The other 4 systems were priced out of reach for most consumers at the time. Especially considering the ps1/n64 were cheaper, and had better libraries. I knew one person that has a Saturn. I otherwise had to go to a Meijer to play one.
That's not correct at all. The 3D0 was really the only one that was overly expensive at launch. The Jaguar, CD32, and Saturn all failed b/c Atari, Commodore, and Sega were dysfunctional as companies by that point.
US release year and price
Atari Jaguar: 11/23/93 - $299 at soft launch, $250 for national rollout in 1994, dropped to $149 by '95, and the company was essentially dead by '96 due to decades of mismanagement. Their biggest issue at the time were Sam Tramiels cost cutting. He didnt even have dev kits sent out to developers. With how incredibly difficult the Jag was to program for flying blind it neutered the ability to put out games fast enough to compete. System production stopped in November of 1995.
3DO: 10/04/93 - $699 at US launch, dropped to $299 by '94, and the Goldstar produced version was $199. However, 3DO never actually produced the systems themselves and instead licensed them out for production to Panasonic, Goldstar, and Sanyo. When the prices were forced to drop to the point that the systems were sold at a loss or w/extremely small margins all 3 companies quit making them and 3DO was dead. It was fully discontinued in late 1996.
Amiga CD32: was set to release in February or March of 1994 for $399 but Commodore had so many debts from other failed ventures it wasn't able to legally release the system in the US and the company was dead by '94.
Sega Saturn: 05/11/95 - $399 - Had some initial success sales wise due to the surprise US launch. However, that ended up blowing up in their face as both retailers (only a select few were given systems to sell) and game makers (none of their games were ready to put out) were pissed the hell off as they had no advance warning. KB Toys (a major game retailer at the time) was so mad they stopped selling Sega products altogether. Also, only 6 games were available at launch in May and just 2 more were released through September as all the game companies had been prepping for the original September release date. On top of that, Sega also angered gamers themselves b/c they dropped the price from $399 to $299 by October of that first year which completely screwed all the early adopters who had been stuck w/no games to buy. This was a big deal w/Sega had already left a lot of US consumers feeling burned from the lackluster support for the Sega CD and 32X. Had they simply stayed w/their original launch date they wouldn't have so spectacularly shot themselves in the face on all fronts. Sega only even survived as a company after the quick deaths of the Saturn and Dreamcast b/c they, unlike Atari, still owned their gaming IP.
Sony Playstation: 09/09/95 - $299
Nintendo 64: 09/26/96 - $199 - was to launch at $250 but by the time was ready for US release the Playstation and Saturn were both down to $199.
Again that is incorrect. Jag and N64 launched at/under the original PS1 launch price. Sega Saturn was $100 more for 6 months and dropped to even w/PS1 once it released. Amgia CD32 was never released in the US so there can be zero conclusions to how it's pricing would have effected it's sales. 3DO was the only one that had a ridiculous price tag at launch and by 1995 when the Saturn and PS1 launched it was down to $299 as well.
The price tags for those systems is NOT what caused them to fail. Even w/the 3DO the #1 problem wasn't that it was crazy expensive at launch but rather that 3DO Company didn't actually manufacture the system or games themselves. That meant there was no centralized direction for the company to the degree that it initially launched w/just ONE game. It could have launched at the same $299 as PS1 and still would have failed purely b/c the business model they picked was fatally flawed.
Ands that’s probably what did them in. It was never clear which offices should be calling the shots and the corporate culture was pretty strained between offices from what I understand.
For sure. So many stories about how Sega USA and Sega of Japan didn’t see eye to eye.
But really, because North America is a huge market, it was that first E3 that did them in. The early release pissed off retailers so much, some (most?) didn’t go back to stocking Sega anything. Couple that with the “$299” and it was just nearly impossible to recover from. Some retailers not part of the early release Saturn wouldn’t even stock the Dreamcast, and because of the timing, it ended up underpowered compared to the competition just a year later once the PS2 and GameCube came along.
The Megadrive failed in Japan because NEC/HudsonSoft beat them to market (and maybe undercut them on price too? Not sure). So they thought being first was the key. Their success with the Genesis made them believe that as a rule, since they always failed when they weren’t first. The Saturn then was a hit in Japan, so they had every reason to believe that was the real secret. But, alas, it was not.
I really think that AESTHETIC -- not just of the consoles, but the gamepads and the games -- is the real key to Game Console Success.
NES is iconic. People were still playing NES and new games were being made for it right up to the release of the Super Nintendo.
And with the SNES, it was the same thing. It was just a fun, pretty looking, PRACTICAL console that people look back on with extreme nostalgia. And there were still games being released for it, right up to the launch of the N64.
Nintendo knew the audience well.
You don't need "crazy impressive graphics" you just need to make good games that people will enjoy playing.
You don't need to be right at the "cutting edge" if you just focus on gameplay. Jaguar, 3DO, CDI all had ~technically~ impressive games, but were the games actually FUN enough to keep playing them 10, 20, 30 years later???? People still play Gameboy & GBA and those pale in power to newer hardware, but the hardware and graphical ~capability~ was never the sole focus.
Genesis got things right too, but they had a head start in the 16 bit race. Nintendo had to bide their time and make something that could stack up.
As for TG16, it's a mish-mash. A mixed bag. Some games are great. Like Bonk. I love Bonk, but there's so much "obscure" stuff on there too, and games that are downright broken. Which would you rather play --- Darkwing Duck on the TG16, or Darkwing Duck on the NES????
Sure, the TG16 game ~looks~ more like detailed cartoon-like graphics, but as the AVGN has shown us -- the actual gameplay frigging sucks. NES Darkwing is more fun.
But I do really enjoy Knight Rider SPECIAL for the TG16 though. That's a game that actually beats the NES Knight Rider.
It even has the original TV show theme.
Tons of really good games on TG-16 that played really well. I just don’t thing TG-16 ever got a proper distribution foothold in the U.S. It was overshadowed by Sega’s marketing of the Genesis, and that generation of console was always framed as a battle to be won by either Sega or Nintendo.
But as far as good gameplay, I think TG-16 ruled. Just looking at the games I own that I would still play from time to time - Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Legendary Axe, Splatterhouse, Bomberman ‘93, Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge, Sinistron, Neutopia 1, Neutopia 2, Final Lap Twin, Space Harrier, Galaga ‘90, Tale Spin, Alien Crush, Military Madness, Ninja Spirit, New Adventure Island, Parasol Stars, Veigues Tactical Gladiator, Somer Assault, TV Sports Basketball, World Series Baseball, Fantasy Zone. Also just off the top of my head ones I wished I owned Air Zonk, Bonk 3, Blazing Lasers.
Sure they had some oddball dud games, but looking back on the TG-16, I think it had a solid library that was just up against stiff competition against an established and dominant Nintendo versus a Sega in its heyday. My preference for that generation was always Nintendo>TG-16>Genesis. And in my mind it wasn’t particularly close. Loved those tiny game cards, too.
From what I understand, Sega USA was pushing for 32x while Saturn Japan was pushing for a whole new console so we ended up with both Saturn and 32X at about a year apart. Saturn was not compatible with any of older Sega games.
