Which is your favorite retro gaming era?

[Michirin9801]

Gee I bloody wonder which generation would get the most votes =w=';
I mean, they're all great and all, but in a forum filled to the brim with PCE fans I think it's safe to assume that the generation that has the PCE in it would win... I know I voted for it...
Having 2 of the best consoles of all time as the competing options helps a lot too...

[blueraven]

I would have voted for Pleistocene but it wasn't there so i picked the turbo one

[Arkhan]

I honestly picked the PS1 era, because those were some of my fondest memories of not getting up and leaving the house. 

The dawn of real 3D gaming complete with Jumping Flash 2, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Twisted Metal, Tony Hawk, and Metal Gear Solid was a pretty great time for myself and friends.    That era is also when games started to really experiment again and do different things.     


My 8/16bit era was spent mostly by myself because my friends were dumbshits


and, downloading magazines is not the same.  It sucks.  Alot.


I've actually been replaying PS1 games alot lately and find that they still hold up pretty well.   I enjoy having my younger friends play them.

HOW DO WE MOVE THE CAMERA.

You don't.   You f*cking deal with it.   lol.

[Michirin9801]

That's fine and dandy, I also like the PS1 but I don't have nearly as much experience with it (even though I had one)

But still, even if the PCE didn't exist I'd still have picked the 4th generation because of the SNES alone, it's my favourite console, and the Genesis does help it a lot too, it's also one of my favourites, so it's a little hard to compete IMO... Having the PCE in it makes it go above and beyond and makes that generation undisputed the peak of gaming to me...

[Arkhan]

You just said you don't have much experience with the PS1, so you determining which of the 3 is undisputed is a little goofy, lol.

Saturn and PS1 is kind of a force to be reckoned with. 

It really is difficult to pick between those two. 

All I am getting out of this conversation is that you need to go play some PS1.     I forget, what kind of games do you like most?

[ClodBuster]

My personal golden era of videogaming ist the transition from 8bit to 16 bit consoles.
Plus, I read a lot of magazines in the late SNES/early N64 era.

Gamesharks and ARs. Good times. Except for N64, those Gamesharks never worked.

Since newer N64 games were protected against Gameshark, Action Replay and the likes, you needed a newer revision of cheat device to use it with these games.

By the way, GoldenEye 007 has some secret button combinations built-in (no Gameshark needed) that can be input while playing a level. These will grant you e.g. invincibility. This way, you can easily beat 00 Agent, unlock the bonus levels, unlock "regular" cheats as well as the 007 Agent mode.

Good thing GE007 has four save slots, so you can apply this to a secondary slot, while keeping your primary and honestly earned savegame untouched.
But seriously, beating GE007 at least at Secret Agent difficuilty isn't THAT hard to do.


I wish there was something like this secret button combination for Perfect Dark, too. That game kills me on Perfect Agent difficulty on some stages like Maian S.O.S., thanks to silly respawning enemies. Also, shields are awful since they make enemies invulnerable for the first few shots, this f*cks PD's gameplay hard.
With the bullet proof armor vests of GE007's harder enemies, they would at least show some pain reaction when shot at, delaying their movements a bit.

[Michirin9801]

You just said you don't have much experience with the PS1, so you determining which of the 3 is undisputed is a little goofy, lol.

Saturn and PS1 is kind of a force to be reckoned with. 

It really is difficult to pick between those two. 

All I am getting out of this conversation is that you need to go play some PS1.     I forget, what kind of games do you like most?

Fighting games, shmups and platformers, I like a lot of other stuff as well so I'm open to suggestions, especially if they're 2D action games...
The thing with me and the PS1 is that I played a whole lot of games, but many of them not for very long, so I have enough experience to tell that the PS1 doesn't quite appeal to me as much as the SNES, PCE and MD, just not enough experience to judge the system as a whole as there's much that I'm still missing out on...

Oh and, I've already played almost every fighting game on the PS1 so if you're gonna suggest anything keep it to the rest... I've also played all of the Crash games, Klonoa, Harmful Park, Spyro, Bomberman, Jumping Flash and Castlevania so, yeah...

