Topic: Which Gaming Generation do you consider yourself a part of?

[Spak-Spang]

Inspired by the thread titled What is your game of this generation comes this completely separate thread.


I have been finding myself falling out of love with gaming.  This isn't because I dislike games...but it is for several reasons.  One, I haven't had a system for nearly 5 years now.  But I think the biggest reason might be, my generation of gaming has passed.  The current gaming trends do not interest me as much, and even among a revival of traditional gaming values and inspirations, I just am not that inspired.


I realized I can not consider myself apart of this gaming generation....so which generation do I most associate my gaming with?


I believe I am transitional gamer.  I peaked somewhere in the SNES/GENESIS and Nintendo 64 generations. Those were the games I hold dearest to my heart...the games I want to revisit, and the games I seek to recreate/or experience again when I play games. 


So what generation do you believe you fall into and why? 

[Khushrenada]

I don't know. I seem to be up and down. It was always so amazing to visit a friends house and play Duck Hunt or Super Mario Bros. I remember watching the Mario Bros. show as well but that was around 1990 I think when I first started playing those games and just in such small doses.

Then one day, my parents surprised our family with an SNES which came with Super Mario World. I'm not even sure back then I realized that the Super Nintendo was different from the NES or realized just how new it was. Regardless, that was around 1993 and so that was the generation of games I grew up. Going to the movie store was always so amazing to look at all the different games for rent. Nintendo Power was also available at the library and it was through this and friends at school that I began my gamer education if you will.

The SNES lasted us for years. The first time I saw a 64 was at Toys R Us and they had it running with Super Mario 64. I was watching someone play the third world or so is the lagoon with the sunken ship. It was phenomenal to see a whole 3D game in action. The size of Peach's castle.

However, it would be some time before we finally had enough money to buy a 64. It was right around the time Donkey Kong 64 came out that we finally purchased it. During that time, I'd never really played the 64 so when we got it with Mario 64, it was still an amazing brand new experience. Up to that point, we'd just been renting SNES games still. Due to the time we bought the 64, there were a lot of games we never played. Also, about a year or so later, I just wasn't playing games that much. My brother was still playing regularly though and he'd rent games all the time and play them but I'd hardly watch or join in. At that point, my interests began to run more towards books and I was starting to be more interested in films and watching a lot of older movies. During that time, I saw some of my first Hitchcock movies like Rear Window and Dial M for Murder. Things like 12 Angry Men and 2001: A space odyssey. Finally watched the Star Wars movies as well.

So, when the Gamecube came out, my brother was all over such news and had shown me news about Rogue Squadron 2, I was quite interested having become a Star Wars fan suddenly. Seeing it in action at an EB Games was again, another mind blowing moment. I tried the game out and it took me a moment to get used to the controls but then I put the X-Wing in a loop and just watched the background as it showed the Death Star and then Yavin 4 and back again in this never ending loop. I felt I was flying in that game it was so real to me. Unlike the 64, we had jobs delivering papers and flyers and so we were able to save up faster for the system and bought it in Feb. 2002. After having sort of fallen away from gaming and giving it up to my brother, I decided this was a chance to start fresh and challenge his gaming superiority.

We both attacked Rogue Squadron earning medals and trying to see who could beat it first. He had an advanatage on me and was able to unlock Endurance first and even got a silver medal before finally dying in it. I soon caught up and unlocked it and then one late night, I figured out a good strategy and beat that mission for the gold. I had done it. I had beat my brother at the game. He loved Rogue Squadron for the 64 and completely aced that game and had gold all missions. I only got to the 4th mission it. But I had now beat him at his own game. However, he never went back to finish RS2. After the amount of time it had took him to get the silver medal, he just wasn't interested in having to sit and play that long to get a gold. I don't blame him really. It is a real time-waster. Yet oddly, he then began to fall away from gaming. He had bought himself a computer and was soon more interested in that and it became his interest. There were a couple more games he still played but compared to what he used to be like for gaming on the 64, he had definitely fallen away.

For me, the Gamecube was a rebirth. The controller was amazing. I credited it with helping me finally handling better in 3D space. It's like I suddenly understood the 64 controller better and how to play those older 64 games. I don't know if that had been a factor in my falling out of gaming with it but it just seemed to click in my head now. Being an adopter of the Gamecube so early on, I was able to keep up with a lot of games for it and could now start affording to buy more games instead of renting them. As such, the Gamecube is the system I ended up owning the most games for and even now, it sits second place with only the DS surpassing it. I played the heck out of a lot of GC games and adore that system the most. I have a soft spot for the SNES but the problem I have is that I've played those games so much, I'm just not interested in playing most of them anymore since I can remember everything about them. Gamecube benefits from the fact that I had so much choice at that time that I never really overplayed anything and so I still have an eagerness to replay games.

