For fun: Best game-related Christmas present?

[vidmouse]

A for-fun topic:
Just wondering what people's best memories are for Christmas
gifts received as a kid related to video games.

For me it wasn't a gift for me but for the family when we got
our Atari VCS... Mom and Dad managed to also get us Asteroids
and Space Invaders carts and I thought it was soooo  cool...

[Hoopz]

Intellivision.  Best Christmas present I ever received.  Like vidmouse, it was for the family but I played more than anyone.

And it was better than Atari!   

Good question vidmouse.   

[Daniel B.]

Money was always really tight at my house (single mother/only child household). Somewhere near the end of the snes life cycle (n64 and playstation were king), I got a snes bundled with super metroid. A friend and I stayed up late every night over christmas break to beat it.

My best memory though.... a few years later, my mom found the man that would soon be my stepdad. He got me a dualshock playstation and metal gear solid. I honestly don't think I've EVER had a better christmas since then, and that was nearly 10 years ago.

Video games and christmas go hand in hand.

[deadpool18]

Well, when I was younger I was really excited when I got my Sega Master System.  Everyone else had an NES so it was kind of unique.  I remember getting Black Belt, Ghost House, and Teddy Boy with it.

A few years ago my wife's parents bought us an XBOX with DOA 3 (for me) and Jedi Starfighter (for the kids).  I was shocked because I was expected something really cheesy!

And finally, 2 years ago my wife ordered my Quasicade arcade for me for Christmas.  Probably my best present yet! 

[Xam]

It would be close between two gifts I received.

When the NES first came out (it was even more sold out than the WII), my Dad had a business trip to Conn. He came home with an NES for me and my 2 brothers...not a single unit for us...one each! That was awesome.

Later in life, my wife (she really does not care too much for games) got me a Sega Genesis for our first Christmas together...she also tried to find a game that we would both enjoy.

All-in-all...I would have to say the latter one wins...cuz it was from my baby!

Xam

[DaveMMR]

Toss-up.  In 1981 (or 82), me and my sister received a Colecovision and a copy of Mousetrap.  I held onto that until maybe a couple of years ago, when I was running out of space and had to sell it.

Then, in 84, my parents had bought a Commodore 64 and set it up for me in my room. We had to exchange the defective disk drive six or seven times, but we passed the time writing basic programs that displayed profanity on the screen infinity times.  (10 PRINT "WHATEVER", 20 GOTO 10).  I still have the C64.

Good stuff.

[DaOld Man]

I grew up dirt poor, my single parent mom had 5 kids to buy Christmas for when I was young, so needless to say, I didnt get much, but it was great anyway.
Video games didnt come along anyway until after I was pretty much grown.
I do remember Mom buying us all a game that was like pong, but also had a hockey game on it.
It was a huge console that supported 1 or two players, with a knob you turned to move the paddles. It plugged into our tv and was in black and white.
We pretty much wore that thing out.
Then, in Christmas of 1983, I "bought my son" (who was not quite 1 year old yet) an Atari 2600.
It came with Ms Pacman and Zaxxon carts.
Needless to say, I wore that thing out before my son got old enough to even hold the joystick controller.
Since then, I never bought a Christmas present for myself and claimed it was for my kids.
Also, my son has received Nes, Super Nes, gameboy, gamecube, and several others I cant remember.
My daughter has gotten several systems too, last being a Ninetendo DS.
So I have payed dearly for my old Atari 2600 
But since that first system, i have bought myself Timex TS1000 computer, Commodore 64, Radio Shack color computer, then I moved up to PCs.
Now I have come full circle and am playing Ms Pacman and Zaxxon again.. What goes around comes around.
Thanks for starting this thread, its nice to remember things sometimes..
Merry Christmas to all!

[SavannahLion]

My family was generally a practical bunch and my father never really grasped the concept of video games. Watching me play as Chun-Li on Street Fighter especially confused him because he couldn't figure out why I kept hopping of the side of the screen instead of standing there and duking it out, "like a man." 

Until I moved out, I bought every single one of my consoles with my own money which actually worked to my advantage because my parents couldn't rightfully punish me by taking away what was mine.

