Thought it might be interesting to add a poll, seeing as there's been quite a few interesting point of views.
I personally enjoyed gaming best when the 16-bit era came on. I think for me, it's not just the game being played on the screen, but also the related advertising and the hype whenever a new console or games are being introduced. So many commercial highlights back in those days! I played the most retro games on the Megadrive and Super Nintendo, so I have to say that is the era that's made the most impact on me.
For sheer graphics amazement, then the shift into the next era ie. PS1, Mega CD/Saturn; this was the period that floored me for true arcade quality visuals and sounds.
Resident Evil was definitely a highlight, and still up to this day, a game I never dared to play at night on my own!
Poll is kinda funny.
- pre-Atari to Atari - I like vectors!
- Atari to 8-bit - Mario Bros 2D is best!
- 8-bit to 16-bit - "Super" games rules!
- 16-bit to 32-bit (PS1, 3DO, Saturn) - 3D polygons turn me on!
- 32-bit to 64/128-bit (N64, Xbox, PS2) - OMG 3D realism!
- 128-bit next level (Gamecube/Wii, X360, PS3) - 3D photo-realism!
- Current Generations (Wii U/Switch, Xbox One, PS4) - 3D photo-realistic virtual reality megaterapixels!
N64 should be in the same gen as Playstation.
Gamecube should definitely be in the same gen as XBOX and PS2, not XBOX 360 and PS3!
Wii was only an incremental upgrade in graphics and processing, but the controls were revolutionary. If it gets to be included at all, it deserves to be a separate gen from Gamecube.
I suspect the Switch is capable of much better graphics than Wii U, but I haven't seen enough to be sure if the difference is significant or not.
My recollection of the exact timelines were a bit hazy, as there were so many consoles competing against each other after the 16-bit era. Also hard to make distinct console eras as each year there were more powerful consoles being introduced from mid-1990s to mid-2000s. I did not want to bore the whole forum with 20 different selections for polling, so opted for eras according to hardware capabilities. Thanks for your input though, several good points made.
- 16-bit to 32-bit (PS1, 3DO, Saturn) - 3D polygons turn me on!
- 32-bit to 64/128-bit (N64, Xbox, PS2) - OMG 3D realism!
- 128-bit next level (Gamecube/Wii, X360, PS3) - 3D photo-realism!
- Current Generations (Wii U/Switch, Xbox One, PS4) - 3D photo-realistic virtual reality megaterapixels!
N64 should be in the same gen as Playstation.
Gamecube should definitely be in the same gen as XBOX and PS2, not XBOX 360 and PS3!
Wii was only an incremental upgrade in graphics and processing, but the controls were revolutionary. If it gets to be included at all, it deserves to be a separate gen from Gamecube.
I suspect the Switch is capable of much better graphics than Wii U, but I haven't seen enough to be sure if the difference is significant or not.
My recollection of the exact timelines were a bit hazy, as there were so many consoles competing against each other after the 16-bit era. Also hard to make distinct console eras as each year there were more powerful consoles being introduced from mid-1990s to mid-2000s. I did not want to bore the whole forum with 20 different selections for polling, so opted for eras according to hardware capabilities. Thanks for your input though, several good points made.
I wouldn't get hung up on how many "bits" a system claims to be. It was a marketing game they were playing at the time. N64 belongs in the same gen as Playstation, no doubt.
Looks like N64 is currently listed with its successor's competition (PS2 and XBOX), and its successor (Gamecube) was pushed up with consoles that were not of the same generation.
Generations as far as I'm concerned:
Pong, Vectrex, Magnavox Odyssey, etc.
Really early stuff. Mostly knob/wheel controllers. Vectors instead of pixels. Systems were analog!
TI-Basic, Atari 2600, Colecovision, etc
Crude digital games with pixels. Many games based on popular arcade machines start to come home. Most are single-screen games that don't scroll. With only a couple exceptions, almost no background music during gameplay. Sound effects are irritating. Mostly joystick controllers. Some knob/wheel controllers. Some crude game pads.
NES, Master System, etc
Controllers with proper D-pads! Scrolling levels. Background music in most games, still limited by hardware to produce a distinctive sound style. Color and sprite limitations typical of 8-bit games (4, 8, 16).