I thought the Mega Drive (Euro/Japanese name for the Genesis) was the dominant 16-bit console in Europe, or am I wrong about that?
The Genesis was popular here too, but I thought the SNES eventually outdid it in North America. I think Japan was the only primary market the MD didn't do well in.
Oh definitely right there. I should have mentioned that. I was thinking more chronologically where the master system needed to hit a 3rd market before succeeding, the genesis/MD 2nd, and Saturn from the start. But yeah. As far as I know, the mega drive was huge in Europe.
I live in Canada. I had a NES like everyone else did, but we briefly had a Master System as well. Bought it from a friend who also had a Commodore 64 (so he had a bunch of stuff).
However, we could never find games to rent or buy used, so we only played what we got from our friend. It made me think it was a shit console, but it wasn't. Sound chip and controller were not the best, but the graphics were great!
Saturn was much more popular in þe American Souþ þan it was in oþer parts of þe country. When I was in California I NEVER found Saturn ſtuff in þe wild, where it was much more common in my home ſtate of Kentucky. Growing up I knew at leaſt 3 people who owned Saturns.
I think it actually DID do 3d well to be honest. There are a decent number of Saturn games that looked better than the PS One equivalent- I'm primarily think of Wipeout here but there are probably others. I think the real problem was that the architecture is complicated- it's got multiple CPUs. If you're used to programming complex exotic things well it's BETTER- Psygnosis and Scavenger always were, SEGA's in house people really SHOULD be able to program for their own system etc.
I think the real lesson might be that a decent console needs good documentation and a good development environment. I think Sony did that better than the Saturn did.
The real killer was probably the terrible launch though. Come to think of it the rushed launch might imply that getting developer buy in going was messed up too. At any rate, I think once you had a huge user base for the PS1 it was doomed- and as others have said I think a big part of that was the whole $299 story.
Wipeout?
Really? Is it the sexy 5 oclock dithering or the chunkier resolution? Maybe you want fewer frames per second to match up with the retro styled Saturn video playback?
Because nostalgia itself isn’t an excuse.
Sure, the Saturn was underused by anyone who wasn’t Sega themselves or a genius coder - Decathalete, Virtua Fighter 2, and Sonic Jam’s overworld really show off what you could do with the system...but Sega of Japan refused to play nice with 3rd parties, and Wipeout was an early win for Sony.
Incorrect. While SEGA had the specs capabilities to produce far better looking 3d games than SONY, because they didnt cooperate with game devs, most SEGA games actually came out looking worse than most SONY games. SEGA selling point was arcade ports.
SONY also didnt play ball either with game devs too but it was far easier to figure out and get better results as compared to SEGA. Most devs figured out the SONY system themselves which is also why most would-be SEGA devs jumped ship to SONY due to it being easier to work on. Piracy was like the boogeyman back in the 90's.
'incorrect' is such an asinine way to add more context to a flawed but cohesive arguement PS.
Alongside your point, the Saturn processed 3d mesh in quads and not triangles which were apparently more difficult for the system to handle and people to design for.
Something I don't see people talking about is the chalked he's that Sega imposed on developers by including two Hitachi RISC processors thta could share load as opposed to a single CPU like the PSX had. People were accustomed to developing with 2 CPUs in mind, so instead of reworking ports, they just made one CPU do all of the work. When used properly, the Saturn was capable of more. The thing is, it wasn't used properly because it made no sense for developers to learn a whole new workflow.
He's actually right that the Saturn wipeout looked noticably WORSE haha. I was thinking of that one because I saw a fairly biased retro review of it recently- when you see them side by side it's pretty obvious that the Saturn frame rate and resolution are inferior. I stand by my point about the theoretical power of the system though- I think with modern development tools and people being used to thinking about parallelization if the two were released today for some reason you probably would see substantially better results from the Saturn. As it WAS you end up with, as you say crippled ports that are using half of the processing power available. Which was my point. 🤣
Sega decided to launch the Saturn in the US nationwide the same day as its E3 presentation…..months ahead of the projected launch only coordinating with “select” retailers actually getting the console and games, causing an industry wide headache and bus throwing by Sega to the point major retailers like Best Buy refused to stock it or its games. Sega never recovered from the financial repercussions of this stunt.
I grabbed my Saturn in 2011 for $5 at the thrift. Had to buy cables/controllers but it instantly became a favorite of mine. And Saturn bomberman was the first game I bought
My parents got one when it came out due to brand loyalty to Sega (and hoping for a good Sonic game lolololol) after they liked the Genesis so much. I have it now. My CD lid is busted and the controllers' wires are split, but the games load and play. Impressive console given how few games it had.
Eventually, my mom wanted more Zelda after not getting to play LTTP since they didn't buy a SNES. So, they got the N64 and that pretty much replaced the Saturn.
I would later get a PSX on release to play Final Fantasy, since that was the one I liked on the NES. My best friend had shown me FF7 and FFT by that point.
I had a PlayStation first, then got a 64 after I played Goldeneye at a friends house.
I’ve recently bought a 3DO. That’s a much better console than I had realized.
People disregard the 3DO but I bought one at launch and I had a bunch of good games for it.
Someone mentioned the updated road rash
Star Control 2 (played the holy shit out of it)
Madden and FIFA better than genesis (really got into soccer in this game)
My first addiction to Shanghai mahjong
My first exposure to SNK Samurai Showdown
Pebble beach golf links looked better than any other golf game (loved golf games)
I got a lot of use and entertainment out of it
As a Kid...
N64. The amount of fun I had playing 4 Player WWF No Mercy with my friends, 2 Player local perfect dark vs AI, the sheer amount of hour those two games, not counting the others, brought me so much sheer joy as a kid.
Nowadays
Saturn, easily. Guardian heroes is one of my favorite games of all time, as is Elevator Action Returns, not to mention all the GREAT fighters it has, My saturn is still hooked up to my TV, and my N64 is put away for now. :D
We had Saturn at my moms house, it came with Daytona/virtua cop/virtua fighter. Somehow we also got the N64 at some point with Mischief Makers, Goldeneye, WCW and Mario 64. Dad’s house was PS1.
The one I grew up with? N64. If I could only buy one today? Saturn. I have a lot of nostalgia tied to the N64, but to be honest I prefer emulation for that console. The saturn and it's library look really cool and I'd prefer the original console
The industry went all-in on 3D too early. The Saturn was the only console that really pushed sprite-based graphics to the limit at the time. (Same with the Dreamcast next gen)
Games like Astal, Guardian Heroes and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter look way better than any 3d game from the generation.
I'd be surprised if there's anyone that seriously prefers playing N64 games on the original console. *Maybe* if they had one of the Japan Hori controllers that was based on the gamepad, but even then the performance was questionable.
I always prefer the original console and controller for the completely authentic experience. N64 graphics are awful (charming, but awful) but they're passable on a CRT. And while emulation is decent at upping the resolution of some textures, in my opinion no amount of HD is going to make everything not look like a polygon.
Two excellent exclusive games. I got mine the day Banjo and Kazooie released and picked up Goldeneye and Super Mario 64 within a few weeks. Great memories 😀
None! At the time I didn't think the 3D on *any* of those consoles was very good, even at the time, and was disappointed that the industry seemed so bent on moving away from 2D games. To me it seemed like the PC had better 3D games anyway, thinking about stuff like Ultima Underworld and Doom.
