Video Game Christmas Memories

[toni_brinstar]

Just sitting at work thinking about how many Christmases were completely made by getting games or consoles from Santa.<3 Hoping to read some of your favorite Christmas/Holiday stories!

One year my brother and I snuck downstairs mega-early when Santa had already dropped off the gifts, and I wanted to see if I got a Donkey Kong plush toy I was apparently dying for. I ripped open a peek at a softer gift and saw a beige color and figured it wasn't him, heading back up to bed kind of bummed (lol). When it was time to open the gifts as a family I opened that gift and it was the DK after all, and what I had peeked at was the color of his giant fist. In hindsight, DK is only like 3 colors, brown, beige and red, so idk how I was convinced it wasn't him... but I loved that thing.

Another big nintendo year was when the DS came out. Me and my brothers could see the presents my parents put under the tree were shaped exactly like DS boxes, but it felt like days and days going by just being so excited to open them. Once we opened them I feel like we didn't stop playing for years. They were the original silver, bulkier ones. I remember going to our grandparents' house completely absorbed, playing around in DS Pictochat (lol) and using download play, I think we had Mario 64.

And of course a huge one was the year I got an Xbox 360. My older brothers had xbox's already, playing "older kid games" like shooters or halo or online games, and it was finally my year to join in. It was the black Elite xbox and I got Halo 3 with it. Truly felt like a coming of age moment lol and we all know how earth-shatteringly fun Halo 3 was for years.

Share you stories here and have an amazing holiday!

 

[Firesquids]

One year my sister and I really wanted Kingdom Hearts, we were big Final Fantasy fans and my mom loved Disney, so it was the perfect fit for us. We had been begging for it all year long. Come Christmas time, we opened our gifts and the last two we opened were Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X-2. But we didn't have a PS2, not wanting to be ungrateful, we calmly informed her that it wouldn't play on our PlayStation, but we still appreciated that she got them for us, and then she pulled out one more gift, it was a brand new PS2! It's still one of my favorite Christmas memories.

 

[Corrie]

I fondly remember getting my DS Lite for Christmas and playing Pokemon Blue Rescue team for hours, loving the sprite work and music! Also with Kirby Squeak Squad too! Such a nice memory that I wish I could relive.

 

[toni_brinstar]

One year my sister and I really wanted Kingdom Hearts, we were big Final Fantasy fans and my mom loved Disney, so it was the perfect fit for us. We had been begging for it all year long. Come Christmas time, we opened our gifts and the last two we opened were Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X-2. But we didn't have a PS2, not wanting to be ungrateful, we calmly informed her that it wouldn't play on our PlayStation, but we still appreciated that she got them for us, and then she pulled out one more gift, it was a brand new PS2! It's still one of my favorite Christmas memories.

I fondly remember getting my DS Lite for Christmas and playing Pokemon Blue Rescue team for hours, loving the sprite work and music! Also with Kirby Squeak Squad too! Such a nice memory that I wish I could relive.

These are so nice!!

 

[Chronos314_XD]

Christmas 2017 was when I had gotten my Switch! I'm surprised my mom was able to find one considering how scarce and hard to find it was at the time, but I am very grateful for it! I don't play it much anymore, but I still think it's one of Nintendo's best consoles despite some issues I have with it.

 

[Neb]

During Christmas of 2012, I got a white Wii U with a copy of New Super Mario Bros. U! I spent the whole day playing the game, browsing Miiverse even though I was too young to be using it, and watching YouTube videos on the GamePad. Sadly, I haven't touched my Wii U in years since the gamepad had a faulty connection and repairing it cost over $200.

 

[Doo]

I got my DS for Christmas when I was 5 years old and I can barely remember it now but I remember it being soooo exciting. My parents had told me I wasn’t old enough for it yet but Santa brought it for me and it was such a surprise.

I got Kirby’s epic yarn for Christmas when I was 7. I was so excited to play it. I remember having to wait ages for my dad to help me start the game up I stayed up way too late playing it lol. It was my favourite game (besides animal crossing of course) for a while, I played it all the time.

I got my 3DS for Christmas when I was 9 but my parents accidentally ruined the surprise there still was nice though lol

I just really like the feeling of playing a brand new game all afternoon on Christmas Day. And waking up the next morning to play it all day long. I did that with super Mario odyssey a few years back. And probably other games over the years but I can’t remember specifics. I have a very patchy memory of my childhood unfortunately

 

[Javocado]

One of my favorite Christmas memories was when my oldest sister got me a Wii! She had gotten it at Wal-Mart on Black Friday and had it wrapped already with extra Wiimotes as well. Growing up, we would open one small present on Christmas Eve and it was usually pre-selected, but this particular year, I guess no one paid attention and I had picked and opened a present by myself with mom's permission and low and behold, it was a Family Guy action figure.

I went to go see my sister and thank her and she was kinda shocked and mad like "what you opened one?!?" and I was like yeah mom let me open a present LOL. Well next day I opened up the Wii and I was sooooooooo happy bout it and I could see why she was upset about me opening something the day before cause I could've easily opened a Wiimote.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I got a SNES for Christmas that had both Super Mario World and Super Mario All Stars on individual carts (this was before both games were merged together into one cart) and Mario Paint and for the Game Boy I got Mortal Kombat II (before the rating system began). I was excited to get the console and games and I had fun with Mario Paint. I think that game should be rereleased on the SNES Online service for the Switch with the game being operated with motion controls. I’m sure it wouldn’t take too much coding to do it since they disabled the save point screen when porting the Pokémon games on the 3DS and had the way to trade and battle other trainers work differently than on the Game Boy.

 

[Sheando]

I actually never received a console for Christmas (I saved up and bought my consoles with my own money over the years, with the exception of the Super Nintendo that my parents somehow just owned for whatever reason), but reading this thread did remind me of a really nice holiday memory!

I am an only child, and for Christmas we'd often visit my dad's family because they lived locally. They were mostly nice to me, but all the other cousins were super close and saw each other all the time, and the overall family vibe, with the exception of my parents, was very jokey and pranky and kind of crass at times, while I was a quiet, shy, serious child. I dreaded these gatherings and only really liked the part of Christmas where I was home with my parents.

One year around 4th grade or so, my best friend from school was having a rough time, so my parents invited him, his older brother, and his mom to come have Christmas with us. We skipped all the family stuff. My friend and I played board games and exchanged trading cards that we'd bought for each other with loose change. We played outside in the dark and hid in my room to eat leftovers from dinner. And weirdly, he happened to have recently gotten Animal Crossing for the GameCube, so my first exposure to the franchise, about 2 years before I bought Wild World for my DS and played it "for real," was sitting on the living room rug on Christmas Day while he ran around his town and gave me a little tour and talked to Peewee the gorilla. It was honestly one of the best Christmases of my entire life. I have always loved Christmas, and it meant a lot to me to spend the day with only people I actually liked and trusted, with no weird obligatory socializing.

Once I started playing Wild World, I had a moment where I went "Wait a minute . . . this is that game that [friend] showed me years ago!" I even had Peewee the gorilla in my town. Full circle.