The first time I got a console for Christmas was the PS2 from my ex. It kind of sucked in a way because it wasn't a surprise by a long shot and it arrived about four or five days after the 25th. The BEST is from my current girlfriend. I've been bumming over the Wii because it was too close to Christmas for me to afford it. Most of family have their birthdays within three months of December with one on Christmas Eve. So my finances are typically drained starting around September and don't recover until March if I manage everything well. That year was particularly harsh because I had to pay for a new dishwasher after I already purchased some very expensive custom gifts for my immediate family. So buying a Wii was out of the question. However, my GF offered to buy it for Christmas, so she got in touch with her sister, who ran a loading dock, to intercept a shipment. For two weeks, she gave me this whole song and dance how the Wii's still haven't arrived and it didn't look like they were ever going to arrive until after the holidays. I was pretty bummed. Meanwhile, her sister was holding a Wii for me while my GF went dumpster diving for a big box. She found a box for a cordless tool set, stuffed the Wii with stuffing inside and wrapped the whole mess up... did I mention she sucks at gift wrapping?   

I was bummed it was a cordless tool set. It was nice and all, but I was pretty happy with my mishmash of corded tools. So come Christmas time, I put on my best fake smile. Ripped off the Christmas paper (by this time the 6 year old, four dogs and the snow got it before I did), smiled and put it off to the side. My GF was all, "C'mon open it up!" "Alright, alright, whatever makes you happy." Open the box and inside was a towel... WTF? Pull it out and it's the seven year olds towel. She's screaming. "WOW! You got the same towel I have!"  Pull out a few more towels and down inside this big ass box was the pristine joy of a brand new Wii.   

[tommy]

The original NES was great during Christmas time as a kid, I remember playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out and other games at that time. You couldn't beat that.

[Jdurg]

For me it was getting an SNES the year it came out.  I remember putting it on my Christmas list but my parents saying that it wasn't easy to find.  So I put some other things on my list not expecting to get an SNES for Christmas anyway.  I basically figured I might get an "I.O.U." which was okay, but not as good as getting it on Christmas.  Still, the old TV I had couldn't hook-up properly with the SNES so it didn't matter anyway.

Christmas morning I go out in the living room and under the tree is this HUGE box.  I figured that was something my dad got for my mom so I said "Hey Mom, this one's yours."  I remember her smiling an saying "No, that one's for you."  I opened it up and it was a 21" brand new color TV.  I couldn't believe it.  She then said "This is for your next present".  The next box I opened up was my SNES.  I was stunned.  That will forever be the best Christmas ever for me.  To this day, I still have that TV.  It's up in my office and still works perfectly.     (Though my 42" High Def 1080p LCD TV down in my living room gets far more attention.    )

[stealth1290]

This was hard for me to decide... I'm a bit young compared to some guys on this board (early twenties)... I remember my mom and dad bought an NES and played Mario until 2am for a good solid three weeks... I wonder where I get my obsession from? Then my brother got an SNES and I remember some good ole-fashioned gaming there like paperboy 2 and home alone (loved that game). The first gaming system I got that I could call my own was the Nintendo 64... well, technically that was mine and my brothers (he sold it for rent money!!!!) I got Golden Eye and he got Zelda Ocarina Of Time. I think that is my BEST and fondest gaming related Christmas memory, yeah I opened the gift out of order and saw Golden Eye before the N64   but it's all good. Now the last gaming related gift I received was an Xbox 360 from my parents (they know me all to well, even if I don't live with them any more),  save for the Wii I bought myself last year  . But yeah I remember that N64 getting played into the ground, surprised my brother got any money for the thing!

[stephenp1983]

For christmas probably my n64 and star wars shadows of the emprise.  Or maybe a sega gensis and sega channel, does anyone remember that lol

[SavannahLion]

Or maybe a sega gensis and sega channel, does anyone remember that lol

I do indeed. I drove me ape ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- that my cable provider at the time was too ---smurfy--- to offer anything more interesting that radio re-broadcasting.

[sfrascella]

Not really a video game, but I got a Coleco Football for Christmas one year that I would play for hours.

Guess I was easily amused as a child...

[DeLuSioNal29]

My most memorable Christmas gift was those old NINTENDO Game watches.  Back then, those were the rage!  I remember other kids having them in my class and not being to friendly with them (not sharing!  ).  They would have games like Donkey Kong (Old Orange unit shown below).

My Mom must have paid attention that I wanted one when I mentioned it in passing.  Then it happened, I got it for Christmas, but it gets better.  The new "panoramic" units in color had come out and were 10 times better than the old LCD black and white ones.  I got Donkey Kong Circus.  I thought it was the best thing ever and I still have the unit today (and it works perfectly!).  Boy did I show those other "stingy" kids!  Heh heh!

