Nuts and Bolts didn’t sell as well because it was on the wrong platform (as it had a Nintendo Legacy and Xbox has always sort of had trouble generating a family mascot to link to their console successfully) and a total shake up sequel of a classic after a generation’s separation between games. It’s a solid game, if not a classic, but the cards were stacked against it before it even had a chance. If it re-released on Switch, you’ve got to wonder how it would be perceived now.
Man, I had a bunch of these action figures as a kid and loved the DTV “movie.” It was rudimentary 3D in an era before people were doing that. The Reboot era, you could say. Ah, youth!
@belmont Honestly, it sort of ruined the game for me. I have no problem with difficulty, but these bosses all felt incredibly cheap. The balance between the difficulty of the bosses and the levels felt totally out of whack to me. It’s like Azrest took notes on what Sonic does right for level design and what Sonic does wrong for boss fights. If the bosses were cut (and multiplayer, because, let’s face it, even if that’s what they sold the game on it, it’s a mess), Superstars would probably an 8/10, bordering into 9 territory, but as it is, Superstars is maybe a 6.
They’re resurrecting it for some of those boss fights. Sonic Superstars has some incredibly cheap ones that break the fun factor of the honestly solidly designed levels of the game. I scream when I get to them too, usually.
Ground Zeroes is painfully underrated in this list. To put Survive over it is an insult, even if I liked Survive. MGSV deserves better too. Go down the rabbit hole. The game is deeper when you dive down it.
Glad MGS2 has its rightful place at #1. Also, love MGS3, but it’s definitely third place… if you’re not an MGSV person. It’s fourth for me, but I’m a ruse cruiser.
Kid Dracula! Yes! 10/10 game for me! Really happy this got one got mentioned. Might be my favorite GB title.
Also, to this day, I’m still impressed with what Nintendo and Rare made happen with Donkey Kong Land. With such a limited toolkit, they really pushed the visuals that were possible on the console. It’s not perfect, but it is absolutely as incredible today as it was years ago.
Xbox was such a unique console. It felt like the heir apparent to Sega, but with a decidedly PC twist to its flavor. It’s perhaps the most Western feeling console of all time as well. Morrowind, Fable, and Halo impressed me in a way few games did in those days. OG Xbox did indeed feel more powerful than PS2 and GameCube.
Crazy the 360 is 18 years old now. I do disagree with the list. I mean, Reach over Halo 3? No Mass Effect? Portal 2? Fallout? Alan Wake? Child of Eden? Toss a coin to your Witcher, for heaven’s sakes! I’m just being nitpicky though. Thanks for acknowledging LA Noire.
The 360 was such a great system of a strange time where it seemed like Xbox was ready to pull ahead of PlayStation and Nintendo for a brief moment. It delivered a diverse catalog full of AAA hits, indie darlings, and unique titles that made it stand out from PlayStation’s combination of JRPGs, sometimes weirdness, and embryonic vision of cinematic gaming. The competition was so good with the big three then and all three had distinct gaming ecosystems. It’s sort of a shame that, in certain respects, that competition has evolved to a less direct path.
But seriously love the 64. The visuals have aged like milk and made a mighty fine cheese, if you ask me. The hits were so resolute. Mario 64, for instance, still gives me feelings of awe so many years later.
Super Mario Bros on NES, of course. First time I actually played through it was in ‘92 at the wee age of 3 years old.
I have fuzzy memories of Maniac Mansion and Zak McKraken on Commodore 64 that might predate my actual gaming experiences, but I definitely remember watching my parents play the games and, when I did play through Maniac Mansion for the first time, it was like I had some memory to where things were without having a real idea how I knew it.
@samuelvictor Yes, that’s precisely hitting the nail on the head. I don’t know if I ever had a “new” game (outside Donkey Kong or Mario because those were “for my mom”) til N64 when I’d use Christmas money to buy approximately 2-3 games over the course of the year and who knows if they were new? We rented instead of purchased, for the most part, so i developed this habit of needing to beat games quickly. After all, my parents were cheap and did 24 hour rentals every time.
I quite appreciate that my sisters enjoying gaming. They all have Switches now, but they’re so casual on gaming that we’ve never actually played online together… even though I pay for NSO. It’s always interesting to me when parents have no interest in gaming and yet invest in it for their child. Maybe they dabbled and you never knew? My mom showed me a photograph of my Dad playing Rocket: Robot on Wheels once and it startled me, given that I’d never seen him play a game, and, of all things, he was photographed playing that one!
Something that you’ve likely noticed about Americans is that there’s staunchly patriotic Americans and not. Lol. I think it’s a very different concept of nationality than many nations have. I was reading about the new album from that duo that Graham Coxon is in where he talked about how, “Regardless of your feelings for what Britain has done or the politics, you still love the country, even when you disagree with it.” America doesn’t quite have that mentality. Obviously, I’m not sure if that’s a real mentality with those in Britain or not, but I can see it in TV and movies. For instance, Bake Off could not exist in America! They’d be rushing the poor bakers with an athlete’s ethos. America is a land of paradox, and I suppose I enjoy some of that from time to time, myself.
