Gaming in... 1997

Anything to do with games at all.

Best lineup?

PlayStation
15
31%
Nintendo 64
26
54%
Sega Saturn
1
2%
PC
6
13%
 
Total votes: 48
AndyXL
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by AndyXL » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:51 pm

Jordan UK wrote:[ I remember my dad writing a letter of complaint (even though I had bought the console with my own money from my Saturday job) and Nintendo sent two controllers and a game of my choice - not bad compensation!


What the hell?!! I also wrote a letter of complaint and got one lousy controller :x

I had also saved for years getting up at the crack of dawn every day and being attached by dogs doing a paper round...

Edit, as for MK64, my expectations were stratospheric after the SNES game. I soon got over my disappointment though when Diddy Kong came out.

The N64 had one hell of a first year - I mean, Mario, Pilotwings, Wave Race, Goldeneye, Diddy Kong, Mario Kart...!

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Miguel007
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Miguel007 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:04 am

This was a magical time in gaming for me! It was all about the N64 with me and my friends :wub:

My Jehovah's Witness mate got one at launch and I had to wait until Xmas for mine (my parents were well pissed off with Nintendo dropping the price, they told me I could have had another game, they tried to get a refund at Toys R' Us but were told it was after the 12 day return period).

My friend got at launch; Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire and ISS 64, we were blown away with the Battle of Hoth and the commentary on ISS (another attack thwarted again!). I was always Brazil with the mighty Allejo up front.

At Xmas I got Mario 64, then my next game for my birthday was Goldeneye. Another friend of mine got Diddy Kong Racing so a multi-player session was always on the go at someone's house.

Between my friends and Global Video Rental Shop we'd be playing Extreme G, Wave Race, Forsaken, Turok, Starfox and Duke Nukem.

Getting my monthly fix of N64 Magazine was always a must. I got a paper round to save up and buy Mario Kart 64, it is a brilliant game but I've always enjoyed DKR more.

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Jamo3103
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Jamo3103 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:08 am

My parents were very anti-console at that point in time, didn't see the point in a dedicated gaming device. They were happy for me to have a decent PC because they recognised I could use it for educational purposes too. I don't really remember anybody at school being big into gaming either and I had no idea about the saturn, n64 or playstation at the time. Friends I knew who had consoles either had a mega drive or a game boy.

From what i recall at the time I was running a Packard Bell PC with a 120mhz processor. It came with some Sega games installed and I remember I spent a lot of time playing Comix Zone and Ecco the Dolphin on it back then although they weren't actually released that year.

Little Big Adventure 2, one of my favourite games ever, came out that year but I don't really remember whether I first played it in '97 or' 98.

What I do remember though is playing Dark Forces 2 an awful lot, I'd only just got into Star Wars a year or so before and this was my first Star Wars game, first proper 3D game and really first brand new release I'd played. I was pretty awful at it truth be told, got lost a lot and had to resort to using no clip cheats to fly through parts of levels but I had a hell of a lot of fun with it.

I also remember playing a fairly obscure, quite rude but also very fun rts game called beasts and bumpkins. I spent more time playing Civilisation 2 though which I was thoroughly addicted to.

I also got a kings quest collection and played through the first 4 games of that thanks to a lot of patience and the help of a guide. I'd owned the first two when I was younger but as anybody who has played them knows they were so obscure at times that without a guide it was very easy to get completely stumped. Felt like a hell of an achievement.

I'd go as far as to say 1997 was the year that really stared getting me into gaming on a wider scale and being more aware of new releases, not just old shareware from discs my dad had picked up.

Love the thread idea by the way :wub:

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KK
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by KK » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:16 am

One of my favourite years of all time.

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is my main memory on PSone (I also had the PlayStation mouse), along with Time Crisis, Tomb Raider 2, Crash Bandicoot 2, the revelation that was TOCA Touring Cars and WCW vs The World. I had heard about Nitro but it wasn't released here until June/July 1998.

I spent hours on the TOCA demo just wrecking the car. Seems silly now, but seeing bumpers fall off and how far you could wreck the car was a big novelty in 1997.

Can't tell you how excited I was when Broken Sword 2 turned up on the demo though. It was the longest day at school ever.

