By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - Biggest jump between generations

 

The biggest was...

1st to 2nd 1 1.82%
 
2nd to 3rd 6 10.91%
 
3rd to 4th 5 9.09%
 
4th to 5th 28 50.91%
 
5th to 6th 7 12.73%
 
6th to 7th 6 10.91%
 
7th to 8th 1 1.82%
 
8th to 9th 1 1.82%
 
Total:55
The_Liquid_Laser on 11 December 2020
VAMatt said:
The_Liquid_Laser said:

Pac-Man, Mario and Donkey Kong were created in arcades and not on home consoles.  I don't really consider arcades or computers to be part of the generation system. 

The Atari 2600 was not really capable of creating a character with distinguishing features.  Pitfall was a character created on the Atari 2600 and he doesn't really have a discernable face.  Mega Man has a face.  Having a face means now this is a distinct and recognizable character.  The Atari 2600 did actually have a version of Donkey Kong, but the graphics are so bad that Donkey Kong is not even recognizable.  I guess Mario is ok, but this should show how hard it was for the 2600 to make discernable characters.  Does Donkey Kong look like a gorilla?


Here is the NES version of Donkey Kong.  He looks like a gorilla.  Note that it was released in 1983 while the Atari 2600 version was released in 1982.  Programming skill for both games would be about the same.  This just comes down to the graphical capabilities of both systems.  Donkey Kong actually looks like a real character.  

This was a launch game on the Famicom.  After several years the character modeling on the NES/Famicom got better.  Think of all the Punch Out characters.  They all seem to have a distinct look and personality.  There is no way the Atari 2600 could have done anything like that.  The NES was the first home console where unique characters could be created.

I agree that Donkey Kong is terrible on the 2600.  Mario is pretty good (relative to SMB).  Anyway, I don't disagree with you that NES is when we started to see faces (though they were still not very good).  But, the fact remains that those characters were created and appeared on systems prior to gen 3.  The fact that they made the generational leap, and Mario was spun off into his own series, is evidence that they were already "memorable characters", at least to some degree, before appearing on the NES.  Definitely Pacman was memorable prior to the NES.  

The Donkey Kong character really sucks on the 2600 though.  Like, bigtime.  Could be the worst looking character in the history of gaming.  

I don't even consider arcades to be part of the generation system, but if you do, that actually highlights another reason why their was a big transition from Gen 2 to Gen 3.  The best games transitioned from the arcade to the home.  There were memorable characters before the NES, like Pac Man, but they didn't start on consoles.  One big transition that happened with the NES is that home consoles started being considered the main platform.  Before that the arcades were the main platform.  This is yet another reason why Generation 3 was such a huge transition.



curl-6 bet me that PS5 + X|S sales would reach 56m before year end 2023 and he was right.
My Bet With curl-6

My Threads:
Master Thread, Game of the Year/Decade
Switch Will Be #1 All Time
Zelda Will Outsell Mario (Achieved)
How Much Will MH Rise sell?
My Bet With Metallox

Around the Network
Chrkeller on 11 December 2020

Not even remotely close. N64 brought analog, 3D and rumble. It was a massive jump. Especially with Mario 64 being non linear and some what open world.



curl-6 on 11 December 2020

I'm undecided as yet whether 7th to 8th or 8th to 9th is the smallest.

Neither felt like a normal sized generational leap to me, but it's a bit early to judge the latter as there haven't really been any big 9th gen AAA exclusives yet.



Jumpin on 13 December 2020

8 bit to 16 bit. There was a massive technological leap there that allowed for very crisp and beautiful visuals. Although 16 to 32 bit was very close - some noted that PSX had poor 3D modelling, but it much more than made up for that with pre-rendering, redbook audio, and FMV.

After that, the gap between generations slowed down significantly.

Is that 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, or 4th to 5th? I always forget.

Anyway, I am not a fan of unifying a bunch of different consoles together as one generation as Nintendo and Sony/Microsoft are on different tracks, and only aligned during the PS2 generation when Nintendo went with a PS2 clonebox.

Last edited by Jumpin - on 13 December 2020

I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.

curl-6 on 13 December 2020
Jumpin said:

8 bit to 16 bit. There was a massive technological leap there that allowed for very crisp and beautiful visuals. Although 16 to 32 bit was very close - some noted that PSX had poor 3D modelling, but it much more than made up for that with pre-rendering, redbook audio, and FMV.

After that, the gap between generations slowed down significantly.

Is that 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, or 4th to 5th? I always forget.

Anyway, I am not a fan of unifying a bunch of different consoles together as one generation as Nintendo and Sony/Microsoft are on different tracks, and only aligned during the PS2 generation when Nintendo went with a PS2 clonebox.

8-bit to 16-bit is 3rd to 4th, 16-bit to PS/N64/Saturn is 4th to 5th.



Around the Network
Dulfite on 13 December 2020

OP really needs to be updated with consoles for each gen and highlighted he's in order to get an accurate poll results. I'd say most gamers don't have gen numbers memorized, and even those that do will argue about which devices fall into which gen because of new companies entering the market (Sony in the 90's, Microsoft in th 2000's), or companies releasing a new devic earlier than than full 6 year cycle (Nintendo). And that's not even diving into SEGAs hardware release dates.