And the console of choice: the Nintendo Family Computer a.k.a the Nintendo Entertainment System in North American territories. The Famicom as it was fondly called, was responsible for bringing us games like Super Mario Bros., Legend ofKage, Ikari Warriors, Contra,Rockman, Ninja Gaiden and the lot. Those games were simple yet brilliant, looking back they were the games that shaped not only our otaku fancy but the whole video gaming industry itself. I remember playing some of these straight out of Japan and thus, were untranslated. English versions of early games were uncommon, but due to the stright-forward nature of most of these games, figuring out the plot and finishing them were relatively easy.
Then came the Sega Mega Drive, which was a revolutionary system for it's time. Sega introduced us to Sonic, Golden Axe, Killer Instinct and a slew of other next gen games. Suddenly, the industry was abuzz, prompting Nintendo to step in with their Super Famicom rivaling Sega's machine supremacy. For a few years, Sega and Nintendo were tooth and nail with each other. Companies like Atari and 3DO came up with their systems, but were not able to cope up with the two's dominion.
Then came the 'portable console wars' which started with the Nintendo Gameboy which was an instant hit among otaku gamers as they can take their games practically everywhere. Sega, never far behind came up with their Game Gear, a colored portable system that seemed to give Nintendo a run for its money. But the Gameboy was proven to be the better system all because of one game: Pokemon. But that is another story altogether reserved for another time.
More on the otaku lifestyle then and now on later parts of this series.
2 comments:
Ah, yes. This is also were I started.
Before, the only console I had was the Famicom (aka Family Computer) and I played it.. A LOT (^^) that's where I was introduced to my all-time favorites -- Rockman,Castlevania and Dragon Quest... and damn, I also remember that Ikari Warriors! I used to played it a lot. I think there were many versions of it.
I don't own an SNES and SEGA before. I used to borrow my cousin's SNES and played very few games like Super Mario World, Rockman 7, Donkey Kong and even Power Rangers. I have little moments in SEGA. I have a friend who owned one and I would visit him sometimes just to watch him play some SEGA games.
I had very few memories about the Gameboy since I also don't owned one (I was really a poor boy back then) One time a neighbor lend me his Gameboy and played very few titles like Ninja Gaiden, Contra and Demon Crest
Playstation, I don't own one but I would usually go out just to play PS games at some gaming shops. And also, piracy became a common thing at that point so its easy to get some PS games and played it in your PC using an emulator.
Same here, never got to own a Mega Drive but at least I got a taste of the Famicon, Super Famicom and PS. I even had an Atari 2600 but that wasn't my fondest otaku gaming moment.
Here's to the future of gaming!
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