What is/was your favourite age of gaming?

[Trantor]

The little gaming historian in me cooked something in his brain again. This time, I'd like to give you an overview over the different ages of computer games and ask which one of those was your favourite. Of course, the boarders between these ages are not clear-cut, and there might be better ways to break down the last decades into chapters, but here it goes:

Until 1985: The Dawn of Gaming
At first, there was Pong. Games thrived in the late 70s and early 80s, and there were games of questionnable quality to promote practically everything. The Atari 2600 was the first successful gaming console, but too many bad games and the competition of affordable home computers (especially the C64) sent the videogame market crashing in 1983.
Even though the majority of games were simple action-oriented titles, some ambitious projects like M.U.L.E. or Elite already showed that games could be much more than something only 10-year-old kids could have fun with. While Infocom made sure that the text adventure became the "king of the genres" for more mature gamers in this time, early Ultima and Wizardry games introduced RPGs to digital gaming.

Popular systems: C64, Apple II, Atari 800, Sinclair Spectrum, Atari 2600/7800, Intellivision
Games of note: Pong, Space Invaders, Centipede, Pac Man, M.U.L.E., Elite, Donkey Kong, Ultima, Wizardry, Zork

1985-1990: 8-bit-heyday and Rise of 16 bit
Games became more sophisticated in the late 80s. Designers tried to explore the boundaries of the hardware more and more and pushed it to its limits. Graphics became a more and more important part of games. The text adventure's slow downfall as a genre was driven by Sierra's and Lucasfilm Games' (later LucasArts) graphic adventures. Successful arcade game conversions like R-Type or Bubble Bobble were just as successful as exclusive new titles like The Last Ninja.
The C64 remained the most popular home computer, but its successors were already rising, mainly the Amiga and Atari ST. Those 16 bit machines were a lot more powerful and came with an input devide that wasn't well-established yet - the mouse. Dungeon Master was the best example of the complexity and atmosphere that could be achieved with the new machines and became such a timeless classic that even today people talk about it on the internet.
This age was also the beginning of the love of puzzle games, especially among people who traditionally weren't gamers. Tetris was largely responsible for this.
After the crash of 1983, the video game market recovered, mainly because of Nintendo's NES and its masterpiece Super Mario Bros. Sega was the only company to rival Nintendo's success with their Master System - a war that would continue for more than a decade.

Popular systems: C64, Amiga, Atari ST, NES, Sega Master System
Games of note: Dungeon Master, Tetris, The Bard's Tale, The Last Ninja, International Karate, R-Type, Pool of Radiance, Sim City, Maniac Mansion, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda

1990-1995: The Golden Age of 2D gaming
In the early 1990s, the IBM-compatible PC took over the scepter of the most popular computer for gaming from the Amiga. The constant desire to make the games more complex and visually more appealing meant that players were more likely to upgrade their machine bit by bit instead of buying a completely new system. Plus, games like Wing Commander and especially the tremendously popular and influential Doom proved that fast-paced action was possible on the PC, contrary to popular belief in the late 80s.
In general, games got bigger and more complex - and easier, which made them more accessible to casual gamers. Concepts that were known for years were brought to perfection in games like Super Mario World, Turrican 2 or Super Metroid. This age also saw the rise of simple fighting games, mainly due to the success of Street Fighter II. Double Dragon and International Karate were popular before, but the formula of Street Fighter II is still copied until this day. Also, the overlooked Dune 2 created the real-time strategy subgenre which proved very successful with games like Command & Conquer and Warcraft over the next few years.
Nintendo and Sega continued their console war with the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis, and even though Sega was the first with the new 16 bit hardware, it was once again Nintendo who proved victorious.
Popular Systems: PC, Amiga, Super NES, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Games of note: Doom, Turrican, Wing Commander, The Secret of Monkey Island, Super Mario World, Street Fighter II, Super Metroid, Sonic the Hedgehog, Chrono Trigger

1995-2000: The Jump into the Third Dimension
First-person perspective wasn't exactly new by the middle of the 1990s, but so far, many games like Doom or Dungeon Master sort of cheated by creating everything in 2D and then adjusting it to the perspective. By the middle of the 1990s, real 3D objects were possible in large environments with lots of details. Quake was the natural successor to Doom, many successful franchises like Castlevania and Mario moved to 3D, and new concepts could be realized. Classic 2D genres like Shoot'em Ups or Jump and Runs slowly disappeared.
The new CD technology also meant that far more space was available which led to masses of high quality graphics and made speech in games a standard.
Sony was the new kid on the block on the console market and surprised everyone by taking the market by storm. Only Nintendo was able to mount some competition, even though the N64 still held onto the old cartridge technology.
Popular systems: PC, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64
Games of note: Quake, Half-Life, Starcraft, Diablo, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Tekken, Ridge Racer, Soul Calibur, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII

2000-2005: Online-Gaming for the masses
Playing games online became popular in the late 1990's, especially for first-person shooters and real-time strategy games. Blizzard was very successful with its special online-service called Battle.Net which enabled playing Starcraft or Diablo with others. Also, Ultima Online, released in 1997, was the first MMORPG. But it wasn't until the new millennium that online gaming really moved the masses. More bandwidth and lower prices meant that every gamer could use the internet as a medium to play.
Online gaming also reached the consoles, though in much tinier scope than on computers. While Sega's Dreamcast, the first console to feature a modem, was a failure (and Sega's last hardware product), Sony and new contender Microsoft had at least mild success with going online.
But apart from the online activity, little changed. Most games were just sequels or rehashes of older ideas with prettier graphics.
Popular systems: PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft XBox, Nintendo GameCube
Games of note: World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Resident Evil 4, Halo, God of War, Metroid Prime

2005-now: Party games galore
While the trend of "everything you've seen 10 years ago, only with prettier graphics" continues (especially on the PC sector), the console market is trying hard to acquire new groups of customers. Games like Singstar or Buzz for the PlayStation 2 were already an indication, bringing their own psecial "controllers" (microphones and buzzers) with them. Guitar Hero and Rock Band continued the trend of adding new controllers for a different kind of gaming, while Nintendo went one step further and created a whole system based upon new, innovative controls, the Wii.
Popular systems: PC, Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft XBox 360, Nintendo Wii
Games of Note: The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, BioShock, Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy


Well, there you have it, my attempt to break the history of gaming down into several chapters. My favourite is either 1985-1990 or 1990-1995; but considering my favourite game of all time was made in 1987, I feel obliged to vote for 1985-1990. It's probably easy to tell that my least favourite ages are everything after the year 2000.

What about you? Which age of gaming did you enjoy most? Is the stuff I wrote even remotely traceable? Discuss!

[Ameena]

I've voted for 1990-'95, but in terms of my "favourite time frame of gaming", there's an overlap with the late '80s (obviously DM but some other stuff too I imagine). This is just 'cause this is when we had the Atari and I can remember playing so many funky games way back then. In later years I've found some fantastic games like Might and Magic VI and Morrowind, but in general, I'd say most of my favourite games fall between the mid '80s to mid '90s. Anything earlier than that is before my time, and a lot of stuff later than that hasn't really grabbed my attention in any major way.
I am looking forward to Spore, though .


(Edited to correct a typo)

[Gambit37]

That's a pretty good break-down Trantor. Things like these will always be subjective but I reckon you've got a good overall impression of each period.

I'd add Duke Nukem 3D and Thief into the 1995-2000 slot. Dn3D was by far the most fun multiplayer networked game and was way more popular than Quake (at leats among everyone I knew at the time). Thief brought in the concept of sneaking about rather than all guns blazing and it was soon borrowed by other games: Splinter cell, etc.

Alone in the Dark and Bioforge should probbaly be listed as games of note for 1990-1995 while serious omissions for 1985-1990 would be Shadow of the Beast, Another World and Prince of Persia. In 2000-2005 I think Shadow of the Colossus would be a good addition (though I never played it, what I saw of it was pretty darn cool) as would Half Life 2 -- I know it's not original but for superb execution it should always be in a 'best of' list.

Anyway... my vote would be between 85-90 and 95-00. Like Ameena I eventually opted for 85-90 purely because of DM. Newer games don't really grab me anymore, plus I rarely have time to play them these days. Maybe gaming really is for the young...

(I still have several games I haven't played yet: really looking forward to playing Beyond Good and Evil which came out ages ago!)

[Gambit37]

Oh, forgot to add that the Cinemaware classics "It came from the Desert", "Defender of the Crown" and "Rocket Ranger" should probably go in to the 1985-1990 slot as "notable games" too.

[ian_scho]

Until 1985: Atari 800, maaaan. I had some fun with four of us sitting around that one, staring/shouting at incoming pixels. The games didn't have the 'depth' to them back then, but they were great!

1985-1990: A friend of mine bought an Atari ST and we had hundreds and hundreds of hours of fun together. It's crazy because I can't be in the same room with him now for more than 4 hours before I want to jump out of the window, yet back then whether it was single or multiple player games it didn't seem to matter. We had huge amounts of fun on that machine.

1990-1995: Civilization and UFO: Enemy Unknown were released in this eon of computer gaming and they really grabbed me. For me I suddenly came up a computer that could not only grab my imagination but punish me for bad planning.

1995-2000: Not too much to note for me in this era, Diablo was fun, quake too, but these for me were regarded as incremental improvements, not groundbreaking.

2000-2005: There is very little for me here in this age - I enjoyed what there was but the whole networking thing passed me by until... last year.

