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I just invested in another CD based system, namely the Panasonic 3DO. I’ve heard this console being mentioned from time to time, but I haven’t really been looking to get one. A few weeks ago a friend on facebook contacted me and was selling off some of his retro games and among other things there was a Panasonic 3DO. Since it also had a fair amount of games with it I just figured, why not? ^_^ So now I have a collection for Panasonic 3DO as well! I have just finished going through cleaning and scanning everything, I’m hoping I’ll get some time to try it out this evening or perhaps tomorrow.
As some of you might know, I’m not too fond of CD-based systems. Especially the awkward beginning of the 3D-era, like Playstation 1 and Sega Saturn. Of course there are A FEW good games that have been made for these systems, but when it comes to the triangular polygons and shitty controls that usually comes with these systems I just don’t find the joy in playing them. I don’t think the Panasonic 3DO will be much different, but I won’t know until I’ve tried! :) In my opinion there were better games back on cartridges. I think it might be because then they had limited space on the cartridge memory to store a game. Which meant they couldn’t make very big games and that made them put a lot of effort into the game design, like how to place enemies, obstacles, platforms to make it more challenging. Castlevania is an excellent example of good game design where they managed to make it really challenging, but still manageable. I’m not saying there weren’t any shitty games on cartridges, of course there were, but so many more good ones. However today, even if the graphics are more realistic and there’s a thousand more features in games, they still add like hundreds of hours of game play which is just the same thing over and over again just to level up a bit more or get better gear so you can advance. Destiny or newer Final Fantasy games are typical examples of where they fill out the game with repetitive grinding, and I don’t think that makes for a better game. I would much rather be able to finish a game in an hour, but it will take me 10 hours of practice before I manage to beat it, it’s much more rewarding than having run around doing the same thing for 50 hours to get a better gun.. And when it comes to early CD games, it feels like they were more focused on exploring new 3D graphics than actually making a FUN and PLAYABLE game…
Another reason that I’m opposed to collecting CD-games is the durability. I’m not sure how well these old games that are 20-30 years old will hold up in say 20 years. Will they still work? I have less faith in CD-based systems. They are prone to break more often, lasers and other parts are sensitive and CDs might stop working eventually. Will there still be spare parts available to fix these old systems in the future? I believe more in cartridges, but even they might have a limited life-time. If you look at the Atari games that was dug up in Mexico though, and still works (!), it sure speaks for the durability of cartridges compared to CDs. I don’t think a CD could have been salvaged from there.. I sure hope all my games work until my grandkids are around though so they get to try them out! ;D It would be a shame if all they had to play was VR!
Anyway, back to the Panasonic 3DO. I’m apparently still willing to explore CD-based systems that I haven’t played before, but I think that’s mainly because of my curiosity. I got 12 games with the system, they can be seen here below. I’m completely new to this system, so if anyone has any suggestions of other games that I should look for, that are not shitty, then any suggestion is welcome ;D
It sure is a clunky looking console XD What are your thought about the Panasonic 3DO? Does anyone else have any experiences of this system?
MiiTomo zeigt sich heute mit einem Launch Trailer. MiiTomo erobert mittlerweile auch unsere Länder und hat nun passend zum Launch einen Launch Trailer erhalten. Schaut hier.
The post MiiTomo zeigt sich heute mit einem Launch Trailer. appeared first on WiiUForum.de.
It seems ludicrous in this day and age to think that a company would make a $100 million push to join the console market, only to get cold feet and withdraw from the competition at the last minute. Yet that’s exactly what Panasonic did in the late Nineties – the M2 was finalised and ready for manufacturing, but just before its scheduled launch in 1997 the company pulled the plug. However, the M2 endures as one of gaming’s most fascinating “what if?” possibilities.
The replacement for Club Nintendo, dubbed "My Nintendo," has finally become available in North America and Europe after launching in Japan earlier this month. Nintendo's first mobile app, Miitomo, has also released, which allows players to gain more points towards redeeming various awards Nintendo is offering as part of the system. Before, we covered the list of rewards in Japan, but as you can see below, the rewards in North America a bit different...
We've been talking about what Nintendo is going to do when it comes to smartphones for quite literally years now, and while Miitomo has been soft launched in Japan for a couple weeks now, it's finally available in the US App Store. Something to keep in mind before downloading Miitomo and harshly judging it is that Miitomo isn't really a game, as much as it's a social network with some Mii Maker functionality. It links into My Nintendo and will likely serve as the cornerstone connecting all the other mobile games in the future.