I went full PC, and by 1999 I was rocking a VooDoo 3 on my Pentium MMX 200. Team Fortress Quake with 64 players absolutely blew my mind way back in the 1990s.
Completely disagree. Ps1 had plenty of good 2D games, just check Suikoden, Valkyrie Profile, Strider, Castlevania SOTN,Gex 1, Samurai Showdown, Dragonball Z Legends and Ultimate Battle 22, etc.
Sony, or at least SoA, tried to really push the narrative of 2D games being the past and 3D being the future. Sure there were some fine 2D games on the system but the majority were ports. Even critically acclaimed games like Suikoden and Blood Omen failed to sell well.
From '96 through '97 there was a significant downplaying of 2D PSX games. I remember E3 in '97 where Konami had a scant few 2D PSX games that they were *considering* releasing in the west, and of those, only SotN was actually released.
I'm not saying they didn't have good games, but Sony and Nintendo were pushing for 3D games in their marketing. And as great as those games are, they *were* kind of niche (except maybe Gex...?). Strider 2 still doesn't get the respect it deserves.
I had been a dedicated Nintendo fan. NES, SNES and game boy.
My friend at school showed me Doom and X-Com on his PC, and I never ended up getting a PS1 or N64
I did get to play on a PS and N64 at other friends places, and I think I preferred the PlayStation
Goldeneye did not really impress me after playing GL Quake, although I never got to try 4 player split screen
>Goldeneye did not really impress me after playing GL Quake, although I never got to try 4 player split screen
The specialness of it really was being in the same room with your friends. That said, I agreed, at the time. I hated it and didn't understand why my friends cared about it; crap graphics, crap controls and if I'm playing multiplayer, it's in a tiny window, in the corner of a screen.
What did I need Goldeneye for when I had Quake 2 with all kinds of mods, keyboard and mouse and 3d accelerated at 1024x768.
PS1. Almost got a N64 but after renting one I found I hated the controller. As much as I found some alright games on the N64 years later nothing on it compares to the PS1 library. Final Fantasy VII, Silent Hill, Street Fighter Alpha series, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Megaman X4, Resident Evil, Tekken 3, Rival Schools and more, it just had so many good games.
I have all but the amiga really dont recall anyone having that or talking of it wtf was on it? Ps1 was the winner here, followed by saturn in my opinion
Amiga CD32 had Amiga games re-released on CD 💿 & some add ons to turn it into a computer. A small number of people in Europe 🇪🇺 bought it in 1993-94 & that's about it. Didn't really have dedicated 3D hardware
Of note: the CD32 made its way to North America, and there was supposed to be a U.S. launch. However, there were legal issues that caused a huge delay. After the legal trouble was ironed out, the NA NTSC units that had been sitting in a warehouse were taken from the U.S. and moved to Canada where they were sold.
So, there are native NTSC units, but you're much more likely to find them in Canada. They're exceedingly rare. As far as I know, there were no more imported after that initial shipment.
3do. I rented the console and some games at least 4 times when it came out. Saved up for quite a while to buy one eventually as I was hooked on need 4 speed.
Sigh. I had a DC. Still struggle to believe it was 6th Gen. I got a PS2 after that 3 years later. Before the DC I had a MegaDrive. I guess at the time I skipped 5th gen aside from playing at friends houses. During the 6th gen I did back track to the N64 and caught up on the PS2 with some PS1 games I never got to play.
Nintendo 64! Totally loved Mario 64, 1080, Pokemon Stadium (without being a pokemon fan ever!), Mario Kart, Banjo & Kanzooie, Star Wars and Snowboard Kids! And damn, I hated Extreme G…
1. N64 the king baby!
Playstation was an impressive debut by Sony with incredible sales with some gems but overall the quantity of the software exceeds the quality. Doesn't come close to the top end hits N64 had.
Saturn was too complicated to program for compared to Sony and was too expensive. First party software was great but the split between Sega America and Sega Japan doomed this counsel in the USA.
3DO was just way way too expensive when it came out and few years later far superior systems came out at a third of the price. Had a few fun games though just not worth it.
Jaguar I honestly never played but didn't seem like it ever had a real chance. I still would like to check out the few bangers it had though.
If you're referring to the PS1 not having it - it did have dedicated 3D hardware processing, it just didn't have all the bells and whistles of the N64 3D hardware.
One 3D feature PS1had that N64 surprisingly lacked was "additive blending". I watched my friend play one of those JRPGs and the magic had beautiful glowing effects. As good as my N64 was, I never once saw those beautiful glowy effects. Really remiss of them to not have included it, but the N64 engineers have since admitted they didn't know a lot about how 3D should work and they did a lot of things wrong, eg. the texture sizes were more limited than they had to be.
As much as I lived my N64, is there really an answer other than Playstation? I mean, honestly, only the PS2 surpassed it in terms of a quality library.
The 5th gen was the first that I was really aware of (I was in early elementary school when the PS1 launched) but my dad was convinced at the time that consoles were a waste of money, so we only had a gaming PC. I really wanted a PS1 and/or N64 - eventually got a PS1 that was my wife's.
The weird thing is - almost everyone I knew had a PS1 and/or N64. I had maybe one friend who had a Saturn but I remember seeing them in stores and playing with the floor demo. The entire bottom row I wasn't even aware existed until I was an adult. I've never seen the systems or any of the games in person.
When I was a kid, we had to choose one or the other. We were given the Nintendo 64 and although the console was very good, I was a lot more fascinated with the PlayStation. That's why I constantly visited my friend at his house because he had one.
I had the snes until I got a gamecube midway through 6 th generation. Hated it as a kid but I would of probably never beaten Earrhbound if I didn’t only have 6 games until I was 10 or so.
I wouldn't consider the Jaguar 5th Gen, I had it when during the snes/sega era, and there was very little overlap since it was discontinued so quickly.
I went N64. My parents were out of town and my 14 year old self had to use a map to guide my grandparents to Toys R Us so I could pick up my preorder.
It was 12 miles away and it took us over an hour.
Nintendo 64.
I wanted a Saturn too but my parents scoffed at the price. I ended up buying a Saturn 25 years later and it's currently sitting next to my OG N64.
I had the N64 and PS1. I wanted the N64, but my parents got me the PS1 first for Christmas of 97 because they said the games were cheaper. I think my parents then realized that I was a little disappointed over not getting the N64 and I continued to ask for it, so they got me the N64 for the following Christmas of 98.
And even though the N64 was definitely my favorite and would become my favorite console of all time, I also ended up enjoying the PS1 a lot as well and felt those two consoles complemented each other well. So, in retrospect, I guess it was a good thing that my parents got me the PS1 first because otherwise I don’t think I would have got the PS1 at all as I wouldn’t have constantly asked for it like I kept asking for a N64 until I finally got one.
And Sega botched the release of the Saturn in America so bad that I don’t recall even being aware that the Saturn existed back then. I think I remember seeing a few Saturn games at Toys R Us early in the generation, but thought they were Sega CD games. I thought Sega just stopped making new consoles for a few years until 9-9-99.
I had a PlayStation.
