Timstuff
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Anyone who was born in or grew up in the 80's and plays games probably has a soft spot for at least one dusty old cartridge-based game system. I should know, because I had a couple myself. With that in mind, I figured it would be a fun idea to start a thread where we can talk about our memories of classic consoles, games, and accessories, any recent additions we've made to our collections, or any interesting news stories regarding the classic systems that have popped up lately. So to get you all in the mood to talk about these golden oldies, let's take a look at some of them.
'70s
Atari 2600
Argueably the first real breakthrough video game console. If you were gaming before Nintendo, chances are you had an Atari 2600. The games had ugly visuals, rudimentary sound, and primitive gameplay, but hey, it was the first, so that makes it all good.
'80s
Nintendo Entertainment System
If you were a kid in the 80's or very early 90's, this was the present you dreamed of one day finding under your Christmas tree or in your birthday present pile. For the vast majority of us, 8-bit is synonymous with Nintendo. Nintendo singlehandedly resurrected the game industry after the massive Atari crash, and the results were spectacular. It has an iconic although very annoying "quirk" of the cartridge slot wearing out, necessitating the user to blow on games to make them work, although hardcore fans are by now used to replacing the part in question when it fails. It's my opinion that this guy belongs in every gamer's collection.
Sega Master System
Most of you probably did not have one of these, even if you've heard of it. Sega's unlucky workhorse in the 8-bit era did not put up much of a fight against Nintendo's juggernaut, but it is well known for having better graphics and sound, and multiplatform games, while somewhat of a rarity in those days, were typically better on Sega's system. Its legacy is that it was a better piece of hardware than the NES, and that it had a decent amount of solid games, but unfortunately the market just wasn't quite ready for a two machine console war.
'90s
Sega Genesis
Sega was not going to take the 16 bit era lying down, and the Genesis is testament to that. Although it initially failed in Japan, thanks to the aggressive marketing of the American and European branches of Sega, the system became extremely popular in western culture. Bolstering several "arcade perfect" ports of popular Sega arcade titles, plus a "too cool for school" marketing campaign and a sleek black design, the Genesis found a happy home with the cool kids on the block-- and the kids who wanted to look cool. And if you were hardcore, you owned the 6 button gamepads for serious fighting game action. Its legacy would be marred by unsuccessful add-ons in its later years-- while the Sega CD did have some truly worthwhile games, the 32x proved a total disaster, and nearly made a laughing stock out of Sega. Even so, the Genesis is the system that made Sega into the rock stars of the video game world in the early to mid 90s.
Super Nintendo
Following up on the legacy of the NES, Nintendo unleashed one of the greatest systems in their company's history, the SNES. The controller design to this day remains the gold standard to which nearly all controllers since have been held, and if you had one back then it's easy to understand why. The graphics were superior to those found on the Sega Genesis, and the audio made games on Sega's systems sound like a joke by comparison (in all fairness though, the Genesis actually used the same audio processor as Sega's 8-bit Master System). The Super Nintendo had a noticeably "dorkier" design than the Genesis, and it did spend its first few years behind Sega's machine. However, in the end the SNES did finish ahead of Sega, even if by a nose.
Handhelds
Nintendo Gameboy
Yeah, you know this guy. Chances are, your ophthalmologist warned your mom about it, but that didn't stop you from loving the heck out of it. A tiny, unlit, 2" monochrome screen was all you needed to be transported from a long car trip to another world thanks to the Gameboy. The graphics weren't much, but the games to be found on this system were almost every bit as enjoyable as those found on its big brothers. It combined a nice, long battery life with a huge library of quality games that offered typical Nintendo-quality gameplay, and on top of that it was pretty cheap compared to its contemporaries.
Sega Game Gear
If there's one crime that the Game Gear commited, its that it was too ambitious. Sticking with Sega's slogan of "Sega does what Nintendon't", Sega listened to the complaints of Gameboy users and did their best to give them what they wanted. The system had a 3" fully lit color screen, which certainly felt more satisfying to watch than the Gameboy's dull gray shapes. The system was basically upgraded Sega Master System hardware (Sega actually offered an adapter that let you play SMS games on the system), so many of the games were teetering on the edge of "Genesis-esque," and many scaled-down ports of 16-bit games finding their way onto the system. Unfortunately, all this sweetness came at a high price. Not only was the hardware expensive, but it was not very efficient. It took 6 AA batteries which some people could drain in only 3 hours! Ontop of that, the system was bulky, being roughly 30% bigger than the gameboy, which was already difficult enough to stuff into pockets. And on top of all that, the screen was notorious for being very blurry. This was a system that was ahead of its time. On paper though, it was an amazing technical feat, and to this day it still has some very enthusiastic fans, even if they're few and far between.
