Where did you get yours?

[greenberet79]

Exactly what it says - where did you get your computer/consoles? I guess it doesn't include the systems you got off Father Christmas! Which ive just realised is quite a long list....hmm didn't think that through. Doesn't include ebay, Gumtree, hand-me-downs etc either.

Snes - Woolworths! I think it was Christmas 1992. Got the edition with two pads and Super Mario World. I also got Super Tennis and Super Soccer. This was a very best christmas. Stupidly sold my Speccy 128k +2 and hundreds of games to help fund the purchase though. No, i'm not crying...

PlayStation - Dixons! This i'm guessing was Christmas 1995. Came with (I think) two pads, WipeOut 2097, Tunnel B1, Olympic Soccer and Alien Trilogy. Cost a bloody fortune. Stupidly sold my Snes and dozens of games to help fund the purchase though. No, i'm not crying...

PC (Packard Bell) - Dixons 1997. My poor mum got ripped off here for a terrible and terribly expensive PC. I got involved too late. I enjoyed PC gaming though (when it worked).

PSP - GameStation. Bought 'used' in 2009 for £80. Still got it. In fact i have two now. And a Vita

Wii - Marks and Spencer! As weird as that sounds. I was late to the Wii party - think i got it 2010 maybe 2011. Got it with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort with some M&S vouchers I had. Pretty sure they don't do computers/games anymore. Obviously I still have it, and will never get rid - I love my Wii.

Switch - John Lewis. 2018.

My memories of going into these shops to buy all of these are as clear as day. Great days.

[psj3809]

Spectrum + - John Lewis, Reading - Dec '85

Loved this store back in the day, downstairs it had all the 8 bits all set up for you to look at and dribble over ! Magical time as a kid just seeing all the machines out there with all the different games. Spent months and months playing on my mates Speccy and buying mags even before i had my own computer just to see all the games i wanted (and could tape !) ready for when i got mine. Still go into that store from time to time and get a lot of nostalgic feelings when i go downstairs to the bottom floor (think its mostly electrical stuff there now).

Part of me loves the nostalgia but the other part hates it as i remember it to well and its like it was yesterday !

Gameboy - WH Smiths, Reading 1989

Remember seeing my mate have one, didnt realise you could swap out the cartridges, when he did that it blew me away ! Had to get one that week and i still remember reading the instructions on the train on the way home and poring over every single detail in the instruction booklet for Super Mario Land.

Must admit the rest of the machines i dont remember too well, its those early machines which gave me tons of great memories

[The Laird]

Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 - Toys R Us, Brent Cross - Dec 1987
Atari ST - Software Cellar, Luton - July 1989
Atari Lynx - Dixons, Luton - August 1990
Sega Mega Drive - Toys R Us, Luton - Dec 1991
Atari Jaguar - Telegames, Leicester - November 1993
Atari Jaguar CD - Silica Shop, Luton - September 1995
Sega Saturn - Software Cellar, Luton - March 1996

[Arnie]

Original Spectrum+ 128k - Dixons 1986
Amiga 500 - Same Dixons as above if I remember correctly 1989
Amiga 2000 and Amiga 4000 - Ace computers, an independent computer retailer in local town.
First PC - PC world 200?
N64 - Toys'r'us
Gamecube - Game
PS2 - Game
Wii - Toys'r'us
PS3 - Game
Xbox 360 - Game
Wii U - Game

[ALK]

Interesting idea for a topic. Lets see;

NES- Ebay
SNES, Mega Drive, N64, Game Boy Color- Christmas, don't recall where my folks brought them
Gameboy, original and 1st Pocket- Toys R Us
Game Boy Advance- Game
Gamecube- Game (First system I brought myself)
DS (All), Wii- Game.co.uk
3DS, Wii U, Switch- Game
Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Gear, Master System- ebay
PS2- Gamestation
PS1- Ebay
PSP, PS3, XBox- Cash Convertors
360, XBONE X- Game
US PS2- A independent Game Store in Ohio
My Pokemon Edition Gameboy Color- A Game Shop in Mexico
A Boxed Pong System- Free from a charity shop I worked in (Couldnt sell electronics)

Just counting the first version of consoles I brought. Other models vary between Game and ebay.

