PixlBit

We were in the same back in teh NES days as kids. In fact the Nintendo had corned so much of the market, I never even knew that other consoles has exisited in 80s (Sega Master System, Atari 7800, etc.). So the thought of the NES ever being usurped never came into my mind. Until that one fateful day circa Summer 1991 when the first commercial for Sonic the Hedgehog aired. Despite being a serious Nintendo fan, I was excited to see what the Sega Genesis has to offer.

I think although the 16-bit games no longer are impressive to us anymore, it made sense that they were back in the day because it was litterally double the graphical and procesing power of the NES and the like. With the Genesis and Super NES we were just beginning to see home consoles show an ability to look almost just like the arcade games of the time. That was exciting to us. In fact, the Sega built initial Genesis library around their arcade games.

Yeah, I'm not sure I would have understood this game if I had played it back when it was newer either. Especially because this was back when arcade action games ruled the day and they seemed easier to immediately pick up and play. But I Qix is worth a look though.

Stage Select: This is more of Julian question, but Patrick and Justin, please feel free to chime in with your thoughts if this applies to you. When did you become aware of RPGs and what was the RPG that solidified your like (or dislike) of it?

Cage Match: I'm with Super Step on this one. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the win. Although my experience is more with the sequel and beyond, I do remember playing both Pro Skater 1 and Goldeneye around the same same time. I had a much better time with THPS because it just felt so fulfilling to pull off skateboard tricks that I knew I'd never be able to do in real life without breaking evey bone in my body.

I never saw the allure of Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo sixty-snore (just kidding, I love you Mario 64 and Zelda). Even playing with 3 other friends, I just didn't get it. I think it was because I always struggled with the odd controller when playing FPS games on the N64. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the PlayStation was just a better time all around.

I think I have heard of the Gals Panic series. Didn't at least one of them end up on the NES at some point?

If you haven't already, I recommend you try Volfied. It's a better balanced game than Qix while still keeping the main gameplay formula.

Yeah, I didnt play Qix at all until the Taito Legends series came out. I find the arcade version to bee too difficult for my taste. I can barely make it to stage 2 before it's game over. However, I do dig the sequels, especially Volfied. I like how they improved on the Qix formula!

I also very much enjoy Elevator Action and Elevator Action Returns.

Thanks boss! I've never heard of Jezz Ball before (at least, I don't think so). I'll have to check it out.

Ah, okay! You're right...I do remember those sounds when I went into the arcade in Onett. Good ear man.

There's Xevious background music in EarthBound? Do you remember at what part? I'm currently playin through it alongside a podcast called Square Roots (check them out..they're like book club for RPGs). I'd be really interested to see where they put Xevious music into the game.

I enjoyed this brief look into the goings on in planet Nintendo back then. Personally, I was a Nintendo guy all the way (and Sega too) up until the N64 came out. I didn't dislike the system, but the PlayStation had captured my attention sooner since it came out first and all my friends had one or would soon have it. Games like Ridge Racer, Jumping Flash, and Crash Bandicoot really caught my eye. And Sony marketing strategy put the PlayStation to the forfront of my mind way more than Nintendo did with the N64.

That having been said, I always loved playing Mario 64 when I had the chance at kiosk somehwere. Back then, I could only have one gaming system at a time, and the PlayStation was what I went for, saving for it with my own allowance money from chores. The one thing I didn't like about the N64 was that the game were noticeably more expensive compared to PlayStation.

While the average new PlayStation game ranged from about $45 to $50, N64 were almost always priced around $60-$80. And if it was a first-party Nintendo game, that price would rarely drop until they started doing $30 "Player's Choice" games.

So yeah, PlayStation had more liked, plus a more economical price point.