Feel free to discuss! And remember, discussions about old computer games are welcome too.
'70s
Atari 2600
Argueably the first real breakthrough video game console. If you were gaming before Nintendo, chances are you had an Atari 2600. The games had ugly visuals, rudimentary sound, and primitive gameplay, but hey, it was the first, so that makes it all good.
'80s
Nintendo Entertainment System
If you were a kid in the 80's or very early 90's, this was the present you dreamed of one day finding under your Christmas tree or in your birthday present pile. For the vast majority of us, 8-bit is synonymous with Nintendo. Nintendo singlehandedly resurrected the game industry after the massive Atari crash, and the results were spectacular. It has an iconic although very annoying "quirk" of the cartridge slot wearing out, necessitating the user to blow on games to make them work, although hardcore fans are by now used to replacing the part in question when it fails. It's my opinion that this guy belongs in every gamer's collection.
Sega Master System
Most of you probably did not have one of these, even if you've heard of it. Sega's unlucky workhorse in the 8-bit era did not put up much of a fight against Nintendo's juggernaut, but it is well known for having better graphics and sound, and multiplatform games, while somewhat of a rarity in those days, were typically better on Sega's system. Its legacy is that it was a better piece of hardware than the NES, and that it had a decent amount of solid games, but unfortunately the market just wasn't quite ready for a two machine console war.
'90s
Sega Genesis
Sega was not going to take the 16 bit era lying down, and the Genesis is testament to that. Although it initially failed in Japan, thanks to the aggressive marketing of the American and European branches of Sega, the system became extremely popular in western culture. Bolstering several "arcade perfect" ports of popular Sega arcade titles, plus a "too cool for school" marketing campaign and a sleek black design, the Genesis found a happy home with the cool kids on the block-- and the kids who wanted to look cool. And if you were hardcore, you owned the 6 button gamepads for serious fighting game action. Its legacy would be marred by unsuccessful add-ons in its later years-- while the Sega CD did have some truly worthwhile games, the 32x proved a total disaster, and nearly made a laughing stock out of Sega. Even so, the Genesis is the system that made Sega into the rock stars of the video game world in the early to mid 90s.
Super Nintendo
Following up on the legacy of the NES, Nintendo unleashed one of the greatest systems in their company's history, the SNES. The controller design to this day remains the gold standard to which nearly all controllers since have been held, and if you had one back then it's easy to understand why. The graphics were superior to those found on the Sega Genesis, and the audio made games on Sega's systems sound like a joke by comparison (in all fairness though, the Genesis actually used the same audio processor as Sega's 8-bit Master System). The Super Nintendo had a noticeably "dorkier" design than the Genesis, and it did spend its first few years behind Sega's machine. However, in the end the SNES did finish ahead of Sega, even if by a nose.
Handhelds
Nintendo Gameboy
Yeah, you know this guy. Chances are, your ophthalmologist warned your mom about it, but that didn't stop you from loving the heck out of it. A tiny, unlit, 2" monochrome screen was all you needed to be transported from a long car trip to another world thanks to the Gameboy. The graphics weren't much, but the games to be found on this system were almost every bit as enjoyable as those found on its big brothers. It combined a nice, long battery life with a huge library of quality games that offered typical Nintendo-quality gameplay, and on top of that it was pretty cheap compared to its contemporaries.
Sega Game Gear
If there's one crime that the Game Gear commited, its that it was too ambitious. Sticking with Sega's slogan of "Sega does what Nintendon't", Sega listened to the complaints of Gameboy users and did their best to give them what they wanted. The system had a 3" fully lit color screen, which certainly felt more satisfying to watch than the Gameboy's dull gray shapes. The system was basically upgraded Sega Master System hardware (Sega actually offered an adapter that let you play SMS games on the system), so many of the games were teetering on the edge of "Genesis-esque," and many scaled-down ports of 16-bit games finding their way onto the system. Unfortunately, all this sweetness came at a high price. Not only was the hardware expensive, but it was not very efficient. It took 6 AA batteries which some people could drain in only 3 hours! Ontop of that, the system was bulky, being roughly 30% bigger than the gameboy, which was already difficult enough to stuff into pockets. And on top of all that, the screen was notorious for being very blurry. This was a system that was ahead of its time. On paper though, it was an amazing technical feat, and to this day it still has some very enthusiastic fans, even if they're few and far between.
Feel free to discuss! And remember, discussions about old computer games are welcome too.
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