What I haven't played much of on the system though are the RPGs, I know the PS1 has a load of critically acclaimed RPGs, but I'm afraid I'm not gonna be playing any of them due to my general lack of time and patience, not to mention the sizeable queue of 16 bit RPGs that I'm saving for whenever I can emulate them on my 3DS...

Side note: One of my (not so) recent favourite PS1 games is Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, what a fun game!
I'm still picking Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu over it any day though =w=';

[ClodBuster]

I play PS1 mainly for Tekken 3, the three Parodius games, Gradius Gaiden, Salamander 2 (+ the other Konami shooter ports from the Arcade) and Puyo Puyo Sun.

And Castlevania Chronicles, amazing.

I've got to say, these 2D games held up pretty well. Not so sure about the 3D games, but at least Tekken 3 is still fun and very playable. Plus, it has got volleyballs and a farting dinosaur.

[Arkhan]

Well, if you like fighters, I would have figured you would prefer PS1 over SNES/PCE/Genesis.   Street Fighter Alpha 2 shits on all the 16-bit street fighters, and PCE's fighters are fun but not nearly as complicated.   

I guess I'd say Asuka120 and Advanced VG are more fun than SF2 though.

If you like shmups, have you tried Einhander?  Raycrisis, and Raystorm were also pretty fun.  Philasoma was another good one.   Shmups were not really the thing to do on PS1 unfortunately, lol.


Platformers, this depends.     Does Tomb Raider count? 

Oddworld is one of my favorite platformers, but it has Flashback style gameplay, so that might immediately piss you off.   If you're into that, there's also Heart of Darkness.   If you haven't played Flashback and have no idea what I am talking about, you are banned from using the internet unless it's to download a ROM of Flashback and play it.

You could also try Adventures of Lomax.  That was a fun one.  It's got a Lemmingduder from Lemmings.   Play Rayman too, if you haven't played that in some form already.

oh man, and Skullmonkeys.   Or Pitfall 3D !    Silhouette Mirage?  MEDIEVIL!

PS1 is definitely an exploratory era.   There's some other cool shit like Taifu: Wrath of the Tiger, or Ninja.   Fighting Force.    f*ckIN TONY HAWK 2.   Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu 1&2, Deathtrap Dungeon.

Ghost in the Shell on PS1 is pretty fun too.

PS1 has an RPG motherlode though.  its a shame you missed it and won't get to it.   There's some really good ones like Brave Fencer Musashi, Grandia, Saga Frontier, and Star Ocean 2.

OH

AND BLOOD OMEN: LEGACY OF KAIN.  IT'S ZELDA FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T SISSIES.


Shit that game ruled.   brb playing that.

[TR0N]

Voted 16-bit.PCE,SNES,Neo-Geo,Genesis there timeless to me for what they did with 2D.Though the most fondness i have for the 32-bit era is the,sega saturn plenty of 2D goodness for that console.

[Michirin9801]

I've got to say, these 2D games held up pretty well. Not so sure about the 3D games, but at least Tekken 3 is still fun and very playable. Plus, it has got volleyballs and a farting dinosaur.

I'd say the 3D games look like s*** but some of them at least still play well...

Well, if you like fighters, I would have figured you would prefer PS1 over SNES/PCE/Genesis.   Street Fighter Alpha 2 shits on all the 16-bit street fighters, and PCE's fighters are fun but not nearly as complicated.   

I guess I'd say Asuka120 and Advanced VG are more fun than SF2 though.

When it comes to 2D fighters what I really want to play is the Saturn, I've heard mednafen now supports it, but who says I have the patience to figure out how Saturn emulation is supposed to work on an emulator that I have to go out of my way to get a GUI for? And even when I DO get a GUI I still can't get any game to work on it so I say "F*** it!" and go use the FAR more user-friendly WiiMednafen instead, but wait, that one doesn't support Saturn! And that's because I have to download bioses and stuff, I'm gonna need a guide and lots of time before I can get into that... Or a real Saturn, but that's off-limits for my budget...

