On significance of platform transition: PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4

[Sarge]

I think the 4th -> 5th transition was the ultimate "you had to be there" generation. From a technical perspective, it was amazing, seeing 3D rendering and whatnot after years of 2D gaming, but from a gameplay perspective almost everything took a significant step back. That, and artistic design as well. There are precious few PSX/N64 games that have aged well in that department.

Of course, you could also argue that those growing pains are what made that generation special, a sort of NES generation all over again. For all the misses, you'd still get games that knocked it out of the park.

(And then, of course, you get the best 32-bit game of all, Symphony of the Night, which was purely 2D.)

[o.pwuaioc]

I think the 4th -> 5th transition was the ultimate "you had to be there" generation. From a technical perspective, it was amazing, seeing 3D rendering and whatnot after years of 2D gaming, but from a gameplay perspective almost everything took a significant step back. That, and artistic design as well. There are precious few PSX/N64 games that have aged well in that department.

Of course, you could also argue that those growing pains are what made that generation special, a sort of NES generation all over again. For all the misses, you'd still get games that knocked it out of the park.

(And then, of course, you get the best 32-bit game of all, Symphony of the Night, which was purely 2D.)

I'd take the NES over 5th gen 3D any day. But beyond Symphony, you had several impressive 2D shooters, like DoPachi, Strikers, Shienryu. You had the Mega Man X4-6 games and Street Alpha/3 updates. You had the rise of Darkstalkers and Marvel vs. Capcom. You had Metal Slug and Rayman and Klonoa, and a bunch of polished RPGs, some of which barely utilized 3D.

It was a good gen for 2D. I still think it pales in comparison to the 2 gens prior, but I wouldn't give it up.

[Sarge]

Oh yeah, definitely. The best games of that era were actually the ones that continued the legacy of the SNES and Genesis. And there were definitely fantastic RPGs, even the ones that used 3D. I've enjoyed pretty much everything you listed.

Still, you could really tell that the PS2 generation really gave the devs more muscle to achieve their vision for 3D gaming. The average PS2 game is far better than the average PS1 game. And the same is often true for the PS3 vs. PS2 as well... except for, strangely, in RPGs, where the PS2 was rife with fantastic ones and the PS3/360 saw a significant decline in great JRPGs. But they also saw the rise of WRPGs in the console space as well!

[Exhuminator]

but from a gameplay perspective almost everything took a significant step back

I think some genres evolved purposefully during the 5th gen, but I'll at least agree that 5th gen third person camera games aged bad in general. 5th gen was where developers had to start learning to create useful and intelligent cameras that follow the player around, no easy or simple task as we remember. Thankfully a lot of the 5th gen first person stuff still plays well though, mainly due to not needing the external camera angle.

[Sarge]

Yeah, a few genres really made strides. Racing games, in particular, really started coming into their own, and actually, a lot of sports games probably did, too. And you started getting some of your FPSs as well. There are just some genres that the move to 3D really helped.

[Jmustang1968]

Yeah, a few genres really made strides. Racing games, in particular, really started coming into their own, and actually, a lot of sports games probably did, too. And you started getting some of your FPSs as well. There are just some genres that the move to 3D really helped.

PS1 was huge for sports. Madden 99 I think was the year, first for franchise mode. Changed sports games from then on.

[o.pwuaioc]

Yeah, a few genres really made strides. Racing games, in particular, really started coming into their own, and actually, a lot of sports games probably did, too. And you started getting some of your FPSs as well. There are just some genres that the move to 3D really helped.

Yep, racing was what I was going to say was better in the fifth gen and thereafter. It's a medium that definitely needed 3D, though I'd argue for sports and shooters 2D > 3D still. Especially for shooters, but even for sports, because I love that action-arcadey feel over the coaching campaigns. To each their own, though.

[Sarge]

Yeah, I'm thinking more of the "sim"-style sports games. It seems like the increases in tech have really helped them start to get more and more life-like.

Now, if you want an arcade-style sports experience, 2D is absolutely where it was at. My two favorite sports games of all time are Tecmo Super Bowl and NBA Jam Tournament Edition. I'd also recommend the rebooted NBA Jam: On Fire Edition if you want more of that.

As far as shooters, I've never been a huge FPS fan, but I also see them as very different from 2D shooters like Contra and the like, not to mention what we used to call shooters and are now deemed "shoot-'em-ups" or "shmups".

[MrNash]

PS1 to PS2 for me. There was just so much polish on the games by comparison going from those clunky polygons to what the PS2 was capable of.

I will echo others, though, in saying that going from the 2D 16bit systems to the PS1 had bigger impact. I remember looking at magazine articles of Battle Arena Toshinden and thinking, "This is the future! =O "

[Hazerd]

I think the transition to the HD era of gaming had the most significant transition.

From graphical detail to resolution support and display, I feel trumps PS1 to PS2 transition. If we look at other things such as sound design, hardware functionality, and even just infrastructure like online capabilities, it's easy to see the larger impact.

I know, or at least I think, the focus is on graphical capabilities here and if taken by itself I still stand by my vote.

caster makes sense, so I voted PS2 PS3

COME AT ME BROS

Im with these guys, im amazed by how many people think PS1 to PS2 was the biggest change, i feel like PS3/Xbox 360 can still hang with PS4/Xbox One, as we go forward each generation will be less and less of a transition imo.

However i feel like the ps1/n64 era was a bad time for 3D games, and we finally started getting it right in the PS2/GameCube era, which is the first generation to start ageing well.

But majority rules it seems, and if you guys think PS1 to PS2 was the biggest leap, dont let me stop your party.