9/9/1995 Playstation!
- Thread starter BryLmoo
- Start date
smokehouse,
I understand/share your sentiment about Nintendo's loss of momentum post-SNES, but you can't call the Wii a failure (at least as far as sales are concerned). Everything else I agree with completely.
I remember just getting sick and tired of waiting forever for the system to FINALLY launch, with Nintendo giving me no reason to give it a second glance besides Mario 64. Their arrogance back then was Kanye West-esque. I think a big tipping point for me to hold off on getting one came from an interview I read in Next Generation, with someone from the US branch of Nintendo. The interviewer asked him what reasons someone would have to pick up a system since PlayStation was picking up a ton of momentum (Tomb Raider had just come out and was viewed as a potential Mario 64 killer) and (I quote) he just smiled/smirked and said "Mario 64" like it was the only game anyone would ever need to own. I remember reading that and thinking, "That's great. What happens if someone wants another/different game?" There was just WAY too much cockiness tied around ONE title. I've never seen a console over-rely on a single game to the extent that the N64 did back then.
That response pretty much summed up my attitude and impressions towards Nintendo for the rest of the N64's lifespan. If someone implied a lack of strength amongst their non-first party franchises, they basically crossed their arms and acted like something was wrong with you for asking for something ELSE to play besides the same mascot stuff. I remember feeling a slight sense of temptation when I received a promotional video in the mail that had extensive footage of Mario 64 and a few seconds worth of Star Fox 64, but by then I had Darkstalkers, Suikoden, Tomb Raider, and FFVII (which I wasn't a big fan of, but at the time it was viewed as a revolution, and the promise of MORE releases from a top-tier company that used to only release 1 AAA title a year back in the SNES days was a major tipping point).
I understand/share your sentiment about Nintendo's loss of momentum post-SNES, but you can't call the Wii a failure (at least as far as sales are concerned). Everything else I agree with completely.
I remember just getting sick and tired of waiting forever for the system to FINALLY launch, with Nintendo giving me no reason to give it a second glance besides Mario 64. Their arrogance back then was Kanye West-esque. I think a big tipping point for me to hold off on getting one came from an interview I read in Next Generation, with someone from the US branch of Nintendo. The interviewer asked him what reasons someone would have to pick up a system since PlayStation was picking up a ton of momentum (Tomb Raider had just come out and was viewed as a potential Mario 64 killer) and (I quote) he just smiled/smirked and said "Mario 64" like it was the only game anyone would ever need to own. I remember reading that and thinking, "That's great. What happens if someone wants another/different game?" There was just WAY too much cockiness tied around ONE title. I've never seen a console over-rely on a single game to the extent that the N64 did back then.
That response pretty much summed up my attitude and impressions towards Nintendo for the rest of the N64's lifespan. If someone implied a lack of strength amongst their non-first party franchises, they basically crossed their arms and acted like something was wrong with you for asking for something ELSE to play besides the same mascot stuff. I remember feeling a slight sense of temptation when I received a promotional video in the mail that had extensive footage of Mario 64 and a few seconds worth of Star Fox 64, but by then I had Darkstalkers, Suikoden, Tomb Raider, and FFVII (which I wasn't a big fan of, but at the time it was viewed as a revolution, and the promise of MORE releases from a top-tier company that used to only release 1 AAA title a year back in the SNES days was a major tipping point).
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Good post.
When I consider a console a success or failure, I don't look as sales. There are a ton of people out there that will buy anything...
The Wii had potential but is basically coming up short in every way (and yes, I owned one). The VC is really the only reason some people own it. It was for me but the lack of titles I didn't already own for real forced my hand in selling it. Since then the Wii's graphic abilities are slaughtering it...as is the whole movement based control gimmick few companies have been able to take advantage of. The Wii library is mostly garbage-ware unfortunately...if the Wii were to die off tomorrow...what amazing games would we be taking about 5 years from now?
Not many.
I'm going to say that out of the N64, GC and the Wii...Nintendo has done the best with the Wii...ironic figuring the GC had so much hardware potential (just look at Resident Evil...amazing).
The arrogance of Nintendo really fucked them in the long run...the choice to go with a cart system was a MASSIVE mistake that cost them their relationship with Square...that single move helped push Sony into super stardom. Simply out of spite, Nintendo didn't want a CD based system due to the whole SNES CD clusterfuck...what a mistake.
