Nearing the end

Dreamcast
Launch purchase, the only console I've done that for. Skyrocketed my interest in fighting games. Notable games included VOOT, Virtua Fighter 3tb, Shenmue II, Jet Grind Radio, Chu Chu Rocket, Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur.[/i]

PS2
Bought an import system during 2002 'cause it was cheap. Wound up being mostly used for Beatmania IIDX. Notable games included Beatmania IIDX 3rd-9th Style, Virtua Fighter 4 Evo, Ico, Maximo, Katamari, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3.

Xbox
Purchased it for Sega's outings early on. Stupidest reason possible. Expected it to bomb either way, but it's a damn fine console, now, largely due to Live. Notable games include Halo 2, Phantom Dust, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, Ninja Gaiden, Riddick, every multiplatform game ever.

GBA- my favorite system this gen! Too many great beat em ups, 2D platformers, S/RPG's to name!
DC- Ikaruga, Mars Matrix, Power Stone, PSO, Shenmue, Frame Gride, Spawn, Geomatrix.
GC- Metroid, Zelda, Beyond Good & Evil, F-Zero, Skies of Arcadia(I know...), REmake and 4
XBOX- turned me to the Dark Side with Orta, Breakdown, GunValkyrie, Morrowind, Ninja Gaiden, and Phantom Dust
PS2-shit hardware with some good games like Devil May Cry, Rygar, Maximo, and SMT3

Dreamcast: I wanted one the first moment I saw the feature on it in Next Gen Magazine (R.I.P) I never put one on reserve, surprisingly enough. I just never got around to doing so. On launch day, after college classes over, I went with a friend to a mall Gamestop as he did reserve one. When we got there, there, there was a looong line snaking out of the store and around to the mall entrance. He got in line while I wandered around the mall to kill time. I then came to a vitually empty KayBee, and saw that they had some. I purchased it, another controller, and Soul Calibur right then. I got home and fired it up. I was simply blown away. Soul Calibur was a beautiful game with amazing choreography, and I probably spent as much time in the watch mode admiring the game as much as I played it. More fighting games should have watch modes. I was most impressed with the DC because I was actually playing games in my home that didn't have horribly pixelated textures, or filled with blocky, pop-up plagued, fog filled graphics.

Notable games: Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure 1, PowerStone 2, VF3: TB, all 2D Capcom fighters, Vigilante 8: Second Offense, Fire Pro D

Playstation 2: I wasn't able to get this until almost 8 months after the launch date, as you simply could not find any in my area. My first memorable game for it was Twisted Metal Black, notable because it was the first one that was developed by the original team since Twisted Metal 2. Like others have said in this thread, if you're any type of gamer, it's simply ludicrous if you don't own a PS2. While it's certainly home to a lot of garbage, there's a ton of gems also. It has a game for you, no matter your tastes. While the "Emotion Engine" is certainly now a little long in the tooth, it can still produce some nice graphics in the right hands. It also has the biggest source of RPG's, which is one of my favorite genres

Notable games: Twisted Metal Black, Final Fantasy X, Gitaroo Man, the GTA series, Tekken 5, All the games that used the Naughty Dog Engine (Sly, R&C, Jak), Dark Cloud 2, God of War, all Nippon Ichi (S)RPG, plus a myriad of others I'm surely forgetting.

Gamecube: This is the only system whose initial shipment didn't sell out at my store this generation, so I easily got one. It's also one of the few consoles that I didn't buy a launch game with, as I wasn't very impressed with its selection of launch titles.....that was until SSB: Melee was released. I can't even fathom the number of hours my friends and I played that game. It was THE multiplayer game to play, and I think I didn't buy another game for it for a few months after. There was a lull after that where no games that interested me were release until Metroid Prime was released, and it picked up after that. I do share the opinon that Nintendo first party releases aren't as good as they used to be. Hopefully they get their act together for next gen. I also have to say that the Cube was my least played system, but from the perspective that "85" is less than "100" (saying that it still got a lot of my gaming time, reguardless) I also have to say that of all the consoles, the Gamecube's image quality looks the sharpest and most vivid on my HDTV.

Notible Games: Super Smash Bros: Melee, Metroid Prime series, Baten Kaitos, Tales of Symphonia, Resident Evil 4, Paper Mario 2, Beyond Good and Evil (only version available at time of purchase), Viewtiful Joe

XBox: To be honest, I didnt really know what to think of the XBox when it was released. It was bulky, didn't know how to take its harddrive feature, and it was an unknown entity to console gaming. However, I was happy for the fact that there was an American born console in gaming again, even though it was the much feared and maligned Microsoft, so I took a chance and purchased it, and I'm glad I did. 2 things that the XBox has shown me is that Western *CONSOLE* game development has come along way since the "dark ages" (yes, I know there's western games on other consoles, but the bulk of XBox's library was West-centric), and Japanese market itself withstanding, a console can survive without the support of big name Japanese developers. From the moment I plugged the system up and fired up Halo, I was awestruck. The game had extremely top-tier production values and atmosphere. Then and there I knew the console was destined for greatness, and it hasn't dispointed. While I started to worry when the lack-luster post-Halo releases started appearing, It then picked up, and I haven't looked back. XBox's certainly the most flexible of the 3 consoles with its home-brew scene, emulators, and modding capabilities. I really just hope that Microsoft doesn't let all this go to their head and screw up the next-gen system with their "improvements". I also shouldn't have to repeat how much XBox Live extends the life of a game (and the console itself)

Notible games: Halo, Ninja Gaiden, KOTOR series, Jade Empire, TJ&E3 (I was a big fan of the orginal, and thought this game was also good, so cut me some slack!), PGR2, NFL2K*, Doom3, Morrowind

I, for one, enjoyed all the consoles, and I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of next gen.

I also would like to point out that, while not perfect, Spiderman 2 was probably one of the best comic book based games I've ever played that included the third dimension.

Dreamcast: Sword of the Berserk, Jedi Power Battles, NFL 2K1
Gamecube: Rogue Leader. Ya thats it. System blew.
PS2: Twisted Metal Black, Sly Cooper, GTA3/VC/SA, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, more i cant remember.
XBox: Halo, Halo 2, Mercenaries, Ninja Gaiden, KOTOR, more I cant remember.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by voltz

Dreamcast - First day of release and I was standing all by myself at Wal-Mart to pluck this for $299 along with soulcalibur which turned out to be the best fighting game at that time.

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You paid too much!

Dreamcast
VO:OT, JGR, Mars Matrix, Soul Calibur, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, KOF Dream Match '99, and SFIII: Double Impact.

PlayStation 2
MGS 3, Tekken 5, VF4: Evo, Rez, and Ridge Racer V.

GameCube
Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime

Xbox
Halo 1&2, JSRF, DOA3 and DOA: Ultimate, PGR 1&2, Panzer Dragoon Orta

Lesson learned as well: buy far less games, and place a premium on replay value.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gamevet

You paid too much!

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I was thinking the same thing! I would have waited in line instead!

Didn't Dreamcast come out at $199?? >__>

Yea, and damnit, I keep telling you guys, Mr. Driller : Drill Land is fucking candy. If it weren't for that game I would sell my Gamecube, but damn those singing children for filling me with love.