For me the first Donkey Kong Country on the SNES stands out the most. Got it as a gift and played it Chistmas day.
Every Christmas was game day for me, I would usually get 3 or more games., usually some of the biggest ones. I remember sonic 2, I went bananas. My favorite Christmas was probably the Sega Saturn ps1 launch. I got a Saturn with panzer dragoon and sim city 2000. My brother got PS1 with nfl game day. I was so crazy for the Saturn, you have no clue. I was totally convinced it would kill the PS1. The following year I got my own ps1.
I always looked forward to at least one new game for Christmas every year. Two Christmases especially stand out. 2004 was my favorite year for gaming and the year I received MGS3, GTA
an Andreas and KOTOR 2 all at once. Man, to be able to play all of those at once with no where to go, no kids, no responsibilities. It was magical.
I think Christmas of 1986 is still my favorite, the year of the NES. I got a NES with Super Mario Bros. and Pro Wrestling. Everybody got a NES that year. Some with the Duck/SMB combo. Some got Zelda. One even got R.O.B. (Snickers). All we talked about for months was Nintendo, 'Tendo everything from our favorites, to trading them, strategies, you name it.
Super Mario Bros. 2. That game a mysterious aura around it like nothing else ever would. We'd debated whether or not it existed for so long and when we finally saw that it did when it was announced in the first Nintendo Power... well it was amazing. It was also considered amazing by a lot of people and there were shortages of it everywhere so it was tough to find. My aunt was lucky enough to be at a Toys R Us when they were unboxing some.
So that Christmas morning was wonderful getting a copy of that game. Unfortunately I had a terrible flu and wasn't even strong enough to play it so I stayed in bed and read the manual over and over inbetween puking. Still, best Christmas ever.
Dvader said:Every Christmas was game day for me, I would usually get 3 or more games., usually some of the biggest ones. I remember sonic 2, I went bananas. My favorite Christmas was probably the Sega Saturn ps1 launch. I got a Saturn with panzer dragoon and sim city 2000. My brother got PS1 with nfl game day. I was so crazy for the Saturn, you have no clue. I was totally convinced it would kill the PS1. The following year I got my own ps1.
You each got different consoles? Rich bastards!
I don't think I ever got games for Christmas. The only one that comes to mind is Zelda TP which I got from my dad while I was in college. I had refrained from getting it on launch as I wanted to be able to concentrate on the exams first. Then I was gifted it at christmas 
SupremeAC said:I don't think I ever got games for Christmas. The only one that comes to mind is Zelda TP which I got from my dad while I was in college. I had refrained from getting it on launch as I wanted to be able to concentrate on the exams first. Then I was gifted it at christmas
I got TP on launch day alongside my Wii but didn't play it properly until that Christmas holiday. It was incredible
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
I always got a system or games for christmas.
But most of the consoles where for the family.
The only two consoles for myself were the Dreamcast I got Christmas of 2001 a few weeks later SEGA announced that it would be discontinued and the Gamecube I got Christmas of 2004 that year Nintendo dropped the price to $99.
SUPER MARIO MAKER LEVELS:
- SMB Mix-Up! (1AB2-0000-0047-5A7D)
- Storm the Castle (77BD-0000-00E0-A9C0)
The only time my Mom let me have a "Santa" present early was the game and watch dual screen, Mario Bros.
I don't have the original box, but I do have the game, and it bring me bac to that time in every way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N0I7h-UuH4#t=119
After that I bought all my games for myself.
My parents used to wake us up and say Santa was already here so we opened our gifts between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Sometimes it was 3 in the morning and we wanted to play our new game Dr. Mario/Tetris I got it for Christmas but my mom was the one that played it the most.
SUPER MARIO MAKER LEVELS:
- SMB Mix-Up! (1AB2-0000-0047-5A7D)
- Storm the Castle (77BD-0000-00E0-A9C0)
aspro said:The only time my Mom let me have a "Santa" present early was the game and watch dual screen, Mario Bros.
I don't have the original box, but I do have the game, and it bring me bac to that time in every way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N0I7h-UuH4#t=119
After that I bought all my games for myself.
I loved those double screen Game & Watch games. My parents were too poor to buy me any but I loved playing them when I had friends or neighbours who had any.
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
bugsonglass said:aspro said:The only time my Mom let me have a "Santa" present early was the game and watch dual screen, Mario Bros.
