Poll: Favorite console generation?

[Jazoni89]

I'd have to go with N64/PS1 generation. So many good memories and it's right when I really got into games. I don't care what the internet says though, I'd still include the Dreamcast within that generation, too. For example, Tony Hawk 2 was on N64, Dreamcast, and PS1 with the best version being the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast didn't get Pro Skater 3. Another title, Shadowman came out for PS1, Dreamcast, and N64, but not PS2.

Dreamcast was 128-bit, the same as the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox.

The fifth gen was the 32 bit and 64 bit era. While the forth was 16-bit. A generation is determined by time, technical specs, and innovations.

Having Dreamcast in the fifth gen would mean it's with the Saturn, which makes no logical sense, as the Dreamcast is far closer to the PS2 than the Saturn.

Also, would you consider the 3DO in the forth gen because it came out two years before the Playstation? In 1993 when the 16-Bit SNES was considered brand new.

The Dreamcast was ahead of it's time that's all. Sega pushed out the next gen before sony did, and I'm starting to believe because of this fact, some people like you don't consider it Sixth gen. Which is understandable, because the Dreamcast got the cold shoulder in it's short lifespan, and it was on life support by the time the PS2 arrived on the scene, but then again so was the 3do and Jag when the Playstation arrived.

No scratch that, the 3do and Jag were practically dead when the Playstation arrived. At least Sega was releasing games for it after the PS2 arrived for a short while.

I'd put the 3DO, Jaguar, and Saturn in with the 16 bit generation more than anything. Regardless of their internal components, they were all best suited to 2D 16 bit-esque games. I mean, the SNES and Genesis had Mode 7, blast processing, and 3D games (F-Zero, Star Fox, NCAA Basketball, Ballz, 32X / Sega CD) that could rival the 3D capabilities of all three of those competitors.

And no, the "sixth gen" systems weren't necessarily 128 bit, but they were actually the generation where dedicated graphics chips made bits as a gauge of power obsolete. The PS2 and Gamecube had mostly 64 bit components (including the CPUs), whereas the Xbox had a 32 bit CPU. The only one that had 128 bit chips was the Dreamcast and that was probably the "weakest" of the three (though I still think that Dreamcast graphics are better than 60 to 70% of all PS2 games).

The Dreamcast came out only a year before the PS2 did, but it mostly shared software in common with the PS1 and N64. GTA 2, Dino Crisis, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Rainbow 6... The list goes on and on.
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega/dreamcast/list-of-dreamcast-ports-on-other-systems

The few PS2 ports of Dreamcast games were first party titles that got left behind when Sega turned third party. So yes, I'd place the Dreamcast firmly with the N64 and PS1.

Saturn does not belong to the 16-bit generation in any way, never has, and never will. Just because it has a decent 2d processors with a focus on 2D gaming, doesn't mean it couldn't pump out 3d games. 32-bit also allowed for richer colours and more diverse animations for 2D games than your basic Snes, or Mega Drive game.

Saying Super FX games had similar graphics to Saturn games, is pure and utter ignorance. Saturn was capable of real polygons with textures, the super FX was capable of some fancy 2D/3D stuff with pixel shaders to give the illusion of more depth than their actually was.

Comparison between Super FX and your basic 3D Saturn game.

Spoiler

[small]To be honest, I'm starting to think you are trolling a bit.[/small]

Do you know why the 3DO cost so much on launch? It was such a leap in graphical technology that it warrant such a price tag, otherwise it would of been the price of a Super Nintendo. It was practically the Rolls Royce of consoles for rich kids who wanted the greatest graphics, and that what it was marketed as (the same as the Neo-Geo in the forth generation).

Also, could a Super Nintendo, or even a Sega CD for that matter could emulate something like this.

Spoiler

Hell, even the Saturn had problems porting this game over. As the draw distance was decrease drastically when it was ported.

The only reason why the Dreamcast got a lot of fifth gen games was because, those were the games that came out at the time, and most developers just wanted to buff up the graphics of their existing games, rather than make new ones. Also, most of these games had PC ports making them easy conversions. Kinda like the Xbox 360 when it first arrived, it had COD 2, and that was already on the sixth gen consoles.