In America, it’s odd because Sega and Nintendo seemed very even in the SNES era, but the Saturn was a total flash and it was gone. I don’t even recall seeing games for it anywhere after maybe the first year or two of its life. I don’t recall anyone I know owning it or talking about it. I truly do recall the Genesis kids taking a one-way ticket to Twisted Metal Land. I think the N64 wasn’t all that popular, but I remember it being more popular because it was popular among people I was associated with, a lot of them later in life. It’s sort of part and parcel with my view of Xbox being popular. By the 360 era, it seemed everyone had one, but that’s just everyone I knew.
I really wonder what they were thinking with that controller. It’s uncomfortable and unpractical. I don’t think I’ve played a fun game on the console, to be honest. Many bragged about it at release, but I think those same people sold their consoles for a PlayStation. I wonder if some of them sold the Jaguar, bought a Saturn, and returned it for a PlayStation. Lol.
@samuelvictor With the amount of inflation we’ve experienced, it could’ve been a grocery shopping trip, if I’m lucky. Lol. Seriously, America loves price gouging the fruit and produce these days.
I’ll be honest about my NES and SNES catalogue. There’s plenty of games that are probably stinkers by modern standards that I loved back then, and that I’d still fight for. Kid Klown, yeah, I’ve beaten it hundreds of times. Beetlejuice, really enjoyed it, you know? It went from platformer to almost a top down arpg-ish thing. Friday the 13th, I won’t let anyone tell me it’s a 4/10 game even if it totally is! It’s funny, I came really late to the SNES, and honestly played the console most in the PS2 era. We had the SNES for two years only (before getting the 64 at least… my parents still have it in their basement hooked up) and it was totally late into the generation. We were gifted the console and we moved across the country to the desert, so just imagine all the games I had access to. I could speedrun any DKC game or Kirby’s Dreamland 3 for a reason. Lol. I was definitely a renter, outside my year and a half in the desert though. It was wonderful in the 64 era. My Family Video (god bless its resting soul) even let us rent consoles. We went every Friday too and rented a lot of movies, so I’m pretty sure they gave us deals on things. We used to get a Christmas card from them and my parents still do get one from the pizza place across the street.
I didn’t really have many friends either. Never been all that social of a person in any capacity. I may well be on the spectrum but unaware. Many have recommended we test my son and I see a lot of my characteristics in him. Anyway, my mom and sisters all played a lot of games with me. We would regularly play Goldeneye, Mario Kart, Mario Party. I remember cutting my hand open playing Mario Party once because of that Shy Guy minigame. Pokémon Stadium’s minigames were perhaps the biggest party pleaser in those days.
Ah, yes, the American console thing is definitely “a thing” for some people I know. I think it’s quite silly since I quite like the foreign influence on gaming culture, personally. Given that I’m a midwesterner that could account for why Xbox was so popular in my area as well as Jaguar. And meanwhile the Saturn and Dreamcast were nowhere to be found. I’ve known but one person that had a Dreamcast, and that’s a friend of mine that is fortunate enough to “have them all,” so to speak. In my experience, the Jaguar was sort of awful. I know this site is for the odd console nostalgic, but I just really didn’t enjoy the controller or games I played for it at all. It made better use perhaps as dental equipment?
@KingMike Lol. I’ve definitely purposefully bought awful games, but that’s more of a recent thing… and usually Gamepass has me covered for my morbid curiosity.
@samuelvictor You’ve got me beat by 8 years in age. The late N64, early PS2 era too, I’d say I’d transitioned to being a PC first gamer, which sounds ridiculous to me now, given that I’m most certainly as far pro-console over PC that you could be now. I just prefer the simplicity of dedicated hardware, I suppose. But anyway, I’d get a random gaming magazine here or there, but I didn’t stay up to date, definitely not like I do now. To use an example of my ignorance, when Pokémon cards were a thing, my dad got my sister and I both three packs one day and I had no idea what they were. I had a first edition Charizard in one of the packs. My “best friend” of that time stole it and I had no idea it was worth something until probably three or so years later.
I do appreciate the Switch for that reason. There’s so much garbage on the console, but unlike the Wii and PS2 libraries, you have to look for the trash. It’s sort of brilliant. Meanwhile, I remember going to the store with the desire to buy a PS2 or Wii game (or my parents just picking one up) and you’d just sort of get what you’d get, based on what the store would have and what you’d already have. There was no eshop to buy what you wanted. I’m not sure how big Amazon was in those days. It was mercy of the marketplace. Speaking of that and consoles that died immediately, man, I do remember the Jaguar launch. The hype on that was real. So many people felt Atari would be back to shake up the Nintendo vs Sega dichotomy. How wrong those people were! In looking at the Jaguar’s sales though, I do always get surprised, given how many people I knew that had them. I do remember my parents considering getting one, only to decide against it because they didn’t like any of the games they tried at Funcoland.