I don't have the original box, but I do have the game, and it bring me bac to that time in every way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N0I7h-UuH4#t=119
After that I bought all my games for myself.
I loved those double screen Game & Watch games. My parents were too poor to buy me any but I loved playing them when I had friends or neighbours who had any.
Mine were too. I have no idea how my mom got it, but it was likely a lot of lay-way. EDIT: (My memories recorded from shortly after the time)
My school, like most I would suppose, went through many crazes all of which were banned by school authorities just past the peak of their popularity. Yo-Yo's, marbles, toy cars, even novelty erasers. The craze relevent to this topic however started with a hand-held liquid crystal display game that Joshua McCabe brought to school one day. Donkey Kong Jr. was from a line of hand held "LCD" games that Nintendo (and Gunpei Yokoi - who later created the GameBoy) introduced in 1980. Games like these, about the size of a small pad of paper, were soon everywhere. My brother and I were given one each for Christmas; I received a two-screen version of Mario Brothers and my brother was soon playing a similarly impressive hand-held version of Donkey Kong Junior.
Though the craze was soon over Mario Brothers and I spent countless hours together and I still find the simple hand-held game to be as captivating as Tetris.
Could you even change the batteries in those things?
gamingeek said:Could you even change the batteries in those things?
Yep. They took two hearing aid batteries. It was an easy slide-on slide-off on the back. Nintendo provided two red stickers to place on the back to ensure they did not slide off easily. After a while they adjusted the design so it slightly locked into place to the point you'd have to apply pressure to release the battery hatch.
I hate those batteries.
I forgot to mention Animal Crossing.
Even if Christmas is miserable and wet, you can rely on AC to give up the goods. In Animal Crossing it always snows, you can make snowmen, the lights go up on the trees. You get presents and can track a Santa reindeer. You can ever deliver presents.
I remember Phantasy Star Online having a cool holiday theme to it for a few days, that was a nice touch too.
My favorite memories of holiday gaming was getting a NES obviously as a kid for Xmas...then in 1998 getting Zelda 64, Tomb Raider 3, and Turok 2 for Xmas was just a great time, and I had gotten Metal Gear Solid just before that.
How could I forget Freezy Peak in Banjo Kazooie? Doh! Massive Christmas Snowman. So awesome.
To me, the Nintendo 64 represents Christmas. Having rented one when Ocraina of Time came out, my sister and I were able to persuade my mom to by us our own that Christmas, only for OoT to be missing because it was impossible to find ( it eventually showed up the following February). Zelda-less, I had to make due with the "mind-blowing-even-though-it's-been-out-for-two-years-at-this-point" Super Mario 64, acquring stars and coins galore and setting my sister and I off on what was probably our last gaming-based sibling rivalry (she'e not a gamer, she only ever played them because I had them).
That was 1998. Come Christmas 1999, Donkey Kong 64 changed everything again. Not knowing what to expect but having gotten 103% in DKC 3, my mind almost broke at how good the game looked and how different it played compared to what I'd thought it was going to be. I never got more than halfway through it, but it did so many great things and introduced the sandbox game to me years before that phrase was coined. Plus, it came with the Expansion Pak, which was vital the next year when Majora's Mask came out.
That night at our big extended family gathering, my cousin showed off the copy of Mario Golf he'd just gotten, and after maybe an hour I was begging and pleading for it as well. My mom capitulated quickly, and I spent months with that game. To this day my cousins and I will break it out when we're together to play a few holes.
By Christmas 2000 I wasn't into games as much. The PS1 had clearly won the gen war and all the good games were coming out there, leaving me to play my handful of games over and over and rent when I could. And the PS2 had just come out, leaving me in the relative dust. Still, having loved but never having owned GoldenEye, getting The World is not Enough that morning was pretty awesome, doubly so because my mom knew that it required the N64 memory card and remembered to get one, averting disaster for my 15-year-old self.
For me, Christmas was about me and my bro, we were always together until recent memory at Christmas. Without him, it never really felt like a proper Christmas anymore. So when I was feeling a little meh about it and not looking forward to much in the yuletide, Mario Galaxy was a game that made Christmas for me. I'm sure there are other games that I've enjoyed over Christmas, but Mario Galaxy is genuinely the only one I actually remember.
That feeling, that childlike sense of enthusiasm and wonder. This is why I play games, for surprise, for invention, for pure joy. When I'm looking towards a sucky Christmas, its a very nice feeling to have something that makes you smile that much.
How about you?