~ DeLuSioNaL

[vertygo]

Great topic..

One Christmas we got the Apple II+ with *2* disk drives.. it was amazing. My brother and I played multi-floppy games for years on that thing. He also managed to hook it up to a tv (the monitor was amber only) and we played color Pac-Man for FREE.. WOW!

Then many moons later, we got the coveted commodore 128 (tho we only used it in 64 mode) and something called a modulator de-modulator that could transfer 300 bits per second over the telephone line (until someone picked up a phone on that line +++ NO CARRIER)

Cheers!

[Thurman]

I always tried to wake up as early as I possibly could.  So one Christmas I made my way downstairs at about 4am to find the most beautiful site.... a Sega Genesis under the Christmas tree.  Hooked it up to the tv and played Lakers vs Celtics until the sun came up.  Good memories.

[bishmasterb]

Two videogame Christmas presents stand out for me.

I received an Odyssey^2 for Christmas 1981 (or maybe 1980) which unfortunately wasn't a surprise, as I found it several days earlier, hidden in my mom's closet.

Then in 1984, I received a set of Coleco Super Action Controllers, which, while my mom was away on Christmas Eve, I took from underneath the tree, unwrapped and opened the box, hooked it up to my Colecovision and played for about an hour, before carefully re-wrapping and placing back underneath the tree. Good memories.

[Havok]

Definitely the 2600 console - I got Asteroids, PacMan and Combat. PacMan really sucked, but I loved Asteroids, and Combat was great fun - it was cool that two people could play together at the same time.

On a side note - wow, can you ever see the age difference here...

[Jack Burton]

Oh man, definitely getting Super Mario Bros. 3. 


I was 5, and it is still my favorite game of all time.


Close second is getting my N64 years later. I think I was twelve then.  I remember getting sweaty hands after playing for an hour or so and having to switch controllers.  that is the only time that ever happened to me.  I was truly convinced that I had the most powerful revolutionary game system of all time.

[jfunk]

Not mine, but I remember it well..  My parents got my little brother an NES for Christmas and my dad and I spent a LONG time thoroughly "testing it" to make sure it worked before we wrapped it up 

[deadkenndys1105]

My mother bought me my frist cabinet other than my mame one.  I found a millipede for a great price and it ended up being my christmas gift.  The thing is 8 years older than I am and I love it.

[kelemvor]

We never had arcade type games or a computer or anything growing up.  FOr us it was when we got our Atari 2600.  We were the hit of the neighborhood.  Friends would come over and we'd play that thing for hours and hours at a time.

Of course then other people got Intellivision, Coleco, NES, etc.  We just had the good old Atari...

At least until this year when I got my cab as an early Christmas present.  See my post regarding Woo Hoo...

[chopps]

I dont remember the year.  I know it was actually just before christmas.  my dad brings home a large paper grocery bag that he had gotten from a guy at work.  it had something called Intelevision in it.  I was maybe 6 or 7? Had never heard of it, but man did my brothers and I spend HOURS playing Astrosmash and Triple Action.

[danny_galaga]

too poor for computery stuff when i was a kid. one year we got a monoply set (hey, its game related)

about 11 years ago my girlfriend bought me a gameboy. i still have it (the gameboy)

[Jeffy]

Def the year my dad bought a Sears Atari--awful controllers that had a paddle built into the joysticks, not the 5200--anyway. He got Centipede for it and he played a lot with me, that was the year the parents got divorced--a cool memory from a painful year. Defender had that glitch where the ship disappeared when you fired--he watched me roll the highscore. that's love. He also used to read lines of code to me from RUN or Compute! magazine while i typed them into the C64. I was 13. Hours and hours of his visitation time he spent we me and a 13inch tv and two Wico Commad Controls... Good times.

Thanks for the memories.

jeffy

[DonkeyKong]

My most memorable video game Christmas was when I was 5 years old my dad got me (himself) a Vectrex Home Computer Arcade system.  I can remember playing it at Sears and it was $199.99.  I would grow up to play Minestorm, Scramble, Berzerk, and Star Trek a lot!  I got the Berzerk cart in a big bin of clearance Vectrex games that were $5 each at Toys-R-Us.  I was there with my Grammy and cousins and I asked if she could get it for me.  She asked me why I wanted it, thinking it's a clearance item... surely it's no good.  If only I knew then and had the money I could have bought the whole bin of mint games.

