Retro Arena: 32-bit era consoles

[Leon Retro]

Which of these consoles from the 32-bit era do you like the most?

[Team Andromeda]

Sega Saturn and is also still to this day the best console ever made and my most favourite console I've owned

[Leon Retro]

Sega Saturn and is also still to this day the best console ever made and my most favourite console I've owned

I have four Saturns. I like all the designs, but the original grey machine with blue buttons is my fave. I have great memories of Panzer Dragoon, Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter 2, Guardian Heroes, and all the excellent shooters such as Radiant Silvergun. Such a great machine that I go back to quite often.

I spent a lot of time with all three back in the day, so it's hard to pick a favourite. They all had lots of excellent games. I did spend a crazy amount of time playing on the N64 though. There's so much nostalgia and fondness for each, so I'm struggling to decide which one I like the most.

[teddymeow]

The N64 was 64bit so started it's own era...

...heh...

[wakka]

PlayStation. The cool guy console. The badass man's console. N64 is for girls and children, Saturn is for people whose parents bought them the wrong thing.








Seriously though, PlayStation is the machine from this era I have had the closest relationship with. I was a kid in the late 90s, and the PlayStation was my first 'brand new' console (before that, I'd owned a second hand Megadrive - which I loved - and played a fair number of DOS games).

The popularity of the PlayStation meant it was common currency at school, with lots of games being swapped and lent out. It also meant there was a lot of rubbish on the system - I sadly remember myself and friends ploughing a decent amount of time into stuff that wouldn't meet the quality bar for a release as a free title today, like Bubsy 3D or Star Wars Episode 1.

It was also my first exposure to games that went beyond what I'd ever thought was possible for videogames. Metal Gear Solid remains my favourite title on the machine, and possibly of all time. Its blend of crisp, satisfying gameplay, manga-style sci fi and supernatural elements and engaging characters and dialogue was a revelation.

In parallel you had titles like Wipeout 2097, Ridge Type 4 and Tekken 3, which felt incredibly technologically advanced. Bishi Bashi Special and The Lost Vikings provided compelling multiplayer experiences, and the relatively low cost of games - I remember new titles being £29.99 in Electronics Boutique, and used Platinum releases often available at the £5 to £10 mark - meant I got to try a very wide variety of experiences.

I was envious of a friend who had an N64 and raved about Ocarina and then Majora's Mask, but other than that, I was pretty content. I did want Snowboard Kids as well though. And Lylat Wars. OK, maybe I did want an N64 too!

The Saturn was an unknown to me. I remember seeing it in shops, probably near its release and before I got a PS1 around '96, and wanting one. The only person I knew who had one mostly just played Tomb Raider on it, and it just kind of seemed like an inferior PS1.

As an adult, I now own a Saturn - Speedy modded job - and realise what a wonderful library it has. I have a ton of fun playing mine, it's an awesome machine. But it's not one that I have the long term relationship that I've had with the PS1.

[Nu-Eclipse]

There’s no denying the impact that PS1 had both industry-wide and in terms of the broader pop culture. Makes the PS Classic’s failure even more damning IMO.

I would love to own a Sega Saturn - it’s still on my bucket list as I never got to play much of it BITD. Brilliant in terms of the 2D/arcade port stuff it could do (surpassing even the PS1 in that respect, obviously thanks to the RAM expansion capabilities) but badly lacking on the 3D front.

The N64 is the console I have the closest relationship with as it is the one out of those three that I actually owned. Very fond memories of a lot of great titles and multiplayer play for it back then but it has arguably aged the worst out of all three - probably not hard to see why Nintendo don’t want to put in the work to make an N64 Classic Mini in that respect.

[Anpanman]

PS for me, first time I saw Ridge even though it was the PAL version it really made my jaw drop. Great games like Tekken, GT, Soul Edge and the plethora of niche Japanese stuff made it easily the best for my needs.

Saturn: I'd really like to get one, every time we go to Japan I have a look in the local Hard-off, hopefully one day I will have one to play the shooters.

N64 looked and felt like something that came free in a Corn Flakes box, a mate used to bring his round so we could play Goldeneye which is the only game I liked, everything else just doesn't appeal. When Sony and Sega were utilising CD's Ninty bring out a cartridge based machine...

[Cepp]

I like the Saturn but it's the Playstation for me easily.

I begged my parents for an N64 for Christmas 98 for Ocarina of Time and it was an amazing experience but the quantity and variety of releases was just abysmal. Add to that the cost of games and I actually sold it later in 1999 which angered my parents somewhat. The Saturn was a non entity, I didn't know anyone that had one, and only knew about games for it via multi platform mags and adverts selling imports and modded systems. I was curous but there was no way to really get into it until the early to mid 2000s.

With the PSX I'd play link up C&C Retaliation with friends, Time Crisis with the GunCon, share tips and tricks for breeding a Golden Chocobo in Final Fantasy VII, see how long I could evade the police in GTA, enter people's dreams in Alundra, fight injustice with G-Police, race upside down in Rollcage... There was just so much variety out there, it seemed like every week there was something cool and interesting coming out.

Friends started getting their systems chipped but there was a lot of misinformation about mods causing your games to play in black and white so I held off until it turned out an RGB cable would "fix" it. Then I was heading round to the old bloke round the street to browse his list every week or heading into the basement of the Coliseum in Manchester to see if they had anything he didn't.

Thanks to that and borrowing between friends I discovered Dino Crisis when it had only just come out in Japan, Metal Gear Solid before I'd even read about it in magazines and Final Fantasy Tactics which is probably my most played PSX game of all time.

