I feel like the internet really made the monthly print bag pretty obsolete but agree with Immortality; to have grown up raised on Nintendo Power then GamePro and EGM, the rush was indescribable. The whole industry seemed so out of reach, those glossy pages were a lifeline to what was coming, what was worth playing and who was responsible for the games we adored. I remember my favorite articles being the ones about the hardware itself, especially console shootouts (something you def didn't get in Nintendo Power); but sometimes I get the desire even to this day to dig around my parents' attic to find the box containing my early 90's EGM pile to relive the memories.
Still play mine often. It's such a shame Sega had made so many poor decisions prior to the Dreamcast. They had burned bridges with retailers, developers and consumers with all of the abandoning of hardware (Sega CD, 32X, Saturn). By the time the Dreamcast came about and carved a legitimate niche in the marketplace, the damage was done. I feel like the industry itself isn't the same without a console from Sega duking it out. Of course the Dreamcast also had the misfortune of having to go up against what has proven to be the most successful system in history (the PS2). With close to 160-million units sold (versus Microsoft's 24-mil and Nintendo's 21.7 million), it becomes clear that Sony's freight-train would not be denied; by Sega or anybody else.
I think he was aiming for that crazy boxed -out/ pixelized look of the early first party NES cart art: Excitebike, Balloon Fight, Clu-Clu Land and the like.
I'm almost convinced it's impossible for anyone who wasn't there to fully appreciate what gaming in the late 80's/ 90s really was. It's like anything else- technology advances so rapidly you being to see the primitive nature of the past. The thing is, at the time it was all so big and exciting. You just never knew what was coming next. That era will always be special to me as well.
Gotta agree with others who said single player campaigns are falling out of favor.. That and the trend of physical medium disappearing in favor of downloads.
I had Battletoads and a few of the other company's offerings too.. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 "Shredder's Last Stand" I remember having but that was Konami if memory serves.
Man his reactions to younger self are classic.. But it is good to note the Nerd has been at this multimedia action for a long, long time. I was one of the lucky ones with a SNES and a Genesis. Great memories.
Surely the internet is largely to blame (I still remember being stunned when Electronic Gaming Monthly "EGM" went under). As a charter subscriber to Nintendo Power (and before that to the even older newsletter Nintendo put out for free when you registered your NES), I kind have to laugh at the idea of taking a photo of your high score, having the film developed, mailing in said photograph all in the hopes of getting your name mentioned in the mag. How far we've come technologically since then!
I remember in the early 90s having a Sega Genesis and craving Street Fighter II but no ride to the mall to get my ass handed to me in 20 seconds at the arcade.. Used to rent the Super Nintendo and Street Fighter II for the weekend with my cousin. Once in a while SF II would be rented out so we'd get Final Fight instead- Fail!
Log in to comment