When the game first hit Japan, our own Japan-based Shaun Musgrave gave it a quick once over and posted his first impressions, describing what Miitomo is all about:
So how is it? Well, it's more or less as it was described to us before. You start off by creating or importing a Mii. You then assign a voice and personality to it before moving on. From there, you'll be directed to answer your first question, which in my case was concerning my favorite food. After that, you can tinker around and do what you like. So far, that doesn't involve much more than buying clothes, dressing up my Mii, or answering more questions. I've earned some Game Tickets, which I can use to play a simple pachinko-style mini-game to try and win new outfits. The other currencies include coins for buying new clothes at the shop, and a mysterious "candy" item that I can't find a use for. Almost everything you do will earn you coins, and the game gives you a bunch up front to set up your initial outfit.
Friends play a big part in the Miitomo experience, so you can either encourage your other friends to download the game and add you, or you can meet up with people in our forums to find people to play with that way. But, hey, now that Miitomo is out we can divert our speculation lasers to Nintendo's next smartphone game release. They've said it's going to have big Nintendo IP in it, but arguably all Nintendo IP is pretty big, so that's not much of a clue at all.
Anyway, everyone should grab Miitomo if for no reason other than to see what Nintendo's introduction to mobile is like. In a way, this feels equally anticlimactic and historic. We've been talking about Nintendo on mobile for so long and now it's just... out. Meanwhile, it almost feels vaguely like when Sega started releasing Sonic games on other platform, and is definitely the start of something... weird. The jury is still out on whether this is good or bad.
App Store Link: Miitomo, Free
Fallout 4 is packed with stuff, including cool holotape games you can play on terminals. These holotape games are based on famous retro arcade games, such as Donkey Kong and Pitfall. Now, with the arrival of the Automatron add-on, a new holotape has been added to the mix.
THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Automatron DLC adds a holotape game of the same name, based on the '80s classic Robotron 2084, which is entirely appropriate given the add-on is all about robots.
Prolific simulation developer Kairosoft, of Game Dev Story [$0.99] fame, has been releasing the Japanese versions of their latest iOS games in App Stores worldwide recently. The English versions of the games typically follow anywhere from two weeks to a few months later, but always as separate apps from the Japanese versions. Thus, it doesn't make a lot of sense for English gamers to jump the gun and pick up the Japanese releases, even if they do look pretty interesting. Worry not, friends! TouchArcade is willing to jump in on such occasions and let you know whether or not you should keep your eye out for the English release. Today, we're looking at two Kairosoft releases that hit the App Store on the same day. As the games don't have English titles yet, I'm just taking a stab at their possible translations, so don't be surprised if these titles end up being called something else.
First up is Pocket City Railway [$6.99] (Hakoniwa City Tetsudou), a railway company simulator. You're in charge of the types of trains that run and the layouts of the stations, as well as advertising and other such business aspects. The game starts with a very small platform in a little countryside station. You can decorate it with benches, schedule boards, payphones, and so on. When customers use these facilities, you'll earn some money and research points that can be rolled into opening up new customers and items. You're soon able to lengthen the platform and add cars to your trains, with different car types that appeal to different passengers. After a while, you'll be able to open up more stations in other towns, making this fairly similar to other larger scale Kairosoft sims like Biz Builder Delux [$4.99].
It's a fun enough sim if a little bit familiar, but what really makes it interesting for me is the presentation. Pocket City Railway is using the same old Kairosoft art style, but the engine feels like it's been upgraded. It doesn't feel like a game built for mouse controls on PC squashed into touch controls. The UI is clearly designed for smartphones, and it's a lot easier to use as a result. You won't need to do nearly as much sub-menu diving here, either. As for the graphics, though the characters are familiar, the attention to detail on the unique objects made for this game is wonderful. They've done a great job of capturing the look and feel of Japanese train stations and trains. The music is also quite nice, eschewing the typical house sound of Kairosoft's other fare. If you're interested at all in the concept, I'd recommend keeping watching out for Pocket City Railway's English release.
The other release has a theme that is likely more immediately enticing to anyone reading this site. Game Center Club [$5.99] (Game Center Kurabu) allows you to run your own arcade, but you're also developing the players themselves so that they can join in tournaments and take home prizes. The trick here is to balance the economic needs of your business with trying to join in on these events. Setting the difficulty on your machines to a lower setting will result in more fun, earning you points you can put towards various upgrades, but your club members won't earn as much experience from playing. You'll also have to choose which of your customers should be in your club, adding another interesting layer. When you attend events, you'll actually participate in a simple fighting game where you can block and attack by pushing on-screen buttons. It's a cute gimmick.