When the DS came out, I thought it was an odd device and I couldn't see how a person could look between two screens and not get lost. Still, I was impressed with the fact that a handheld could play 64 games or games in 3D. Then there was the promise that this would be Nintendo's foray into online gaming as well. Reading the features about it, there were a lot of neat things that the system had. Finally, when they released the Electric Blue DS bundled with Mario 64, I took the plunge. I got the system started and was right away impressed with the idea of a touchscreen. Playing the minigames that came with the 64 games once again amazed me at playing a game with a touchscreen. Particularly the one where you had to find a Mario, Luigi, Yoshi or Wario face among a bunch of faces of the others. Finding and tapping away at the screen was probably the last childlike wonderment I got from a game. Soon, I was racking up DS games as well and liked the fact that they were less money than console games. In fact, the DS impressed me so much that I realized I liked it more than anything consoles were offering. So many developers were willing to try new things on it and it ended up having so many different experiences and properties available to it that at times I think it is the best system Nintendo's ever released.

Surprisingly, the Wii did nothing for me. After the experience I had playing the DS for the first time, I refused to play the Wii until I finally bought and owned it for myself. I wanted it to blow me away like playing on a touchscreen for the first time. Sadly, it didn't. Maybe I overhyped myself or maybe I knew what to expect having read so many articles of people's impressions and thoughts on it. I also think it was partly because I wasn't that impressed with Wii Sports. I found it too limiting. I didn't like Tennis because there was no moving my character around the court. I just had to swing and hope. I don't think I've ever figured out Baseball yet either. Bowling was the only game I liked. Golf and boxing were just kind of meh. Then when playing other games, I found the motion control a bit annoying. Playing Mario Galaxy with the Wiimote made me wish I could have used a GC controller or that they had just assigned the shake movement a button press. It was during this time my interest in gaming began to fade more and more. I was living on my own and could play as much as I wanted but instead I was more interested now in watching movies and TV then playing games. A lot of the people I would play GC games with also started doing different things in life and so the interest of gaming fell away for them.

My interest was such that I wasn't even sure if I should get a Wii U but decided to anyways as it seemed like Nintendo was shifting away from motion controls and going with what was their strongest innovation in having a touchscreen control. I also find myself starting to wane a bit in my movie interest and TV watching has really dropped off for me. Much like when I got a Gamecube, I'm considering this as one more fresh start. But if I find myself still disinterested and not really playing much anymore, than I'm really thinking this will be it for me.

So, long story short: The Gamecube to mid-DS era would be what I consider my generation of gaming.

[UncleBob]

This is an interesting question, and one I can't really answer.  I grew up with the Intellivision and moved on to every Nintendo console and handheld since...  I'm not sure I could fairly attach myself to a singular generation.  The closest I could probably come though would be "Game Boy".  I can't say NES, because we didn't have many NES games growing up (and renting them wasn't much of an option for us), so I didn't get to play many of the greats.  I did have a Game Boy and had quite a few games for it - which also allowed me to lend and borrow games.  With all the time I spent in cars/buses, I got plenty of spinach-green screen time.

[broodwars]

For me, the gaming console I've most associated myself with was the Super NES. It's the console I have the fondest memories of, and it's the console that had my favorite game of all time (pun not intended): Chrono Trigger.

That said, I think lately I've shifted away towards feeling more like a member of the PS3/360 generation. While I have very fond memories of the SNES days, it's kind of hard to argue that games aren't substantially better today as a whole, and we have such a wider variety of experiences available to us now.  It's also not likely coincidental that over the years I've gradually shifted away from being a mega-Nintendo gamer.  These days, Nintendo's games  feel more like curiosities that fill the holes between the meatier experiences I get on my PS3 (and soon PS4 as well) every single month.

When I was growing up, my childhood hero was Walt Disney, and Disney was a firm believer in the constant advancement of technology leading to fuller and happier lives.  It's a philosophy I strongly believe in: games now are better than they've ever been, even if there are individual games in the past I love more than the average games today.  The relics of the past need to step aside to make room for the future.  So yeah, I guess I largely side with the current generation of gamers.