 

[Shadowsetzer]

I miss the snes.... so many awesome games, plus the nostalgia bug. While current games definitely have better potential, I don't feel like any console has managed to match the overall awesomeness that was snes/genesis. (I'm not counting the pc, simply because 1) it's not a 'console', and 2) there aren't any clear divisions.)

 

[Jazoni89]

I miss the snes.... so many awesome games, plus the nostalgia bug. While current games definitely have better potential, I don't feel like any console has managed to match the overall awesomeness that was snes/genesis. (I'm not counting the pc, simply because 1) it's not a 'console', and 2) there aren't any clear divisions.)

Inb4 A bunch of PC elitist, saying you are wrong, and then try to justify why the PC is a console, so that they can include the PC in this thread to feed their everlasting ego.

 

[Jazoni89]

SNES master race. kekekekke

What about the Neo-Geo master race. Even a AES now with a few games is worth more than a mid range PC.

Pc gaming weenie, Neo-Geo hotdog!

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Saturn does not belong to the 16-bit generation in any way, never has, and never will. Just because it has a decent 2d processors with a focus on 2D gaming, doesn't mean it couldn't pump out 3d games. 32-bit also allowed for richer colours and more diverse animations for 2D games than your basic Snes, or Mega Drive game.

Saying Super FX games had similar graphics to Saturn games, is pure and utter ignorance. Saturn was capable of real polygons with textures, the super FX was capable of some fancy 2D/3D stuff with pixel shaders to give the illusion of more depth than their actually was.

Comparison between Super FX and your basic 3D Saturn game.

Spoiler

[small]To be honest, I'm starting to think you are trolling a bit.[/small]

Do you know why the 3DO cost so much on launch? It was such a leap in graphical technology that it warrant such a price tag, otherwise it would of been the price of a Super Nintendo. It was practically the Rolls Royce of consoles for rich kids who wanted the greatest graphics, and that what it was marketed as (the same as the Neo-Geo in the forth generation).

Also, could a Super Nintendo, or even a Sega CD for that matter could emulate something like this.

Spoiler

Hell, even the Saturn had problems porting this game over. As the draw distance was decrease drastically when it was ported.

The only reason why the Dreamcast got a lot of fifth gen games was because, those were the games that came out at the time, and most developers just wanted to buff up the graphics of their existing games, rather than make new ones. Also, most of these games had PC ports making them easy conversions. Kinda like the Xbox 360 when it first arrived, it had COD 2, and that was already on the sixth gen consoles.

Yeah, but those games were the exceptions, not the general level of quality you'd see from the average game. The N64 was such a massive leap over any 3DO or Saturn 3D title that I don't know how they can even be considered part of the same league. Hell, even really shitty PS1 titles looked as good if not better than that 3DO one. I don't mean to troll, it's just this one man's opinion.

Also, Star Fox does indeed look better than Jaguar fare like Cybermorph or Tempest.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Gamecube/Xbox/PS2. So many great games......

 

[Jazoni89]

Saturn does not belong to the 16-bit generation in any way, never has, and never will. Just because it has a decent 2d processors with a focus on 2D gaming, doesn't mean it couldn't pump out 3d games. 32-bit also allowed for richer colours and more diverse animations for 2D games than your basic Snes, or Mega Drive game.

Saying Super FX games had similar graphics to Saturn games, is pure and utter ignorance. Saturn was capable of real polygons with textures, the super FX was capable of some fancy 2D/3D stuff with pixel shaders to give the illusion of more depth than their actually was.

Comparison between Super FX and your basic 3D Saturn game.

Spoiler

[small]To be honest, I'm starting to think you are trolling a bit.[/small]

Do you know why the 3DO cost so much on launch? It was such a leap in graphical technology that it warrant such a price tag, otherwise it would of been the price of a Super Nintendo. It was practically the Rolls Royce of consoles for rich kids who wanted the greatest graphics, and that what it was marketed as (the same as the Neo-Geo in the forth generation).

Also, could a Super Nintendo, or even a Sega CD for that matter could emulate something like this.

Spoiler

Hell, even the Saturn had problems porting this game over. As the draw distance was decrease drastically when it was ported.

The only reason why the Dreamcast got a lot of fifth gen games was because, those were the games that came out at the time, and most developers just wanted to buff up the graphics of their existing games, rather than make new ones. Also, most of these games had PC ports making them easy conversions. Kinda like the Xbox 360 when it first arrived, it had COD 2, and that was already on the sixth gen consoles.