[paranoid marvin]

VCS and Spectrum+ - Asda

ST and Amiga - Dixons

N64 - think maybe HMV

[Crusty Starfish]

C64 from a catalogue with lots of women in underwear - not that I was looking at those pages, although I did have to suddenly flick to another page when my mum came in. Luckily it landed on a page with the Atari 800xl and the C64.

Come to think of it, had I left it on the page with women in their undies, would I have got one of them for Christmas instead?

[kiwimike]

Bloody hell, doubt I could remember all the places I've bought consoles and computers! But the vast majority I have bought second hand. But from what I can remember...

Pong clone- this is the only one that was bought for me as a kid. It was called the "orbit" games computer. Various Sports pong games and cartridges along same lines.

Atari VCS- second hand
Tunix (arcadia 2001) Dept store
Zx81- second hand
ZX spectrum- independent computer store
Sega sc3000H computer- dept store
Amstrad 464- Second hand
C64- second hand
SMS- imported
Atari Lynx- Once from a computer store, another from a dept store
Sega MD- second hand
PS1- Dept store
Gameboy- dept store
GBC- indépendant game store
NGPC- eBay
Game.com- eBay
N64-Second hand
Game Cube- Second hand
Xbox- second hand
PS2- Dept store
Xbox 360- dept store
NES/SNES minis- dept store and online store respectively
DS- second hand
3DS- dept store

Probably some forgotten

[JamesC]

My brother had a 16k ZX Spectrum which I believe was bought in The Micro Shop in Great Yarmouth. He later had it upgraded to 48k at the same place.

I believe my C64 came from Comet. They used to have some pretty good deals.

My NES (TMNT edition!) came from either Dixons or Comet I think.

My Gameboy came from Woolworths GY. I wish I still had it - it came with Kirby's Dream Land as a pack in which was unusual. I really don't know whatever happened to it.

Megadrive from a great little second hand games shop in Victoria Arcade Great Yarmouth. I can't remember what it was called but it was a great little shop - I bought loads of games in there.

PS1 from Game in Luton (I think it was Game anyway - it was in the Arndale Centre).

N64 from Game in Luton.

Nintendo Gamecube from One Step Beyond in Norwich.

PSP from an independent game shop in Luton. Can't remember the name but it was up the side street near the cinema.

Xbox 360 from ASDA.

Everything since then has come from Amazon I think.




I really miss the great little independent shops and a special mention has to go to Boots GY. I bought tons of software in there over the years and it was the first place I ever played a NES and SNES. It seems weird to think they were a big games retailer back then.

[SJ_Sathanas]

Most were hand me downs from my older brother, gifts or something like used eBay purchases.
Only things I got new from shops were GameCube, from Toys R Us and a PC around 1999 from PC World (no idea what I was doing but turned out decent).

Should have kept that 'cube.....

[Antiriad2097]

Various Binatone type Pong clones were acquired from a local music and A/V shop. My uncle worked in the store, so he'd punt any dodgy returns our way. So we had one the gun didn't work on, or the 2600 clone that was prone to crashing.

Oric 1 my dad bought from Dixon's on a store card that took years to pay off. Still have it, though it needs a repair.

ZX81 I bought for £20 from Boots, selling off old stock. SirClive got that.

C64 and Spectrum+ were £40 and £35 on the same day from Woolworths, again when they were dumping stock to close the computer department after the boom. This would be 1986/87 as I was working while still at school. Still have the Speccy, but that C64 was sent to PForson. In my mind it was nice and clean, but realised when I sent it the reality was it was yellowed and grubby looking. Sorry Pete.

Atari ST was £100 from the local pub. I'd ordered an Amiga, but the ST was delivered instead and I couldn't complain at that price. Sent that one to Sscott after someone killed his at the show he put on.

Atari STE was iirc around £80-100 from Boots (a different branch). I spent more on the 4MB RAM upgrade. Great little machine I finally figured out how to code in assembly on. Still have it.

PS1 was from Dixons again, but a different branch. Took out the extended warranty which cost me about £20 or so, which more than paid for itself as I had 3 systems off them as those early laser assemblies wore out shockingly fast. Still have the last machine I got from them.

The rest I have no idea, as Mrs Ant has bought them for me, or I've picked up older systems from eBay and the like.

[adippm82]

Started thinking about this earlier, then realised just about all the shops I have bought computers or consoles from are now gone!

