Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites

Anything to do with games at all.

Which console battle best represents your school playground years?

Poll ended at Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:48 am

Sinclair ZX81 vs Commodore VIC-20
1
2%
Sinclair ZX Spectrum vs Commodore 64 vs BBC B vs Amstrad CPC
10
22%
Atari ST vs Commodore Amiga
1
2%
Nintendo NES vs Sega Master System
0
No votes
Nintendo SNES vs Sega Mega Drive
15
33%
Sony PlayStation vs Sega Saturn vs Nintendo 64
10
22%
Sega Dreamcast vs Sony PlayStation 2 vs Nintendo GameCube vs Microsoft Xbox
7
16%
Nintendo Wii vs Microsoft Xbox 360 vs Sony PlayStation 3
1
2%
 
Total votes: 45
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Pancake
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Pancake » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:01 pm

N64 Vs PS1 dominated my school days but I was more of a PC man back then. Still, N64 was clearly vastly superior.

My first generation was the SNES one and honestly, I would pick the Nintendo console in every generation except Wii Vs 360 Vs PS3, in which case the 360 is clearly the best.

I sort of count the Wii U and Switch as being part of the same generation, along with the PS4 and Xbone in all of their iterations, so even though I never owned a Wii U I would definitely pick Switch for this generation.

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Met
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Met » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:28 pm

I never really had a proper console war. I would talk with my friends on what to get so we all had access to an N64/Saturn/PlayStation when needed. When my friend needed to play Zelda he could, as long as I got Crash.

The closest we got was PS3/360, but by that point we were old enough to be sensible with money, going into being able to get our own and everyone ended up with both anyway. We would have shitty pointless wars over them at that point but they were never serious since we had nothing to gain.

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KingK
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by KingK » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:35 pm

ZX81 vs Vic 20, and Spectrum vs C64 were during my formative years although my first console was a C64 at Xmas 83 I think it was and loved it.

After that I didn’t have any consoles until getting a PS1 with Tomb Raider in 95/96. I was close to buying a Saturn but a mate with a chipped PSX advised me otherwise and whilst I never chipped mine, I loved it. I’ve been hooked since.

PS2 was subsequently bought, as was the original fat Xbox due to Halo (still got both). I loved both, but played way more on PS2 and that was my favourite of the 2.

PS3 and X360s followed but hardly touched the PS3 for several years. 360 was a brilliant console and I still have 2 set up in my house. No competition in this era... 360 all the way.

PS4 (and a Pro further down the line) have been used way more than the XB1 since acquiring both at launch. I also have a Switch that gets used occasionally but was great to use poolside on my recent holiday. This is my first Nintendo console, although I do have a DS. PS4 (Pro) all the way for this generation for me but I enjoy all 3 from time to time.

Also had a PSP (still have it) and a Vita (still have that too but not played it since the Switch arrived really).

I’m way more Sony than MS & Ninty overall but I do appreciate all 3 and will doubtless get PS5 and Scarlett in the next gen

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kerr9000
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by kerr9000 » Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:07 am

I remember in Junior school the Console War at the time was spectrum vs commadore 64 vs amstrad, with the odd kid having a dragon or a bbc. I was a spectrum owner at first a 48k hand me down from my older brothers and later a 128k +2 , I was on a commadore 64 loads though as my best friend had one and we were always at each others houses. I occasioanlly got a go on an Amstrad at another friends house and my oldest brother had a bbc with a cousin having a Dragon so I got to see a fair few diffrent machines, but I was die hard convinced that my spectrum was best closly followed by the commadore.

In comprehensive the war was the MegaDrive verus the SNES. I got a Megadrive first mostly because one of my brothers had a friend who had a Japanese one before they were out here and he had brought it round our house a bunch of times, this led to me renting one for a weekend, and then getting one for Christmas. I then decided I wanted a SNES the year after mostly because id played Fzero in a CO-OP in a demo unit display thing. In school SNES and Megadrive ownership was pretty much split right down the middle, as the only kid to have both I became the sort of argument settler, this was a position I really enjoyed as it gave me a sort of power in the playground, sometimes the pro sega or pro nintendo kids could be quiet hostile to each other but I was seen as cool with both camps.