TG16, Genesis, SNES
Improved color (16, 256, or millions), improved sound, parallax scrolling, and processing capable of producing some cool special effects. Starting to see CD add-ons.
Tough to lump PCE/TG16 in this gen. It claimed "16 bit" but wasn't really. It had the first CD add-on, but the base hardware was closer to an upgraded NES. Many NES games can run on TG16 Everdrive by using a ROM conversion tool.
These are kinda hazy:
CDi, 3DO, Sega CD, 32x, etc
Didn't form a distinct generation, so I would probably exclude them.
Saturn, Playstation, N64
Easiest to group. Games were overwhelmingly 3D. Saturn released first, then failed. In response to N64, Sega and Sony both released thumbstick controls for their systems. Games started to be more cinematic.
Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, XBOX
Dreamcast released first and failed first, but it was graphically closer to PS2 than to the N64/Playstation/Saturn gen. Much more refined/polished 3D graphics. All consoles experimented with Internet connectivity with add-ons or built-in.
XBOX 360, PS3, Wii
Wii is tricky to lump with the other consoles released in that cycle. It's not HD and just runs enhanced Gamecube hardware, but controls were revolutionary.
All consoles had Internet capabilities included standard and some kind of online back-end system for developers to utilize.
Wii U
Released out-of-cycle, but more powerful than PS3 and XBOX 360 in some ways.
Discs with higher capacity than DVD are now standard for any disc-based system going forward.
No one would say this was impactful, so I'd leave it out.
PS4, XBOX One
This one is easy to group.
WiFi is now standard across all current consoles.
Now it gets REALLY hazy.
XB1S, PS4 Pro, XB1X
Released out of cycle. XB1S was an incremental improvement that most developers don't really take advantage of. PS4 Pro was released as a reaction to the XB1S and rumors of the XB1X. The PS4 Pro had vastly improved capabilities over the standard PS4, but its capabilities are under utilized because developers have to make sure their games run well on standard PS4. Then the XB1X was released and we basically have a bunch of out-of-cycle releases as Sony and Microsoft keep trying to one-up each other.
No one would say this was impactful, so I'd leave it out.
Switch - probably shouldn't be considered a new generation as it just uses the SOC from high-end tablets.
The biggest Hit in the face for me was the jump from NES to Sega Gen. / SNES. Everything was much faster fluid animations and music was awesome.
But the jump to 3D had to be atleast a tie in terms of Impact. I remember playing Mario 64 for the first time when I was like 9-10yrs old and just realizing that there was so much more freedom in a 3D space.
Later generations have been ooooooh shiny textures and pretty animations but nothing comes close to that first moment where you transition from something you've been comfortable with the first 10 years of your life (linear 2D gaming) and flip your world upside down for the next 20yrs.
I really hope that VR will be that next step in comparison to how the world was shook the same way that the N64, PS1 and Saturn did in the late 90's.
Regardless of how blown away one personally was by the leap in technology between the NES to SNES or even the Atari to the NES, there is absolutely no denying that the change between SNES->N64/PS1 has affected the video game industry the most. Whether you think it's good or bad is personal opinion.
Regardless of how blown away one personally was by the leap in technology between the NES to SNES or even the Atari to the NES, there is absolutely no denying that the change between SNES->N64/PS1 has affected the video game industry the most. Whether you think it's good or bad is personal opinion.
People are saying that and it's hard for me to imagine. I grew up in that era and it was cool to see that stuff, but looking back... I'm not a fan of it. But when I look at what I was born into and the stuff right before me... I keep imagining my mind would be blown going from Atari 2600 to NES. Even playing 7800 now, I'm amazed at how close it is to NES (even though it released after) and how this stuff would have just floored me if I was like 5 years older.
What are some of the things specifically that sell you on that particular shift? I'd like to try it out and see how I feel.
I wouldn't get hung up on how many "bits" a system claims to be. It was a marketing game they were playing at the time. N64 belongs in the same gen as Playstation, no doubt.
Looks like N64 is currently listed with its successor's competition (PS2 and XBOX), and its successor (Gamecube) was pushed up with consoles that were not of the same generation.