Yeah, but those games were the exceptions, not the general level of quality you'd see from the average game. The N64 was such a massive leap over any 3DO or Saturn 3D title that I don't know how they can even be considered part of the same league. Hell, even really shitty PS1 titles looked as good if not better than that 3DO one. I don't mean to troll, it's just this one man's opinion.

Also, Star Fox does indeed look better than Jaguar fare like Cybermorph or Tempest.

I personally don't think Super FX games look better than Jag games. Maybe later Super FX 2 games like Starfox 2 (and perhaps even 32X games) rival that of the Jaguar's launch titles, but not games like the original Starfox.

Plus the homebrew scene has made the graphics a lot better for the Jag, as there was a lot of untapped potential in the console.

It's your opinion though, and I will agree to disagree on your points, but it does make a nice interesting debate regardless.

...how did we get from discussing the Dreamcast, to the Jaguar again?

 

[the doom cannon]

I only played console games during the ps2/gamecube generation. After that I switched over to PC and haven't looked back except for Gran Turismo 5 and some SSB: Melee with friends. So I have to go with the ps2/gamecube generation

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

GameCube/PS2/Xbox, followed by the SNES era as a close second. I hate the whole atmosphere of the current generation.

Garrrrh...The Dreamcast is in that generation too, god damn it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_generation_consoles

Also, the Poll doesn't include any of the lesser known consoles. I must stress this, as the lack of knowledge when it comes to retro gaming is huge when it comes to this site. Now, I'm not trying to sound pretentious, but a little research on the matter wouldn't go amiss.

"Keep in mind though that while I'm listing the generations by the most popular consoles at the time, handheld and PC only games also count towards which is your favorite."

Of course there are other systems, but it's nice to keep the poll options simple. Yes, I'm aware that the Dreamcast exists, but do you also want me include the Sega Saturn, Sega CD, Virtual Boy, Atari Jaguar, 3DO, Turbografx, and the Neo Geo?

You obviously knew which generations I was talking about, so I don't really see the problem. :/

 

[Jazoni89]

GameCube/PS2/Xbox, followed by the SNES era as a close second. I hate the whole atmosphere of the current generation.

Garrrrh...The Dreamcast is in that generation too, god damn it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_generation_consoles

Also, the Poll doesn't include any of the lesser known consoles. I must stress this, as the lack of knowledge when it comes to retro gaming is huge when it comes to this site. Now, I'm not trying to sound pretentious, but a little research on the matter wouldn't go amiss.

"Keep in mind though that while I'm listing the generations by the most popular consoles at the time, handheld and PC only games also count towards which is your favorite."

Of course there are other systems, but it's nice to keep the poll options simple. Yes, I'm aware that the Dreamcast exists, but do you also want me include the Sega Saturn, Sega CD, Virtual Boy, Atari Jaguar, 3DO, Turbografx, and the Neo Geo?

You obviously knew which generations I was talking about, so I don't really see the problem. :/

At least include the Dreamcast and Saturn, as they are not really obscure.

It's no biggie really (as I can recognise generations from each other like you said), but it really is a pet peeve of mine that people don't at least acknowledge these consoles. They have given out their fair share of innovations, and good games just as much as the other more popular machines have.

Well, at least I assume you know all about them now, which is something at least.

 

[The_Shinigamer]

Anyone familiar with my posts knows I'm completely out of the gaming norm (I'm lonely people! Think like me for a damn minute!) But I still love my original Xbox despite getting rid of my 360 out of boredom. While alot of great games (Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham, Skyward Sword and too many others to name) came out this go-around, this generation makes me feel...I dunno, jaded with gaming. Maybe it was better before everyone wanted to trade in everything to get something else to play for four minutes before repeating the process (working at GameStop doesn't help this position) but when I was playing alot last gen, I could NEVER get rid of those games. To be fair, I got lucky and loved every frickin' thing that I got except the GTA bundle on my Xbox but god it was just better FEELING y'know?

I'd say 64 for second, Genesis (I know, right?) third, and my current Wii and PS3 fourth. But hey I'm weird...

 

[ComradeJim270]

It took two generations for me to warm up to console gaming (both because of how technology was developing at the time and because it was easier for me to get PC games), and another for me to get into it just as much as PC gaming, so I'm torn between the last gen which really got me into consoles (and introduced the PSP which for some mysterious reason is the only handheld console I care for very much) and the current one in which I play on my 360 about as much as my PC. I think I'm leaning towards the latter.

