The End of a generation looms...

[ThirdMarioBro]

You know, when I think about it, this is the fifth generation of consoles. I know there have been countless consoles, but I tend to group them mentally by era.

The Atari Generation - 1977-1983
The Dead Years - !983-1985
The Nintendo Era - 1986-1990
The Console War - 1991-1995
The 32/64 bit Era - 1995-1999
The Modern Age - 2000-2005
Age of Reinvention - 2006- 20??

Each era has had something about it that sets it apart, and something specifically we remember it for. That's how I see the time divided up over the years. Seeing as we know everything that we're going to be doing the remainder of this gen, what games for each system gave you the most enjoyment this gen? What memorable experiences will you still treasure two gens from now and what will your remember as sucking?


I know I'll still remember walking into Gamestop to pick up my Cube, and seeing Smash Bros sitting there on demo. It was legendary and I played that fu*ker for 2 days stright when I got home. Then I jumped into playing SA2 just because it was a Sonic game on a Nintendo console which freaked me out like crazy.

Metroid Prime was one of my most treasured experiences this gen because I had written Metroid off as dead. The 64 game was canned, the GBA remake of Metroid 2 disappeared into limbo and fell into hell, and NCL decided the series was dead in Japan so obviously it must be dead everywhere :roll: Then here came Prime, a fu*king FPS. I screamed, cursed, damned them, then E3 came and EGM liked it and I screamed even more :lol: Then I played it, and I have enjoyed few game experiences that much. It felt like I was in the power suit. it felt freash, new, and alive. It felt like a rebirth of the series, but it still felt like Metroid. Everything I could have hoped for. Classic music cues to make you feel at home, but not so much that it draggs you into the past. It was perfect. Probobly only Twilight Princess will beat it, and it'll be a close call. I can only say that after having played Twilight Princess at E3. It will beat Prime, but it's still close in my book.

F-Zero GX also pwnd all racing games to exist. Nintendo and Sega's collaberation froze over hell, and created the best damn racing game to exist. Fast, punishing, furious, unforgiving, but beatable. Absoultely a blessing to experience, and it had replay value out the wazoo. Probobly the last Futureistic racer I'll love. Wind Waker was a pleasnt suprise, and Pikmin caught me off guard as a great title. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was damn legendary. Soul Calibur II, the Final Fantasies, Rez, Star Fox Adventures and Assualt. Everything else was amazing as well.

And Resident Evil 4 was a goddamn masterpiece, nuff said.

I'll also remember the time I spent learning to finally enjoy other consoles. I may have been a tad late to get into any other games on them, but that mistake won't be made again next gen. Oh, and Halo's 1 & 2 rock, as well as Conker. I love that little motha' fu*ka :D


Now, for the sucks this gen. Custom Robo bored the hell out of me. Mario Kart Double Dash's battle mode was a sin and needs to die and burn, oh wait, it did. Bring on DS :D

Sonic Heroes was a steaming festering pile of sh*t. The Crash series also went on a first class trip to hell's kitchen and dragged Spyro with it for the ride. Hello budget mascots. Damn shame too as they almost got me to buy a Playstation back in the day. *sigh* Also, that Ridge Racer that launched with the PS2, it needs to be melted into tupperware or something. BAAAAAAAAD trip. Now, Ridge Racers on PSP, THAT's a racing game. I love that sucker.

Those goddamn F-Zero and Kirby animes need to be burned and forgotten too. Kirby has apprently pulled out of it *whew* and is back to it's old ways, but F-Zero is fu*king dead. Anyways, moving on...

Can't think of much else I'd like to torch. It's been an awesome generation. Better than last one by far. I don't know if the Dreamcast counts as this gen, but I assume it does because PS2 was out then so I'll list Sonic Adventure, Shenumme, Sonic Adventure 2, Mavel vs Capcom 2, Soul Calibur, Crazy Taxi I & II, Space Channel 5 (panty shots and Space Micheal jackson), Seaman (Gawd I miss the old Sega) Rush 2049, Ikruga, and just about everything on that little white box. Bless you Sega.

I guess that's about it. :) Now, your thoughts?

[GK Punk]

I think that was well said, and thought out.

My vote for most fun went to the Dreamcast. To me, in alot of ways, the death of the Dreamcast was the Death of Gaming. It just hasn't been the same to me. Sega was really experimental up to that point, now most games are re-hashes of eachother.

I can't wait to see what happens with the next gen, specifically with the Franchise titles, such as Final Fantasy.

[Barkworm]

I'll never forget this generation since I had to skip the entire 32/64-bit era due to a lack of money (tough times).
My favourite games this generation were definitely "Final Fantasy X" and "Zelda: Wind Waker". Both games will forever hold a dear place in my gamer heart.
As for the question which console gave me the most fun: Well, I have about ten GC games and like 20 PS2 games so... yeah.

