NTSC-RePlay 015: Megaton

[Neon Ignition]

With the arrival of the fifteenth thread we reach the end of our time in Game Discussion. For our next thread we'll be relocating to another sub-forum to further delve into the discussion archives of Bordersdown and NTSC-UK.


This isn't NTSC-UK... it's NTSC-RePlay

We take our inspiration from a cross section of years as the site has persisted through multiple events in gaming history. Charting multiple generations, new and past 'futures', the rise of new franchises, the fall of old ones, major buyouts, collapsed companies and more - we've seen it all.

Casting your mind back across your time as a gamer, what stands out to you as the single biggest Megaton development, release or gaming related news moment you've experienced?

[QualityChimp]

Thanks for all these threads, Supes/Neon, they've been great fun.

That's a really good question!

Microsoft entering the gaming market seemed such a logical step for them and that was a big move.

Possibly the PS4 E3 announcement at E3.
It wasn't just that it was really good and was probably the last proper graphics improvement, but it absolutely demolished the Xbox One conference from the day before. It was brutal.

Also, as a kid, anything in the Mean Machines Guide To Consoles, especially the Game Boy (moving LCD games! :O ) and the Konix Multisystem. Remember that?!

[Asura]

Casting your mind back across your time as a gamer, what stands out to you as the single biggest Megaton development, release or gaming related news moment you've experienced?

This is difficult, as over the years we've had so many.

Oculus buyout by FB

In recent years, one of the biggest I recall was the Facebook buyout of Oculus. I just remember everything relating to Oculus & VR having such a different vibe in the weeks that followed, and it was also just such a big surprise, as Oculus had historically been this scrappy, independent thing which was trying to disrupt the industry, led by an (at-times volatile) director who seemed like an idealist. People were vicious; a lot of people had contributed to their success via crowdfunding also, and obviously some of those people found out really quickly that crowdfunding is not an investment.

Phoenix Wright vs Professor Layton

This was announced at TGS, and I remember that year I was staying up and watching the event's announcements live, so I saw it around 4am, but [MENTION=16665]Blobcat[/MENTION] absolutely loves these games and I knew it would blow her mind; I was so excited to show it to her the next day. People might not have seen the original Japanese trailer but it starts off as a completely Ace Attorney thing, before someone yells OBJECTION and walks out of the shadows to reveal it's Professor Layton. This is the era Capcom were doing all those amazing SFIV trailers so they were absolutely on fire.

[Asura]

Also, as a kid, anything in the Mean Machines Guide To Consoles, especially the Game Boy (moving LCD games! :O ) and the Konix Multisystem. Remember that?!

You just led me too google this; I remember it at the time, but I always assumed it was either vapourware or a complete hoax. Turns out it was a real thing; there were finished units and games developed, and the hardware ended up in slot machines (a bit like how the M2 ended up as Karaoke machines) while a revised version was the basis for the Jaguar.

[QualityChimp]

Ah interesting! I didn't know how far it came along other than grainy photos in magazines!

I think it's telling you suspect it was a scam after the likes of the Atari console where people spotted the internals were just some old graphics card. We're cynical in our old age, man!

[Neon Ignition]

For me it is instantly this precise moment:




I've never known such an impactful moment, a literal shock to the senses coming from playing the likes of DKC to seeing this for the first time. It's a impact that literally sent everyone into a frenzy talking about it the next day at school and the months dragged on and on and on till I next saw Mario 64 running in an import shop in black and white, then again when the system finally made it out. The N64 would be such an awkward system but it delivered a moment that no system or game has ever come close to recreating.

[Asura]

For me it is instantly this precise moment:

I had this taped off the telly too! You're right; the footage of Mario 64 really was something. I was lucky; I had a promotional video with loads of footage of N64 games that formed a 30-minute loop; it was given to shops to put on an endless loop on TVs, but my local indie got 2 copies and only had use for one, so gave me it.

It's easy to forget sometimes, but despite the move to 3D, in the first couple of years of the 32-bit/3D gaming era, most games had action which was really quite 2-dimensional. Virtua Fighter and Tekken were 3D fighters, but you could only move left/right/up/down, and the 3D elements were quite basic. Racing games generally only allow the player to move left/right and in/out of the screen. We had flying games and so on, so this wasn't universal, but I think it was generally true.

