Jumpin said:
I'd say it's all relative. So I can only speak for myself/from my perspective:
The age you are, the gamer society you enjoy, and the technology you want to use will be your favourite era.
For me, the most exciting time was 2006 to about 2010, that's when the Wii and DS were King. Everything seemed fresh and exciting for the first time since I got into gaming as a kid. It was nice to have that feeling again. PLUS, the virtual console finally brought in catalogue games like no other platform before it. I loved it.
The worst time for me was probably about 2001 to 2005, because I barely considered myself a gamer at the time. On the surface, Nintendo was in the depths of a dark age - creatively and commercially when compared to all other eras. Nintendo's most successful releases were more or less repeat games like Pokemon and Smash, and I didn't enjoy thew philosophies of Mario or Zelda at the time compared to their SNES counterparts. But again, that was probably mainly in the N64 era, as that's when Nintendo was developing Gamecube. Also, most of my favourite devs left Nintendo platforms during the N64 and Gamecube era, only to be replaced with the likes of EA, Ubisoft, and Activision - who I don't really like. But again, that's forward facing. Beneath the surface, as the Gamecube era skulked on, Nintendo (directed by Iwata) were developing Wii. On the PS2 front, I couldn't really get myself to care about much aside from GTA and Xenosaga (which I actually played out of order, 2-1-3, because XS1 wasn't released where I lived at the time.
The PSX was the console I consider to be the last of the era of my childhood gaming, although, I was a teenager in that era. I didn't really like N64 much beyond Wrestling games, GE007, Mario Kart, and other Rare games.
Technology-wise and availability, I don't think I've ever had anything quite as expansive as the Nintendo Switch. Also, PC gaming is great right now too. The indie side of things has expanded substantially, pushing out the AAA industry that I got tired of well over a decade ago (and was never really a fan of, and I'm talking about the Assassin's Creed/EA Sports type games that just Trunk > Branch the same game again and again with different content/assets, and not much artistic expansion over the previous branch. With the trunk/branch AAA industry, each release felt less inspired than the last, although sometimes the second or third game is the best, the first is like a prototype (Assassin's Creed 2 is a great example).
But back to the Wii stuff: Catalogues of ports, remasters, and remakes of many of my past favourite games are available in ways that they never have been before - legally, at least, and coming from a family of creatives whose relationships are largely with other creatives (music industry, film, plays, etc...), I've never been one for copyright violations/piracy. So, it might be different for those with less ethical scruples than me - but, as I said, all relative.
Could right now be the best time? I think there's a great argument for it. I wouldn't want to go back to an earlier time. I'd take Switch over any previous video game system I've ever owned. There are more catalogue games on Switch than any previous console, more creative indie games, and many of my favourite new games of all time (Witcher 3 and Breath of the Wild). And if Switch 2 contains all the features that Switch has + improvements + a larger library of games (including Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, or Terranigma), then it will be the next generation. I've always liked playing older games, and so one of my most exciting releases this generation was FF7 on Nintendo Switch - a Nintendo release of FF7, something I've wanted since the 1990s.
I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this. Example: My dark age is a PS2/Gamecube fan's golden age.
Been gaming since the 1980s. I considered myself a major fan of gaming from that decade. It's a yes vote for me. |
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