Did Your Parents Buy You Video Games Of Their Own Accord When You Were Young? Did They Have Good Taste?

[Deleted member 52442]

The only games I actively sought out were like, Pokemon and some Kirby games and Zelda and the Minish Cap (the only zelda I've ever played). But thinking back on Christmases, the shit my parents managed to pick out fucking slapped

Didnt ask for these games, didnt know anything about them, holy shit did they pick out some winners

 

[PlanetSmasher]

No, my parents always asked what games I wanted.

My GRANDMOTHER sometimes bought me games without asking first though. That's how I got one of the Harvest Moon games and Mega Man X4.

 

[Dest]

yeah my dad bought me unreal tournamnet when i was like 4-5 years old to play with him

i grew up well

 

[Ploid 6.0]

No

 

[adj_noun]

I'll never forget my dad coming home and giving this to us for no real reason. This was a guy who did NOT do stuff like that. Ever.

 

[Komo]

A lot of games I had were pirated since couldn't buy them.

 

[Tom Nook]

My parents knew I like Spider-Man.

 

[FallenGrace]

Super Fantasy Zone, Shining Force 2, Streets of Rage 2.

They did good.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

Yes. I don't care if people say it's mediocre. I loved it.

 

[Akira86]

I'm sure my dad would have been a game enthusiast if there hadn't been such a huge stigma in jock culture against it. he loved playing football video games with me.

i'm not sure about taste, but i'm pretty sure the box art had more influence than anything when my parents bought games, lol

 

[jwhit28]

My parents played NES, SNES, and Genesis, but fell out of gaming until Wii and DS came out. Metroid was probably the biggest blind spot we had.

 

[J.T]

No, my parent had no clue, I picked my own games, I still remember getting my Dad to buy me Vice City as a 11 year old.

 

[Moist_Owlet]

Got wario ware as a surprise and that game slaps

 

[L176]

ONly thing they've bought me out of the blue was another Wii controller with Wii Play. I usually didn't ask games from them as a gift cause I couldn't trust them.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

My parents owned an Atari 2600 that they purchased prior to me being born (I am their first-born) and a good collection of games for it.

My dad also bought games for the family PC and played them himself as I grew up, notable titles were the Doom series and Warcraft I and II. I think the last game he personally bought for the family PC was Hexen. I ended up personally playing Doom I and II and Warcraft I and II but only ever watched my dad play Hexen, never touched the latter myself.

Never saw my parents buy a game of their own volition beyond that. I was maybe 7 or 8 when my dad bought Hexen.

 

[nsilvias]

no, i bought all my games. my dad had already dealt with my older brother always asking for new systems and games in the 90's so he was sick of games by the time i was starting to get into them in the 2000's

 

[Deleted member 17210]

When I first got my Vic 20, my parents got me Serpentine, Apple Panic, Defender, and Dig Dug. They did a good job (by fluke).

 

[defaltoption]

They got me kids games but I enjoyed them, Arthur, looney tunes stuff, a couple Disney games. The best they ever did was Crash Bandicoot 1and Ratchet and Clank 1. Otherwise it was up to me to get the goods.

The worst was the learning games for pc, I can't remember what they were called but they were by grade level.

 

[NickatNite]

The only one they purchased on their own, and one of my favorites games of that era.

 

[V has come to]

when i was a kid my parents usually just got what i asked them for. i think the only exception was some shitty scooby doo game on the ps2

when i was a teenager my grandma got me Dark Souls completely out of the blue. i had already gotten it but it was pretty cool to get it from her

 

[Futabaisthebest<3]

They were all brought from my Dad for my 12th birthday without knowledge that PS2 is existed before N64.

 

[GearDraxon]

Dad got me Rygar randomly, because two kids were talking about it at Toys "R" Us.

So my answer is "hell yes."

 

[King Alamat]

My parents don't know jack shit about games, so they would've never gotten me anything without my input. My older brother, on the other hand, managed to always get me some bargain bin bullshit like Area 51 or the first Prey and I know he had better taste in games, he just didn't wanna share.

 

[emphyrian]

I have happy memories of Dad surprising me with International Ninja Rabbits for the C64 when I cam back from camping.
He did his best.

(To my parents credit, they purchased some fantastic titles over my childhood but none as amusing as the above.)

 

[Neoxon]

They usually asked me what I wanted first.

 

[Lego Killer Moth]

i don't think usually. they got me portal 2 for my birthday when it came out because they knew i loved the first game. and they got me skate 3 because i always rented it from our local video store. probably some others i can't think of but usually i would express interest in getting a game beforehand

 

[oldboss]

My mom always took the time to do some research and asked around before buying games. I remember getting Motocross Madness, Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey and Jak & Daxter for Christmas. She also bought me my first console (sega) with Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and Revenge of Shinobi.

 

[Masagiwa]

Dad knew I loved RPG's. When I opened this as a Christmas present I was blown away.

 

[Radium217]

My mom bought AC2 for me. Also most of the Need for Speeds on PS2, Tekken 3 and Crash Bandicoot. I'd say her taste was rad. She was also mad good Ling Xiao Yu in Tekken. My dad got me Splinter Cell and bought my first PS2 and we used to play together but I always bought my own games from PS2 on since I'd get enough pocket money to do so.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

My dad bought us a PS1 and these two games when I was in 2nd grade:

Kind of mixed, but luckily the cheaper Greatest Hits games were usually winners, which is where his purchases started gravitating.

