Console Wars
 

During the early to mid-1990's, Yugoslavia was broken apart by a civil war. Groups coexisting in peace from late-1918 to mid-1991, suddenly began to see each other as enemies, which continued with the Kosovo War of 1998–1999 and Slobodan Milošević kicked out in early-October 2000. But in Japan and the Western World (except the Northern Ireland conflict between British-Protestants and Irish-Roman Catholics), everything was peaceful?

Not when it came to videogaming! Nintendo and SEGA fought a console war. Nintendo's NES fought SEGA's Master System while the SNES clashed with the SEGA Mega Drive. This affected the entire world of videogaming, from children talking at schoolyard during breaks between lessons at school to videogame magazines trashtalking consoles of other companies. There were TV-commercials with "SEGA does what Nintendon't?

What memories do you have of console wars? (doesn't need to be SEGA against Nintendo), just videogames? Was it much talk among children which was the best? Did you read videogame magazines playing on the console wars?

F*ck console wars.

I wasn't around for the console wars of the 1990s but I did experience a lot of those arguments during my time in school. I was never one to pick a side and act like I was any cooler for it. My arguments were more defensive, usually more towards Nintendo and Xbox because the usual notion was that Playstation was somehow the more "adult" and "hardcore" system with power and graphics being the focus of people's arguments. I never hated Playstation, I've always enjoyed what the current 3 companies have offered but kids back then really drove me to talk a lot of sh*t about Sony just to make a point.

I remember there was a kid who was bragging that the PS2 had GTA: San Andreas and the Xbox didn't and I told him that it would come to Xbox eventually just like the previous ones have and he told me that it was impossible because the Xbox doesn't have the same buttons... and that's not even the worst part. He bet me 50 bucks that it wouldn't happen and I agreed. He then snottily added that his uncle works at Gamestop and he's gonna tell him not to release it. Oh man how laughable that was. I never did get those 50 dollars.

In high school, it was the same story. Nintendo was torn to shreds for being kiddy and people talked trash about Xbox for the red ring of death, paid online, and not being as powerful as their PS Triple. I also had to endure the trash talking of Halo in favor of Call of Duty even though they would be playing Halo had it also been on the PS3. While I don't take the console war so seriously now, it was pretty irritating hearing a bunch of people with a limited taste and knowledge in video games acting like superior little dicks over which system they have and what games they play.

There was this one guy who I didn't even know that well, he was a friend of a friend, who kept bugging the hell out of me to play Halo 3 with him and at the time, I had been playing Sonic Unleashed and Batman: Arkham Asylum so I was trying to enjoy that but he'd constantly invite me to parties on Xbox with all his friends and kept telling me to get on and since I kept declining, he got butthurt and told me that I was lame for not playing Halo 3 and that I play kid games which annoyed the hell out of me because he wasn't even my friend so I didn't understand his obsession. In the end, I just started making fun of him at school because he'd talk sh*t about me to my friend, but he got the worst of it so he ignored me for the rest of high school. Wouldn't even make eye contact. After his obsession with Halo 3 had died down, he became a Call of Duty-tard and all I'd ever hear coming from his general direction was "kill streaks" and "you're lame for not joining my game."

There was a videogame magazine called SEGA Force, originally from the UK. It was also published in Sweden with its own version, and used to trashtalk Nintendo a lot.

I had no idea Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES had been in a war until about 2005. I was born in 1990. I'd play both consoles(SNES far more) in the 90s and just thought they were both pretty cool. As I'd also play Saturn and N64 later. Never even considered they were competitors Being a kid at the time I didn't care about that.

The first "console war" I've become aware of was between the PS2, the Xbox, the DC and the GC. Other teenagers would always go about how good PS2 was and how much the GC was garbage. That would upset me a bit.

I can be a bit of a Nintendo fanboy, but I appreciate most consoles. I like games above all else. But I don't like when people sh*t on Nintendo without ever having played a Nintendo game or only having played Pokémon when they were young.

