What are the systems you stood in line for?

[Opa Opa]

Ahh the launch day excitement. It's 1 a.m., you're exhausted, and you're ready to get home with that new system you read so much about.

What systems (or handhelds) have you stood in line for? What game(s) did you first pick up and do you feel the system was worth the wait?

***My story:
I've only stood in line for one system: the GameCube. Yes it was completely worth it. Every other system before that I played at a friends house before I'd make a decision to buy it but reading about the GameCube got me really excited. It's now probably one of my fav nintendo systems.

The initial PS2 disc read errors made me steer clear of Sony for a while and I always preferred Nintendo products so it wasn't a hard decision to make. And my GameCube is running fine after all these years (knock on wood) so no regrets here.

As for games there were only two available at launch in the store that I was in: Super Monkey Ball and Luigi's Mansion. Do I really have to explain why I chose Luigi's Mansion?

The Nintendo GameCube was and still is great. However, I'm never going to stand in line for any system again because of the first-run hardware issues and the imminent console revisions that run rampant these days.
***
Well how about you racketboy community?

[irixith]

I have never stood in line for anything at launch.

I like to think that I'm somehow better than that, and that I'm not driven by rampant consumerism like we're all trained to be..but..

..I did get a Wii with most launch titles delivered to me on launch day;
..I did pre-order and pick up a GBA and 7 games on launch day;
..I did buy a DS off the back of a truck on launch day.

I actually am really not much of a 'must have at launch' kind of person, it just ended up that way for those three particular systems.

Waiting in line though? Never. :p

[sevin0seven]

i never stood in a line for any up coming gaming system either. too busy playing with my current ones. i usually wait for the price to drop.

[Xeogred]

I hate to say it but I did it for the Wii (did it for Twilight Princess mainly). Which I don't even own my Wii anymore (long horrible craigslist story... haha).

All the other systems I've gotten were usually gifts, Christmas and such. Although I remember back in Jr. High I saved up my allowance for like a whole year and bought an Xbox myself, that was pretty epic.

[MrPopo]

I did it for the Wii. That was the first system that I was in a position to be able to camp out for that I wanted. The Wii came out on the weekend at the start of Thanksgiving week, so while everyone else from school went home I was parked in a Meijer 24 hours before the game went on sale. There were already two people there, and they were getting a total of 7 systems. About half an hour later two others joined us, and the last two spots were taken by a couple of young teens around 6 in the morning.

The experience was a total blast. The way it worked was since the store is open 24 hours we got to stay indoors the whole time. We all had wristbands but we had to stay in the line area or we'd forfit our console. What was nice, though, was we could sign out at the electronics desk so we could go use the bathroom or buy some food from another part of the store. They let us borrow folding chairs from another department so we were comfortable the whole time, and one of the guys brought his Gamecube with Smash Bros from home. We grabbed the TV that had the Wii demo video in it and spent most of the time playing Smash Bros. Near the end we watched Serenity (the guy had brought a DVD player as well). Then finally one minute after midnight came and we got to buy our Wiis.

I never actually slept during this time (I'm an incredibly light sleeper) so I was awake for 40+ hours. Being inside the store the entire time meant I never looked outside and I lost all sense of time, due to not seeing a day/night cycle. So when I had the Wii in my hands I was all keyed up. Then I got in my car at 12:30 am and started to drive back to my house, and holy shit, did the tired hit me. Fortunately, the roads were deserted and I was only 10 minutes from my house. I got home, set up the Wii, did a few minutes of Wii Sports, and then crashed.

I'm not planning on waiting in line for the 3DS or any future consoles. At this point I buy everything off Amazon and either I'll get it a couple days later or Amazon will do RDD (depends on if Nintendo is willing to ship them out early to vendors).

[Flake]

I have never stood in line for a console but that is not to say that I never wanted to:

I wanted to stand in line for the original DS but Mr. US Navy decided that my ass needed to be on a ship from Sasebo, Japan that week. Oh, and the subsequent 2 months.

I also planned on getting in line for the Wii but the day before it came out I got a call to come into work. When I got there they put a plane ticket and a set of orders in my hand and told me to go to Yokosuka, Japan - Plane leaves in 9 hours.

...hmmm...sometimes I remember very clearly why I decided to leave the service.

[Czernobog]

Ok I've never personally stood in line for more than half and hour for anything other than roller coasters, but I have a somewhat related quick story.

The Black Friday shortly after something was released, my mother was wondering around in the early hours of the morning. She wondered into a line in front of a Target, I believe, and was promptly given a ticket and she didn't have any inclination what it was for. Within two minutes the line became several times longer with people desperately asking to get tickets. She went into the store quizzically and was handed one of those difficult to find before Christmas Nintendo Wiis she had been hearing so much about, which she decided to buy since she couldn't believe her luck. She didn't want a Wii, so gave it me for Christmas. Far and away one of the costliest gifts I had ever received from my mother, I was very taken aback. Still play that Wii regularly to this day.

[SuperAnthony64]

Black friday when the DS launched my mom and I stood in line in the mall for KB toys to get a DS. Ended up running to Software ETC for mine.

Cut school to reserve the Wii and stood in line for 4 hours til gamestop opened then was first in line the night Wii came out.

[Gnashvar]

I didn't camp for it but I did get a launch Wii. It was the last one at the store. I remember people not being able to buy one.

[J T]

I have waited for a system, but not in line. It has been more about waiting to have the money to buy it. My friend got the original NES around launch for his birthday. After playing it at his birthday party, it was all I wanted. I was a kid, so money didn't come easy. I spent a whole summer knocking on doors around the neighborhood to see if anyone would pay me to mow their lawn. I would mow lawns for just a few bucks and I saved and saved. After months, I finally had enough to buy my own NES and I was so excited to go into Lionel Playworld to make the purchase. It was the most money I had ever had or ever spent at the time. It was very much one of those "learn the value of a dollar" lessons that your parents want you to have. Once I had it, I played Super Mario Bros inside and out. I could beat it with warp zones, without warp zones. I started coming up with my own challenges to keep it interesting since it was the only game I had for a long time. I would try to get every coin, do speed runs, work to beat the game without dying, bounce on turtle shells on the stairs to gain near infinite lives, go to the minus world, try to jump over the flagpole (which I never could do), etc.

Anyway, it's a different kind of anticipation, but it's kind of the same feeling I think, it just requires work + waiting.