Brief summation of my time in the Console Wars, back then in the Dark Ages of the Internet, in the long past years of... DUNDUNDUN... 1998-2001.
I was young and naive back then. Just a boy who had recently discovered this weird place called the Internet and the concept of forums. My very first forum: A Spanish one dedicated to videogames and anime. It no longer exists nowadays. The memories...
I was a Nintendo fanboy back then. How could I not be one? I grow with those games, with those systems. The very first game I ever played in my life was Super Mario Bros. 3 in the NES when I was only 6 years old. I owe to them my love of videogames in the first place. And at the end of 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the very pinnacle of gaming. The best game in history and the best thing I had played in my short life. And what about Mario 64 and Golden Eye 007? Those were the best games in existence, nothing could compare to them, nothing. And the N64 was the best system, the fun machine, anything else was crap, period. Anyone who thinked differently was obviously wrong, at best they were misinformed or ignorant and just needed to be exposed to the truth, at worst they were retards or heretics and should be burned at the stakes...
I was childish and inmature back then...
As you can guess, me and other Nintendo fanboys were at war with the Sony fanboys. "Who are these idiots who claim that the PlayStation is better? What makes them think such stupidity? We were here before them! They know nothing about games, nothing! Nintendo is the king, Sony is just a shameless usurper!"
The arguments and debates about games and franchises were constant and heated. It was not strange for them to degenerate into flame wars. One side loved to mock and troll the other at any chance they had. Some of the arguments make sense. Some of them, not.
"And what if the CD's have more memory and are cheaper than the catridges? The FMV's are impressive, yes, but the load times are horrible! And what if the PSOne has games that look more mature while the games in the N64 look childish? Blood and guts alone don't make for a good game! And what if they have Final Fantasy VII or Resident Evil? Square and Capcom are obviously traitors and Nintendo doesn't owe them anything! YOU DON'T THINK THE SAME AS ME?! THEN YOU ARE A !"#$#$%%&*/&(-(@)(/*
!!!!"
When one side was unable of convince the other of its point of view, insults and flames were frequent. And in my blind fervor and devotion for Nintendo, I didn't notice how much the company was failing...
I was a fool...
"And what if the N64 has so few games launched every year while the PSOne's library is increasing in size constantly... Or that there are no good fighting games or RPG in the N64... Or that the popularity of the N64 is slowly fading while the PSOne is in asccension... And what if I can not longer play Megaman games in a Nintendo system, despite my everlasting love for that franchise... Oh! My god! What have I done?"
It finally dawned on me on the winter of 2000. My family and me were visiting some cousins on the side of my mother during the winter vacations. My cousins had a PSOne and many games for it. I finally get the chance to play some of the games I had mocked openly on the boards despite not having even touch them in my life. Some of the games I played: Wipeout, Time Crisis, Rival Schools, Megaman X4, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metal Gear Solid... Oh! My god! Symphony of the Night! Metal Gear Solid! So good games! So many hours of pure and unadultered joy that I have denied myself. Just because of blind and stupid worship for a company, a financial construct that cared primary for money rather than for my wellfare. It was not worth it. How could I have been so foolish!
My brother received a PSOne as gift later next year for doing well in school. I oficially became supporter of two systems then, a decision I never regretted. And I quit the console wars, it was not worth it. From then on my devotion was to games and only to games, and primary to games, never again to companies or systems. While the very first system of the next generation of consoles that we got was a Game Cube, and I struggled many years to finally own a PS2 as financial crisis hit my family and there was not enough money available for games anymore, I have never again let my fanboy side obscure my judgement and prevent me from enjoying good games regardless of console or company. Not to mention I found ways to enjoy games on the PS2 despite not owning the system (it served to have friends and cousins that actually owned one
)
I still have devotion for the franchises of Nintendo, Zelda and Metroid in particular. But I no longer have blind devotion for the company, and I have become increasingly critical of their actions and decisions as time has passed. Currently I own a Wii, primary because Zelda: Twilight Princess was a launch title while the games that interested me for the PS3 (like MGS4 and FFXIII) were many years on the horizon (not to mention the price was a bit too high). In the meantime, I have had the chance to play some awesome games for it, like Infamous and Uncharted.
It saddens me that, unfortunately, things have not changed in the front of the Console Wars. Go to any forum of any videogame site (or just watch the comment section of any article at random) and you will see the same type of childish arguments that they got when I was a teenager. Gamers (many of them adults, no longer children, no longer teenagers) whose blind and fanatical devotion to a company or system prevents them from realizing that every console has something worth to offer, and who are purposelly denying themselves of many hours of pure unadultered entertainment and joy because of that. So tragic, so sad...
...Such is the tragic history of humanity.