Gaming in the 90′s, Part 1: 16 bits of Nostalgia
November 15, 2011
The 90′s was an awesome decade to be a young gamer. It had that perfect balance between rough innovation and polished refinement. While hardware innovations yielded rapidly increasing graphical capabilities, Western industrial development was still in its budding days. For every familiar-but-new iteration of a Nintendo franchise, there was a wacky PC game with not quite perfect mechanics that had the potential to invent new genres. An environment that the modern indie scene harkens back to.
It also gave us the greatest console war of all time.
In 1991, Nintendo introduced American gamers to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). After successfully launching its Japanese counterpart, the Super Famicom, the previous year, Nintendo’s push across the ocean came with massive fanfare. Its launch library was a select group of franchises, a trend that continues with Nintendo consoles to this day. Super Mario Brothers, F-Zero, Pilotwings, and later Zelda: A Link to the Past were the console’s bread and butter. These games were refinements, following the same paradigm of “if it ain’t broke, apply polish” that later made developers like Blizzard Entertainment so successful. As the decade pushed on, the SNES would establish the essential traits of the classic RPG, allowing the Square Enix (then Squaresoft) juggernaut to bloom.
Meanwhile, an upstart arcade manufacturer called SEGA was struggling to find its own footing in the console market. After releasing the Mega Drive 16 bit system under the new moniker “Genesis” in the US in late 1989, SEGA found difficulty in establishing traction. Its brand, while recognized for arcade action hits, didn’t resonate with young consumers the way Nintendo did. While titles like Altered Beast contained amply addictive gameplay, there was no prevailing attitude, no character, no heart. That all changed in 1991, when a little blue speed demon tore into living rooms across the country. Finally, SEGA had an answer to Nintendo’s appealing mascot: their own counter-Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog.
The bitter fight than ensued was epic. Do you remember the magazine covers? The Mortal Kombat controversies? The endless zany peripherals like the Super Scope and Game Genie? If you think 360 and PS3 fans have a hate boner for each other, you have no idea. It’s amazing how vehement 10-12 year olds could be during the era of Seattle grunge rock.
While the SNES may have eked it out in the long term sales figures, Genesis enjoyed bursts of popularity where it held a substantial lead in the market share. ultimately the victor was the greater gaming population. Competition helped bring out the best in the industry. SEGA’s partnerships with third party developers forced Ninendo to loosen its previously dogmatic proprietary release process. Publishers like Capcom and Acclaim found themselves in a new age of freedom, where the family friendly censors of Nintendo were pushed aside for the almighty dollar. Suddenly fighting games could be played on the SNES with blood turned on, much to the approval of arcade fans.
Direct graphical comparisons also helped pioneer 3D technology into existence. Remember the hype behind the original StarFox and its “Super FX” chip? I played the living crap out of it at every game store in the mall. Despite not being thrilled with the gameplay, I knew it was a stepping stone for much greater forays into the third dimension. As well received as it was, StarFox was an expensive risk. Were it not for the Genesis version of Atari’s Steel Talons, which utilized similar technology, I doubt the game would’ve seen the light of day for several more years. Nintendo effectively HAD to approve a hardware add-on, or risk falling by the wayside.
Ultimately, SEGA chose to advance its hardware more rapidly. By 1995, they were marketing a selection of five different add ons and consoles, including the 32-bit Saturn. The result was a flare out of Genesis titles years before the SNES finally ran out of steam in late 1997. Despite both companies ceasing all 16-bit console production before the onset of the millenium, fans still maintain large libraries ROMs for use on fan created emulators. This labor of love (and dubious legality) is a statement of devotion that Nintendo and SEGA should feel truly proud of. Many games from the era were ported into the 32-bit generation, and to this day top titles are held in almost legendary regard.
As an SNES kid, I still have fond memories of playing Earthbound and Chrono Trigger into the wee hours in the morning. But then, on special occasions my parents would let me rent a Genesis from our local Blockbuster. I couldn’t believe the games I got to sample, and I may miss those weekends most of all…
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