The challenge with this question is that not everyone has played in every console, so like, for me, I can only comment on the Atari 2600, the Wii and the XBOX 360.
From that small sample, the wii wins hands down. I loved the motion controllers a lot.
I get what @berttheduck said about long games / serious gamers but can you imagine your grandma trying to play most Switch or PS5 or other new console games now?
The Wii brought gaming to the general public in a way nothing else had. Like most modern Nintendo consoles it was under powered and gimmicky but the gimmick worked so well for people new to gaming, point at the TV or wiggle the controller as you would to do the thing in real life was a huge step to making an abstract concept make sense to people. For longer gaming sessions or more “serious” games the Wii controls were generally lacking but damn if Wii sports wasn’t good fun.
It’s the same with “hack and slash”. Originally also referred to games like Diablo, but now we all use it to refer to stuff like DMC, pre-2018 God of War, Bayonetta, etc.
Sega was a victim of the Dreamcasts success. They lost money on every console sold, didn’t make it back on the software, and spent too much money on things like Shen Mue.
This is a pretty solid summary. Part of why they didn’t make their money back on software was because of how easy it was to copy and share. It didn’t help that they had alienated so many 3rd party devs by prematurely abandoning platforms so many times. They stuck with the Genesis for a long time, trickled out 32X and CD add-ons and only put out a handful of games for those, released and immediately ditched the Saturn, and then didn’t go as all in on the Dreamcast as they probably should’ve. At least they knew to cancel the Neptune, which was just gonna be a standalone 32X.
They should’ve not done the CD and 32X and instead dumped those resources into getting the Saturn out like a year earlier. Then they could’ve taken their time building that library, and then go all in on the Dreamcast, bringing lots of 3rd party support that happily made money off of betting on the Saturn. But hindsight is 20/20.
People tend to lump in the Sega CD with the failed systems, but it was actually the most successful console add on ever, supporting over 200 games.
This was part of the problem with the 32X. Sega USA ran with the CD and turned it into a success when Sega Japan didn’t want it. When Japan was prepping for Saturn, US demanded the 32X and when Japan said “no”, US said “yeah, well, look at Sega CD, what do you know?” Sega USA arrogance willed the 32X into existance and, well, you know the rest.
Guitar Hero sold more, but how many games USE the guitar? 4? 5?
The CD and 32X were effectively just life support to keep the Genesis alive while Nintendo put out a whole new generation of console. Sega could’ve leapfrogged Nintendo’s SNES if their follow-up to the 16-bit cartridge based Genesis and competitor to the 16-bit cartridge based SNES had been the 32-bit disc based Saturn, but in 1993 instead of 1994-95. “Nintendo just caught up to what we’re leaving behind.” Video game history would be incredibly different. Nintendo would’ve maybe lost a significant amount of market share to Sega. Sony might’ve stayed out of it or at least would’ve had real disc competition. Sega might’ve stayed in the hardware game, which maybe would’ve kept Microsoft from entering since there’s no vacuum to fill. This might’ve affected PC gaming too since devs could basically double dip their work to put out very similar games on both PC and Xbox.
Sega CD was successful in that it kept Sega players from jumping over to buying a SNES. Idk how that worked though because an entire SNES was cheaper than the Sega CD add-on. They could only sell games to people who had already bought a Genesis AND shelled out a SNES and a half worth to keep it relevant. If you didn’t own a Genesis or a SNES and you’re at Circuit City or whatever looking at them, it’s kinda hard to not choose the SNES. Genesis was $150 while the SNES was $200, sure, but the SNES was new and polished while the Genesis was already 2 years old AND they felt the need to release a $300 add-on to keep up with the SNES. So if you’re trying to get your money’s worth, you could either spend $300 on a SNES and a couple of games, or you could spend about the same for an older console and maybe one or two extra games, or you could dump $450 (equivalent to $1,019 in 2024) and still not have any games. So how in the fuck did the Sega CD succeed? Sega was just really good at marketing, I guess.
The 32X was a disaster and it was bred from a conflict between Sega USA and Sega Japan.
In the US, the Sega CD had been a HIT. Japan wanted to drop it, US said “we’ll take it!” and it ended up being the #1 peripheral with more games for it than any other console add on ever. Over 200 games.
So when Sega Japan wanted to get the Saturn rolling, Sega US demanded a stop gap between the Genesis and Saturn. Japan resisted, and US went “Yeah, well look at Sega CD, what do you know?” and went with the 32X.
From the start, Japan wasn’t interested, did everything to ignore the product and effectively killed it.
In retaliation, US chose to launch Saturn several months too early. I think they knew going head to head with the Playstation was a death sentence, so they dropped it 5 months early to “select retailers”.
This had 2 problems:
The games were janky and not ready. The first version of Virtua Fighter was so bad they had to later issue a re-mix version for free.
The “non-select” retailers were pissed to be cut out of the early launch. So when the wide release happened in the fall, they leaned in more to support the Playstation than the Saturn.
I just filled out my report to the DGCCRF, and I hope it’s even more damning, amidst my claims of forced obsolescence, that the game was removed from my account in the past week with a message telling me to check the store for new games to buy.
Haven’t played either remakes, but I feel like the brevity (and, at its time, novelty) of the story/scenes in the original made them a bit stronger. Some of the dramatically lengthened scenes have kind of undershot their impact.
Plus, with text speech and tiny gestures from 3D models, your mind was filling in the details your own way, which could actually work well sometimes.
Train gameplay was actually enjoyable for me (especially the way it got used in one of the end game fights was so cool). It was also nice that Zelda was an actual part of the game and helped solve puzzles instead of some princess locked away in a castle.
I played Phantom Hourglass much later and Spirit Tracks honestly just felt much more polished and fun.
I really think that everyone really had trouble with the DS microphone rather than the flute challenge itself. It came pretty easily to me but I doubt I’m a particularly expert mic blower, so I can only think my mic was a fully functioning one and people like you got a much harder challenge.
Majora’s Mask is the best Zelda game. However, Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda game. The setting, art style, and musical score all combined perfectly to make a game that was both really fun and relaxing. No Zelda game since has ever matched the feeling of sailing to the Great Sea soundtrack.
I happened to be able to see the 2017 one and it was so impactful I saved the date and made sure I’d make it happen. Cut forward 7 years and here I am with most of my immediate family (I have 6 siblings so having most is impressive).
It is an experience that can’t be captured by any form of digital or physical media and my only way to describe it is - it’s the closest thing to magic I’ve ever experienced.
I plan on saving up and going overseas for one as well.
I am against MTX because they have put parents in debt when their children have racked up huge MTX bills and it’s very difficult/impossible to get refunds. Yes, parents can protect themselves against this but many parents are not particularly tech savvy and games companies will see these as potentially huge revenue streams and abuse the hell out of them… like EPIC did.
Also, gaming addicts should also be considered and potential routes to indebtedness avoided.
Knowing a game has MTX just makes me less likely to buy it. Price the game correctly in the first place, and offer DLCs if you want some extra revenue.
Portal 2 is definitely the one I pick up regularly, but specifically for the Perpetual Testing Initiative. I’ve already played the main story enough times, but dropping in for a few really well-made user-created levels with a little bit of new Cave Johnson dialogue is great!
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