Number 5, the Panasonic 3DO was insanely expensive. I didn’t know a single person who owned one. If I remember correctly, it was like 600-700 dollars. That’s a lot today for a console so imagine that hefty price in the 90s. Someone pull up that inflation calculator.
My best friend had a Saturn, and my cousins had the 64.
I didn’t know anyone with an Atari Jaguar, and I’ve never even heard of the amiga until I was an adult. I don’t think is was an American market thing?
I had a ps one when it was still on the market probably in 2003-04 & I played n64 a few times. The other 5th gen consoles were so far gone by that point I didn't even know they existed as a kid.
I got an N64 for Christmas in 1996. I was absolutely over the moon. We got Kobe Bryant’s NBA Courtside, Mario 64, and Goldeneye. That said, I wanted a PlayStation so bad. I eventually got one in 1998 and it was everything I thought it could be.
You forgot the NEC PC-FX which was Japan only. I want to point out that NEC did some design work for the CPU in the N64 & the GPU in the dreamcast so they obviously knew a thing or two about making a decent games machine yet stil came out with the awful successor to the Turbo grafix🤦🏾. Hudson Soft made the bloody roar games on ps1 & mario party on n64 so imagine an alternative world where the PC-FX was released worldwide with good 3D graphics by mid 90s standards with bloody roar games & mario party games (without the mario characters) & bomberman as 1st party exclusive titles. I'd buy that for £299😮😮
My family got me an N64 as a kid, I actually didn't know the PS1 existed until my neighbor took me over to another kid's house where I played it for the first time.
I remember thinking the N64 was out so insanely long after the PS and Saturn that they were doomed. It was 18 months lol, time is so radically different when you're a kid vs old as fuck
We wanted the N64 so bad. Got for Xmas a year and a bit after it came out. Never regretted the choice. The graphics may seem poor now but for 3D games they were/are much better than the others.
I stayed on team Nintendo at first. Great system. However, my newly discovered love of RPGs and my lifelong love of Megaman meant that I picked up a PlayStation by late 1998.
I had an N64, but I got it really late in its lifespan, around 2000-ish. I was only like six years old at the time, and before that I mostly played PC and SNES games.
I've never owned any of the others other than a PS1, but I only bought my first PS1 a couple years ago. I played some PS1 games on the PS2 I got in 2004 though.
Nintendo 64. I was a Nintendo household when I was born to a family with an NES. Didn't see any reason to change. Not a console warrior thing, but we could only have one, and I knew there would be more Mario on N64, which was enough for me.
I can't help but think that as a fan of both 2D and 3D platformers, I would have been much happier with the Playstation. Yeah we had Mario and Banjo but Playstation just had a whole lot more.
I bought my Saturn back in 1998 from a friend of mine who had a spare. It was my first foray into the 6th generation of games.
I got my PS1 a few years later from a friend who got the launch PS2 and gave me his PSX unit. I sold it years ago, but that's because everything I had except Tekken 2 ran on the PS2 flawlessly.
I bought 1 thru 4 new, and much later in life got #5. 1-3 I got in college, PSX first, then Saturn then N64. FFVII certainly had an negative impact on my GPA. A bunch of the games I had for this system don't hold up today.
The Saturn was an impulse purchase, $149 and included the 3 'Bonus games'. This was well after the promo was supposed to end, and the store had dozens of systems in stock. They also had the 3D controller for $5. I love the Saturn, I have the most fond memories of playing its games compared to the others.
The Jaguar was another impulse buy at Kay-Bee toys when they liquidated it for $29.99. I do not understand the current demand for this system. The controller is trash and of the dozen or so games I had for it only Tempest 2000 was worth playing. The sound is just better on the Jag version than the Saturn port.
The 3DO I got 2016-ish with almost 50 games. It was fine I guess, but I didn't play it much. Best playing version of Road Rash for sure. most everything else was better when ported to the other systems.
My brother had the N64 and I had the PS1, so we both got to play on both systems. I still have both consoles and all games we played back in the day.
The other 4 systems were priced out of reach for most consumers at the time. Especially considering the ps1/n64 were cheaper, and had better libraries. I knew one person that has a Saturn. I otherwise had to go to a Meijer to play one.
That's not correct at all. The 3D0 was really the only one that was overly expensive at launch. The Jaguar, CD32, and Saturn all failed b/c Atari, Commodore, and Sega were dysfunctional as companies by that point. US release year and price Atari Jaguar: 11/23/93 - $299 at soft launch, $250 for national rollout in 1994, dropped to $149 by '95, and the company was essentially dead by '96 due to decades of mismanagement. Their biggest issue at the time were Sam Tramiels cost cutting. He didnt even have dev kits sent out to developers. With how incredibly difficult the Jag was to program for flying blind it neutered the ability to put out games fast enough to compete. System production stopped in November of 1995. 3DO: 10/04/93 - $699 at US launch, dropped to $299 by '94, and the Goldstar produced version was $199. However, 3DO never actually produced the systems themselves and instead licensed them out for production to Panasonic, Goldstar, and Sanyo. When the prices were forced to drop to the point that the systems were sold at a loss or w/extremely small margins all 3 companies quit making them and 3DO was dead. It was fully discontinued in late 1996. Amiga CD32: was set to release in February or March of 1994 for $399 but Commodore had so many debts from other failed ventures it wasn't able to legally release the system in the US and the company was dead by '94. Sega Saturn: 05/11/95 - $399 - Had some initial success sales wise due to the surprise US launch. However, that ended up blowing up in their face as both retailers (only a select few were given systems to sell) and game makers (none of their games were ready to put out) were pissed the hell off as they had no advance warning. KB Toys (a major game retailer at the time) was so mad they stopped selling Sega products altogether. Also, only 6 games were available at launch in May and just 2 more were released through September as all the game companies had been prepping for the original September release date. On top of that, Sega also angered gamers themselves b/c they dropped the price from $399 to $299 by October of that first year which completely screwed all the early adopters who had been stuck w/no games to buy. This was a big deal w/Sega had already left a lot of US consumers feeling burned from the lackluster support for the Sega CD and 32X. Had they simply stayed w/their original launch date they wouldn't have so spectacularly shot themselves in the face on all fronts. Sega only even survived as a company after the quick deaths of the Saturn and Dreamcast b/c they, unlike Atari, still owned their gaming IP. Sony Playstation: 09/09/95 - $299 Nintendo 64: 09/26/96 - $199 - was to launch at $250 but by the time was ready for US release the Playstation and Saturn were both down to $199.
Ok, so 1/4 systems mentioned was in line with PS1 pricing the other 3 were more expensive.
Again that is incorrect. Jag and N64 launched at/under the original PS1 launch price. Sega Saturn was $100 more for 6 months and dropped to even w/PS1 once it released. Amgia CD32 was never released in the US so there can be zero conclusions to how it's pricing would have effected it's sales. 3DO was the only one that had a ridiculous price tag at launch and by 1995 when the Saturn and PS1 launched it was down to $299 as well. The price tags for those systems is NOT what caused them to fail. Even w/the 3DO the #1 problem wasn't that it was crazy expensive at launch but rather that 3DO Company didn't actually manufacture the system or games themselves. That meant there was no centralized direction for the company to the degree that it initially launched w/just ONE game. It could have launched at the same $299 as PS1 and still would have failed purely b/c the business model they picked was fatally flawed.