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mic
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by mic » Mon Feb 06, 2017 1:17 am

MK64 battle mode's Block Fort with 4 players has never been surpassed.

Amazingly, I had all the consoles and they each offered something unique, my faves being the resi series on ps, the marvel/ vs series on Saturn, and MK/ golden eye on n64.

Oh, and how could I forget command & conquer on pc?

Gaming's golden years for sure...

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Squinty
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Squinty » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:08 am

We had Mario 64, Wave Race, Diddy Kong Racing, Goldeneye and Lylat Wars. A lot of game time on those. Plus there was a PlayStation in the house at that point, but I don't think the big hitters (FFVII and MGS) were out until the year after.

I remember Diddy Kong Racing coming out of nowhere seemingly. They had the big expose in NOM I think, a few months before release. Thinking back, Rare were pretty strawberry floating productive. I think they'd just done DKC3 like a year earlier as well. And I think Blast Corps came out summer 1997 as well.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Moggy » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:16 am

I started my first full time job in 1997, got my first car and started going to pubs and clubs.

It wasn’t much of a gaming year for me. :lol:

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Godzilla
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Godzilla » Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:59 am

N64 and Mario and Turok was just so good. I didn't think I'd get Turok with the controls being a combination of the stick and face buttons. But when I started playing I truly loved it. Watching two random enemies battle each other was amazing. As was getting the end game weapons and standing well clear before Boom! One of the best games for secrets and back tracking too.

Blast corps was so frustrating but as I didn't get many games and never traded them in I had to push on with it. I eventually unlocked it all and got to the moon.

Castlevania SOTN is still my favorites game of all time. Design, music, secrets, upgrades, the best version of metroidvania ever.

Looking back it was a truly amazing year. Makes modern times look somewhat sparse.

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Johnny Jalfrezi
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Johnny Jalfrezi » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:01 am

1997 marked the start of a period where I had ridiculous levels of disposable income. I found myself, rather fortuitously, in a very well-paid job and still living with my parents who were happy to take 50 quid off me every month for housekeeping. I'd previously had a Mega Drive but wasn't much into gaming (despite having a reasonable history, starting with an Intellivison, Atari 2600, Vic 20, ZX Spectrum 48k, and Commodore 64...) as I had discovered beer and girls. Mainly beer. Anyways, I decided that I should invest in one of those new Playstation things and popped into Toys R Us during my lunch break to do so, only to be told that they were out of stock and weren't due a delivery until next week. A WHOLE WEEK?! strawberry float that. Picked me up an N64 and a copy of FIFA64 (FIFA was the only game I played on the Mega Drive so I figured this would be all I need until payday, when I could pick up another couple of games) which, despite being objectively shite, I absolutely loved and played to death. I was blown away by the 3D graphics and commentary, and genuinely believed that this was as good as gaming got.

Two weeks later I bought Super Mario 64.

My world would never be the same again.

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Godzilla
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Godzilla » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:01 am

Also pilot wings birdman free mode with that music playing was so relaxing.

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AndyXL
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by AndyXL » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:48 am

I have to say, the few things I miss most of all about 1997 and the N64 are:

1. Plug and play - pop in the cartridge and start the game in about 1 second!

2. No faffing around with updates, online play or anything else.

3. Local multiplayer with friends, drinks and snacks - gaming was much more social back then :)

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Pedz
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Pedz » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:17 pm

I have m clue what I was playing in '97, gooseberry fool I have no clue what I was playing in 2007.

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Miguel007
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Miguel007 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:43 pm

AXL wrote:I have to say, the few things I miss most of all about 1997 and the N64 are:

1. Plug and play - pop in the cartridge and start the game in about 1 second!

2. No faffing around with updates, online play or anything else.

3. Local multiplayer with friends, drinks and snacks - gaming was much more social back then :)


All of this ^ :wub:

I went to start Gears of War 4 last night and it requires a 21Gb Update, on my internet this will take probably 1-2 days :shock: :fp:

I hope the Nintendo Switch will bring some of this back, 8-player local link-up and near instant load times with being cartridge based.

