Favorite console era...

[Sonic]

I've been through a few generations of consoles now. I know a few of us here have, and many of us have been gamers from the moment we've held our first controller, or keyboard and mouse. But this thread is for consoles. Consoles define a generation of games, the platforms and the eras each had specific and very amazing games..that still stand the test of time.

What is your favorite console era? Not really looking for console vs. console here as that's not the focus. what era of consoles and games are your favorite? Is nostalgia a huge factor in it? What was it about your favorite game in that era?

I don't really know where this thread will lead.

 

[RobertR1]

SNES era and this. SNES got me into consoles. The PS1 and PS2 got me hooked on driving games to the point that I missed out on most of the other great offerings.

The current era is the best because not only do we get high quality games but it adds online as an important features and 3 strong platforms to play it on. Cool hardware and software makes me want to play more games than I have time for. Really, if you're a gamer, this generation is as close as you can get to being spoiled. Enjoy it.

 

[a4164]

PS1,N64,Saturn Era. Everything was so novel. Games got so much more involving to me. I use to play Sonic or Mario on the SNES/Genesis but never devoted hours to it. With the 3D era, I spent hours upon hours playing one game. Tomb Raider, FFVII, Nights, Mario64, Ocarina of Time...just an endless list. Each successive generation has been good too, but the PC has taken more of my attention since the end of the PS1,N64,Saturn days. Good times and an abundance of games to play, what more could you want

Also when Arcade machines were breaking ground with 3D; Model 1-3 and Namco System 11/12/22/23. I could not wait for those arcade ports (some which never came of course).

Finally, Dreamcast holds a special place. I stopped playing consoles for a while, then when Dreamcast was like $50 USD, I bought one and every game I could get my hands on. Completely brought me back to playing console games again, even though I primarily play PC games.

 

[Mize]

Atari 2600 of course! It started it all (on a large scale). After that my SEGA Genesis was definitely the most played with the PS1 coming in second.

 

[quest55720]

I would say the PS1/N64/Saturn era. I could not get enough of golden eye and the AKI wrestling games on the N64. The PS1 had so many damn good games it was not even funny.

 

[Rangers]

NES.

It's games were simply the most fun..

 

[hughJ]

NES probably. Followed by SNES.

NES had a great balance between challenge and fun. The easy games I never end up remembering much, the hard ones I'll probably always remember. When you do manage to actually complete one of those Everest-like climbs, it's that much more satisfying.

I don't think I ever saw past the first few levels of Battletoads, TMNT, etc. until recently downloading speedrun videos them.

 

[uumai]

Really hard to say i'm between the 16 bit and the 32 bit...

Saturn i had my most "hardcore" days with. But the MD had so much stuff...

Ok ok Saturn, ps1, N64. With MD and Snes closely behind.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Pong wins this thread.

 

[_xxx_]

For me it's now. I was never even remotely interested in consoles (because of the lack of any sort of mouse), Wii is the first console I actually like thanks to the control system. Now if PS3 or XB360 had mice and games using them, that would have been an option too.

 

[Phil]

PS2 for me. Still playing and enjoyed more games than I ever did. Do have some very nice memories of the Amiga days though...

 

[vazel]

PS2 has given me the most awesome games I've ever played.

 

[archangelmorph]

Commodore 64 set my gaming life, my academic and professional career and thus, my destiny in place..

 

[slider]

Commodore 64 set my gaming life, my academic and professional career and thus, my destiny in place..

I was going to say C64 too. But can we say it was a console? I don't know if we can even classify it as a computer!

Ahh Druid, Sentinel, Elite, Space Harrier, Trailblazer, Nebulous... the list is never ending.

 

[PARANOiA]

Which era is the Dreamcast era? Surely not in the Cube/Xbox/PS2 era, nor the PS1/Saturn/N64 era.

I actually like the current gen the best to date... maybe it's because I have enough money now to buy a new game every few weeks because I'm working full-time, rather than funding games as an aside between part-time work and studying. Maybe it's because gaming now is so much more refined - eg

• great wireless controllers mean couch-driven laziness
• HDTV gaming on a giant TV doesn't look like a fuzzy mess
• there's a great feeling of competition out there right now, with a real desire to own all three machines since they all offer a number of unique must-have games
• standard online means community, keeping track of distant friends, quick competitive and co-op games, and tracking how well I'm playing vs my mates (must... get... 5-star in GH2 )
• XBLA (and I'm sure PSN has/will get more) gems mean cheap, easy games that are fun to dive into, hard to master, and best of all, easy to pick up on a rainy Sunday (or late on a Monday!)

