1 of 15 Commodore Vic-20
Aww, bless. My first computer! I was just coming up to my eighth birthday and this was one particular present I was allowed a few hours early. The reason? My parents had spent hours prior setting it up to display "Happy Birthday Neil!" across the screen as I clapped eyes on it for the first time. It took them so long and they couldn’t wait to show me. Of course, this was a computer for helping with schooling. Naturally, years of playing 'Blitz', ‘Space Snake’ and 'Neutron Zapper' ensued.

2 of 15 Commodore Amiga A500
The upgrade from a Vic 20 to an Amiga 500 was a monumental one indeed for me and one that was a good few years in the making. I missed out on a lot in-between whilst mates reaped the rewards of Spectrums, C64s and NESs. This beast more than made up for it. Far too many quality games to mention but speaking of beasts...

3 of 15 Shadow of the Beast 2 (Amiga)
The most jaw-dropping thing I had ever seen running on a computer. The actual game stunk to high heaven but the graphics, especially the introduction, and the sounds were stunning. It was easy to get killed but I kept doing it on purpose regardless just to hear the Game Over music one more time. Due to the difficulty, this was first game I ever cheated on. The words ‘Ten’ and ‘Pints’ will be forever etched on my gaming memory.

4 of 15 Nintendo Gameboy
My mate Brads had one first and until that day I’d never even considered the thought of gaming on the go but in 1989 it arrived, chunkier than a Yorkie sandwich, cooler than a cryogenically frozen Vanilla Ice and also dear as fuck to an 11 year old schoolie. His parents owned a shop so this was nothing to him but to me it represented my first real gaming craving. I just had to have one but saving up would have taken years on a quid a week. A glimmer of hope around the time of the UK launch came in the form of football magazine ‘Match’ having a Colin Curly Quavers competition to win one. Thanks to my artistic skills, completing a comic strip featuring the aforementioned twisted hound, I managed to bag one and quickly become joint top dude with Brads at school because of it. Cheers Col!

5 of 15 The secret of monkey island 2 (Amiga)
I’d never really enjoyed adventure games before this one despite owning and completing the original (admittedly, using a walkthrough throughout about 90% of the game) but this one really sunk its wind-up chattering comedy teeth in. Even the amount of disc changing could not spoil this brilliant, funny story that I have probably gone on to complete four or five times now. It’s easily my favourite computer game of all time. I sometimes wish I could have some sort of temporary amnesia that will erase the solutions to puzzles and jokes from my memory just so I can play through it again from fresh.

6 of 15 Super Mario Kart (SNES)
The only game I have ever bought for a console I didn’t even have. I’d asked for a SNES for Christmas back in 1992 and things were looking good but I wasn’t 100% certain I’d get one on the day. I must have thought that by spending £40 on a game (obtained by collecting Christmas tips from two paper rounds), this would encourage (re: blackmail) my parents into buying one in order to justify my purchase. Thankfully, I did get one without too much fuss but initial impressions of Super Mario Kart were a disappointing. After the purchase of another joypad, this changed rapidly and it now, unquestionably, is my favourite console game of all time.

7 of 15 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
A SNES, Super Mario World and Street Fighter 2 – probably the best Christmas present in the world. ‘Nuff said.

8 of 15 Starwing (SNES)
Screenshots did not do this game justice at the time so I wasn’t that interested but, upon seeing it running in the local Tandy, this was the next game to make my jaw drop. Even my Dad commented on it which I think doubly rammed home the impact of this game. Another mate, Zia, got the Starwing SNES pack shortly after release but he didn’t like it. Obviously, it was promptly borrowed and returned only after I had completed it about three times. It would have been rude not to.

9 of 15 Super Pro Fighter
Ello, ello, ello, what’s going on here…piracy alert! I have to admit to being a little bit naughty by buying this but it was my mate fault honest guv. Basically, the Super Pro Fighter allowed you to copy SNES games onto floppy disc. Yes, I’d copied a few Amiga games in the past but this seemed so much more, I don’t know…downright illegal. Saturday mornings were never the same again after that. The usual trips to the library to study for exams had now made way for everyone to pile round to Gingers to see what new games he had, ahem, acquired.

10 of 15 Nintendo N64
I’ve always had a soft spot for Nintendo games and consoles so when news of this black beauty broke, not buying one was unthinkable. It became my first ever Japanese import purchase and set me back 500 notes along with Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. It brings a tear to my eye to think that, at the moment, it’s all boxed up in the loft, the next generation of consoles snatching N64 time away from me rather prematurely. I’m going to dig it out in a few years and let my newly born son have a bash. I know that Nintendo magic will still be there.

11 of 15 Mario Kart 64 (N64)
The original was brilliant, the N64 itself was superb, surely this had to be something special right? Perhaps the biggest disappointment for me personally – this is my gaming Phantom Menace. The speed of the karts was agonizingly slow, having to do the daft skid around corners for a speed boost but actually receiving no discernable benefit at all and massively long and boring courses should have had alarm bells ringing when I first had a demo. However, memories of my initial reaction to the original came flooding back and 140 (!) notes was parted with for the Japanese version with “free” joypad. The subsequent release of the even more shocking Gamecube version (which I took a day off work to buy) has eased the pain a little.

12 of 15 Game Boy Advance
Importing stuff months before its UK release had now become de rigueur and somehow my local console pimp had managed to get this to me on its Japanese release date. He even hand delivered it to my house so top marks to him but a big fat zero to Nintendo for the screen. 32,000 possible colours meant bugger all when they’re only visible under a 2,000 watt light bulb. Wrong in so many ways, it’s notable for me only because I got conned out of it on eBay by some fraudster in Tunisia using a stolen credit card.

13 of 15 Gran Tourismo 3 (PS2)
Without doubt, the game I have spent most time with. I’m still a bit gutted that it doesn’t record your game-play time. Nonetheless, between December 2003 and July 2004, this was the only game I played. And played. And played. To 100% completion. Other games were bought during this time but left shrink-wrapped. Gran Turismo 3 made me realise my obsession with games. Utterly captivating.

14 of 15 Sony PlayStation Portable
Missus wants the telly on for soap bollocks. PSP (imported again, obviously) gets loaded up with Wipeout Pure. Sofa. Beer (1 can of, for consumption cold). New tracks downloaded from T’internet. Earphone volumage whacked up to blasting. Near PS2 graphics in your hand, in your hand for crying out loud, an itchy trigger finger and we’re ready to rock and roll. Truly the best piece of electronic gaming equipment ever. No shit. I’m sure a collective ‘FUCK!’ was let out from Nintendo’s Japanese HQ when this baby was released.

15 of 15 Sega Dreamcast
Finally, the Sega Dreamcast is notable for me for two reasons. Firstly, it marks a ‘backwards’ step in terms of console buying but at the only £10 for a brand new boxed set-up from MVC it was an offer to good to refuse and, secondly, it has brought out a worrying collecting side to my gaming. As more and more demands are being place on my time (especially, now my fiancée and I have a new born baby boy), I’m getting less and less gaming joy so I’ve turned more towards collecting games rather than actually playing them. Recently, I’ve been trying to obtain every UK PAL Dreamcast game, factory sealed, but I think that little venture may have to be put on hold for a while. Sad - maybe. Expensive – definitely. But it represents another chapter in the story of my gaming life. Long may it continue!