Nintendo underestimated the importance of Square and just like that...Sony took (and has held) the top spot ever since.
To me the N64 was a disaster on many levels. With a launch of only 2 in house titles and nearly a year of title drought after that...it was a failure from the start. As a matter of fact, I still have the EGM magazine from early 1997 that announces Square's/Final Fantasy's move to Sony and the introduction of FFVII...from that point on, I knew I had made the right choice returning that N64 in the fall of '96.
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Awwww.. The good ol' days.
My first few years of college it came out..
Played it on an old beat up NEC monitor. Played Riiiiiiiiiiidge Racer and Tekken. Used to swap the disc to do "custom" Soundtrack on RR. Later on, I had to flip it upside for it to work properly.
My first few years of college it came out..
Played it on an old beat up NEC monitor. Played Riiiiiiiiiiidge Racer and Tekken. Used to swap the disc to do "custom" Soundtrack on RR. Later on, I had to flip it upside for it to work properly.
bemanicho1
Ninja Combat Warrior
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Oh, yeah. Our PSX was one of the early ones since we bought it soon after it came out, so we were able to play imports on it by swapping discs using the "spring" method on the CD player screen. Did anyone else take advantage of that?
It was heavenly being able to play imports like Tekken 2 and 3 and KoF 95 long before they came out in the US as well as the ones that never came out outside of Japan. Good memories.
It was heavenly being able to play imports like Tekken 2 and 3 and KoF 95 long before they came out in the US as well as the ones that never came out outside of Japan. Good memories.
(More agreement with smokehouse)
And on another note, now that I think about it, I was getting pissed off towards the end of the SNES cycle. The U.S. release of the two sequels for my two favorite games (Secret of Mana and StarFox) were both cancelled around the same time with piss-poor reasons alike. I think that frustration just led to my shift in attitude (like many my age back then, you were either a Sega or Nintendo loyalist, due in no small part to not being able to afford both).
That being said, I was really annoyed when Tobal No. 2 was cancelled. I'm hoping it reaches U.S. audiences in Engish one of these days. Don't know if there's an English patch for it in the meantime. I also remember looking at the back of the US KoF95 instruction manual and seeing a pic of RBFF, but to my knowledge it was never released stateside.
And on another note, now that I think about it, I was getting pissed off towards the end of the SNES cycle. The U.S. release of the two sequels for my two favorite games (Secret of Mana and StarFox) were both cancelled around the same time with piss-poor reasons alike. I think that frustration just led to my shift in attitude (like many my age back then, you were either a Sega or Nintendo loyalist, due in no small part to not being able to afford both).
That being said, I was really annoyed when Tobal No. 2 was cancelled. I'm hoping it reaches U.S. audiences in Engish one of these days. Don't know if there's an English patch for it in the meantime. I also remember looking at the back of the US KoF95 instruction manual and seeing a pic of RBFF, but to my knowledge it was never released stateside.
bemanicho1
Ninja Combat Warrior
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There is an English Patch out for Tobal 2 actually. I think it's complete (dungeon and all.)
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Nintendo had a BAD habit of holding on to consoles for too long. The NES was literally dying of old age when the SNES came out here in the sates fall of 1991...the SNES had LONG outlived its welcome by fall of 1996.
Sony managed to do one thing no company had ever been able to do before that...make gaming mainstream. Think about these conversations:
Scenario 1:
(1989 office setting with two adult males standing next to a water cooler.)
Worker 1: "Man...I was up late last night playing Nintendo"
Worker 2: "Did you do it while wearing your spiderman pajamas?"
Scenario 2:
(1993 office setting with two adult males standing next to a water cooler.)
Worker 1: "Man...I was up late last night playing Super Nintendo"
Worker 2: "Dork..."
Scenario 3:
(1997 office setting with two adult males standing next to a water cooler.)
Worker 1: "Man...I was up late last night playing Playstation"
Worker 2: "Cool...I love Madden..."
Scenario 3a:
(1997 office setting with two adult males standing next to a water cooler.)
Worker 1: "Man...I was up late last night playing Nintendo 64"
Worker 2: "LOL...playing Pokemon again there douche?"
All of the sudden it was no longer dorky or childish to play video games. The PS1 was "ok" for adults to play...where Nintendo had busted into adolescent mainstream with the NES...it took Sony and the PS1 to bust into adult mainstream...
