Calling all PAL region Nintendo fans!

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Nintendo never had market dominance in the PAL region until the Wii. That said, that doesn’t mean that amongst the kids playing BBC Micros, ZX Spectrums, Amigas, Sega Master Systems, and others, that there weren’t more than a few die hard Nintendo fans out there. Share your memories of your childhood with Nintendo! Regardless of your walk of life, all are welcome!

 

[PSVitaForever]

I live in a PAL country and my first experience with Nintendo has been the Nintendo DS (that's when I started to use console for playing games: until then I had only played on the pc). I really loved that console, to me the touch screen was a very innovative thing!

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I live in a PAL country and my first experience with Nintendo has been the Nintendo DS (that's when I started to use console for playing games: until then I had only played on the pc). I really loved that console, to me the touch screen was a very innovative thing!

That was my first lmao!
That touch screen was so much better than PDAs that were out around the same time, which was my childhood comparison point! DS is still one of my favorite systems I’ve ever used.

 

[Kamako]

Gameboy Pocket with Pokemon Red ruled, the GameBoy Colour was teal coloured, and that ruled too. Love the soundchip they used. Got a secondhand N64 with LoZ OoT, Super Mario 64, Shadow-Man and Goldeneye. That crushed.

 

[DanVzare]

Nintendo was popular in PAL regions before the Wii. Don't underestimate the popularity of the original GameBoy and the original Donkey Kong arcade machines. Mario has been a household name the world over for a very long time.

Now as for my fondest Nintendo memory. That'd be when I saved up my money to buy a GameBoy Colour. :D
I think it only cost me £20 as well (maybe it was £40? I'd have to check the sticker that's still on the box). Which nowadays is unthinkable. Considering the GameBoy Advance came out the very next year, I think it's safe to assume why it was so cheap. Still, it was nice saving up my pocket money for it. I even got the colour I wanted. Transparent purple.
I still have that GameBoy Colour and the box it came with.
The first game I got for it was Wario Land III. Which quite honestly, was a very frustrating game. I never finished it. If I knew then what I know now, I would've looked for Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land. Since that's more inline with what I wanted from a platformer back then.

Still, I had fun. I think the game I played the most on it was Pokemon Gold.
I have nostalgia when I look back at when I used to struggle to see that screen. It really needed a backlight.

 

[MegaHiro91]

PAL kid here! I got my first transparent GameBoy pocket with a copy of Wario Land when I was about 6. I then watched in envy as my classmates upgraded to GameBoy Colour, but then when I was around 10 my grandma upgraded me to a GameBoy Advance, which I thought was the coolest thing ever because of the oval design (still my favorite handheld design). My brother would borrow it for days at a time without giving it back, so eventually she gave him a GBA SP since the old model was out of stock, which of course meant she had to give me one as well :P then when the original DS came around, which I again thought was an awesome piece of tech, my mom (I think) helped fund that one.

Fun thing is, with DS and Super Mario 64 DS in hand, just for a bit, I was the cool kid in class with the newest hardware. I remember one in-door recess where I let it pass around and everyone tried out the various mini-games it came with.

(...what I wouldn't give to do grade school all over again...)

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

What I’ve learned from this thread is that, while home consoles sold less in PAL, Nintendo’s games were ALWAYS beloved in PAL regions thanks to handhelds.

Good taste! Handhelds are probably the best line that Nintendo makes. Love the DS and 3DS lines, as well as the next level craziness that was GameBoy era.