The 5th Generation of Consoles

Now that I finished reviewing the SNES and Genesis, meaning the fourth generation of video games, culminating in a showoff between the two consoles, I am moving on to the next generation. Since I am a big proponent of definition by consensus, I am basically going with Wikipedia’s definition of which consoles are part of the fifth generation.

The fifth generation of videogames is most notable for the introduction of a 3^rd axes to the game world. While both the Genesis and the SNES have experimented in some way with 3D gameplay, that was mostly trickery to the eye rather than “real”3D gameplay. With the fifth generation, the jump to full 3D gameplay was a big step forward.

Hence, this generation was heavily experimental, with developers, publisher, and customers all struggling with new ways to make and play with things. Probably, this is why many games from this generation have aged poorly.

Other than that, this generation is notable for: Sony entering-and dominating-the market, Atari trying-and failing-to make a comeback, the 3DP company trying-and failing-to shakeup the way consoles are sold, and Nintendo and Sega basically failing to counter Sony’s dominance.

The entire generation was crowded, and the entry of a giant corporation into the mix has basically killed the majority of console owner bar the big three of the time.

In the portable front, Nintendo continued their dominance in that market, but that’s not because of a lack of competition. Sega, SNK, the WonderSwan, and Sony all tried to get a grab of that market share with little to no success.

For this generation, these are the major home consoles: Console name (owner, release date)

• 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (The 3DO Company, October 1993)
• Atari Jaguar (Atari, November 1993)
• Sega Saturn (Sega, November 1994)
• Play Station (Sony, December 1994)
• Nintendo 64 (Nintendo, June 1996)

I will review the Saturn, Play Station, and the N64. All three consoles have some great games. This However, I may review the 3DO and the Jaguar in a more limited degree.  means that I will review a top 100 games list for each of these consoles. For the Saturn, that means finally being able to experience that consoles games. For Sony and the N64, this means playing the game that I haven’t finished before, which means that I am not going to play some of those system’s top games. Note that I am not going to review any game that has a superior remake to it. For example, I won’t review Resident Evil, which has an excellent remake on the Game Cube, and a remaster in the PS4.

LOOK WHO CAME:

Lord Spencer   

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