For me it was definitely going from the 32-bit era to the 64-bit era. The jump into 3D really rocked everyone to their cores 1996-ish. Nintendo 8-bit and 16bit and Sega and PC games respectfully, but once that real 3D gaming change came and not some shitty demo, it was games such as resident evil š±š, twisted metal, metal gear solid, half life, Turok, wipeout, gran turismo, Zelda OOT, tekken 3, bushido blade, ridge racer, tomb raider and just so many more (sorry PC gamers, fill me in here as I wasnāt/am the biggest pc gamer around). it just was a game changer and I personally havenāt felt since like that. What is your take? (This also highly dependable on age factor of course, so each to their own experiences.)
43 Comments
Honestly, the current one. I’m 33 btw, so it’s not like I haven’t seen earlier games.
But with the growth of popularity of roguelikes and roguelites, and the games with procedural generation – I think they influence the gaming industry a lot. And they really changed my gaming preferences, too.
Good pick- the impact from SNES aera to PSX was mindblowing, but early 3d aged pretty badly. But for gameplay reason i also would pick Super Mario 64 on top. Maybe FF7 and/or Ocarina of time close behind.
And the concept of Bushido Blade is still awesome, and was a lot of fun compared to the typical (but not bad) Virtual Fighter, Tekken, Bloody Roar, Soul Edge/Blade, whateverā¦because it was really unique, ending a fight in the first second with a filthy thrust š
The PS1 was a game changer for me, literally. I grew up with space invaders and pacman, and up to SNES I’ve never seen 3D graphics. Tekken was mind blowing to play!
Mine is when I got my Xbox 360. First time I got into online gaming with Modern Warfare 2 and the graphical leap from PS2 was amazing. Seeing HD graphics for the first time was so good.
Not sure if I can tell a definite, specific answer… I played the shit out of Crash 3 despite the final boss being the absolute fucking bane of my existence and I also played the PS2 Crash games a lot, the Crash of the Titans opening has been embedded into my head (still have always preferred Crash 3 tho), I think I started playing in 2007 and I also had a DS lite in my youth and played New Super Mario Bros. a lot. A decade ago I also became a Sonic fan and got games for 3DS, PS2 and PS3…
Ps1 gen definitely. One of the most important imo. It got gaming more popular and better when was a kid.
SNES and N64 and PS1 had the biggest impact. Then PC started with online games and that was it’s peak.
Going from 16bit to 32/64 – the ps1/n64 era.
What we have now is more or less an evolution of what was introduced in the 90ās.
To me itās PS2. I had Nintendo, Sega, SNES, Original PlayStation, but PS2 was the first one I purchased with my own money. It also just felt like such a remarkable leap in technology, suddenly I could watch movies on my video game console! It was mine, and a lot of peopleās, introduction to DVDs. And it felt like a huge leap graphically for the time as well, I remember putting in Madden 2001 for the first time and thinking there was no way graphics were ever going to look more realistic than this. I laugh looking back at it now, but in the moment that jump ahead really felt huge.
1996-2002, I want to say that’s the golden age of gaming.
And just because it was say… 1996 doesn’t mean you were limited to only playing things that came out in 1996. Stuff from like the previous five or so years were available too as the boundaries were being pushed.
Going from like the Sega Gen, to the PSX, and PS2. Or SNES, N64, and Gamecube. These years saw like peak Mortal Kombat, Doom taking over, the start of the console wars, etc. It felt like one year I was playing a Killer Instinct demo for the SNES and then the next I was flying around in a jet for Air Combat (later rebranded as AceCombat).
FF7, FF8, FF9, FFT, and FF10 came out like back to back nonstop. Unlike now how we have to wait a literal decade to see the next game. Like imagine being a kid now, and only getting to see one FF game come out your entire childhood? Compared to mine where we saw like half a dozen…
Things like Sega Channel were ahead of its time. And we got to see the birth of the online game. All the original MMO’s, and the more casual game like Diablo 2. In fact Blizzard was at its peak here too. Any game they came out with was a massive success and a guaranteed classic.
Nowadays we got these massive bloated big budget flops. All built on franchises or dev studios that were created back in the real golden age. Just banking on brand recognition alone to be a monetary success. Still waiting on TES:6 btw. Skyrim came out in 2011, it’s now 2024. Imagine if we had to wait that long for Morrowind to come out after Daggerfall? The industry is a fucking joke now. And I just know that game will crash and burn too just like Starfield. We’ll all be wondering to ourselves “How the fuck did this game take two decades to come out?”
Ps2 every game was fun. I dont like sport or RACE games but in ps2 even this games have a fun Game like NBA street or Burnout.
Snes
For me it was the Super Nintendo after school Iād go to my friends place just to play super Mario world a couple of weeks later my mum bought me a Super Nintendo and Super Mario World for Christmas . I the happiest kid ever and ever since been playing video games.
I started with Super Mario World on Super Nintendo, i loved the N64 era but what really hooked me were the PS1 JRPGs like Final Fantasy 7/8/9, Xenogears, Breath of Fire 4, Dragon Quest 7, Legend of Mana, Legend of Dragoon so on and so on.
The N64 changed my life! I remember that as my gateway console, although I also had an NES from about age 4 or 5 (won in a school raffle). The N64 was when I really started to consider myself a Gamer – finding friends who also played and having this thing in common with other people was amazing.
I do also love how gaming is going. My fiancĆ©e picked up her first video game with me – Elden Ring, of all games! – and is still playing it. I love having another thing we both enjoy doing together.
Video games are so great. š„°
The current jump to PC handhelds has had a significant effect on how and what I am playing. Prior to that probably ps1.
Dark souls
For me it was the SNES. All those RPGs blew my brain away.