The next system I remember having was NES, and it was SOOO awexome.  I still find myself singing the Super Mario Bros. 2 theme song and level music at random, now 20 years later.

The only other system I remember getting for Christmas was the Sega Gamegear, and boy did I love it.  I had a ton of games for it, and even the Master System adapter and games.  I was old enough then that I started understanding the value of clearance items at Toys-R-Us and would buy a lot of them!

I also remember getting a Bandai Packri Monster game for xmas one year, and I would play that game for hours at my Grammy's house.
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Bandai/Packri.htm

A lot of my games from childhood had broken or disappeared along the way, and now I have purchased plenty of spares

Oh yeah, and the best Christmas gift of all is the one I just bought yesterday.  I got a Donkey Kong 3 arcade machine and a Donkey Kong kit (4 pcb stack, marquee, bezel, CP) and will be restoring the DK3 (DK jr. cabinet actually) to a DK machine for my gaming pleasure!  This is my first arcade machine and I'm so happy about it.  If anyone needs a DK3 kit, PM me your offer.  I won't have the machine in my possession until wednesday, so I don't know the exact condition but it's a working PCB, and everything else looks clean with minor scratches I think.

[97thruhiker]

It's funny how you can see people's age by the system they got for Christmas as a kid.  For me it was an Intellivision.  I remember playing auto racing to 3:00 in the morning (we were allowed to open it on Christmas Eve) trying to steer that car with that disc controller.

My favorite "system" of that time was my Apple II+ which I got a year later.  Still one of my favorites as I fire up that emulator all the time to play Crisis Mountain.

[Jdurg]

Heh.  My first computer was a Commodore 128 system with an Okidata printer.  I remember it cost my parents about $3,000 for it at the time.  I played Ghostbusters on that thing non-stop.  Ahhhh, the memories.......   

[albybum]

My best video game related Christmas was when I got my SNES (Xmas 91 or 92 - somewhere in that range).   

Everyone met at my parents house for the usual Christmas dinner deal.  By then, I had already opened all of my gifts that morning (from immediate family).  I wanted a SNES, but I didn't find one under the Christmas tree. So, I was a bit bummed.

My half-brother came over with his girlfriend (he's about 20 years older than me - I'm the youngest), and he had a gift for me.  He is an awesome brother, but we have never really exchanged gifts. So, it was a bit surprising.

I opened it to find Super Ghouls and Ghosts for the SNES.  I was a bit confused and again bummed because I didn't actually get a SNES to play it (I didn't put 2 and 2 together there).  Before I could explain to my brother that I couldn't actually play the game,  my mother walked out of her bedroom with a big package. She said I would probably need that gift to play my brother's present.

They had conspired against me.  Apparently, the SNES had been sitting under my aunt's bed since October of that year - a bed I used to sit on all the time and watch tv (she had cable and MTV).

They got great pleasure out of torturing me that year, but I didn't care because I had Super Mario World and Super Ghouls and Ghosts to keep me company.


My Atari 2600 and 7800 were memorable gifts, but the SNES was probably the biggest/ most memorable. 

[Glaine]

Tough choice. Was pretty cool when the N64 and SNES just came out, but I'd say last year wins cuz thats when I finally got my neo-geo cab working.

This year's haul was pretty nice though - PS2 converter for my control panel and an fc twin (plays nes and snes on one system). Plus some fighting games - neo geo battle coliseum and KOF XI just got released here in the states.

[Glaine]

My first computer was a Commodore 128

Heck yeah, dude. I had a TRS-80 growing up. Good times.

[phishpac]

My brothers and I got mortal kombat 2 and street fighter 2 champions addition for genesis one Christmas.

It was epic.

Also.. in '87 we got a NES with rob the robot and gyromite

[RayB]

Coleco Pac-Man
I was 12 or 13... The "whaahhhh whhaaahh wahhhhh" siren annoyed my parents, so I modded it with a mute switch.

[JimmyU]

Coleco Pac-Man
I was 12 or 13... The "whaahhhh whhaaahh wahhhhh" siren annoyed my parents, so I modded it with a mute switch.

And a lifetime of hacking videogames is born. 
My favorite gaming related Christmas present was in '87 when I got an NES with Rad Racer and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out.

