The golden age of gaming?

[Blue Protoman]

I never said the 6-button Genesis controller was bad.  I just said the SNES controller wasn't bad.

[son_ov_hades]

1. Arcade Stick
2. It plays better.  Compare all of the different SFII versions and you tell me which one sucks the least.

Arcade sticks are fine, but in that case I'd rather play the real thing. I had this argument in 92 with my friends, we set up a Genesis and SNES side by side on two TVs, in the end the Genesis won. Both versions are great so it really just boils down to personal preference, but I find the Genesis version has better music(the only time I can say that seriously) and controls.

[Blue Protoman]

What do you believe made the Genesis version better?  By public opinion, the SNES version was better.  Actually, SFII and MKII were the turning points in the 16-bit wars.  Two popular arcade games ported to SNES and Genesis, but both SNES versions played better than the Genesis versions, and then Nintendo dominated in consoles for the last time until the 7th generation.

[son_ov_hades]

Like I said, better music and better controls. "Public opinion" means nothing and is a really weak argument, that's like saying The Beatles were the best band ever because they sold the most albums.

[Blue Protoman]

Public opinion.  Hm.  Let's see whether it means anything.

Earthbound: Sold like crap
Is it good?: Yes
Prove it: Ask these people.  (www.starmen.net)

Ask people who aren't on the site and they'll say the game is good, too.

I'd say public opinion's a big factor.

[son_ov_hades]

Public opinion on Earthbound can be seen through the sales numbers. The "public" didn't think much of the game, otherwise it would have sold better. Therefore Earthbound is a shitty game. Do you see how bad that argument is? You're not saying what about the game makes it good. Essentially what you said was "these people say Earthbound is a good game, so it is", really flawed logic there. I'd suggest taking a philosophy class and learning logical fallacies, one of the best things I ever did.

I know that sounded harsh and was not meant to be, just trying to enlighten. I don't wish to start a flame war, and probably went to far. Sorry.

[nurd]

I don't much care for Earthbound.

But I don't like RPG's so my opinion doesn't count.

[Blue Protoman]

Public opinion on Earthbound can be seen through the sales numbers. The "public" didn't think much of the game, otherwise it would have sold better. Therefore Earthbound is a shitty game. Do you see how bad that argument is? You're not saying what about the game makes it good. Essentially what you said was "these people say Earthbound is a good game, so it is", really flawed logic there. I'd suggest taking a philosophy class and learning logical fallacies, one of the best things I ever did.

I know that sounded harsh and was not meant to be, just trying to enlighten. I don't wish to start a flame war, and probably went to far. Sorry.

I was talking about public opinion now.  Yes, EB was ignored back in the day.  But now it is regarded as a masterpiece, and plenty of people have fond memories of playing it as a child.  SFII was and is a masterpiece, if you were playing the arcade or SNES versions.  I know the Amiga one was mediocre, not sure about the Genesis version.

[Drakon]

I know that sounded harsh and was not meant to be, just trying to enlighten. I don't wish to start a flame war, and probably went to far. Sorry.

went TOO far

I find the best home version of sf2 is turbo on the snes.  But honestly I have the arcade pcb and nothing comes even close to that.  I think earthbound was shunned because chrono trigger was stealing all the rpg thunder of 1995

[Rob64]

Earthbound is a good rpg. I didn't even know anything about Earthbound until a friend of mine told me about it and lent it to me. From what I recall of the game, I cannot think of one bad song they used in the game. The graphics for that time were pretty good, fairly similar type of graphics found in Link to the Past.

The turned base combat is easy to use, but you will probably die a lot before you level up enough, and it will take a while to not worry about money in your bank. But if you're patient with it, you can move on like normal and not have to worry too much about dying. The dialog and character names are just so clever such as "Lier X Aggerate", or when you save on the phone and end the game after talking to your dad, he says to turn the power off instead of reset.

I think it's little chuckles in the game like that that make Earthbound classic. Try it out for yourself if you can get your hands on a copy.

[xyzzy32]

I hate to antagonize, but things such as this...



The main selling points of EarthBound are supposed to be the supposedly cute pastel-graphics and humor, and I cannot abide with either.
The reason Earth Bound is one of my favourite NES games is because of its (at the time) advanced plot and light quirkiness, e.g. getting attacked by kewpie dolls.

[Agent X]

Funny thing is, it was because of it's cute pastel-graphics (Earthbound) that at the time the game was released I hated it.  Years later I would give it a go (though I never beat it), and found the game enjoyable.  I guess I personally wasn't ready for something along those aesthetics in 1995, and by then the PLAYSTATION had come out (I had the import system, because I couldn't wait like everyone else) and I was too busy playing "Ridge Racer" and "Toshinden" to be swayed.  I think the only thing that caught my eye then was *Final Fight Tough/FF3.  In 2009 at age 30 damn near 31, I probably would enjoy the heck out of the game, but back then nope.

[Rogles]

1986-1995 . It seems right. Eh...

[Rob64]

Little texts like that in the game are actually what make it enjoyable for me. Sure it's funny, but I see it as what it is underneath. These heros are kids... normal kids.... that have normal issues such as wetting the bed. I think that is how it could relate to the players playing the game, because we're just regular guys and so are they. They get to save the world as regular kids... pretty neat concept for that time, none of that superhero type of approach.

[Trium Shockwave]

I have to agree with the people who cite the 16-bit era as the Golden Age. During previous generations, developers were struggling just to figure out what a video game was and how it should work. Even a lot of early Famicom games are pretty clumsy. It probably wasn't until games like SMB, Zelda and Megaman came out that they really had the concept of what made a good game worked out.

So, you take that knowledge and put it toward systems with greater capabilities. Graphics could now show exactly what you want, not just suggest it. Sound effects and music (especially on the SNES) sound like real sounds. Most importantly, developers were no longer so restrained by the capabilities of the hardware when designing the games and could really let their imaginations go for the first time. You didn't have to so rigidly count colors, or play tricks to display larger characters. So, existing genres like the platformer and RPG were expanded and refined, while new genres which were previously impossible were created (like FPS).

The following generation, I thought, was a disaster. With the introduction of 3D, they sort of went back to the drawing board. Nobody really knew how to apply classic game archetypes to 3D. What's a 3D platformer to be like? What about a 3D fighter? What should the storage medium even be? PSX games looked like ass, you could barely tell what anything was. If the SuperFX was the 3D equivalent of the Atari 2600, the PSX was the equivalent of early Famicom games. The N64 had better capabilities, but the cart format and its bizarre texture limitations really put the crunch on what developers could do. Granted, the whole generation wasn't a waste, as games like Ocarina of Time and GoldenEye came out of it, while the JRPG was revitalized in the US through FFVII-IX. Still, nothing compared to what came before or after.

Immediately following, I see the PS2/GCN/Xbox era as a second Renaissance. The speed bumps to figuring out 3D gaming had been overcome, and the hardware had advanced to where the games were good representations of their content again. There are so many good games from that generation that I'll never scratch them all off my list as long as I live.

What we're in right now is another transitional time I think. The industry can keep advancing the graphics, but they really aren't sure where to take gaming next. Nintendo is leading the charge, experimenting with different types of spatial controls, but it's a bit awkward yet. 3rd parties especially are having a hard time with the Wii. I think we've all had enough "waggle" to last a lifetime. However, they did eventually get the DS figured out, so here's hoping time will solve the Wii's wont of good 3rd party games.