Yossarian wrote:

EB? Noobs. When I first started buying games it was my local video shop. EB was years later.

Ahem. I bought my Atari 2600 from Boots.

I bought an Oric-1 from EDCO which was Belfast's primary source of school books etc.

Remember getting NES, SNES and N64 games from Woolworth's. In fact I got my SNES from Woolworths. The NES was bought in Argos, the N64 from an independant trader.

When we had a Virgin Megastore in Belfast it had a healthy games floor - that was the NES - N64 days for me.

The Amstrad 464 came with a pile of cassettes as part of the deal. Most of them were pretty ropey but there was odd half-decent one in there. Oh Mummy springs to mind.

Says in Wiki that launch in EU was SMW, F-Zero and Super Tennis? But splitting hairs, I guess.

I remember how excited some of my friends were about getting the SNES. I thought there was something wrong with their systems: everything looked like we were viewing it through a dirty lens, smudgy and less colourful and much less sharp; and then I kept messing up my jump timing because it was so S-L-O-W.

Pal-optimised may have meant it was slightly better than it could have been, but SMK, SF2 (as particular stand-outs) were tragically shit compared to 60hz versions.

WH Smith sold games too, although they were pretty expensive. And Virgin of course. The games aisle of Curry's was always packed with kids playing new games for free.

We had a decent indie shop that sold a good range, and that was where I usually got my first sight of new consoles and exciting Japanese curiosities. They had Panzer Dragoon running on an import Saturn in the window one year, and I recall getting soaked stood in the rain watching the intro sequence, young mind blown. The staff were horrible, snobby arsehole's who generally criticised your purchase and would harass you if you spent more than five minutes on the display machines.

Often it was actually cheaper to buy the Jap version of a cart (which had been out for ages) than it was to go to high street stores and pick up the new PAL version.

[/pointless nostalgia]

Anyone mentioned Fantavision yet, it was edgy

I got a modded MD with region and 50/60 switches and RGB SCART. It felt like a new console - I just went through all my carts boggle eyed. Micro Machines in PAL is fine as it's Brit-code but everything else was shambolic in PAL.

IanHamlett wrote:

FLUDD threw up some new gameplay options but the bits without it reveal Mario to be virtually perfect. I'd like Mario to go on holiday again. 3D Land World Catsuit Edition didn't do it for me like the other 3D Marios.

Me too. I'm still ashamed that I used to have some sort of vendetta a few years after launch against Super Mario Sunshine because of its flaws and how it "wasn't a proper Mario game". Because it's precisely those flaws that make it so interesting, and the shift in setting too.

Will we ever see a Mario platformer set in a "real-life" environment again?

Anyone remember John Menzies? I bought games from them back in the days.

Haven't read the thread but

Mario 64
Wipeout
Halo

Star Wars : Rogue Leader at launch was a technical marvel. I didn't play it much but it showed what the cube could do.

Re: Tetris, hadn't it been available on other formats before launching with the GB? If so, does it count?

Krs has spoken. Tetris is out.

dynamiteReady wrote:

Was the NES launched with Duck Hunt?

There was a pack with SMB1 and Duck Hunt on one cart but don't know if that was launch.

Remember when you could only get Nintendo games in approved Nintendo retailers? That was fucking weird. Shops with all other computer and console shit but no Nintendo stuff at all.