[Spitfire]

I started out with a Playstation 2 controller glued to my hand. I got a PS2 for my birthday and it brought me alot of joy.
Devil May Cry
Zone Of The Enders
Metal Gear Solid 2
The Bouncer
Dynasty Warriors 3
Dragon Ball Z Budokai
Grand Theft Auto games

I forgot what else I had that I used to play like crack...

Now I find myself tradeing in those games, DW 3, DBZ:B, GTA...and buying myself something else.

I bought a Gamecube a year later with money I had saved up for a long time. It was only 150! I got the black one that had just come out, I waited for it. I had just enough to get a game with it, but not enough to get Super Smash Brothers, so I bought Sonic Adventure 2: Battle! I liked it when I got it. When I buy a console I always buy a memory card, an extra controller, and one game. After buying a few games and such my birthday rolled around again. I got a Wavebird*Drools* and Smash Brothers! Those were the days ^_^

Now I find myself buying up Resident Evil games like mad O_O I have every RE game for Gamecube but 2 and CVX, because well I own 2 for PS1 and CVX isn't worth buying...anyways it brings me more joy now then my PS2 does. And it has been for months. I havn't used my PS2 often for over a year now. Devil May Cry 3 came out and I played that alot I'll admit but besides that I havn't played anything on it or bought anything for it. My DS and GC keep me happy as far as games go.

I guess I have to thank Nintendo for getting be back into video games, the Sony circle could only lead to Hip Hop video games....*looks at new Gamepro and shivers*

[Turtledude2k3]

My favorite system of this generation was of course the Nintendo Gamecube.

I loved every nintendo system but the snes and nes are the ones I loved the most..

The gamecube was amazing because there was so many great games to play on it..

I never forgot the first time I saw some of th egames coming out for it.. I never actually got one till 2003 when I picked up the mario sunshine bundle. I also had Metroid Prime also.. Both of those games were exciting and new.. Metroid Prime was a excellent game...

Rogue leader, Smash bros melee, Pikmin, Paper Mario 2, mario sunshine, resident evil 4, killer7, and so many more.. This generation had some great games and bad games....

The biggest game of them all................The legend of zelda: Twilight Princess is defeintly going ot end the gamecube generation well.. I hope they releasd it on the day xbox360 comes out..

Microsft will pay for their stupidity of releaseing a console not even past 5 years.. I have an xbox I just feel mad Microsoft is releaseing a new system early..

[Peanut]

This is a tough call for me.

Let's start off with the PS2. Basically, this piece of worthless sh*t was the biggest waste of money in my life. It hasn't been touched for well over a year, most likely 2. The only game I really enjoyed on it was Kingdom Hearts. Burn in Hell.

I got Xbox last of all the consoles, due to it's high price, but I'm really glad I broke down and bought it. It's given me so much joy, so many great games. Most noteable among them, Morrowind, KOTOR, Halo 2 and Conker:L&R. I also played nearly all my multi-platform games on it, so Xbox was huge for me.
P.S. Halo:CE was trash after the 3rd level. I still think it's one of the most overrated games of all time, along with FF7 of course.

And then...Gamecube. When it came out I was flat broke, so unlike PS2 and Xbox, I needed to resort to Christmas for it. I remember digging through all my presents and getting down to a rather large box. No chance in Hell it would be in a big box, but to my surprise the box contained not only a shiny new indigo Gamecube, but Luigi's Mansion and Super Smash Bros.: Melee, along with an extra controller and a memory card. I can't remember the last time I was so happy about getting a console, probably N64.
I love my Gamecube. From Animal Crossing to Super Mario Sunshine, The Wind Waker to Donkey Konga, and Paper Mario to Resident Evil 4. That little purple box has entertained me so much. I was disappointed in a couple of high-profile games, such as the new Star Fox and Metroid Prime, but it's mostly been all amazing. I'm mega hyped for the new LoZ.

My favourite for this generation...it hasn't changed since the first time I touched a controller in 1986. Nintendo's Gamecube.

[malignant]

Yep, i have to go with Gamecube too.

It just had so many way funner games. Yet..everyone bashes it...=\

And then the Xbox coming in Second. I bought it for the non gamecube exclusive games. And iv'e been happy with it.

And still...to this day..i have NEVER laid my hands on a PS2....Ever....and im even happier with that... :P

[愛]

This is a tough decision for me. While I did enjoy Gamecube the most, Playstation 2 really gave me some great games. I also use my Playstation 2 for the original Playstation RPG's. Lunar, FFVII, FFT, Suikoden, Xenogears, and Star Ocean 2, just to name a few.

When Gamecube came out, I didn't even buy it at first. I didn't have the money, and my brother ended up getting it that Christmas. I was disappointed, but he was more than willing to share it. We got Smash Bros. Melee the moment we got it. That game gave me more entertainment than I could ask for. Then there was Metroid Prime and The Wind Waker. Classic games beyond time. I won't even get into Resident Evil 4, because that game explains itself.