Unlike Pocket City Railway, Game Center Club is definitely using the trusty Kairosoft interface we know and feel indifferent towards. It works just like most of their releases, so it's not like it's arcane magic for most mobile gamers by now, but it is a little jarring jumping from the new interface back to this old one. Visually, the interesting elements here are the games themselves. They're all parodies of games with titles like Street Fire, Grudius, and Marimo Brothers. The music is the same old stuff we typically hear from Kairosoft, somewhat retro-tinged with a carnival-style twist to it. Mechanically, this game is doing some new things for a Kairosoft game, though it doesn't venture terribly far outside of their comfort zone. I found Game Center Club a little more challenging than Kairosoft's usual fare, as well. Money is reasonably tight early on in the game. And of course, the theme works really well for me, as I'm sure it does for most of you.
I guess I'd tentatively say that both of these games are worth looking out for. Pocket City Railway's gameplay is probably the more familiar of the two, but I don't feel Kairosoft's exhausted the Biz Builder Delux style of game yet, and the theme itself is quite exciting if you have an interest in Japanese trains. From a presentation point of view, Game Center Club is less exciting, but the unique mechanics of putting together an awesome gaming team make it stand out from other Kairosoft titles. The game-related theme certainly helps, too.
As I said earlier on, Kairosoft will almost assuredly release the English versions of these games as separate apps, so I wouldn't buy them at this point unless you can understand Japanese. Now, as for when we can expect the English versions, it's hard to say. We've seen turn-around as fast as two weeks on at least one game, and as slow as four months on another. The majority seem to come within a couple of months of the Japanese versions releasing, however, so you should see at least one of these games by the time May is through, if not both.
I owned a Virtual Boy. There, I said it. For most of my life I’ve been obsessed with virtual reality, and Nintendo’s infamous failure of a system was my first real taste. Sure, it only had one color, and it looked silly sticking your face into what looked like a cross between E.T. and one of the machines from War of the Worlds, but I actually loved the thing. I have fond memories of berating Toad as my doubles partner in Mario’s Tennis, and of flying a wireframe spaceship into a giant wireframe face in Red Alarm. Heck, I even wrote terrible fanfiction about Teleroboxer.
Unfortunately, VR would have to wait a while before the public was ready to fully embrace a version that could output more than red lines and didn’t look quite as stupid on your face. I don’t even know what 10-year-old Nathan would have done if he could have seen the Oculus Rift, Hololens, or HTC Vive. Crying probably would have been part of it, though, since those devices are currently way out of the price range for most people (especially considering the computer you need to run them!). Luckily, there are tons of companies out there that are building headsets that are far, far cheaper and only need a smartphone to work.
I was lucky enough to try one such headset recently when the fine folks at Proteus VR Labs sent me their Freefly VR. It sits around the upper mid-tier of mobile headsets, with the practically-free Google Cardboard at the bottom and the Samsung Gear at the high end. Each of these tiers serves a useful purpose for people who want to try VR inexpensively, and the Freefly boasts a price a bit lower than some of the more premium headsets, while retaining most of their comfort and quality. (Note: I have no idea if these “tiers” are an actual thing, but that’s how I view most smartphone headsets.)
Now, up to this point my go-to headset was a super cheap piece of plastic called the Xiaozhai. It got the job done, but I was pretty blown away when I opened the box for the Freefly. It comes with a case, a remote, tons of documentation, and the whole thing just looks slick. At first I was a bit confused about how to use the damn thing since there are so many little knobs and sliders on it, but it’s not too complicated if you study it for a minute or so. (Or read one of the little books it comes with.)
Once I got the straps adjusted and had my iPhone 6S securely in place (with a handy red line to center it), the first thing I noticed was how light it is. It was slightly surprising given how solid it looks, and I’m glad it doesn’t pull my face down with a bunch of weight. It’s still heavy enough that it kind of bounces around when you make sudden movements, but there’s only so much you can shave off when you have the weight of the phone to consider. The second thing I noticed was that it’s very comfortable, with nice leather padding around the edges. (Much better than the cheap foam on my last headset, anyway.)
One of the main bullet points of the Freefly that I was excited for was the 120 degree field of view. Apparently that’s the highest currently on the market, and it’s supposed to make the experience that much more immersive. The other headsets I’ve tried feel like you’re looking through a square hole, and often the two pictures overlap and break the illusion. The Freefly doesn’t have that problem at all, and that alone makes it one of the better options you can buy.
Part of the effect comes from how close the “screen” appears to your face, greatly minimizing any borders that otherwise would be there at the edges. It’s sort of like watching TV with your nose inches away, and while the immersion is great, it definitely put a bit of a strain on my eyes (as you’d expect from watching a TV that close). In fact, whenever I load up an app or game and put the headset on, it takes about 10 seconds or so for my eyes to focus correctly. It’s not a big deal since it doesn’t take long to acclimate each time, but it’s worth mentioning that many other headsets (including the cheap one I was using before) have the ability to adjust the lenses to make the viewing more comfortable on the ol’ meatballs.
