1990s TOP 3: Video Games Vol 1

My top 3 video game consoles of the 90s

[/color]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]olor purple]This 1990s top 3 is based on video games. I'm going to list my top 3 video game consoles of the 90s, than in my next article I will list my top 3 favorite games for each console.

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90s Video Game Consoles

[color=red]#3 Sega Genesis [Mega Drive 2] (1993)

[color=green]The Sega Genesis was originally released in the late 80s, but the mega drive 2 was released in 1993 and was the most common model used by every kid I knew. Sega Genesis was a 16-bit system that offered a huge variety of games.

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The controller was very basic and included a D-Pad, 3 buttons (labeled A, B, & C), and a start button. The system offered two controller ports which allowed to people to play games with each other. The 1993 North American version of the Genesis had a very sleek look to it. It was lightweight and solid black.

[align=center][color=green]The Genesis from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe looked similar but altered in color. The Japanese version had a power switch instead of a power button. This version of the Sega Genesis usually came bundled with a game. The bundled systems usually came with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or 6-Pak. 6-Pak was a 6 in 1 game. The games that were included in 6-Pak were Columns, Streets of Rage, Sonic the Hedgehog, Revenge of Shinobi, Super Hang-On, and Golden Axe. I was hooked on the Genesis from the start, I even quit an after school club I belonged to so I could play it longer during weekdays. This version of the Genesis was discontinued in 1998.[/align]

[color=red]#2 Super Nintendo (1991)

[color=green]Sega's arch nemesis was Nintendo and Sega Genesis's arch nemesis was the Super Nintendo. There was a rivalry between fans of both systems similar to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 rivalry we have today. I was more of a Super Nintendo fan because it was one of the first consoles I ever owned. We had a NES but it was my older brothers and I couldn't call it mine. In Japan and Southeast Asia the console was called the Super Famicom. The European (Figure A) and Japanese (Figure B) version of the Super Nintendo looked identical. The North American version looked different. The North American version was gray and box shaped. The system was a top loader unlike the original Nintendo Entertainment System. The power and reset switches were purple and in between the switches was an eject lever. Like the Genesis the Super Nintendo had two ports for controllers which gave players the option of multiplayer gaming. The Super Nintendo was a tad bit heavier than the Sega Genesis.

[color=green]One negative thing that I noticed on the Super Nintendo was that the gray plastic transformed into an unattractive yellowish color over time. The Super Nintendo was also commonly bundled with a video game. The two common bundled games were either Super Mario World or Super Mario All-Stars. Super Mario All-Stars was a 4 in 1 video game (sometimes 5 in 1). It included 4 classic Mario games from the original NES. Those games were Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario: The Lost Levels.

The bundled version of All-Stars included Super Mario World. I spent countless hours with my Super Nintendo and still do today. The Super Nintendo was discontinued in 1999.

[color=blue]***Just another reason why I think Super Nintendo is better than Sega Genesis!

[color=red]#1 Nintendo 64 (1996)

[color=green]The Nintendo 64 is by far my favorite console of the 90s and my favorite Nintendo console ever! Nintendo had a lot of completion is the 90s. They had to compete with the Sega Genesis, the Playstation, and other consoles that were trying to revolutionize the gaming industry. Nintendo had one last trick up their sleeves in the 90s and that trick was the N64! The N64 had the same look in all countries unlike Nintendo's previous consoles. The standard N64 was solid black with a gray top loader slot and gray controller ports. The N64 was Nintendo's first home console to offer four controllers ports so four people could play a game together.

The N64 had an expansion slot on top if you wanted to add the expansion pak. The expansion pak increased the console's 4MB memory to 8MB.

On the bottom of the N64 was another slot which I never used and no one else I knew used either. It was for a disk drive add-on. It was only released in Japan but it failed horribly.

The controllers for the N64 were very unique and offered a lot of new features. The controller had its usual D-Pad, A and B buttons, start button, and the left and right triggers. It introduced the joystick to the Nintendo controller, a trigger button, and 4 C buttons. The controllers had a slot on the back where gamers could insert a rumble pak or a memory card. Another awesome innovation that the N64 offered was color. You could buy a N64 in a variety of colors. You also could buy controllers in different colors. There were many different bundles for the N64 which included a variety of different games and colored equipment.

At the time of its release I didn't own the system; I had to patiently wait until I could afford to buy it. The Nintendo 64 was the first console I ever bought with my own money. That money came from hustling Pokemon cards at school. After obtaining a few holographic Charizards and other holographic Pokemon cards, I went to the local comic book store and sold them and got enough cash for the N64. It was a proud moment of my life.

I still play the N64 today and it is commonly used in most student apartments around my college. The Nintendo 64 was discontinued in 2002.

