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Post by anayo on Oct 14, 2018 10:29:04 GMT -5
With so many chapters of gaming history to choose from, do you find there's one you're the most of above all? For me it's probably the 16-bit era. I only had a Sega Genesis for 2.5 years before upgrading to a Nintendo 64, which was my main gaming platform for another 5 years. You'd think that would make me an N64 super fan, but surprisingly I don't rate it as high as the 16-bit days.
Super Nintendo was still a common sight in peoples' houses for years after Playstation became commonplace. I also really like the hardware differences between Sega and Nintendo. They were just so different from each other you couldn't really say one's objectively better than the other, something that flies in the face of the homogeneity today. I also really like the way games from that era presented themselves. They had a more comic book or Saturday morning cartoon flavor. They were very much colored by what kids thought was cool in the 90's, or what had very recently been cool in the 80's. Swords and sorcery, ninjas, mascot animal heroes, vigilantes fighting criminals in the streets... I might like modern gaming more if some of these themes were back in vogue, and more importantly the tone used to portray them. I also feel like the trend in the early 2000's to revile 2D gaming was a mistake. I think 2D games can just do things that 3D ones can't. So many franchises suffered from a forced migration to 3D (Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man, Castlevania...)
Anyway, which era of gaming are you most nostalgic for?
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Oct 14, 2018 19:50:40 GMT -5
I was a Nintendo kid growing up. Best era -- when the NES, Game Boy, and SNES were all current. Back when the Nintendo Power table of contents looked like this:  Just an awesome era for gaming. The NES had established itself as a powerhouse, and was still chugging along. The idea of handheld gaming was still pretty radical, so I was always eager to see what would drop next on Game Boy. And the SNES was a futuristic monster. Couldn't even believe what I was seeing in half those screenshots. |
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Post by Sarge on Oct 14, 2018 21:28:59 GMT -5
I think I might play more NES games, but I'd probably say 16-bit. Too many phenomenal games in that era.
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Post by toei on Oct 14, 2018 21:44:38 GMT -5
Most me it's 16-bit, for the general look and feel of the games and the complementary nature of the different consoles. The Genesis has tons of great action games and a few great RPGs; the SNES has a ton of great RPGs and a few great action games. I still think the 16-bit era is where RPGs peaked in most ways, though I'd reduce the encounter rate by half in most of the turn-based RPGs of the era (or even better, make it not random).
Second is 32-bit era, because I love the arcade games of the era, the 3D fighters and light gun games, early survival horror and action-adventure in general, and the RPGs were still pretty great.
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Post by Ex on Oct 15, 2018 8:34:11 GMT -5
Overall it's the 8-bit era for me. The Master System and NES were both intrinsic to my pre-teen childhood, and I have many memories that surround playing those systems. Video games were truly coming into their own in the late '80s. To kids like me they were pure magic, then funnest thing in the world. Listening to the music in Aztec Adventure or Batman: The Video Game takes me right back to being a kid again. Eating Teddy Grahams cereal while watching Captain N: The Game Master, then sugar rushing into Mega Man until cursing the Yellow Devil. Playground rumors of codes and mysterious secrets for games. Commercials promising gaming experiences too good to be true. Magazine articles about exotic imports you thought you'd never play. It was a different universe for video games then, a better one in many ways. I do of course love the 16-bit era as well, but I don't have quite the same sense of nostalgia surrounding memories of Genesis/SNES.
Strangely enough, despite being a grown adult at the time, I find the PlayStation 2 to be a nostalgic platform as well. I didn't start playing the PS2 until late 2007, and all through 2008. When I finally got around to playing PS2, at that time my life was going through some tumultuous changes; existential crisis kind of stuff. All through that uncertain period of emotional darkness, the PS2 was with me, acting as blissful escapism. As such I feel strong sensations of bittersweet nostalgia when I think of games such as Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, or Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. My life has changed dramatically since those years, but my trusty ol' PS2 slim still serves as a solemn reminder of how different a life I was living, when I first bought it off the shelf of a Walmart back in autumn of '07.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 15, 2018 13:41:52 GMT -5
Overall it's the 8-bit era for me. The Master System and NES were both intrinsic to my pre-teen childhood, and I have many memories that surround playing those systems. Video games were truly coming into their own in the late '80s. To kids like me they were pure magic, then funnest thing in the world. Listening to the music in Aztec Adventure or Batman: The Video Game takes me right back to being a kid again. Eating Teddy Grahams cereal while watching Captain N: The Game Master, then sugar rushing into Mega Man until cursing the Yellow Devil. Playground rumors of codes and mysterious secrets for games. Commercials promising gaming experiences too good to be true. Magazine articles about exotic imports you thought you'd never play. It was a different universe for video games then, a better one in many ways. I do of course love the 16-bit era as well, but I don't have quite the same sense of nostalgia surrounding memories of Genesis/SNES. Strangely enough, despite being a grown adult at the time, I find the PlayStation 2 to be a nostalgic platform as well. I didn't start playing the PS2 until late 2007, and all through 2008. When I finally got around to playing PS2, at that time my life was going through some tumultuous changes; existential crisis kind of stuff. All through that uncertain period of emotional darkness, the PS2 was with me, acting as blissful escapism. As such I feel strong sensations of bittersweet nostalgia when I think of games such as Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, or Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. My life has changed dramatically since those years, but my trusty ol' PS2 slim still serves as a solemn reminder of how different a life I was living, when I first bought it off the shelf of a Walmart back in autumn of '07. When you put it that way, 8-bit would be correct indeed. I got to all this stuff late, anyway, but I have really fond memories of my time with the NES, and eventually a Game Boy. I didn't get my own system until 1990, which was when all the best NES games were out or nearly so. I had to scratch and claw to get what games I had, and you better believe I appreciated most of them. Everything was so new. Even after the SNES came out, I tried to convince myself that I didn't need one, that the NES was enough. I had to do so because I was convinced I'd never own the SNES. After it had been out long enough, though, there's no question that I wanted one badly. Finding one was an amazing thing. Still have that one, too.