Mascot platformers and, by proxy of how that generation developed, party games were my bread and butter of the 64 era. I would not at all be surprised if Mario Party has more hours on it than any game I’ve played in the last 10 years. I would say that the 64 has a better line-up in mascot platformers than PS1 did, but that’s just my preference. And often, if a platformer was on both consoles, it usually played better on 64 than PS1. Take Glover for example. Nothing exclusive on PS1 comes close to touching Mario 64, let alone DK64… for me, of course. Well, maybe Ape Escape touches DK64 tier for me, now that I think about it…
@samuelvictor Yes, for me, N64 smashes everyone else when it comes to 3D platformers that generation, which is honestly what I was playing mostly at the time. For me, I had no idea FF7 was on PS, as this was in an era where I was younger and didn’t exactly look into these kinds of things online. After all, I was still largely in an era where my parents dictated my gaming choices. I think my mom bought me Final Fantasy titles because it encouraged reading, you know?
I do hope that Panzer Dragoon Saga one day finds its way onto modern consoles. I know it’s code has been reportedly lost and it’s notoriously difficult to port without that origin code, but I do hope Sega figures something out, as I’d love to legally invest in the title after enjoying it without spending a cent on it all these years. Lol.
For me, it’s hard to really rank Saturn, PS1, and N64 as they had such dramatically different libraries. If I were to rank on first parties, I’d likely say N64, Saturn, PS1. If I were to rank on exclusives, PS1, N64, Saturn. If I were to rank on cumulative library, PS1, Saturn, N64. Funny how that works out.
PS2 both has the best and worst libraries of that era. The PS2 had so many games! The PS2 and Wii both are such weird systems in that I’d bought so many actual garbage titles for both consoles (Ah, the internet has grown to be quite helpful in curating a good library). I think that’s part of my lack of nostalgia for PS2 perhaps. I had my own money by the time that console rolled around and gaming wasn’t what it is today, in that many gamers were less than tasteful. I remember being recommended Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer because I enjoyed Tony Hawk 3 by a friend. What an idiot was that friend. And myself! I bought it! It was terrible. I think I owned more bad games than good games and tapered off into Wii casual land for the next generation til I saw Fallout 3, which promptly gave the voice in my head the strong desire to be a more hardcore gamer than ever before and I bought a PS3 and Xbox 360 within the year, with an insatiable desire to play every game. So my thanks to my lack of nostalgia in the PS2. Had I owned a GameCube, I likely just would’ve been a blind Nintendo fanboy. Lol.
@samuelvictor I’ll always remember that feeling of playing FF7 and MGS on PC, only to realize later that they were tentpole PS titles, and realizing how Sony’s marketing actively pushed me away when their console ecosystem was in-line with what I liked as a gamer more than I realized. Today, I would argue that PS and N64 have competitive libraries and the Saturn’s library is better than it was regarded at the time. I’ll be honest, my early experiences with N64 blew me away, whereas I felt like Saturn was clunky, but I was biased in not being a Sega guy. Ironically, I started liking Sega more when they became a publisher. I definitely wish I would’ve played the Phantasy Star series 25, 30 years ago. I’m curious if that would’ve changed my perspective as a gamer.
I agree with you 100% that 64 aged like milk. Perhaps worse than any other major console. I’m not talking about you, Jaguar. You don’t count! Lol. The games that hit really hit, but there’s not that many (and even those that did, I acknowledge that my nostalgia may be painting my opinion). I always think the 64 had more good games than it actually had, whereas the Saturn is the total opposite. I was a diehard for Nintendo until the GameCube/PS2 era. I fell off the Nintendo wagon the year I asked for both consoles for Christmas one year and got the PS2. Lol. My parents dictated that generation for me then and there, which is ironic because my entire family is usually Nintendo-centric. They decided it was time for me to become console agnostic there, I suppose (I’d be an Xbox guy the next generation and I’d say I’m Nintendo first now). The PS2 arguably aged about as well as the 64 for me too. Odd how that is.
@samuelvictor Totally agree with you that PlayStation made this illusion that the Saturn was an overpriced nothing console, and arguably Sony played the same card on the Dreamcast. I really wish I would’ve know better about both consoles, as I would’ve enjoyed having them both in my youth. But Sony’s advertising never did much for me either as I thought PS1 was awful in comparison to the N64 in those days as well. I mean, Sony advertised Crash, Tomb Raider and Twisted Metal, Sega advertised Nights, Virtua Fighter, and honestly nothing else, it seemed. Meanwhile, the 64 was boasting Super Mario 64, Ocarina, and Goldeneye. PS1 and Saturn seemed like nonsense in comparison to me in ‘95 or ‘96 or so. I didn’t realize how good either console’s library was until… totally legal alternative means to play the games existed. Lol. Sony, unlike any other third party (at the time), figured out how to totally disrupt the industry, sending Sega to its “doom.” I don’t think Sony has ever totally understood what Nintendo does and why they succeed, nor did Sega, though they both tried.