[color=purple]Gaming in the 90s was very memorable. I was content playing as a plumber or a blue hedgehog unlike gamers today who need their games to be as realistic as possible. In my next article I will go in-depth on my top 3 favorite games for each console listed above. Thanks for reading and if you missed out on any of my previous articles, you can find them in the links below.

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1990s TOP 3: Movies (http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/5312/)
Wonderful World of the 90s Part 1 (http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/3961/)
Wonderful World of the 90s Part 2 (http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/5233/)
Wonderful World of the 90s Part 3 (http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/5338/)

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GOODGOLD

Comments

Woah, I really like that picture with the girl covered up in the SNES system. :O

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah love ittttttttttttt

Oh, I was wondering why my SNES never turned yellow! I got mine bundled with the Zelda game so it probably wasn't an early one. In grade school my friends did and since mine didn't so we always figured it was because mine lived in my basement where his house was one floor so it got more sun. There is a process that is pretty safe to bleach the yellow out of the plastic (err, disassemble and remove electronics first), it was on makezine.com and used on the Mac, old Storm Troopers, and the C64. Since the SNES only had early models that went yellow I don't know why you would want to return it to gray though, it is kinda cool saying you have an early SNES and having the pee colored console to prove it!

Wrong again Mr. Krueger. I'm starting to doubt you owned a Super Nintendo

The back of the SNES had the port for RCA cables. The same port that was used on the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube. Check out the back of the SNES, its the port on the left.

http://www.vgmusic.com/faq/gallery/hardware/hw-SNES-Back.jpg

Okay, I'm man enough to admit it, I was wrong about the "yellowing". I just thought it weird that the whole thing didn't turn yellow. One thing that has baffled me after all these years is, why wasn't the SNES equipped for A/V cables when the NES was?

My SNES didn't come with that girl...it just came with Super Mario World. You got the better end of the deal.
Good to know about the color change. And I thought it was because my parents smoked in the house.
Nice article!

Here's a tip to get rid of yellowing on your SNES: Take it apart and give the plastic parts a soak in a solution of hyrdogen peroxide & Oxyclean in direct sunlight. After a few hours, they're fully back to gray!

@matt82 Thank you

You absolutely right. I remember playing Jurassic Park and Power Rangers on both systems and they were completely different.

@fatkid84 Yep, the original SNES came in one color. They make different color ones today that aren't licensed by Nintendo. But gray was the standard color in the 90s

Great article, and you are right there was a problem with oxidization turning some batches yellow. They didn't release a piss color SNES that I am aware of.

I really enjoyed the article. I never read these article's expecting them to be prize winners. I read them for my own personal pleasure and step back in history. I owned all three consoles and the big difference between the PS3 and 360 rivalry and the Genesis and SNES rivalry is that alot of the games with the same name were actually different from each other on the opposite consoles and they each had a quite a few games that the other one didnt have which made them both enjoyable in their own way. Where 360 and PS3 have only a few exclusive titles and all the games that they share play the same and the controllers are the same with exception of the d-pad and left thumb stick switching places. Great article and thumbs up from me. Lookin forward to you favorite games articles so I can compare.

@Fred Krueger I just want to say it is you my friend who is wrong according to vintagecomputing.com "The ABS plastic used in the casing of some older SNES consoles is particularly susceptible to oxidization on exposure to air, likely due to an incorrect mixture of the stabilizing or flame retarding additives. This, along with the particularly light color of the original plastic, causes affected consoles to quickly become yellow; if the sections of the casing came from different batches of plastic, a "two-tone" effect results."

This also occured with the plastic cases on old Macintosh computers.

Link here to further that topic.

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/189

But thanks for reading

Liked the article, mostly for the girl. Your comment on the SNES TURNING yellow over time is false, some were MADE to look like that, if it TURNED yellow the whole thing would be yellow, which it is not. I own a goldish yellow version and it is the actual color of the plastic. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

@luv90s I found it on tumblr

@RetroJerk ya I did lack the personal touch. I got so caught it in the facts of the consoles and forgot to go more in depth of my personal experience. I have a follow up article to this one about the top 3 games for each console I listed here, I'll make up for it there. Thanks for reading though

This article lacks personal touch. You just basically give a bunch of facts that everybody already knows.

Not sure about anyone else's sensibilities, but the pic of the hot chick with the strategically placed SNES gets an automatic thumbs up from me, lol

And made even better with ALttP in the console

But in all seriousness, cool picture of the Mario/Sonic Battle Royale

And okay article. A little more depth could have been nice. But I haven't contributed one yet, so I give constructive criticism with great reservation.

Awesome article man, also where did you find that awesome Mario/Sonic pic?