Most Exciting 5-Years of Gaming

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Exactly 5 years later...

I'd say the most historically exciting 5 years was 1993 to 1998. You have the heyday of the 16-bit era, to the launch and failure of the next-generation pretenders (3DO, Jaguar, etc), to the launch of the real next-generation consoles (PSX, N64, Saturn), to the heyday of the 32/64-bit era with CD/3D based gaming and games that were so much deeper and more complex.

There was also a change in leadership of the console market 3 times, Sega being in the lead at the beginning with the Genesis, Nintendo taking over with the SNES' resurgence in 1994 and the early lead of the N64, and Sony taking over about late 1997. Sega left the console market temporarily at the end of this period.

You begin to see video games expand from their core market of young males to a more diversified audience.

As for the most changeful period in video game history, it might be 1982 to 1987 with the video game crash and resurgence led by Nintendo. But the technology change of '93-98 was a bigger leap, and from 1982-1987 not a whole lot of all-time classic games came out; '82 and '87 each were great years for gaming but the middle years, '83-86, weren't as rich with games in general as '80-82 or '87-on due to the video game crash. 1982-1987 had a couple of very exciting years on the fringes, but '84-85 were dead, dead, dead. I give it to '93-98 for that very reason; it was exciting the whole way through.

Obviously 1986 was an extremely important year as this was the year that the video game market was revived with the launch of the NES and to a lesser extent the Sega Master System and Atari 7800, and Super Mario Bros. was extremely important, but the NES-era games from 1986-mid 1987 don't have as many classics as, say, late 1987-1991. '93-98 had numerous great games being released throughout the period.

(Specifically, I'd make it Sept. 2, 1993 - Sept. 2, 1998, that way I get the launch of Mortal Kombat on home consoles in there)

[Steve W]

For me, it'd have to start around 1989 to 1993. I had an Atari 2600 Jr. and an NES, along with my Texas Instruments 99/4A home computer. I dropped the NES (due to Nintendo's horrible behavior to the US market) and started picking up machines like the Atari 7800 and the Intellivision (bought from a co-worker) at the end of their shelf lives when the games were really pushing the limits. I was given a Commodore Amiga 1000 by my brother which was amazing compared to what I was used to, and I picked up an Atari XE to fool around with. I bought an Atari Lynx in 1990 and practically wore it out. I'd seen a TurboDuo at a friend's house and eventually bought a TurboGrafx-16 for myself, later getting the CD-ROM attachment a year or so later. I put a Sega Genesis on layaway at MacFrugal's (one of Tandy Corporation/Radio Shack's attempts at a general purpose electronics store that failed) but really only picked up around 16 games for it during the machine's lifetime. Dallas locations of Incredible Universe (again, another Tandy Corporation/Radio Shack electronics store, but this time they went really big rather than small) got Atari Jaguars in during the New York/Los Angeles test market period, so I bought my Jag in November of 1993 before it was out on the market for the rest of the country. It was such a rush of new games and old classics in those years, it's a shame I was only making $4 to $5 an hour. I could have really gone wild if I wasn't broke all the time.

[Aussie2B]

I didn't catch it when I originally posted in this topic, but it's pretty funny how most of us actually selected spans of six years, haha.

My answer is still the same, so to make it a proper five years, I guess I'd trim it down to '95 to '99. I've been reading Nintendo Power issues from '94 lately, and really, the year didn't heat up for me until that fall. Before that, the main releases of note in '94 were Mega Man X and Super Metroid. Outside of that, the big games were Super Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat II, NBA Jam, Ken Griffey Jr. MLB, etc. And as someone who isn't crazy about fighters or sports games, and never played games like Mega Man X and Super Metroid until many years later, '94 was pretty low-key for me until Donkey Kong Country came out. So I can rule out '94. Similarly, the main game of '95 for me was Donkey Kong Country 2, but that game made me even more obsessed with the series than before. It's the reason I first got a subscription to Nintendo Power (as I wanted the free DKC2 guide), which was the first step in totally changing the trajectory of my gaming. I became much more informed in terms of what was coming out and on the horizon, and Nintendo Power introduced me to Chrono Trigger and convinced me to give it a shot. That became my new favorite game and started a lifelong obsession with RPGs. Once I started paying attention to their RPG-focused Epic Center section, I was introduced to games that weren't leaving Japan too, and that's what would eventually turn me into an import gamer, on top of motivating me to buy Star Ocean 2, as the memory of their spread on the first Star Ocean stuck with me for years after I saw it.

[gbpxl]

95 through 99. Basically from the Saturn launch to the Jap PS2 launch and Dreamcast

[pichuscute]

For me, it's more to do with my age than with what was coming out at the time, at least in part. I'd say that was 1999-2003 or so. Pokemon was in full swing, Ocarina of Time had just happened, and Smash Bros. was also becoming a big phenomenon, and that all came together right around the time that I was 11 or 12. So, I was the perfect age to enjoy all the excitement of all these great games around the turn of the century.

Needless to say, I had pretty much exclusively played Nintendo consoles/handhelds as a kid, lol.

[Edmond Dantes]

Honestly? Right now. The last five years have been just nuts in terms of the game industry. Both in development, distribution, and releases. We are living in interesting time.

Speaking as someone who hasn't owned any modern gaming hardware past the PS2 and Gamecube (and PSP, I forget if its afterr those two or not)... I'm tempted to agree. Even for someone in my boat who only ever plays vintage or low-tech, things like repro carts have made that a promising new world too.

That said, for me personally I'd have to say from 1989 to 1994. It just seems like the times in my life that really inspired me were around there, and its a set of years I keep going back to. Past 1994 I drifted away from gaming and into other things, by 2001 I almost gave up gaming entirely but didn't because of discovering flea markets and pawn shops, and... yeah.

Honestly I feel like I cheated this question because like, I technically named three different five-year periods (1989-1994, 1999-2003, and today)

[WulfeLuer]

Hmm. I have to say '96-'00. While I can't claim that was when the games and consoles I loved were stating to be released, I can say that was when my obsession for something other than Mario, Sonic, or Link blossomed. Final Fantasy VI (which I've already rambled on about at length) came into my life, and then things were never the same. Secret of Mana. Robotrek. Super Mario RPG. Chrono Trigger came into my life right at the beginning of high school. Then I went a buddy's house for a nerdy slumber party and was introduced to Final Fantasy VII. RPGs were suddenly cool, and the bigger market meant more stuff was localized. I devoured pretty much anything published by Square, plus a fair bit of other offerings to be had. The last game I know I was excited about getting released was Breath of Fire IV. There would be other games later on that I would happily pre-order (a standout being Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis) but I wouldn't get nearly so hyped about a game for a very long time. This was also when the Pokémon insanity started, which I partook a bit for a while.

Looking back, this was also when games and/or series I would come to enjoy later got their start. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Wild ARMs, Star Ocean, Tales (have yet to play a Tales game of the period, though), a few others.