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Scenario 34a:
(1991 office setting with two adult males standing next to a water cooler.)
Worker 1: "Man...I was up late last night FM Towns Marty"
Worker 2: "Your hobby is cool and respectable. May I fill your cup ?"
C'mon man.
(1991 office setting with two adult males standing next to a water cooler.)
Worker 1: "Man...I was up late last night FM Towns Marty"
Worker 2: "Your hobby is cool and respectable. May I fill your cup ?"
C'mon man.
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Kids of the 70s and 80s just grew up bro.
playboycougar
Reese. ,
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- Dec 8, 2001
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- 2,637
Fondest PSX memories:
Resident Evil 2 scaring the hell out of me
Twisted metal
Grand theft auto 2
Metal Gear Sold
Importing Metal Slug for $80 and playing the hell out of it (that got me into the Neo).
Tomba
Crash Bandicoot and how colorful the graphics were
Lid stickers from PSN magazine
Wipeout 3's music
Resident Evil 2 scaring the hell out of me
Twisted metal
Grand theft auto 2
Metal Gear Sold
Importing Metal Slug for $80 and playing the hell out of it (that got me into the Neo).
Tomba
Crash Bandicoot and how colorful the graphics were
Lid stickers from PSN magazine
Wipeout 3's music
playboycougar
Reese. ,
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- Dec 8, 2001
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- 2,637
YUP! that was great. That's how I played metal slug on import.
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- Aug 22, 2001
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- 19,316
Loading Shang Tsung Morphs is still great.
Smokehouse is completely right about the whole n64 thing. Being younger I was pretty blind to what I was missing, but looking back I missed out on too many great titles, but I think the 64 helped burn out my love for platformers and shit like that. I grew up during that console and once the PS2 era rolled around I was a much wiser gamer...actually I bought cube and sold it a year later
.The Playstation single handedly reinvented console gaming.
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- Dec 12, 2003
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trilogy is kind of a ridiculous so bad its good game. in that regard i think the n64 version has the others beat. between no loads for shang and the 3on3 kombat, it beats full animation frames and load times.
still id rather play mk2 or umk3. both of which have shoddy port histories at best.
best version of umk3 is on the ds (cant buy the 360 one anymore and you couldnt remap the buttons) and best mk2 port is on psn and you cant remap the buttons.
im just happy ive got the pcbs for both.
still id rather play mk2 or umk3. both of which have shoddy port histories at best.
best version of umk3 is on the ds (cant buy the 360 one anymore and you couldnt remap the buttons) and best mk2 port is on psn and you cant remap the buttons.
im just happy ive got the pcbs for both.
Grandmaster B
B. Jenet's Firstmate
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- Feb 25, 2006
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- 404
My memories about the PSX:
The first one I got was used and didn't work when it arrived at my home.
The black CDs were kind of cool.
Everyone was trading bootleg copies, because if you had a CD-R writer in your PC you could copy any game.
1997-98 was a golden age when almost each month a superb RPG came out.
The PSX was continuously outperformed by the Saturn for 2D games.
The feeling of suspense while playing Resident Evil Director's Cut at night.
The first one I got was used and didn't work when it arrived at my home.
The black CDs were kind of cool.
Everyone was trading bootleg copies, because if you had a CD-R writer in your PC you could copy any game.
1997-98 was a golden age when almost each month a superb RPG came out.
The PSX was continuously outperformed by the Saturn for 2D games.
The feeling of suspense while playing Resident Evil Director's Cut at night.
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 13,156
PSX memories:
Playing Resident Evil for the first time at an anime club meeting (back when I cared about such things) in a darkened room on a big projection screen. The room was full of people watching me play, and all of us were communally feeling the 'horror' vibe.
Seeing commercials and billboards for Final Fantasy VII. I realized that a threshhold was being crossed here. Final Fantasy VII, while not my favorite entry in the series, was being pushed as a legitimate, worthy storytelling experience with cross generational appeal. It wasn't advertised as 'a game.' It was advertised and pushed as an essential experience. The way they sold it completely communicated that you couldn't afford to miss out on it. When I was driving down a rural route in my home town and saw a billboard with nothing except the city of Midgar on it and the Final Fantasy VII logo, that was an epiphan to me-games were venturing into new ground.
Parappa-the first time I could stomach a rhythym game of any kind. Fun, infectious, with great characters and entertaining music, not only could I play it, I really liked it. I liked Umjammer Lammy too.