Anyway, I remember finding games at yard sales, local video stores, and even more so at a pawn shop in my now-hometown. I wouldn't outright buy games most of the time, we'd instead trade games plus a kicker, usually $5. This enabled us to keep some fresh blood in the system without breaking the bank. But there were absolutely games that did not leave my library. I got Kirby's Adventure for my birthday the year it came out. It's one of my absolute favorites to this day. Another Christmas, Mom dug deep and got me a copy of Dragon Warrior IV. I cherish that game. Still have all the inserts, even!
I still get the biggest warm, fuzzy feeling when getting a new NES game I've always wanted. More than any other system, it still has a pull on me that is just hard to ignore.
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 15, 2018 21:34:33 GMT -5
This is a weird one for me because while I was gaming on the NES for a few years prior to the 16bit gen, I feel like a lot of my early SNES/Genesis memories are more concrete to recall. Perhaps I was SO young playing NES stuff it's harder to piece together, even though I can probably list dozens of memories and easily visualize playing a lot of stuff, where I was, who I was with, etc. But, you play me a Super Turrican or Shinobi III OST track and I'm instantly teleported to my childhood home at 5 in Tennessee, there's a handful of SNES/Genesis games that are a really powerful time machine for me. Blaster Master and Mega Man games are probably what I played most on the NES, so those are strong pulls too. I also got a custom SMB3 cake for my 3rd or 4th birthday, maybe my family has pictures of it somewhere but I can still visualize it a little.
Somewhere in the middle I guess... also another weird situation, despite being a Nintendo kid and having a 64 years before I got around to the PSX library on my own, I actually feel like I have more nostalgia for the PSX instead. Maybe because I think the pre-rendered style holds up a lot better than some N64 games and that the PSX was a rare experience early on for me, only getting to play a few games from time to time at friends. Maybe gave it more allure in the long run. CD's, loading, memory cards, early CGI, some of that stuff gets me nostalgic too.
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Post by toei on Oct 16, 2018 6:06:33 GMT -5
I'm just now realizing that I didn't really talk about nostalgia at all. Here's a few random memories I don't think I've talked about before:
NES - Playing Mario and seeing him everywhere, from lunchboxes to pajamas. That scene where they play it in 3 Ninjas. Living in a huge housing co-operative. Hanging out in the shared, enclosed yard with my brother, then going to a younger kid's place to play Duck Hunt off the Mario/DH combined cartridge with the red & gray Zapper.
Genesis - Renting out a beat-'em-up every other weekend, and getting up early in the morning to play it with my brother before our mother woke up. Ruining sessions and fighting in real life because of friendly hits. Mom threatening not to let us play anymore, but never going through with it. We knew enough to try and be quieter for a while when it happened, I think. Going out to rent Stone Protectors in my best friend's neighborhood around the age of 7 and playing it the whole weekend. Later, at my new elementary school, going to my new best friend's house for lunch break and almost every day after school, playing ToeJam & Earl. Discovering Level 0, but never making it all that far. We got together in our 20s and finished the game.
SNES - Just walking around in Zelda and cutting grass when it was new-ish, probably at a store demo. Thinking the freedom to move in three dimensions (even though the graphics are 2D) was just amazing. I had never played a game like that up to then.
Mid-90s - Thinking CG cutscenes where the coolest thing in the world. Being fascinated by the dreamlike intro sequences in Nights. Going to the Latin Quarters cinema with friends to play House of the Dead in their arcade section. Almost finishing Midway's CarnEvil with another friend during either a school outing or birthday party. I swear we almost spent 10 dollars worth of quarters, but ran out during the final boss.
Also - Kids talking about all the crazy stuff you could do in NBA Jam. Kids lying about "sexualities" in Mortal Kombat. My friend always talking about the time he threw somebody through a sign in Street Fighter 2. Thinking there would never be a Street Fighter 3, and having never seen Street Fighter 1, though one kid swore he had.
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Post by Chainsaw Bilqis on Oct 17, 2018 14:03:38 GMT -5
I would say I am most nostalgic for 1994 to 2001. My first console was an NES, but a lot of the games I had were too hard for me back then and frustrated my youngest self. It wasn't until the SNES and Genesis era that I started to get a better grasp on game mechanics. I also started playing some slower paced type games like rpgs for SNES and began playing my brother in 2D fighters. Perhaps just as important was I loved the pixel art of 16-bit stuff and especially mid to late 90s arcade pixel art. SNK and Capcom fighters still please my brain to a great degree. I guess this time frame could be separated into different eras, like the Saturn/PS1 era would be my start of seriously trying to beat and collect games, etc. But from 1994 to 2001 it almost seemed like my life revolved around thinking of, reading about, and playing games haha.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2018 12:59:21 GMT -5
Well, shockingly enough, the PS2 was my first home console. I suppose my parents thought it'd be a good purchase since it was selling like hotcakes and it could also double as DVD player. I did get to play some PS1 before that, but I've only bought one of my own when the PS3 was about to come out.
Which is not to say I can't enjoy 8-bit and 16-bit games, but I don't feel nostalgia for those either seeing as I've just discovered them in recent years (well, with a few notable exceptions like Pokemon Blue). So yeah, I'd say late 90s to early 00s. Then again, nostalgia implies that I'd like more games to be made that somewhat emulate that era, but the truth is that their library is so huge and there are so many games I still haven't played and would like to, that I don't necessarily feel the need for that.
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