Video Games - (1990-Present)
1990: This is by far the NES's best year, which includes the all-time best-selling game cartridge "Super Mario 3." In Japan the Super Famicom was released which would be known to us as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System(SNES). SNK produces the 24-bit Neo Geo. We have seen this system personally, and played it, and it is comparable to the systems of today. The only thing that held this system back from dominating the market was its extremely high price, about $700.
1991: The SNES makes its way to the American market. Sony and Nintendo work on a plan to produce a compact-disc(CD) attachment for SNES known as the PlayStation. Sega puts out
"Sonic the Hedgehog." This created a Sonic vs. Mario war which, from what we remember caused kids to debate which system was actually better. The Game Genie was unveiled by Galoob Toys. This would allow the player to have access to most of the secrets of any NES game. Needless to say this did not make Nintendo very happy. Arcade games start to mount a comeback with the release of "Street Fighter II."
1992: Sega releases "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" which keeps Sega as a true contender and the Sonic vs. Mario war would continue. They also released the Sega CD system. The plan that was being worked on between Sony and Nintendo was dismantled. They both disagreed on how the CD system would be used.
1993: Panasonic starts marketing the 3DO system, which is the first ever 32-bit video game console. Meanwhile Atari, somehow still alive, releases the first ever 64-bit console called Jaguar. During this time game violence also became a key political issue because of games such as "Mortal Kombat."
1994: Sega puts out a 32-bit attachment for its Sega Genesis. For Nintendo they released "Donkey Kong Country." This game became the best selling game of the year. In Japan the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn are introduced, these systems use CD technology.
1995: Sega Saturn is released in America, but it does poorly. On the other hand PlayStation also made its debut in the U.S. and sales did better than expected. Nintendo releases the Virtual Boy, this was a portable game console in which the player would look into goggles to play the game. The playing screen was within the goggles, but the colors were only black and red. This system did extremely poor. It was originally sold for about $180, but could now be purchased for $39.95 which is a steal because we feel it is certainly worth that much.
1996: The arcade games continue to stay alive with Sega's release of "Virtua Fighter 3." Simulation games, such as snowboarding and jet skiing, helped to keep arcade games afloat. Nintendo releases the long anticipated Nintendo 64 in both the U.S. and Japan. Sales are outrageous and Nintendo couldn't keep up with the demand for their new system. However, once the limitations of the availability for its software were realized, sales declined drastically.
Present: In Japan "Street Fighter III" is released and Sega releases another video arcade machine called "Super GT Scud Race." Sony releases a new system called the Net Yaroze. It allows designers and programmers to develop and design their own games. We have yet to see this system, but it could be interesting making your own games. I guess we'll just have to get back to you on that after we have tried out this new system ourselves.