Another issue I had was blurriness around the edges of each lens. It's not too bad, but it's definitely there and compounds the focusing problem somewhat. There were several times when I'd be sliding the headset around on my face trying to get the perfect viewing position, and part of me wishes there was some kind of lens adjustment to sort all that out.
Once you get a good position, though, the Freefly is pretty amazing. It's very comfortable even during long sessions, and the sense of immersion that wide field of view provides is remarkable. At the bottom of this article I'll list some of the apps and games I tried, but suffice it to say I vastly preferred the Freefly experience over the flimsier headsets I've tried. Everything just looks and feels better.
Speaking of games, one disappointing note is that the little controller the headset comes with (called the Glide) doesn't work so well with iPhones. Indeed, I was told it's mainly there for Android users, although a newer version is apparently being released soon which will play nice with iOS. I have no idea how it's supposed to work, though, since the current one doesn't appear to come anywhere close to matching Apple's weirdly strict specifications for MFi controllers. Maybe it'll use some workaround like the old iCade keyboard trick, perhaps? What I can say, though, is the little device sure looks neat, and the tiny analog stick and buttons feel pretty good for the size. (I'm also told that existing customers can have their Glides replaced free of charge when the new one comes out, so that's pretty awesome.)
Aside from the controller problems (which will hopefully be solved soon) and my issues with focusing, the Freefly overall is easily the best iPhone VR headset I've tried. It's comfortable to wear and is surprisingly light despite how sturdy and “premium” the materials look and feel. Plus, it comes with a case! How cool is that? In my opinion, though, the really killer feature is that gloriously large field of view, which really sucks you in. It may not be as crazy-immersive as an Oculus Rift, but for roughly a tenth of the cost (and no tricked out computer required) it's an impressive little headset indeed.
You can buy the Freefly VR on Amazon.com or the Proteus website.
Here are a few of the free apps I tried with the Freefly that worked pretty well:
- Froggy VR [Free] by FIBRUM
- Zombie Shooter VR [Free] by FIBRUM
- InCell VR [Free] by NIVAL, INC.
- Perfect Angle: Zen Edition VR [Free] by Ivanovich Games
- Vrse - Virtual Reality [Free] by Vrse, Inc.
You may recall we recently highlighted an excellent parkour video based on Super Mario Bros that featured some insane skills of human athleticism.
The duo behind the video are back with another impressive effort and it’s even better, with some stunning stunts, excellent visuals and great music.
Imagine if Mario and Luigi could actually do all this in the games…
This all-in-one Mega Drive and Mega-CD hybrid, known as the CD-X in North America, is a tiny feature-packed device that doesn’t just play games, but accepts batteries to function as a portable CD player. It was intended as a high-end limited edition model, so very few were ever produced. If you’re feeling really picky, try to pick up the Japanese model, branded as the Linguaphone Education Gear!
Click here to view the embedded video.
Why did Gamecube owners feel so left out during their generation? Simple: they had to buy DVD players, whereas other console owners could just run them through their consoles (though Xbox owners did have to grab a rubbish dongle). Not so with Panasonic’s highly desirable Japan-only Q though – this Gamecube could accept DVD films as well as the tiny platters that carried great games like Metroid Prime.
Click here to view the embedded video.
If you used to watch Bad Influence as a kid, you might remember them showing off a SNES in a TV one year. Well, we do anyway. This is that device! It comes in two versions, 21 inch and 14 inch models, and the built-in video connection is way better than the composite leads most people used at the time. Of course, this excellent contraption was never released outside of Japan.
The Game Developers Choice Awards paid tribute this evening to the life of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who passed away last year.
In a short, but rather wonderful animated video, Iwata's impact on the world of video games is remembered, from Balloon Fight to the Wii console, eventually closing with a line from his now famous speech at GDC 2005.
"...in my heart, I am a gamer."
A few weeks ago we broke the news that the fabled Nintendo PlayStation / SNES-CD’s BIOS had leaked onto the internet. After sparking plenty of interest and leaving many wondering about its legitimacy, the brains behind the emulation scene have managed to reverse engineer its very core. As a result we’re impressed to say that the first playable game for the system will be hitting your emulators soon.
The website of Industrial Light & Magic, the design and effects team made famous by the original Star Wars, has shared a massive art dump from The Force Awakens, containing images from throughout the film’s development.
Sony just announced its very competitive VR pricing and revealed an array of interesting games to launch alongside the device.
As good as they look, we’re hoping that Namco will be brave enough to update this release from the late Ninties.
Watch Pac-Man put on a groovy VR headset and chase ghosts in an exciting new dimension. Come on Namco, make this happen.
Something wonderful happened on the Super Nintendo back in the mid-nineties. In fact a lot of amazing moments derived from that 16bit King Console. Long before the days of Grand Theft Auto on the Playstation 1, DMA Designs were hard at work designing a Super Nintendo game that I deem was one of a kind...