Metal Gear Solid-the greatest video game ever made. Not my personal favorite, but it is a singular achievement. Greatly exceeded expectations in all respects. There are games coming out for Xbox 360 and PS3 that lack the first MGS's vision and execution. That is some staying power.
Street Fighter EX-Not that it's a great game, but it was the game that finally pushed me into the import mod scene. A game finally came out for the PSX in Japan that I knew I had to own. Later, I would go back and get involved in the Saturn import scene, and also the Dreamcast import scene. But Street Fighter EX was the first game I knew I had to own an import copy of. It opened doors for me. Surprisingly,the gameplay still holds up as when it was first released. It doesn't feel dated or old. Same can't be said for Toshinden.
There are probably some others, but those are the ones that come to light right away.
Playing Resident Evil for the first time at an anime club meeting (back when I cared about such things) in a darkened room on a big projection screen. The room was full of people watching me play, and all of us were communally feeling the 'horror' vibe.
Seeing commercials and billboards for Final Fantasy VII. I realized that a threshhold was being crossed here. Final Fantasy VII, while not my favorite entry in the series, was being pushed as a legitimate, worthy storytelling experience with cross generational appeal. It wasn't advertised as 'a game.' It was advertised and pushed as an essential experience. The way they sold it completely communicated that you couldn't afford to miss out on it. When I was driving down a rural route in my home town and saw a billboard with nothing except the city of Midgar on it and the Final Fantasy VII logo, that was an epiphan to me-games were venturing into new ground.
Parappa-the first time I could stomach a rhythym game of any kind. Fun, infectious, with great characters and entertaining music, not only could I play it, I really liked it. I liked Umjammer Lammy too.
Metal Gear Solid-the greatest video game ever made. Not my personal favorite, but it is a singular achievement. Greatly exceeded expectations in all respects. There are games coming out for Xbox 360 and PS3 that lack the first MGS's vision and execution. That is some staying power.
Street Fighter EX-Not that it's a great game, but it was the game that finally pushed me into the import mod scene. A game finally came out for the PSX in Japan that I knew I had to own. Later, I would go back and get involved in the Saturn import scene, and also the Dreamcast import scene. But Street Fighter EX was the first game I knew I had to own an import copy of. It opened doors for me. Surprisingly,the gameplay still holds up as when it was first released. It doesn't feel dated or old. Same can't be said for Toshinden.
There are probably some others, but those are the ones that come to light right away.
IsamuBlue
Formerly Megatron2929
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- 1,553
I was a sad gamer back in these days. My friend's little brother and I were so obsessed with Sega arcade games like Fighting Vipers and Virtua Cop, that we got Saturns for Christmas right as the system was dying off. What's sad is, we were oblivious to the great Saturn imports and were oblivious to the Playstation. I was also quite the Nintendo fanboy back then and had to have everything Nintendo. I was like, "Screw Playstation! They don't have Mario, Zelda, etc...". The funny thing is that I never owned a Playstation until Final Fantasy VII came out, and when I got it, I played the over loving crap out of it. At work, at school, it's all I could ever talk about.
Ah the PS1, the console that made people switch from being Nintendo to Sony fanboys, myself included.
Unlike most people though, I thought the 3-D graphics were a step back from the good 2D games that the SNES had like Castlevania 4, but when it came to fighting games that's where I thought the Playstation had the edge. I loved Darkstalkers when it came out. I got that game as well as Tekken 1. The sprites and music were awesome on Darkstalkers. MK3 was cool as well even though it wasn't arcade perfect, but when you compare it to the SNES version it blew it away. I was a big fighting game fanatic back then and the PS1 was nice to have since I hated the SNES port quality of most fighters. Resident Evil 1&2 were great games, and I also still have most of my Ridge Racer games for the PS1.
Unlike most people though, I thought the 3-D graphics were a step back from the good 2D games that the SNES had like Castlevania 4, but when it came to fighting games that's where I thought the Playstation had the edge. I loved Darkstalkers when it came out. I got that game as well as Tekken 1. The sprites and music were awesome on Darkstalkers. MK3 was cool as well even though it wasn't arcade perfect, but when you compare it to the SNES version it blew it away. I was a big fighting game fanatic back then and the PS1 was nice to have since I hated the SNES port quality of most fighters. Resident Evil 1&2 were great games, and I also still have most of my Ridge Racer games for the PS1.