[Spak-Spang]

I love your stories. 

My fondest memories of my childhood and teenage years have been with the SNES and Nintendo 64.  I have owned almost every game console at some point in its life.  I started with the Sega master System then Genesis, but those systems never sparked my imagination.  I remember trading the Genesis for the Super Nintendo and everything started to click.  Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time, almost every game I played impressed me.  I even loved sports games back then. 

I remember getting Super Bomberman for my birthday and played all night with my friends.  That game was truly amazing back then.  It sparked my love for social gaming.  Playing games with my friends and growing closer together through them.

For the Nintendo 64, I learned how to save money.  I had a part time job, and I saved my money all summer for the system.  I had enough money for the system, Super Mario 64, and I could have gotten another controller, but I didn't need it.  Super Mario 64 was the only game you ever needed.  I played that game tirelessly.  Over and over and beat it several times.  Then came social gaming 2.0 with 4 player Nintendo 64 multiplayer madness.  When Goldeneye came out I was hooked. 

Though, after the 64.  I started growing up.  Every other system, despite being better started to fail in comparison…and I realized gaming didn't have the same magic.  And social gaming was GREAT amazing fun with good friends, but that was the only times games were fun.  Eventually, I played games with friends to socialize, but we weren't bonding and getting closer over games. 

I know part of my love for classic games is trying to capture that feel for gaming as a kid.  But, its impossible, and as such I drift further and further away. 

[shingi_70]

So you mean like which gaming gen did we start in. While I remember watching a older neighbor play games like ALTTP or Chrono Trigger, I would sqarely put my self in the generation with the Playstaton and Nintendo 64. Playstation was my first console and I had a rad time playing games like frogger, spiderman, FFVII, and Chrono Trigger. I also got a N64 for all of the Rare and Nintendo games. Playin Crusin USA was so much damn fun.

[Ceric]

Honestly,

I find myself losing interest the further I get from the edge in a way.  See I mostly identify with the NES/PC/GB times.  More specifically PC Gaming.  Looking back that was were I really was when I played as a kid.  Warcraft, Seirra Games, Civilization, etc.  are games I remember fondly and identify with.

[jrlibrarian]

For me, I didn't really grow up with video games. I had a PC, and I'd play the Harry Potter games, or Sid Meier's Pirates, or Toontown Online (which still remains one of my favorite gaming experiences to this day), but we didn't get a console until Christmas '09, when my parents bought us a 360. Of course, I wanted a Wii, but you couldn't really argue with presents, especially since gaming had been so restrictive up to that point (usually for only about an hour a day max). We had also gotten a DS from my dad a while back, that he was received from taking photos at a Nintendo/Brain Age event. It's signed by Dr. Kawashima, and remains one of the highlights of my collection.


And then I got a job, and started making money, and discovered eBay. By this point, I was a rabid listener of RFN and Radio Trivia, and decided that if I couldn't afford a Wii right up front, I'd just bypass that and by the older games directly. Besides, I've always had a preference for having the physical copy of the game rather than purchasing it on VC, convenience be damned. Starting off with a Retron 3, the clone system that will play NES, SNES, and Genesis games, I began to build my collection. Now almost completely filling a huge bookshelf with just the games, and spanning 11 consoles and 5 handhelds, plus my overflowing Steam library, it's become more of a money-sink than ever.

But that's not the question at hand here, is it. Despite the fact that it came out 3 years before I was born, the Super Nintendo is my console. It was the first one that I played (the hired hands at my grandparents' farm kept one with Mario and the Lion King in the barn), and it's the one that keeps drawing me back. My copies of Chrono Trigger (my favorite game of all time) and Final Fantasy III sit forefront on the shelf, and I am more likely to bring out an old SNES game when I want something different than sitting in front of my PC all day. I play most of the modern games on my computer, but even then, it's the older ones that are holding my attention longer. This past week, it's been Diablo II and Super Metroid.

[Ian Sane]

Age wise I should fit in best with the NES era but my Mom was very anti-videogame and never bought us an NES so my brothers and I had to save up our own money, without any allowance, and it frankly took so long that we were well into the SNES era at that point and bought one of those instead.  So much of my memories are with the SNES, though ironically I never played some of my favourite games like A Link to the Past and Super Metroid until well into the N64 years.  But most of my faves like Super Mario World, DKC, SFII, Mega Max X and Uniracers were all played when they were current.

