PixlBit

I actually didn't get a NES right away.  I was happy enough playing Pengo on my 5200.  Even when my friend got a NES, I enjoyed playing Super Mario Bros. at his house, but it wasn't enough to get me to want to buy one.  I actually first played Super Mario Bros. in an arcade anyway.  But as soon as Zelda came out, I got one after seeing it at my friend's house.  I was impressed you could save the game and come back to it later.  So from then on out, I pretty much only played the NES, only to dabble in PC gaming peridoically to play point and click adventures and later on, Lemmings.

I don't know if the Apple IIc was different from the Apple II+ I had, but the IIc had a mouse, so maybe it was.  We got our first PC (the Apple II+) when I was about in kindergarten.  In fact I remember testing it out at the sales rep's house.  He was wearing an Apple rainbow logo shirt and let me sit in his lap to play Pac-Man on the computer we were about to get (remember I was just a little kid).  While everyone else was complaining about the bad port of Pac-Man on the 2600, I was happily playing a pretty close arcade version of it on the computer, as well as other arcade games like Frogger and Zaxxon.  I also enjoyed a lot of original games on it like Choplifter, Lode Runner, Spare Change, and Aquatron.

I didn't have a ColecoVision, nor did I have any friends or relatives who had one, so my only experiences with it were from commercials and store displays.  I remember one display let you play Donkey Kong, and I remember it being pretty impressive for the time.  They should make a ColecoVision collection!

I just use the direct link and listen to the podcass from my iPhone.  I don't know how much it drains the battery, but I always have a charger nearby so it's not an issue for me.

I wrote a blog about my anticipated games of 2023 here:

http://www.pixlbit.com/blog/20453/cary_is_looking_forward_in_2023

My first 'gaming' PC was the aforementioned Apple ][+.  After that I was a fully fledged console gamer.  But I did dabble with certain PC games from time to time.  Point and click adventures like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.  Around high school age I was really into Lemmings on PC.  In college I played a lot of Pro Pinball on the PC, as well as Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and classic emulation.  Most recently, i would play TellTale's point and click adventures like Sam & Max.  But other than that, I've been mostly a console gamer.

If you get a chance, I'd recommend listening to the podcast.  I bet you'll learn about some Pokemon games you might want to try.

I'll be lucky if I can beat ONE game in February!

My uncle had an Intellivision back in the day.  I remember my cousin and I playing Frog Bog for what seems like hours back then.  Not sure why that entertained us so much, but that's kids for ya.  I have a PS2 Intellivision collection that's really good.

I never had a 2600 as a kid.  My first 'console' was an Apple ][+ PC and I was pretty happy with that.  Especially considering the games on it were more like the arcade counterparts than the ones on the 2600.  My first real game console was the Atari 5200 I got for Christmas one year.  That was a total surprise, I didn't even ask for it.

As a kid, I was unaware of the video game crash, too.  But that's probably why I got an Atari 5200 because my mom probably found it really cheap at the time.  All I knew was I was able to get a lot of cheap games for it.  On that Atari 50 collection, there's a video where one of the guys said most people were probably unaware of the crash either at the time, just people in the business knew about it.