I didn't make a choice between Genesis and SNES. I got a Genesis as a gift, and that was that. There were definitely times I was bothered that I couldn't play a certain game. I still don't own Turtles in Time. But my friends and I certainly didn't argue about which was better.

N64 and PlayStation was more interesting. I didn't really know anybody with a Nintendo 64. Aside from demos in the store, I never played one until about five years ago. I remember visiting my cousins, as a kid, and seeing one on the shelf, but that's about it. I know PlayStation sold better, but it wasn't totally lopsided. But, somehow, it's what all my friends had. We would bring games to school and borrow each other's all the time. There was no one in class talking about Mario 64 or whatever Zelda game was on there. Just Final Fantasy VII, Twisted Metal and Metal Gear Solid.

I didn't pick my consoles when I was a kid/teenager either. It was my brother who did it.

Really? Didn't know anyone who had a N64? I only hadsuch problem with the GC. Didn't know anyone irl who had one. I even knew a few people with the original Xbox.

I don't know if I want to discuss console wars after that introduction...it almost feels childish to.

I honestly didn't even read the OP. I mean how the hell could I ever imagine in a thread titled "console wars" the Yugoslavia sh*t would be mentioned? :lol:

Anyways...

That jazz was mostly dreamt up marketing nonsense. Plenty of kids liked both, & even those with strong preferences didn't typically talk smack about the systems they weren't supporting. At least not in my neck of the woods while growing up.

Yeah, same here. I always had everything and always will have everything.

Same here. I loved them all and no one ever argued which was better.

Dreamcast was clearly the best though.

I had NES and SNES, but played SEGA at school classmates. I had no problems with other consoles, but it was fun to read about all those who strongly supported one side, usually at the letterbox pages for vidoegame magazines.

lol Turo the hard-***

I agree. The funny thing is I didn't know much about the console wars in the 90s. I received a Mega Drive as a present and that was that. I didn't pay any attention to other consoles such as SNES and PlayStation. Even when I learnt more about the console wars in the 00s, I still didn't have much interest in them.

Lol, that sh*t is unbelievable. You'd think even in high school it wouldn't matter anymore but I guess people are naturally inclined to act that way. Just look at people with sports teams.

I remember the console wars. Sega vs Nintendo. I personally didn’t care one way or the other. I had a Super Nintendo (I didn’t ask for it, I got it as a Christmas present), but my cousin and our friend had a Genesis (my cousin got it as a Christmas present too), so we had the best of both worlds. Our friend lived up the road, and my cousin lived across the street. Both consoles had good games. IMO, I don’t feel any generation after that can compare to the console war thing of the early part of the 90s. Sega and Nintendo were in steady competition during that time. Of course Nintendo conquered Sega…poor guys. Seemed that hardware wise, Sega never seemed to recover from it.

The next gen, the Sega Saturn, N64, and Playstation was interesting. I received the N64 as a present…I didn’t ask for it. Since the SNES still had life in it (and to my knowledge, unless the Wii or something broke its record, the SNES had one of the longest lifespans of any console)…I had asked for more games for Christmas. I was surprised to see an N64 sitting under the tree that year.

Anyway, I kinda feel bad for the Saturn. Apparently, here in Japan and in Europe, it got more love. Underrated I guess. Same with the Dreamcast.

Anyway, it’s interesting how things used to be and how other companies were actually challenging Nintendo.

I was raised with Nintendo so you can guess what i liked and everything else sucked. Even though I knew Sega was the enemy I still loved Sonic and loved to play it whenever I got a chance and while it "sucked" I secretly wanted one even if it was inferior to my SNES. Similar feelings when I saw the Saturn and I wanted Sonic R so badly but no way that's Sega. I remember playing for hours at EB Games/Babbages the Dreamcast Demo unit, the guys probably hated me for it and thought the graphics were amazing and what was the first thing I said when my friend told me he bought a Dreamcast? "It sucks!" and he responded "No, it doesn't". I almost bought a Dreamcast when it was $100 with Sonic Adventure 2 included I think but I didn't since by that point Sega had already confirmed it was leaving the console business and I already owned a Gamecube/PS2.