As for the PS1, the shining example of a good fighter that I found on it was Bloody Roar 2, it has quite a few good fighters in it, but emulation issues prevent me from truly enjoying the ones that I wanted to play the most, like Asuka 120% Burning Fest Final and Advanced V.G. 2, I mean seriously, EPSXE SUCKS! I hate that emulator, if you know any better and more accurate PS1 emulator that runs Advanced V.G. 2 and Asuka 120% without issues, or at the very least where to find better video and audio plugins for EPSXE then please let me know...

But seriously, even then, even with those fighters, I still don't think there's anything on the PS1 on quite the same caliber as Gundam Wing Endless Duel and Killer Instinct for the SNES, I know that PS1 era fighters are more robust, but I prefer the older fighters even if they are simpler, they're just so much fun! And they always feel more impressive when I know that they're being handled by not-as-powerful machines...
And yeah, I still prefer Asuka 120% Maxima Burning Fest on the PCE CD over Burning Fest Final on the PS1, but I still play the X68000 version the most, even if it's not quite as good as either of those two, and it's all because of the spectacular FM synth soundtrack!

If you like shmups, have you tried Einhander?  Raycrisis, and Raystorm were also pretty fun.  Philasoma was another good one.   Shmups were not really the thing to do on PS1 unfortunately, lol.

Yeah, I've played Einhander, it's allright... I'm gonna try these other ones later, but well, Shmups are another thing that I really want to play on the Saturn... I'm pretty sure that if I did play the Saturn my opinion on the 5th generation would be a lot less dismissive...

Platformers, this depends.     Does Tomb Raider count? 

Oddworld is one of my favorite platformers, but it has Flashback style gameplay, so that might immediately piss you off.   If you're into that, there's also Heart of Darkness.   If you haven't played Flashback and have no idea what I am talking about, you are banned from using the internet unless it's to download a ROM of Flashback and play it.

I did play Tomb Raider, let's just say it's not my kind of platformer >w>';

And yeah, I'm well familiar with this cinematic style of platformer like Oddworld and Flashback, but I don't have much patience for those either, I prefer platformers that ask more of your skill than your planning puzzle-solving abilities...

You could also try Adventures of Lomax.  That was a fun one.  It's got a Lemmingduder from Lemmings.   Play Rayman too, if you haven't played that in some form already.

oh man, and Skullmonkeys.   Or Pitfall 3D !    Silhouette Mirage?  MEDIEVIL!

PS1 is definitely an exploratory era.   There's some other cool shit like Taifu: Wrath of the Tiger, or Ninja.   Fighting Force.    f*ckIN TONY HAWK 2.   Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu 1&2, Deathtrap Dungeon.

Ghost in the Shell on PS1 is pretty fun too.

Yeah, I've heard of Medievil and GitS, I've been wanting to play those, just haven't gotten around to them yet... As for the others, I'll be taking notes...

PS1 has an RPG motherlode though.  its a shame you missed it and won't get to it.   There's some really good ones like Brave Fencer Musashi, Grandia, Saga Frontier, and Star Ocean 2.

OH

AND BLOOD OMEN: LEGACY OF KAIN.  IT'S ZELDA FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T SISSIES.


Shit that game ruled.   brb playing that.

I'll see about getting to them whenever I'm done with the SNES, GBA, PCE, MD, 3DS, DS and PSP RPGs that I want to play... I know there's good stuff in there, but the RPGs for those other systems have been in the back of my mind asking to be played for quite a bit longer... (Not to mention the emulators for those systems don't make my head hurt... Minus the 3DS which I play on the real thing, and play DS games on it too, and that's the ideal anyway)

[sanjo]

on the subject of 16-bit era, which consoles were the easiest and hardest to program for?
for example in the 32 bit era, Saturn was infamous for its difficulty to program for due to the multiple cores, and the PS1 being relatively easier.

