The Xbox Series X and PS5 are looming on the horizon. Switch consoles are still sold out since everyone wants one. Epic Games has begun a war with Apple and Google. Oh how times have changed.
We used to call these types of conflicts "console wars," but these wars are no longer restricted to simply marketing one console over the other.
Before, the wars were all about how "Genesis does what Nintendon't," which consoles had better graphics, how CDs could store more data than cartridges could despite the horrendous loading times, which consoles had better first party games and third party support, which controllers didn't suck, which consoles got red or yellow rings of death, and how motion controls were stupid despite them being shoved down our throats.
Let's briefly recount the various video game and console wars that have occurred throughout history.
Generations 1 and 2: Atari vs. Itself and too many other consoles
Everything began with Pong and the Atari 2600... which is not true; the Magnavox Odyssey came out first in 1972, but nobody remembers that. The Atari 2600 is the first major video game console that truly found success with the American market. There were way too many other consoles released during this time, and I'll not bother listing any of them. All you need to know is that Atari essentially committed suicide and nearly destroyed the entire video game industry. Now if it weren't for Atari, video games would never have become a legitimate or lucrative business, but Atari also nearly brought about the extinction of video games after releasing to many shitty games. Pac-Man on the Atari 2600, E.T., the Video Game Crash of 1983, and the rest is history.
Generation 3: Nintendo the Savior
R.O.B. and the Nintendo Entertainment system (or Famicom in Japan) saved the video games industry. Of course, the NES was not marketed as a video game console; no one would have bought it if that were the case. It was a "home entertainment system" that included a toy robot and gun. You need to know what the kids like, after all. Sega released the Master System, but few people care about that. No wars happened during this time; it was a golden era of peace and prosperity. There were also a lot of golden Zelda cartridges.
Nintendo was a savior that later became an evil overlord.
Generation 4: The 16-Bit Wars - Sega Genesis vs. Super Nintendo
The 90s were when the real wars began. Both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo were brilliant consoles with gorgeous 16-bit graphics. The Sega Genesis had Sonic, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star, Streets of Rage, Gunstar Heroes, Shining Force, Comix Zone, Ecco the Dolphin, and a bunch of other weird and cool games. The Super Nintendo had Super Mario World, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Star Fox, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country, Kirby, Yoshi's Island, Mega Man X, Secret of Mana, and Earthbound. All masterpieces.
It was a true war. Watch this old Sega Genesis commercial, and you will understand:
The Sega Genesis had the better, uncensored version of Mortal Kombat. Aladdin for Sega Genesis allowed you to use a sword, so therefore the Sega Genesis was better. If you liked Nintendo more, you were uncool. You were sad and pathetic. You were a child, a baby, playing baby games like Mario. Or you played the game in which Yoshi carried baby Mario on his back.
But, in fact, the Super Nintendo was actually better. There were more better games. The Super Nintendo had A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy IV-VI, Mega Man X, and Chrono Trigger. Therefore, the Super Nintendo was better. 49.1 million consoles sold for Super Nintendo vs. 35 million sold for Sega Genesis. The numbers speak for themselves. Nintendo smoked Sega. Genesis did not have a lot of the amazing games that the Super Nintendo had. Nintendo also released the Game Boy line of consoles... and Pokemon... so I guess Nintendo is the clear winner of this war.
But the Sega Genesis had Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Therefore, the Sega Genesis is the best.
In truth, the Super Nintendo is my favorite console of all time.
Sega fans were insecure ignoramuses pretending that they were cooler and more mature because they had edgier games with blood, all because Sega marketed to an older demographic. And then there's Night Trap. Sega also looked like a fool during the 1993 congressional hearings on video games.
But Nintendo fans were babies who refused to grow up. They clung to their innocence and remained blind Nintendo fanboys/fangirls even as they aged and became "adults." Now they, together with the fake/non-fans and bandwagoners, play Animal Crossing on their Switches or pretend that they know all the characters in Smash Ultimate. They probably still don't even know how many Links there are across all the canonical Zelda games.
Bums, posers, and phonies, the lot of them!
Generation 5: How Sony Defeated the Evil, Beloved Overlord Nintendo - Nintendo 64 vs. PlayStation vs. Sega Saturn
Video games jumped into the third dimension.
Consumers were presented with difficult questions: Cartridges or CDs? Want to buy a memory card?
Thank you, Nintendo, for spurning Sony. I wrote in another article how the falling out between Nintendo and Sony resulted in the birth of the PlayStation, thereby requiring me to buy multiple consoles every generation since I can't have all the games I want on just one console for some reason.
I also believe this is the generation when Nintendo began to fully embrace its identity as a sinful, evil overlord that enslaves its fans by taking advantage of their love for and addiction to its phenomenal first-party games. I believe I've talked about this topic already.
Sega made a grave error, then lost this war before it even began. No one cared about their advertisements that targeted a more mature audience. No matter how hard Sega tried, it couldn't catch lightning in a bottle for the second time. They released their console too early with too few games, for $399.
All Sony had to do was say "$299." Then they won the war.
The Nintendo 64 continued Nintendo's tradition of obstinacy and relying on first-party games to sell its console. This didn't work that well, or I suppose it worked to an extent.
Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Pokemon Snap, Smash Bros., Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Mario Party and Mario Kart 64. These games were damn good.
But...
PlayStation
had
Final Fantasy VII-IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, Resident Evil 1-3, Tomb Raider 1-3, Crash Bandicoot 1-3, Spyro, Xenogears, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, Suikoden II, PaRappa the Rapper, Tekken 3, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Mega Man Legends...
And
Fucking
Metal Gear Solid.
I hear someone shout, "Numbers please!"
Over 100 million consoles sold for the PlayStation. Less than 33% of that for the Nintendo 64. Less than 10% for the Sega Saturn.
Too bad these games haven't aged well graphically. Too bad that the PlayStation Classic is trash since it's missing almost all of the games I mentioned.
But the Nintendo 64 had some damn good games. The PlayStation just had more. This trend will continue.
In part 2:
Generation 6: PS2 vs. Gamecube vs. Xbox
Generation 7: Xbox 360 vs. PS3 vs. Wii
Generation 8: PS4 vs. Xbox One vs Switch
PC Master Race
Nintendo always wins with handhelds
Epic Games vs. Apple and Google
The world vs. Tencent
And the beloved console "failures."