Whenever we had full-3D-movement "character-action" games, they tended to be like Tomb Raider, where the movement was stilted and didn't really flow all-that-well.

Mario64 was a real break from all that, because even in the few seconds of footage present in that coverage, the game was so unapologetically 3D, tasking you to both move and think in 3D for many of its challenges, and it controlled brilliantly.

[wakka]

Mario 64 would also be one for me. It was a TV advert, and I saw Mario running through 3D space leaping across sliding, moving platforms. And I remember that to this day as this incredible moment. I couldn't believe how that game looked compared to the sort of fare I was used to (mostly Commander Keen, at that point).

The N64 wouldn't be the console from that gen I ended up with - I had a PlayStation. And I actually wouldn't properly play through Mario 64 start to finish till just a couple of years ago. But it felt like a seismic disruption, a game from the future, even to me as a tiny little kid.

The other for me would be Pokémon Gold/Silver. I'm a little bit younger than most on here, at 32, so I was 9 years old when Red and Blue released. It's hard to overstate how huge the impact of Pokémon in general was on that age group when it first released. It was absolutely all-consuming. The whole playground every day was full of kids clustered together on Gameboys or trading the cards (until the school banned the lot). And it was an obsession for me personally - the programme, the cards, but most especially the game.

So when a kid brought in a magazine which had pictures of the next generation of Pokemon, with their Japanese names, and screenshots of this new full-colour game with a whole new world and whizzy features like the Pokégear, I was blown away. I remember I had to fight through a massive crowd of kids round him on the playground to take a look.

It wasn't just excitement, either, I remember being a bit worried - it's sort of funny, I was just a nine or ten year old kid and I was thinking 'Man I hope they don't **** this up'. I guess I had that sense of ownership over it that hardcore fans of anything do.

Luckily the game, once I got my hands on it, absolutely rocked.

[dataDave]

Mario 64 for me, as well.

Street Fighter III after that.

[QualityChimp]

Here's another couple!

Remember when Mean Machines Sega came with a VHS tape showing off the Mega CD in Dec 1992?
I'll be honest, the Mega CD stuff didn't really impress the younger me, but at the 9:55 mark, they do some previews of games due out for Christmas and Streets of Rage 2 blew my socks off as the barman stops cleaning glasses and walks outside, you follow, then the music drops to just the sound of the rain just before the boss music kicks in.



Another one was seeing on an Official PlayStation Magazine the trailer for Final Fantasy VII.
I had proper chills first time seeing it!



SIDE NOTE: I remember having a proper finger-click-point moment when I heard the music on this Armstrong & Miller sketch:

[hudson]

One that immediately comes to mind was discovering Street Fighter Alpha in MAXIMUM magazine. This just came out of nowhere for me. I guess that's just how those times were. We discovered new games in monthly publications. It was the first time we saw something fresh after the SFII games. I was so hype. Only just calming down actually.

[Asura]

One that immediately comes to mind was discovering Street Fighter Alpha in MAXIMUM magazine. This just came out of nowhere for me. I guess that's just how those times were. We discovered new games in monthly publications. It was the first time we saw something fresh after the SFII games. I was so hype. Only just calming down actually.

I had this too, but my memory is wondering if they'd rebooted the franchise and made Ken into a woman:

[Wools]

The big one for me was when Sega annonced they were ending Dreamcast development and going software only. After years of playing and loving Sega games only on a Sega console, that was a huge shift in my brain and it was massive news when it occured.

Also, the PlayStation was so big, it's hard to put into words when it showed up. Seeing those early fully 3D games running was a stunning revolution. Combined with all games being on CD, it just felt like the future. Yes, games had run in 3D before and we had CD's too, but to combine and refine with the tech the PlayStation had running inside of it was the making of the 3D era.

We'll never have another revolution like it.

[hudson]

I had this too, but my memory is wondering if they'd rebooted the franchise and made Ken into a woman:

Ha! The same issue had some King of Fighters action too. That magazine felt so sophisticated Had to be read in an arm chair in front of the hifi stack, headphones, whilst stroking your beard/invisible beard.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I remember seeing the PlayStation2 in a magazine for the first time and I absolutely lost my ****. I was excited for like a year straight