Have Video Game Consoles Lost Their Personality?

Have Video Game Consoles Lost Their Personality? - Retro Bird

Рет қаралды 35,032

6 ай бұрын

In more recent years, video game consoles have been accused of being too similar to each other. In particular, when it comes to game libraries but in this video I'm going to take a look at a number of other factors as well. Are Consoles doing enough to be unique from each other?
Have Video Game Consoles Lost Their Personality? - Retro Bird / Xbox / PlayStation
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Пікірлер: 411

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Games played: Contra: Hard Corps (0:00), Super Smash Bros. (0:09), Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (1:04), Spider-Man 2 (1:19), Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (3:00), Earthbound (3:20), Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (4:40), Yoshi's Woolly World (5:20), Jet Grind Radio (8:20)

@aortaplatinum 6 ай бұрын

Pocky & Rocky is BEAUTIFUL, I gotta play that. Do other versions of the game have that same gorgeous pixel art or is it remade for Reshrined?

@Vulpas 6 ай бұрын

Spider-Man 2 is woke, not a good game.

@SilhSe 6 ай бұрын

💯👍👍

@xsx1113 6 ай бұрын

@@Vulpas please leave that crap for a website like twitter or 4chan

@gligarguy4010 6 ай бұрын

@@Vulpas idk, the Cuban flag mishap is like the least woke thing I can think of

@Luke-vj9hj 6 ай бұрын

My 8 year old daughter said yesterday “dad can we watch that banana guy” 😂

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

I don't think I mention bananas in this video though... Uh oh :(

@nebwachamp 6 ай бұрын

God bless that Bird

@Nobodyfrom2003 6 ай бұрын

@@RetroBirdGaming stop ignoring bananas!!! One video is enough ignoring them for it to be too much :[

@blues4509 6 ай бұрын

Most wholesome thing I've heard all day. Thanks for that

@TheMikeyb86 6 ай бұрын

Parenting win!

@CasepbX 6 ай бұрын

I loved how you could instantly tell what system a game was on by the graphics. SNES and Genesis games had really different graphics, and PS1 and N64 even more so.

@snichelsticks8653 6 ай бұрын

I'd argue that the SNES and genesis had more graphical differences than the ps1and the n64

@karimcheese7257 6 ай бұрын

@@snichelsticks8653 truthfully most PS1 games looked better than alot of N64 games. Goes to show you how difficult it was for 3rd party developers to take full advantage of the hardware and limited cartridge space. But Nintendo is known for their stubbornness when it came to adopting new ideas

@Nateanderthal 6 ай бұрын

@@karimcheese7257not to mention the average frame rate of most PlayStation games are higher than N64, I love them both dearly but some devs just knew how to do things better with the hardware.

@karimcheese7257 6 ай бұрын

@@hydepark1382I don't have too much to disagree with you here. And I do believe, like you, that the best looking games on the N64 were better looking than the best on PS1. But the sad reality is many N64 games look like dog shit, and its not because these games couldn't look better but that the cartridges didn't make it easier for non-Nintendo developers to take full advantage. Nintendo was a creative company ON THEIR TERMS, so much so that other companies copied their ideas to emulate that success. But when other companies started doing CD based consoles Nintendo just said screw that we will keep doing our thing (even though it would have been better for them in retrospect). And even when they did start doing CDs on GameCube it was just those mini CDs that couldn't hold a ton of data for the sake of fighting piracy. I remember playing Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 at launch and thinking how all the N64 games were going to be just as good looking, only to find some of the games looked worse over time. Graphics don't mean everything, but when you are using the name of your console to advertise it's superior technical capabilities (Nintendo 64) then you better deliver. The N64 had just under 400 games released in all regions while the PS1 had under 8 thousand games released worldwide. So to say that most PS1 games looked better than alot of N64 games is not a huge stretch. It was mostly the Platforming and vehicle based games on N64 that really showed what the system was capable of

@Crazy_Gamer_OG 6 ай бұрын

@@karimcheese7257 Depends on the games, but yea you could tell because Nintendo 64 always had blurry textures in a lot of titles due to how compressed & low res they had to be to fit on the cartridge. Some games looked better on N64, tho. Gauntlet Legends & Hydro Thunder are two great examples.

@GoodVibeCollecting 6 ай бұрын

For most multiplatform games, the only way to tell the difference now are the button prompts. The differences between each console are so negligible. One runs at 59 FPS and one runs at 58 FPS.

@nmnate 6 ай бұрын

I finally broke down and got a switch. For me, it made the most sense for the modern consoles. My wife and I do almost all modern gaming on PC, but sometimes it's nice to be back on a console. But yeah... personality? I think the 16 bit consoles had a ton of it 😎

@BagzAndPresident 6 ай бұрын

The switch is 2012 not modern

@nmnate 6 ай бұрын

@@BagzAndPresident bet you're a hoot at parties. Also switch is 2017. 😅

@CobraShuttle 6 ай бұрын

The dark shots with the controller in the foreground out of focus and the time specific screen in focus is your trademark. Never stop doing that! It looks so good and transports the viewer back in time right there.

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@gothamsghost 6 ай бұрын

I have always been glad Nintendo is in the market to drive innovation beyond just more and better processing and graphical horsepower. Sometimes they can get too wacky but their wacky times lead to the homeruns in my opinion. Great video!

@Nateanderthal 6 ай бұрын

And it's unfortunate that SEGA shot themselves in the foot, because you know they would be doing some crazy stuff today too if they were still in the hardware market.