My middle brother is stuck in the 2D era.  There is a very small amount of polygon games he will play.  But I had no real issue with the transition to 3D.  I didn't feel disconnected until the Wii/PS3/X360 generation.  The Wii turned me off big time, not just because it really offered no significant hardware difference from the Gamecube but because of the motion control.  In my day Nintendo offered tight responsive controls so this switch to slippery motion controls was a huge turn off.  Essentially I felt like I had to fight the controls to play every game that didn't support the CC.  The increased focus on non-gamers was also a turn off as games like Wii Sports feel like tech demos that rely on the target audience to be unaware of how little of game they really are.  After over 15 years of being a Nintendo customer (would have been 20 if it had been up to me in the NES years) it felt like they were no longer interested in appealing to me.

Well then Sony and MS picked up the slack, right?  Well, not really, and the main reason for that is the switch in the console market from Japanese to Western dominance.  Outside of Nintendo the big games are largely made by North American or European devs while good Japanese games are becoming harder to track down.  For 20 years and four generations the console market was predominantly Japanese but last gen suddenly every Japanese company got their heads stuck up their asses.  In retrospect the writing was on the wall with the Xbox's entry to the market, but during the GC/PS2/XB gen both Japanese and Western games co-existed.  I prefer the Japanese style of videogame design and it no longer drives the market.  Nintendo is clearly the strongest Japanese company left but they've gone off the deep end with outdated hardware and gimmick controls.  Japanese games remain strong on handhelds but I don't really like handhelds much.  I want to play this stuff on the TV and can't.

So if I have to pick a specific gen, 16-bit is the obvious choice but I really belong to a larger Golden Age of Japanese console games that went from about 1985-2006.  It was a great 20 years when Nintendo, Sega, Square, Capcom & Konami all had their **** together and were cranking out classics on a regular basis.

[Spak-Spang]

Great replies.


To clarify, this isn't about what generation you started with, or even mostly played games.  It is the generation you identify yourself with as a gamer. 


So Ian Sane's answer is pretty accurate to what I was asking.  He could be considered a NES gamer by age, but didn't really play games then.  And even though he transitioned well into the polygon era his heart is firmly in the 16 bit era of games.


Same as mine.  My heart is really in those 16 bit games that kept me secure and happy growing up.  The SNES was a great system, and more importantly it landed at the right time of my development. 

[ThePerm]

Growing up my first console like thing was commadore 64. The next thing I got was an NES. We got Nintendo kinda late as many kids did. So our parents didnt get us a super nintendo. My brother ended up getting a Sega Genesis. During that time we became Pc gamers as well. I then got an Atari Jaguar on clearance sale for my birthday. The next year I got an n64, and my brother got a Sega Saturn. My brother graduated and he won a playstation dual shock at Grad Night. Randomly in 2oo1 our grandma decided to send us $50 each. We bought a Sega Dreamcast for $99. I got a gamecube later that year. Then a GBA. Then a DS. Then a Wii. and in march this year I got a Wii U, and launch day I bought an Ouya.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I have been finding myself falling out of love with gaming.  This isn't because I dislike games...but it is for several reasons.  I think the biggest reason might be, The current gaming trends do not interest me as much, I just am not that inspired.

I grew up with the Intellivision and moved on to every Nintendo console and handheld since....  I peaked somewhere in the SNES and Nintendo 64 generations. Those were the games I hold dearest to my heart...the games I want to revisit, and the games I seek to recreate/or experience again when I play games. 

The N64 era was the last time I bought games to play.
GC era was when I started collecting games to play instead.
Wii progressed with the collecting games to own them, which apparently carries on till this day with the Wii U.

edit: oh yeah, and title quote

BlackNMild2k1

• Gamer at heart...  just not in practice

[ShyGuy]

I'm specced out to dual wield my gaming generations.

I first played the Sears version of Pong when I was like 2 years old. But the first console I saved up for was the NES, with Punchout! Contra, and Super Mario Bros 3 being my favorites.

I picked up a TG16 late in its life but never found any games. At this point I was drifting towards PCs.

Last half of the 90s on the PC were a magical time, and I didn't even play half the genres. Wolfenstein, SimCity 2k, Duke 3D, The Quake Trilogy, Hitman 47, Deus Ex...

I was tempted to get a Dreamcast, but in 2003, I jumped back on the Nintendo train with a Gamecube.

I guess I identify with NES and late 90s PC gaming.

