The best console launch

PostRe: The best console launch by **rinks** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:27 am

jawa wrote:...The PlayStation heralded the arrival of the CD-ROM format in the console landscape...

There’s someone who never had a Mega CD.

PostRe: The best console launch by **rinks** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:29 am

Saturn for me. It was just endlessly exciting, from the earlier-than-expected launch being announced on Digitiser, to pre-ordering one at GAME, to collecting the £400 beast with Daytona and Virtua Fighter, then buying Clockwork Knight the next day.

PostRe: The best console launch by **Ironhide** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:36 am

Dreamcast for me, it was one of the only two consoles I bought at launch (the other being the GBA) and I was incredibly hyped for it.

I was at college at the time and I took the day off (pulled a sickie), stayed up late playing Sega Rally 2 and Virtua Fighter 3.

Saturn was equally exciting but I didn't get mine until the following year, remember playing Virtua Fighter at a friends house and repeatedly thrashing him at it (I'd played the arcade version almost daily while on holiday a few weeks previously and had gotten fairly good at it), also remember playing Pebble Beach Golf and getting a hole-in-one on my first go (lucky shot but I gloated for weeks about it :lol:

).

PostRe: The best console launch by **jawa** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:15 pm

rinks wrote:
jawa wrote:...The PlayStation heralded the arrival of the CD-ROM format in the console landscape...

There’s someone who never had a Mega CD.

Hee! I didn't at the time, but have subsequently :-)

.

I feel that the PlayStation was the first console to really use the format, though. By making it the default media rather than an add-on, it enabled the mass market to get into this style of storage right from the off. Of course, CD-ROM was getting popular on PC a few years prior to this (I installed a CD player into my PC a couple of years earlier) but in the console landscape the PS marked a big change by featuring the format.

Edit: I may have totally forgotten the Saturn which, of course, arrived slightly earlier :lol:

.

PostRe: The best console launch by KK » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:20 pm

Though I didn't own one at launch, in terms of quality I'd have to say Xbox. In fact such was the quality of the launch line-up (Halo, Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Challenge, Dead or Alive 3, Amped, Jet Set Radio Future, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee) many remained the best games in their categories for a very long time.

PostRe: The best console launch by **jawa** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:23 pm

KK wrote:Though I didn't own one at launch, in terms of quality I'd have to say Xbox. In fact such was the quality of the launch line-up...

Yeah, the original Xbox is a good shout. A great machine with a strong range of titles; it's hard to argue against the choice.

PostRe: The best console launch by **Poser** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:36 pm

PS4 for me, though it's a very personal thing. I'd had a rotten 2012, and 2013 had been largely low-key as I worked really hard to get back on my feet.

Treating myself to that, playing Resogun, Killzone and Ass Creed Black Flag (which I bought with cash from the lovely JChalmers) at launch... it all felt so proper, and it signalled the end of a period of shite for me.

Would have been nice to use the PS5 launch in a similar way (was made redundant just before Covid really kicked off... things have been challenging), but I simply couldn't justify it.

PostRe: The best console launch by **Vermilion** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:53 pm

jawa wrote:
Vermilion wrote:One of the worst console launches was the N64, Nintendo made a complete and utter mess of it.

Just 20,000 consoles available on day 1, and only three games released....

The launch definitely had issues with pricing - for both console and games - although I feel that the launch week line-up was lean but terrific: Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. Time hasn't been overly kind to Shadows and Turok but, in the context of 1997, that's a great selection.

Turok wasn't released on day 1 though, it followed a few days later, and featured an eye watering price tag!

rinks wrote:Saturn for me. It was just endlessly exciting, from the earlier-than-expected launch being announced on Digitiser, to pre-ordering one at GAME, to collecting the £400 beast with Daytona and Virtua Fighter, then buying Clockwork Knight the next day.

Didn't the Saturn launch with only a scart lead included? Most TV's at the time didn't have scart sockets and so the sales of regular leads dried up pretty quickly.

Pretty sure there was a bit of fuss surrounding that at the time.

PostRe: The best console launch by **DML** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:59 pm

Gamecube is my favourite, although Dreamcast is a close second. No huge hitter, but an awful lot of high quality games people still love on Day 1.

