No love for the 32/64 bit generation?

[shootingstar1]

So I have been going on these forums for close to a decade now and I noticed that most dislike the PSX and N64.  I seem to be the only one who absolutely loves these systems. I have played on pretty much all the different generations, from the NES, Genesis and SNES to modern day, but there simply isn't a generation that I have as much fun with and am as happy playing the games in as the PSX and N64 generations. 

Maybe it's just bias, I grew up with the N64, while you guys are older than I am and experienced this generation in a different way than me.  Still I never played the PSX until long after the 360 had came out and I still feel like a kid again playing PSX even though I had never experienced the games before.

At any rate, I think there shouldn't be so much animosity toward this generation.  The graphics obviously haven't held up too well, but in my opinion this is my favorite time for video games, I love the gameplay from all of my fav PSX and N64 games, lots of great music on the PSX as well.

[Verm1]

Different people grew up and got into consoles with different generations and thus has different opinions on what is their 'golden age'.

For me, I got into consoles near the end of the 16bit generation and the 32bit generation was the 'golden age' to me; Battle Arena Toshinden and Tekken probably mean a lot more to me than Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat.

[Bluenote1]

I was around 22 during the height of the Playstation era.  I have great memories of playing Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, etc with friends.  But, most of the games from that era have aged horribly in my opinion.  I tried to play Tomb Raider last year, and I couldn't, it looks awful and controls terribly. 

[scotland171]

I have not been here 10 years, but I think you will find ambassadors of that generation here. The Saturn has its fans, even the 32x, and I keep my N64 hooked up - I even liked Quest 64.

I recall discussions on the Playstation as being transformative. Its the console often lauded as bringing console gaming into the adult mainstream. Its why Sony's latest has the same brand name.

I think you will find someone here to champion every console, and even most games. Go Odyssey 2!

[scotland171]

Why don't we flip the question over to the sunny side.

What are the best games of the era looking at it in 2015? Not historic impact or sales or impressive for its day or to see evolution of gaming but darn good games on their own today. Like Warlords or Legend of Zelda or Blazing Lasers are fun today.

Make the case for this era to be cherished.

[Sut1]

I enjoy this era, once you adjust to the frame rates and cameras the magic does return.
I'm a Saturn fan myself and still regularly play it, to be fair a lot of the Saturns output was arcade style games which tend to age better. The 2D games are awesome, third party developed 3D games not so much.

Recently replayed MGS on PS1, again once I had adjusted to the limiting camera angles I really enjoyed it. Same with Duke Nukem 3D on Saturn. Heck even Doom on 32x is loads of fun once you readjust.

This generation won't instantly grab you anymore but put the time in and there is still plenty of fun to be had.

[Rev1]

I really like the n64 Saturn and ps1 era. Out of all of those consoles I think the Saturn has aged the best because of the focus on 2d games but there is still fun to be had in that generation. The graphics don't bother me much and it's really all about the gameplay. One cool thing about that generation are the hybrid 2d 3d games like crash bandicoot and klonoa strider 2 and stuff. Those games have aged well compared to the fully 3d games.

[PinMike86661]

I feel this era is great, but not as good as the previous era that consisted of the SNES/Super Famicom, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16. While the 3D graphics aren't as pretty anymore, good game design prevails with games such as Super Mario 64, Panzer Dragoon series, Resident Evil series, etc.; however, there were many 2D games as well (with the Saturn having the majority) like Capcom's fighters, Tomba!, Mega Man 8 (along with X4 & X5), Adventures of Little Ralph, Mischef Makers, STGs, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I do concur that newer gamers might have a harder time appreciating these consoles for the same reason newer gamers (circa 1995) had trouble getting into late 1970s-early 1980s consoles; the games look quite outdated. Even though I was born in the late 1980s, I still appreciated playing Atari 2600 games during the early 1990s since I was curious and always looked forward to playing any game I could; through my curiosity I could appreciate genuine game design no matter how inferior they looked.

[Herschie1]

I think that the N64/PS1 generation is to 3D graphics what the Atari 2600 was with 2D. This was the dawn of a new age, and they hadn't quite figured out how to make these games in an intuitive, streamlined manner. You play today's games, and they feel like they're much easier to play, and much smoother than these games. Many had sort of a stiff feel to them, not to mention the rampant pop-up you'd see in certain racing games. 

Still, this generation had a certain charm to it that's hard to put my finger on. Maybe I'm remembering all the times we got wasted when I was 17, playing Mariokart 64 or Twisted Metal. Perhaps it's Triple Play Baseball in the midst of the Sosa/McGwire Roidsfest. Or it was playing Ocarina of Time after a hot date while explaining to my parents how we just played Monopoly.

Still, I think that the charm comes from more than just the life experiences that happened during the time. While some games were tedious and clunky, many were masterpieces that haven't since been duplicated. Heck, Ocarina of Time is my favorite game ever, and it came from this generation. 

[ptdebate1]

@Scotland,

In my opinion, the best-looking (and often best-playing) games from this generation are the ones that use some combination of pre-rendered graphics and 3D. Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and other fixed-camera games.

MGS is an exception because despite being all 3D, it makes use of a fixed camera perspective.