2005-now: You know what I discovered in this age? Math. Yeah, what many of you had discovered perhaps 15 years earlier was that behind some of the best creations was a wonderful potpourri of math. It takes some of the fantacism away, but adds another kind of beauty. I also, finally discovered MMORGs but not delved into it in depth.

I've chosen the age 2005-now, yet I'm not able to have as much FUN as I used to, due to a young time consuming family and the reasons of 'maturity'.
So why here, now? I love the fact that people are building communities ignoring borders (you'll need to learn english though ) and as well as visiting this forum regularly I'm a member of a group of gamers called FTP 1 2.
The other reason is that today people such as AlanDale, Paul Stevens, GG and Sophia have provided us with our own worlds for which to paint our imaginations on. It's not good enough to play any more, it's time to create something for others to enjoy.

[money]

Trantor, great article - great to reminisce again...

I was caught between 1990-1995, and 1995-2000. I spent a lot of my younger days, playing classic games on my Atari ST - games like DM, Airball, Gauntlet and Impossible Mission II to name a few...but 1990-1995 had me captured many a late night still playing DM, but also championship manager, Elite 2, Transport Tycoon and UFO but my vote had to go to 1995 for two reasons - Goldeneye on the N64, which I still love to this day and occasionally have all my old pals round for a bond night and the Legend of Zelda (OoT) which again, spent much of my alone time battling through!

[Adamo]

Anyway... my vote would be between 85-90 and 95-00. Like Ameena I eventually opted for 85-90 purely because of DM. Newer games don't really grab me anymore, plus I rarely have time to play them these days.

100% agree with Ameena and Gambit!
Some new games are quite cool, I played Icewind Dale recently for example, but most of all I love good old DM/CSB.

It`s like comparing movies from different decades: The Godfather I (1972) and SWAT (2003). Both are awesome for it`s time, but.. Godfather -except that was awesome- had its own "magic(*)", while SWAT (as a lot of other modern good movies) are "just" a piece of delightfull work.

(*)- I can`t explain it better

[Sabreman]

Hmm... mine would be an overlap between the late 80s and early 90s - essentially the '16 bit' era.

I did have a lot of fun with the 8-bit systems, the Spectrum, C64, and the consoles, but once I found myself with an ST and Amiga, then Megadrive and SNES I was absolutely in heaven. I'm a bit of a grumpy old gamer and I do honestly believe that in terms of concept and execution things kind of peaked in that period. Sierra, Lucasarts, Origin, Westwood and Bullfrog were some of the big-hitters on the computers, while Capcom, Konami, Squaresoft, and Nintendo and Sega themselves were doing great things on the consoles. It seemed to be a time of creative people making the games they wanted to make, free from the pressure and constraints of publishers and targets, before the industry got too big to maintain that model.

There are very few games these days that grip me that way I was on a regular basis back then. It's not even a case of free time, as pretty much all my time not at work is my own. As an example I've been playing a bit of GTA4 with week, but the time spent on that pales in comparison to the time I've spent playing Pool of Radiance (something I'm playing for the first time).

Some console favourites and the resurgence of computer RPGs in the late 90s makes that period a strong contender, but for the sheer diversity of stuff I was enjoying, mixed with the kind of clean, streamlined presentation that 2D and simple 3D offered, I'd go for 1990-1995 when pushed.

Games of note missing from 1990-1995 - Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld

[Gambit37]

Wow, I can't believe I forgot about Populous too! Definitely a Game of Note for 85-90!

[Parallax]

So what, no love for the Amstrad CPC 464? Back when I was a kid, it was the direct competitor of the C64. Their owners enjoyed the same kind of rivalry to be found later between users of ST vs. Amiga. Much like the ST was slightly cheaper and weaker than the Amiga, the CPC was slightly cheaper and inferior to the C64, but seemed more popular, at least to me (I was a kid and the internet wasn't around. Did you expect me to dig up sales figures?)

According to Wikipedia, the Aamericans among us have probably no idea what I'm talking about, but you Trantor, as a German, should know of it. Come on, Beo! Trantor has neglected a fine UK product, ban him!

(I also note the conspicuous absence of Apple.)

[Gambit37]

" Whaddya mean you darnt remember my hoogely succesful compooda? Yoor fired!"

[PaulH]

Excellent post Trant. It is judging gameplay vs development. I loaded up the Amiga emulator tother night, and played Gods... it was FANTASTIC!

Of course the later ages have the edge on graphics and sound, but the 'retro' ages have the gameplay - and to some it will not be beaten.

