Hard disagree. Most trailblazing console ever with one of the strongest lineups of first/second party games we’ve ever seen. Yes there were some shoddy third party ports but you didn’t buy it for those.
People moan about the controller but forget it was the first time a joystick was used and the only real issue was the redundant left prong. Loved the feel of the Z button for shooting games coupled with the Rumble Pak.
Mmmmm fresh pasta.
For me it is very weird, no one introduced me formally to Lemmy(no one I knew run or heard of it), it felt like it was a legend. I never really got to know how good it was and always felt Reddit and Twitter were lacking, never really in control of your memes, never happy with my content, always downvoting stuff. The years went by and my curiosity only became larger as Reddit and Twitter experience was getting worse and worse. I already had experience shit posting and trolling on 4chan since my school days, so last year I signed up to Lemmy and posted my first meme. Next thing I know my feed is breathing again, the grass was definitely greener here. So I switched for both reasons.
Least contrarian Linux user.
Oh right I see it’s like a quality vs quantity thing. To me I’d pick quality (as that is what triggers my nostalgia).
If I want quantity there are thousands of modern indie games I’d rather play.
I agree, not common, which is why I don’t understand the “only 20 or so great games” take.
Can you list 20 great first party games on any platform?
Yep, chuck Rumble Pak in there too.
Did platform fighters exist before Smash?
Did proper 3D platforming with free camera exist before Mario 64?
Did third person adventure games exist before OoT and has anything drastically changed the formula since?
Not to mention all these games shipped fully built with no updates and amazingly few bugs.
It seems as though OP didn’t actually experience these things at the time so making a post about nostalgia for them is strange. Firing up an emulator and going “These games don’t hold up now.” is entirely missing the point.
Pretty sure the aforementioned list makes up for one mid Castlvania game.
We referred to Rare as a “second-party” developer at the time. So sad when they got bought by M$.
To answer your question on third-party games, some of my favourites were…
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Vigilante 8
Extreme-G
Snowboard Kids
Turok
Bomberman 64
Resident Evil 2
San Francisco Rush
Probably because it’s down. I for one am surprised they have no failover for when Bing goes down.
This doesn’t track, Rare were banging out so many good games and as others have mentioned the Star Wars games were also awesome.
I feel you are also still missing the point about trailblazing. There was more gameplay innovation than anything since.
Yes my list was not exhaustive either and tried to focus on exclusives to make the point.
Good point.
Unlikely many of the games of the current gen will hold up in 25-30 years…
Many of the first party games on those systems broke new ground and much of modern gaming wouldn’t exist without them.
Woodwork dweller here, you seem to have forgotten:
Majora’s Mask
Star Fox 64
Jet Force Gemini
Donkey Kong 64
Diddy Kong Racing
Excite Bike 64
Paper Mario
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
Pokémon Stadium
Yoshi’s Story
Pokémon Snap
Mario Party
Felt at the time that there was always a high quality “AAA” release on the horizon interspersed with some of the greatest games ever made. Many of the gameplay techniques these games pioneered during the transition from 2D to 3D are still used to this day.
Obviously a lot of them don’t stand the test of time a quarter of a century on but we haven’t had a system with the same consistent quality of games for a long time, if ever, IMO.
Nah it’s just SFA with extra steps.
That’s why I mentioned those other console exclusive features. Anyway the original point was about cost and I think the Series X was the best value for money at launch this gen…
Half the price of building a similar PC at launch.
Rewards are higher on console so recoup the cost more than PC.
I use Game Pass on both PC and Xbox with a single account to play multiplayer so cheaper on that front.
We’re half way through the generation now though. PC parts have got cheaper, Game Pass Ultimate conversion ratio has dropped and rewards are drying up so probably wouldn’t advocate it anymore. PC likely to be better value next gen.
I always gamed predominantly on PC but this generation I did the maths as PC parts had become over-inflated so decided to give console a try. I still think it was a decent decision for this generation…
Game Pass can be had waaaaaay cheaper than that and you can get it all back and more in rewards points.
I spent £450ish on the console at launch including controller and a game. Equivalent GPU was £500 or more at the time.
Spent £150ish on Game Pass sub from November 2020 to July 2026 which has allowed me to play countless games I never would have bought outright.
I’ve made over £700 back in vouchers with over 2 years left to accumulate more. Spent half of it on games, and controllers, headset, etc. all of which I can use on my PC. Plan on saving the remaining vouchers to put towards my next PC build.
This is without mentioning other console benefits like low maintenance, Quick Resume and the fact I can use one copy of a game to play with two players online.
eXpLaIN hOw im OuT oF pOcKeT.
As always, it’s a trade-off between convenience and ability to tweak.
When it comes to gaming, the convenience slightly edges it for me at the mo. Enjoying Game Pass, play anywhere, Quick Resume and have made all the money back I spent on the Series X through Microsoft Rewards twice over.
Next upgrade will be a tough call though.
Oh, I thought this was a security feature.