PSX Is better! No, Dreamcast is! Dolphin owns!

by Gin'Irochi

No matter what system you own - or are a fan of - you will always find someone who is your fanboy(or girl) equal for that system's counterpart. Everyone has gotten so caught up in this war of '"What system is better?!" "PSX IS!" "NO, DREAMCAST IS!"' and so on, that everyone has lost sight of what is important - the games. Even magazines that are supposedly unbiased have adopted biased views. Take the newest issue of PSM for example. On page 99 of the July 2000 issue of the '100% Unofficial, Unbiased and Unrivaled Playstation Magazine' (PSM - BAH!) there appears to be an image of the X-Box's startup screens. Below said screen is the caption 'Yes, the X-Box is coming, and no us true Playstation 2 fans aren't scared.' OK, let me see how I can say this. THE FRIGGIN' PS2 ISN'T OUT YET!! HOW CAN IT HAVE FANS OTHER THAN THOSE WHO IMPORTED IT?!

Ahem. I'm fine, really.

Anyway, my point is this - the thing that makes or breaks a system is the quality of the games, right? So what is the point of biasing yourself on a system because it was made by a certain company? Take the Dreamcast for example. Based on tests done by IGN Dreamcast, (Forgive me, I can't find the exact page it was found on) Dead or Alive 2 actually runs at a better framerate with flashier graphics on the Dreamcast, not the Playstation 2. Yet people say the Dreamcast sucks and will go the way of the Saturn. Well, if that's true, then I want to ask this - who the hell is buying these things?

According to Sega's financial report released in May, and reported at dc.ign.com, there are already 2.5 million systems sold in America alone. While they did have losses in Japan, they were much less than originally forecasted. In fact, sales actually rose recently. (Source: http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/20066.html) Yet all I hear is 'Sega sucks! Dreamcast bites!' Many times I hear this from people that have not even played it. However, when I play my own Dreamcast in these same people's presence's, I hear 'WOOOW! That's great! What game did you say this was? Sonic Adventure? Man, I should really pick up a Dreamcast, that's impressive.' Now there's one thing I want to stop and say - Don't get me wrong, I also own a PSX which I like very much. I also own a copy of Bleem! (Oh no! Call the cops, I went against Sony! We can't have that, now can we??) What I'm trying to say is this - No, I'm not a Sega fanboy. No, I'm not a Sony fanboy. I'm a videogaming fanboy. I just happened to make an example of the Dreamcast because it is picked on most.

OK, on to the Dolphin. I have not heard anything about this system. No specs, no game plans, no nothing. Same with the X-Box. However, I still have people who bought N64's telling everyone else that the Dolphin will be more successful than the PS2, and the PS2 people are saying that their respective system will be at the top of the ladder again - solely based on screenshots and system specs. A lot of people 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed at PS2's specs, but really - who else but people that are familiar with computers and their hardware really knew what they meant? Same with the Dolphin, Dreamcast, and X-Box.
Now how can you PS2 people say that the Playstation 2 is better than all the rest if it has so many bugs in it, and Sony seriously missed the mark on PS2 sales in Japan? Yeah, they sold a lot of them, but they didn't sell nearly as many as they had forecasted - and so, they fall victim to their own hype. Will they go under? Of course not! they have that enormous cushion of fanboys to buy their games no matter what! However, when you really look at it, a lot of their starting titles.... well... bite. Blunt, but true. 'Tekken Tag Tournament??' A rehash of Tekken 3 with flashy graphics. Metal Gear Solid 2? OK, that game looks damn cool - but wait!! GASP! Can it be?! It wont be out for at least another year. And that's Japan we're talking about. Good luck getting it out in America before mid 2002. Hey Sony! Did you have fun trying to fix those little Memory Card failures with the PS2? How about Bleemcast! running PSX games at double the PS2's quality - on a Sega system? How does that grab you? I bet it doesn't feel too good, now does it?

So what are we left with? I've shown that systems have their flaws - but that's on the system level. Let's talk about what really matters - the games. I cannot fathom why anyone would buy a console before seeing the quality of the games. Take N64 for instance. Everyone saw '64 Bit Graphics! BUY ME!' And what happened that Christmas? Sold out, everywhere. The fanboys and hype had spoken. However... then people started to see what they had done. Games costing upwards of $70-80, with only about 8 or 9 available at the time. Oops! Now what? Looks like we just flushed our $200 down the crapper. Now to buy a game. A shoddy one at best, most likely Super Mario 64. And now, the thought registers after those Yuletide smiles wane, and you see what happened. You ask yourself, "Damn! What was I thinking?!" But you never admit it.... no, not ever. They'll do better next time, right? Pretty much the same thing happened with the Sega Saturn. It was a decent system, with some great and memorable games. But Sega, still cocky over their success with the Genesis. (Yes, Sega was at one time on top.) And so, they limited their distribution of products to certain key distributors. Good luck finding one, or it's games. I also owned a Saturn, as I also owned a Genesis. In my time as a gamer, I have owned one of each major system on the market. They were all wonderful machines, yet their games sometimes fell short. Do you think the PSX would be so successful if all it had were games like Spyro the Dragon and Grand Theft Auto? Speaking of GTA, I've seen better graphics on my old Commodore 64(circa the 1980's).

One final point to drive home. Let me ask you this - why was the original NES so popular? It was merely 8 bit sprites, all looking similar. 4 buttons on a controller, not counting the D-Pad. So what was so special about it? I'll tell you what made it so memorable, at least in my opinion. It's because of games like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Solar Jet Man, Double Dragon, Bionic Commando and so many other wonderful titles. That's right, who would have thought? The games mattered. There were no 'console wars' back then. It was just straight games. And they were all fun to play. Lets see Sony, Sega, Microsoft, or even Nintendo try and boast that again. The original NES was the Golden Age of gaming. You know it, and I know it as well. Even today, I still pick up that little 2 button, non-ergonomic wonder and play the games that really were special. And every time I do, I always smile - and that is what gaming is about. Having fun, not dominating another console.

--- Jeff Hagadorn (Gin'Irochi)