Generations as far as I'm concerned:
-snip-
Your list hardly makes any sense, why are you tossing out so many slightly inbetween consoles from the categorizations? There shouldn't be discrimination against short generations. It's not about how significant a console was, it has to do with which consoles competed with what.
This is a more accurate generation list, reasonings included.
Odyssey / Pong consoles
Atari 2600 / Fairchild Channel F / Intellivision
Atari 5200 / Colecovision / Vectrex (they were significantly more advanced, and it's wrong to lump the 2600 and 5200 together)
NES / SMS / Atari 7800
TG16 / Genesis / SNES / Neo Geo (TG16 competed far more with the Genesis than the NES)
CDi / 3DO / Jaguar / Sega CD / 32X / TG16 CD (all got steamrolled by the PS1 instantly)
PS1 / Saturn / N64
DC / PS2 / GC / Xbox (DC competed more with the PS2 than the N64 and shouldn't be lumped in with the Saturn)
360 / Wii / PS3 (Wii directly competed with the 360/PS3)
Ps1 to ps2 blew me away and i was the most hyped for. Sports games got so much better. I remember my first game though was enter the matrix and that game was so sick back in tge day. Ncaa football 2004 blew me away too. The presentation was so much more improved
Regardless of how blown away one personally was by the leap in technology between the NES to SNES or even the Atari to the NES, there is absolutely no denying that the change between SNES->N64/PS1 has affected the video game industry the most. Whether you think it's good or bad is personal opinion.
People are saying that and it's hard for me to imagine. I grew up in that era and it was cool to see that stuff, but looking back... I'm not a fan of it. But when I look at what I was born into and the stuff right before me... I keep imagining my mind would be blown going from Atari 2600 to NES. Even playing 7800 now, I'm amazed at how close it is to NES (even though it released after) and how this stuff would have just floored me if I was like 5 years older.
What are some of the things specifically that sell you on that particular shift? I'd like to try it out and see how I feel.
I'm not so much sold on it as it is just acknowledgement that the jump there pushed 3D as an industry standard. The growth and development of pixel art at the time was outstanding, and to me, it did and still does look better than a lot of 3D games, even the modern ones. I'm not taking the question as one of how much impact it had on me, I'm answering it from the standpoint of how much impact it had on the world, which is really what I thought it was asking.
Comments
Thought it might be interesting to add a poll, seeing as there's been quite a few interesting point of views.
I personally enjoyed gaming best when the 16-bit era came on. I think for me, it's not just the game being played on the screen, but also the related advertising and the hype whenever a new console or games are being introduced. So many commercial highlights back in those days! I played the most retro games on the Megadrive and Super Nintendo, so I have to say that is the era that's made the most impact on me.
For sheer graphics amazement, then the shift into the next era ie. PS1, Mega CD/Saturn; this was the period that floored me for true arcade quality visuals and sounds.
Resident Evil was definitely a highlight, and still up to this day, a game I never dared to play at night on my own!
Poll is kinda funny.
- Atari to 8-bit - Mario Bros 2D is best!
- 8-bit to 16-bit - "Super" games rules!
- 16-bit to 32-bit (PS1, 3DO, Saturn) - 3D polygons turn me on!
- 32-bit to 64/128-bit (N64, Xbox, PS2) - OMG 3D realism!
- 128-bit next level (Gamecube/Wii, X360, PS3) - 3D photo-realism!
- Current Generations (Wii U/Switch, Xbox One, PS4) - 3D photo-realistic virtual reality megaterapixels!
N64 should be in the same gen as Playstation.
Gamecube should definitely be in the same gen as XBOX and PS2, not XBOX 360 and PS3!
Wii was only an incremental upgrade in graphics and processing, but the controls were revolutionary. If it gets to be included at all, it deserves to be a separate gen from Gamecube.
I suspect the Switch is capable of much better graphics than Wii U, but I haven't seen enough to be sure if the difference is significant or not.
My recollection of the exact timelines were a bit hazy, as there were so many consoles competing against each other after the 16-bit era. Also hard to make distinct console eras as each year there were more powerful consoles being introduced from mid-1990s to mid-2000s. I did not want to bore the whole forum with 20 different selections for polling, so opted for eras according to hardware capabilities. Thanks for your input though, several good points made.
