum, Amstrad and Commodore games to finally come to the 10 or so Acorn Electron games, usually the same ones I had looked at the week before.
The Master System and NES era kinda passed me by as I was more interested in my remote control car (another collection that I restarted a few years ago that I may embellish upon). It wasn’t until the Mega Drive and SNES came around that my interest in gaming peaked again. I wasn’t allowed either console but I had a good friend whom had both and was kind enough to let me borrow one every other weekend, to my Mum’s annoyance. He didn’t have many games, but I did manage to cut my gaming teeth on Street Fighter 2, Ecco, Aladdin and Castle of Illusion. All I was pretty rubbish at apart from playing as Chun Li and Honda on Street Fighter.
It was the Commodore Amiga that next caught my attention. Nearly every boy in my school were getting one or already had one and I pleaded with my parents for one. I finally managed to crack them when the Class of 90’s pack came out and I used the educational qualities of it to my advantage. I loved my Amiga and I still have it, I keep meaning to get it out of storage at my parents but just haven’t got around to it. I know I can get emulators, but I like to play the games on the system they were intended for.
I lost interest in gaming between leaving school and going to Uni, it wasn’t really until Gran Turismo came around that my interest peaked once more and I hunted down a PS1. This led to me buying me PS2 due to GT3 and through my introduction to Ratchet and Clank, which I got addicted to, I bought a PSP and a PS3 when the new R&C games came out for them.
I did buy a DS Lite after having a go at Scrabble on one I bought my Mum, I have enjoyed the DS, it has whiled away many a boring journey and visit to the loo LOL. It was a similar case for my Wii, I bought it after having a great time on a mates, but I bought it a month before I got the PS3 so never really bonded with it. It then just got left for family parties etc, but as of now it hasn’t been switched on for 2 years as my Nephew now brings his to family parties instead.
So that’s about it for my basic gaming history, hope you are still awake.....I will embellish more about specific games and consoles in separate posts.
