Being born in '87 and somewhat biased, I would say the 90s. Even if the technology and realism weren't great, there were LOADS of amazingly off-the-wall ideas in the mainstream.
Try making a pitch to your average game developer of today and say you want to make a game involving an earthworm, the intestinal tract, pencils, fast food and landfill sites.
Assuming that Earthworm Jim had never actually been made up to that point, you'd either get laughed out of the office and told that people don't want their heads fucked with or you'd get this face :|.
Also, I think game music was more interesting than I reckon it usually seems to be now, because the developers and composers were limited by the soundcards in the consoles.
Give the soundtracks from the likes of Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 and Ristar a listen (They're on Youtube). Even if you weren't born when they were around and don't reckon you like 16-bit/8-bit music, you can't deny that there is some very good quality composing going on there. The former two took a lot of their inspiration from classical and ragtime music and - I believe - would have introduced many people to songs that would otherwise probably be lost somewhere in time.
These days, game music seems to be more about ambient sounds and a few musical notes lumped in than actually composing a piece.
Having said that, I think that there are still some very interesting and unique ideas, but that they're harder to find and come by these days.
What was the best era for video games?
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Being born in '87 and somewhat biased, I would say the 90s. Even if the technology and realism weren't great, there were LOADS of amazingly off-the-wall ideas in the mainstream.
Try making a pitch to your average game developer of today and say you want to make a game involving an earthworm, the intestinal tract, pencils, fast food and landfill sites.
Assuming that Earthworm Jim had never actually been made up to that point, you'd either get laughed out of the office and told that people don't want their heads fucked with or you'd get this face :|.
Also, I think game music was more interesting than I reckon it usually seems to be now, because the developers and composers were limited by the soundcards in the consoles.
Give the soundtracks from the likes of Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 and Ristar a listen (They're on Youtube). Even if you weren't born when they were around and don't reckon you like 16-bit/8-bit music, you can't deny that there is some very good quality composing going on there. The former two took a lot of their inspiration from classical and ragtime music and - I believe - would have introduced many people to songs that would otherwise probably be lost somewhere in time.
These days, game music seems to be more about ambient sounds and a few musical notes lumped in than actually composing a piece.
Having said that, I think that there are still some very interesting and unique ideas, but that they're harder to find and come by these days.