Which game or console (if any) made you fall in love with gaming again?

[brothertuc]

For me, it was the Switch.
I bought my Switch in July 2021, despite not being into gaming at all at that point.
In my collection were a PS1, PS2, PS3 and a PS4. I didn't really feel like gaming then, and I always spent my free time on something else.
Despite not caring about gaming anymore, I bought the Switch on a whimper alongside four games (Mario Odyssey, BotW, Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros.)
Upon turning on the Switch for the first time to see what it was all about, I began playing Mario Kart 8 and Odyssey and immediately fell in love again.
So much so, that I now play all my consoles on a regular basis. Since then, I've also bought a Gamecube. So I love switching between them all and playing something different all the time.

So which game or console (if any) made you fall in love with gaming again?

[tbell13579]

Probably was the PS4 for me.  I grew up on Nintendo, and had Xbox consoles through most of college.  Getting into PlayStation (first with the Vita and then the PS4) really opened up a whole new world of games for me - a lot like my first Xbox did when it had only been Nintendo before then.  I use my PS5, XSX, and Switch regularly!

[Cartagia]

Bloodborne.  A good Souls-like manages to recreate the feeling of exploration and the unknown that existed back in the late 80s / early 90s.  Big maps, secrets, difficulty.

[kashell]

I never fell out of love with the hobby, but I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else shares!

[undertakerprime]

Yeah, I never fell out of love with gaming either. Been into it consistently since the days of Space Invaders, the Atari 2600, and the Nintendo Game & Watch.

[snyderec3]

While I never stopped gaming, I was out of console gaming for a long time. My first console in 1988 was a Sega Master System. After that, I became a Nintendo Kid when I got a Game Boy. Eventually I got a NES and a SNES. After SNES though I became a PC Gamer and didn't get back into consoles until the Switch. I absolutely love the Switch, since I travel a lot for work, so the fact that it converts to a handheld really sold it for me, as well as the ability to play a lot of games from my earlier console years. I collect almost exclusively SNES and Switch now, as they're my two favourite consoles.

[wartoy]

The Xbox 360 was the last console that made me excited about playing games. I still like to play but not as much as I used to, Other consoles that made me fall in love with gaming were the nes, snes, genesis, dreamcast, ps1, ps2 and original xbox. I think it's just because I have more responsibilities to take care of now and less time for playing. The newer consoles are great but don't leave me with the same excitement.

[bizzgeburt]

I had to think a lot about this question before I felt ready to answer it. My first thought was that my "love" for gaming never declined but in fact, there was a time (somewhere in between 2000 and 2015), when I really wasn't all that into gaming ...

... as ridiculous as it may sound, the one game that brought my fascination for gaming back to life was ... try not to laugh: Little Big Planet 2 

My 2010 bought PS3 was accumulating dust until 2013, when I put this game in and was totally flashed by this principle of gamers being a community supplying itself with self-created content. After enjoying this title for about 2-3 years I was totally back at gaming as whole. Thanks MM ! 

[ferraroso]

In my case, I'd say it was probably the Sega Saturn...
I've always loved my Master System as a child, but when the time came to retire it in 1996 (its lifespan was considerably longer than elsewhere in my native Brazil) I went straight to the PlayStation (as piracy made it much cheaper to maintain than its competitors) and became a mostly Sony gamer for years.

In 2011, I moved to Japan and bought a CIB Saturn with a few games for the equivalent to US$15. At the time, retro games were still pretty affordable (not to say dirt cheap) around here and, after I had built a respectable collection of Saturn games, I decided to try gathering games for other systems I could only dream of as child.
And the rest, is history...

[Warmsignal]

Again, meaning after we took a break / cooled off from gaming?

Either the Xbox 360, or the Nintendo DS. Those were the two latest new consoles I'd ended up with in the late 00's, that sort of gave me that glimpse into what I'd been sleeping on for the past 4 or 5 years prior.

[vivigamer]

I've never become disinterested in gaming. However, there have been moments where a certain games come along which feel like a breath of fresh air.

