I keep forgetting there were two generations before me

[Vermachtnis]

Like every time this get's called the seventh generation I count on my hands, Nes>SNes>N64>GC>Wii and am like, that's only five. I keep forgetting about the Atari and the rest. It's just so hard to cope with the fact that the world existed before I did. What a boring time that must have been.

[Wolf Kanno]

Actually it was pretty fun and exciting thank you very much. Granted I was still really little but the concept of video games was pretty amazing for a little child.

My first video games were on my uncle's Atari 2600, and I vaguely remember when the NES came out. Granted, I wasn't aware of the game crash (year I was born) but I do remember playing Frogger and Adventure when I was little.

[Madame Adequate]

So there I was, climbing on my high horse, when I remembered the kinds of games I actually had on my Amstrad CPC and what have you.

And you know what? Nostalgia can go to hell, you are right, stuff back then sucked. Pike is going to have my balls for saying this, but vidya before the third gen just wasn't that hot. Oh sure, there were good games back then, (Elite anyone?) but we remember those clearly whilst we've forgotten all about the Bridge Its of the time.

Which isn't to say that my children don't have to spend at least one year on each generation before they can move on the later ones, in order. They're going to damned well know their heritage.

Edit: Okay actually I'm being a bit harsh here. Back then the stuff we had was awesome, it's just compared to what came later, I really can't stand to go back and play almost all of it. Bubble Bobble is obviously excluded.

[Carl the Llama]

Pacman, a Timeless Classic.

[Pike]

My first "game system" was a Commodore 64 computer. I was playing games on it before I can even remember, and it was amazing.

Some of the things I did via those blocky games on that computer include:

-Piloted a little helicopter across the ocean while dodging nasty pelicans and avoiding storms;
-Solved the mysteries and puzzles inherent to an evil genius's robot filled facility;
-Colonized the moon and managed resources and ships while staving off alien attacks (it's like it was really XCom years before XCom!);
-Infiltrated rogue space stations;
-Conducted my own 8-bit orchestra;
-Devised and constructed racetracks with a ridiculous amount of options, including gravity (Rollercoaster Tycoon owes Racing Destruction Set a million debts);
-Solved a hundred puzzles in an evil wizard's lair, and then made my own puzzles with the level editor;
-Created an army of ents to destroy invading evil creatures in an insanely unique style of play I haven't seen the likes of since;
-Played what can only be described as a hardcore and deliciously deep version of wizard's chess;
-Participated in both the summer and winter olympics in over dozens of events;
-Participated in a variety of battles and scenarios from World War II;
-Set up a network of trains and railroad stations and then used them to manage my own freight company;

...and that's not counting all the ones that everyone has heard of, ala Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Donkey Kong, Q-Bert etc., or all the games based off of movies.

My Commodore 64 was awesome. That is all.

[Del Murder]

WK, I'm older than you and I remember playing Atari for like 5 minutes until I went back to duck hunt. Video game eras simply did not exist until nes. Or maybe everything before it can be called one prehistoric generation.

[Jiro]

I like the idea of prehistoric gen, because I'm only just old enough to remember the goddamn NES. Wait, am I even? smurf me I forget my age.

[Wolf Kanno]

WK, I'm older than you and I remember playing Atari for like 5 minutes until I went back to duck hunt. Video game eras simply did not exist until nes. Or maybe everything before it can be called one prehistoric generation.

You didn't have a tech crazy Uncle like I did you old fart.

Course Atari was impressive to a 3 year old, and I did play it until I got an NES in what... 88? About three years behind its release in 85.

[Dreddz]

When people talk about generations of consoles they are just referring to a line of consoles releasing games within a similar time frame. Before the NES/Master System days consoles were released years apart so its hard to put them together into a single generation. Kind of like how the Dreamcast doesn't really belong to an era, it merely existed.

[Fynn]

Must have been nice. The '80s. In America. We had communism. Luckily, I was born after that stuff

The earliest console I remember is the Amiga and it was awesome. I got it around '94-'95. So many awesome games. It was probably "born" a bit earlier, since everything used to come A LOT later to Poland. The most popular console in here used to be a cheap knock-off of the NES called Pegasus. You could buy it at a local bazaar from the gypsies with around 10 zlotys (now approx. 25$). Those were the days...

[Del Murder]

Kind of like how the Dreamcast doesn't really belong to an era, it merely existed.

I wouldn't even go that far.

WK: A stick would be impressive to a 3 year old. Is that a generation too you slightly-less-old fart?

[KentaRawr!]

I always do the same thing. I wish I'd just start remembering this crazy stuff.

[Wolf Kanno]

Kind of like how the Dreamcast doesn't really belong to an era, it merely existed.

I wouldn't even go that far.

WK: A stick would be impressive to a 3 year old. Is that a generation too you slightly-less-old fart?

Hey, I played with sticks too, while I rode a veloceraptor in my cowboy outfit and pretended I was a space bounty hunter looking for time traveling Native Americans but Atari was still more fun.

[theundeadhero]

I received my Nintendo in 1987, right when Zelda came out. It was amazing but before that I really enjoyed playing Pong on the pong system or Frogger on my aunt's Atari.

[Roogle]

I am always so thankful that I was born in this era. I was born in 1986, so I was able to play on the Nintendo Entertainment System and its descendents for as long as I can remember.