Gaf created another hell of a nostalgia thread this one about the decade of the 90's. One post in that thread blew my mind, it stated that many started the decade on an NES and we ended with the Dreamcast. Holy hell, let that sink in. The progress we made in that one decade is insane.

We started like this:


Ended like this:

By comparison 2000's started like this:


And ended like this:




Think about this, we started in 1990 with the release of Super Mario Bros 3 in the US, the greatest NES game of all time, one of the greatest games period. That same year we entered the 16-bit era with the Genesis. After that SNES came out, we got Super Mario World, Sega gave us Sonic the Hedgehog and the 16-bit era was off and running. Think of the classics, think about how many of those games are still masterpieces. Don't forget that around 1993 the PC gaming scene exploded with Doom and FPSs were invented. PC gaming had masterpiece adventure games, strategy games, FPSs, flight sims, even for me who is not a big PC guy I marveled at what the PC was doing cause it was so different.


Still better than 95% of all FPSs.

Mid decade came the switch from 2D to 3D and gaming felt brand new again. Controlling Mario in 3D space for the first time is still something I will never forget and I wonder if gaming will have a moment like that again. Storytelling started to evolve, voice acting, cinematic presentation, games could be like movies now. Resident Evil, Final Fantasy 7, Super Mario 64, Metal Gear Solid, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, some of the games that have set standards.


Remember the moment you first stepped out into the world.

We ended the decade with a glimpse into the future, the Dreamcast. A console that came in with a built in modem, a system that was made for online gaming. State of the art 3D graphics with games like Sonic Adventure, NFL 2k, Soul Calibur which was a massive jump over PS1/64. The 2000's by comparison was a decade spent refining the games and rules setout during the late 90's.

For me the 90's were my prime childhood years, was I lucky to be able to experience this decade like that, with the mind of a child. I have done my very best to retain that sense of child jubilation, of innocence, to not become cynical when it comes to gaming. It is why on message boards I act super excited for the next big game, I want to hold on to that aspect of my childhood. Reality is that I am older, gaming is not as important as it once was, as much as I still do get excited for games it will never match the intensity of my childhood self which is fine. It makes me glad that I got to experience that era as a kid, cause honestly this era with the online gaming, the "you suck NOOB" crap and stuff as a kid would really suck.

To start the decade I had my NES, SMB3 hit which was about the most hyped game of all time at that point. In 91 I got a Genesis, I instantly switched to a Sega fanboy so I sadly missed out on the SNES (but have since gone back to play those games). Sonics, Eccos, Streets of Rage, Castle of Illusion, Quack Shot, X-Men, Sports Talk Football, Aladdin, TMNT Hyperstone Heist, and many more. Remember the fighting game scene SF2 changed everything and Mortal Kombat changed the way violence was handled in gaming. Back then the fighting genre was as big if not the biggest genre. I remember the hype for Mortal Kombat 2 more than anything, it was unbelievable. DUring this time my friend had a top of the line PC and introduced me to Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Decent, Tie-Fighter, Duke Nukem 3D, Heretic, Sim City 2000, Jedi Knight and more, what a revolutionary time for PC gaming.


This was legendary. On arcades, consoles, you name it this game was HUGE.

In 96 I got a Saturn and a Playstation, like everyone I entered the world of 3D gaming. The Saturn didn't do much of 3D for a while, Panzer Dragoon was a great game but it was still on rails. PS1 launch games were not that impressive, my brother was the one that got the PS1 so I leeched off him at the start. It wasn't until Resident Evil that I experienced what the future of gaming was going to be like. The second half of the decade was all about exploring new types of games, new types of controls, worlds that we never dreamed we could play in. I never owned an N64 but a friend had one so I experienced a bunch of the games through him, especially the joys of four player deathmatch in Goldeneye.  The decade ended with me getting a Dreamcast and being blown away at the visuals. That jump from PS1 to DC is still to me the biggest jump we have ever had graphically in the 3D era.



Games were never the same after this.

I will argue that games are better now, look at what we get to play, games with massive open worlds, incredible graphics, powerful stories, perfected gameplay. Games are better but that magic the 90's had is partly gone. We reached a point where all we are doing is refining the same games over and over. The Wii at least threw a wrench into the equation but to be honest outside of mini games there still hasn't been that revolution payoff. When will we experience that feeling of discovery like the first time we entered 3D gaming, I think about that all the time.

And now I leave you with pics of games from the 90s (taken from gaf):

You soggy penis.

But yeah, the memories are too many to count.

Hey, it's R&R Racing! <3

Seriously, did someone from GAF rape and pillage my Sleeper Topic? ALL those pics look familiar!

Dvader said:

Ohh guy on gaf making a list of some of the best NES games of the 90s

Crystalis -


Must play this.

If you haven't played Crystalis before, do whatever it takes to get your hands on a copy.  This game was essentially Zelda evolved.  It was an amazing adventure game with actual characters.  And there were great puzzles in it as well thanks to some very creative magic spells that actually included things like telepathy and mind control.

Nope.