[Jdurg]

My first computer was a Commodore 128

Heck yeah, dude. I had a TRS-80 growing up. Good times.

Yes they were.  It's kind of depressing when I watch my nearly 2 year old niece and realize that when she grows up, she will have no idea what life was like before computers, cell phones, high speed internet, internet, antenna TV, etc.  I remember when cable TV was an amazing thing that only the wealthy could get.  Or when the 5 1/2" floppies were replaced by the smaller, hard cased floppy disks.  Heck, I remember when the only internet was on a 5600 kilobaud modem and you logged in to Prodigy to access the net.  The idea of 3D graphics was a dream.  I remember the Rolling Stones giving the rights to "Start Me Up" to Microsoft for Windows95.  I remember when DOS was the only real interface out there.  You'd "shut down" and it would tell you "It's okay to turn off your computer now."

Wow that makes me feel really old.  I'm depressed knowing that the kids these days can't appreciate the technology we have that makes life so enjoyable, but at the same time I am so happy to be alive these days.   

[RandyT]

The first VG related present was the Coleco Telstar.  My family was pretty poor, but my parents had managed to scrape up enough to get my two sisters and I the game as a shared "big gift".  But I don't think that one had the greatest impact on me as a kid. 

I worked to buy my game systems, and always had to sell one in order to afford another.  I had finally traded up to a Colecovision.  I knew that my parents couldn't afford the expensive cartridges for the thing (not to mention the fact that my father could see no value in "computer-related anything" at the time) so I was just expecting another Christmas without anything fun related to video games.  But somehow, my folks managed to buy me the Zaxxon cartridge.  I didn't get an awful lot else that year, but it was one of the few times I got something I really, really wanted

RandyT

[Jdurg]

The first VG related present was the Coleco Telstar.  My family was pretty poor, but my parents had managed to scrape up enough to get my two sisters and I the game as a shared "big gift".  But I don't think that one had the greatest impact on me as a kid. 

I worked to buy my game systems, and always had to sell one in order to afford another.  I had finally traded up to a Colecovision.  I knew that my parents couldn't afford the expensive cartridges for the thing (not to mention the fact that my father could see no value in "computer-related anything" at the time) so I was just expecting another Christmas without anything fun related to video games.  But somehow, my folks managed to buy me the Zaxxon cartridge.  I didn't get an awful lot else that year, but it was one of the few times I got something I really, really wanted

RandyT

I had a Colecovision when I was young!!!!  I remember Zaxxon distinctly.  I too couldn't get a whole bunch of games due to cost, but I remember having Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Zaxxon, Ladybug, and this driving game where you used a Steering Wheel and pedals.  I thought it was the greatest thing on Earth at the time.

[vidmouse]

My first computer was a Commodore 128

Heck yeah, dude. I had a TRS-80 growing up. Good times.

Yes they were.  It's kind of depressing when I watch my nearly 2 year old niece and realize that when she grows up, she will have no idea what life was like before computers, cell phones, high speed internet, internet, antenna TV, etc.  I remember when cable TV was an amazing thing that only the wealthy could get.  Or when the 5 1/2" floppies were replaced by the smaller, hard cased floppy disks.  Heck, I remember when the only internet was on a 5600 kilobaud modem and you logged in to Prodigy to access the net.  The idea of 3D graphics was a dream.  I remember the Rolling Stones giving the rights to "Start Me Up" to Microsoft for Windows95.  I remember when DOS was the only real interface out there.  You'd "shut down" and it would tell you "It's okay to turn off your computer now."

Wow that makes me feel really old.  I'm depressed knowing that the kids these days can't appreciate the technology we have that makes life so enjoyable, but at the same time I am so happy to be alive these days.   

5 1/4" floppies.
And I remember using 300 baud (NOT kbaud) on my C-64.  Felt like warp speed when I moved up to 1200 baud   

[Extreme8]

My first game was a Maganox Odyssey - probably 1974 ish - three games (tennis, squash, and doubles tennis). Total Pong rip off. We cranked on those little potentiometers to control the B&W lines and bouncing dots for hours on end.

Several years later I got a Coleco pocket quarterback. A tiny field of red led's and a couple of controller buttons. Wasted many hours with that thing as well.

The biggie was the TI 99/4a. I asked for a timex-sinclair since I knew there was no way my parents could afford the TI. I was completely shocked to get one.

I thought I had forgotten about all that stuff. Funny how those Christmas memories stick with you for so many years....