Desperate for anything anime related back I'd use my Xploder cheat cartridge to watch intros and cutscenes constantly as well heh. There's no point in getting one these days but I drooled over those VCD addons as well. Movies on a disc? Madness.

[Leon Retro]

The N64 was 64bit so started it's own era...

...heh...

The Jaguar did 64-bit way before the N64.

It was also my first exposure to games that went beyond what I'd ever thought was possible for videogames. Metal Gear Solid remains my favourite title on the machine, and possibly of all time. Its blend of crisp, satisfying gameplay, manga-style sci fi and supernatural elements and engaging characters and dialogue was a revelation.

The PlayStation started the modern era of gaming. Games like Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, FF7, Gran Turismo, Driver, Silent Hill etc... were groundbreaking titles that showed the future of gaming.

In parallel you had titles like Wipeout 2097, Ridge Type 4 and Tekken 3, which felt incredibly technologically advanced.

It really was stunning to see the machine pushed further and further each year up until around 2000. Soul Edge/Blade is another game that felt incredibly advanced at the time. Driver also really impressed people late into the machine's life.

I was envious of a friend who had an N64 and raved about Ocarina and then Majora's Mask, but other than that, I was pretty content. I did want Snowboard Kids as well though. And Lylat Wars. OK, maybe I did want an N64 too!

I had loads of fun with the N64. Games like Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, Wave Race, GoldenEye, Star Fox 64 etc... were really impressive and a joy to play.

As an adult, I now own a Saturn - Speedy modded job - and realise what a wonderful library it has. I have a ton of fun playing mine, it's an awesome machine. But it's not one that I have the long term relationship that I've had with the PS1.

I think a lot of people in the UK saw the Saturn as an inferior PlayStation. That was quite a common feeling across the gaming scene. As you say -- it's actually an awesome machine with a rich library of games.

I really liked how each machine had its own vibe and exclusive games. It made things very interesting.

but badly lacking on the 3D front.

As much as lots of devs preferred the PlayStation tech, the Saturn could definitely deliver impressive 3D games. Sega Rally, Exhumed, Panzer Dragoon/Zwei etc... really show off the 3D aspect of the machine. But of course, the Saturn has always had a strong image as a 2D powerhouse.

The N64 is the console I have the closest relationship with as it is the one out of those three that I actually owned. Very fond memories of a lot of great titles and multiplayer play for it back then but it has arguably aged the worst out of all three - probably not hard to see why Nintendo don’t want to put in the work to make an N64 Classic Mini in that respect.

I would agree to some degree that it's aged the worst -- and it definitely doesn't have as many good games as the PlayStation and Saturn. But I still go back to the N64 and enjoy some of its games. There are around 20 games that Nintendo developed/published that could go on an N64 Mini and I think most people would be happy. Most of them stand the time reasonably well. Of course, there are plenty of terrible games for the system that would be torture to play these days.

[Leon Retro]

N64 looked and felt like something that came free in a Corn Flakes box, a mate used to bring his round so we could play Goldeneye which is the only game I liked, everything else just doesn't appeal. When Sony and Sega were utilising CD's Ninty bring out a cartridge based machine...

I really like the design of the N64, but agree that it was strange for Nintendo to bring out a cartridge-based machine in the CD era. It definitely put lots of developers off the machine. But as much as the machine didn't get loads of great games, it got enough to keep me interested. I spent loads of time with the machine between 1996-2000.

With the PSX I'd play link up C&C Retaliation with friends, Time Crisis with the GunCon, share tips and tricks for breeding a Golden Chocobo in Final Fantasy VII, see how long I could evade the police in GTA, enter people's dreams in Alundra, fight injustice with G-Police, race upside down in Rollcage... There was just so much variety out there, it seemed like every week there was something cool and interesting coming out.

It really did deliver in all areas. There was always a buzz surrounding machine that made it really exciting. You had so many excellent games covering all genres.

Sony really should have done a lot better with the PlayStation Classic.

[teddymeow]

The Jaguar did 64-bit way before the N64.

The Jag-what?

[Cepp]

Yeah they really ballsed it up with that release. I would like one of the usb pads though

DDR was another game I loved to play on the PSX. I'd spend stupid amounts of time and money playing it at the Namco Station in the Trafford Center and then carry on as soon as I got home. I still love Naoki's tracks to this day

[Team Andromeda]

I have four Saturns. I like all the designs, but the original grey machine with blue buttons is my fave. I have great memories of Panzer Dragoon, Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter 2, Guardian Heroes, and all the excellent shooters such as Radiant Silvergun. Such a great machine that I go back to quite often.

I spent a lot of time with all three back in the day, so it's hard to pick a favourite. They all had lots of excellent games. I did spend a crazy amount of time playing on the N64 though. There's so much nostalgia and fondness for each, so I'm struggling to decide which one I like the most.

[Anpanman]

Here's my Saturn's

That's five!

Anyway, as I said in my post I normally go to the local Hard-off when I'm over at the in-laws. Would you say it's better to get an original Japanese version of can a PAL console be modded to play imports full screen at 60hz etc.

[Team Andromeda]

That's five!

Anyway, as I said in my post I normally go to the local Hard-off when I'm over at the in-laws. Would you say it's better to get an original Japanese version of can a PAL console be modded to play imports full screen at 60hz etc.

I like the look of the original Japanese launch model myself, but I had issues with getting it double switched (the 50/60 Hz) but it's the Saturn I use the most and it's my original launch model which I bought from Lee way back in 94 and it still works fine