There is one good thing to come out of Episode I: The Phantom Menace: Darth Maul. This fan film, Darth Maul: Apprentice showcases all of the things that we loved about the red-and-black Sith Lord.
The Nintendo of Japan version of yesterday's Nintendo Direct briefing contained some news not mentioned in the North American show. One piece of such news was the reveal of a New 3DS XL system modeled after the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, known as the Super Famicom in Japan.
As you can see, it sports the trademark gray color, while the backside is meant to look like the SNES's top. It even has representations for the Power, Reset, and Eject buttons.
This system goes on sale in Japan next month for ¥21,600, which comes out to around $190. Nintendo has made no announcement about bringing the system to the United States (via Polygon).
In other SNES news, during yesterday's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced that SNES games would be coming to the 3DS Virtual Console. You can see some of the first games to be added here.
For more on yesterday's Nintendo Direct, check out this roundup of all the news and videos.
If you are looking for good, high-quality video game music from all of your favorite video games, hunt no further than GiIvaSunner, who has done us all a great service with these uploads of songs we all know and love.
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| Lotta love for the Jag in Glasgow... |
Long before the likes of the Oculus Rift and even the Virtual Boy, video games were always developed for two dimensional play. While we’re perfectly happy with flat pixels, the arrival of Nintendo’s 3D Classics on the 3DS has left us wondering how many other titles would work with added depth. That’s all about to change following the recent development of a 3D Nintendo NES emulator.
After the recent furore surrounding the alleged use of a Super Nintendo Mini board inside an Atari Jaguar shell to demonstrate a working prototype at the New York Toy Fair; the use of an archaic video capture board to show the inner workings of the system; and the revelations of the director tasked with creating the Kickstarter promotional videos, the Coleco Chameleon looks to have been laid to rest by the withdrawal of support from Coleco itself.
UPDATE 9TH MARCH: The writing appears to be on the wall for the Coleco Chameleon. Coleco, the brand, has pulled out of the project, taking its name - and the best chance the console had at finding a foothold - with it.
Coleco made the announcement on Facebook. "Retro VGS has decided that the work that they have created is not sufficient to demonstrate at this time," it said. "Consequently, we can no longer proceed with the project and the Chameleon project will be terminated. This separation is amicable. We wish them luck in the future. - We thank the gaming community for their continued support, input, vigilance and trust."
Retro VGS, meanwhile, pulled its Facebook page from view.
We finished the last article with Nintendo ruling as the undisputed king of the console market, everyone else being left to fight for whatever fell from Nintendo's table. That was about to change, however, with the dawn of a new console generation.
All the way up to the late 80s the console market had generally been dominated by a single console. Apart from the early 70s, when the market was still in its infancy and video games were still very much a niche, there had always been one clear market leader - from the 2600 in the late 70s and early 80s to the NES in mid to late 80s. Others had come and gone, trying to challenge them with varying levels of success, but none ever really came that close to threatening the leader's position.
The fourth console generation had begun back in 1987 with the release of TurboGrafx-16, but it wasn't until 1989 that it released in the west. Regardless, the console never truly caught on outside of Japan, largely due to a limited library of games. As such it eventually landed a distant third in the console race, selling a total of about 10 million units in its lifetime, which was still a fairly respectable number for the time.
The first real success of the new console generation came in 1988, when the Sega Mega Drive launched in Japan. It came out in the west the following year (renamed as Genesis in North America), and was an almost overnight success. It quickly established Sega as a serious contender to Nintendo and set the stage for the war that was about to begin.
1989 wasn't all about Sega, however; Nintendo also brought a new system to market that would prove to be one of the company's greatest ever achievements. This was of course the original Game Boy. Its debut began yet another era of Nintendo dominance, this time in the handheld market, and since then the company has never let go of its place at the top, despite being challenged by numerous competitors over the years.
The first of these was launched mere months after the Game Boy. Atari tried to get back into the mix with its Lynx handheld. It was a much more advanced system than the Game Boy, which still featured a black and white (or black and green) display. The Lynx was the first ever handheld to boast a colour display and unlike the Game Boy was also backlit. However, these features also made it more expensive than Nintendo's handheld, as well as shortening its battery life significantly. As a result it ended up quickly falling behind the Game Boy in sales, and eventually ended up selling somewhere around 3 million units.
The year saw the release of several high profile video games for various different platforms. Sega brought Phantasy Star to the Mega Drive/Genesis with the series' second outing, while Nintendo brought Enix's Dragon Warrior to North America, three years after its initial Japanese release. Many new series got their starts this year too - in Japan the first Mother was released for the Famicom (gamers in the west would have to wait until 2015 for an official release of the game on the Virtual Console) and on the Game Boy Princess Daisy made her first appearance in Super Mario Land.
