We were pretty poor growing up, so whatever systems I had needed to also have bargain bin games or I wouldn’t be able to get them. I had a small allowance so a 10 or 20 dollar game was attainable with a little planning.
As a kid, I only had a Sega Genesis and Game Boy Color until I was a teenager. Skipped the 5th generation entirely, but I’d play friends and family’s Playstations and N64s any chance I could.
Years later I got a PS2 for Christmas, and some of the first games I got were bargain bin PS1 games. By that time, 20 bucks could get me Spyro the Dragon, Syphon Filter, FF7, Medievil, or whatever weird unknown quantity had the right price tag on it. Some of them were even great games I still have (S/O to Nuclear Strike and The Phantom Menace)