the great war

[mick_aka]

You weren't there man, you weren't freakin there!
Knee deep in kiddies and fanboys man when the carts were flyin' past your ears, I can still hear em now man, I hear em in my sleep, I see their twisted faces as they were trying to trade in Altered Beast to get Mario World.
They were all so young man, they were just kids!

The chip tunes ring in my head man, there's no escape.
Why do they come to me to die? Why do they come to me to die!

[Mr Smith]

The 16-bit war was probably the most intense due to the close market share of Nintendo and Sega. The Playstation blitzed the competition in the 32-bit era and since then (with the exception of the Dreamcast) games have become quite samey.

Back in the early 90's too owning more than one current console was a sign of extreme affluence and even some of the most wealthy people I knew only owned one of the Mega Drive or SNES. Video gaming was a different sort of creature back in those days too.

Games also played a big factor with tons of original titles on both systems and many of the games released on both systems weren't just simple ports, but contained an array of features worth arguing over.

There is also the fact that the Internet and PC's were very much in their domestic infancy too and this war was fought among friends in the school yard and not with some pointless n00bs on message boards. The 16-bit era split families apart damnit!

As Mick AKA has beautifully put it: You weren't there man, you weren't freakin there!

[Rusty Venture]

Back when video game news came to you once a month via magazine, not daily on the computer.

[TheEdge]

I don't think I ever got into an argument about which gaming system was better until just recently. Back in the day my friends and I all had the Genesis so we didn't really know or care about the people who had the SNES.

I do however consider myself lucky that I got a Genesis instead of the SNES. From what I found out about it and from what I remember while playing it back in the day is that it wasn't as fun as the Genesis.

[Iron Lizard]

Back when video game news came to you once a month via magazine, not daily on the computer.

I used to wait once a month for that giant issue of EGM. I miss those days.

[Rusty Venture]

I remember flipping through those massive 200-300 page EGM holiday issues...that was fun.

I can still do that as I have the issues from those years, but I can't buy the junk included in there anymore.

[j_factor]

Back when video game news came to you once a month via magazine, not daily on the computer.

There were newsgroups. And Compuserve!

[17daysolderthannes]

Back in the early 90's too owning more than one current console was a sign of extreme affluence and even some of the most wealthy people I knew only owned one of the Mega Drive or SNES. Video gaming was a different sort of creature back in those days too.

I think that was due to consumers not quite understanding how to handle video game systems. I think people were still thinking of it like Beta vs. VHS and they thought "pick one and stick with it." I mean, who had both a Beta AND VHS player before Beta went completely defunct? I remember a news report talking about the SNES like Nintendo was scamming the shit out of everyone that bought an NES because they were making it obsolete with the new system. You could also compare it to buying a Mac or a PC. How many people did you know back then that had a Mac AND a PC? Nowadays its not so uncommon since some people will get Macs for day to day stuff and media and then use the PC for games or other things that aren't very well developed for macs (mostly pirating/bootlegging type stuff). Nowadays, people realize systems are going to have exclusives, so the only way to not be limited is to just get them all. It also helps that systems are sold at a loss and then money is made back on the games, though even that hasn't helped too much with the (still) ludicrously expensive XBOX 360 and PS3 (once you get all the necessary accessories for it).

[Elusive]

You weren't there man, you weren't freakin there!
Knee deep in kiddies and fanboys man when the carts were flyin' past your ears, I can still hear em now man, I hear em in my sleep, I see their twisted faces as they were trying to trade in Altered Beast to get Mario World.
They were all so young man, they were just kids!

The chip tunes ring in my head man, there's no escape.
Why do they come to me to die? Why do they come to me to die!

The year was 1992. We were on recon in a steaming Nintendo delta. An overheated private removed his flack jacket, revealing a T-shirt with an ironed-on sporting the slogan 'GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDON'T'. Well, we all had a good laugh, even though I didn't quite understand it. But our momentary lapse of concentration allowed Mario to get the drop on us. I spent the next three years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk, and four kinds of Mario Sports games. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the West, but they just can't get the physics right

[muchomojo]

During the early 90's I had a TG-16, my brother had a SNES, and my best friend had a Genesis. I used to argue left and right that the TG was the better of the 3 systems. I think most people tend to like the system they grew up with.

Today I have all 3 and think they all rock pretty hard. They have their differences but I wouldn't want to be without any of them.

[genesisguy]

The year was 1992. We were on recon in a steaming Nintendo delta. An overheated private removed his flack jacket, revealing a T-shirt with an ironed-on sporting the slogan 'GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDON'T'. Well, we all had a good laugh, even though I didn't quite understand it. But our momentary lapse of concentration allowed Mario to get the drop on us. I spent the next three years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk, and four kinds of Mario Sports games. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the West, but they just can't get the physics right

You served with a company of heroes.

[Mr Smith]

The year was 1992. We were on recon in a steaming Nintendo delta. An overheated private removed his flack jacket, revealing a T-shirt with an ironed-on sporting the slogan 'GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDON'T'. Well, we all had a good laugh, even though I didn't quite understand it. But our momentary lapse of concentration allowed Mario to get the drop on us. I spent the next three years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk, and four kinds of Mario Sports games. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the West, but they just can't get the physics right

This wins the post of the month award.

[mick_aka]

gah! can't give elusive any more rep

[Rusty Venture]

There were newsgroups. And Compuserve!

And a very small portion of gamers were on those.


Typical gamers discussed games (in my experience) either face to face (take that facebook!) or via written letters to magazines.

[MrMatthews]

The year was 1992. We were on recon in a steaming Nintendo delta. An overheated private removed his flack jacket, revealing a T-shirt with an ironed-on sporting the slogan 'GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDON'T'. Well, we all had a good laugh, even though I didn't quite understand it. But our momentary lapse of concentration allowed Mario to get the drop on us. I spent the next three years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk, and four kinds of Mario Sports games. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the West, but they just can't get the physics right

Ha ha! Doctored Simpsons quotes put a shine on any thread!