'Golden Age of Gaming'

[Xixor]

As I was playing A Link to the Past (again), I thought that the SNES era (c1990-1996) was surely the 'golden age' of gaming. New 16-bit graphics and controls let designers at Nintendo and even other companies go crazy making all sorts of brilliant games. Some of these include Super Mario World, Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, ALttP, Kirby Super Star, Final Fantasy III, DK Country... The list goes on.

Then I realized how different things are outside of Nintendo. While Nintendo lives in the past, companies like Ubisoft, Sony, and Microsoft are looking to the future. Just look at the amazing franchises today: Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Little Big Planet, Mass Effect... (personally I have not played all of these but I hope to eventually. I listed these off of popularity. Many gamers think that games like these make the present the golden age of gaming.

I want to know what you consider to be the 'golden age of gaming.' Maybe there are two. Please post your opinions, I would like to hear!

 

[SinkingBadges]

I'd say this generation is pretty good. We are getting to the days where stuff like L.A. Noire (a game in which observation is more important than ever) is made and little developers make games like Braid or Limbo. Games are cosidered an art medium and the Wii having made the market larger than its ever been. Videogames are becoming more relevant than they've been in years.

Though, nothing will ever leave the impression that the 64/PSX/Saturn generation left. At least in my opinion. I can't stop wondering how polygonal 3D graphics could've become so commonplace in this day. They were such an innovation when Tomb Raider and Mario 64 came out.

 

[Squirrel]

The 3DS is what brings the future down for me. I can't stand handheld games unless I've got nothing else to do on a long trip. (I was on a plane to Arizona and my iPod ran out of power so that would be one of those cases.) The first DS was good when it first came out for its touchscreen but not the DS lite, the DSI, or the 3DS. The WiiU is handheld but has a TV to go with it so that one's okay.
I'd say the best gaming systems in the world are the Wii and X-box 360. (Although, I only have a Wii out of those two but I've gone to my friends' houses and a lot of them have X-box 360's.)
That's how I see it anyway.

The golden age of gaming is really the gaming systems you grew up with. If you grew up with the N64 you'd probably condsider the time when that was made the golden age of gaming while people who were born around 2000 would consider Wii, X-box, WiiU, and X-box 360 to be the golden age of gaming.

 

[ZoraDeadpool]

i love them all the same but i'm still waiting for a console to impress me the same way the N64 did

 

[El Bagu]

I do not always believe in the future and what will come to us in different areas of life! However; I do not get the feeling that the gaming industry is decreasing so I believe that great things will come to us, great games, great consoles & wonderful experiences!

The golden age is yet to come, it will be fun

 

[Djinn]

I would definitely say the late NES to SNES/Genesis era would be the height. Everything before was a little more specialized, Atari games were very expensive for what they were and few people outside of some more dedicated players had them. Everyone else played the same games in the arcades. The later years of Nintendo and then the SNES/Genesis was when video games really hit mainstream popularity and reached outside of the closed gamer world. Individual games and characters grew into franchises with more than sequels, tie in products were made as well. That was when they began making first video game movies and we started seeing tv shows based on games. Super Mario was hugely popular and was seen everywhere in advertising, cereal, and other tie ins. Multiple tv series based on Mario led to other games getting tv series later on like Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman, Dragon Warrior, Donkey Kong Country, and Earthworm Jim.

Video games were not only out of the arcades, but many more casual players began buying the systems as they became a little more affordable due to competition. Most homes included one of the main consoles and a small collection of games. This was also when the first handheld systems came out that could play cartridge games instead of the old Game & Watch and other similar single game only handhelds. So everyday gaming became much more convenient as well. Most people were exposed to video games in some form at home now instead of having to go to a specific location to play them like an arcade. This helped them rise in popularity among the mainstream public which led to many games becoming household names for the first time.

Much of this seems to have waned in recent years. You will still see some occasional Super Mario or Sonic merchandise around but very rarely or in a nostalgia type of store that also includes merchandise of old tv shows or movies. The era of Mario cereal, shampoo, and themed stationary is over and the few games that do have market tie ins are much rarer to find outside of a few collectibles. There are fewer shows based on games now, and the movies have mostly lowered in quality.

 

[Mikau94]

This was hard for me. I loved the SNES and the N64. My favorite era was the '90s. The N64 was slightly better for me though, It's hard to beat 3D Mario, and 3D Zelda games, plus StarFox 64.

 

[fredthehylian]

I prefer the 90s. The SNES was the last console where Nintendo was making good decisions. Konami, Squaresoft, Enix, Capcom, and Nintendo itself were the greatest publishers on the good ol' SNES in my opinion. Such classics as Super Castlevania IV, Prince of Persia, the Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, Brainlord, Soul Blazer, the first Megaman X trilogy, Aladdin, Link to the Past, and Earthbound are hailed as the system's best games. Genesis also had some good games (Lunar, Phantasy Star II, Ristar, Sonic, etc.) But when the N64 came, Nintendo morphed into a First-Party Empire, with some great first-party games (Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, StarFox 64, SSB, etc.) but hardly any good third-party games. The Playstation, however, began to become an excellent Third-Party system (Castlevania: SotN, the Final Fantasies, Chrono Cross, Grandia, Silent Hill, Megaman X4-8, etc.) After the new millenia arrived, I feel like gaming's kinda losing its mind. I mean, I can only name a handful or two of games I enjoyed released between 2001 and now.

 

[misskitten]

I went for the N64/PS area, it was the "step up" in gaming with the possibility to go "3D" in games. It probably helps that these were my teen years and I was the *most* invested in gaming then, but I honestly think those years had the biggest impact and should therefore be considered the golden age. Sure technically you can do so much more now and in future games, but you were so much more excited about games in those days. Now on the other hand I see a lot of negativity, people just don't seem to be happy or wow-ed by games anymore, with every new release there's a lot of people whose life mission seems to be pointing out every error, every bit not completely "perfect" in a game.

So, yeah, I pick the N64/PS-era, before we all got so spoiled with technology that nothing seems to measure up anymore...

 

[ComposerBrother]

I'm going to keep this short and sweet...
I love the Gamecube 1998-2006 era due to my best childhood memories (sad thats about vegitating lol)
i would come home from school in 4th grade to pokemon firered or minish cap while having 'Drake and Josh' airing on tv...god i miss those days

nostalgia is ftw