I would bet that some time in our lives growing up, each of us has played a video game of some sort. Whether we used to play them all the time, or just sometimes, we have each brought this joy into our lives. I will go over some of these “retro” video game consoles that I used to play all the time and my experiences with them.

Nintendo Game Cube:

This cube shaped console was released to North America on November 18, 2001. It was the successor to the Nintendo 64 (which I didn’t play) and was in competition with the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. Its small discs were the first of its time and the system was very modern in the fact that you could use your Nintendo Game Boy to plug into the system and play along with any game.

The Game Cube was probably my favorite gaming console growing up. My dad got one near the time it first came out and then gave it to me when I was five or six (2005/2006). It was at my Grandparent’s house and whenever I went over there, I was excited to play it. I collected like 40 games on that thing over the years and some of my main games growing up were SpongeBob, Mario, Zelda, and games that were based on movies. I remember sitting downstairs for hours, my Grandma and Grandpa already asleep, and just trying to beat whatever game it was I was playing. I no longer have this console as it was given to someone else in the family.

I talked to Benton Shewmaker and he said that the Nintendo Game Cube is by far his favorite retro gaming console of all time.

Sega Dreamcast:

This gaming console is not as well-known as the others. Released to the US on September 9, 1999, it was Sega’s final console, marking the end of the company’s 18 years in the gaming console business. The Dreamcast came after the unsuccessful Sega Saturn.

We had this at my house as far back as I can remember in the living room, my Step Dad had purchased this when it was released. This was my first gaming console and I started playing it when I was old enough and really enjoyed it. Some of my top games included Crazy Taxi, Sonic, and an unknown game by many called the Floigan Brothers. My step dad still owns this console and even though it has a short lifespan on it, it still works.

PlayStation 2:

This was another video game console that I grew up on at my mom and step dad’s house. The PS2 was released on October 26, 2000 and is the bestselling video game console of all time, selling over 155 million units. It has also released the most game titles with over 3,874 separate games. The PlayStation 2 was so popular that it continued production until January 4, 2013 (another video game console record). It was also the first console that had backwards compatibility and you could also play movie discs on it.

The PlayStation 2 was actually in my bedroom, so I got to play in whenever I wanted. I had a lot of games for this console too that I loved to play, including Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts among many. This was also the first time I started to enjoy playing sports games in 2005 and 2006. My first sports game that I really enjoyed was Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. I also loved NBA/NFL Street and Tony Hawk.

I had experiences with the PlayStation 1 for a little bit, but once we got the PS2, we just got rid of it. I can’t remember what I played on there, but I knew that we once had it. I asked people around what their favorite video game console growing up, and many people said that the PlayStation 2 was.

Wii:

I remember the first night the Nintendo Wii came out on November 19, 2006, my step dad said he was going to go out and get one. To the dismay of my mom, he came back later that night with a brand new video game console for us to play. The Wii introduced a new thing for me back then in the Wii Remote, that serves as a pointer that you can move around. That was the feature I really liked.  I also loved how I could bring my Nintendo Game Cube games from my Grandpa’s house and play them on my Wii at my house.

I used to play this EVERYDAY and it seemed like I played this console nonstop after school until like 2009. Over those years, I got like 60 games for my Wii. I still remember the first day I played it, my step dad and I were playing Wii Sports for hours. I basically forgot about my Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, only being focused on this.

This was the first time I played an M rated game, when I first got my hands on Call of Duty World at War in 2008. I also remember always playing movie games, sports games (Madden and WWE), and every Mario game I could have. With all the apps that we had occupied on there also, it took up even more of my time.

Xbox 360:

Soon I got bored with the Wii in like 2009 and I asked my grandparents if they could buy me an Xbox 360 for Christmas that year. I never had any experience with the Xbox and I decided that I wanted to try it. I ended up receiving it and this was my first experience with an online gaming service; the first time I could play online with my friends. This competed with the Wii and PlayStation 3 when it was launched in 2005.

When I got this system it was the newer model that came out around this time. I also had like 45 or 50 games for this, all of which now belong to my little brother (except for the M games). He still plays the Xbox 360 to this day, his favorites being Lego Games and Bully in his room.

This will conclude my video game highlights. I really wish that I still had some of these consoles to play so that I could go back and reminiscence on them. My Wii got sold and my PS2 somehow got lost when we moved around, which I sometimes get sad about. I would have to say that my personal favorite system growing up was the Dreamcast.

Right now however, I have a PlayStation 4 and my step dad has an Xbox One at his house, which I really love playing so, it’s all okay. I really look forward to the future of video gaming and it will always have a special place in my heart.