The Great Console History Discussion Thread

[The Mask of Norro]

The history of video game consoles, something that I'm now well versed, is very rich and interesting. 'course, this topic wasn't made to discuss just the history alone, that wouldn't work out too well. No, this is more of a discussion for everyone to get involved in, reminisce about older consoles and the games on them that they used to play all the time (remember Pro Wrestling on the NES? Fuck yeah you do), and just discuss the evolution of the industry over time, as well as how it's doing today, done in the past, and how it could be done in the future.

So yeah, this should hopefully be a fun little topic for everyone, and I'll let someone come in to kick off discussion on whatever topic they feel like for it

Edited July 14, 2008 by The Mask of Norro

[King Ellis]

Let's continue the nice off topic Wii thing from the Smackdown thread.

Whilst there is no denying they are selling alot of consoles and have influenced Sony and Microsoft with their 'casual' attitude, how many people are actually buying games for the thing? I'd class the PS3 and 360 as more succsessful than the Wii down to the fact that people are actually buying games for those two consoles. I thought most games companies made their money not on the hardware but the software, so what good is it that your gran goes out and gets a Wii to play Wii Sports and then only buys another game when Wii Fit emerges?

[Crybaby Bunting]

I dont care how much of a flop it was against the Playstation and the SNES but the Megadrive is clearly the best console of all time...

I still get goosebumps once the sega logo flashes in 16bit glory.

[Cactus Drags]

I dont care how much of a flop it was against the Playstation and the SNES but the Megadrive is clearly the best console of all time...

I still get goosebumps once the sega logo flashes in 16bit glory.

This.

Also, the Wii sells fuck all game-wise. Unless people come in and spend a shitton on games in their initial purchase, very few repeat Wii customers. There's an utter shedload for DS though. The other thing for Wii is you see far less preowned software because generally the casual crowd/idiot parents haven't a clue you can part-ex games. We're being told by our managers to remind them that they can trade in when they buy whatever shit Disney tie-in that's out that week.

Fuck the Wii

[Guest Offbeat Bareass]

Which console has the best game collection of all time? N64? SNES? Sega?

I have to go with N64. Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, on and on.

[apsham]

See, the thing is with the N64... you've just listed all the good ones. Save for the Banjo games. And Donkey Kong sucked.

[Guest Offbeat Bareass]

I am hesistant to really say SNES only because it is hard to compare that with any next-generation system. Yes, it godfathered a lot of the games we see today, but directly compared it's hard to say it's better then something like PS2 with it's Madden and it's Metal Gear and Final Fantasy.

[naiwf]

Which console has the best game collection of all time? N64? SNES? Sega?

I have to go with N64. Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, on and on.

I'd have to say the PS2 does. It had the Devil May Cry series, FFX and FFXII, God of War 1 & 2, Grand Theft Auto III/San Andreas/Vice City, Gran Turismo 3, Maddens, Metal Gear 2 & 3, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, the SSX series, the good Tony Hawk games and those are just the ones everyone's heard of. I would also include Disgaea 1 & 2 and the Shin Megami Tensei games as personal favorites.

[apsham]

I would say that the SNES beats out any other Nintendo system really... NES games, while nostalgic and camp just don't really hold up today. The Nintendo 64 is VERY rose tinted, I mean... I love it to death, but I understand now that it's just my childhood clouding it really. The Super Nintendo is like, the pleasant in-between... it's got retro charm, but is still highly playable today... and the games were GOOD.

Oh, and it had Earthbound.

[Hajjhowe]

Yeah, SNES was the best of Nintendo.

Naiwf is right on with PS2 I would guess. Just so many good games, graphics that I really see being impressive even with new systems, online play... they really did things right with it.

[The Mask of Norro]

See, the thing is with the N64... you've just listed all the good ones. Save for the Banjo games. And Donkey Kong sucked.

Oh come on, he hardly listed all the good ones. Aside from the original Smash Bros for nostalgic purposes alone, you've still got the Star Fox series, which truly did kick ass, AND you've got one of the best Bomberman platform games of all time, at least in my opinion anyway.

That being said, I agree that the SNES has withstood the test of time best, yeah. The N64 jumped into the world of 3D as quick as it could, while the SNES made 2D gaming more stylish looking then I believe it's ever looked before, or since.

Edited July 15, 2008 by The Mask of Norro

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

AND Mario Party 2 (the original had some issues), Mario Tennis, Perfect Dark, several Tony Hawk games, 1080 Snowboarding, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Snap , No Mercy...N64 wins it for me hands-down.

Game Gear will always hold a special place in my heart for being the first system I ever owned. Then the right side of the D-pad got stuck down, which hindered every game except Sonic.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

PS2 has the best games cos it has the most games. It was well supported and relatively easy and cheap to code for.

My brother had a Megadrive. I loved those. I also loved the Mastersystem.

My mate had the old Atari console you plugged into the TV that had like 3 games for it. That thing was brilliant and revolutionised my life.

I used to go to my cousins' house quite a lot as a small child and they were always playing on their Spectrum. Man that was great too.

My gaming ownership history was:

Amstrad CPC 6128

Amiga 1200

Playstation

Playstation 2 (bought with my student loan - brilliant!)

