When I was an infant, my parents had an Atari 2600, but my first conscious memory of playing video games was on the NES. Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Faxanadu, Castlevania, and Star Tropics were my jam as a child. I played a lot of other stuff, too, but those were the core of what got me into the things that I play now.
When the SNES came out, I remember waking up one morning to my mother playing Super Castlevania IV. It was the coolest game I had ever seen at the time. I was a serious Nintendo fanboy as a child. That is, until a few years later...
I remember coming out of my bedroom one night and my dad had was playing Sonic 2 on Sega Genesis. My SNES didn't matter as much at that point. I had already finished my Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Castlevania, Mega Man X / X2 and whatever other games like F-Zero and Street Fighter II Turbo - there was a new guy in town. I had already been watching Sonic on tv, so I was acquainted with the character. I just wanted to spin and do cool shit. I ended up with several Sega games, including all of the Sonic games for the platform, Vectorman, the first Mortal Kombat, and maybe 20 or so others. Then my parents bought the 32X and Sega CD add-ons. Sonic CD is still my favorite Sonic game.
A few years later, my dad finally bought me a PlayStation. It was a used console that came with Command and Conquer: Red Alert and a demo disc, but I was grateful. My best friend had a PlayStation, so I would borrow his games all the time until my parents bought me my two favorite games of all time - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy VIII. I remember reading about Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy VII in GamePro magazine, but FFVIII was new when I was given the choice. I decided on the new game.
Next came a Nintendo 64. My dad got it for himself because he wanted to play racing games. That was cool, but I beat the shit out of some Zelda, Mario, Castlevania, Pokemon Stadium, and Banjo Kazooie on there! I had Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye, but those were multiplayer games for me. I've always predominantly been a single player gamer, so that is where I was really happy.
I later had a Dreamcast, and I loved it. I only had like 6 games for it before I could nothing but sports games in stores, but I really enjoyed my Dreamcast. Several years later I found out about the DC homebrew / emu scene, so I used my Dreamcast to play SNES RPGs that my parents never bought me. I thought it was awesome that I did not need a mod chip to play backups. I think that is really why Sega went under - gamers got smart and Sony put a DVD player in the PS2!
I also had a PS2. I'm not going into that story - but I played it for a long time before I bought a PS3. My brother got the first Xbox for Christmas one year. I liked Tetris Worlds, but I otherwise hated all of his Xbox games. They were boring and the controller was too big for my comfort. Plus, I already had several PS2 games that needed to be played.
I got a Gamecube for Christmas one year with the Legend of Zelda Collection and the Wind Waker. I had a lot of fun playing Gamecube games, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is still my favorite horror game of all time.
I bought my wife (then-girlfriend) a Wii for Christmas the year that I moved in with her. I had bought myself a PS3 on Black Friday that year, but she wanted to play some crazy shit on Wii. I didn't mind. After getting bored with several Wii games, I played Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and it became my favorite Wii game. I'm pretty sure it was the last game I played on Wii. My PS3 was all that was important to me at that point. I had been playing my old roommate's PS3 for a few years, but I moved 14 hours away from him with my dated PS2 and Gamecube. It was time for some PS3 games on my own terms!
I never owned an Xbox 360. I had friends who did, but they never bought any games that I liked besides Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I never felt the urge to buy one for that reason alone. It just didn't appeal to me.
Now I have a PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii, and 3DSXL at my house. I primarily play Vita and PS4.
Oh, and my mother still has all of my old Nintendo consoles and games. She plays them regularly, along with my old Sega Genesis / 32X / CD games.