[Pixelated Pixies]

My relationship with video games seems to be cyclical. I tend to drift in and out. When I was very young I was really into my NES (the SNES was actually already released at that point). I did eventually get a SNES, but I don't remember owning many games for it and missed out on many of the classics (Super Metroid included).

I got back into gaming in a big way when the N64 came out thanks in large part to Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie. However, when the Gamecube was released I didn't buy very many games for it and it effectively became my brothers' system.

The Wii then hooked me back in again, and I took advantage of the Gamecube backwards compatibility and the Virtual Console to catch on some of the great games that I had missed. In a way, the Wii era represents my most 'hardcore' phase, as I ended up buying more games for that system than I have for any other, which is kind of ironic given my tendency to deride that system for not providing enough games.

In the last 3 years or so, however, my gaming has slowed down and I have relied primarily on my 3DS and Steam. I'm fully on the PS4 wagon though, and am looking forward to being a console gamer once again.

Short answer? To a lesser or  greater extent I would consider myself a part of every generation since the NES. I didn't engage with each generation equally, but video games have always been there for me.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

Didn't notice this thread before but here are my experiences just for the fun of it.

I grew up as a gamer, my first console was a Coleco Gemini, is an Atari 2600 clone made by Coleco. I always say my first console was an Atari 2600 because those are the games it plays but in reality it was just a knock off. When you think of it that's actually pretty fun to think my gaming "career" began by playing Atari games on a non-Atari console.

Games I remember playing back then are Superman, E.T, Asteroids, Haunted House, Combat, Space Invaders, Missile Command, and a bunch of random space and star titles I can't sort out in my faded memories because who the hell could?

During this same time my cousins had an Apple 2 computer we played some Atari-type games on non of which I can remember the actual names of. They then replaced that with an Atari 7800 which we used to bring our games over to share because it played the same games our machine did but they had the one with the NES style pads not the joysticks. Not sure how they ended up with that to be honest but it was the thing they had.

We got an NES for Christmas 1989, came with Duck Hunt/Super Mario Bros, and the games parents followed up with were Friday the 13th, XEXYZ (check it out if you get a chance), and Three Stooges so we relied heavily on rentals to get us by.

I got a Sega Genesis for my 12th birthday and let my sisters take the NES to their room and kept the Sega all to myself. Money was more abundant then so I got games semi-regularly plus since it was late 1994 Genny was mid life cycle and heavily discounted at this time. I played the hell out of that thing, Mortal Kombat 1, 2, NBA Jam, Sonic 1-3, Spinball, Knuckles, Shinobi, Toe Jam and Earl 2, Altered Beast, Turrican, lots of great games plenty of good memories to go around.

I went from wanting an SNES to hating SNES, thanks to Sega marketing and friends at school, to actually buying a Super NES literally the DAY N64 came out. I then proceeded to play the two about equally, giving Genesis more time at first then slowly shifting to SNES and going back and forth.


I got a n64 and PS1 same day, 18th birth day and I loved both to death. This is where my story gets complicated, and well sorta sad in a way. A friend got a Dreamcast the week before they announced it was discontinued and ended up loading up on discounted titles right away. Because of watching Atari and Sega both go through hard times and exit the gaming market I somehow became paranoid Playstation was going to kill Nintendo and so I dug my heals into the ground and became firmly anti-Playstation for mostly irrational reasons and so I got a Game Cube, a GBA, and a Game Boy Player plus an E-Reader and began my crusade to convert all my friends into Nintendo nuts like me. I actually did love the Game Cube a lot but I over did it in my quest and by the end I was exhausted trying to pretend I cared as much as I did and I realized my "hatred" of Playstation as not only irrational it was hurting me as a gamer. I didn't realize this until about a year and a half into Wii before I realized I was buying games for DS I never played and same with Wii so I sold both and went into hibernation retro style converting to emulation on the PC and getting into Steam.


I got back into traditional gaming with a used PS2 and PS3 Slim brand new for my 30th birthday and I have experienced a Renaissance of gaming ever since, getting heavy into PS3, PS4, and Wii U is starting to pick up. I never cared for handhelds though aside from a GBA I mostly used for connectivity and a DS I played a handful of games on, I stick to consoles.


Lately I tend to buy more games than I play but now that work is down to part time, girl is out of life, and school is done till Fall I suspect I got more time to catch up so might as well.