PSP

DS Lite

Playstation 3

then I was given a N64 by a customer who didn't want it any more but it didn't have an arial....But I found one downstairs hehehe

My colleague gave me an Amiga CD32 as a leaving gift a couple of months ago - how cool is that!

My brother had his Megadrive, a Gameboy and a Game Gear before getting a PS1 and PS2 after I'd left home for Uni.

[Mick]

In my view, the NES is the greatest system there has been.

I'd say that at least 50% of my gaming life has been spent on games that were for the NES, be it the actual system or an emulator. They are games that are, compared to today, simple, and downright fun, and they proved that technical limitation can not stop you from having good games.

The SNES is up there as well, although it's behind the NES. The Nintendo was the revolution, the SNES expanded on it, while the N64 took things for a whole new turn, capitalizing largely on the ideas of First Person play introduced with Wolfenstein 3D back on the PC. There was no internet for the Nintendo, no automapping, it really was you all alone, helped on occasion by a magazine or a "Hint" book (these books were pretty vague). By the time the SNES and Genesis/Megadrive rolled around, you had the beginning of ISPs. Information was shareable, unlike what you had to do with the NES.

Nintendo just had it all.

These days, I can't see myself owning the new systems. Wii seems to rely on gimmicks and novelty, and as far as Xbox 360 and PS3 go, I can't see my self shelling out that kind of cash when in reality I'm only going to have a handful of games.

[Toe]

I would say that the SNES beats out any other Nintendo system really... NES games, while nostalgic and camp just don't really hold up today. The Nintendo 64 is VERY rose tinted, I mean... I love it to death, but I understand now that it's just my childhood clouding it really. The Super Nintendo is like, the pleasant in-between... it's got retro charm, but is still highly playable today... and the games were GOOD.

Oh, and it had Earthbound.

Earthbound for the win.

[Herr Matzat]

Which console has the best game collection of all time? N64? SNES? Sega?

I have to go with N64. Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, on and on.

If you invite a bunch of frinds over it´s usualy SNES or NES winning (yes, even over PS2)... the only thing N64 realy got going was Smash Brothers wich is just not my kind of game. (no one who issent an old fan realy wants to play te wrestling games, at least in my cyrcle no mercy is not an option)

Of cause Mario and Zelda were great... but my list of N64 Games comes to an end fast... but that might also be becaus i´ed rather have 2d instead of half ass 3d. (goes for a lot of PSX games to, but they still had the Sprite based games, same as even PS2 did with Tactical RPGs like Disgaea and so on) - It might have been something at the time, but 2d pixel just look great up untill today and the other stuff outdated itself in a minute.

What kind of RPGs have there been for N64? Mario RPG (never played it, no Pal version around i belive)... i thought the RPG developers started comming back to gamecube after the DS came around... untill that point nintendo was not an option to me anymore. (still never got the Game Cube - thats what makes Wii interesting, GC Support, just like PS2 back in the day with PSX suport wich was a system i never had sinc i went with N64)

They don´t have earthbount in Europe as it seems... i´ll now go and play Lufia, wich is actualy Lufia 2 but since we never had 1 they just named it Lufia.... :-D

Edited July 15, 2008 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[Skummy]

The N64 peaked WAY too early. StarFox, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye - and it was pretty much downhill from there. Sure, there were great games here and there, but the best games came out real early and the overall quality dropped off the longer it stuck around for, whilst the Playstation just got progressively better until the PS2 was released.

The SNES brought us Super Mario Bros 3, Final Fantasy 4 through 6...it's already putting up quite a fight just off the back of that.

[Mick]

The N64 peaked WAY too early. StarFox, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye - and it was pretty much downhill from there. Sure, there were great games here and there, but the best games came out real early and the overall quality dropped off the longer it stuck around for, whilst the Playstation just got progressively better until the PS2 was released.

The SNES brought us Super Mario Bros 3 , Final Fantasy 4 through 6...it's already putting up quite a fight just off the back of that.

>_<

Wrong.

[Guest SimplyStiltskin]

The N64 peaked WAY too early. StarFox, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye - and it was pretty much downhill from there. Sure, there were great games here and there, but the best games came out real early and the overall quality dropped off the longer it stuck around for, whilst the Playstation just got progressively better until the PS2 was released.

The SNES brought us Super Mario Bros 3 , Final Fantasy 4 through 6...it's already putting up quite a fight just off the back of that.

>_<

Wrong.

Indeed, Super Mario Bros 3 was on the NES, but SNES had that one game Mario All Stars or something where all the NES Mario games were loaded into that one game, plus the real sequel to the original Mario Bros only released in Japan.

[Guest Offbeat Bareass]

The N64 peaked WAY too early. StarFox, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye - and it was pretty much downhill from there. Sure, there were great games here and there, but the best games came out real early and the overall quality dropped off the longer it stuck around for, whilst the Playstation just got progressively better until the PS2 was released.

The SNES brought us Super Mario Bros 3 , Final Fantasy 4 through 6...it's already putting up quite a fight just off the back of that.

>_<

Wrong.

Indeed, Super Mario Bros 3 was on the NES, but SNES had that one game Mario All Stars or something where all the NES Mario games were loaded into that one game, plus the real sequel to the original Mario Bros only released in Japan.

Mario All-Stars kicked ass for sure. Super Mario 3 was so weird when it first came out.