Great thread idea.

 

[MangoUltz]

They only surprise games my parents ever bought me had marvel superheroes in them, it was their only way to guarantee I'd like it. I picked my own games as early as I can remember.

 

[Era Uma Vez]

When I was like 8/9, I had a Gameboy Advance and my mom was the one buying all the games as Christmas/birthday gift without me knowing.
To this day she still doesnt know anything about videogames and she's not the type of person to ask for opinions at game stores, so it's quite incredible that all 5 games she bought were WarioWare, Pokemon Leaf Green, HP: Chamber of Secrets, SuperMario Advance 4 and Metroid Zero Mission. Maybe because they were so popular, they were the easiest to find, but still, wow.
After that, I moved on to the PS2 and then yes, I would tell them what games I wanted.

 

[Mr.Fletcher]

My mum went everywhere to try and get me Donkey Kong 64 when I was younger, but alas she couldn't get it despite her best efforts.

She got me Super Smash Bros for Christmas instead.

 

[PersonAndStuff]

Nah, I kind of wish they did.

 

[Sanctuary]

No, because I grew up in the 80s, and when I actually got my first Atari, the NES had been out for almost a year. I saved up for it with my allowance, and all of the other money I earned in other ways, or was given and purchased one in '87. From that point on, I just saved up my money for games or rented them until a few years later I could actually get a job.

I was dumb though, because I was still into Transformers and MASK, and likely could have had an NES as a Christmas present in '85 instead of dumb shit that I didn't actually "play" with anyway, aside from transforming every now and then, and then just having them all on a display shelf. Plus, I had finally gotten an Atari after years of wanting one (I still got to play one somewhere all of the time growing up at least), but got bored of the one I ended up getting after a few months. I think I had wasted close to $150 on it as well.

 

[galvatron]

My mom got me an NES by surprise since we were in NYC when it came out Christmas 1985 there. Aside from that, she struck out so badly with discount NES games that I made a huge list every year of what games were reviewed well enough to have me curious. The list was huge to make it clear that I couldn't possibly expect all of that since she wasn't made of money.

One year after the list was made I guess money got tighter and she went with bargain stuff again, which I didn't open and just exchanged for Super Bomberman and Secret of Mana. 2 of the best games I've ever played, so no regrets.

That's how it stayed until I went off to college and promptly dropped down to maybe 1 game purchase per year until I started buying my own.

No, my parents always asked what games I wanted.

My GRANDMOTHER sometimes bought me games without asking first though. That's how I got one of the Harvest Moon games and Mega Man X4.

Click to shrink...

Secret otaku Grandma!

 

[Deleted member 17210]

My mum went everywhere to try and get me Donkey Kong 64 when I was younger, but alas she couldn't get it despite her best efforts.

Click to shrink...

You dodged a bullet there. ;)

 

[F34R]

Nope. My parents didn't buy us a single game, ever. If we wanted something like that, we had to earn the money and buy it ourselves.

 

[the magical kitsune]

They only had a vague idea of what I liked and got anything with Mario or Sonic in the cover.

That's how I ended up with Sonic R on the PC. Love it still

 

[Min]

I think they always came and asked me or just asked for a wishlist.

 

[entremet]

No. They always asked.

Games were fucking expensive. You buy a bad game and you're stuck!

 

[aerie]

I got Duck Tales on the NES without asking. Bloody brilliant game.

 

[Mr.Fletcher]

You dodged a bullet there. ;)

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it was only years later I found how... infamous it was. lol

 

[ResetEraIsTheBestEra]

When they bought me my first console (SNES) , my dad bought it with Super Mario World, Killer Instincts, Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country

So fucking yes, those were the best games ever, the only time were they fucked up was when my dad got a Sega Genesis lol

 

[PunishedPrince]

My dad bought Halo Reach for me which was my first fps ever. Lead to some of my best memories in gaming. Back when we shared a PS2, he also bought Spiderman 2, Path of Neo, and the DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi games for me. I loved all of them so he did a great job overall.

 

[Version 3.0]

Hell yeah. My parents bought my first home console, the 2600, for the family at Christmas. And when Pac-Man was released, which was a big deal at the time (even though that 2600 port su-ucked), they spent the entire launch day out, scouring stores until they finally got the last copy at Sears. I remember wondering where they were all day, then they showed up in the late afternoon with Pac-Man, and I couldn't believe my parents even knew it about it.

 

[Persephone]

A) No.
B) The only game my mum ever got invested in watching me play was Heavy Rain. Make of that what you will.

 

[Ocie]

Only when I was 5 and playing Snes. They just bought stuff based on movies and tv shows I was watching. I enjoyed pretty much everything they got me.

Now I'm genuinely curious as to what my parents would buy me unprompted in the present day.

 

[Deleted member 52442]

Yes. I don't care if people say it's mediocre. I loved it.

Click to shrink...

i always really wanted to play this lol

 

[Milennia]

I usually mentioned what to buy but my dad bought stuff like street fighter home randomly and castlevania.
N64 I remember getting pokemon stadium as a surprise and stuff like glover.