The Five Best Video Game Consoles Released In The 90s
The 1990s was a very exciting time for video games, with gaming exploding in popularity in the mid-80s thanks to Atari and Nintendo. Throughout the 90s we saw the transition from 2D to 3D gaming and some of the greatest games of all time were released, with many still holding today and being highly regarded by fans. But, what is a great game without a great console to play it on? So let’s take a look at some. Here are the top 5 best video game consoles that were released in the 1990s.
5. Sega Dreamcast (1998)
The Sega Dreamcast would turn out to be the company’s final console as they bowed out of the market in the early 2000s to focus on developing games on a full-time basis. Along with the Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast is one of the most underrated consoles of all time, with it never realizing its true potential despite being the first console to feature 128-bit with a two-year lead, it is also often forgotten about as the first fifth-generation console. Some games that deserve to be played on the system include Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure 2, and Resident Evil: Code Veronica.
4. Sega Saturn (1994)
As Sony was entering the video game market with the PlayStation, Sega was also preparing to make the jump into 3D gaming in 1994 with the Sega Saturn. The Sega Saturn may be one of the most underrated consoles of all time, with an impressive library and a huge graphics boost when compared to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, but unfortunately, it wasn’t able to keep up with the PlayStation or the N64. The Saturn was released less than two weeks before the PlayStation but only went on to sell nine million units, less than 10% of what the PlayStation ended up selling.
3. Nintendo 64 (1996)
The Nintendo 64 was released in 1996 and saw the company finally make the jump to 3D gaming, two years after the release of the PlayStation, however, the N64 would feature 64-bits compared to the PlayStation’s 32-bits. Although not as successful as the PlayStation with the Nintendo 64 selling 33 million units, the N64 would assert Nintendo as the second biggest brand in gaming going into the new millennium, with titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and Goldeneye: 007 being hailed as some of the greatest games of all time, with Ocarina of Time being the highest rated game ever on Metacritic.
2. Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Famicom (1990)
Following the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System throughout the mid-1980s, Nintendo released its next console in 1990, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Although it was last out of the gate when it came to making the jump to 16-bit, the SNES became the most popular console on the market at the time, with demand being so great that during the launch period in Japan there were more copies of Super Mario World sold than consoles, meaning that players were even buying games ready for when they were finally able to get their hands on the new system.
To help regain market share and catch up on the sales of Sega’s Genesis/Mega Drive, Nintendo decided to bundle Super Mario World with the SNES in the west, making the console a fantastic deal for buyers and also helping to showcase what the SNES is capable of. Throughout the early-mid 90s, the SNES saw an incredible amount of games released with many still being hailed as some of the best games ever to be released. Some of the top titles include Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger.
1. Sony PlayStation (1994)
The success of Sony’s PlayStation cannot be understated, and it almost didn’t even happen. The original plan for the PlayStation was for it to be a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo, similar to the 64DD that was released a few years later. Following a dispute, the partnership between Sony and Nintendo ended and Sony decided to develop the project into a fully fledged console and go in it alone, and it paid off for the company. The Sony PlayStation went on to sell 102 million units during its lifecycle and is one of three PlayStation consoles to reach that figure, with the PS4 currently standing at approximately 117 million units, and the PlayStation 2 is the best selling console of all time with 155 million units sold.
The PlayStation was one of the first consoles to enter the realm of 3D gaming, boasting an impressive 32-bits which is double the SNES’s 16-bit architecture. Its library of games is what helped set it apart from every other console on the market throughout the 1990s, with it being home to a staggering 7,918 games. Some of the top titles on the PlayStation include Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3, Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil.