Although I bought some of these machines at earlier dates, I have included the date of the newest one bought, a bit sad all my recent machines have come in through online stores, when there used to be some great retro stores round my way, now there are just a couple left..who use ebay for a price guide.

Grandstand Pong Console - 1978 - Ely Toy Shop- Still going strong :}
Spectrum +2 - Classmate - November - 1986
Master System - 24/07/2004 - Electronics Boutique Kettering
Multimega - 14/03/1993 - Dixons - St Neots
Game Gear - 02/07/2004 - Second Hand Shop Newark
Saturn - 05/07/1996 - Choices Video - St Ives
Dreamcast - 28/12/2001 - Electronics Boutique - Cambridge
Atari Lynx - 13/01/1990 - Lloyds Chemist - St Ives
Atari Lynx II - 14/09/1991 - Index - Northampton
Atari 2600 - 19/06/2017 - Ebay
Atari 7800 08/05/2005 - British Heart Foundation - Bedford
Atari Jaguar - 12/06/2004 - 16/32 Online Shop
Jaguar CD - 1995 - Game - Northampton
Playstation - 30/09/1995 - Choices Video - St Ives
PS2 - 29/09/2001 - Electronics Boutique - Bedford
PS3 - 21/07/2007 - Choices Video - St Ives
PS4 - 17/11/2017 - Amazon Black Friday
PSP - 03/09/2005 - Game Online
PS Vita 20/03/2012 - Amazon
Game Boy - 31/10/1990 - Dixons - Bedford
Game Boy Color - 28/11/1998 - Woolworths - Kettering
Game Boy Advance - 22/07/2000 - Choices Video - St Ives
Virtual Boy - 02/06/2005 - Gamestation - Northampton
Nintendo DS - 07/02/2005 - Nintendo VIP
DS SP - 28/06/2006 - Woolworths
DS XL - 21/10/2010 - Blockbuster - Huntingdon
Nintendo 3ds - 25/03/2011 - Game Online
Nintendo 3ds XL - 26/07/2012 - Blockbuster - Huntingdon
New Nintendo 3ds - 27/11/2015 - Shopto
2DS - 14 Jan, 2017 - Tesco - Bar Hill
Nintendo NES - 11/02/2005 - Charity Shop - Bury St Edmunds
Twin Famicom - 02 Jun, 2017 - Ebay
AV Famicom - 20/05/2018 - Ebay
Pokemon Mini - 14/06/2005 - Woolworths - Cambridge
Super Nintendo - 17/04/92 - Woolworths - Bury St Edmunds
Nintendo 64 - 09/05/1997 - Choices - St Ives
Gamecube - 03/05/2002 Choices - St Ives
Wii - 16/05/2008 - Play.Com
Wii U -12/01/2015 - Amazon Sale
Switch - 03/04/2018 - The Game Collection
Wonderswan - 28/07/2011 - Gametron - Cambridge
Wonderswan Crystal - 20/07/2011 - Retrogames
Gizmondo - 07/05/2013 - Ebay
TapWave Zodiac - 23/07/2017 - Ebay
Neo Geo Pocket - 10/04/2004 - Gamestation - Cambridge
Neo Geo AES - 18/07/06 - Newsagent Ex Rental - St Ives
Neo Geo CDZ - 18/10/2005 - Videogame imports
PC Engine - 14/07/1990 - Telegames - Peterborough
PC Engine Briefcase - 12/10/1991-Telegames - Peterborough
PC Engine GT - 18/03/1993 - Future Zone - Milton Keynes
PC Engine Core Grafx - 25/08/2004 - Ebay
PC Engine Duo-R - 19/02/2005 - Genki Videogames
PC Engine LT - 23/05/2006 - Videogame Imports
PC Engine Shuttle - 08/10/2018 - Ebay
PC Engine Core Grafx II - 04/11/2018 - Ebay
Supergrafx - 23/09/2006 - Gametron - Cambridge
PC-FX - 14/01/2008 - Videogame Imports
Turbografx - 31/01/2008 - Console Clearance
Xbox - 22/08/03 - Woolworths - St Ives
Xbox 360 Elite - 22/09/2010 - Game Online
Xbox One S - 12/04/2018 - Amazon Warehouse Deal
Philips CDi - 18/08/2012 - Ebay
3DO - 28/08/2013 - Console Mad
CD32 - 1996 - Electronics Boutique
Amstrad GX4000 - 11/06/1990 - Dixons - Milton Keynes
Amstrad CPC 464 - 17/06/2010 - Gamestation - Cambridge
Oric Atmos - 1994 - Whittlesey Market
Amstrad 6128 - 12/01/2011 - Dataserve Retro
Amiga 500 - 12/01/2011 - Dataserve Retro
Commodore Vic 20 - 25/12/2011 - Yard Sale
Commodore 64 - Gamestation - Cambridge
Commodore 16 - 17/05/2011 - Retrogames
Commodore Plus 4 - 22/02/1985 - Eastern Electricity Newmarket
Toshiba MSX - 03/09/2010 - Ebay
Commodore 116 - 12 Aug, 2018 - Ebay
US SNES - 10 Sep, 2017 - Ebay
BBC B - 08/01/2010 - Retrogames
Acorn Electron - 19/01/2010 - Retrogames
Archimedes A3010 - The Attic Bug - Event
BBC Master - From a Skip
Atari 520 ST - September 1988 - John Menzies - Peterborough
Atari XEGS - 24/10/2013 - Retro Event