[ejamer]

My parents bought an Atari 2600 when I was very young, and I fell in love with gaming. Despite being hyperactive most of the time, the ability to interact with and control my character in a game fascinated me, and I spent as much time as I was allowed glued to the TV. At first it was largely a shared experience with my father - but I caught on faster (and practiced more) than he did and was soon posting higher scores than he could reach. Being beaten by his 4- or 5-year old son kind of killed his interest after a while so soon gaming was largely a solo pursuit. I miss the times we played games together; it makes me appreciate the co-operative games we have now that allow me to share experiences with my kids.

My family didn't have a lot of resources, so new games or console upgrades were very rare. An uncle gave us an NES for Christmas not long after the SNES was released. Even though it wasn't that "latest and greatest", we still played the heck out of the Mario/Duck Hunt pack-in and later enjoyed both Tetris and Dr Mario immensely. There were also many great NES games available from a nearby rental store, and once a month I'd get to pick out a new game to try for an evening.

A few years later, I had a couple of friends who owned SNES consoles . We would sometimes play together, giving me exposure to games like Bomberman, NBA Jam, Final Fantasy 2, Zelda: Link to the Past, Street Fighter, and many more... these games fascinated me more than any other, and many of my most loved experiences come from the all night gaming parties we would hold during weekends.

A few years beyond that, during my second year at university, I saved enough money to buy a used N64 and TV from a local pawn shop. That setup carried me through university and beyond, and as I began working at better jobs there was enough money to support buying a few games. Bond, Mario Party, New Tetris, Gauntlet Legends, Banjo-Kazooie, Ocarina of Time... Lots of time spent with roommates and friends playing silly games when we probably should have been studying.

I missed the GameCube generation entirely due to limited funds and time, although did buy a GBA. The portable console was fantastic while travelling, and games could be found cheap enough that I could get my fill of gaming wherever life was taking me at the time. The only thing that really disappointed me about GBA was how isolated the experience was: up until now, gaming was something that usually had at least some kind of social implication, as friends would be in the same room enjoying the experience together.


It wasn't until a year after Wii was released that I got back into gaming. My wife had played the console at a party, and the accessibility and social aspects excited here. It took several months after that time to actually find one in stores, but one day Toys R Us had stock, and it was the most expensive impulse buy I've ever made. The story has a disappointing twist though: she later decided that us playing together wasn't that much fun (?!) and kind of drifted away from playing Wii games with me unless we were throwing a party and everyone was involved. At least until Animal Crossing was released - that game excited her.


I still played on though. At this point there was a lot of catch-up from previous generations - big Wii games were slow coming out initially, so backwards compatibility and later Virtual Console were huge boons. Enjoying Wii led me to buy a DS (shared with my wife, who loved it) and later led me to buy a 3DS (mostly for me).  I now have a huge collection of games - driven in part by years of wanting to game but not having resources - for the Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS. It's time to step back and enjoy playing once this generation is done.

So that's where I come from... but what gaming generation does it make me a part of? Even though I have never owned an SNES, that is probably what I identify with most as a gaming generation.

SNES provided a level of amazing polish and expanding game design that I longed for, but could only experience when visiting friends. N64 was interesting but a notable step back: 3D gaming was so new that design issues were expected with most games, and the hardware couldn't push enough power to provide highly polished experiences that developers dreamed of. It might not be fair to compare 1st generation 3D games against established 2D development, but the perceived drop in quality turned me off from 3D gaming to a large degree. I still gravitate more towards clever and cute 2D designs most of the time. Having a GBA and later Wii also fed my interest in quality 2D gaming because both consoles had plenty of game experiences that fit that mold.

[Evan_B]

Great thread! I'll contribute, I think it's interesting to hear everyone's stories. They help flesh out the forum regulars.

I will say that by many standards, I am a young'n when it comes to video games. I was a 90's kid, so my faintest memories of any console was seeing the box for my brother's copy of Super Mario World. I will admit, the cover art always stuck out to me. It was always tucked neatly in the back of my mind, but for what reason, I could never understand why.

