Fifth Generation (32/64-bit era)

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The fifth generation spawned a whole new way to play. It had 3 fiercely competing systems, each offering something completely different.

First, the Saturn. This system had its share of very unique games. Unfortunately, its hardware was ill-conceived and it had no killer app.
Next, the PlayStation. This system did right what the Saturn did wrong, and was very popular because of it. Unfortunately, it also did wrong what the Saturn did right.
Finally, the Nintendo 64. This system had some impressive hardware. It could do 2D better than the Saturn and 3D better than the PlayStation. The downside? No CDs or third-party support.
As a side note, this generation also introduced the Game Boy Color, which was like the Game Boy, but in color, and with good games!


In this thread, post your thoughts on the generation, the systems, the games, whatever.

For now, I'll give my top 5:
5. Gran Turismo (PS)
4. Tekken 3 (PS)
3. Super Mario 64 (N64)
2. Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (GBC)
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

I don't have GoldenEye, so that would likely disrupt things.

In no particular order, my favourite five from that generation would be

Zelda 64 (N64)
Final Fantasy VII (PS)
Goldeneye 007 (N64)
Metal Gear Solid (PS)
Grandia (Saturn & PS)

Final Fantasy VII I found to be very good, but not as good as its predecessor.
It's also very easy to make fun of, due to its flawed translation.
Have you ever played FF9? That game feeds on nostalgia.(Mostly of FF4.)

Also, has anyone played Metal Gear: Ghost Babel?(Released as Metal Gear Solid in the US, but I use the Japanese title to avoid confusion with the PlayStation game.) It's a shockingly good Game Boy Color game.

Lastly, which system(s) did any of you own? Did you want but not get one? Would you get one now?(These old systems don't cost much.)

The downside to the N64 was not the lack of CDs. It was the sound quality. Both the PSX and N64 had what the other didn't.

Either way, the PC was far superior

Actually, the N64 was capable of the same sound quality as the PSX, but high-quality sound just took up way too much cartridge space to be practical.

Also, I see that you've brought up PC. In order to count PC as part of the generation, there have to be clear defining dates.
Additionally, looking at the games on PC, Dungeon Keeper and Fallout don't look particularly superior.

Pokemon Stadium
Metal Gear Solid (not the gameboy one
Resident Evil
Banjo Kazooie
Super Mario Land 2

Some of the greatest games ever.

The Fifth Generation was the biggest thing to happen to the video game industry, Im sure I'm not the only person to think so. I can't imagine a bigger step for the industry ever happening.

Now, apart from the rise of 3D platformers, there were also some very interesting RPGs:
(No particular order.)
Final Fantasy 7 & 9 (It's Final Fantasy... Duh.)
Grandia (From the makers of Lunar? Then it's good.)
Panzer Dragoon Saga (This game is at least five kinds of awesome.)
Paper Mario (Making an RPG about Mario wasn't enough, so they made everything a cutout... Trust me, it works.)


The fifth generation was sort of an awkward period in gaming. There were new, revolutionary ideas, but it took the sixth generation to get a lot of them right. (Though Nintendo had the games right all along.)

FPS's were vastly improved by 6th gen. I didn't really like the controls for golden eye or perfect dark and PSX had well, I can't even think of any decent ps1 FPS's.

You didn't like the GoldenEye controls? What about the dual-controller setup that you can use in single-player?

And... Wait, were you using default? That might be your problem! When using one controller, I move with the D-pad and aim with the Control Stick.

Oh, and PS1 had PowerSlave, 2 Medal of Honor games, Doom (Just like every other system.), Jumping Flash! (More of a 1st-person platformer.), Final Doom, and Disruptor. That's all.

Yeah, i don't remember ever changing controls, i just used the C-pad to move and joystick to aim. Which wasn't cool
Also the PS1 had Resident Evil Survivor, which was an ok FPS in it's own right, not great though.

