Ever buy a console for one specific game?

[thunderjohn]

Mega drive-Genesis for Sonic 2
N64 for Mario and Wave Race
Dreamcast for Shenmue and Street Fighter 3
Gamecube for the next 3d Zelda
Xbox 360 for Street Fighter 4

[Retro STrife]

Good question. A few that come to mind:

N64 - Goldeneye
Xbox - Halo
PS3 - Metal Gear Solid IV
Wii U - Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Probably the biggest in there was Halo. I bought the system the week it came out in 2001, just for that game.

I actually played a little bit of Halo this past weekend, and it reminded me of how amazingly ahead of its time it was and how every console FPS since then takes some influence that can be traced back that game. Would Xbox 360 and Xbox One even exist if the first Halo wasn't such a huge killer app? Tough to say, but my guess is the Xbox would have failed without Halo.

[Hagane]

Gamecube - Metroid Prime
Nintendo DS - Contra 4
Vita - Uncharted

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

I came so close to buying a Colecovision for Tarzan. And buying a Master System for Galaxy Force. And my love of the Atari ST was entirely based on screenshots of Weird Dreams and Double Dragon II.

Back then, it was almost impossible to know what the boxes actually contained. You couldn't just look up a long play, sprite sheets, and Metacritic reviews. Encountering a new game was always filled with mystery.

As it turned out, my disappointment in not buying them would be nothing compared to the disappointment if I had.

But when rentals came to Blockbuster, all of that changed. After a weekend making new friends on the moon, with the Earth high overhead, I bought a Sega CD for Silver Star Story, and never once regretted the decision.