@samuelvictor I feel like it started with teaching Nintendo lesson, but turned into something more aggressive to Sega, honestly. PlayStation predominantly stole Sega’s fanbase right from underneath them, in my recollection of the console wars of the day. The Nintendo kids largely remained Nintendo kids, but Sony really out Sega-ed Sega in price and “edgy,” mature games. Back in those days, I knew more people that had a Jaguar than Saturn, but PlayStation and N64 were really the only consoles competing.
Karateka and Pong are both Day 1 for me, whenever we get them, and I’ll be honest, I might want them on more than one platform. I hope Pong is announced soon too!
@GhaleonUnlimited That is a fantastic idea. I’m totally telling my son that he’s Sonic’s cousin now too… or Balan’s cousin since he actually liked Balan Wonderworld and, by proxy, gave me appreciation for the title. I’ll bet he’ll like NiGHTS too.
That’s exactly how I felt! I posted on PureXbox that it looked like the game could be good, but I’ve already played Bioshock Infinite, so I’m not sold on it. I mean, people literally lampooned Foamstars because it looks like a copy of Splatoon, but this is almost shot for shot similar to Bioshock Infinite’s trailer and people are like, “whoa, this is NOT a potential copycat title. It looks great.”
Seriously, Jaffe is an idiot sometimes. Entertaining, yes, but he’s such an intentional troll. He has to be. No one could just mean everything he says… at least I hope not.
In another universe, we might have had Nic Cage as Mario and Tom Hanks as Luigi. Matthew Broderick and Keanu would’ve been wild choices for Luigi too. Michael Keaton as Mario is just mind melting. I think they actually got the cast right here… I mean, Bob Hoskins is the most Mario looking actor they could’ve asked for…
@Guru_Larry Exactly. What IP are people going to be excited about seeing in theaters? I’d take a Jet Set Radio film any day, but that’s not Sonic money
Loved Child of Eden at release. I would definitely put it above Rez as an experience. Man, I would love to see this game get an immersive imax version. It would be incredible!
@EarthboundBenjy I somewhat agree with you. The Wonder Boy series is like a solid 7/10 tier series for me. I prefer where Hudsonsoft went with the idea with Adventure Island, personally.
That said, I enjoyed Monster Boy considerably more than the mainline Wonder Boy titles as well.
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Re: Best Wii Games Of All Time
Love seeing Muramasa in this list!
Re: Anniversary: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Is 15 Today
Nuts and Bolts didn’t sell as well because it was on the wrong platform (as it had a Nintendo Legacy and Xbox has always sort of had trouble generating a family mascot to link to their console successfully) and a total shake up sequel of a classic after a generation’s separation between games. It’s a solid game, if not a classic, but the cards were stacked against it before it even had a chance. If it re-released on Switch, you’ve got to wonder how it would be perceived now.
Re: Dev Shares Footage Of Unreleased 'The Incredible Crash Dummies' Game For SNES
Slick and Spin get the job done!
Man, I had a bunch of these action figures as a kid and loved the DTV “movie.” It was rudimentary 3D in an era before people were doing that. The Reboot era, you could say. Ah, youth!
Re: Best GTA Games - Every Grand Theft Auto Game Ranked
I really wonder how a new GTA will hold up in the modern era. Jeez, does GTA feel like a relic these days
Re: Sega Resurrects The Iconic "Sega Scream" For Sonic Superstars
@belmont Honestly, it sort of ruined the game for me. I have no problem with difficulty, but these bosses all felt incredibly cheap. The balance between the difficulty of the bosses and the levels felt totally out of whack to me. It’s like Azrest took notes on what Sonic does right for level design and what Sonic does wrong for boss fights. If the bosses were cut (and multiplayer, because, let’s face it, even if that’s what they sold the game on it, it’s a mess), Superstars would probably an 8/10, bordering into 9 territory, but as it is, Superstars is maybe a 6.
Re: Sega Resurrects The Iconic "Sega Scream" For Sonic Superstars
They’re resurrecting it for some of those boss fights. Sonic Superstars has some incredibly cheap ones that break the fun factor of the honestly solidly designed levels of the game. I scream when I get to them too, usually.
Re: Random: New Game Boy Color Game Turns Frasier Into A Turn-Based RPG
There have been so many great Frasier game ideas. I want this and that beat ‘em up. If the timelines were altered, let them have Frasier video games!
Re: Super Mario Bros. (1993) Is Getting A New Worldwide Release In 4K
I’d rather have it on a streaming service to watch on the cheap
Re: Best GameCube Games Of All Time
How I dream and wish for Chibi Robo and Doshiin The Giant to come to Switch…
Re: Best Gundam Games Of All Time
SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays? The best Gundam game didn’t even make the list… 😢
Re: Best GBA Games Of All Time
Megaman Zero though…
Metroid Fusion and Aria of Sorrow are peak gaming
Re: Peter Molyneux Expresses "Regret" For Hyping His Games, But Feels He Was Just Doing His Job
I miss Molyneux honestly. He overpromised, sure, but he did make some really solid games as well.
