Post
by Austin » Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:59 am
Any systems that are not listed is because I barely experienced them at all when they launched, and in some cases (like the Genesis), I wouldn't get to trying them seriously until they were three or four years old.
SNES - Super Mario World looked, played, sounded, and felt amazing. It was a massive step up from what was seen on the NES I was growing up with at that time. I didn't get a SNES until the end of '93, but it seemed like everyone else had one, so I got to play it frequently.
Sega CD - I didn't get this until '95 when it was basically on its way out, and I hadn't played a PlayStation or Saturn at that time yet. The Sega CD still floored me though. The FMV and CD quality audio was completely new to me at the time, and it made a huge difference in games for me. So much so, that I even enjoyed tracking down the conversions of prior Genesis games that now had CD soundtracks, like Flashback, Ecco, and more. Eternal Champions: Challenge From the Dark Side, Batman Returns, Sewer Shark, and Prince of Persia were the games I got with the system. Prince of Persia didn't impress much, but the rest did.
Nintendo 64 - Mario 64 on that Nintendo 64 Promotional Nintendo Power tape made my jaw drop. Star Fox for the SNES was impressive to me when it was released, but Mario 64 was something I simply wasn't able to imagine by that point (I hadn't even heard of a 3DO then, either). I didn't really get a chance to play a N64 though until a year or so after it was released.
Sega Dreamcast - I was 17 and bought one on launch day. House of the Dead 2 was the game I chose to buy alongside the system. I had to have someone else pick my jaw up off the floor for me. It was that impressive. Likewise, everything else on the demo disc included (sans the F1 demo) was mind-blowing, too. Power Stone with all background objects and crazy, bright visuals, and Sonic Adventure, with the famous whale scene on the first action stage.
PlayStation 2 - I was not impressed at all by the PS2 when it launched. Don't get me wrong, it is a killer system, and I did get one when they were still tough to find, about six months in, but the games looked like ass when the system hit. Lack of anti-aliasing alone early on made me and many others firm believers that the system wasn't any more powerful than the Dreamcast, but as we all know, that's completely untrue.
Game Boy Advance - Asides from the dark screen, this was pretty impressive. It was what we were used to already (SNES-style gaming), but the fact that it was in our hands was a big step up from what was popular before (the Game Boy). I bought one in the first week it was available (or close to), and picked up F-Zero, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and I believe the import version of Mario 2. All great games!
XBOX - This was a complete impulse buy that I didn't decide on until about a week or two before its launch. Getting myself hyped up over its Pentium III 700+ MHZ processor, which was three or four times the power of the current systems at the time (PS2/DC), plus watching preview video for Dead or Alive 3, is what pushed me over the line. After waiting in line in front of Best Buy for hours in freezing-cold weather, it was worth it. I was impressed. Not quite on the level of the Dreamcast when it was new, but the XBOX still took things to the next level: seemingly infinite draw distances, bump mapping instead of seemingly flat surfaces, games that just felt huge compared to before even when they weren't (DOA3's multiple-multiple tier stages, for instance), etc., etc. The DVD playback and custom soundtracks was a nice option, too, and the later was a brand-new thing at the time.
Nokia N-Gage - It got a terrible rap and had some terrible games at first, but it still impressed me and made the GBA look dated with its ability to play games like Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk just about perfectly. That thrill wore off for me pretty quickly since the DS came out just the next year after, then the PSP shortly after that, but having it double as a phone as well kept the whole thing fresh and novel for me for years to come.
Nintendo DS - Wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. Games were of a slightly higher resolution and ran smoother than 3D N-Gage games, but it wasn't a large enough jump from what I already had. The touch screen idea was very cool, but the games were pretty average (outside of Castlevania) and I ended up using it mostly as a GBA player.
XBOX 360 - It wasn't a huge jump up from the original XBOX, but there was a good enough difference to me, primarily in Perfect Dark Zero. The mapping effects on textures were even more pronounced with the 360, and there were a lot of new effects, such as the blurring when turning in PDZ. The blades dashboard was also very cool, as well as the amazing Jeff Minter visualizer. Custom-soundtracks in EVERY game was a great addition as well (on the XBOX only specific games supported it). Along with Perfect Dark, I also bought Quake 4, Ridge Racer 6, and a friend bought me Project Gotham 3 that next week. Overall, PDZ was the only game I was rightfully impressed with. Quake 4 had massive load times and framerate stuttering, and Ridge Racer 6, while an awesome game, felt like an original XBOX title. I would have been more impressed if I got Call of Duty 2 and Kameo along with Perfect Dark, but I digress. The 360 was and was not "Next Gen" at the same time, if that makes any sense.
Jaguar vs. Jaguar
) Funny thing is, I never had Blue Lightning when the Lynx was in production ... I only picked it up about a year ago actually. Still, even at that late date, I could appreciate how advanced it was at the time ... even more so since it was on a handheld unit!