NEXT GENERATION ☆ Magazine / 1996

33

u/Wacheif 13h ago

It's too bad that crash isn't in smash bros.

11

u/Javerage 13h ago

If I recall with Sony All Stars: They wanted him and Spyro, but Activision asked a ludicrous amount of money.

I was still waiting to see if Microsoft with so many franchises and experienced developers would've made their own smash bros.

I mean Sony's version had some problems, but I still overall liked it. All they needed to do was give it an update, maybe a new lick of paint, and I would've easily bought a PS4 version.

5

u/WoodooHide69 12h ago

I really thought multiverses was gonna give smash a run for its money. But then the devs and WB games fucked that up pretty big. Smash remains untouchable.

3

u/Javerage 11h ago

It still seems so spiteful they didn't release a full offline disc version I could've bought once at the end. I would've happily snagged a copy. I don't think I ever spent money on it, but I did jam it quite a bit free with crossplay. I'm guessing the licenses for some things meant they had to keep it in that weird digital limbo. I still have the game downloaded on my xbox series x I think. Should still work if I'm not mistaken.

Saw a fan project to bring it back to life. Wonder how that's going.

3

u/SFWxMadHatter 10h ago

Not MS owned, but if you've never seen Brawlhalla it has an insane roster of originals and also a shit load of crossovers including Chief and The Arbiter.

2

u/Randzom100 10h ago

Love Brawlhalla. Graphics are modest, but the gameplay is so fun and it runs on most low-end PCs.

I avoid comparing it too much to Smash tho. Feels like its own thing, you know?

1

u/The_Bio_Neko 3h ago

Brawlhalla is great. Yumi main here.

1

u/Javerage 8h ago

I think I gave it a go a little bit when it came to Switch, but it wasn't that long till Smash released on it and well...

2

u/imaginary_num6er 9h ago

I thought Microsoft no longer has so many franchises or experienced developers since they let all of them go

2

u/Javerage 8h ago

I mean, they still have a good number of franchises, but that's also why I said "Was".

1

u/sonic10158 4h ago

Microsoft making actual games with their studios?

1

u/scirrgeorge 13h ago

Xbox has many exclusives, but they are known by very few people.

1

u/FesteringAynus 13h ago

As a kid, I always wished the big three would pull together and dish out one great fighter game. It would have been super expensive and nearly impossible with how competitive they were, but a kid can dream.

2

u/Javerage 11h ago

I guess it's not impossible with current market trends. Like I could see Sony and Microsoft both being open to letting Smash have guest characters. Hell, if Sakurai could navigate the Disney lawyers with Sora, I think he could get them if he wanted. But lord knows the man is tired, and I bet he's dreading another request from Nintendo for smash again. Maybe they'll do a remaster of Melee as breathing room for a while on Switch 2.

1

u/TheBeeSovereign 7h ago

Slight correction but Disney apparently was on-board for Sora, the difficult part was convincing Nomura.

1

u/Bogus1989 10h ago

curious? why would a remaster of melee be good? i dunno just wondered whats so different from it and the current smash bros?

1

u/Javerage 8h ago

So a good while back, Sakurai didn't wanna return for Smash and Nintendo said they were just considering re-releasing Smash Melee.

It makes me think this is something they have in their back pocket, and it might not be the worst idea to have a bit of a break from "Bigger and more!"

Now personally I'd love a Smash Ultimate with maybe just some of the missing stages and game modes from previous added in for Switch 2, but I could see it going either way.

I'm one of those crazy people that liked each smash more than the previous one, so I don't particularly have that deathly obsession for melee like some people do. (Gamecube also didn't sell in my country so all that nostalgia of the era passed me by, but I did at least eventually get to the games on the Wii)

That being said, I know a lot of people have been foaming at the mouth for it. I can't see them releasing it on the gamecube app due to the history of input lag and whatnot some of the NSO emulators present.