Re: Best Metal Gear Games - Every Metal Gear Game, Ranked
@-wc- Twin Snakes is so much better than it’s reputation suggests! Wish more people weren’t so quick to write it off!
Re: Best Metal Gear Games - Every Metal Gear Game, Ranked
Ground Zeroes is painfully underrated in this list. To put Survive over it is an insult, even if I liked Survive. MGSV deserves better too. Go down the rabbit hole. The game is deeper when you dive down it.
Glad MGS2 has its rightful place at #1. Also, love MGS3, but it’s definitely third place… if you’re not an MGSV person. It’s fourth for me, but I’m a ruse cruiser.
Re: Best Game Boy Games Of All Time
Kid Dracula! Yes! 10/10 game for me! Really happy this got one got mentioned. Might be my favorite GB title.
Also, to this day, I’m still impressed with what Nintendo and Rare made happen with Donkey Kong Land. With such a limited toolkit, they really pushed the visuals that were possible on the console. It’s not perfect, but it is absolutely as incredible today as it was years ago.
Re: Best Original Xbox Games Of All Time
Xbox was such a unique console. It felt like the heir apparent to Sega, but with a decidedly PC twist to its flavor. It’s perhaps the most Western feeling console of all time as well. Morrowind, Fable, and Halo impressed me in a way few games did in those days. OG Xbox did indeed feel more powerful than PS2 and GameCube.
Re: Pixelthesia: Why We See Things In Video Games
This article may be the magnum opus of Hookshot Media articles. Fantastic read! Thank you so much for writing it.
Re: Best SNES RPGs Of All Time
Always happy to see Evermore mentioned! Excellent list of games!
Re: Best Xbox 360 Games Of All Time
Crazy the 360 is 18 years old now. I do disagree with the list. I mean, Reach over Halo 3? No Mass Effect? Portal 2? Fallout? Alan Wake? Child of Eden? Toss a coin to your Witcher, for heaven’s sakes! I’m just being nitpicky though. Thanks for acknowledging LA Noire.
The 360 was such a great system of a strange time where it seemed like Xbox was ready to pull ahead of PlayStation and Nintendo for a brief moment. It delivered a diverse catalog full of AAA hits, indie darlings, and unique titles that made it stand out from PlayStation’s combination of JRPGs, sometimes weirdness, and embryonic vision of cinematic gaming. The competition was so good with the big three then and all three had distinct gaming ecosystems. It’s sort of a shame that, in certain respects, that competition has evolved to a less direct path.
Re: Best Nintendo 64 Games Of All Time
No Megaman Legends? Blasphemy!
But seriously love the 64. The visuals have aged like milk and made a mighty fine cheese, if you ask me. The hits were so resolute. Mario 64, for instance, still gives me feelings of awe so many years later.
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Video Gaming Experience?
Super Mario Bros on NES, of course. First time I actually played through it was in ‘92 at the wee age of 3 years old.
I have fuzzy memories of Maniac Mansion and Zak McKraken on Commodore 64 that might predate my actual gaming experiences, but I definitely remember watching my parents play the games and, when I did play through Maniac Mansion for the first time, it was like I had some memory to where things were without having a real idea how I knew it.
Re: Double Dragon Gaiden Studio Shows Off Mock-Ups For Golden Axe, Ghostbusters And Final Fight
Yeah, I’ll take that Ghostbusters game.
Re: Check Out These 'Parappa The Rapper' And 'Um Jammer Lammy' Wristwatches
Love those! Gotta believe? Don’t you mean, “You gotta receive?”
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor Yes, that’s precisely hitting the nail on the head. I don’t know if I ever had a “new” game (outside Donkey Kong or Mario because those were “for my mom”) til N64 when I’d use Christmas money to buy approximately 2-3 games over the course of the year and who knows if they were new? We rented instead of purchased, for the most part, so i developed this habit of needing to beat games quickly. After all, my parents were cheap and did 24 hour rentals every time.
I quite appreciate that my sisters enjoying gaming. They all have Switches now, but they’re so casual on gaming that we’ve never actually played online together… even though I pay for NSO. It’s always interesting to me when parents have no interest in gaming and yet invest in it for their child. Maybe they dabbled and you never knew? My mom showed me a photograph of my Dad playing Rocket: Robot on Wheels once and it startled me, given that I’d never seen him play a game, and, of all things, he was photographed playing that one!
Something that you’ve likely noticed about Americans is that there’s staunchly patriotic Americans and not. Lol. I think it’s a very different concept of nationality than many nations have. I was reading about the new album from that duo that Graham Coxon is in where he talked about how, “Regardless of your feelings for what Britain has done or the politics, you still love the country, even when you disagree with it.” America doesn’t quite have that mentality. Obviously, I’m not sure if that’s a real mentality with those in Britain or not, but I can see it in TV and movies. For instance, Bake Off could not exist in America! They’d be rushing the poor bakers with an athlete’s ethos. America is a land of paradox, and I suppose I enjoy some of that from time to time, myself.