Xenoblade Chronicles - In an era where JRPG's were seriously lacking, XBC felt like the JRPG I had been missing from the PS3 era. The Grande sense of adventure I love about the genre was in full force! The moment you're stuck in a dank cave and suddenly arrive at the vast open area in Gaur Plains is equal to reaching the world map in Final Fantasy VII for the 1st time -  Where the real sense of the games scale presented. From then on, it was full of engaging story moments for the duration.

Life Is Strange - I've always loved the concept of Adventure games, but I found their structure to constricting, often having to do 1 very particular thing to progress the game which isn't very clear, leading to a lot of frustration and me giving up on the genre. While LiS isn't a Point n' Click game the spirit of exploration fits into a more accessible scenario structure. The game often offers choices to progress and lets you explore the scenes to find world building aspects. I also feel they're games that puta lot of effort into making characters less grandeur but more real and relatable.

Gravity Rush - A wonderful IP which got crushed in it's ambitious and bizarre sequel. The original game has so much charm and spirit. I was instantly hooked on Kat as a character and her story. I didn't play the game on Vita, so while I appreciate it has the unique-gyro mechanics of that system the Remaster on PS4 is a perfect way to experience the game. I still had fun hovering flying around the games wonderful settings looking for collectables.

Resident Evil 7 - I've never really been into 1st Person Shooter games. Even after a couple of great 1st person games with Alien Isolation & Wolfenstein The New Order, it was Resident Evil 7 which floored me. It was an incredibly daring move to transition RE7 into 1st person and imo it paid off. They got rid of a lot of the goofiness in previous RE games (4-6) and made a more down to earth immersive experience. Even in 1st person, Ethan still felt like an engaging character (The effort Capcom went to hide his face was a bit much) with his minimal interaction but Ethan's involvement being core to the story. RE8 went too over the top again in my opinion and in adding a 3rd person mode as DLC I don't think we'll see another 1st person RE game going forward.

I'm sure there are many other examples but they're ones that jump out at me. Even on my PS5 So far I have had a few near 10/10 experiences with Bugsnax (Yes, really!), A Plagues Tale Reqiuem and Yakuza: Like A Dragon. The PS4-Era had a LOT of great experiences and I don't doubt the PS5-Era will follow.

[bikingjahuty]

I've never fallen out of love with video games, however I went through a period between about 2004-2008 where I barely played any games, and my overall interest in them was fairly low. With that said, I did buy a Wii and a 360 during this time and played games like Mario Galaxy, Halo 2, Mass Effect, and Smash Bros Brawl. But the console that made me jump head first back into gaming and not only reignited my love of gaming, but also got me into collecting was the Sega Saturn.


I never had a Saturn as a kid, but two of my close friends growing up did. Probably because it was a novelty for me to play it at their houses when I'd hang out with them, that console had a massive amount of nostalgia around it. Around 2007/2008 I began to become very sentimental for the 90s and the things I enjoyed as a kid. I went to a local independent game shop one day and bought a Saturn along with Virtua Fighter 2, Daytona USA, and Nights, and I was pretty much in heaven! Unfortunately I did have to sell off my initial Saturn collecting, and it actually wouldn't be until the late 2010s that I got back into US Saturn collecting, but it was that purchase that kickstarted over a decade of becoming obsessed with retro games, newer games, collecting, and all sorts of other things that led me to where I am today.

[leynos]

The Switch. From new games like Astral Chain to Daemon X Machina to all these retro game collections. Shmups. Arcade games.  RPGs. You name it the Switch is so loaded.  Most I have enjoyed a console since Dreamcast.

[pzeke]

I don't feel I ever "fell out of the hobby", even during my ruts, but I did take breaks, the longest being right after high school and prepping for college. Once in college, I did end up meeting like-minded people who rekindled the flame, and I relied on my PS2 to escape the tedium, but it wasn't until I got an NDS and Wii that I was truly reinvigorated. Sure, nowadays it's all a sporadic endeavor for me, but I give it my best.