For Playstation I felt similarly, I found games like Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy incredibly appealing. I remember playing for hours that "crappy game" Parappa the Rapper but loved playing the demo disc at the stores. I was so mad that these inferior games like Crash and Medievil were getting attention if Nintendo 64 was out there but that didn't stop me from playing them at every store. What I was most jealous of was all the anime RPGs since I loved RPGs and anime as a kid and hated how the Playstation had FMV which automatically made the games so much cooler.

By the time the "128 bit console" for lack of a better term came out I was 14 or so and worked at my Aunts hotels o I had disposable income and I decided I was a "hardcore gamer" and loved games not only one company so I almost bought a PS2 for Christmas at launch but the fact that you couldn't find it and that my inner fanboy didn't let me. I remember being so disappointed that the Gamecube wouldn't play DVDs, I remember emailing Nintendo on their official website and got a response and being excited that they replied but also angry that it didn't. Anywho when Twisted Metal came out I caved and bought a PS2 and a Gamecube when it came out months later. I loved both consoles but especially loved the Gamecube. By this point though I was quickly losing my gamer self and a year later I barely ever played any videogames. But before that I remember always defending Nintendo in message boards.

I fell off of gaming and only got back thanks to the Wii, I went full on Nintendo fanboy mode again though later I was more open and started to collect consoles from any company as I worked on a retro gaming collection. I almost got a PS3 on a few occasions aswell but never did because really I'm not a huge gamer and even a Nintendo machine with barely any games is still more than I can play. PC gaming was something I did as early as the NES days on and off but I was never that into it and they didn't feel much like "games", I also played a few more in the N64 era mostly RTS games and some third party games that weren't on N64 like Tomb Raider. I re-discovered PC gaming around the PS4 era so I had no need for any newer consoles besides Nintendo ones anymore, that's a lot easier for me now to keep games without worrying if I play them 4 years later, it's all the same machine.

My console war life, it's funny how passionate we get over consoles like sports teams and we want "our team" to do well ignoring logic. I try to be unbiased for the most part but don't understand how grown ass adults can be so childish about it> I understand fighting about consoles with my friends/forums when I was a kid and early/mid teens but it's ridiculous. I know I have a bias on Nintendo stuff but I don't go around saying everything else sucks, I just say that "----" game doesn't appeal to me and Animal Crossing does.

With the exception of the original NES, even though I played it because my cousin had one and neighbors did, and the WiiU, I’ve owned all of the Nintendo home consoles…even though the Wii was more of a family console that rarely ever got used by my family. lol My mother wanted it for my grandmother and my mom wanted to do the WiiFit stuff. When I moved back home, I pretty much hung on the virtual shop, downloading older games to play.

The Nintendo magazine I was reading at the time promoted a bit of a mock rivalry, and kids would send in drawings of Sonic the Hedgehog being maimed in mildly amusing ways. It didn’t really carry over to the playground as far as I remember. I don’t recall any kids catching grief for owning a Mega Drive. It wasn’t really cool to talk about videogames that much anyway.

Later in life I wondered if the ‘console war’ was an American thing, but I’m starting to think that it’s played up nowadays to make our collective childhoods sound more exciting than they probably were. Another recent phenomenon that I find interesting is the shift in narrative in favour of Sega. It may have been different in other parts of the world, but as I recall, Sega were a bit of a joke. They made a good showing with the Mega Drive, but they pissed away their lead almost immediately. No one gave two craps for the Saturn or the Dreamcast, but if you look at the internet nowadays you’d think they were game-changers.

There are so many YouTube videos floating around where odd looking twenty-somethings explain how the crusty old fuddy-duddies at Nintendo made bonehead move after bonehead move while the plucky upstarts at Sega ate their lunch. This information comes third-hand from the mouths of bitter old marketing executives; and marketing people are, after all, the most trustworthy people in the universe.