In America, it’s odd because Sega and Nintendo seemed very even in the SNES era, but the Saturn was a total flash and it was gone. I don’t even recall seeing games for it anywhere after maybe the first year or two of its life. I don’t recall anyone I know owning it or talking about it. I truly do recall the Genesis kids taking a one-way ticket to Twisted Metal Land. I think the N64 wasn’t all that popular, but I remember it being more popular because it was popular among people I was associated with, a lot of them later in life. It’s sort of part and parcel with my view of Xbox being popular. By the 360 era, it seemed everyone had one, but that’s just everyone I knew.
I really wonder what they were thinking with that controller. It’s uncomfortable and unpractical. I don’t think I’ve played a fun game on the console, to be honest. Many bragged about it at release, but I think those same people sold their consoles for a PlayStation. I wonder if some of them sold the Jaguar, bought a Saturn, and returned it for a PlayStation. Lol.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor With the amount of inflation we’ve experienced, it could’ve been a grocery shopping trip, if I’m lucky. Lol. Seriously, America loves price gouging the fruit and produce these days.
I’ll be honest about my NES and SNES catalogue. There’s plenty of games that are probably stinkers by modern standards that I loved back then, and that I’d still fight for. Kid Klown, yeah, I’ve beaten it hundreds of times. Beetlejuice, really enjoyed it, you know? It went from platformer to almost a top down arpg-ish thing. Friday the 13th, I won’t let anyone tell me it’s a 4/10 game even if it totally is! It’s funny, I came really late to the SNES, and honestly played the console most in the PS2 era. We had the SNES for two years only (before getting the 64 at least… my parents still have it in their basement hooked up) and it was totally late into the generation. We were gifted the console and we moved across the country to the desert, so just imagine all the games I had access to. I could speedrun any DKC game or Kirby’s Dreamland 3 for a reason. Lol. I was definitely a renter, outside my year and a half in the desert though. It was wonderful in the 64 era. My Family Video (god bless its resting soul) even let us rent consoles. We went every Friday too and rented a lot of movies, so I’m pretty sure they gave us deals on things. We used to get a Christmas card from them and my parents still do get one from the pizza place across the street.
I didn’t really have many friends either. Never been all that social of a person in any capacity. I may well be on the spectrum but unaware. Many have recommended we test my son and I see a lot of my characteristics in him. Anyway, my mom and sisters all played a lot of games with me. We would regularly play Goldeneye, Mario Kart, Mario Party. I remember cutting my hand open playing Mario Party once because of that Shy Guy minigame. Pokémon Stadium’s minigames were perhaps the biggest party pleaser in those days.
Ah, yes, the American console thing is definitely “a thing” for some people I know. I think it’s quite silly since I quite like the foreign influence on gaming culture, personally. Given that I’m a midwesterner that could account for why Xbox was so popular in my area as well as Jaguar. And meanwhile the Saturn and Dreamcast were nowhere to be found. I’ve known but one person that had a Dreamcast, and that’s a friend of mine that is fortunate enough to “have them all,” so to speak. In my experience, the Jaguar was sort of awful. I know this site is for the odd console nostalgic, but I just really didn’t enjoy the controller or games I played for it at all. It made better use perhaps as dental equipment?
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@KingMike Lol. I’ve definitely purposefully bought awful games, but that’s more of a recent thing… and usually Gamepass has me covered for my morbid curiosity.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor You’ve got me beat by 8 years in age. The late N64, early PS2 era too, I’d say I’d transitioned to being a PC first gamer, which sounds ridiculous to me now, given that I’m most certainly as far pro-console over PC that you could be now. I just prefer the simplicity of dedicated hardware, I suppose. But anyway, I’d get a random gaming magazine here or there, but I didn’t stay up to date, definitely not like I do now. To use an example of my ignorance, when Pokémon cards were a thing, my dad got my sister and I both three packs one day and I had no idea what they were. I had a first edition Charizard in one of the packs. My “best friend” of that time stole it and I had no idea it was worth something until probably three or so years later.
I do appreciate the Switch for that reason. There’s so much garbage on the console, but unlike the Wii and PS2 libraries, you have to look for the trash. It’s sort of brilliant. Meanwhile, I remember going to the store with the desire to buy a PS2 or Wii game (or my parents just picking one up) and you’d just sort of get what you’d get, based on what the store would have and what you’d already have. There was no eshop to buy what you wanted. I’m not sure how big Amazon was in those days. It was mercy of the marketplace. Speaking of that and consoles that died immediately, man, I do remember the Jaguar launch. The hype on that was real. So many people felt Atari would be back to shake up the Nintendo vs Sega dichotomy. How wrong those people were! In looking at the Jaguar’s sales though, I do always get surprised, given how many people I knew that had them. I do remember my parents considering getting one, only to decide against it because they didn’t like any of the games they tried at Funcoland.