(1000th Post )

Actually, the controls that you've described are not default. Default controls were:
Control Stick X-Axis: turn
Control Stick Y-Axis: move
C or D-Pad left/right: strafe
C or D-Pad up/down: look

Yuck. Though it's interesting that the controls are symmetrical. And also, the A and B buttons are easily reached from the middle handle... Intentional or incidental? Of course, there's also clawing...


Too bad that Turok didn't allow the use of two controllers... That would've been excellent.

fond memories. I've always been a firm pc gamer but I really got into consoles around that time.

1. Zelda 64 OoT still one of my favorite games. Some of the best memories I have as a kid are of playing that game and I was devastated when it ended.

2. Final Fantasy VII played that game religiously and liked every minute. I actually liked the quirky translation. It added some needed humor to parts of the game.

3. Zelda 64 MM this game wasn't quite as popular as the first but the darker tone, the alternate universe, and the story sucked me right in.

4. Goldeneye both single player and multiplayer. Though I didn't get to play multiplayer as much as I would have liked.

5. Final Fantasy IX I played this game alot but didn't like it quite as much as VII. Even so it was head and shoulders over VIII. No disrespect to people who liked VIII but I was never able to get into it.

And now, I'll mention a bunch of games that I've played but haven't been mentioned: (I've counted PC games as 5th-gen if they came out before 11/27/1998.)
Half-Life (PC)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS)
Grim Fandango (PC)
StarCraft (PC)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC)
Chrono Cross (PS)
Vagrant Story (PS)
The Curse of Monkey Island (PC)
StarFox 64 (N64)
Dragon Force (Saturn)
Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)
Duke Nukem 3D (PC)
Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
Pilotwings 64 (N64)
Ogre Battle 64 (N64)
F-Zero X (N64)
Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth (N64)
Harvest Moon 64 (N64)
Extreme-G (N64)
Rocket: Robot on Wheels (N64)
Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War (PC)

The 5th generation battle was a good one indeed. Sony ultimately came out on top, largely due to better CD sound and video of the Playstation, but the N64 contributed just as much into video gaming. No matter which system you preferred, you can't say that one brought gaming innovation further than the other.

I was an N64 junkie myself and didn't get into Playstation until the PS2, but here's my rundown:

PS1:

Fabulous sound, music, and full motion video--big selling points coming from the 16 bit cart era.

RPGs, of which the N64 had very little.

Massive third party support, even if the majority of those games are now bargain bin garbage hardly worth playing.

N64: Nintendo's flagship franchises done new and done perfect. Super Mario 64 was the first 3D game to do everything right, with perfect graphics, sound, camera, and control. Most of the 3D games on the PS1 were rough and clunky.

Multiplayer: 4 controller ports made Goldeneye/Perfect Dark, Smash Brothers, Mario Kart, and other third party racing games easy to coordinate parties around.

Rareware: A "first party" third party developer, Rareware knew the N64 hardware backwards and inside out. Banjo Kazooie, Tooie, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, and DK64 are still very easy on the eyes today and hold up quite well as their own games. Though 3D platformers aren't everyone's favorite thing, their games had incredible personality and were just fun to play.

I think today's argument largely revolves around Wii vs PS3/360, which degenerates into "kiddie gamers" versus "hardcore shoot people in the head over the internet" gamers. It's been clear since the N64 days that Nintendo just plain makes different games, and that's the way they are. So I never hold it against anyone for disliking Nintendo, but their industry innovations (DS, anyone?) cannot be denied, and all the parties would do well to learn from each others successes and mistakes.

To me the fifth generation was the golden age of video games. I have so many amazing memories playing the N64 and PSX growing up. Back when games tried to bring something unique and original every time, instead of giving us the same crappy FPS's over and over. And with all the interesting accessories, and the whole Pokemon generation, video games were just funner then. It was a good time to be a kid. :]

I liked the Nintendo 64 the best of all of those.

Sadly, I wished that Cruis'n World was truer to the arcade version, specifically, the Germany track where if you run over the cows, their guts fly across the screen.