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What were you gaming with in 1995?


KWKBOX

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1995 was kind of a dead time for video games in my life. I never owned a 16bit console. In 1994, I still had the Commodore 64 set up, but it got put away later that year.

 

In my college dorm, I played a shareware version of Risk on classic Mac quite a bit. We also played Castle Wolfenstein on someone's dorm PC. Other than that, I was busy adjusting to college and trying (and mostly failing) to make out with girls.

 

By December '95, my family got a Playstation and that opened me back up to gaming. In '96, I was playing Resident Evil and using the internet to look up game solutions for the first time. Still played games on the Mac here and there, and I also completed Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis on PC.

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Wow looks like the SNES was dominating back then for most of you. I got a SNES from Funcoland a few months before the N64 came out and it was yellow. I remember quickly enjoying the staple classics of Castlevania IV, Super GnG, Super Metroid, Zelda, Super Mario World, and Mario Kart before I got an N64 on launch and never looked back for many years.

 

Well, I *think* I still had an SNES. When Doom hit in 93/94 and I got into PC gaming, I lost all interest in console games. Wasn't really until the PlayStation came out that I got back in.

 

(Wow, was that only a year? Felt like forever back then...)

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I am very impressed how well everyone is recalling 1995. Was this a magical year for everyone or something? I was only able to recall it so well due to the footage I came across.

For me, it was the year I graduated college and entered the workplace, so it was a transition period.

 

It was also around the time the Internet became available to the general public, so I remember signing up for a PPP account from a local ISP and then trying to figure out how to get my new PC connected to it-- so yeah I guess it seemed kinda magical in some ways.

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Mainly nes and genesis but I remember in that time zone I grabbed an Atari 2600 with like 100 games at a yard sale not far down the road from me for like $20. 1995 was also the year I got my first PC, it was an IBM Aptiva from Radio Shack, so I played a lot of those games, cyberia, hover, and all the other pre-packed games. I as well remember buying games like Kings Quest V, jazz the jack rabbit, and Wolfenstein.

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I am very impressed how well everyone is recalling 1995. Was this a magical year for everyone or something? I was only able to recall it so well due to the footage I came across.

 

1995 was my prime computing and gaming nerd time. I'd gotten my first computer a few years prior, and was heavily into BBSes, etc. I was still living with my parents and was able to devote 100% of my time to hobbies and general goofing off.

 

Was a good year.

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I am very impressed how well everyone is recalling 1995. Was this a magical year for everyone or something? I was only able to recall it so well due to the footage I came across.

 

Well, we're all old-school gamers; games are one of the defining things about my life. I could tell you what I was gaming on for *any* given year. The only thing that's difficult is that I pretty much continuously upgrade my computers so I don't always remember every little detail about them within a one year span, but I always can within two or so.

 

Might also have something to do with age, or it might not. Not sure how old you are but I'm at that age where my entire adult life feels like yesterday. I imagine the 40's are like that for a lot of people. Maybe when you get even older, you start to lose things, and I know when I was younger, just a few years back felt like forever ago. But right now, at middle age, pretty much everything from about 1992-93 onward feels like it just happened. And I feel like I could recall anything about any of it if asked.

Edited by spacecadet
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Well, we're all old-school gamers; games are one of the defining things about my life. I could tell you what I was gaming on for *any* given year. The only thing that's difficult is that I pretty much continuously upgrade my computers so I don't always remember every little detail about them within a one year span, but I always can within two or so.

 

Might also have something to do with age, or it might not. Not sure how old you are but I'm at that age where my entire adult life feels like yesterday. I imagine the 40's are like that for a lot of people. Maybe when you get even older, you start to lose things, and I know when I was younger, just a few years back felt like forever ago. But right now, at middle age, pretty much everything from about 1992-93 onward feels like it just happened. And I feel like I could recall anything about any of it if asked.

I'm still in my 30s so I guess I have not hit that point yet. I will say it was a magical time to have the internet and a computer though.

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I'm still in my 30s so I guess I have not hit that point yet. I will say it was a magical time to have the internet and a computer though.

