Mid 2000s. With the Gamecube! Though I never owned a home console until the Wii because my parents said I didn't need video games and a DS was enough. Well my grandparents worked around that.
2004 i got a GBA SP, but i didnt have a mario game on that.
So, 2007 i got a DS, AUNT, Y U NO GIVE ME MARIO?!?!?!
In 2008 i asked for Super Mario 64 DS... Then i wanted to break my screen about 10 days later when trying to beat "Bowser in the Sky. Then i was getting so mad when i couldnt get my 150th star, then i realized it was that annoying shit red coin level in that Goomboss area.
I only started playing Mario games in the early 2000's. I did play games in the late 90's; however, the games I played during that era were only the Pokemon games. :P