The 1990s was another successful year for gaming. It's also gaming 50th anniversary. New consoles were skyrocketing. In fact, you may know some of these consoles. One of the big ones launched was the Nintendo 64. It was the third console released after the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or the SNES. The 64 was a bigger step, which is why we will talk about it. The 64 was released in 1998 and had much better graphics than the first two consoles. It's most popular games are Super Mario 64, Pilot Wings 64, and Mario Kart 64. All these games continued the series they were made for. The 64 was also the very first console to connect with a handheld system. Several games were able to connect with the Game Boy and allowed even more game play experience.
Next we will talk about Sony's step into the console world-the Playstation. Many people at the time thought Sony couldn't compete with Saga's Saturn console, released a month before. Put the Playstation blew people away, and knocked Saga out of the console business. The Playstation had graphics comparable to the 64 and ran on discs, which was originally for Nintendo, but after the SNES sales dropped, Sony used it for themselves, and they made big money off of it that Nintendo could be making. It really got Sony started.
Now lets get games themselves. Now, remember Saga? Yes, they lost all their console business, they introduced one of the most popular video game characters of all time. Sonic The Hedgehog. He was introduced in 1991 and was very popular. Sonic was made to be the star of Saga's consoles, and he was for the first few years. Thing about Sonic was that he was super fast, and was a hedgehog, whom normally aren't very fast. That was what attracted players. Sega also decided to pit their hedgehog against his biggest competition: Mario. Sega came up with a catch phrase to attract customers to their latest console, the Sega Genisis. The phrase was "Sega does what Nintendon't". It worked to. However, this back fired when Sony's Playstaion knocked Saga out and Nintendo rose right up. So Sega still lost once two big gaming companies Moving on, we have Mortal Kombat. This game was the first game for older kids, as it contained ghost and the dead. In fact, this combat game (or should I say, kombat game), was the game that people decided to make video game ratings. Another big game was Pokemon Red and Blue for the Game Boy. They kicked off the Pokemon series, the second best RPG in world (second to Mario) The games consisted of catching Pokemon and fighting gym leaders. Finally we Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, the squeal to the Legend of Zelda and it was for the 64. It was the direct sequel to the first game, just with new graphic and plot. Now, let's jump into the 21st century, where gaming reaches it's peak!