Geo, which set gamers back a few Even with all those promises, a lot
hundred dollars for the base model of the stuff that was shown in blurry
and around a couple Benjamins per screen shots or mentioned behind
cartridge. Thankfully, no hand-held closed doors were essentially up-
came from them as it probably grades to what was at home al-
would have cost more than a Ford ready. The rest of the neat whiz-
Probe. The market was so crowded bang tech was something that
with consoles and stuff that all promised to eventually and actually
pretty much had games that played bring arcade action, like the fresh
pretty similar to each other, it was a polygon contests like Virtua Racing,
wonder how one could even com- to your living room TV. Still, that
pete. was something that eventually
every other game or would-be game
This is where the second greatest company was going to do any-
thing of early 90's gaming comes in: way. In such a crowded market, a
the promise of the future. Even company had to do something that
with magazines being clogged with was not just another X Bit system to
- Dan M. the games for the equally large rise above competition. A device
number of systems, there wasn't a that really stood out and brought
The early-to-mid 1990's were an month that went by where you did- something new to phosphor tubes
amazing time if you were a video n't read about some new console or and Sega was the one that went out
gamer. For starters, there were a technology that was just around the on a limb to try it. They took a shot
LOT of options for your gaming dol- corner. I can remember reading at probably one of the most difficult
lar. At the turn of the decade, the about the Play Station, a CD ROM concepts of gaming that still today
market was bombarded by a flood game system, being developed by is beyond the consumer market:
of companies, all eager to take a Sony and Nintendo to compete in virtual reality.
slice of the freshly baked and flaky the ring with Sega and NEC for the
crusted video game pie that Nin- "next generation" of disc-based "Virtual Reality" was the latest tech
tendo help make yummy gaming. Or Sega's upcoming 32-bit buzz of the decade. With far-
again. Speaking of the Big "N", "Neptune" system along with a 32– fetched but way cool concepts like
they and Sega, the late 80's down- bit add for the Genesis so those the holodecks from the TV show
trodden 2nd placer in the owners don't feel like they're left out "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to
console race, were at the 1992 extremely-
each other's throats fight- departed-from-its-Stephen
ing for the top spot of the King's-story-origins movie
game world. They had "The Lawnmower Man",
their newest 16-bit con- the idea of strapping on a
soles filling up space on helmet and gloves to in-
store shelves while their 8 teract with an alternate
-bit offerings were slowly electronic world captivated
being phased out. They people and more specifi-
also squared off in the cally gamers. By the time
new portable game sys- King was phoning his law-
tem arena with the Game yer to have his name re-
Boy and the Game moved from that movie's
Gear. Then there was title, a bona fide physical
washed up punch-drunk- machine began making
but-swears-they're-going- the rounds across North
to-make-a-come-back America to our arcades
boxer named Atari. With and malls: "VR Pods" cre-
broken fingers they threw ated by the aptly named
their battered hat into the "Virtuality" that contained
portables ring with the a game called "Dactyl
Lynx color hand-held sys- Nightmare". For five
tem while trying to hype bucks, you could climb
up their next console that onto a platform, have a
touted having many more heavy helmet strapped to
bits than the competi- your noggin and a tether
tion. Off whimpering in that attached you (and it)
the corner licking its From Computer Desktop Encyclopedia © 1999 Fakespace Systems, Inc. to the system. A large
skinned knees (which is ring, probably borrowed
impressive no matter who you talk in the cold? Or the Konix Multisys- from the Krypton prison scene of
to) was NEC/TTI and their Tur- tem with its controller that could "Superman II", was dropped down
boGra..er...TurboDuo system along convert from steering wheel to flight around you so that you wouldn't fall
with their entry into portables buf- yoke? There was a hot, juicy rumor out of the pod and knock someone‘s
fet: the TurboExpress, which played or news blurb about some major cherry Icee onto the floor. The
the same cards the home console new breakthrough in technology game you played had you go
did. The arcade company SNK in- ready to take gamers to video against another player, traversing
troduced a home version of their Xanadu. an M.C. Escher-like world of plat-
multi-game cabinet system the Neo (Continued on page 16)
15 | Video Game Trader Magazine | June 2008 | www.VideoGameTrader.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52