 

Yeah, so the equivalent would be if somebody asked me something about 1985. Things do get a little fuzzy for me there, because I was a kid. My brain just wasn't fully developed and I probably just wasn't paying much attention either. I know I got an Intellivision in 1980 and an Intellivision II in 1982, but I don't specifically remember if I was still playing on it by 1985. I didn't get my first computer until 1986. I got an NES at the end of 1985. That may still sound really specific, but the reason I know those things is that I've thought about them before and talked about them in other threads here. But through most of 1985 itself, I don't really know what I was doing, gaming or otherwise. I don't think I was still playing my Intellivision II because no new games were coming out. But I know I didn't have a computer either. So I kind of think I was doing other things that kids used to do, like riding my bike and throwing a baseball around. But I'm not totally sure.

 

But 1995 feels like the same era in my life as now. I was an adult, and I'm still an adult. I've moved a few times and gotten married since then, but I don't feel like anything has really changed in how I think about things or my interests, and I remember everything really clearly. If you think back to 2005, I'll bet you feel the same. And you'll probably feel that way 10 years from now too.

 

The funny thing is I joined this site in 2004. That's only 9 years after 1995. I'm sure that when I joined I was already talking about stuff that happened in 1995 in gaming (that was right around when I got into retrobuying stuff). So it's *literally* true that nothing has changed!

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I generally remember 1995 so well because a huge doorway was opened up for me. I got out of HS and into college that year, and in June of that year they already set us up with internet access, something I never had before and only used dialup BBS stuff before that. I won't deny my seedy past but before that point a few friends and a BBS or too invited me into the world of #oldwarez (well not so old then but still kind of old.) In HS a friend got me hooked up Pinball Fantasies and Dreams which we'd stuff on the desktop publishing teachers computers to mess with after work was over (he didn't care, was a college prof on a 2nd job as long as it was done and well.) But when I got online I found so many more games other than the select few my piddly 28 then 56k modem could handle. I ended up on the irc, efnet, mainly in #oldwarez, #emu, #retrogames, and a few others and was a channel operator on the first 2 of them. I went from having a BBS copy with a rom pack for VGB(Gameboy) and iNES/Pasofami(NES) games into a huge realm of stuff, including making friends with Dave of Dave's Video Gaming Classic which lead into being a silent admin of the news posting when he was out/busy and the forums there.

 

1995 opened me up to 1000s of games, game history as it unfolded in ways you never could get from local magazine subs and more. I loved getting rom sets, but even more just games to my carts and befriending emulator authors and other documentation types and ending up doing my own documents, translation of japanese emulator menus, and helping test out beta emulators. All this was in 1995 into the rest of that decade, though 1995 was more old games until it got a bit overwhelming. :D That's why I remember what I had and what I was doing then. That year also was when I discovered a wicked local game shop just a few miles from home and I could turn a $20 bill into multiple games with hours of fun to get lost on around college classes.

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XMas of '94 I got a Compaq Presario 433.

(As well as Shining Force II, Streets of Rage 2, and Mortal Kombat II for the Genesis)

It was a 486SX/33Mhz with 4MB of RAM and NOTHING else.

 

Throughout 1995 I got myself a Soundcard, (no name SoundBlaster compatible) A ProAudio Spectrum 16 to be exact, and by the next XMas I had an external CDROM drive, 3X by NEC.

That year I enjoyed (shareware versions of) Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and whatever else Wiz! had available. Plus commercial versions of AD&D: Dark Sun, Shattered Lands and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Man I have always loved that game. The Librarian at my Elemtary school was nice enough to make me a copy of the C64 disks they had! and Dark Sun, while buggy, was still a great AD&D romp... still play it at least once a year or two.

 

Plus I was picking up cheap Genny games, and seeking out people getting rid of their old video games since the PSX was making ANY GAME that was not 3D polygons a shitty baby toy.

