I've been sitting here for a while, glancing at my various consoles I've collected over the years. 2 Sega Genesis [second model] and a Sega 3, an SNES, the classic NES, a PS2, a few PSones [which are now in console heaven T_T], a N64 [sold the other one], a Gamecube and a shiny new PS3. With plans to get the other two new-gen consoles, I've been looking at my older ones fondly, and thinking of how much the consoles themselves have really transformed over the years. If you're of mind, I'd like to share my observations with you.


I remember my first video game system. In fact, I'm not sure I'll ever forget it. It was a Sega Genesis, Second edition model. No toggle switch on the side, just a power button, a reset button and a series of three vertical lights to indicate power when it was turned on. The controllers were Serial, the sockets that you plugged them into bore several long pins that drilled into the plug of the controller wiring. Very stiff, making it difficult to remove them at times.

HOW DID YOU PLAY THE GAMES?
You grabbed the 16-Bit cartridge and pushed it firmly into the slot of the console deck. You could NOT have the console on while doing this. Once you had the cartridge in the slot, and made sure it was seated properly, you pushed the power button and fired up the game. The BIOS didn't show itself; as soon as you turned on the console it immediately loaded the game, with nothing in between. There were a few games that allowed you to save your data, and it was directly to the cartridge.

WAS IT DURABLE?
Moving the console while the game was on was...very unrecommended. Games would freeze if you sneezed too close. Beyond that, the console wasn't too weak, but it was no strongman. The cartridges were pretty durable.

After a while, I had an SNES. Great system. Loved it. The controllers were a lot easier to plug and unplug, not to mention the controllers had more buttons. Hellz yeah to the beginning of the X and Y buttons!

HOW DID YOU PLAY THE GAMES?

Same as the Sega Genesis. Pop that game in the slot and boot her up. Pulling the cartridge out of the SNES wasn't exactly healthy for it, however, without using the eject lever, which easily popped the cartridge right out. The SNES also booted games up immediately. A few more games allowed for in-game saving, and they also went directly to a battery on the cartridge.

WAS IT DURABLE?
Fuck yes. The SNES was a fucking tank. I mentioned the fact that the cartridges were hard to remove without using the eject lever. That's because the cartridges were held TIGHTLY in place to avoid game glitches and freezes if the console was to be moved. While you couldn't pick the SNES up and shake it in the middle of gameplay, it certainly improved it's ability to keep the game glitch free from minor movements. Also, pop was spilled into my first SNES, and it kept on playin' with no problems. God bless ya amigo! [My first SNES is also in console heaven T_T]

Several years went by. Finally, oh yeah! 3D movement time! The Nintendo 64 was groundbreaking. For the first time on Nintendo, you had full 3D movement and full 3D camera views. The analog stick was born.

HOW DID YOU PLAY THE GAMES?

Same as the SNES and Genesis. No eject lever this time. Cartridges were easily pushed in and pulled out, and once pressed in the system gripped the cartridge pretty well. You still couldn't turn the system on until a game was in, and when you turned it on with a game loaded into the deck, it was automatically loaded with no in-betweens. This time however, the controller had A LOT of buttons, making a vast improvement over the previous consoles by offering a lot more buttons for game developers to map their control schemes to. However, the games were so much bigger and complex, there was simply too much data to be stored on the cartridge. For the first time, Nintendo gamers found themselves shelling out cash for Memory cards.

HOW DURABLE WAS IT?

Pretty durable. Cartridges were solid. I remember a time when several of my friends and I were at a kid's house back when we were all in Elementary school. Long story short, a freak accident occured with a squirt gun getting shot through the window, with the water landing DIRECTLY into the grill of the N64 WHILE it was running. Smoke and a nasty sizzling sound emulated through the room. The system was quickly shut off amidst the cussing, and later was turned back on. No damage done. System could be moved a fair amount without any freezing.

Ah, now on to the PlayStation slim. <3
At first, the PlayStation was a 32 Bit, 3D side scroller with no analog sticks at all, and a slightly uncomfortable controller. Then the PSone model was released, and it all changed. The PlayStation became Nintendo's true rival. The controller became a very comfortable beast sporting TWO analog sticks, one for the movement and one for the camera angles, SMASHING Nintendo's four-button configuration for camera usage and making them cry like babies. Both sticks had the same design and were spaced a few inches across from each other. There were technically more buttons on the PSone controller, since I don't count the C buttons on the 64 controller as actual 'gameplay' buttons, but as camera buttons.

HOW DID YOU PLAY THE GAMES?
Ah, the first true change in technology. Games were now on CD ROMs, meaning special care had to be given to them that had never needed to be done with cartridge games. However, the CD ROM technology allowed for a lot of things, like CG graphics and other computer generated things. The PSOne marked the first huge step towards making video games and the consoles that played them computerized. Since the PlayStation had a laser for CD Roms, this allowed for music CD's to also be played on the console. You could turn the system on WITHOUT a game inside. It would boot into a BIOS that gave you an option to select the Music player, or even check out and manage the data on your Memory cards. You could go back and forth between these things, and even pop in your game while doing it and your game would load right up. If you turned your system on with a game already loaded onto the pivot and the lid closed, the game would boot up automatically and bypass the BIOS options.

HOW DURABLE WAS IT?
Pretty darn durable, actually. The discs only seemed to fall to fingerprints, which were easily wiped away with a T-shirt and a little old fashioned breath. The system could actually be moved quite a bit while running a game without any adverse effects, though it was still frowned upon. The controller was not only VERY durable, but also the most durable of that Generation of console controllers. The console itself wasn't a tank, but it could take a LOT of abuse. Still not as much as the N64.