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First console you payed for your own money?

I bought my N64 on launch day from Kmart for $199....... It was great because they had said it was going to cost $249 then they dropped that number at the last minute....... no games, though....... I had a gameless 64 until the next day when I was able to track down a copy of Super Mario 64 and my life changed...... I bought a Jaguar for $99 that same year........ two completely incomparable moments..... lol.
 
Japanese Nintendo 64 launch system back in 1996. I was 14. Bought it together with Super Mario 64. Price point: 1000DM; round about $650.
 
Depends on what "own money" entails:
I bought a N64 mostly from money I got for brithday and christmas
I bought a SNES (about a year after the N64) from my allowance
I bought a 3DS for money I got via a stipendium

As for the first console that I definitely got for money earned directly for work I think there has not been one yet. Potentially an Xbone sometime down the road, or the next Nintendo handheld.
 
Two technical answers first: The very first was an Atari 2600 bought at a car boot sale - I think I paid £10 for it, and it came with a nice set of cartridges, little hostess trolley to place it on, controllers, dust cover - remarkably good condition. Next technically-correct answer would be a Dreamcast, but I bought it at the point where the system was being fire saled with huge discounts.

The first home console I spent *significant* amounts of my own money on to purchase at launch would have been the Gamecube.
 
Nintendo Gamecube when I just transferred schools, I quickly found out that nearly no one else had the console lol.
 
I found an abandoned NintendoDS with a GTA game on it and bought an AC adapter, a stylus and some games

I will just call you "thief" from here on out. Moreover, if you visit my shop, it will be a painful experience.
 
Fist I bought personally was PC, glorious 486, I think. Played a lot on it too. Second probably was PlayStation. If we are talking about buying for my hard earned money.
 
PS1. My first summer job and all my money went to it :b

Exactly the same situation with PS2 also. Mom wasn't very happy about either decision.
 
Playstation 1

cant remember exactly what year i bought it, but i remember it being $149 when i finally did

(i was always way behind my friends and release dates as i had no money and my parents didnt support my gaming habit at all)

Did these jobs for my dad around the property all summer like mowing the lawn and building a gravel bed for the tractor, etc etc

finally had enough money, and conned my gram to take my to KMART so i could use her old ass for the senior citizen 10% discount

walked out with the Dual Shock PS1 and no games, no mem card (lol me)

came with this demo disc though luckily and i played the shit out of it... it had Gex Enter the Gecko, WCW Nitro, Cool Boarders 2, and a few others that escape me now... good times!
 
Bought an N64 with my own money and Doom64 with it. 5 minutes after my parents saw what Doom was, they made me return it and I got Mario Kart and Super Mario 64. Best swap ever.
 
PS2, Xbox, and GameCube all in the summer of 2002. Just worked at my college that summer and had no bills so I bought all of them and a TV. To have no grown up responsibilities....
 
N64

Me and my brother sold our Super Nintendo and all the games to get the money. On launch day our grandma was visiting us and gave us 100 bucks on top so we wouldn't be poor afterwards. :)

The first console i bought alone from my own money was the PS2.
 
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4000SEK. Played Hexic HD for a month. :)
 
NES. Memorial Day weekend 1987, I bought a NES starter system, with ROB, a separate copy of Super Mario Brothers, since it didn't come with the system yet. Maybe one other game (Hogans Heroes, maybe?)
 
SEGA Game Gear.

Best Handheld ever. You could play for almost 20 minutes with 32 fresh batteries.

First game for it was...Sonic I think, or Ax Battler. Ahhh memories. Or maybe Shinobi.

No wait, Columns obviously cause it came bundled with it.
 
PlayStation 2.

Stood in line at Target to get one.

Only had to wait 4 hours as opposed to the 15 hours for the 360 at Best Buy and 17 hours for the PS3/Wii at Toys R Us
 
My parents had told me that the SNES was the last console they were ever buying, so I saved my allowance and chore money for the longest time and picked up a used PS1 a year or two after it came out. I couldn't afford a game on my own after buying the system, so I got my sister to chip in and get a game, but she would only agree to Wing Commander III since it had Mark Hamill from Star Wars.

I also received my first lesson in the risk of buying used hardware; I got home with the system, connected it, but it wouldn't play the game. Since we came back from the mall late at night, there was no way to return it and we had to wait until the next day to swap it out for another used console that works, which for my younger impatient self, was torture.
 
PS2, for buying new.

Game Boy, for buying used (got the GB, link cable, a couple of games, a Game Genie, and a hard plastic carrying case off a friend for $10 -- solid deal).
 
I bought a launch N64 with money I had saved up for 2 years worth of birthdays and Christmas cards. But, after that I got my DS as a Christmas gift one year and my GameCube as a gift another year. Since they I purchased my own PS2, PSP, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, DSi, DS lite, DSi XL, 3DS, and 3DS XL. I have a problem...
 
PS3 Slim on the first day it was avaiable with no games. Downloaded some demos and PS Home (Yeah, I know) and the next day went back to GAME to buy GTA 4, and had my first "would you like a used copy. It's 10€ cheaper" experience

Before this, it was always gifts, the first one being a NES
 
Game Boy

I saved up about some money, it cost about 100 gulden (Dutch currency before the Euro) to buy it. The store only had the display model left, so I got that one along with the game Donkey Kong Land 2. When I got home, I noticed the game Lucky Luke was in the Game Boy. It was 80 gulden to buy separately. The screen of the Game Boy wouldn't turn on, looked like the screen was glued back on. So I took the game out and I took the Game Boy back to the store the next day. There I got a new one from the stock they had just gotten.

So... I even got a free game with it. Later consoles I purchased:

Dreamcast > Gamecube > Xbox > Gameboy Advance > Nintendo DS > Playstation 3 > Nintendo 3DS

The Xbox 360 was a present for my sister's birthday, but we just shared consoles. I paid the repair costs though, but it broke down a second time later. The Wii was a Christmas present for me and my sisters.

Next up: Hopefully a Wii U.
 
Probably the N64 from what I remember. My brother and I saved up for a year to buy it plus Mario 64. Amazing purchase for about 6 months... Then we realized PSX was better.
 
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