This era of gaming is where things started to get a little more varied. This would essentially be the Playstation/Saturn/N64 era of gaming. Though I am not sure I have ever even seen a Saturn, much less played one. Playstation definitely dominated this era of games, but for my part, I stuck with Nintendo. I also started really pushing into PC gaming as well, but I covered all my PC history last year.
The Nintendo 64 was the first console I bought with my own money. I was working by this time, and had plenty of free flowing cash. I forget exactly which store I bought it from, but I can say I got a branded carry bad for free when I bought it. The first game I got for it was Cruisin’ USA. I had been playing a lot of Cruisin’ USA at the arcade and wanted to be able to play it at home too, which I did, a lot.
I imagine the system also included Mario 64. Some of the notable titles I remember really enjoying for the N64 included
- Cruisin’ USA
- Mario 64
- Mario Kart 64
- Mischief Makers
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Goldeneye
Man, Goldeneye was such a great classic game. It looks pretty janky these days with its blocky polygons, but it was so fun both single player and multi player.
But more notable maybe is Mischief Makers. I played the original, and it’s probably my favorite game on the system, but later I picked up a Japanese copy for fairly cheap while off at college along with a Japanese Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix. These are notable if only because they were the first time I actually “modded” a console in any way. Granted, it’s an easy mod. Nintendo games are region free, but the carts are shaped differently. The US consoles have these notches inside to prevent inserting Japanese carts. I could modify the carts, or modify the system, since I had two cartridges, it made sense to just chop the tabs out of the slot in the system.
I also wrote a GameFAQs FAQ for that Disney Mix game, it may still be the only FAQ for that game.
I don’t remember owning a PS1 until later, I want to say I did most of my Playstation 1 gaming on the PS2, which I will get to next post. My friend had a Playstation though, so we played it some there. Most notably, there was a weekend where I borrowed it though, he was out of town, my parents and brother were out of town, I had the whole place to myself, because I had to work. But when I wasn’t at work, I played through a very large chunk of Final Fantasy VII.
I didn’t have time to finish it sadly, not on the Playstation. Eventually I got a copy for the PC, and played through it there. In case you are unaware, Final Fantasy VII is highly regulated by gamers as one of the greatest games ever made. And it definitely had me hooked.
I am sure I played a lot of other PS1 titles, but I can’t really remember many besides Metal Gear Solid and Mega Man Legends. I kind of just skipped the PS1 Generation in a way, though I did play catch up a bit later.
Unfortunately for Nintendo, this would be the last console I would own from them for a while. I got way more into PC gaming and went with the PS2 and Dreamcast during the follow up generation, but that’s for next week’s post.