Poll is kinda funny.
- Atari to 8-bit - Mario Bros 2D is best!
- 8-bit to 16-bit - "Super" games rules!
- 16-bit to 32-bit (PS1, 3DO, Saturn) - 3D polygons turn me on!
- 32-bit to 64/128-bit (N64, Xbox, PS2) - OMG 3D realism!
- 128-bit next level (Gamecube/Wii, X360, PS3) - 3D photo-realism!
- Current Generations (Wii U/Switch, Xbox One, PS4) - 3D photo-realistic virtual reality megaterapixels!
N64 should be in the same gen as Playstation.
Gamecube should definitely be in the same gen as XBOX and PS2, not XBOX 360 and PS3!
Wii was only an incremental upgrade in graphics and processing, but the controls were revolutionary. If it gets to be included at all, it deserves to be a separate gen from Gamecube.
I suspect the Switch is capable of much better graphics than Wii U, but I haven't seen enough to be sure if the difference is significant or not.
My recollection of the exact timelines were a bit hazy, as there were so many consoles competing against each other after the 16-bit era. Also hard to make distinct console eras as each year there were more powerful consoles being introduced from mid-1990s to mid-2000s. I did not want to bore the whole forum with 20 different selections for polling, so opted for eras according to hardware capabilities. Thanks for your input though, several good points made.
I wouldn't get hung up on how many "bits" a system claims to be. It was a marketing game they were playing at the time. N64 belongs in the same gen as Playstation, no doubt.
Looks like N64 is currently listed with its successor's competition (PS2 and XBOX), and its successor (Gamecube) was pushed up with consoles that were not of the same generation.
Generations as far as I'm concerned:
Pong, Vectrex, Magnavox Odyssey, etc.
Really early stuff. Mostly knob/wheel controllers. Vectors instead of pixels. Systems were analog!
TI-Basic, Atari 2600, Colecovision, etc
Crude digital games with pixels. Many games based on popular arcade machines start to come home. Most are single-screen games that don't scroll. With only a couple exceptions, almost no background music during gameplay. Sound effects are irritating. Mostly joystick controllers. Some knob/wheel controllers. Some crude game pads.
NES, Master System, etc
Controllers with proper D-pads! Scrolling levels. Background music in most games, still limited by hardware to produce a distinctive sound style. Color and sprite limitations typical of 8-bit games (4, 8, 16).
TG16, Genesis, SNES
Improved color (16, 256, or millions), improved sound, parallax scrolling, and processing capable of producing some cool special effects. Starting to see CD add-ons.
Tough to lump PCE/TG16 in this gen. It claimed "16 bit" but wasn't really. It had the first CD add-on, but the base hardware was closer to an upgraded NES. Many NES games can run on TG16 Everdrive by using a ROM conversion tool.
These are kinda hazy:
CDi, 3DO, Sega CD, 32x, etc
Didn't form a distinct generation, so I would probably exclude them.
Saturn, Playstation, N64
Easiest to group. Games were overwhelmingly 3D. Saturn released first, then failed. In response to N64, Sega and Sony both released thumbstick controls for their systems. Games started to be more cinematic.
Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, XBOX
Dreamcast released first and failed first, but it was graphically closer to PS2 than to the N64/Playstation/Saturn gen. Much more refined/polished 3D graphics. All consoles experimented with Internet connectivity with add-ons or built-in.
XBOX 360, PS3, Wii
Wii is tricky to lump with the other consoles released in that cycle. It's not HD and just runs enhanced Gamecube hardware, but controls were revolutionary.
All consoles had Internet capabilities included standard and some kind of online back-end system for developers to utilize.
Wii U
Released out-of-cycle, but more powerful than PS3 and XBOX 360 in some ways.
Discs with higher capacity than DVD are now standard for any disc-based system going forward.
No one would say this was impactful, so I'd leave it out.
PS4, XBOX One
This one is easy to group.
WiFi is now standard across all current consoles.
Now it gets REALLY hazy.