[paranoid marvin]

My brother had a 16k ZX Spectrum which I believe was bought in The Micro Shop in Great Yarmouth. He later had it upgraded to 48k at the same place.

I believe my C64 came from Comet. They used to have some pretty good deals.

My NES (TMNT edition!) came from either Dixons or Comet I think.

My Gameboy came from Woolworths GY. I wish I still had it - it came with Kirby's Dream Land as a pack in which was unusual. I really don't know whatever happened to it.

Megadrive from a great little second hand games shop in Victoria Arcade Great Yarmouth. I can't remember what it was called but it was a great little shop - I bought loads of games in there.

PS1 from Game in Luton (I think it was Game anyway - it was in the Arndale Centre).

N64 from Game in Luton.

Nintendo Gamecube from One Step Beyond in Norwich.

PSP from an independent game shop in Luton. Can't remember the name but it was up the side street near the cinema.

Xbox 360 from ASDA.

Everything since then has come from Amazon I think.




I really miss the great little independent shops and a special mention has to go to Boots GY. I bought tons of software in there over the years and it was the first place I ever played a NES and SNES. It seems weird to think they were a big games retailer back then.

Yeah Boots were aces for games. Used to have a deal where you got a card stamped every time you got a game, then the 4th or 5th one was free. This was back when there were no exchange shops.

John Menzies and WHS were good for going in and trying out games, or just having a play whilst your parents were shopping.

[The Laird]

My brother had a 16k ZX Spectrum which I believe was bought in The Micro Shop in Great Yarmouth. He later had it upgraded to 48k at the same place.

I believe my C64 came from Comet. They used to have some pretty good deals.

My NES (TMNT edition!) came from either Dixons or Comet I think.

My Gameboy came from Woolworths GY. I wish I still had it - it came with Kirby's Dream Land as a pack in which was unusual. I really don't know whatever happened to it.

Megadrive from a great little second hand games shop in Victoria Arcade Great Yarmouth. I can't remember what it was called but it was a great little shop - I bought loads of games in there.

PS1 from Game in Luton (I think it was Game anyway - it was in the Arndale Centre).

N64 from Game in Luton.

Nintendo Gamecube from One Step Beyond in Norwich.

PSP from an independent game shop in Luton. Can't remember the name but it was up the side street near the cinema.

Xbox 360 from ASDA.

Everything since then has come from Amazon I think.




I really miss the great little independent shops and a special mention has to go to Boots GY. I bought tons of software in there over the years and it was the first place I ever played a NES and SNES. It seems weird to think they were a big games retailer back then.

If you mean the old cinema in Luton it was 101 Computer Games, if you mean where the new cinema is (Galaxy Centre) it was Software Plus.

The shop in the Arndale was probably Electronics Boutique, which was originally Future Zone. It did later become Game though after they took them over.

[JamesC]

Definitely the old cinema.
I don't think it was EB as that was further up in the Arndale at the same time (opposite Debenhams I think). I almost bought a Neo Geo Pocket Color in there but couldn't really afford it.