I've been an avid games player ever since I got my shiny ZX81 one Christmas years back after been "wowed" by seeing my cousins ZX81 and begging my parents for one and not thinking I'd ever would as my parents (who both worked RIP), struggled to make ends meet half the time. 3D Monster Maze had always been a firm favourite and disputed as the grandfather of 3D games we see now on next-gen consoles. Let you all make your minds up on that. 
After the ZX81 I progressed onto the ZX Spectrum where I also started to dabble in BASIC. Trashman, Back to School, Manic Miner, Knightlore (and probably all other Ultimate Play the Game titles) still get played today via emulation.
Then I took a big step up and bought the Amiga 500 (1200 a couple years after) and become a bit of a hermit during those days (I worked as well though so wasn't housebound all the time lol). When Pinball Dreams came out I lost many hours racking up high scores. Even having competitions against my old man while my mum went to Bingo on Monday evenings. As well as being a Pinball nut (had all the 21st Century Pinball games and what I consider to best of them all : Slam Tilt), I enjoyed playing (and buying) many games like Cannon Fodder, The Settlers, Chaos Engine, to name a few. I also ventured more into programming with the amazing AMOS program and went as far as developing a game that got released into the word of Public Domain.
Life moved on and then along came the Playstation One. Wow. What a piece of machinery that was! I couldn't believe the first time I clapped my eyes on Ridge Racer and realised that arcade conversions were now being match in terms of graphics. Tomb Raider, Syphon Filter, True Pinball, ToCA series (racing) and too many too list. I like variation.
Then I "upgraded" to the PS2. Then one day Grand Theft Auto III happened. I lost weeks, if not months playing this game inside out! still have this game on my laptop (as well as Vice City and my all time favourite: San Andreas).
Eventually I got married, had kids and don't get as much time as I used to play games. Instead I use my laptop as an emulation station lol to play those classics including ones I never got around to playing first time. Yep, we have an xbox360 (two - one's my sons). Have a few games for it but must be coming up to about a month now when I last played it. Think it was Saint Row 3. Games has certainly evolved over the years and got bigger and bigger which is probably where I tend to lose interest because these days I like quick games which is why I'm a retro gamer. In fact, as I'm typing this, I have an Amiga emulator window open with an old addictive puzzler game called Locomotion (had the demo years back so great to be playing full version now lol). Find myself vaping more when I'm playing on laptop now lol.
So, to get back to thread title: I consider myself to be a retro gamer. How about you guys and gals?
After the ZX81 I progressed onto the ZX Spectrum where I also started to dabble in BASIC. Trashman, Back to School, Manic Miner, Knightlore (and probably all other Ultimate Play the Game titles) still get played today via emulation.
Then I took a big step up and bought the Amiga 500 (1200 a couple years after) and become a bit of a hermit during those days (I worked as well though so wasn't housebound all the time lol). When Pinball Dreams came out I lost many hours racking up high scores. Even having competitions against my old man while my mum went to Bingo on Monday evenings. As well as being a Pinball nut (had all the 21st Century Pinball games and what I consider to best of them all : Slam Tilt), I enjoyed playing (and buying) many games like Cannon Fodder, The Settlers, Chaos Engine, to name a few. I also ventured more into programming with the amazing AMOS program and went as far as developing a game that got released into the word of Public Domain.
Life moved on and then along came the Playstation One. Wow. What a piece of machinery that was! I couldn't believe the first time I clapped my eyes on Ridge Racer and realised that arcade conversions were now being match in terms of graphics. Tomb Raider, Syphon Filter, True Pinball, ToCA series (racing) and too many too list. I like variation.
Then I "upgraded" to the PS2. Then one day Grand Theft Auto III happened. I lost weeks, if not months playing this game inside out! still have this game on my laptop (as well as Vice City and my all time favourite: San Andreas).
Eventually I got married, had kids and don't get as much time as I used to play games. Instead I use my laptop as an emulation station lol to play those classics including ones I never got around to playing first time. Yep, we have an xbox360 (two - one's my sons). Have a few games for it but must be coming up to about a month now when I last played it. Think it was Saint Row 3. Games has certainly evolved over the years and got bigger and bigger which is probably where I tend to lose interest because these days I like quick games which is why I'm a retro gamer. In fact, as I'm typing this, I have an Amiga emulator window open with an old addictive puzzler game called Locomotion (had the demo years back so great to be playing full version now lol). Find myself vaping more when I'm playing on laptop now lol.
So, to get back to thread title: I consider myself to be a retro gamer. How about you guys and gals?
