The ’90s Console Revolution Was One of the Craziest Times in Gaming

The ’90s were an insane time in the gaming fandom, as Nintendo had blown the world away in the ’80s with the Nintendo Entertainment System and home gaming had become a more lucrative market than ever. Sega had gotten into the console business with the Master System, a pretty good system that didn’t get a lot of traction in the U.S. Sega decided to make things interesting in 1989, dropping the Sega Genesis on the world. Nintendo would fire back with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and so would begin the console wars. Sega released the Sega CD, presaging the future of gaming, and a third contender entered the fray — Panasonic with their 3DO.

This was a crazy time to be a gamer. Nintendo and Sega fought a savage battle against each other, with Panasonic trying to make inroads with their powerful 32-bit system. Young gamers were spoiled for choice and this led to a steady diet of some of the best video games ever made. This console war would change gaming forever, and lead to the next savage battles as the ’90s went on.

Early ’90s Gamers Were Dealt an Embarrassment of Riches

The ’90s kicked off with the 16-bit revolution. Gamers had been playing 16-bit games in the arcades for years, but the Genesis brought that level of power home. Now, the Genesis had limitations that arcade boards didn’t, but it was immediately better-looking than the NES. It also had an amazing sound chip; the Genesis has some of the best music in the history of gaming. Genesis games had a specific sound, and fans loved the system for it. The Genesis brought the arcade games that Sega was so great at making home, and the Genesis became the trendier system among hardcore gamers. When Sonic the Hedgehog debuted in 1991, Sega finally had a symbol they could market to kids, bringing the war to the next level. Sonic became an icon, and helped Sega in its battles against Nintendo.

Of course, 1991 would also see Nintendo strike back with the Super Nintendo. The Super Nintendo was better graphically and had better colors, but its sound chip wasn’t as great as the Genesis’s. However, the SNES made up for it in the games. Super Mario World brought platformers to the next level, and games like PilotWings and Act-Raiser showed off the system’s Mode-7 chip. It was a great lineup of titles to kick off with. The SNES got better and better as the years went on; publishers like SquareSoft, Enix, and Konami still worked with Nintendo and put out killer games like Final Fantasy IV and VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Contra, Super Castlevania, and the DragonQuest games. Genesis had their own killer games, like the Phantasy Star series, Altered Beast, Golden Ax, the Shinobi games, Toe Jam N Earl, and more. The SNES was the JRPG machine, but the Genesis was the arcade/fighting/sports game console. Its Mortal Kombat was superior because it had blood — although the next few MKs were better on SNES because of its graphical capabilities — and its hockey, football, and soccer games were all much better.

SNES did sell better when it debuted, though, so Sega unleashed their next salvo, the Sega CD. Coming out in Japan in the winter of ’91 and autumn ’92 in the U.S., the Sega CD was meant to be an add-on for the Genesis — Sega made the Genesis the first upgradeable home console. Because of the storage space of CDs, Sega was able to give gamers some of the first full-motion videos ever. It was completely crazy for young fans. CD gaming was the wave of the future and Sega was on the bleeding edge. The graphics weren’t the best because of the time, but it was still a revolution. Sega even courted controversy with their more mature Sega CD games like Night Trap.

However, the Sega CD wasn’t the only CD-based system. Panasonic spent a lot of advertising money for its 1993 debut, and Time Magazine even made the “1993 Product of the Year.” It had a powerful 32-bit processor and graphic chip, and had the advantage of CDs for its game. This was the first time fans had seen 32-bit 3-D graphics outside of the arcade, and its games did look very good. However, Nintendo and Sega had such a lead over Panasonic, the system became something of an expensive paper weight as the years went on. It never got a lot of support from game developers, never having its killer game to draw gamers in. Game devs just weren’t ready for something like the 3DO yet, but it would presage the future of the gaming industry.

Games Became Better Than Ever Because of the ’90s Console Wars

The early to mid-’90s were an amazing time to be a gamer. We didn’t have the Internet like they do now, but instead we had console wars that gave us some of the best gaming experiences of all time. Just look at the games that came out back then on the SNES, Genesis, and Sega CD and it’s easy to see that gamers were eating very well. The competition spurred all sides to work harder to get fans to buy their consoles and games. Even the 3DO, a distant fourth place when it comes to consoles, had its strengths and showed exactly what the world would see in the years to come.

Gaming was changed forever by this console war. There were console wars before, but they were never as fierce as this one. The battle between Nintendo and Sega, fought by the companies in their ads and hardware, saw kids picking sides at school and playgrounds everywhere. It was an amazing time to be a gamer, when the future of gaming started to dawn over the horizon.

What was your favorite system in the ’90s? Let us know in the comments below!