Honestly, N64 was amazing and breathtaking for me, but selling this for a PS1 was the jump I needed for a better gaming experience.
We had Mario, Zelda, Banjo Kazooie, Goldeneye, but it was just that… And the joystick was terrible, too fragile and easy to drift
PS1 had a giant library and the control fit my hand like a glove, I just couldn’t believe it
Probably PS2 for me, too many notable games I had countless hours on but mainly Timesplitters 2, spent SO long playing vs matches against my younger siblings, with all it’s fun modes such as Virus and Flame Tag, good times.
90 – 99 was the most ridiculous time in gaming for me. We went from 8 bit nes gaming to Counter Strike 1.3 and unreal tournament in the space of 8-9 years and I think it is unlikely we will ever see such advancement again.
The phone and the PC have been in their final form factor since about 2013 but any advancement now comes at am ever increasing cost to privacy and subscription models which we could do without.
Definitely Nintendo and Sega
ps2, GOD every was amazing
I had a SNES and a Sega Genesis as a kid. But my dad bought them used from other people. The N64 was the first system I got to go to the store and buy. That experience of carrying it out of the store knowing I was going to be the first person to set it up was amazing.
But I think it was the OG Xbox for me that really had an impact. It’s where I got into RPGs (Morrowind, Fable, KOTOR), and also where I got hooked on online multiplayer with Halo 2. My parents got me Live for Christmas one year, so my sub always ran out the next Christmas, so for like 10 years my parents just bought it for me as a holiday gift.
>For me it was definitely going from the 32-bit era to the 64-bit era. The jump into 3D really rocked everyone to their cores 1996-ish
Sorry to be pedantic but the “64-bit era” didn’t happen until much later. The N64 was the odd one out back in 1996. Everyone else was 32 bit. Even Nintendo’s next console GameCube was 32 bit.
I feel like they mostly did it for marketing reasons. There wasn’t much of a use for 64 bit in games besides addressing large amounts of memory (32 bit was limited to 4GB total but some systems had a 2GB per process limit as well).
PokĆ©mon Blue was the first game I played properly. I have strict parents and didnāt let me play games much at all as a child but for some reason they let me play PokĆ©mon games. But L4D was the game that really opened the floodgates for me. It was the first time I interacted with Steam and from then on Iāve been a big PC gamer.
PS2
SOCOM basically laid the groundwork for what online mp would become. Itās gameplay and tactical style is still unmatched to this day.
Fuck Sony for doing nothing with the ip since the ps3.
As for myself, Every single one, to be honest. Was flabbergasted when I evolved from my B&W Game Boy to the Game Gear, colour and larger screen : wooooow.
Then the Mega Drive : dual play with brother and/or dad, insane graphics, 3D (don’t remember the name but there are a Formula one 3D game that now would look like Minecraft) => wooooow.
Fast forward to Nintendo64 (never had a PlayStation) : insane games, Mario 64, Goldeneye, graphics, gameplay were top notch, technology allowing unparalleled immersion into the story : wooooow.
Switched to PC : engines evolving. Ray tracing appeared, played Cyberpunk at close to max graphics on a 41 inch curved monitor. Felt like the former 7 years old me discovering one of the legendary birds on Pokemon. wooooow.
Apart from technology, I felt significant impact by games rather than specs. For me I would name : Pokemon (only played the very first one), Coolspot, Mario Kart 64, Total Annihilation (old RTS – if you played Krogoth mission on hard, you know) Baldur’s gate 2, Mass Effect (all, including Andromeda despite the mild reception), Cyberpunk 2077 and Detroit : become human.
Not a ranking by any means, just most felt personal impact on my view over gaming !
Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal were THE games that really made me fall in love with gaming. However, as far as a full generation, N64 hands down. Nothing gave me the same feeling while playing.
It’s probably 2D to 3D, but I would say PS2 to PS3 generation change was also very strong. Displays basically going from 572 to 1080p was an incredible upgrade. Starting the PS3 felt like it was from the future (the GUI alone). And in the US the Xbox 360 was also very influential. Also, negatively, it brought up online forced gaming, DLCs, c&p open world, many things people hate nowadays. Basically the whole online revolution.
Atari 2600 , could play games at home on a tv , unbelievable at the time for me
Welp, it was 2016 when I played Portal
I got a N64.. and must of been the few that didn’t play mario 64.
Bought the GoldenEye pack with banjo kazooie.
Had to be ZX spectrum 48k. First console in 81 as a Christmas present and got me into gaming with horrice goes skiing and pong
D! K! DONKEY KONG!
PS2/first xbox era, I liked gaming before of course but PS2 took gaming to another level with games like GTA 2/sa/VC, battlefront, morrowind, Kotor etc
Golden eye
Think and im sure people will correct me on console;
– One of the first cotrol stick shooters
– Four player local split screeen
– One of the first to be able aim on the Y axis and go up and down on the screen rather than just shoot at waist hight
41M, NES > SNES was when I realised that gaming wasnāt just for rainy days (SMW & SF2). SNES > N64 is a close second – Goldeneye with my bros was incredible. So glad we get the back catalogue on the Switch.
On a side note, my late uncle was a game designer for Codemasters back in the C64 days and getting early drops of the likes of Summer Camp was the norm. Loved those games, and him.
ps3/x360 and some ps2/xbox
The biggest impact on me personally was probably Halo 1. I never knew games could be that kind of experience as a kid. Impacts on gaming as a whole. I think Pubg had a huge negative impact on multiplayer games.
I know Nintendo is a big part of my childhood, but gaming really took off for me after I got the Orange Box. Steam was just a little green library back then
Ps3 was a game changer for me.
Some many good memories
Theme park world for the og PlayStation