1995 - 2001 Game Platforms News |
The years 1995 to 2001 are as interesting as they are difficult to categorize. Not really long gone enough to be considered classic, yet too old to be considered modern, this lost era of gaming platforms still offered a lot to the world of video gaming entertainment. This was the era where the elite manufacturers began to separate themselves from the rest. A handful of companies became household names, both in the world of consoles and in home computing. The rest elicited a quizzical look and a what? when brought up in common conversations. Still, even these big named companies had some lesser known products.
Nintendo, for example, offered the world the Virtual Boy. Its claim to fame was the ability to play 3D graphics, making it a splash for a while. It utilized an eyepiece to simulate depth in the computer screen a funky experience for many gamers. Nintendo also introduced the Pokemon Mini, which was a handheld gaming system, obviously featuring a Pokemon theme in an effort to capture some of that wildly popular market. The games were simplistic, but entertaining and the device also offered other amenities such as a vibrator and a real-time clock.
Tiger was also in there digging with a handheld gaming system known as the Tiger R-Zone. Released in 1995, the R-Zone was Tiger Electronics first effort to create a gaming system that could harbor multiple games. Then and now, Tiger was more well-known for inexpensive, single-game, hand held systems. Tiger also released the Game.com arrived on the scene two years later. Much more successful, the Game.com offered many new ideas in gaming, 0such as the stylus and touch screen. It also had slots for two games at once and was introduced with high powered games such as Duke Nukem 3D and the Mortal Kombat Trilogy.
Bandai could not be left out of the mix. The Wanderswan Color was used primarily in Japan and actually made a dent in a market monopolized by Nintendo. It was released in 2000 and was the direct ancestor of other handheld devices of the era by Bandai. The Wonderswan was the original version and was only available in black and white. The Color version also featured a somewhat larger screen. Bandai also produced the Pippin, which was designed by Apple in 1995. This home computer was designed to be less expensive than other computers. It could function as a network computer, but was made specifically with gaming in mind. It could be connected to a standard television display, and featured a 4X CD ROM drive.
Everyone knows of the PlayStation and its ancestors, but in 1999 the PocketStation was released in Japan. It was a peripheral of the PlayStation that functioned more like a PDA in an effort to become mobile. Sega also attempted to make their Genesis games more popular by making them mobile. The Nomad was a large, but still handheld, gaming console that could play regular games from the Genesis. It could be connected to a computer and featured multi-player capabilities through a second controller port, making it unique for its day and innovative. The pre-existing library of games available to it, made it somewhat of a hit as a handheld and now mobile gaming device. However, the add-ons created for the Genesis proved glitchy with the Nomad. Still, there were over a million of them sold.
Casio was involved in gaming, as was Gamepark, but by this era, most of the manufacturers were well established, but still continued to try the new things that have led us into the modern era of gaming.
|