The PS1 turned me from a casual gamer into a hardcore gamer... the DC gave me a lot of love... but current-gen is really full of spit and polish.

Great topic btw

 

[dabomb665m]

NES probably. Followed by SNES.

NES had a great balance between challenge and fun. The easy games I never end up remembering much, the hard ones I'll probably always remember. When you do manage to actually complete one of those Everest-like climbs, it's that much more satisfying.

I don't think I ever saw past the first few levels of Battletoads, TMNT, etc. until recently downloading speedrun videos them.

You were lucky enough not to come across The Adventures of Bayou Billy. That game was damn well impossible. I think I got to the 3rd level... every now and then I still have bad dreams about that garbage.

NES era always holds a special place in my heart... as I experienced it twice. Once when I was still living in asia as the famicom(mostly with the dodgeball and contra games)... and then again much later when it became mainstream in the US as the nintendo (with FF2, which was 4 in the orient, and the mario games up to mario 3... awesomeness). I think back then, stuff from japan didn't release in the US until a year or more later. It felt like a long time anyhow.

I also enjoyed the N64/PS1/Saturn age... it really reminds me of this generation... Each system had great games in different genres. I enjoyed 3D platformers on the N64... and golden eye/PD. JRPG's on the PS1... and snk/capcom fighters on the saturn. Hell I liked the saturn so much I got duped into buying a second one... the Hi-saturn, which included a VCD playback cartridge. I later found out bootleg asian companies were selling copied VCD playback carts for about $20. Bleh.

Anyhow... this generation is shaping up to be pretty interesting, but it's still too early to judge obviously.

 

[Npl]

Amiga! Not only because it had good games, but computers were big magic for me back in the day. They lost alot of their attraction now that I know the innards, and PCs just lack any "personality" the homecomputers of the 80`s had.

There always were good games in any era, so on that alone I couldnt pick a favourite.

 

[rekator]

Amiga!
Fantastic period… the begun of virus and anti-virus… crack for cheating… first ray-tracing use… a lot of "bidouilles"
And of cause GAMES!
The Faery Tale Adventure, the Bard's Tale series, Kick Off, Speedball, a Star wars game in 3D Wire, Battle Chess, and so many others.
And the Demomakers… incredible use of the Copper and of the Blitter…

 

[Phil]

Speedball, a Star wars game in 3D Wire, Battle Chess, and so many others.

Speedball!!!!! Wow, I nearly forgot that one....

*ICE CREAM... ICE CREAM

 

[Arwin]

For me it was definitely the Atari ST / Amiga 500 era, because they combined PC like functionality with dedicated gaming. The period saw a lot of interesting innovations, mouse controls, multi-player LAN stuff, demo scene, etc. The PC was exciting in this period too. Really, a lot of genres were new back then. Games like Populous were just something so incredibly new, in so many ways. Ditto for Sim City, or Civilisation. Whole genres were invented.

Of course, a bit part of it for me was that it was my first real era and I was in my mid-teens ... (I caught a bit of the Atari 800XL vs Commodore 64 era too which got me into this).

I think the coming console era has a lot of the same kind of potential though, with the Wii, PC, 360 and PS3 all strong platforms, online really coming into its own in the console space, cross-over options with very interesting handheld platforms, innovations in controls, small downloadable games, user creation tools and Linux installs possible on PS3, and so on and so forth.

Really looking forward to this gen!

I had an Atari ST and initially that machine was doing really well, because it was cheaper and pretty easy to develop for. But eventually as the Amiga came down in price it really took over, with far superior sound in games thanks through its better hardware and wonderful sample tracker software that made such efficient use of it. The Atari ST was great too, mind, and had a lot of unique things going for it. But eventually I even owned an Amiga for a short while (Amiga 600 HD), just so I could play all those great classics that I had been playing at friend's place before (Alien, Super Frog, Fantasy Pinball, etc.)

I think Populous 2 was my favorite game from the era, even if I didn't even play it that much. I played a lot of Geoff Crammond's F1 game on the Atari ST too. I also had an external Roland MT-32 synthesizer hooked up to it, which was supported by a lot of Sierra games on the Atari ST. Larry 3 had some amazing music for it back then, and sent wonderful little messages through the display at times as well, which was awesome. Then there was 16-player online Midi Maze, a 3d shooter, believe it or not, first version already back in the late 80s or very early nineties, even before Doom and Quake.

Shortly after this era, PC gaming dominated (3dfx for the win!), and then came the Playstation 1.

Ah, so many memories!