At college and uni games never really got talked about much, at one of my old jobs we all talked about consoles a lot and this was during the PS2, XBOX, Gamecube times, weirdly it was a very pro GameCube place, 4 of us had cubes with then one or two PS2's and Xbox's. Its weird how your only little area can be so diffrent to the big picture. At my work now only 3 of us actually game out of a staff of about 30 , one lad has an Xbox one, the other is a PC supremacist and wont touch a console or handheld and then theres me with everything I can get my hands on.

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Tomous
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Tomous » Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:39 pm

I lived the N64 v PS1 era through school but my friends and I all had N64’s so there was no real arguments. Just N64 multiplayer bliss :wub:

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jawafour
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by jawafour » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:02 pm

KingK wrote:ZX81 vs Vic 20, and Spectrum vs C64 were during my formative years although my first console was a C64 at Xmas 83 I think it was and loved it...

Ah! True old-school, KingK! My first computer was the VIC in early '84; and I then got the 64 in late '85. You were lucky to have a 64 so early! My pal had a ZX81, C16 and then Amstrad CPC so, between us, we were fortunate to try out a range of machines.

kerr9000 wrote:I remember in Junior school the Console War at the time was spectrum vs commadore 64 vs amstrad, with the odd kid having a dragon or a bbc...

It certainly was incredible just how many systems there were in the early and mid-80s, kerr. At school I can remember kids having the ZX81, VIC-20, BBC B, Spectrum (16 and 48k!), C64, C16, Plus 4, Dragon, Atari (400, 600 and 800), Electron and Amstrad CPC... and, in later years, the ST, Amiga and Amstrad PCW. There were more early systems - the ZX80, BBC A, Commodore PET, Jupiter Ace, Memotech, Tandy, SAM Coupe and QL - which I was aware of but didn't know anyone who owned them. Going into a computer store and seeing so many cassettes for differing formats was amazing!

Tomous wrote:I lived the N64 v PS1 era through school but my friends and I all had N64’s so there was no real arguments...

I was well into work during this era and many of my pals had PlayStations; it took a while until N64s started cropping up. N64 games were generally pretty expensive but, as ever, you could shop around to get better deals. The now-gone Beatties chain was ace for both PS and N64 titles!

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Vermilion
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Vermilion » Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:26 pm

Met wrote:stuff


Photobucket's made your avatar go all weird.

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KingK
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by KingK » Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:28 pm

jawafour wrote:
KingK wrote:ZX81 vs Vic 20, and Spectrum vs C64 were during my formative years although my first console was a C64 at Xmas 83 I think it was and loved it...

Ah! True old-school, KingK! My first computer was the VIC in early '84; and I then got the 64 in late '85. You were lucky to have a 64 so early!

It may have been Xmas 84. Its been a few years since then!

Anyway, one thing I omitted was that when I unboxed it and set it all up, it didn't work. This was in the days when shops didn't open on Boxing Day apart from a few (and no Sunday trading either for anyone) so I had to wait 3 or 4 days until my mum could return it and exchange it. That was with Blockbuster (in Erdington, Bham for those who may recall it).

She was always confused why it didn't work as apparently she'd got a bloke at work to check it all worked before giving it to me and all was fine.

I never owned up to being the reason though, probably being cos I put the power cable in upside down! It wasnt like the ones these days. The C64 plug had several thin connectors, and it would only fit one way. Much like an S-video cable (remember them?). Best of all, there was a sticker that said 'Top' on the end you plugged into the C64. Of course, it was on the bottom when I tried so I didn't see it! Knackered the pins or something I presume

It taught me a valuable lesson to read instructions.

jawafour
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by jawafour » Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:00 pm

KingK wrote:...I never owned up to being the reason though, probably being cos I put the power cable in upside down! It wasnt like the ones these days. The C64 plug had several thin connectors, and it would only fit one way. Much like an S-video cable (remember them?). Best of all, there was a sticker that said 'Top' on the end you plugged into the C64. Of course, it was on the bottom when I tried so I didn't see it! Knackered the pins or something I presume

It taught me a valuable lesson to read instructions.

