A Turning Point
Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network
Show Name: From Pong To Pixels
Episode Title: A Turning Point
Episode #4
You are listening to From Pong To Pixels the podcast with your host Andrew.
In this episode of From Pong To Pixels the Podcast we discuss: the creation of Sonic The Hedgehog, a lot of Mario games and a certain fighting game, and Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow.
Segment 1: That Bloody Hedgehog
Hello everyone, my name is Andrew, and welcome to another episode of From Pong To Pixels. If you remember last episode, I had invited two guests on to talk about probably the biggest decade and gaming history, the 80’s. If you didn’t watch that episode, make sure to go check it out. But enough about the past, let’s talk about, well, the past. This episode is going to focus on the 1990s, another crucial decade when it comes to discussing video games. I’ll be covering important games, companies, and turning points for the gaming industry, so make sure you sit tight, and enjoy. While technically starting in the 80s, the 90s marked the start of fourth-generation consoles. Now I don’t think I’ve covered this in my other episodes, but blank generation consoles, in this case fourth, just state what years they were developed in. Such as first-generation consoles being created in the early 70s to the early 80s, and second-generation consoles being made from the mid 70’s to early 90’s. Fourth-generation consoles were mostly dominated by the rivalry between Nintendo and Sega. Some consoles released during this time were the Sega Mega Drive (more commonly known as the Sega Genesis in North America), the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or SNES), and handheld consoles such as the Nintendo Game Boy. Nintendo was able to profit off of their success in the third generation, after releasing the Nintendo Entertainment System, and won the largest worldwide market share in the fourth generation. Sega did however manage to become extremely successful after releasing their first Sonic The Hedgehog game, trying to compete with Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros series. But make sure to not go anywhere, they’ll be more on that speedy blue hedgehog, after this. Welcome back, sorry for the break, just had to go replay all the Sonic games to refresh my memory. So, if you didn’t already know, Sonic The Hedgehog is a series of games published by Sega, with the first game being released in 1991 for the Genesis. Sonic The Hedgehog is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog with supersonic speed, hence the name Sonic. The game follows the adventures of Sonic and his quest to collect all six of the chaos emeralds after the main antagonist, Dr. Robotnik, stole them in order to harness their power. Sonic went on to become an extreme success, becoming America’s number one best-selling game for months in 1991, outselling Super Mario. After its release in June, it had sold nearly one million cartridges by Christmas in the U.S. By the end of the year, it had claimed its title as the best-selling home video game of 1991, with two million copies sold worldwide. It even managed to win game of the year in three different award shows, The Golden Joystick, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and The European Computer Trade Show awards. Sonic The Hedgehog has solidified its legacy and reputation as one of the most popular video game franchises, and still has a massive fan base to this day.
Segment 2: Let’s-A-Go (and Smash is here too)
Enough about Sega, let’s move on to the dominating franchise, Nintendo. This decade may just be the most memorable and important for Nintendo’s history. I won’t be going into a ton of detail, because there are a decent amount of games released during this time. The first Mario game to be released in the 90’s was Dr. Mario. Dr. Mario is a puzzle game released in 1990 on the Game Boy, where the goal is to destroy viruses that show up on screen by using colored vitamins that are thrown by Dr. Mario. The game was received fairly well, with 2.5 million copies sold within six weeks of the game’s launch in North America. With the combination of cartridges sold from other consoles such as the Game Boy and NES, it finished with a final number of around 10 million copies sold worldwide. The next game to be released in the same year was Super Mario World. This Mario game is a platformer for the SNES which follows the events of Mario, his brother Luigi, and Princess Toadstool going on vacation, which is interrupted by Bowser when he kidnaps the princess. This is also the first time we see Yoshi, Mario’s loyal dinosaur sidekick. The three of them have to work together to save their loved ones and defeat Bowser, along with his koopalings. This game was enjoyed worldwide, selling around 20 million copies, making it the best-selling game on the SNES. Moving onto a spinoff series of games, Mario Kart. Super Mario Kart was the first of these games, released in 1992 for the SNES. It is an extremely simple game to understand, Mario and various other characters from his games race against each other on different tracks, dodge obstacles and finish 1st place to win. Instead of following a story or having an antagonist, the Mario Kart series is one to be enjoyed with friends, making it a fun, and sometimes stressful, experience for all players. Now the last Mario game I want to mention is one that you all probably know and love, a game that brought an entirely new element and advance to the industry. That’s right, Super Mario 64. Super Mario 64 is one of, if not the most, influential and important games in the Mario franchise. This game is the first 3D Mario game, being a platformer released in 1996 for the Nintendo 64. It follows the typical Mario formula, Princess Peach gets kidnapped by Bowser, and Mario has to go through different levels to rescue her. This game was revolutionary for its time, being the first 3D Mario game and breaking away from the side-scrolling levels everyone was used to. This allowed Mario to be much more expressive, both with voice lines (voiced by Mario Ambassador Charles Martinet) and movement. Mario gained much more moves than just jumping and crouching, the 3D space allowed for Mario to perform such moves as a kick, backflip, long jump, and crawl just to name a few. This was the first game to also introduce Power Stars, with the