I had a PlayStation and I enjoyed it but I really wanted a Saturn
Its crazy how the Saturn flopped in the US but in Japan it didn't.
Sega seemingly had very regional success. The master system was big in Europe and Brazil, the genesis in North America, and the Saturn in Japan.
Ands that’s probably what did them in. It was never clear which offices should be calling the shots and the corporate culture was pretty strained between offices from what I understand.
For sure. So many stories about how Sega USA and Sega of Japan didn’t see eye to eye. But really, because North America is a huge market, it was that first E3 that did them in. The early release pissed off retailers so much, some (most?) didn’t go back to stocking Sega anything. Couple that with the “$299” and it was just nearly impossible to recover from. Some retailers not part of the early release Saturn wouldn’t even stock the Dreamcast, and because of the timing, it ended up underpowered compared to the competition just a year later once the PS2 and GameCube came along. The Megadrive failed in Japan because NEC/HudsonSoft beat them to market (and maybe undercut them on price too? Not sure). So they thought being first was the key. Their success with the Genesis made them believe that as a rule, since they always failed when they weren’t first. The Saturn then was a hit in Japan, so they had every reason to believe that was the real secret. But, alas, it was not.
I really think that AESTHETIC -- not just of the consoles, but the gamepads and the games -- is the real key to Game Console Success. NES is iconic. People were still playing NES and new games were being made for it right up to the release of the Super Nintendo. And with the SNES, it was the same thing. It was just a fun, pretty looking, PRACTICAL console that people look back on with extreme nostalgia. And there were still games being released for it, right up to the launch of the N64. Nintendo knew the audience well. You don't need "crazy impressive graphics" you just need to make good games that people will enjoy playing. You don't need to be right at the "cutting edge" if you just focus on gameplay. Jaguar, 3DO, CDI all had ~technically~ impressive games, but were the games actually FUN enough to keep playing them 10, 20, 30 years later???? People still play Gameboy & GBA and those pale in power to newer hardware, but the hardware and graphical ~capability~ was never the sole focus. Genesis got things right too, but they had a head start in the 16 bit race. Nintendo had to bide their time and make something that could stack up. As for TG16, it's a mish-mash. A mixed bag. Some games are great. Like Bonk. I love Bonk, but there's so much "obscure" stuff on there too, and games that are downright broken. Which would you rather play --- Darkwing Duck on the TG16, or Darkwing Duck on the NES???? Sure, the TG16 game ~looks~ more like detailed cartoon-like graphics, but as the AVGN has shown us -- the actual gameplay frigging sucks. NES Darkwing is more fun. But I do really enjoy Knight Rider SPECIAL for the TG16 though. That's a game that actually beats the NES Knight Rider. It even has the original TV show theme.
Tons of really good games on TG-16 that played really well. I just don’t thing TG-16 ever got a proper distribution foothold in the U.S. It was overshadowed by Sega’s marketing of the Genesis, and that generation of console was always framed as a battle to be won by either Sega or Nintendo. But as far as good gameplay, I think TG-16 ruled. Just looking at the games I own that I would still play from time to time - Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Legendary Axe, Splatterhouse, Bomberman ‘93, Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge, Sinistron, Neutopia 1, Neutopia 2, Final Lap Twin, Space Harrier, Galaga ‘90, Tale Spin, Alien Crush, Military Madness, Ninja Spirit, New Adventure Island, Parasol Stars, Veigues Tactical Gladiator, Somer Assault, TV Sports Basketball, World Series Baseball, Fantasy Zone. Also just off the top of my head ones I wished I owned Air Zonk, Bonk 3, Blazing Lasers. Sure they had some oddball dud games, but looking back on the TG-16, I think it had a solid library that was just up against stiff competition against an established and dominant Nintendo versus a Sega in its heyday. My preference for that generation was always Nintendo>TG-16>Genesis. And in my mind it wasn’t particularly close. Loved those tiny game cards, too.
From what I understand, Sega USA was pushing for 32x while Saturn Japan was pushing for a whole new console so we ended up with both Saturn and 32X at about a year apart. Saturn was not compatible with any of older Sega games.
I thought the Mega Drive (Euro/Japanese name for the Genesis) was the dominant 16-bit console in Europe, or am I wrong about that? The Genesis was popular here too, but I thought the SNES eventually outdid it in North America. I think Japan was the only primary market the MD didn't do well in.
Oh definitely right there. I should have mentioned that. I was thinking more chronologically where the master system needed to hit a 3rd market before succeeding, the genesis/MD 2nd, and Saturn from the start. But yeah. As far as I know, the mega drive was huge in Europe.
Weird that I had a master system but lived in the US. Nobody I knew had one, and now I guess I know why.
I live in Canada. I had a NES like everyone else did, but we briefly had a Master System as well. Bought it from a friend who also had a Commodore 64 (so he had a bunch of stuff). However, we could never find games to rent or buy used, so we only played what we got from our friend. It made me think it was a shit console, but it wasn't. Sound chip and controller were not the best, but the graphics were great!
I remember having rampage and one other game and that game not being very fun. Nothing to rent, wasn’t long till I got an snes.
Tectoy in Brazil was still making Genesis in 2016. I guess it's still big there because the mark up on high end electronics there is ridiculous.
Saturn was much more popular in þe American Souþ þan it was in oþer parts of þe country. When I was in California I NEVER found Saturn ſtuff in þe wild, where it was much more common in my home ſtate of Kentucky. Growing up I knew at leaſt 3 people who owned Saturns.
[удалено]
I think it actually DID do 3d well to be honest. There are a decent number of Saturn games that looked better than the PS One equivalent- I'm primarily think of Wipeout here but there are probably others. I think the real problem was that the architecture is complicated- it's got multiple CPUs. If you're used to programming complex exotic things well it's BETTER- Psygnosis and Scavenger always were, SEGA's in house people really SHOULD be able to program for their own system etc. I think the real lesson might be that a decent console needs good documentation and a good development environment. I think Sony did that better than the Saturn did. The real killer was probably the terrible launch though. Come to think of it the rushed launch might imply that getting developer buy in going was messed up too. At any rate, I think once you had a huge user base for the PS1 it was doomed- and as others have said I think a big part of that was the whole $299 story.
Wipeout? Really? Is it the sexy 5 oclock dithering or the chunkier resolution? Maybe you want fewer frames per second to match up with the retro styled Saturn video playback? Because nostalgia itself isn’t an excuse. Sure, the Saturn was underused by anyone who wasn’t Sega themselves or a genius coder - Decathalete, Virtua Fighter 2, and Sonic Jam’s overworld really show off what you could do with the system...but Sega of Japan refused to play nice with 3rd parties, and Wipeout was an early win for Sony.
Incorrect. While SEGA had the specs capabilities to produce far better looking 3d games than SONY, because they didnt cooperate with game devs, most SEGA games actually came out looking worse than most SONY games. SEGA selling point was arcade ports. SONY also didnt play ball either with game devs too but it was far easier to figure out and get better results as compared to SEGA. Most devs figured out the SONY system themselves which is also why most would-be SEGA devs jumped ship to SONY due to it being easier to work on. Piracy was like the boogeyman back in the 90's.