Yeah, I've owned and played the older consoles, and they all have plenty of great games, but they didn't do much for me until the Xbox entered the scene.

 

[malestrithe]

Notalgia is overrated. The current generation tends to be better than what has come before it. This generation my suck with the AAA Titles, which is a lot more than just Call of Duty knockoffs, but it also ushered in a lot of diversity with the smaller games companies.

Now the reason why people think the past is better is because you forgot about all of the crap that came out back then. Playstation 2 had about 5,000 games, of which only 700 are remembered fondly.

 

[Callate]

I'd go with the Genesis/SNES era. It felt like designers tried to push the limitations of the hardware more, and it was before the regrettable "everything has to use polygons rather than sprites, no matter how ugly/everything has to have FMV/everything has to justify the ungodly amount of space we have to work in, now that we're no longer constrained to cartridges" business that surrounded so much of the first generation of CD-based gaming.

Though, honestly, I'm biased- except for the pre-NES, that was the era of consoles I had the most contact with. During and since, I've mostly been a PC gamer. And while I have a certain nostalgia for the Atari 2600, I fully recognize that comparing most of its games to modern ones is like comparing cave paintings to the work of the Renaissance masters.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Most of my favorite games come from the current generation so that's what I picked.

My favorite games from outside this generation are Windwaker, Shining Force, Nightfire, and Goldeneye. I enjoy so many more games from the current generation. Nothing really competes with the Mass Effect series for me except for Skyrim and Fallout 3.

 

[SeeIn2D]

Well I think the Playstation 2 is the greatest console ever made, it had such a large library of incredible games and I have my best individual gaming memories from that console. My favorite series of all time (Ratchet and Clank) was birthed on the Playstation 2, and that console provides for a lot of my childhood memories of playing video games with my friends or spending late nights up. However my PS3 has provided recent memories of amazing times on multiplayer games with my friends like FIFA and Call of Duty late at night. This friends are my best friends right now and probably always will be so the memories I will have from my PS3 definitely outweigh the memories I have with my PS2.

 

[BoogieManFL]

The amount of fun I had playing Mario 64, Mario Kart, and GoldenEye with my friends was the most fun I ever had on a console.

 

[ComradeJim270]

Notalgia is overrated. The current generation tends to be better than what has come before it. This generation my suck with the AAA Titles, which is a lot more than just Call of Duty knockoffs, but it also ushered in a lot of diversity with the smaller games companies.

Now the reason why people think the past is better is because you forgot about all of the crap that came out back then. Playstation 2 had about 5,000 games, of which only 700 are remembered fondly.

That's basically how nostalgia works. You probably could have said that about something if we were living 500 years ago or 500 years in the future and you'd be just as right. Most of the games, movies, books, and music that comes out is probably terrible, but we don't remember that stuff years later except for the truly horrendous examples. We mostly remember the good stuff that stood out.

 

[l0ckd0wn]

SNES, by far my favorite array of games in multiple genres. Square's FF games were awesome back then (especially FF Mystic Quest, Oh how I loved thee...) not to mention Zelda: Link to the Past is my all time favorite (Links Awakening for BG was 2nd) and Super Mario world still gets play time.

 

[Ljs1121]

Gamecube/Xbox/PS2 for me, simply because most of my childhood was spent playing games of this time. Paper Mario 2, Soul Calibur 2, Yu-gi-oh: The Falsebound Kingdom, Viewtiful Joe, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, etc. were all my babies when I was little.

Childhood!?

That's crazy to think, those consoles came out when I was a teen, and I'm sure there are people around here that saw their release in their twenties (but I called them old men...only joking guys!).

Sometimes I feel like topping myself knowing that there are people here who had the first Halo as their first game. God, I shudder at that very thought. No Golden Axe, No Tomb Raider, No Ocarina of time, no wonder why you teens go out and smash up phone boxes for fun, if you had none of these games in your childhood.

Actually, I played my fair share of N64 games when I was younger with Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Super Mario 64 probably being my first games ever. That being said, I enjoyed the Gamecube generation's games more simply because I spent far more time playing them as a child.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go spray paint graffiti on a federal building because I am a teenager.