My "retro-gaming" desire, never died, never was born. I have always wanted to play my Atari, and Sega Master System even though I knew they were 'outdated', compared to my Genny and PC and those other kids Playstations (I really din't even know quite what the Playstation was... but i didn't care... my PC was destined to be my gaming platform of choice... or so I thought)

Edited by Torr
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I was well on my way into PC-land by 1995. I had gotten a 486 in 1993 and over the next several years I would upgrade it. Focusing on SoundBlaster 16, ASP chip, and WaveBlaster daughtercard. I also added in 2 more additional hard drives. It served as my gaming machine and was the one machine that told me PC gaming (and the PC platform) was THE premier electronic device to have.

 

Out went the Amiga, into storage, and up for sale some 10 years later. Kept all my previous Apple II stuff though.

 

Eventually, too, the 486 would be retired as I moved into a Pentium II and more. I did keep the 486 and am in the final stages of cleaning and "restoring" it. Not a whole lot needed/needs to be done.

 

---

 

By the mid-1990's I would have disposed of all my console baby games and was strictly PC only.

 

What a great thread!

Edited by Keatah
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I started with a no-name PC, 386sx with ATI svga graphics in 1989. Then added a Sound Blaster Pro. I had an original Gravis analog joystick, and then an original Gravis gamepad. I upgraded the mainboard to an IBM 486SLC2. I'm not sure of the dates but that might be what I had in 1995. Probably still running MS-DOS. It had vesa 32-bit slots so at some point I added 32-bit graphics and hard disk interfaces. I also had an Intellivision.

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Sega Saturn, bitch.

 

Since everyone is telling stories, I'll elaborate as well.

 

By 1995, I was finally having my PC awakening. I still preferred the Macintosh for internet stuff, and spent way too much money on DOS on Mac compatibility cards. Even beige box 486 computers were pricey, and Pentium stuff was like unobtanium to me. It was a better value to haunt bargain bins for CD-ROM software and Atari Jaguar cutouts ... I also carried a hefty amount of credit card debt for my meager income. I really wanted to experience Wing Commander III in its cinematic glory and the new 3DFX Voodoo cards were soooo shiny. Windows 95 brought decent Mac-style "plug and play" to everyone, imperfect, but a huge improvement. I wouldn't have a Playstation until later, but the "price drop" of "PSX" games from SNES's $60 to a more reasonable $50 and later $40 was very much appreciated.

 

There was so much promise in the air. I was a voracious consumer of magazines, "Next Generation" being my favorite for its opinionated but reasonably adult editorials, and it's (mostly) hype-free reviews. This story about "the looming videogame wars of 1995" summarized my experience in a nutshell. I still think Saturn was the best thing in console gaming back then, even though Sony had more going on and clearly had the superior long-term strategy.

 

I remember 1995 games fondly, and many of them live on in sequels that are still fun to play. I have Terminal Velocity on my iPhone and and Tekken 7 on my Windows computer. In many ways, little has changed.

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Oh wow... 1995 was pretty much when it started for me, y'know?

 

I mean, I'd played games before... we got the NES for Christmas when I was in Kindergarten, we'd traded that towards a Genesis just a couple years prior, but it wasn't my thing specifically. Just another toy in the house. My mom won a six month subscription to Sega Visions at work, which went under 2 issues in and got swapped for Game Players. I didn't pay it much mind.

 

Then we moved. It didn't go well for me, I didn't really make any friends after the move. I started reading a lot more magazines (I was already overly into books) looking for pen pals. Then a funny thing happened- Game Players showed up at the house. My mom hadn't bothered to tell them we moved, but they found us and resumed our subscription. We only had 2 (3?) issues left, but with everything else at the time, that magazine was a life-saver! I loved the funny editor antics. It was neat learning more about the handful of games I was familiar with. Most importantly, it gave me a talking point for meeting new kids at school. I kept buying it after the subscription ran out & eventually got a new one. I carried around Game Players (and Ultra Game Players) every day for the entirety of my middle & high school days. I can trace damn near every valuable personal connection I have now back to that damn magazine. (If I ever meet Bill Donahue, I'm probably going to cry.)

 

I read many other magazines, and had to throw them out a few years ago due to lack of space and local interest (I can feel the pain from some of you), but I kept the Game Players run. That one's important.

 

But back on topic- Sega Genesis, and the Game Boy my parents bought me before the move.

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