The original Xbox was my true return to gaming after the NES. I skipped SNES/Genesis out of spite. I bought a Jaguar on closeout "so our nephew could have something to play when he came over" ie... that is what I told my wife, I just wanted a console. We did eventually get a N64 right at the end of that generation and it sparked enough interest that we bought both the Xbox (me) and GameCube (wife) at launch.
I was so eager for the system that I bought every magazine I could, read everything online I could find and even picked up the behind the scenes book Opening the Xbox (
https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Xbox-Microsofts-Entertainment-Revolution/dp/0761537082) and read it cover to cover multiple times. We even bought our first HDTV and surround sound system in preparation for it.
I took launch day off and picked up the systems, brought them home, tossed the GameCube into a corner and fired up the system for the first time. The boot sequence was exactly the indicator a new generation of gaming called for. It was otherworldly and very psuedo-future-tech looking. A few adjustments and before I knew it I was the John-117 (I had read the novelizations of all the games that had them) coming out of cryo-stasis on the Pillar of Autumn. It was awesome.
Eventually we hooked up the Gamecube and Rogue Squadron was nice and all but the Xbox was the system of the generation for us (my wife was converted very easily after seeing the Xbox in action, other than when Animal Crossing came along). We did end up picking up a PS/2 slim but I think it was used maybe twice (just like our PS4 this time around).
My wife even bought Steel Battalion for it when that was launched. We were on a first name basis with the game shop that generation and they were very envious when she did that.
Anyway, that Xbox was awesome and I am so glad that the Series X will support the games from it.