XB1S, PS4 Pro, XB1X
Released out of cycle. XB1S was an incremental improvement that most developers don't really take advantage of. PS4 Pro was released as a reaction to the XB1S and rumors of the XB1X. The PS4 Pro had vastly improved capabilities over the standard PS4, but its capabilities are under utilized because developers have to make sure their games run well on standard PS4. Then the XB1X was released and we basically have a bunch of out-of-cycle releases as Sony and Microsoft keep trying to one-up each other.
No one would say this was impactful, so I'd leave it out.
Switch - probably shouldn't be considered a new generation as it just uses the SOC from high-end tablets.
But the jump to 3D had to be atleast a tie in terms of Impact. I remember playing Mario 64 for the first time when I was like 9-10yrs old and just realizing that there was so much more freedom in a 3D space.
Later generations have been ooooooh shiny textures and pretty animations but nothing comes close to that first moment where you transition from something you've been comfortable with the first 10 years of your life (linear 2D gaming) and flip your world upside down for the next 20yrs.
I really hope that VR will be that next step in comparison to how the world was shook the same way that the N64, PS1 and Saturn did in the late 90's.
Regardless of how blown away one personally was by the leap in technology between the NES to SNES or even the Atari to the NES, there is absolutely no denying that the change between SNES->N64/PS1 has affected the video game industry the most. Whether you think it's good or bad is personal opinion.
People are saying that and it's hard for me to imagine. I grew up in that era and it was cool to see that stuff, but looking back... I'm not a fan of it. But when I look at what I was born into and the stuff right before me... I keep imagining my mind would be blown going from Atari 2600 to NES. Even playing 7800 now, I'm amazed at how close it is to NES (even though it released after) and how this stuff would have just floored me if I was like 5 years older.
What are some of the things specifically that sell you on that particular shift? I'd like to try it out and see how I feel.
Originally posted by: Ichinisan
I wouldn't get hung up on how many "bits" a system claims to be. It was a marketing game they were playing at the time. N64 belongs in the same gen as Playstation, no doubt.
Looks like N64 is currently listed with its successor's competition (PS2 and XBOX), and its successor (Gamecube) was pushed up with consoles that were not of the same generation.
Generations as far as I'm concerned:
-snip-
Your list hardly makes any sense, why are you tossing out so many slightly inbetween consoles from the categorizations? There shouldn't be discrimination against short generations. It's not about how significant a console was, it has to do with which consoles competed with what.
This is a more accurate generation list, reasonings included.
Odyssey / Pong consoles
Atari 2600 / Fairchild Channel F / Intellivision
Atari 5200 / Colecovision / Vectrex (they were significantly more advanced, and it's wrong to lump the 2600 and 5200 together)
NES / SMS / Atari 7800
TG16 / Genesis / SNES / Neo Geo (TG16 competed far more with the Genesis than the NES)
CDi / 3DO / Jaguar / Sega CD / 32X / TG16 CD (all got steamrolled by the PS1 instantly)
PS1 / Saturn / N64
DC / PS2 / GC / Xbox (DC competed more with the PS2 than the N64 and shouldn't be lumped in with the Saturn)
360 / Wii / PS3 (Wii directly competed with the 360/PS3)
Wii U / Xbone / PS4 (same thing)
Switch / XboneX / PS4 Pro (same thing)
Now if we could just correct Wikipedia.
Regardless of how blown away one personally was by the leap in technology between the NES to SNES or even the Atari to the NES, there is absolutely no denying that the change between SNES->N64/PS1 has affected the video game industry the most. Whether you think it's good or bad is personal opinion.
People are saying that and it's hard for me to imagine. I grew up in that era and it was cool to see that stuff, but looking back... I'm not a fan of it. But when I look at what I was born into and the stuff right before me... I keep imagining my mind would be blown going from Atari 2600 to NES. Even playing 7800 now, I'm amazed at how close it is to NES (even though it released after) and how this stuff would have just floored me if I was like 5 years older.
What are some of the things specifically that sell you on that particular shift? I'd like to try it out and see how I feel.
I'm not so much sold on it as it is just acknowledgement that the jump there pushed 3D as an industry standard. The growth and development of pixel art at the time was outstanding, and to me, it did and still does look better than a lot of 3D games, even the modern ones. I'm not taking the question as one of how much impact it had on me, I'm answering it from the standpoint of how much impact it had on the world, which is really what I thought it was asking.