[Trantor]

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Of course, such a generalization is hugely subjective, and I agree that I missed several games that should be mentioned as "games of note" (most notably Populous, Civilization and Ultima Underworld - I may have missed them because I personally never liked either of them very much). Thanks for mentioning Cinemaware Gambit! I'm especially fond of It came from the Desert (I'm a sucker for those 50s horror movies!), and TV Sports Basketball is one of the three games I spent most time playing with, the other two being Doom and DM. I think that Defender of the Crown would be the only Cinemaware game I'd consider as a game of note, however, as it first showed what kind of atmosphere you can create with a cool setting, great graphics and amazing sound. But as I said, subjective...

As for the "conspicious absence of Apple", well, the Apple II is on the list. I didn't list a Macintosh because I don't think anyone ever bought a Mac mainly for playing games on it. As for the Amstrad CPC: I actively started gaming in 1989, and in the next years, I heard about the CPC just as much as I heard about the Spectrum - which is very close to Zero. I guess that both machines were dead at the time while the C64 still had its last 1-2 years ahead of it. I never met anyone who owned either a Spectrum or a CPC while everybody seemed to have had a C64, an Amiga, or both (and I've met a few ST owners as well). In the last years, I have at least read about the Spectrum, and it seems quite a lot of people owned one, especially in the UK. That's why the Spectrum is on my radar while the CPC isn't, because I simply haven't heard much about it. I may be doing the machine injustice here, however, or it just wasn't as big in Germany.

(Aside: Was Turrican a purely German phenomenon? The more I read about the games, the more it seems that almost nobody in the US played it or even heard about it, and it seems to me that it wasn't the huge smash hit in the UK either.)

[Seriously Unserious]

I voted for the early 90's as that's when most of my favorates came from that era. Classics like Civilization, Railroad Tycoon and many others that still are tough to beat. Of course I also have to give an honorable mention to the late 80's as well with classics like Dungeon Master, Superstar Ice Hockey and others.

IMO Superstar Ice Hockey is still one of the best games for overall playability even now.

I have a lot of fond memories of my old Amiga 500 from those days. Many of my favorites today are either sequals, clones or upgrades of those classics.

[linflas]

I voted for 85-90 period which matches with my Thomson TO8D (french crappy machines) and Atari STF gaming moments (Psygnosis and Bitmap Brothers productions mostly). I'm a late Amiga owner (1992, bought an A1200).
Turrican had lots of fans in France, as i remember. But i prefered SOTB and Jim Power.

EDIT : about the early 80's period, i would also mention the Nintendo Game&Watch addiction in school playgrounds

[sucinum]

I voted 2000. While DM surely was a gem and alone reason enough to vote for it's time and there are other fine games as well (i mean, i played hundreds of them), there is nothing which beats a MMO. An evergrowing world full of people and different stuff to do.
There are lots of them and i lost my heart to dungeons&dragons online, which might not be the one of the largest, but it has handcrafted, instanced dungeons, atmosphere (including a narrator), a mature playerbase and teamplay. It might not be as immersive as DM back then, but i really enjoy it (for two years now).
I think it's the community aspect which the most important part for me. If I ever quit DDO, i will play another MMO. Or an additional browsergame (playing world of dungeons atm, very great and complex, team-focussed game - also available in english btw ).

[andyp3001]

Gotta be the 85-90 period with the rise of the 16-bit machines. Oddly, though, for a slightly different reason in my case. It was then that for me gaming became a more social thing. After seeing (my then hi-tech!) Atari ST & dedicated monitor set-up, many of my friends got into the gaming thing, purchasing Amigas and ST's, and we used to spend many an hour helping each other out with games (Dungeon Master immediately springs to mind), swapping them, playing each other and just chilling out. The Sentinel, The Pawn, Speedball two-player, Cannon Fodder, Chaos Engine, on and on! Met many a gaming stalwart over the years through this, and many are good friends to this day. I'll never forget the frenetic race over weeks between three of us to finish DM. Guess who won. Just.

[beowuuf]

Yeah, we had three of us try to beat DM at the same time during middle of secondary school, and having people round to my house for lunch and playing chaos engine or cannon fodder or alien breed 2 or alien 3 etc was great fun

[Joramun]

My vote is biased : my gaming experience started in the early 90's.

I voted 1995-2000, because the majority of my favorite games were published during this period : Starcraft, Diablo, Half-life, Tomb Raider, Quake, Fallout...

I also like the previous period : Doom, Heretic, Daggerfall, Warcraft 1& 2, Dune 1&2, C&C ...

If I could, I'd say the best period was 1993-1998...

I don't like massive online gaming, and the time-consuming art development has taken all the budget away from what makes a good game : scenario depth, interaction, polishing the details.

I might like the next few Blizzard games, though : Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 !

[Mindstone]

I voted for 1995-2000.

Planescape Torment, Alpha Centauri and Quake 2 done it for me more then anything.

The only pre-95 games I *still* play are Betrayal at Krondor and of course, Dungeon Master