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Garth
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Garth » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:44 pm

Brerlappin wrote:In 1997 i missed out on pretty much everything. The PS1 was blowing up, but i was only out of school, no job, no money, and my Parents wouldnt buy me gooseberry fool. So in 97 i was stuck with a Sega Mega Drive on which i was mostly playing Street Fighter 2. I also remember 97 as being the year i finally got on the internet and downloaded a walkthrough of Zak McKraken for my Atari ST, so something like 4 years after i got the game, i finally finished it. It wasnt til 98 that i got a PS1 and my dad got a home PC, so i was actually able to play new releases.


Reminds me of when I first discovered the internet around the same time - I went looking for Shining Force II guides to find out all the secrets in that game, I probably still have the print outs somewhere!

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Squinty
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Squinty » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:25 pm

AXL wrote:I have to say, the few things I miss most of all about 1997 and the N64 are:

1. Plug and play - pop in the cartridge and start the game in about 1 second!

2. No faffing around with updates, online play or anything else.

3. Local multiplayer with friends, drinks and snacks - gaming was much more social back then :)



I miss all of this greatly. Nothing more annoying than buying a game and having to wait to play the thing.

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skarmachild
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by skarmachild » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:41 pm

Memories of going to my fathers friends house with my sister, playing an N64 for the first time.... so magical. Would've been about 6 years old.

We played Diddy Kong Racing, Doom 64 and Mario 64. The only game console we had prior was a Master System so a bit of a jump. We spent hours and hours flying around Bob Omb Battlefield having no clue what to do but loving the strawberry float out of it. We got a N64 that Christmas with Mario 64... best present. So many great multiplayer memories of Mario Party 1 with cousins, and our sore palms and competetive nature.

I think this guy also had a Sega CD with Sonic CD in his trailer, which blew my mind to see Sonic like that. I thought it was fake when I saw it.

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Tomous
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Tomous » Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:59 pm

N64 for Xmas with Diddy Kong Racing and Super Mario 64. Mindblown.

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Cumberdanes
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Cumberdanes » Tue Feb 07, 2017 5:35 pm

I was always way behind with games consoles. I had friends with current systems but until I started work in 2005 I mainly got by on hand me downs from mates. By 1997 I think I might have blagged my hand me down N64... checks Wikipedia, nope I was probably still on a mix Atari ST, NES and Master System at that point.

Last edited by Cumberdanes on Tue Feb 07, 2017 5:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Christopher
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Christopher » Tue Feb 07, 2017 5:37 pm

The state of that poll :slol:

Ace Combat 2 (PS)
Alien Trilogy (PS)
Alundra (PS)
Armored Core (PS)
Bloody Roar (PS)
Breath of Fire III (PS)
Bushido Blade (PS)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS)
Colony Wars (PS)
Command & Conquer (PS)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert (PS)
Cool Boarders 2 (PS)
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS)
Critical Depth (PS)
Final Fantasy VII (PS)
Formula 1 Championship Edition (PS)
Ghost in the Shell (PS)
G-Police (PS)
Herc's Adventures (PS)
International Superstar Soccer Pro (PS)
Jet Moto 2 (PS)
Kurushi (PS)
Klonoa (PS)
MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat Arcade Combat Edition (PS)
Mega Man X4 (PS)
Mega Man Legends (PS)
Micro Machines V3 (PS)
Moto Racer (PS)
Nuclear Strike (PS)
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PS, PC)
PaRappa the Rapper (PS)
Poy Poy (PS)
Rage Racer (PS)
Rally Cross (PS)
Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PS)
Soul Blade (PS)
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha (PS)
Suikoden (PS)
Time Crisis (PS)
Tomb Raider II (PS, PC)
Vandal Hearts (PS)
Wild Arms (PS)

What a bloody line up that was, never before had I seen so many good games in one year. Just incredible and 1998 for PlayStation was perhaps even better.

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Rubix
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PostRe: Gaming in... 1997
by Rubix » Tue Feb 07, 2017 5:38 pm

Had both N64 and PS at this stage and Final Fantasy VII changed my life. So many good memories

PLAY | Final Fantasy VII Rebirth [92h]
WATCH | Ted Lasso S2, HiJack S1, The Apprentice S18
RACE | Westonbirt Half (March), Chew Valley 10k (June), GNR (Sept), Cardiff Half (Oct)

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