Now this is a good thread! And it is also a VERY difficult question for me to answer. But I will try.
I think that the 8-bit days are probably overall my favorite simply because that' s when I first got seriously into videogames and there were lots of movers and shakers in the industry, namely in the form of arcade games. I would scan each and every store ad found in the Sunday paper looking for Sega Master System stuff. I would call 1-800-USA-SEGA at least once a week to find out the latest info on new upcoming games. I would buy games simply because I did not have them yet. Leading into the Genesis era was also a great time. I swear a game counselor at Sega was going to ask me out. We were on the phone a lot together, usually for 45 minute sessions. All I cared about was Sega, but she started asking other oddball non-videogame questions. When it was finally revealed that I was 16 years old, she seemed a bit disappointed and said that I sounded older. I bet I was still too much man for her, though. :)
The Genesis days were really cool, but I got pissed at how stupid Sega of America was becoming. Why did they change game names when they came over from Japan (Thunder Force 4 became the misspelled Lightening Force) and why did they insist on changing the box artwork?
I really loved the Saturn days due to imports from Japan alone. Sega of America became even more stupid during this time and seemed to bring over only bad games for the most part and sold them in GIANT Sega CD-sized boxes, all with the worst artwork attainable. But the Japanese system has the 4MB RAM cart, tons of great fighting games, a better controller (which was eventually released in the US), better advertising, and a much wider selection overall.
The Dreamcast era was kind of noneventful for me, with the exception of a few earth-shattering games like Soul Calibur, Daytona USA, Shenmue 1 and 2. I think those were the only 4 games made for the Dreamcast. If there were others, they surely didn' t hold up to these 4.
The current generation isn' t as fun without Sega. The Xbox has way too many games programmed by US and EU companies, which usually equals boredom (drawn out boredom) in the form of an individual running around with a gun in either GTA form or FPS form. The Gamecube has a half dozen fantastic games, and the PS2 has lots of great games from Japan, but just seems disappointing because, umm, I dunno. It' s just not as fun without Sega.
< Message edited by Joe Redifer -- 26 Jul 05 7:56:15 >