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Topic	Thirty years of video games -- a transience retrospective.
transience 03/23/17 2:23:08 PM #83:	1991 https://i.imgur.com/Qv0vtu3.jpg Notable Games: Actraiser Battletoads Civilization Double Dragon 3 F-Zero Final Fantasy IV Lemmings Metal Storm Metroid 2 Ninja Gaiden 3 Scorched Earth Sonic the Hedgehog Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (ARC) Streets of Rage Super Castlevania 4 Super Ghouls and Ghosts Super Mario World Tecmo Super Bowl The Simpsons (ARC) Toejam and Earl ZZT transience’s take: 1 – Final Fantasy IV 2 – Actraiser 3 – Super Mario World 4 – Tecmo Super Bowl 5 – Street Fighter II (ARC) Overall: 17th Media Picks: Nintendo Power – Super Mario World EGM – Sonic the Hedgehog The SNES and Super Mario World came out in 1991 and it was probably only the third biggest thing to happen that year. With the SNES, Mario was bigger and better – in my opinion, the best he ever was – but it was well-worn ground. Super Mario Bros. 3 had just come out the year prior and Mario World, while great and a pretty big graphical jump, wasn’t a mindblowing step forward like Mario 3 was. Now don’t get me wrong – Super Mario World has somehow replaced Mario 3 in recent years as the de facto 2d Mario game. It’s always been strange to me how subtle that shift was. Ask the Mario 3 vs. Mario World question in 2000 and there’s no question that Mario 3 wins out. But as people get older, Mario World’s addition of Yoshi, the nonlinear world map, ghost houses, star road, switch blocks, etc became the standard. I’m not at all interested in getting into a Mario 3 vs. Mario World debate – that horse has been beaten to death – but I’m pretty interested in how that shift occurred. I can’t think of too many other examples where one game in a series usurped the title from another so many years later. Anyway. You can debate which of the top two events in 1991 is bigger. At the time I think people would have said the arrival of Sonic the Hedgehog was bigger. It single-handedly brought on a major shift in the console dynamic. Sonic was fast. Sonic had attitude. Sonic had style. Sonic was the cool older brother while Mario was pretty boring and safe. Sega did a brilliant job of marketing Sonic as being edgy and “next-gen”. For the first time, Nintendo actually had competition. The Master System and the Turbografx and even the early years of the Genesis were nice and all, but there was a clear #1. Sonic changed everything there. I have my own feelings on the Sonic vs. Mario stuff. I always thought Sonic was style over substance and that his game wasn’t especially interesting. You could fly across the screen but the level design couldn’t handle actual speed. It forced you to stand around and wait a lot more. Meanwhile, Mario World is a hell of a game – 2d platforming perfection. Going fast in Mario is a lot more fun than in Sonic because you actually had good control. I can’t deny that the optics were reversed though. Sonic was definitely the cool one. Hold a poll of Sonic vs. Mario in 1991 and Sonic wins easily. The Sega vs. Nintendo stuff was fun and all. It was a great narrative. But for my money, the biggest paradigm shift happened in the arcades. --- xyzzy <cite>transience posted [p:875718498] in Thirty yea... [t:75141304]...</cite> <quote>1991 https://i.imgur.com/Qv0vtu3.jpg Notable Games: Actraiser Battletoads Civilization Double Dragon 3 F-Zero Final Fantasy IV Lemmings Metal Storm Metroid 2 Ninja Gaiden 3 Scorched Earth Sonic the Hedgehog Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (ARC) Streets of Rage Super Castlevania 4 Super Ghouls and Ghosts Super Mario World Tecmo Super Bowl The Simpsons (ARC) Toejam and Earl ZZT transience’s take: 1 – Final Fantasy IV 2 – Actraiser 3 – Super Mario World 4 – Tecmo Super Bowl 5 – Street Fighter II (ARC) Overall: 17th Media Picks: Nintendo Power – Super Mario World EGM – Sonic the Hedgehog The SNES and Super Mario World came out in 1991 and it was probably only the third biggest thing to happen that year. With the SNES, Mario was bigger and better – in my opinion, the best he ever was – but it was well-worn ground. Super Mario Bros. 3 had just come out the year prior and Mario World, while great and a pretty big graphical jump, wasn’t a mindblowing step forward like Mario 3 was. Now don’t get me wrong – Super Mario World has somehow replaced Mario 3 in recent years as the de facto 2d Mario game. It’s always been strange to me how subtle that shift was. Ask the Mario 3 vs. Mario World question in 2000 and there’s no question that Mario 3 wins out. But as people get older, Mario World’s addition of Yoshi, the nonlinear world map, ghost houses, star road, switch blocks, etc became the standard. I’m not at all interested in getting into a Mario 3 vs. Mario World debate – that horse has been beaten to death – but I’m pretty interested in how that shift occurred. I can’t think of too many other examples where one game in a series usurped the title from another so many years later. Anyway. You can debate which of the top two events in 1991 is bigger. At the time I think people would have said the arrival of Sonic the Hedgehog was bigger. It single-handedly brought on a major shift in the console dynamic. Sonic was fast. Sonic had attitude. Sonic had style. Sonic was the cool older brother while Mario was pretty boring and safe. Sega did a brilliant job of marketing Sonic as being edgy and “next-gen”. For the first time, Nintendo actually had competition. The Master System and the Turbografx and even the early years of the Genesis were nice and all, but there was a clear #1. Sonic changed everything there. I have my own feelings on the Sonic vs. Mario stuff. I always thought Sonic was style over substance and that his game wasn’t especially interesting. You could fly across the screen but the level design couldn’t handle actual speed. It forced you to stand around and wait a lot more. Meanwhile, Mario World is a hell of a game – 2d platforming perfection. Going fast in Mario is a lot more fun than in Sonic because you actually had good control. I can’t deny that the optics were reversed though. Sonic was definitely the cool one. Hold a poll of Sonic vs. Mario in 1991 and Sonic wins easily. The Sega vs. Nintendo stuff was fun and all. It was a great narrative. But for my money, the biggest paradigm shift happened in the arcades. --- xyzzy</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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