Amazing scenes, KingK :lol: . I still have my original C64 (albeit in the loft) and, yeah, I recall that round power connector. As a kid it must have been so frustrating to have to wait a few days to get it all sorted out!

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kerr9000
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by kerr9000 » Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:55 pm

The megadrive I got for Christmas as a kid was broke when I got it had to wait for the shops to reopen so I could get it sorted out. I feel your pain

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Jenuall » Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:08 pm

Gemini73 wrote:
Jenuall wrote:
Gemini73 wrote:It was all about Sinclair ZX Spectrum vs Commodore 64 during my school days,. That said coming from a small town I knew few gamers so it was all good banter. By the time I'd hit my late teens anyone I knew who still gamed had an Amiga 500/+. Of those I knew only myself and one other had a second gaming platform in the Megadrive. Didn't know a single soul who owned a Nintendo platform, although I did eventually buy a SNES with Starfox from Woolworths.

I didn't come across any real console/gaming platform war until I moved to Gloucester and PlayStation vs N64 was in full swing (I did already own a PlayStation prior to moving). After quitting my job at GW I began working at an independent video game store. Some of the arguments I would witness between customers were ridiculous.

By the time I moved to Cheltenham and was a manager for Pink Planet/ePlay then eventually Game console war arguments breaking out in store amongst customers were common place. Used to get some right nutters in.

Glad the pettiness, often toxic environment of "my system is better than yours" wasn't a thing during my school years. I was too busy fending off bullies who didn't like gaming, Iron Maiden and Dungeons & Dragons to worry about Spectrum vs C64. :lol:

What Indie game shop were you at in Gloucester Gemini, and what timeframe are we talking? I may well have been one of the people engaging in those console war arguments! :slol:


The Software Store down, er, Southgate Street I think it was (I always get the streets mixed up!). During around 97-98 before they moved further up. I'd moved to Cheltenham by then (mid way through 1999).

Ah cool, I think remember that one! Also despite living the first 18 years I my life in Gloucester I still haven’t got a clue which is which between the NSEW-gate streets! :slol:

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Nintendonerd69
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Nintendonerd69 » Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:13 pm

My school years fell in the spectrum, c64, amstrad era, however I was the odd one out, I had an Acorn Electron but I loved that machine ( I still have it as centerpiece of my retro area in games room). Don't get the time to fire it up too often these days and it can be a tad temperamental :(

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Ironhide
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Ironhide » Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:04 pm

kerr9000 wrote:The megadrive I got for Christmas as a kid was broke when I got it had to wait for the shops to reopen so I could get it sorted out. I feel your pain


My 32X broke two days after I got it for Christmas, then again sometime in the following February, couldn't get a second replacement as the shop it came from had closed down.

Another lesser Xmas disappointment was when I got a Gamecube but no memory stick so while I could technically play it (and did) I had to wait a few days before I could properly enjoy the experience.

And speaking of failure to read instructions, when I got a Master System (I was 8) I only had the two inbuilt games for several months until getting some games on cartridge and when I first tried playing them I didn't know how to actually get the console to load them (I didn't realise you had to insert the carts while the power was off) :fp:

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The Doom Spoon
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by The Doom Spoon » Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:16 am

Although I remember the SNES v Megadrive and N64 v PS v Saturn during my earlier school years. It wasn't until the Gamecube v PS2 v Xbox v Dreamcast when I became properly invested in the console wars.

Me and a mate got Gamecubes while everyone else in school got PS2s and Xboxs. We were always looked at as if we were weird for going for Cubes but I feel like it paid off in the long run! :D

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Console Wars: Playground battles and generational favourites
by Green Gecko » Wed Sep 11, 2019 2:35 pm

"It's not 64-bit, they just added 32-bit sound and graphics together to get 64".

Ironhide wrote:Another lesser Xmas disappointment was when I got a Gamecube but no memory stick so while I could technically play it (and did) I had to wait a few days before I could properly enjoy the experience.

Funny you should mention that as I think I forgot. I think maybe despite preordering dixons had no stock of GameCube memory card 51 and so the first few days I couldn't save Luigi's Mansion... Not sure that makes sense though as you could easily complete it in a day (great game though).

Could be thinking of something else though like an N64 game that required a memory cart. Rayman 2 comes to mind.

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