1

u/Bogus1989 3h ago

ahh gotcha. thanks for the update.

yeah melee was the last one i got super serious on, besides that i played the one on 3DS only recently. never played brawl.

1

u/Conscious_Test_7954 9h ago

My favourite videogame character of all time. Such shame he's not in smash :(

1

u/nhSnork 8h ago

Never too late. I have no itch for a new Smash Bros unless it out-Dissidias SSBU's spirit system (the one that got the game ranked only second to Dissidia 012 itself among my top fave fighters), but a third fighter pass to push a "Switch 2 edition" would be neat.

-3

u/FesteringAynus 13h ago

Tbh there's quite a bit of good characters from Playstation that would make Smash Bros. 100x better

10

u/Escaliat_ 13h ago

Saturn is so underrated man.

Been getting in to collecting the affordable games and playing fan translations for it the last couple years and it's just so awesome. It's probably the most unique library of games I own.

8

u/CygnusThib 11h ago

Playstation just had it beat in number of games, overall power and a cheaper option. Doesn't help that NA/EU got shafted by not having 3/4th of the games Japan did for the Saturn.

1

u/Status_Buy_9932 20m ago

Good comment. I misplaced mine , (a family member moved it, and it's gone. ARGH) Frustrates the heck out of me. I am looking to get a new one, but so expensive...sigh.

Can you mention like 5 games you've really enjoyed that span the system? I really liked Shining the Holy ARK, and the Panzer Dragoons. And Nights into Dreams was just straight up fun / a neat experience.

Such a cool, unique system.

8

u/Suicidal_Deity 13h ago

Look how happy Sonic looks. He still doesn't know.

3

u/AracdeBonnie 5h ago

How do we tell the Hedgehog?

5

u/Live-Leg-1993 13h ago

I wish Sega didn’t shoot themselves in the foot by putting out the 32x a year before the Saturn. I think it would’ve faired a little bit better even if it was still a bit more expensive than the PlayStation.

3

u/doneandtired2014 9h ago

Eh...maybe.

In a timeline the 32x didn't exist, the Saturn was still a hard sell.

It was more expensive than the PlayStation and N64 but provided worse fidelity and performance in 3D titles.

For developers, it was considerably harder to develop for than the other two were.

Even if priced right, it would have had a very uphill battle to fight and I doubt it would have come out on top.

10

u/shalegac 12h ago

Next Gen was one of the best gaming mags. Additionally, the covers were so nice.

2

u/svennew 12h ago

By miles the best mag in the US.

3

u/happy-cig 12h ago

No way, EGM had great covers and was it PSX that had the demo discs? Honestly never heard of Next Gen over on the west coast.

2

u/Radiant_Waves 12h ago

EGM was my favorite followed by Game Informer. Next Generation was good though.

2

u/cardfrek 11h ago

And then there was GamePro, wearing a helmet and sucking its thumb in a corner 🤣

1

u/FesteringAynus 11h ago

EGM also had some demo discs too, I remember. It was rare tho

3

u/psychofaction 12h ago

still have my Sega Saturn, Nintendo, Mega Drive, Dreamcast.

thank you dad for buying me those when I was a kid ❤️

1

u/may_be_indecisive 9h ago

Damn my parents always made me sell the previous one.

5

u/TheHumanNamedTim 12h ago

I remember when video game magazines used to be the hip thing.

3

u/deceitfulninja 11h ago

Does Playstation have a mascot? I feel like Crash didn't really stick. Kratos maybe? I feel like they always had like 'poster childs' for their big games but nothing ever felt right as "the" mascot.

5

u/Gatlindragon 10h ago

Sony tried with Sackboy but didn't work out, nowadays Astro Bot should be their mascot but I just don't see them trying as hard as they should.

1

u/deceitfulninja 8h ago

I forgot about Sackboy. That highlights Sony's mascot issue I think. They never get a game series to stay strong and be that mascot. Little Big Planet never kept the momentum after 1. Horizon fizzled out. Crash fizzled out. Twisted Metal fizzled out. The longest running series that stayed consistently strong was probably God of War, but I dont know, Kratos never really struck me as a mascot.