All things considered, the console market was comparatively quiet in 1989, with the previous generation winding down and the new one only really finding its footing later in the year. On the PC front things were just starting to ramp up towards some of the platform's greatest years. Peter Molyneux, before he began making overly ambitious promises, created Populous, often regarded as one of, if not the first god game.
Prince of Persia made its first appearance on Apple II and in later years would be ported to countless other platforms. Another important title was Will Wright's SimCity, the first in the Sim-series of video games. Finally, on Amiga Psygnosis published Shadow of the Beast, a side-scrolling platformer which demonstrated the system's capabilities and helped sell it to a larger audience.
1990 was still very much part of the NES era, despite both the TurboGrafx and Mega Drive having been out for a while. Both were still building their presence while the NES still had a huge playerbase to work with. This would soon change, but for now it was still the console to beat. A few of the more notable releases for the console around this time were Final Fantasy, Mega Man 3, and Dr. Mario.
In addition, Nintendo made sure their console wouldn't go down without a fight when they released one of the console's biggest and most beloved games in North America in Super Mario Bros. 3. It would go on to become the best-selling non-bundled game on the system, trailing only Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt in sales. This ensured that Nintendo wouldn't lose any foothold in the market while their new console was still in development.
Speaking of which, in November of 1990 the Super Famicom would be released in Japan, immediately taking hold of the Japanese market with the help of its launch lineup of Super Mario World and F-Zero. People outside of Japan would have to wait a bit longer for the console, but the signs of a war between Sega and Nintendo were already in the air. In Japan Nintendo was still the king on the throne, but elsewhere Sega had established itself as a serious contender and Nintendo was already late to the race, especially with the European release of the Mega Drive happening in November as well.
Once again, it wasn't all about the consoles, however, as PC gamers got some huge games throughout the year. Origin brought out its big guns, with the release of Ultima VI: The False Prophet in June and Wing Commander in September. In October LucasArts released The Secret of Monkey Island, beginning one of the most beloved adventure game series of all time, and in November Sierra On-Line responded with King's Quest V. To fill in the gaps left by those games the year also saw the launch of Commander Keen and Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon.
A few companies were also attempting to tap into the growing handheld market. Sega released the Game Gear in Japan and NEC put out the TurboExpress, which was essentially a handheld version of the TurboGrafx-16. Out of all the handhelds trying to compete with Nintendo's Game Boy, the Game Gear was easily the most successful, with sales exceeding 10 million units by the end of its life. Still, when the combined sales of all its competitors equalled about a tenth of the Game Boy's overall sales, it quickly became clear there was never much competition to be had on that side of the market.
1991 was when the console war truly began. Nintendo finally entered the new console generation in the west with the North American release of the Super Nintendo. Sega had a pretty significant headstart on its competition, but Nintendo had the technologically superior system on their side, not to mention an established fanbase for its games from the NES days. This was the first time that two more or less equally strong sides had done battle in the console market and the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo would spill to schoolyards and game rooms everywhere.
Naturally, Sega wasn't just going to watch on from the sidelines as Nintendo came in and began to take away the lead the company built up over the last two years. Nintendo would release Super Mario World and F-Zero alongside the SNES but this time Sega had an answer. As most of you probably already know, this answer was Sonic The Hedgehog. It actually wasn't until Sonic gave the Mega Drive/Genesis a mascot to rival Mario that the console truly took off, but at that point the SNES was already very close to coming out in North America.
This was also a time during which many companies employed some very aggressive and often not completely truthful marketing tactics. Sega had the famous taglines of “Blast Processing” and “Sega does what Nintendon't”, but Sega was far from the only company engaging in such tactics. NEC, for example, advertised the TurboGrafx as the first 16-bit console even though its central processor was only 8-bit (its graphics processor was its only truly 16-bit component).
While Sega and Nintendo were battling for the console crown, many other companies were bringing out some of the era's greatest games on both consoles and PC. The NES was still showing signs of life with the launch of Mega Man 4 and Tecmo Super Bowl, and while the system was clearly becoming less important to Nintendo, the huge install base still made it an attractive platform for third party developers.
Yet it was the new console generation that commanded most attention. EA released the first entry in the highly successful Road Rash series on the Mega Drive and Square gave us Final Fantasy IV (II in the west) for the SNES. Meanwhile, Nintendo released a game that would return to prominence over 20 years later - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
Arcades were also beginning to stir once more, helped immensely by Capcom's genre defining milestone, Street Fighter II. The year also saw the release of the very first graphical MMORPG in Neverwinter Nights. PC in general played host to landmark games almost every month in 1991, including the likes of Lemmings, Another World, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, and the original Civilization.
