I had an Atari 2600.

It even still worked until last year, when my nephew borrowed it, cos he was on a retro kick, along with all my cartridges, and somehow destroyed it. I don't really mind, as I haven't used it in 30 years, so nothing lost really. I forgot I even had it.

But damn, I remember the joy of playing "Space Invaders." The moment I realized I could have an arcade experience in my own room at home, without putting a coin in an arcade machine.

In a way, the magic gained was magic lost, as the spending of the coin itself in the arcade made the game more precious. But in another way, the added time spent watching those weird lines of aliens endlessly progressing from side to side, as I shot them out the sides to delay their progress, dodging those bullets. Nothing compared.

Except "Asteroids!" Damn, that was a good game, the way the little triangle turned round, just in time to blow those massive boulders into bits. The carnage as the debris field spread. I love dthat game with a PASSION!

After Atari, before Playstation, I remember the Commodore 64, and the trading game "Elite." It was bigger than "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids." That was the absolute pinnacle of games: the traveling, the trading, the endless escape to another universe.

And then came Playstation 1, along with Tekken 2 and Tomb Raider. And the Commodore got lost, the Atari boxed. . .

. . Until my nephew asked to see it, reminding me of a forgotten childhood, of whiled away hours and adventures in space, still fresh after three decades in a musty old cardboard box in the attic. :)