When I was 11 I received my first videogame console. It was a Sega Master System II. Some of my friends had it as well and I though that I would be able to trade my games with theirs so I could play more titles that way. My first game ever was Sonic the Hedgehog. At least, that was the very first original game I had. It came bundled with the console. I also got a few other games later. Getting a game for me was one of those things that made me happy. Believe it or not, I still think that playing videogames was and still is one of the greatest entertainments for anybody.
I was not really the sort of kid to keep all my toys in great condition and take really good care of them. Except the very few that I really loved or were tought to get, such as a KOUSOKU SENTAI DX TURBOROBO from Bandai Japan that I still have. However, when that Master System came, it was like me having something... I don't know... something important that had to be very well taken care of. So I kept my games, manuals, boxes, leaflets, everything in pristine condition. I also learned that I could not get one game every month like the regular toys, so I used to play the same game again and again and again and I was not satisfied until I did everything that had to be done.
Year 95
A few years later, I got a Sega Saturn. When that happened, my parents gave away my master system console and all the games. I feel so sad, but I guess those things happen to nearly everyone. Every collector surely feels sorry or regret for games they lost or sold in the past. I got the console and had to wait one month until I had enough money to buy the first game. It was Bug! In nearly 2 years I only got 7 Saturn games, some of those were bought when their price dropped. I missed many RPGs that I really wanted to buy back then such as Dragon Force, Shining Force, Shining the Holy Ark and Guardian Heroes. Those games were not that common and I was really misinformed about the release dates but I remember I went to the store searching for those particular four titles when I had the money. Instead, I ended up buying other games because those were not there at the moment I went to the store. A kid like me couldn't wait to get a new game so I had to find replacements whtihin a couple of minutes before my parents got bored of waiting while I was trying to decide what to buy. Instead, I bought other games such as Nights, Tomb Raider, Dragon Ball Z, Virtua Cop 2... and I do not regret buying those. Tomb Raider was so good that even my mother would only allow me to play it when she had the time to watch that game! Yes, my mother, who was against videogames, made me play that game only when she could watch!
Year 97
When Tomb Raider II was announced, I soon realized it would not be released for Sega Saturn. It would be only for PS1. I didn't have a PS1 and buying another console of the same generation back then was unthinkable. So I was quite disappointed... I thought so much about it that... I felt like I had to do something. I still had 6 months since I heard about the game, so I had to do my best to save enough money to buy a PS1. And I made it with extremely luck - seriously - thanks to a one day promotion at a particular mall before the end of the year, where the price of the console dropped to half. And thanks to my father for travelling really early that day to get it to me before it was sold out.
That's when things became a little serious. Over the years I missed many games, but step by step I made a great selection of titles. In 5 years I managed to get nearly 30 games, all top titles of all sorts: racing, survival horror, adventure, action, shooting, platforms, fighting, RPGS... I remember one game called Final Fantasy VII. I knew NOTHING about it, except for that TV show that was saying it was one of the greatest successes in Japan and it was coming to our country in 3 months. It looked like crap to me, honestly. But one day, nearly 5 months later, I walked to the store to find a new game to buy, and I saw it. The box was huge, the price was fine, it had 4 cds! For a boy like me, a game with 4 cds must take a hell lot of a time to finish and I need games that take time to finish because I don't have much cash, and that tv show was saying that it's good so... Nah, I will leave it here. I remember it doesn't look good.That same night, I made one of the greatest decisions of my life: to go back to the store the next day and get it. A couple of weeks later I thought I had found the best game I've ever played.
Year 98
I still had my Saturn but I realized Sega had abandoned the console. I remember I had to make a choice between Saturn and PS1 so I chose Saturn because I loved Sega, but I felt that I was betrayed when suddenly all the good games were going directly for the PS1 and the catalogue for Saturn was getting very very short... So when I first heard about a PS2, I started saving money.
Year 2000
It took me almost 2 years to have enough money to buy the PS2 before the release date and I was ready to buy the console when it came out... but I didn't. I simply wasn't able to spend all the money it took me 2 years to save all at once. I only bought it one month later when the second batch of consoles arrived thanks to my friend Rui who gave me the motivation to do it. Thanks a lot Rui :)
A couple of years later I went to the University. My spare time was reduced to nothing because I was a very dedicated student. I was a very unsecure person, so I tried to work hard because I was afraid to fail and not being able to graduate because the stress, excess of work and fatigue ware taking over my mind and all I could think was to give up. I only bought and played the really important titles such as MGS2, Final Fantasy X (the first summer holidays were completely spent playing that game!). I was a little off collecting videogames for a few years. But some things changed back then.
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