2

u/Proxy241 9h ago

Wasn't sackboy considered a mascot there for a couple years?

2

u/Ill-Artist-1587 6h ago

They cycled through a few. Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot and Sackboy are the ones that I remember. None really stuck as a PS mascot for long, for some reason

3

u/johnnylawrwb 9h ago

Man I was around 9 at this point and there was absolutely nothing more mind blowing than super mario 64. This era was pure magic.

4

u/summonsays 13h ago

One of them died and the another is trying to kill themselves. Crazy how times change.

1

u/Tumble85 12h ago

Playstation isn't trying to kill itself.

Physical media is (unfortunately) not the most popular form anymore. PC games haven't had physical media in years.

It sucks, but Sony is going to come out of this just fine because most people are fine downloading a game and "owning" it that way.

2

u/WoodooHide69 12h ago

True. This the future gamers voted for with their wallets when they made Steam, the digital only, no ownership, no used games market, marketplace the highest revenue maker in the gaming industry.

1

u/summonsays 11h ago

I haven't really looked at the PlayStation marketplace. But Steam has competition, if you don't want to buy from Sony what other options are there for digital PlayStation games?

For me personally, it doesn't matter. I don't really buy console games anymore. But monopolies are bad for all consumers.

2

u/CherryPrincessCloud 5h ago

Seeing old gaming magazines feels like opening a time capsule from a different era

4

u/WoodooHide69 13h ago

Can sonic fans admit they are wrong now? It’s been like 40 years. We all know Mario is better. 😜

2

u/Low_Pickle_112 11h ago

I had a Genesis back in the day, and I will always consider S3&K to be one of the best games ever made...but it's clear at this point who's aged better.

Don't know why we can't get more Sonic games like Mania.

2

u/WoodooHide69 11h ago

I’m being snarky about Sonic. But literally you Genesis boys convinced me to get a Saturn and Dreamcast back in the day anyways. And I’ll always have a soft spot for Sonic Adventure 1 and 2.

2

u/WingDingStrings 13h ago

He's been carrying the same torch since the 5th grade people!

0

u/WoodooHide69 12h ago

Don’t blame me. I have to be reminded of my grade school beefs every time I play a Sonic game. I’m like, were those Genesis kids serious with this shit?

1

u/may_be_indecisive 9h ago

Mario Kart sucks compared to Sonic Racing Crossworlds on PS5.

0

u/WoodooHide69 7h ago

😂😂😂😂

Yeh if you like gameplay in kart racers that’s fuckin 10 years old.

I have both games. You have no clue what you are talking about. MKw is the most advanced kart gameplay ever made. Can you rail grind, wall grind, and trick off any pole in Sonic? Or are you racing around like it’s Mario kart 64 still? 😂

MKW also has more tracks and more characters and a huge open world. Sonic has the rift mechanic they stole from Ratchet and Clank, it’s cool, it looks great, but the game is shallow.

1

u/may_be_indecisive 1h ago

The open world in Mario Kart World is what makes it shit.

1

u/pbesmoove 13h ago

I had every issues of this magazine and lost them in a move

1

u/therabbitssing 11h ago

Best gaming magazine ever.

1

u/FordTheRanger 8h ago

I love reading these video game magazines from the late 90s up to the mid-late 00s. They're so full of speculation that'll make your head spin.

1

u/Status_Buy_9932 14m ago

They are phenomenal. I was a Nintendo Power Kid, and it was speculation and new games and a million other cool features, all along with excellent artwork. Them were the days!

1

u/DoggievDoggy 50m ago

I had this issue too.

If only we knew that Sega was gonna completely fumble Sonic on the Saturn.

•

u/_CouldntThinkOfOne__ 4m ago

I have every next gen magazine produced on my book shelf. It had to have been one of the best if not the best gaming Magazine produced .

NEXT GENERATION ☆ Magazine / 1996

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