Some incredibly important development studios were founded around this time, including Bungie, iD Software, and Silicon & Synapse (Better known as Blizzard Entertainment). All of these would later go on to define entire genres at different periods of time.
1992 was an even bigger year in terms of software. The new console generation had now established itself on the market and both Nintendo and Sega were firing on all cylinders in an effort to outdo the competition in any way possible. Together with third party developers they produced some of the most influential games of all time on consoles and PC.
The year got off to a flying start when Westwood Studios revolutionized the RTS genre with Dune II, which released on January 1st. The game would influence countless other titles in the years to come. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss gave birth to the first person 3D RPGs and Ultima VII: The Black Gate continued the acclaimed series with what is widely considered its finest outing. iD Software also made its mark on the industry by releasing Wolfenstein 3D, in the process popularizing the FPS genre.
That's not all. LucasArts continued to demonstrate their mastery of the adventure game genre with Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Toys For Bob created what is often considered one of the greatest games ever made in Star Control 2. On Commodore we got Zool by Gremlin Graphics, which went on to become the Commodore Amiga's best selling game. The cherry on top was Interplay's Alone in the Dark, which gave birth to and popularized the survival horror genre. And this was all just on PC.
Arcades were undergoing a resurgence after the previous year's Street Fighter II had given them a much-needed shot in the arm. Sega's Virtua Racing laid the groundwork for later 3D driving games to build upon, while SNK showed us their take on the fighting game genre with Art of Fighting. However, it was a certain other fighting game that was released in arcades which was perhaps the main reason arcades strived during this time. The game in question was Midway's Mortal Kombat, which came to prominence largely through its excessive use of violence and gore, as well as its fighting mechanics, which were much simpler than many of its competitors'. In many ways the simplicity of the game was actually one of its greatest strengths, as it allowed just about anyone to simply pick up and start playing the game.
The genius of the game was in its fatalities, which made the game feel like a spectacle, and people lined up to experience them. There had simply been nothing like it before, and the controversy that followed reflected that. Numerous groups found the game objectionable to say the least. Parents and officials alike voiced their concerns over violence in video games, and in large part due to the impact of Mortal Kombat and its sequels the ESRB was established in 1994 to monitor and rate video games. As a result the game is in many ways one of the most influential pieces of entertainment ever conceived.
And that still wasn't all the year had to offer. Nintendo introduced the world to Kirby in Kirby's Dream Land, and to Wario in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins for the Game Boy. Oh, and on the SNES they created one of the company's most enduring and popular franchises with Super Mario Kart, in the process creating the Kart racing subgenre of video games.
Sega was keeping busy as well, releasing Ecco the Dolphin in July, and finishing the year in grand fashion with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The game is often considered one of the series' best entries and introduced gamers to Sonic's long-time sidekick Tails. It still stands as the best-selling entry in the series, proving that at least for the time being Sega was a force to be reckoned with in the home console landscape.
1992 had been an amazing year in terms of video games. Several entirely new genres were born during the year and others were refined to new, unprecedented heights. Sega and Nintendo were constantly pushing one another to improve and developers around the world were seemingly inventing new ways to play games every week.
The following year featured yet another batch of series starters and other influential games, and some new hardware was also introduced as the year wore on. This was also the year during which the fifth console generation began, starting the slow and often rather painful transition of the industry towards fully-realized 3D games.
The first of these fifth generation consoles was a little-known console called FM Towns Marty from Fujitsu. The console was never released outside of Japan and was eventually discontinued in 1995 without making much of an impact. It is still notable for being the very first 32-bit console, however. Later in the year another contender appeared in the form of the 3DO. While it was marginally more successful than Fujitsu's attempt, its unusually high price combined with a lack of games (its launch line-up consisted of exactly one game - Crash 'n Burn) caused it to quickly lose steam and it ended up being discontinued in 1996.
Atari would also make one more attempt at returning to the console market in 1993, with their ill-fated Jaguar console. Atari had struggled to stay relevant after the company's heyday in the 1970s and early 80s and the Jaguar was meant to compete against the SNES and 3DO as a technologically superior alternative to those consoles. As such it was marketed as the first 64-bit console, which was yet another attempt at making a console seem more than it really was as the console actually had two 32-bit processors that supposedly worked together to create a 64-bit environment.
Needless to say, the Jaguar was an unmitigated disaster for Atari, often ranking among the worst video game consoles ever created. The system was criticized for its awful controller, lack of quality games, and for games that didn't look any better than similar ones on the 16-bit SNES. During the three years it remained in the market the console sold less than 250,000 units before Atari pulled the plug on it in late 1996. The fifth generation had started, yes, but not exactly on a positive note.