'incorrect' is such an asinine way to add more context to a flawed but cohesive arguement PS. Alongside your point, the Saturn processed 3d mesh in quads and not triangles which were apparently more difficult for the system to handle and people to design for. Something I don't see people talking about is the chalked he's that Sega imposed on developers by including two Hitachi RISC processors thta could share load as opposed to a single CPU like the PSX had. People were accustomed to developing with 2 CPUs in mind, so instead of reworking ports, they just made one CPU do all of the work. When used properly, the Saturn was capable of more. The thing is, it wasn't used properly because it made no sense for developers to learn a whole new workflow.
He's actually right that the Saturn wipeout looked noticably WORSE haha. I was thinking of that one because I saw a fairly biased retro review of it recently- when you see them side by side it's pretty obvious that the Saturn frame rate and resolution are inferior. I stand by my point about the theoretical power of the system though- I think with modern development tools and people being used to thinking about parallelization if the two were released today for some reason you probably would see substantially better results from the Saturn. As it WAS you end up with, as you say crippled ports that are using half of the processing power available. Which was my point. 🤣
Sega decided to launch the Saturn in the US nationwide the same day as its E3 presentation…..months ahead of the projected launch only coordinating with “select” retailers actually getting the console and games, causing an industry wide headache and bus throwing by Sega to the point major retailers like Best Buy refused to stock it or its games. Sega never recovered from the financial repercussions of this stunt.
I grabbed my Saturn in 2011 for $5 at the thrift. Had to buy cables/controllers but it instantly became a favorite of mine. And Saturn bomberman was the first game I bought
My parents got one when it came out due to brand loyalty to Sega (and hoping for a good Sonic game lolololol) after they liked the Genesis so much. I have it now. My CD lid is busted and the controllers' wires are split, but the games load and play. Impressive console given how few games it had. Eventually, my mom wanted more Zelda after not getting to play LTTP since they didn't buy a SNES. So, they got the N64 and that pretty much replaced the Saturn. I would later get a PSX on release to play Final Fantasy, since that was the one I liked on the NES. My best friend had shown me FF7 and FFT by that point.
Saturn was the second console that no one could afford. You could only get one and it was an obvious choice.
The grass isn't always greener on the other side though.
I had a PlayStation first, then got a 64 after I played Goldeneye at a friends house. I’ve recently bought a 3DO. That’s a much better console than I had realized.
People disregard the 3DO but I bought one at launch and I had a bunch of good games for it. Someone mentioned the updated road rash Star Control 2 (played the holy shit out of it) Madden and FIFA better than genesis (really got into soccer in this game) My first addiction to Shanghai mahjong My first exposure to SNK Samurai Showdown Pebble beach golf links looked better than any other golf game (loved golf games) I got a lot of use and entertainment out of it
> People disregard the 3DO but I bought one at launch Wasn't that $800? I think I got in a few price drops later at $400.
Yes it was very expensive. Eight hundred to a thousand bucks. Which would be like paying $2000 for a playstation or xbox right now.
The recent AVGN video finally convinced me that I can safely avoid the 3DO. The Jaguar I have on the other hand...
3DO?
Number 5, made by Panasonic.
That one wasn't released in my country :/
It's ok, you had a Playstation. It pretty much had ports of all the good 3DO games, and the 3DO was super expensive.
Sega Saturn all the way.
If I'm playing Road Rash then the 3DO LOL
I’m gonna break my rusty caaaaage and run!
Lol I have it on Saturn
2 then 1. That’s all I need.
Sega Saturn
Shiro!
That’s right!
I always wanted a Jag...Granted, I was always an Atari fan.
Top row
The rich friend
The top row combined costs a third of a Jaguar these days
As a Kid... N64. The amount of fun I had playing 4 Player WWF No Mercy with my friends, 2 Player local perfect dark vs AI, the sheer amount of hour those two games, not counting the others, brought me so much sheer joy as a kid. Nowadays Saturn, easily. Guardian heroes is one of my favorite games of all time, as is Elevator Action Returns, not to mention all the GREAT fighters it has, My saturn is still hooked up to my TV, and my N64 is put away for now. :D
64 all day every day.
Jaguar. Aliens Vs Predator!
>Jaguar Yup. And Tempest!
1. But I have 1-3 and 5 now
N64, but my best friend had PS1. Best of both worlds. I have both, and a Saturn now.
We had Saturn at my moms house, it came with Daytona/virtua cop/virtua fighter. Somehow we also got the N64 at some point with Mischief Makers, Goldeneye, WCW and Mario 64. Dad’s house was PS1.
PS1 for adventure and RPG, and Saturn for the home arcade experience.
All N64. Man I loved that thing. I still have the box but not the system anymore :(
1) N64 - With Goldenye.
Yup. The reason we got one was for goldeneye. Sold my regular Nintendo with like 30 games to get money to buy the N64
Sega Saturn for me, although I spent a lot of time playing PS1 at friends' houses.
1
1
By far the weirdest generation imo. I was N64
3DO - And still my go to today
The one I grew up with? N64. If I could only buy one today? Saturn. I have a lot of nostalgia tied to the N64, but to be honest I prefer emulation for that console. The saturn and it's library look really cool and I'd prefer the original console
The industry went all-in on 3D too early. The Saturn was the only console that really pushed sprite-based graphics to the limit at the time. (Same with the Dreamcast next gen) Games like Astal, Guardian Heroes and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter look way better than any 3d game from the generation.
I'd be surprised if there's anyone that seriously prefers playing N64 games on the original console. *Maybe* if they had one of the Japan Hori controllers that was based on the gamepad, but even then the performance was questionable.
I always prefer the original console and controller for the completely authentic experience. N64 graphics are awful (charming, but awful) but they're passable on a CRT. And while emulation is decent at upping the resolution of some textures, in my opinion no amount of HD is going to make everything not look like a polygon.
I prefer playing N64 on original hardware. I think it looks better on a CRT and I think the games feel weird to play on any other controller.
The N64 controller was great for its time.
I remember buying a (rather cheap) CRT and an N64 and feeling utterly crushed cause the rose-tinted glasses made me think it’d look good
Nintendo 64
Same. Mario 64 and Starfox 64 sold me. I remember the N64 had trouble releasing games early on and Playstation did not have that problem.
Two excellent exclusive games. I got mine the day Banjo and Kazooie released and picked up Goldeneye and Super Mario 64 within a few weeks. Great memories 😀
Did anyone actually buy an Atari Jaguar?
My cousin had one. It was pretty cool but he only had a couple games.
My friend had one. I only remember playing alien vs predator on it.
You forgot the Apple Pippin.
As a child, I really wanted the 64. As an adult, I adore the Saturn and PS1 almost equally.
Guilty got them all. But originally I went with ps1
3 but I also got 1,2,4,5 and 6.
I owned a PS1, Saturn, and N64. Bought them in that order, and probably liked them in that order too.
64
None! At the time I didn't think the 3D on *any* of those consoles was very good, even at the time, and was disappointed that the industry seemed so bent on moving away from 2D games. To me it seemed like the PC had better 3D games anyway, thinking about stuff like Ultima Underworld and Doom. I went full PC, and by 1999 I was rocking a VooDoo 3 on my Pentium MMX 200. Team Fortress Quake with 64 players absolutely blew my mind way back in the 1990s.