Anyway, I played games on my dad's PC a great deal when I was young- games like The Oregon Trail, Descent 2, Rogue Squadron- and then when we got our own computer for our room, I upgraded to titles like Starcraft, Age of Empires, Dark Forces 2, and the PC Sonic 3 and Knuckles collection- I played that game like it was my jam. My eldest brother ditched his old Game Boy and I eventually got a GBC and played his old games- Super Mario Land, Operation C, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But I was always a bit detached from the console wars. A few of my and my brother's friends had PSXs and N64s, but I only ever got a quick glance at them- a furtive look at Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, or Ocarina of Time. In many ways, that's why I hold little love for N64 era games... but there was one that captured my attention. When a friend of mine finally bought Super Smash Bros. for the N64, it opened my eyes to the magic of video games. I didn't know who half of the characters were, but I knew I wanted to be that pink guy and get other people's powers. The music, the look of the game- despite the N64's dark catalog- Smash Bros. seemed to be brimming with color and imagination. And I suppose, as a kid who loved to draw and write stories and be artsy... that was what did it for me. But I never had any of the Gen 5 consoles.

My first real home console was a GameCube. My parents had been hesitant to pick up a game system for my brother and I but when they finally did it opened the doors for me. I played mostly RPGs and platformers on my GBC (which was my only handheld until the DS later came along), so when I experienced titles like Pikmin and Super Mario Sunshine, they made my eyes burst and my imagination run wild. I will always remember the first time I played the demo for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door at Best Buy. It was everything familiar to me from my GBC days wrapped up into one package.

I had limited access to games in my adolescence. Most of the GCN classics passed me by, but I was able to try out a few on my friend's consoles- and luckily, I seemed to grow up in the weird corner of the world where most parents bought their kids GameCubes. I wore the thing, and several controllers, down to nothing, and now my GCN chugs along but gets the job done.

I didn't really become very invested in video games until around college- before then, I owned a DS and a Wii because who didn't? I played some odd choices and some games that I still remember fondly, but when I had more access to the internet, I started keeping up with video game news and I started to realize all the things I had missed out on. That's why the virtual console has been a godsend to me, as I have had the chance to return to old favorites and fall in love with titles new to myself. And here I am now, a 3DS/Wii U/Steam/PSTV owner who has been writing a video gaming blog for three years and records a podcast in his spare time.

I guess the generation I would associate myself with most closely is not the Wii/360/PS3 era... I have friends who are a bit more interested in those types of games. I'm definitely not old school, either. I am trapped a bit in between the GCN and the DS... where games were starting to function properly in 3D and have fitting controls, and where experimentation was the flavor of the month and graphics got away with looking subpar because they were neat on a handheld. I crave unique iterations in Nintendo titles and franchises more than I do safe ones. I also prefer the color and creativity of games with gameplay and aesthetic as their main focus. The only story-driven games I can get myself into are RPGs and even then I can become disenchanted. But I also still feel like a very "new" gamer because I have yet to find games in many genres that have clicked with me...

Ah well, the truth is, I'm not really sure. I think I'm a special case, but one that enjoys video games for their potential and becomes disappointed in more of the same.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

Sounds like you would LOVE the SNES if you get a chance to pick out some of the gems. Don't limit yourself to Virtual Console though the real gems are nowhere to be found on that service. While I do love VC and am totally addicted to it, there are far too many great games lacking on the service.



Steam is a good place to grab some 16 but Sega classics, especially the Streets of Rage, Sonic, Golden Axe games those are all great. I also strongly encourage people to check out stuff like Toe Jam and Earl 1 and 2 I prefer two but most prefer one, they are both good in their own ways.

[ObbyDent]

6th gen and beyond. All the ones before I'm just visiting.

[Evan_B]

Sounds like you would LOVE the SNES if you get a chance to pick out some of the gems. Don't limit yourself to Virtual Console though the real gems are nowhere to be found on that service. While I do love VC and am totally addicted to it, there are far too many great games lacking on the service.



Steam is a good place to grab some 16 but Sega classics, especially the Streets of Rage, Sonic, Golden Axe games those are all great. I also strongly encourage people to check out stuff like Toe Jam and Earl 1 and 2 I prefer two but most prefer one, they are both good in their own ways.

Yeah, I have been contemplating picking up a Super Famicom while I'm here in Japan, I feel like it would be a rite of passage as a Nintendo fan. But I'm sure it would end up very costly for me in the long run (the games, not the hardware, which I've found for surprisingly cheap). I don't want to go the route of emulation, though. I mean, free emulation. It's a personal preference and one that I get a lot of flak for, but I stand by it.

[Spak-Spang]

Steam has really made PC gaming more viable than when I was growing up.  It is closer to console gaming than ever before, and still has its personal benefits.  However, it still has its drawbacks as well.