I really don't get people calling the PS5 launch line up one of the best ever. Maybe I need to play the games and feel it myself.

PostRe: The best console launch by **Jenuall** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:19 pm

jawa wrote:
rinks wrote:
jawa wrote:...The PlayStation heralded the arrival of the CD-ROM format in the console landscape...

There’s someone who never had a Mega CD.

Hee! I didn't at the time, but have subsequently .

I feel that the PlayStation was the first console to really use the format, though. By making it the default media rather than an add-on, it enabled the mass market to get into this style of storage right from the off. Of course, CD-ROM was getting popular on PC a few years prior to this (I installed a CD player into my PC a couple of years earlier) but in the console landscape the PS marked a big change by featuring the format.

Edit: I may have totally forgotten the Saturn which, of course, arrived slightly earlier .

Of course the mighty PC was always at the forefront of these things :datass:

The CD release of System Shock 1 in 94 was the first time that I really felt the benefit of the CD-ROM drive, the fully voiced audio logs and emails were such a standout at the time.

PostRe: The best console launch by **Ironhide** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 7:27 pm

jawa, on multiple occasions wrote:Hee!

I see you're channeling Michael Jackson again.

PostRe: The best console launch by **jawa** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 7:31 pm

Ironhide wrote:
jawa, on multiple occasions wrote:Hee!

I see you're channeling Michael Jackson again.

You're bang-on, Ironhide - I have been using that expression more in recent months!

The Switch was a fun one, ended up travelling 50 miles to try and find a console, only to end up picking up one in my home town

PostRe: The best console launch by **Mafro** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:57 pm

The Wii launch purely because of the sheer amount of attention it got from the mainstream media and all the hysteria round it. Never seen anything like it, closest was probably Pokemon Go.

PostRe: The best console launch by **Robbo-92** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 3:14 pm

Well if we strictly had to own the console at launch I’ve got 3 to compare! The 3DS, Wii U and Xbox Series X. So out of the three probably Series X, didn’t get Game Pass at launch but for the price you really can’t go wrong, even at full price of £10.99 it’s a steal! Got 4 games downloaded that will probably last me a few weeks (till Christmas unless I get a chunk of free time) and AC Valhalla.

If we didn’t have to own one at launch then the Wii. Twilight Princess, Wii Sports, Excitetruck and Red Steel would have been an amazing launch day line up (that’s what I’d have gone for anyway!).

Corazon de Leon

Probably a straight fight between the GameCube and the XBox 360 for me.

PostRe: The best console launch by **OrangeRKN** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 3:28 pm

Robbo-92 wrote:So out of the three probably Series X, didn’t get Game Pass at launch but for the price you really can’t go wrong, even at full price of £10.99 it’s a steal!

Read this as the Series X costing £10.99 - that would be a steal!

PostRe: The best console launch by **Robbo-92** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 3:01 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:
Robbo-92 wrote:So out of the three probably Series X, didn’t get Game Pass at launch but for the price you really can’t go wrong, even at full price of £10.99 it’s a steal!

Read this as the Series X costing £10.99 - that would be a steal!

Microsoft trying to get ahead by giving Xbox consoles away!

PostRe: The best console launch by **Poser** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 3:04 pm

Mafro wrote:The Wii launch purely because of the sheer amount of attention it got from the mainstream media and all the hysteria round it. Never seen anything like it, closest was probably Pokemon Go.

Great shout.

I still wonder how many Wiis were rarely used for anything except Wii Sports. Even my Gran had one, with that fitness board thing. Madness.

PostRe: The best console launch by **Vermilion** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 6:50 pm

Poser wrote:
Mafro wrote:The Wii launch purely because of the sheer amount of attention it got from the mainstream media and all the hysteria round it. Never seen anything like it, closest was probably Pokemon Go.

Great shout.

I still wonder how many Wiis were rarely used for anything except Wii Sports. Even my Gran had one, with that fitness board thing. Madness.

Ah yes, the Wii, brilliantly marketed, yet generally disappointing thanks to lacklustre hardware (a repackaged Gamecube with a wiggle stick just couldn't cut it when compared with 360/PS3).

The best console launch

Who is online

Affiliates