What years do you consider to be the Golden Age of video games?

[austin532 | 467]

I consider that the beginning of the Silver Age. Once the 3D foundation was laid down, developers had more time to spend on a more engaging story and really put a focus on quality and creative gameplay.

[GPX | 1,369]

My personal take on “Golden Age” of:

1. Arcades - 1980 to 1995

    Personal highlights - Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Final Fight, Streetfighter 2, Turtles.

2. 2D - 1985 to 1995 

    Personal highlights - Nes Mario, Super Mario World, Sonic, Donkey Kong Country, Zelda Link to the Past, Contra 3, Super Castlevania, Streets of Rage

3. 3D/Modern - 1995 to 2005

    Personal Highlights - Mario 64/Sunshine, Zelda 64/Wind Waker,  Tekken, Einhander, God of War, Wipeout 

—————————

Each type of gaming in the above has their own separate global impact for varying reasons, and they bring in different demographics of consumers. For basic generalisations:

- arcades are for gaming geeks outdoors

- 2D era: gaming geeks/children playing at home

- 3D era:  gaming for geeks/cool kids/adults/family (including your grandparents)

[MachineCode | 159]

I feel like I should clarify this. I’m not using golden age in the Greek mythological sense but rather Webster’s definition:

a period of great happiness, prosperity, and achievement

[m308gunner | 352]

Age 6-20ish. Heavier emphasis on 10-15 though. Them were some golden $@&!% gaming years.

[Jfreakofkorn | 282]

I would  say from the mid to late 70s to the early to the mid 90s . . . . And anywhere in between is left to others to define. But with the release of nes in 85 and later w the snes and genesis hit a mile stone w me. Everyone defines differently in their open experience and exposures of at what they can relate or grew up with , imo 

[empire | 106]

1992-1996

Nothin but hits in there, plus the 80s stuff was still relevant. 

[Estil | 1,261]

I would say 4th gen (GEN/SNES), most definitely true in terms of the best "console wars", but that's probably just generational bias.  I would imagine for most any gamer whatever console gen they grew up playing is probably the "golden age" for them just as much.  I mean a case COULD be made that a PS1 and PS2 era gamer thinks just as if not more nostalgically (is that a real word?) about their console/era than I do about the NES/SNES eras...right?  And to be fair the PS1 and PS2 had just as great if not greater an impact on video game history as the NES and SNES...right?

Edited November 23, 2019 by Estil

[ALTQQ | 87]

1991 - 1996. 16 bit goodness.

[Vectrex28 | 366]

1987 - 1994

1987 because that's when games really started to show their potential beyond what black box titles could do, and 1994 because I consider Super Metroid to be the pinnacle of gaming of that era, and with the 3D era coming to a start I feel like gaming has went downhill ever since

[koifish | 555]

Golden Age: From when I was 5 to when I was 14

Silver Age: From when I was 14 to when I was 24

After that: "Gaming just isn't what it used to be why when I was your age we actually LIKED hard games and nothing was a movie and continues were a gift instead of a right and I had to walk 15 miles in the snow to get Chrono Trigger blah blah blah"

 

Edit: Forgot to add:

Before Age 5: "Yeah this old system was really good but it was just too primitive, they did good on [game X] but the concept/genre/series really reached its pinnacle in [sequel/followup released when I was 12] that was the peak of the genre, it's just been downhill from there man"

Edited November 26, 2019 by koifish

[Splain | 2,560]

Agreed, the age of the poster likely determines the golden years. I missed most of the arcade/Atari age, though I did play and really appreciate some of it. But you don't see people making new "retro-style" games in the style of Atari/arcades nearly as much as NES/SNES. If going to arcades was a really fun experience, then that's great, but I'd argue that the games themselves weren't the golden part.

Some of the most fun I've ever had playing video games was in college, hosting night after night of Rock Band 2 on the Wii in my apartment, which would occasionally segue into Smash or Mario Kart. Makes me excited just thinking about it. But I can't call the Wii the Golden Age of video games. It wasn't the games, it was the pals. You could have put any game in those arcade cabs, and it wouldn't have greatly affected the experiences. No video game beats friendship. We can likely all agree that the Golden Age is past. Are there kids today who would say that RIGHT NOW is the Golden Age? Maybe.

[Hangoin | 11]

On 11/19/2019 at 7:42 PM, Tanooki said:

I think that distinction with the qualifiers works best, but at some point people are going to have to create new metals or something between bronze and modern and have a reason for placing that block into existence.  I don't think very highly of most of the golden age for sure outside of arcades, silver really was the time things got quite good.

I agree with you on all fronts. Before the century is over we'll have this really convoluted timeline where the labels don't make much since.

[Estil | 1,261]

I think for video games we've already settled on 1st gen, 2nd gen, and so on.  Though I wonder if the comic book platinum/gold/silver/bronze/modern ages could work with baseball card history?  Like platnium age could be pre-WW2, golden age could be 50s/60s, silver age could be 70s-mid 80s, bronze could be late 80s-90s, and modern age could be 2000-present.

[Tanooki | 4,930]

Have we really I often see debates and even people making up .5 generations for weird middle systems too.  Face it the whole system is broken.