Mascot platformers and, by proxy of how that generation developed, party games were my bread and butter of the 64 era. I would not at all be surprised if Mario Party has more hours on it than any game I’ve played in the last 10 years. I would say that the 64 has a better line-up in mascot platformers than PS1 did, but that’s just my preference. And often, if a platformer was on both consoles, it usually played better on 64 than PS1. Take Glover for example. Nothing exclusive on PS1 comes close to touching Mario 64, let alone DK64… for me, of course. Well, maybe Ape Escape touches DK64 tier for me, now that I think about it…
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor Yes, for me, N64 smashes everyone else when it comes to 3D platformers that generation, which is honestly what I was playing mostly at the time. For me, I had no idea FF7 was on PS, as this was in an era where I was younger and didn’t exactly look into these kinds of things online. After all, I was still largely in an era where my parents dictated my gaming choices. I think my mom bought me Final Fantasy titles because it encouraged reading, you know?
I do hope that Panzer Dragoon Saga one day finds its way onto modern consoles. I know it’s code has been reportedly lost and it’s notoriously difficult to port without that origin code, but I do hope Sega figures something out, as I’d love to legally invest in the title after enjoying it without spending a cent on it all these years. Lol.
For me, it’s hard to really rank Saturn, PS1, and N64 as they had such dramatically different libraries. If I were to rank on first parties, I’d likely say N64, Saturn, PS1. If I were to rank on exclusives, PS1, N64, Saturn. If I were to rank on cumulative library, PS1, Saturn, N64. Funny how that works out.
PS2 both has the best and worst libraries of that era. The PS2 had so many games! The PS2 and Wii both are such weird systems in that I’d bought so many actual garbage titles for both consoles (Ah, the internet has grown to be quite helpful in curating a good library). I think that’s part of my lack of nostalgia for PS2 perhaps. I had my own money by the time that console rolled around and gaming wasn’t what it is today, in that many gamers were less than tasteful. I remember being recommended Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer because I enjoyed Tony Hawk 3 by a friend. What an idiot was that friend. And myself! I bought it! It was terrible. I think I owned more bad games than good games and tapered off into Wii casual land for the next generation til I saw Fallout 3, which promptly gave the voice in my head the strong desire to be a more hardcore gamer than ever before and I bought a PS3 and Xbox 360 within the year, with an insatiable desire to play every game. So my thanks to my lack of nostalgia in the PS2. Had I owned a GameCube, I likely just would’ve been a blind Nintendo fanboy. Lol.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor I’ll always remember that feeling of playing FF7 and MGS on PC, only to realize later that they were tentpole PS titles, and realizing how Sony’s marketing actively pushed me away when their console ecosystem was in-line with what I liked as a gamer more than I realized. Today, I would argue that PS and N64 have competitive libraries and the Saturn’s library is better than it was regarded at the time. I’ll be honest, my early experiences with N64 blew me away, whereas I felt like Saturn was clunky, but I was biased in not being a Sega guy. Ironically, I started liking Sega more when they became a publisher. I definitely wish I would’ve played the Phantasy Star series 25, 30 years ago. I’m curious if that would’ve changed my perspective as a gamer.
I agree with you 100% that 64 aged like milk. Perhaps worse than any other major console. I’m not talking about you, Jaguar. You don’t count! Lol. The games that hit really hit, but there’s not that many (and even those that did, I acknowledge that my nostalgia may be painting my opinion). I always think the 64 had more good games than it actually had, whereas the Saturn is the total opposite. I was a diehard for Nintendo until the GameCube/PS2 era. I fell off the Nintendo wagon the year I asked for both consoles for Christmas one year and got the PS2. Lol. My parents dictated that generation for me then and there, which is ironic because my entire family is usually Nintendo-centric. They decided it was time for me to become console agnostic there, I suppose (I’d be an Xbox guy the next generation and I’d say I’m Nintendo first now). The PS2 arguably aged about as well as the 64 for me too. Odd how that is.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor Totally agree with you that PlayStation made this illusion that the Saturn was an overpriced nothing console, and arguably Sony played the same card on the Dreamcast. I really wish I would’ve know better about both consoles, as I would’ve enjoyed having them both in my youth. But Sony’s advertising never did much for me either as I thought PS1 was awful in comparison to the N64 in those days as well. I mean, Sony advertised Crash, Tomb Raider and Twisted Metal, Sega advertised Nights, Virtua Fighter, and honestly nothing else, it seemed. Meanwhile, the 64 was boasting Super Mario 64, Ocarina, and Goldeneye. PS1 and Saturn seemed like nonsense in comparison to me in ‘95 or ‘96 or so. I didn’t realize how good either console’s library was until… totally legal alternative means to play the games existed. Lol. Sony, unlike any other third party (at the time), figured out how to totally disrupt the industry, sending Sega to its “doom.” I don’t think Sony has ever totally understood what Nintendo does and why they succeed, nor did Sega, though they both tried.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor I feel like it started with teaching Nintendo lesson, but turned into something more aggressive to Sega, honestly. PlayStation predominantly stole Sega’s fanbase right from underneath them, in my recollection of the console wars of the day. The Nintendo kids largely remained Nintendo kids, but Sony really out Sega-ed Sega in price and “edgy,” mature games. Back in those days, I knew more people that had a Jaguar than Saturn, but PlayStation and N64 were really the only consoles competing.
