290: The Genesis Effect

[Russ Pitts]

The Genesis Effect

The Sega Genesis arguably revolutionized console gaming, and inarguably, Russ Pitts' life.

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[Fappy]

In all honesty I may have to give Genesis credit for the video game obsessed life I live today. NES may have been the first console I ever played, but the Genesis was the first I ever owned (at the tender age of 3) and I played the hell out of that thing. Fun fact: According to my dad my Genesis, which is still operational to this day, was given to my father by one of Eddey Murphy's bodyguards when he was staying at the Plaza in New York. My Genesis may have been played by the comedian, or at the very least, they shared the same room at one point.

 

[RatRace123]

God I loved the genesis, I only had: The Lion King, Jurassic Park and Sonic 1 and 2, but I sank sooooooo much time into that thing it was not even funny.

Damn shame I can't find my old genesis or the games, the Sonic Games are easy enough to find as a download or as part of a collection, but I've never found Jurassic Park or Lion King again.

 

[Somethingfake]

My entire childhood was spent playing Sonic 2. My sister adored Sonic 1. We both have very fond memories of The Mega Drive.

 

[Terramax]

I know how people love to talk about themselves, but was really necessary to write a whole 2 pages about your life before even mentioning the Genesis?

 

[millertime059]

I remember growing up how one of my friends had a NES that I would play every time I went over. When I finally got a console of my own though, it was the Sega Genesis. My own experiences with the system are very similar to yours, only transposed 10 years younger. The memories of that system burn deep, I still remember the cheat codes for Sonic 2 and Desert Strike. NBA Jam with a buddy, couldn't beat watching Bill Clinton dunk on Warren Moon. To someone 10 years old, who missed out on the time of arcades largely, the Genesis was amazing. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, and for reminding everyone of the days when vaguely female chiptone voice going Se-gaaaa was a wonderful thing.

 

[Falseprophet]

My Genesis (which I stupidly sold in my last year of high school) ended up being the last console I would own until I picked up a PS2 in 2002. I seemed to have a knack for picking up the games no one else wanted to admit existed. Ignorant of the rest of the series at the time, I must have been the only person on the planet who liked Phantasy Star III.

SAAAY-GAAAH!!!

 

[Russ Pitts]

I know how people love to talk about themselves, but was really necessary to write a whole 2 pages about your life before even mentioning the Genesis?

Yes.

 

[Tempest13]

I'm a young fag, and never got into the genesis, but I did play some classic sega games, and they defined my life as a gamer almost as much as the SNES and N64 games I love.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Ah, the Genesis - I never personally owned one myself (or any gaming console really, I've pretty much always been a PC gamer) but thanks my grandparents I have many fond memories of the system. Gunstar Heroes in particular was all sorts of awesome (and I can attest that you weren't exaggerating when you suggested that the Jurassic Park and Alladin games were surprisingly good for movie tie-ins), and of course there was Sonic, back when those games were still good. Happy times.

Apart from some limited time on a friend's Super Nintendo, the Genesis essentially marked the end of my console-gaming days: my grandparents never got a newer console and we weren't allowed to have one even if we'd wanted one - as a computer enthusiast who was already deeply invested in the platform well before 3D-acceleration was a thing that anyone even talked about, consoles have never impressed me from a technical standpoint; I knew what went into them after all, and the various incarnations of my desktop PC have always had better hardware than whatever the current generation of gaming consoles contained.

It was never about the technical underpinnings with the Genesis though, it was about the games, and they were (mostly) pretty damn good. Reading this account makes me miss that old system (I honestly don't know what happened to it now that I think about it).

 

[shiajun]

I can only echo all of what was said in the article. In fact, the only console I have ever owned was the Sega Genesis. After that it was the jump to PC and I never looked back. Sure, I've played on other systems, but the Genesis was mine, all mine (and my brother's, of course). Mine came with the Lion king game (which is also a decent movie tie-in to my liking, just not Aladdin and Jurassic Park quality). To these days I have to say Sonic defined my gaming life: the attitude, the speed, the somewhat underdog nature vs Mario and the rest of the Nintendo gang.

Ah, good times. Now I'm nostalgic. Guess I'll fire up my emulator though my Genesis still works to perfection. Just have to blow a bit on the cartridges.

 

[Dastardly]

The Genesis Effect

The Sega Genesis arguably revolutionized console gaming, and inarguably, Russ Pitts' life.

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You probably know this, but nostalgia comes from two Greek words: nostos, meaning roughly "homecoming," and -algia meaning, strangely enough, pain. It really came into play in those Greek tragedies where the tragic hero would return home... only to find it was no longer home, either because of home had changed or because the hero himself had changed so much.

NES and SEGA both had that magic. It was a different type, depending on your age at the time, but magic nonetheless. It was discovery. It was the future coming into your home. And, because it was a gaming system, it was a portal to worlds you never imagined would be so readily available.

In a way, it's sad to think that a new video game technology won't really have that same magic. Maybe some magic, but almost certainly less. Gone are the days when simply "pulling a quarter from behind our ear" would leave us spellbound, and gone are the days when we are amazed to have arcade-level technology in our homes.