I wonder if I will ever get back into gaming.  I keep on waiting for the system that says, this is all you need.  Something that is fairly priced, will play all the games I want, and could want into the future.  The Wii was almost a perfect system for me, because of the Virtual Console...however, the account system Nintendo came up with...and a mistake I made when I sold my Wii, has left me without a any of my digital purchases and really soured me to Nintendo...until they fix that system.

I don't want a gaming computer, I just want to play the classics I loved and a few modern classics.  We will see if and when I return to gaming.  It is still the hobby I know the most about, even being out of the loop for 5 years.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

Sounds like you would LOVE the SNES if you get a chance to pick out some of the gems. Don't limit yourself to Virtual Console though the real gems are nowhere to be found on that service. While I do love VC and am totally addicted to it, there are far too many great games lacking on the service.



Steam is a good place to grab some 16 but Sega classics, especially the Streets of Rage, Sonic, Golden Axe games those are all great. I also strongly encourage people to check out stuff like Toe Jam and Earl 1 and 2 I prefer two but most prefer one, they are both good in their own ways.

Yeah, I have been contemplating picking up a Super Famicom while I'm here in Japan, I feel like it would be a rite of passage as a Nintendo fan. But I'm sure it would end up very costly for me in the long run (the games, not the hardware, which I've found for surprisingly cheap). I don't want to go the route of emulation, though. I mean, free emulation. It's a personal preference and one that I get a lot of flak for, but I stand by it.

If you want the fully legal no questions asked then yes Virtual Console is about your only option. There are several SNES ports on the GBA as well as a few upgrades for the PS1 that are all worth checking into. The most expensive SNES carts that are actually worth owning are all on Virtual Console with a few exceptions. And a few have even been re-released on Steam, PSN, and PSP/Vita from what I can tell.

[bustin98]

I, like many, started with the Atari 2600. Asteroids, Defender, Space Invaders, Yar's Revenge, Pitfall, Centipede, and the list goes on. I beat Pitfall in under 20 minutes and sent a photo in for the shoulder patch and membership into the Activision club. I flipped the score Asteroids 3 times. Amazing times. And received many hickies from sticking the cover of the controller on my face and chest. Don't deny your 9 year self wouldn't do the same!

Nintendo came out and my dad bought the ROB set with Duck Hunt and Gyroscope. Of course I picked up Super Mario, Zelda (gold cartridge!), Ninja Gaiden, Robocop, Batman, World Runner, Excitebike, so many classics. I miss Batman, that was an amazing game. I beat Contra without losing a life. I always tried to get through World Runner, but damn it was hard.

Then I fell out of gaming. Comic books took over my life. I gave away my NES, sold off my Genesis. I had no interest in having the SNES. And I was fine with the choice, no regrets.

Then I met a girl. And she wanted Donkey Kong Country. I never heard of it. But we got it. And so began a slow uptick back into gaming. I got Super Metroid on sale. Picked up Killer Instinct with the soundtrack. We had all of the Donkey Kong Games.

Then - it happened. The N64. OMG! Mario64, Mischief Makers, Turok, Goldeneye, Bomberman64, Mario Kart 64, Doom 64, Quake 1 & 2... such awesomeness. My wife at the time surprised me on my birthday with it, she had put it on layaway and paid it off over time. And this is the system I identify with. I have so many of the games to this day. Some I got rid of and wish I had again. Some I wish I never played, but whatever.

I have been a Nintendo fan for as long as they have put out systems. I have a launch black Gamecube, even added a network adapter in hopes a game I liked would support online gaming. Mario Kart is close enough. I have a launch Wii soft-modded, and is the best way to play Quake. My Wii U library is a good size. I also have an original Gamboy (and the box and styrofoam protection), advance gameboy, DS, and 3DS. I do have a desire that Nintendo would provide more options with their services instead of treating everyone as if they'll never understand how things work. But I can't give up on great games so I'll always buy a launch system from them. They also are notorious for removing functions from systems as time goes on so another reason to buy a launch system.

[Selard]

I think we all are a part of modern 3D gaming. I love 3D gaming and hope everyone there game lover might have been upgraded to 3D versions of their favorite games.

[ejamer]

d

I think we all are a part of modern 3D gaming. I love 3D gaming and hope everyone there game lover might have been upgraded to 3D versions of their favorite games.

Nope.  3D gaming is fine, but I often prefer 2D gaming. The idea that all games need to move to 3D runs counter to my preferences - both can and should exist.