Re: 'The Making of Karateka' Is A New Interactive Documentary From The Makers Of Atari 50
Karateka and Pong are both Day 1 for me, whenever we get them, and I’ll be honest, I might want them on more than one platform. I hope Pong is announced soon too!
Re: 'Dark Souls Pro Skater' Isn't The Mod You Asked For, But It's The Mod You Need
Looks outstanding. Thank you for this!
Re: You Can Now Enjoy Nights Into Dreams At 60FPS On PC
@GhaleonUnlimited That is a fantastic idea. I’m totally telling my son that he’s Sonic’s cousin now too… or Balan’s cousin since he actually liked Balan Wonderworld and, by proxy, gave me appreciation for the title. I’ll bet he’ll like NiGHTS too.
Re: Round Up: The Best Retro Gaming Gifts - July 2023
Seems a little Sonic heavy.
Re: Thought Clockwork Revolution's Trailer Looked Like BioShock Infinite? You're Not Alone
That’s exactly how I felt! I posted on PureXbox that it looked like the game could be good, but I’ve already played Bioshock Infinite, so I’m not sold on it. I mean, people literally lampooned Foamstars because it looks like a copy of Splatoon, but this is almost shot for shot similar to Bioshock Infinite’s trailer and people are like, “whoa, this is NOT a potential copycat title. It looks great.”
Re: Anniversary: 'Resident Evil' And 'Street Fighter' Maker Capcom Turns 40 Today
The best developer and publisher in the game right now, outside possibly only Nintendo. I can’t wait to see where Capcom goes next!
Re: Wario Land-Esque Antonblast Gets Explosive New Steam Demo
Why no Switch demo? C’mon!
Re: God Of War Creator David Jaffe Enlists AI To "Fix" Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
@GeneJacket I was talking about Jaffe. I like Corey Balrog just fine, even if I’m not a fan of GoW.
Re: God Of War Creator David Jaffe Enlists AI To "Fix" Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
@HandheldHaunter It must be God of War.
Seriously, Jaffe is an idiot sometimes. Entertaining, yes, but he’s such an intentional troll. He has to be. No one could just mean everything he says… at least I hope not.
Re: Random: Super Mario Bros. (1993) Memo Reveals Keanu Reeves Was Considered For Luigi
In another universe, we might have had Nic Cage as Mario and Tom Hanks as Luigi. Matthew Broderick and Keanu would’ve been wild choices for Luigi too. Michael Keaton as Mario is just mind melting. I think they actually got the cast right here… I mean, Bob Hoskins is the most Mario looking actor they could’ve asked for…
Re: Sega Looking To Build On Success Of Its Sonic Movies With Other Franchises
@Guru_Larry Exactly. What IP are people going to be excited about seeing in theaters? I’d take a Jet Set Radio film any day, but that’s not Sonic money
Re: Mega-Man-Like Metroidvania 'Hayaku! Island Of Darkness' Announced For PC
This needs to come to the Switch! Looks wonderful. At least Bat Boy’s coming up soon to satiate my Megaman itch though
Re: Maniac Mansion NES Receives Brand-New "Uncensored" Version
10/10 Director’s Cut Version.
Re: Want Child Of Eden To Get The 'Rez Infinite' Treatment? Ask Ubisoft, Says Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Loved Child of Eden at release. I would definitely put it above Rez as an experience. Man, I would love to see this game get an immersive imax version. It would be incredible!
Re: Rockstar Co-Founder Explains Origins Of Rockstar Games Presents: Table Tennis
I, in fully earnest fashion, enjoy Rockstar Table Tennis so much. I love the game.
Re: Guide: Best Wonder Boy Games, Ranked By You
@EarthboundBenjy I somewhat agree with you. The Wonder Boy series is like a solid 7/10 tier series for me. I prefer where Hudsonsoft went with the idea with Adventure Island, personally.
That said, I enjoyed Monster Boy considerably more than the mainline Wonder Boy titles as well.
Re: Murtop Is A New Dig Dug & Bomberman Inspired Arcade Game, Out May 18th
Sounds like something right up my alley. I may get this to sort of balance my Zelda playtime
Re: Poll: What's The Best Wonder Boy Game?
Cursed Kingdom for me probably.
Re: The Atari Lynx Was Closer To Being A Sega Console Than You Think
Is that Toby McGuire?