And so it is, when we look back at those moments that defined us, that we remember them fondly... but also heavily. You can only discover something once. As great as new experiences will be, they won't have that same sense of discovery or wonder. I had a similar experience with school band, and it changed my life. Now, as a teacher, a lot of the magic and mystery are gone, but I can at least relive them vicariously through a few of my students.

Perhaps being in your position, commenting on (and thus helping to define for posterity) the gaming world will continue to afford you that same opportunity.

 

[Rad Party God]

What a thoughtful article.

I think that my first true love (in gaming) was the N64 back in the nineties. Yes, like everyone else, my first gaming experience was the NES and I even had a SNES, wich I'm very fond too, and a PlayStation 1. But the end of elementary school and the beginning of high school were pretty harsh and my N64 was always there for me.

I remember the first time I saw a running demo of Mario 64 in a shop, running around, jumping and grabbing Bowser's tail and throwing him out of the platform was simply mind blowing. I was even extremely puzzled by it's newest controller scheme, shaped as a hand with 3 fingers (as my dad called it) and an analog stick in the middle, it was a novelty for me back then.

Then, I recieved an N64 for christmas, along with Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 and International Super Star Soccer 64 and I was in love for the first time. Not only Mario could move freely in 3D, running and jumping around, he could also FLY!. Then my love for the console was simply cemented when Ocarina of Time arrived. My first action/adventure game I've ever played and my very first experience with a Zelda game. Then many classics of the N64 followed after that, big names of the console, like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and Conker's Bad Fur Day, just to name a few.

That's the time when Rare was a respected developer and maybe the best developer for the console, outside of Nintendo. When Acclaim was a respected brand and not today's blasfemy of korean MMO's. When Turok was great. When the word "party games" was associated to Mario Party and not shovelware.

Sometimes I miss those days, when it was simpler, when it was amazing to see what a developer could do with the extremely limited space of the cartdriges, like Resident Evil 2 (wich I still consider the best version of the game). Yes, the PS1 also had great titles and whatnot, but I still have fond memories of the N64.

I still regret selling it to buy an original Xbox, wich I never did.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I know how people love to talk about themselves, but was really necessary to write a whole 2 pages about your life before even mentioning the Genesis?

You're in the pub club, WHY are you doing more than single page stories?


OT:The Genesis is a very interesting device, as it holds one of my favorite games of all time. A game called Shadowrun. I was big into Shadowrun back in the early '90s, and the Genesis version was the most faithful to the actual pen & paper version. Of course, it also produced the biggest competitor to Final Fantasy. It was called Phantasy Star. I wish they would make more, as it would challenge the Square Enix juggernaut to innovate their games.

 

[ryo02]

the megadrive (genesis) wasnt my first console but I loved playing it Ive recently recreated my old collection which I foolishly sold to get a ps1. the strike and sonic series , ecco the dolphin (and tides of time) , another world , street fighter 2 , primal rage , empire of steel , micro machines , vector man , eternal champions , generations lost , flashback , starflight ,

theres been a few. good times heh.

 

[Zanaxal]

I recently played through desert strike. Damn it was so much harder when i was young. It was merely trivial now. Fun tho. I also had a good old megadrive. Poor Sega, too bad the Saturn didn't catch on.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

ryo02 - ever played the MegaCD version of "Eternal Champions"? It's got similar graphics but new characters, new music and far, far better gameplay (you stand a good chance of winning with any character who isn't Larsan, Slash or the practically invincible Trident).

And "Jungle Strike" and "Street Fighter 2" still rank as among my favorite games ever. Great article for bringing back the nostalgia - I owned a Sega Master System, Mega Drive (Genesis) and a C64, but it's the Genesis that I had the most fun with.

 

[ryo02]

ryo02 - ever played the MegaCD version of "Eternal Champions"? It's got similar graphics but new characters, new music and far, far better gameplay (you stand a good chance of winning with any character who isn't Larsan, Slash or the practically invincible Trident).

never played the mega cd version ... never had a mega cd add on ... as a side note while I couldnt do it now Im fairly certain I beat eternal champions with every character although its hard to remember after so many years.

hard to believe REALLY hard to believe that once ... *hangs head in shame* I ... I ... liked ........... "Rise of the robots" T_T DONT LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT ... I was just a kid.

lets see Ive had a home pong console (it was old by time I got it Im not that old) an atari 2600 jr , a zx spectrum , a commodore 64 only had 3 games for it and one of those was only a demo ... and in french for some reason. , megadrive (duh) , dreamcast , ps1 , ps2 , ps3 , xbox , xbox 360 , game cube

Ive done alot of gaming over the years Ive my regrets of course woudve liked to have bought the NES and SNES the first time round but it was a good run none the less.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Where I was it was called the Megadrive and the premiere magazine for it was called "Megatech".

Slightly cooler than genesis if you ask me, felt like I was living in Akira or Ghost in the Shell. Desert Strike was one of my first games. But others like Strider, Pitfighter and Eswat hold fond memories for me from the early days. It's odd how a console can define a period of your life.......man