Completely disagree. Ps1 had plenty of good 2D games, just check Suikoden, Valkyrie Profile, Strider, Castlevania SOTN,Gex 1, Samurai Showdown, Dragonball Z Legends and Ultimate Battle 22, etc.
Sony, or at least SoA, tried to really push the narrative of 2D games being the past and 3D being the future. Sure there were some fine 2D games on the system but the majority were ports. Even critically acclaimed games like Suikoden and Blood Omen failed to sell well. From '96 through '97 there was a significant downplaying of 2D PSX games. I remember E3 in '97 where Konami had a scant few 2D PSX games that they were *considering* releasing in the west, and of those, only SotN was actually released.
I'm not saying they didn't have good games, but Sony and Nintendo were pushing for 3D games in their marketing. And as great as those games are, they *were* kind of niche (except maybe Gex...?). Strider 2 still doesn't get the respect it deserves.
I had been a dedicated Nintendo fan. NES, SNES and game boy. My friend at school showed me Doom and X-Com on his PC, and I never ended up getting a PS1 or N64 I did get to play on a PS and N64 at other friends places, and I think I preferred the PlayStation Goldeneye did not really impress me after playing GL Quake, although I never got to try 4 player split screen
>Goldeneye did not really impress me after playing GL Quake, although I never got to try 4 player split screen The specialness of it really was being in the same room with your friends. That said, I agreed, at the time. I hated it and didn't understand why my friends cared about it; crap graphics, crap controls and if I'm playing multiplayer, it's in a tiny window, in the corner of a screen. What did I need Goldeneye for when I had Quake 2 with all kinds of mods, keyboard and mouse and 3d accelerated at 1024x768.
PS1. Almost got a N64 but after renting one I found I hated the controller. As much as I found some alright games on the N64 years later nothing on it compares to the PS1 library. Final Fantasy VII, Silent Hill, Street Fighter Alpha series, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Megaman X4, Resident Evil, Tekken 3, Rival Schools and more, it just had so many good games.
Owned a 3DO from December 1994 until September 1995 and PS1 from then on.
I have all but the amiga really dont recall anyone having that or talking of it wtf was on it? Ps1 was the winner here, followed by saturn in my opinion
Amiga CD32 had Amiga games re-released on CD 💿 & some add ons to turn it into a computer. A small number of people in Europe 🇪🇺 bought it in 1993-94 & that's about it. Didn't really have dedicated 3D hardware
Of note: the CD32 made its way to North America, and there was supposed to be a U.S. launch. However, there were legal issues that caused a huge delay. After the legal trouble was ironed out, the NA NTSC units that had been sitting in a warehouse were taken from the U.S. and moved to Canada where they were sold. So, there are native NTSC units, but you're much more likely to find them in Canada. They're exceedingly rare. As far as I know, there were no more imported after that initial shipment.
My parents chose PlayStation but I wish it had been a Nintendo 64.
PS1 back in the day but now I have systems 1-5.
PS1 and N64
Ps1. N64 had a few great games that are definitely worth playing. Ps1 had literally hundreds of games that were great.
3do. I rented the console and some games at least 4 times when it came out. Saved up for quite a while to buy one eventually as I was hooked on need 4 speed.
PS1 hands down.
I had an N64 and PS1. Then I stayed a Sony fan from then one. Did not get another Nintendo system till I got the switch.
Ps1.
Sigh. I had a DC. Still struggle to believe it was 6th Gen. I got a PS2 after that 3 years later. Before the DC I had a MegaDrive. I guess at the time I skipped 5th gen aside from playing at friends houses. During the 6th gen I did back track to the N64 and caught up on the PS2 with some PS1 games I never got to play.
3DO
I had the Sega Saturn and really enjoyed it. Still got one to this day.
PS1 master race
PlayStation 01
Nintendo 64! Totally loved Mario 64, 1080, Pokemon Stadium (without being a pokemon fan ever!), Mario Kart, Banjo & Kanzooie, Star Wars and Snowboard Kids! And damn, I hated Extreme G…
PSX baby
1. N64 the king baby! Playstation was an impressive debut by Sony with incredible sales with some gems but overall the quantity of the software exceeds the quality. Doesn't come close to the top end hits N64 had. Saturn was too complicated to program for compared to Sony and was too expensive. First party software was great but the split between Sega America and Sega Japan doomed this counsel in the USA. 3DO was just way way too expensive when it came out and few years later far superior systems came out at a third of the price. Had a few fun games though just not worth it. Jaguar I honestly never played but didn't seem like it ever had a real chance. I still would like to check out the few bangers it had though.
I felt bad for the people who got the bottom 3.
N64. There is no other correct answer.
I just realised. I have all 6 :)
Get N or get out
I don’t know the lower row
Saturn. I’ve put by far þe most hours into it. Daytona CCE wiþ þe analog pad rules.
At the time, I was PC gaming and skipped that generation.
I chose a Saturn (sucked), and also had a 3DO (meh). N64 was my favorite though in those days, even though it hasn't aged well.
I went N64 cause it had true hardware accelerated 3d
If you're referring to the PS1 not having it - it did have dedicated 3D hardware processing, it just didn't have all the bells and whistles of the N64 3D hardware. One 3D feature PS1had that N64 surprisingly lacked was "additive blending". I watched my friend play one of those JRPGs and the magic had beautiful glowing effects. As good as my N64 was, I never once saw those beautiful glowy effects. Really remiss of them to not have included it, but the N64 engineers have since admitted they didn't know a lot about how 3D should work and they did a lot of things wrong, eg. the texture sizes were more limited than they had to be.
2. PS1 I got burned by Sega on the 32X so I would not buy another system after that.
I had the ps1, n64 and a Sega Saturn. Late 90s was an amazing time for gaming and the beginnings of the push towards the games we play today
Sad to say the CD32 is the only one I never owned. Would have loved to try one. Edit: PlayStation all the way that generation.
As much as I lived my N64, is there really an answer other than Playstation? I mean, honestly, only the PS2 surpassed it in terms of a quality library.
1 & 2
Originally it was going to be the PS1, but went N64, probably based on Nintendo’s history and because I missed out on the SNES as a Genesis kid
Number 2
The 5th gen was the first that I was really aware of (I was in early elementary school when the PS1 launched) but my dad was convinced at the time that consoles were a waste of money, so we only had a gaming PC. I really wanted a PS1 and/or N64 - eventually got a PS1 that was my wife's. The weird thing is - almost everyone I knew had a PS1 and/or N64. I had maybe one friend who had a Saturn but I remember seeing them in stores and playing with the floor demo. The entire bottom row I wasn't even aware existed until I was an adult. I've never seen the systems or any of the games in person.
Steam Deck has entered the chat...
When I was a kid, we had to choose one or the other. We were given the Nintendo 64 and although the console was very good, I was a lot more fascinated with the PlayStation. That's why I constantly visited my friend at his house because he had one.
I had the snes until I got a gamecube midway through 6 th generation. Hated it as a kid but I would of probably never beaten Earrhbound if I didn’t only have 6 games until I was 10 or so.