Fortunately, the existing platforms were still going strong, offering quality games in large numbers throughout the year. In arcades Midway gave us Mortal Kombat II which proved perhaps even more successful than the first game. It also fanned the flames of controversy surrounding the series even further, but that didn't stop it from becoming one of the year's biggest games. SNK continued putting out new fighting games as well, this time bringing out the first game in Samurai Showdown series.
Fighting games in general were quickly becoming one of the biggest genres in the industry, and especially in arcades. Sega also pushed the boundaries of the genre, literally, with Virtua Fighter, which laid the foundations for all future 3D fighting games to come.
Another genre that was beginning to strive in arcades was the 3D racer. Sega was playing its part here as well, by releasing Daytona USA. However, it was Namco that made the largest contribution to the genre that year with the release of Ridge Racer.
At home, despite the fourth console generation entering its sixth year and the fifth generation getting its start, the NES was still fighting back with the occasional high profile release. In March Nintendo released Kirby's Adventure for the console, introducing Kirby's copy ability and Meta Knight to the series. Capcom was also still putting out games on the old console, with Mega Man 6 being perhaps its highest profile release of the year on the NES.
On the Game Boy Nintendo showed what the handheld was capable of with The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, pushing the handheld even further ahead of its competition. Sega's Game Gear was more or less just trying to stay relevant against the Game Boy at this point, but the Mega Drive had no such problems in fighting the SNES on a more equal footing. In 1993 Sonic CD made the Sega CD peripheral an attractive option for a moment and Virgin Games developed Disney's Aladdin for Mega Drive (Capcom released a SNES version around the same time), which became one of the year's biggest games, both commercially and critically.
The SNES also got its fair share of great games. Nintendo started the year strong with the February release of Star Fox, showing of the SNES's 3D capabilities and being Nintendo's first ever game to use 3D polygon graphics. This was achieved through the use of the newly-introduced Super FX chip, without which such graphics would not have been possible on the console. Nintendo also released Super Mario All-Stars later in the year, remaking the series' NES titles for the SNES with updated graphics and sound.
Square was also entering a period during which it developed some of the most beloved classics of the 16-bit era and claimed the console RPG throne with the release of Secret of Mana. The game was praised for numerous different aspects, including its plot, graphics and the excellent soundtrack which was composed by Hiroki Kikuta. It was the first game to be marketed under the Mana name, despite actually being the second game in the series after Final Fantasy Adventure. This year also saw the start of the Mega Man X series.
In 1993 PC saw the release of numerous hugely influential titles from several different developers. LucasArts was in the middle of its golden period, releasing such titles as X-Wing, Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road. 7th Quest became the flagship title for CD-Rom drives, while Return to Zork took the series away from its text-based roots. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father from Sierra started yet another beloved adventure game series, and Myst began confusing and infuriating players around the world, in the process becoming the best selling computer game of all time up to that point, a title it would hold until The Sims finally surpassed it in 2002.
Simcity 2000 by Maxis continued to develop the city-building genre, and Syndicate did the same for real time tactical games. Meanwhile, Master of Orion continued to popularize the 4X genre of strategy video games.
Yet despite all of those games being released within the same year on computers there was one title above all others as far as lasting impact is concerned. iD Software had begun popularizing the FPS genre the year before, and in 1993 they continued on the same path with the release of Doom in December. The success of the game was the first sign of a general change in gamers' tastes. Adventure games were still huge at this point, but as time went by they slowly began to lose ground to other genres, and the rise of FPS was perhaps the most obvious example of this.
The period from 1989 to 1993 was a time of rapid development on practically all fronts for the industry. The transition from 2D to 3D had begun in earnest and CD-Roms started to overtake the cartridge as the preferred way to store games. PC saw the inception of numerous entirely new genres and many already existing ones got their most beloved classics during these years. Sega and Nintendo were fighting against each other on the console front, trading blows more or less equally, but a new rival was about to emerge; one that would eventually change the face of the entire industry, much like Nintendo had done in the past.
This is where we'll stop for now - once again at the threshold of another monumental change in the industry. Next time, we will look at how some new faces looked to tear down the old ones on their way to the top. As always, thank you for reading.
Full Article - http://www.vgchartz.com/article/263490/history-of-video-games-the-beginning-of-the-console-war-1989-1993/
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Peter Lustig ist im Alter von 78 Jahren gestorben. Fuck this year.
Löwenzahn war für 80s-Kids wie mich eine Einführung in alternative Lebenswelten. Bis dahin wusste ich nicht, dass man mit Latzhose und Gurkensaft in einem Bauwagen wohnen und dort komische Uhren und Gerätschaften zusammenbauen konnte. Alleine das Intro mit den durch Beton brechenden Löwenzahn-Blumen sagt bereits alles über die links-ökologische Grundhaltung der Serie, die mich bis heute prägt.
Danke für alles, Peter. Und jetzt – abschalten! 