Forum > Gaming Discussion > Gaming in the 90's. Best gaming decade?
Gaming in the 90's. Best gaming decade?
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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:23:12
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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:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SzmA6XmxuMM/SFszd_Y7odI/AAAAAAAAAHY/RJn3PO0hkMg/s400/super-mario-bros-3-virtual-console-20071112022240220.jpg

Ended like this:



By comparison 2000's started like this:
http://www.gamesonly.at/uploads/code_veronica.jpg

And ended like this:
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/915/915980/resident-evil-5-20081003100838391_640w.jpg



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.

http://images.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/3413-doom1.jpg
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.

http://few4th.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/zelda_ocarina_of_time.jpg
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.

http://ui12.gamespot.com/203/mk2ss06_2.png
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.


http://gamesnet.vo.llnwd.net/o1/gamestar/objects/112834_main.jpg
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):







http://www.jason-preston.com/images/TIEFighter.jpg
http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/04/ZWEI.jpg

http://ui05.gamespot.com/452/ff7specimin_2.jpg
http://www.biocrawler.com/w/images/f/f6/PSX_Tomb_Raider.pnghttp://img178.imageshack.us/img178/7346/screen01724e62c6wa2.jpghttp://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/17/soulcalibur.jpg


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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:34:27
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Steel post here. I put this in the wrong forum.

LEEEEEOOOOOOOOO!!!


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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:36:07
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You soggy penis. LOL

But yeah, the memories are too many to count.

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

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:36:36
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WWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT???
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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:38:37
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phantom_leo said:
WWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT???

You are like a living encyclopedia of this era, give us some words of wisdom.

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:41:46
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Gaming peaked in 1996.  Now it's all downhill.

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:45:43
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Yodariquo said:
Gaming peaked in 1996.  Now it's all downhill.

The start of 3D gaming? What about 1998, when that 3D gaming gave us many of the greatest games of all time like MGS, RE2, HL,  Zelda: OoT.

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:46:52
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Damn for the decade comparisons I should have done this

By comparison 2000's started like this:
http://www.gamesonly.at/uploads/code_veronica.jpg

And ended like this:

http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mega-man-9-screenshot-4-big.jpg
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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:50:49
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Dvader said:

phantom_leo said:
WWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT???

You are like a living encyclopedia of this era, give us some words of wisdom.

The 90's was when gaming moved from a small, fan-serving community to a multi-billion-dollar industry.

As developers and publishers stopped making games THEY would love to play and started producing games to make more profit, all the heart, soul and creativity was banished from their work.

Hand-drawn sprites made with love were replaced with easy to manipulate polygons. Animation took a back-seat to frames-per-second, and quirky, made-in-Japan stories were replaced with homogenized, Hollywood-wanna-be scripts...

...and it's where I started to stop finishing games and began to lose interest.

Meh. Maybe ask me this question again when I am not in such a sour mood.

Hrm

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:51:40
Ohh guy on gaf making a list of some of the best NES games of the 90s

Crystalis -


Must play this.




I still have never played this but am dying to. I remember a Nintendo Power spread about the game, wanted to play it ever since.



Metal Storm - An action game with a unique gravity-flipping mechanic.


What is this, looks interesting.

Power Blade -


This looks good.


KickMaster -


Wow, pretty for an NES game.
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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:52:41

phantom_leo said:

Dvader said:

phantom_leo said:
WWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT???

You are like a living encyclopedia of this era, give us some words of wisdom.

The 90's was when gaming moved from a small, fan-serving community to a multi-billion-dollar industry.

As developers and publishers stopped making games THEY would love to play and started producing games to make more profit, all the heart, soul and creativity was banished from their work.

Hand-drawn sprites made with love were replaced with easy to manipulate polygons. Animation took a back-seat to frames-per-second, and quirky, made-in-Japan stories were replaced with homogenized, Hollywood-wanna-be scripts...

...and it's where I started to stop finishing games and began to lose interest.

Meh. Maybe ask me this question again when I am not in such a sour mood.

Hrm

Well that is not what I expected. Might as well close the thread now. Nyaa

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:53:08
Dvader said:

Yodariquo said:
Gaming peaked in 1996.  Now it's all downhill.

The start of 3D gaming? What about 1998, when that 3D gaming gave us many of the greatest games of all time like MGS, RE2, HL,  Zelda: OoT.

Just like the podcast intros...

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:57:00
Seriously, did someone from GAF rape and pillage my Sleeper Topic? ALL those pics look familiar!
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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:59:13

Interesting thought. I certainly had more fun gaming in the 90's than any other era.  The 00's were pretty bland in comparison, at least until about 2008.  The one thing I would definitely say about that era that I really preferred was that gaming wasn't as event driven.  Launch dates weren't big deals.  I for one seemed to have a more open mind back then too. I never had my mind made up about a game months before it was released.

Great game montage there too.  Brings back lots of good memories.  

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:03:08

Dvader said:
Well that is not what I expected. Might as well close the thread now. Nyaa

Sorry. Caught my attention at a bad time.

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:03:35

Yodariquo said:
Dvader said:

Yodariquo said:
Gaming peaked in 1996.  Now it's all downhill.

The start of 3D gaming? What about 1998, when that 3D gaming gave us many of the greatest games of all time like MGS, RE2, HL,  Zelda: OoT.

Just like the podcast intros...

I'm lost. Sad

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:04:43

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.

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:06:24

robio said:

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.

I assume it is not on VC.

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:08:38
Nope.
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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:10:53
No it's not. Nintendo actually did buy the rights for it a while ago and released a port of it on the Gameboy Color. Sadly when the rights expired they never showed interest in the game again. Pity because this game was genius. Very far ahead of its time.
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