RTTP What console launch do you have the fondest memories of?

[NarohDethan]

With new consoles launching soon, allow us to relive our favorite console launch. If you could include a little story or anecdote it would be nice
For me, it has to be the Switch since it was the first console I’ve bought on launch day. The store messes up my preorder so I had to buy one from the stock they had there. But Zelda was worth it.

I’ve added a poll but since there’s so many options I reduced it to the hardware manufacturer.

 

[Kvik]

I've been gaming on PC all my life and I never had consoles growing up. But I remember going to my then-girlfriend's place and she had a PS2 (I think this is back in 2001/2002?) So it was recently released then. I played a few games there including MGS 2, FF X, Silent Hill 2 and Shadow Hearts. I didn't care much about the console itself, but I remember enjoying the games a lot. I was still a poor uni student then, so I worked hard at my part-time job that summer so I can afford buying a unit for myself.

Our relationship didn't last, but I kept buying RPGs for it (of which there is a LOT in those days!) I still own that PS2 to this day (obviously it's now fully kitted with a 1TB SATA HDD, Ethernet port and FMCB softmod). I hardly use it these days since PCSX2 runs quite well and does a better job sometimes, but it's a permanent fixture in my TV cabinet.

 

[texhnolyze]

I've owned every single Sony console and handheld (and some Nintendo hardwares too), but I've never bought them at launch, ever.

 

[ISee]

Not an interesting story tbh:

PS4 was the first console I got on launch day. I only bought a PS3 2-3 years before that, a used PS2 was the first console I bought with my own money and the only console I owned before that was a classic Game Boy. I desperately wanted a SNES as a kid, but never told my parents. Don't get me wrong they would have probably bought one for my brother and me as a Christmas present for example. But 300DM was incredibly expansive for kid me (~270€ in todays money) and we just moved, my parents started a new life and were saving up money and so I felt like it was unfair to ask them for such an expansive toy.

Anyway, the whole console launch excitement was pretty new to me, but I was wise enough to pre-ordere a PS4 as early as possible via Amazon. I was so thrilled when it arrived. There was one problem though, stupid me has forgotten to buy a game.
So I "rushed" into my local "Media Markt", passed a bunch of people desperately searching for a console and picked up Black Flag and KZ: Shadowfall. Some people looked at me like I was crazy for buying games without a console. Good times.

 

[Le Pertti]

There are only two consoles I got on day one, Dreamcast and Wii. I think I like the Dreamcast one better because well it still is one of my favorite consoles! The launch was little boring though, just went to the bigger city next to the one I was living in and looked into different stores to see which wasn't sold out. Got home and was amazed at the real nextgen at the time! It felt so sharp and crisp that I don't think PS2 ever managed to match.

Though PS1 still feels special also, I got it second hand, traded my moped for it haha but man that was also really next gen going from the previous consoles. The PS1 that I had was little wonky, playing FF7 I had to but the console on its side or up and down haha.

And yeah can't forget when I got Amiga 500 or when I got my first PC, a 486, those were the times.

 

[CommodoreKong]

I have fond memories of getting my Wii preorder. I was at an all night LAN party at a friend's house and had read online that Toys R Us was taking preorders the next morning. I was exhausted from being up all night but I drove 20+ minutes out of my way to Toys R Us before they opened. There was 2 lines, a massive one and a smaller one. I found out the massive one was for an anniversary edition of tickle me Elmo. The smaller one was for the Wii and I was the last one in line who was able to get a preorder based on the number they had available to preorder.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I'm the current lone Microsoft vote. I didn't, and still don't, always buy consoles at launch and tend to wait a bit. And even then most of them don't turn out extremely well because I still buy them early when there's not enough to really care about.

But the Xbox 360 really stands out for me. I bought it soon after launch on eBay because it was still nearly impossible to find in stores. It was bundled with four games and I think I picked up one or two others. I had a great time with its launch games, even the not-so-great ones (Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero come to mind). It had great online build in, which was something I actually took part in back then, and the achievements built in from the first day immediately got me hooked. I went through Condemned like three times in a row to get all 970(?) achievement points, Call of Duty 2 I played through on Veteran right from the start to get all those achievements, etc.

On top of all of that, it also had the Xbox Live Arcade popping out a game a week so I kept buying those cheaper games so my library grew quickly. The novelty of those arcade games and achievements made me buy and play a lot of rather shitty games but I was completely sold on all of it.

Conversely, some that I bought at launch that were underwhelming would be the GameCube, PS3, PS4, and Switch. I didn't get a PS2 or Xbox until nearly a year after the GameCube's launch and during that period I didn't play a single game for around six months because the GameCube had nothing. PS3 I got with Resistance and I pretended it was a really good game but stopped like 1/3 into it. PS4 was an adventure for me to get, got it with Black Flag, and put like two hours into it and then didn't really play the console much for a while. And Switch I bought near launch, eventually played around 10 hours of Zelda like nine months after launch, went through Mario Odysseey, and 10-20 hours of Smash Bros and traded it in after a year of owning it. I don't think I even unboxed my Switch for something like three months until my roommate wanted to try it out.

 

[Parsnip]

I've never been a day1 kind of console buyer so I don't really have launch memories as such.