Xbox was the system I got that Christmas. I got Halo with it. The game was terrible single-player, but when I played with my brother in co-op and against each other, those were fun times. Knights of the Old Republic was a classic game on the Xbox. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was another great game on the Xbox. There were also letdown games, such as Fable. I will never play that game ever again...

Playstation 2 had its moments, such as Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. I can't remember too many wonderful PS2 games, but there were quite a few good games. Suikoden III and Xenosaga come to mind. Since PS2 has plenty of RPG games, it was a good console for me. I do love a good RPG.

All in all, I received plenty of fun from all three consoles. I won't mention Dreamcast, because...damn. I still miss that console. :cry:

[Deathknight]

For me it was a depressing generation. I own a PS2 and Gamecube and neither of them really got a lot of attention. I had SSBM and Naruto 3 for GC which got a lot of use and Soul Caliber 2 on PS2 but nothing was truely epic like the last gen war when I had PSX and N64. N64 had Goldeneye, SSB, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Zelda OOT, and I could go on for awhile. PSX had MegaMan X4-X6, The Twisted Metal Series, Chrono Cross, all of the Final Fantasys (I liked them all except 9,) and I could go on for awhile with that list. PS2 and Gamecube had very few games that had me truely addicted. I was definitely addiction to Melee and Naruto 3 and I did have other games but most of them didn't really get a lot of attention. My PS2 just collected dust for the most part. I bought Soul Caliber 2 and played that for a good while on it and Twisted Metal Black was definitely one of the worst sequels of all time. I loved Twisted Metal 1-4 and then I got Black when it first came out. Man was I pissed when I played it. I did try playing the GTA series but they weren't that great and had me bored rather quickly. Overall, I'd have to say that in this generation, my favorite was GBA.

[The Stryker]

My Favorite was the Dreamcast just for Phantasy Star Online. that game owned my life for atleast 2 years.

Then its PS2 in a close race beating out GC. I never really got into my Xbox and thats mostly my fault. the only games i play on Xbox are Raw 2(CAW with Custom Soundtracks makes me happy) Halo 2 and KOTOR

[Hannah]

Dreamcast... Sonic Adventure 2. I actually haven't played my dreamcast in about 2 years, because my brother broke all the games we had for it.... I almost killed him when he broke SA2.. x_X;;;

[The Stryker]

The Updates for GC were good too...if you played SA2 and then went back and played SA1 it was going in slooooowmotion Only on DC a-course

[Mondo J. Gecko]

8)
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my vote will go to X-box, although some of my favourite memories come from playing Gamecube at a friends... of playing MarioKart and MarioTennis and Mario Golf... those are very small amount of Memories compared to the Memories of sweet weekly Halo 2 bashings and X-box live Deathmatches... this generation for me is all about the X-box... Halo 2, KOTOR, Splinter Cell, SSX and NBA Live... no PS2 here.... but my Favourite Generation as Peanut said will remin the generation Nintendo... SNES still rocks the house....
...
8)

[Raphael29]

It was a tough call but my vote went to PS2 I just have so many memorable experiences with that one, one of my favorite games to come out this gen was Castlevania, a truly great game that was hard as hell, loved every minute of it, was hooked for months on that game, also loved the DBZ Budokai games, those were lots of fun, Burnout 3 was awesome, best Car Crash game ever in my opinion, love the Devil May Cry trilogy, tons of fun, I like being able to choose between guns and swords, loved the X7 too, that was lots of fun as well, oh yeah can't forget Onimusha, the best samurai games ever in my opinion. Wasn't too impressed with Gundam Zeonic Front, that was a bore, most of the Gundam games on the PS2 have been a bore, they just can't seem to get the physics down right, the new one looks good though.

Gamecube came in a close second, loved Starfox and Metroid Prime, great gaming experiences, kept me entertained for months too, hard games. Star Wars Rogue Squadron was great, loved it. Mario Sunshine was fun, could have been better but it was still fun, Paper Mario the Thousand Year door was lots of fun too, I loved the original Paper Mario and I was excited when Nintendo decided to make a sequel, although I did notice it caused my GC to freeze sometimes, weird. Didn't like WW, because of the Story and the graphics didn't' help any.

Xbox, I think it's a piece of crap and I don't even have mine anymore, I recently sold it after about 2 years, Games weren't doing anything for me I'm not a huge fan of FPS's the only ones I really like are Metroid, and Goldeneye on N64. Halo and Halo 2 did nothing for me, got repetitive quickly and I never could get the two joystick thing down. The only games I really played where the sports ones, and a poker game.

My favorite Generation is the Nintendo Era.

[Mikey the Party Turtle]

GameCube for me. Though XBox had Shenmue IIx, which would automatically get my vote if it wasn't the only real game I loved on it.

If it's included, then the Dreamcast definitley. Shenmue, Sonic Adventure, CODE: Veronica, Jet Grind Radio....ahhh....Shenmue....