player having to collect at least 70 out of the 120 of them placed throughout each stage to beat the game. Instead of opting for the typical fireflower and super mushroom power-up, Nintendo decided to include three unique caps for Mario to wear. The Wing Cap allowing Mario to fly, the Metal Cap making him immune to enemies, and the Vanish Cap turning him partially invisible, allowing him to walk through certain obstacles. The game has fifteen different courses, all with their own unique theme. After collecting enough power stars and obtaining keys through defeating Bowser, you are tasked with one last battle against the king of the koopas to save your sweetheart. The memories and nostalgia that come with this game really show how much of an impact its had on the gaming world. As someone who wasn’t even born when this came out, being able to play it when it got ported to the Nintendo Switch really made me see the charm and simplistic feel of it all, and how people were able to create memories with their friends, family, or even by themselves. The game was received more than well, selling more than 2 million copies and grossing $140 million in just the first three months of its release, going on to become the best-selling video game of 1996. The combination of nostalgia, simplicity, and pure joy people felt while playing it makes Super Mario 64 one of Nintendo’s most popular and memorable games to this day. There’s just one more Mario game I want to talk about, I promise this isn’t just about Mario. 1998 marks the release of another set of spin-off games, Mario Party. Mario Party is a party game that contains a variety of different minigames for up to four players. Mario Party is a game meant to be played with friends, each player trying to win the most minigames, collecting coins and stars along the way, and the person with the most of these items by the end is crowned the winner. The first title, Mario Party, set the foundation for many more of these games to come, each new game getting more improved minigames and graphics. If you’re ever looking to play a fun, and pretty competitive, game with your friends, I’d suggest any of the Mario Party titles. Now, finally shifting away from Mario games, kind of, I want to talk about one of the most well-known fighting games that was able to spawn multiple clones due to its success. That’s right, I’m talking about Super Smash Bros. Super Smash Bros. is a crossover fighting game published in January of 1999. Super Smash Bros., more well known as Smash Bros. 64, is a fighting game that combines many different Nintendo franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Pokémon just to name a few. The first game’s roster wasn’t as expansive as some of the later titles, but still had a good cast of characters. These characters include: Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Link, Samus, Captain Falcon, Ness, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff. Each of these characters have their own unique abilities, providing different options and playstyles for everyone. Each round works the same, up to four players battle on an arena, each player having three stocks (or lives), and they have to try to get rid of all the other players’ stocks by hitting them, causing their percentage to rise. The max percentage a player can reach is 999%, but it usually gets up to around 300 in a normal match until they’re K.O’d. Eliminate all opponents in order to win. Super Smash Bros. is a game that can be enjoyed by anyone, but considering the fact it’s a fighting game, some matches can get pretty tense and could lead to arguments between players. So just remember, unless you’re in a tournament, it’s all just a game for fun. Y’know I should really take this advice myself.
Segment 3: Gotta Catch Em’ All
The mention of Pickachu reminded me that the first Pokémon game was also released during the 90’s. Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue are role-playing games released in 1996 and published by Nintendo. Pokémon Yellow was also released around this time in 1998. They were first released in Japan under the name Pocket Monster. The plot of Pokémon starts in the player’s hometown, Pallet Town. They go and visit Professor Oak. He informs the player that wild Pokémon are living in Pallet Town. He then brings the player back to his lab and tells him to choose a starter Pokémon, meaning the one he’ll train and evolve. He is presented with three options, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander. After selecting a starter, the player visits the region’s cities, running into places called Gyms. Each Gym has a gym leader, and the player has to defeat them in order to obtain a badge. You will also occasionally run into Team Rocket, a team that abuses their Pokémon for various crimes. The player has to foil each of Team Rocket’s plans for trying to steal rare Pokémon. Once the player defeats all the gym leaders and gets all eight badges, they are able to enter the Indigo League, consisting of all the best trainers in the region. There they will battle the Elite Four and the new champion, the player’s rival. I personally have not played any of the Pokémon games so I apologize if I get any of the information wrong. I know Pokémon also has a trading card set and collectibles, but I don’t want this episode to be too long. If I end up talking about Pokémon again in the future I’ll try to remember and bring it up then. Just one last thing I wanted to talk about was the release of the PlayStation, a home game console released in 1994, marketed by Sony. Some memorable titles for the PS1 include Grand Theft Auto, Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, and Spyro just to name some. Some other games I’d quickly like to mention are Mortal Kombat, a fighting game released in 1992, Doom, a first-person shooter released in 1993, Crash Bandicoot, a platformer released in 1996, and Banjo-Kazooie, another platformer released in 1998. I’m really sorry if I didn’t go into detail on any of your favorite games or if I missed it. These episodes take days of research, so I might slip up and forget something. Well, that concludes this episode of From Pong To Pixels. I hope you guys enjoyed and thank you for listening. This is your host Andrew, signing off.
Music Credits:
- Magenta Moon (Part II) – Line Noise
- Mr. Pink – Wolf Asylum
- X-2 – nymzaro
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