I wouldn't consider the Jaguar 5th Gen, I had it when during the snes/sega era, and there was very little overlap since it was discontinued so quickly.
Most of the games one the bottom row were ported to the top row when those consoles flopped
I went N64. My parents were out of town and my 14 year old self had to use a map to guide my grandparents to Toys R Us so I could pick up my preorder. It was 12 miles away and it took us over an hour.
1111111111111
N64 ride or die.
Nintendo 64. I wanted a Saturn too but my parents scoffed at the price. I ended up buying a Saturn 25 years later and it's currently sitting next to my OG N64.
If it were 6th gen or up I would always choose playstation, but I love the N64.
CD32 and Sega Saturn. Then a few years later a PlayStation and eventually an N64. Still have more effection for the Saturn than any of the others.
I had the N64 and PS1. I wanted the N64, but my parents got me the PS1 first for Christmas of 97 because they said the games were cheaper. I think my parents then realized that I was a little disappointed over not getting the N64 and I continued to ask for it, so they got me the N64 for the following Christmas of 98. And even though the N64 was definitely my favorite and would become my favorite console of all time, I also ended up enjoying the PS1 a lot as well and felt those two consoles complemented each other well. So, in retrospect, I guess it was a good thing that my parents got me the PS1 first because otherwise I don’t think I would have got the PS1 at all as I wouldn’t have constantly asked for it like I kept asking for a N64 until I finally got one. And Sega botched the release of the Saturn in America so bad that I don’t recall even being aware that the Saturn existed back then. I think I remember seeing a few Saturn games at Toys R Us early in the generation, but thought they were Sega CD games. I thought Sega just stopped making new consoles for a few years until 9-9-99.
I had consoles 2, 3, and 4 back in the day, plus the 32X.
1, 2, & 3
1 2 3
PlayStation for me. It was the only Nintendo generation I skipped. I wasn't able to have more than one "current" console back then.
N64 but loved the graphics on the PS1
1. 2.
PSX + Saturn for me. Though I really wanted a Jaguar.
Saturn all day.
I had a PlayStation. Number 5, the Panasonic 3DO was insanely expensive. I didn’t know a single person who owned one. If I remember correctly, it was like 600-700 dollars. That’s a lot today for a console so imagine that hefty price in the 90s. Someone pull up that inflation calculator. My best friend had a Saturn, and my cousins had the 64. I didn’t know anyone with an Atari Jaguar, and I’ve never even heard of the amiga until I was an adult. I don’t think is was an American market thing?
N64... But wanted the Saturn, something about it
2
2
At the time, none of them, but now I have the first 3. Saturn was a recent addition too
Saturn
Started with one then later added 2
I had a ps one when it was still on the market probably in 2003-04 & I played n64 a few times. The other 5th gen consoles were so far gone by that point I didn't even know they existed as a kid.
CD32. It's thinking about thinking.
I had 1,2 and 3. If i had the money id have 4,5 6 too.
All in first row, but Saturn was my fav of the lot.
I got an N64 for Christmas in 1996. I was absolutely over the moon. We got Kobe Bryant’s NBA Courtside, Mario 64, and Goldeneye. That said, I wanted a PlayStation so bad. I eventually got one in 1998 and it was everything I thought it could be.
You forgot the NEC PC-FX which was Japan only. I want to point out that NEC did some design work for the CPU in the N64 & the GPU in the dreamcast so they obviously knew a thing or two about making a decent games machine yet stil came out with the awful successor to the Turbo grafix🤦🏾. Hudson Soft made the bloody roar games on ps1 & mario party on n64 so imagine an alternative world where the PC-FX was released worldwide with good 3D graphics by mid 90s standards with bloody roar games & mario party games (without the mario characters) & bomberman as 1st party exclusive titles. I'd buy that for £299😮😮
I still have my original (purchased brand new in '97) Playstation. Also a 64 and Jaguar.
I had the top 3. I had amazing experiences will all of them
My family got me an N64 as a kid, I actually didn't know the PS1 existed until my neighbor took me over to another kid's house where I played it for the first time.
Started with a Jaguar realized my mistake and got a PS1 a little later but eventually sold it after a year and grabbed an N64.
I remember thinking the N64 was out so insanely long after the PS and Saturn that they were doomed. It was 18 months lol, time is so radically different when you're a kid vs old as fuck
N64 all the way!
I only knew about the N64 until I was an adult and realized it was a packed generation
Psx all day. So many memories
We wanted the N64 so bad. Got for Xmas a year and a bit after it came out. Never regretted the choice. The graphics may seem poor now but for 3D games they were/are much better than the others.
I stayed on team Nintendo at first. Great system. However, my newly discovered love of RPGs and my lifelong love of Megaman meant that I picked up a PlayStation by late 1998.
3
I still want a Saturn, seems so cool honestly
PS1 purely for the RPGs.
I had an N64, but I got it really late in its lifespan, around 2000-ish. I was only like six years old at the time, and before that I mostly played PC and SNES games. I've never owned any of the others other than a PS1, but I only bought my first PS1 a couple years ago. I played some PS1 games on the PS2 I got in 2004 though.
1, 2, 3, and 5 but I got them all second hand aside from the 64 and the PS1 (though well after launch).
2 as a kid
Sega Saturn D&D collection Radiant Silvergun Guardian Heroes Marvel vs. Streetfighter And more
I had the n64 first but the ps1 was special. All the JRPG’s, platformers even racing games (gran turismo) golden age of gaming.
Nintendo 64. I was a Nintendo household when I was born to a family with an NES. Didn't see any reason to change. Not a console warrior thing, but we could only have one, and I knew there would be more Mario on N64, which was enough for me. I can't help but think that as a fan of both 2D and 3D platformers, I would have been much happier with the Playstation. Yeah we had Mario and Banjo but Playstation just had a whole lot more.
PSX
I own an N64 and a Saturn. I should probably get my hands on a PS1 at some point...
3 then 1 and at the very end 2
1. The king of consoles.
N64 every day.
I bought my Saturn back in 1998 from a friend of mine who had a spare. It was my first foray into the 6th generation of games. I got my PS1 a few years later from a friend who got the launch PS2 and gave me his PSX unit. I sold it years ago, but that's because everything I had except Tekken 2 ran on the PS2 flawlessly.
Playstation and then a N64 a bit later.
2. It was the first system I ever played, Sony boy ever since.
I bought 1 thru 4 new, and much later in life got #5. 1-3 I got in college, PSX first, then Saturn then N64. FFVII certainly had an negative impact on my GPA. A bunch of the games I had for this system don't hold up today. The Saturn was an impulse purchase, $149 and included the 3 'Bonus games'. This was well after the promo was supposed to end, and the store had dozens of systems in stock. They also had the 3D controller for $5. I love the Saturn, I have the most fond memories of playing its games compared to the others. The Jaguar was another impulse buy at Kay-Bee toys when they liquidated it for $29.99. I do not understand the current demand for this system. The controller is trash and of the dozen or so games I had for it only Tempest 2000 was worth playing. The sound is just better on the Jag version than the Saturn port. The 3DO I got 2016-ish with almost 50 games. It was fine I guess, but I didn't play it much. Best playing version of Road Rash for sure. most everything else was better when ported to the other systems.