[Gypsy]

Yeah downloading magazines definitely isn't the same. It's also why I still prefer physical books over ebooks.

Well, if you like fighters, I would have figured you would prefer PS1 over SNES/PCE/Genesis.   Street Fighter Alpha 2 shits on all the 16-bit street fighters, and PCE's fighters are fun but not nearly as complicated.   

I guess I'd say Asuka120 and Advanced VG are more fun than SF2 though.

If you like shmups, have you tried Einhander?  Raycrisis, and Raystorm were also pretty fun.  Philasoma was another good one.   Shmups were not really the thing to do on PS1 unfortunately, lol.


Platformers, this depends.     Does Tomb Raider count? 

Oddworld is one of my favorite platformers, but it has Flashback style gameplay, so that might immediately piss you off.   If you're into that, there's also Heart of Darkness.   If you haven't played Flashback and have no idea what I am talking about, you are banned from using the internet unless it's to download a ROM of Flashback and play it.

You could also try Adventures of Lomax.  That was a fun one.  It's got a Lemmingduder from Lemmings.   Play Rayman too, if you haven't played that in some form already.

oh man, and Skullmonkeys.   Or Pitfall 3D !    Silhouette Mirage?  MEDIEVIL!

PS1 is definitely an exploratory era.   There's some other cool shit like Taifu: Wrath of the Tiger, or Ninja.   Fighting Force.    f*ckIN TONY HAWK 2.   Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu 1&2, Deathtrap Dungeon.

Ghost in the Shell on PS1 is pretty fun too.

PS1 has an RPG motherlode though.  its a shame you missed it and won't get to it.   There's some really good ones like Brave Fencer Musashi, Grandia, Saga Frontier, and Star Ocean 2.

OH

AND BLOOD OMEN: LEGACY OF KAIN.  IT'S ZELDA FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T SISSIES.


Shit that game ruled.   brb playing that.

I enjoyed the PC port of Legacy of Kain. I believe I still have a PS1 copy lying around too.

As for RPGs yep you named some good ones and still barely scratched the damn surface. Lunars, Arc the Lad II, Wild Arms, Chrono Cross, Tales of Eternia etc... I could go on.

@michirin: Definitely get a Saturn at some point. If you can find a cheap system only you should have a compatible power cord lying around, crap av cords on eBay are like $3-4 shipped from China and the pseudo saturn is $23. The bad part is a controller would be about as much as the ps. But I recently got a great deal on a couple extra controllers. I should have them tomorrow. If they work out, I could toss you a controller for shipping cost. Not sure how tight your budget is but this would probably be around $60 total to play all Saturn games w/o fuss.

[Black Tiger]

on the subject of 16-bit era, which consoles were the easiest and hardest to program for?
for example in the 32 bit era, Saturn was infamous for its difficulty to program for due to the multiple cores, and the PS1 being relatively easier.

The SNES is supposed to be ridiculously convoluted and doesn't have a lot of horsepower in the first place. Both the sound and sprites are bottlenecked by a tiny amount of space (among other things) and devs had to get creative to build a typical game. Nintendo's policies also negatively impacted development bitd.

This is why there is so little honebrew for it.

[Arkhan]

I think objectively, the Genesis is the easiest to program for because the 68000 CPU is a friendly motherf*cker.

Ecco was written entirely in C IIRC.   

Now, the downside is, graphically, Genesis is a pain in the dick to make look nice.

If PCE had a 68000, that would rule.



@michirin: I keep forgetting you are like, stuck in emulatorland.   Playing PS1 and Saturn via emulator f*cking sucks, lol.   

Saturn is basically PCE 2.0 IMO.  It's basically what the PC-FX could have been if they didnt bank so hard on FMV being the hotness that would pave the way into the future.   

another PS1 game that you should try at some point in your life is Parasite Eve.


I assume you have already played Valkyrie Profile via PSP.

If not, go do that.   Your life needs it.



Are you one of those people while playing games like Flashback or Prince of Persia, you end up running off of cliffs because the controls are weird?   lol