@m0rvidusm0rvidus18 6 ай бұрын

The innovation of using characters from the 80s over and over again, making Hollywood seem original, even when an Italian plumber is the least appealing mascot character you could ever come up with. Argonaut and Rare were the real innovators in the 90s for Nintendo systems, European developers prostituting themselves to Nintendo. Even the recent Metroid games were done by European and American teams. The N64 was created by SGI. The list goes on. Nintendo is a shameless corporation, not a creative dynamo.

@go2viraj 6 ай бұрын

@@m0rvidusm0rvidus18maybe you are right, but it takes vision to fund innovative technology. And I think Nintendo has been doing so and not making PCs in different box like Xbox and Sony.

@pp-vf8ls 6 ай бұрын

no, they are not innovative lately switch?just like GBA color, but now its bigger and their game?come on, Pokemon / Mario / Zelda series?its all the same, but the outsold other games by largest margin the power of Nintendo are always their hardcore fans (i mean, really2 hardcore)

@Xhalonick 6 ай бұрын

@pp-vf8ls yeah have to agree here. Coming off the wii u Era with the death of iwata in 2015, no doubt he still had a ton of influence over the switch. In the following ~8 years since the switches release, you can tell they are at the bottom of the barrel. No donkey Kong game since the wii u. Tears of the kingdom still using a 10+ year old game engine. Pokémon being one of the most bland, technically broken games released on the entire console. They still have gems here and there but they are a shell of the Nintendo that actually revolutionized the video game market. Switch 2 will be exactly the same with new hardware, calling it now. They don't have the creative genius they once had to set themselves apart. They now heavily rely on their first party releases, which to be fair still sell like hotcakes even if they are mid or bad.

@Gamevet 6 ай бұрын

"Let me slip into my I love the 90s' pants." LOL!

@alex64gaming 6 ай бұрын

Watching while sick, thanks for cheering me up bud!

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Hope you feel better!

@ShaneDanger42069 5 ай бұрын

“Bud” lol

@J-Chiptunator 6 ай бұрын

Part of an average modern console's loss of personality can be attributed to the fact that the more esoteric but worthwhile game experiences like Odama on GameCube tend to be either hidden away by being only available on digital-only storefronts. Before the 7th video game generation took over, they would populate on store shelves because physical games were pretty much the only way to experience games.

@RedNeon942 6 ай бұрын

I think the main reason I like Sega consoles and games the most is because of how much personality they have. The N64 almost had too much personality, but as a kid I remember how much it captured my imagination compared to my brother’s Saturn and PlayStation I definitely thought I had the better deal back then, not my opinion anymore but I do miss when it was like that. Great video!

@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914 6 ай бұрын

nah their personality is fine.... they have no soul anymore though!!

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Covering a topic like this definitely makes me miss Sega making consoles.

@thepancakemann 4 ай бұрын

N64 blew me away as a kid, but man is it ever rough coming back to years later. I get more of a kick outta the Saturn AND PS1 now even with 0 nostalgia.

@bananonymouslastname5693 6 ай бұрын

You're darn right ride or die with Nintendoland! Nintendo's first-party games help the consoles have a certain identity for sure, just as Sega's did fpr them in their heyday. Sony has always been a little behind in that regard, and Microsoft even farther. Exclusive software definitely does the most to make a console feel special, but one other thing really sticks out to me. In the 8 and 16-bit days, the unique sound chips of consoles lent a personality of their own. Nothing else sounds like a Turbografx game. The FM twang of a Genesis is its own thing. The robust sound and reverb on the SNES sticks out in a crowd, as do the NES or the Master System with its PSG sound. Even the N64 and Jaguar have flavors all their own due to their sound fonts and graphical limitations.

@kevinmccartney4906 6 ай бұрын

The dig on the PS Portal 😂

@AxfNPn3l 6 ай бұрын

Absolutely they have. Fortunately Retro Bird hasn’t lost his.

@mjdf122 6 ай бұрын

Game consoles may have lost their personality but Retro Bird and Bananas will not

@mmarshfairc3 6 ай бұрын

I’m already laughing 10 seconds in 😂

@tonyp9313 6 ай бұрын

The part where you said in the video that Video game companies now don't take risks. Yeah I see that as a major problem because we get the same type of games now over & over. It's not like these companies will go bankrupt if try to take a few Risks & make game a bit differently.

@TheMahayanist 6 ай бұрын

But they will. Casuals don't buy new games, they just buy the same 12 games over and over again.

@dapperfan44 6 ай бұрын

@TheMahayanist True. Gaming getting too big has been both a blessing and a curse. Gaming is now largely accepted by the mainstream, but the budgets are now too large for more unique games to be made. It's ridiculous to hear someone say "X game didn't sell enough, it sold ONLY 2-3 million copies".

@crestofhonor2349 6 ай бұрын

They don't mind more risks with smaller projects. Their big projects however are less likely to make big risks. Plus the booming indie market has tons of new ideas

@-PLAYER0NE- 6 ай бұрын

I absolutely believe that they have lost their personality. Aside from Nintendo of course but even the original xbox and PlayStation were just kinda watered down gamin pc’s… as are the new ones lol. But on that note, im still sad that sega left the console realm.

@eleven99 6 ай бұрын

the ps2 was absolutely not a watered down gaming pc.

@mdkgod43 6 ай бұрын

You think playstation is a watered down pc? So what's nintendo consoles and a super watered down pc that cost $50😅

@TsengFayt 6 ай бұрын

Retro Bird never fails to get a laugh from me. Tuning in to watch the new episode each week like I'm back in the 90's watching Toonami.

@morganmedrano920 6 ай бұрын

Nintendo's 2 biggest strengths. 1 a strong Library(not just 1 or mascot characters) and 2 is the at home co-op. Since the age of online gaming began, Nintendo was the only company to still focus on playing local with 1 system. I normally am a member of the PC Master Race and even I own a Switch.

@pandurlolgg5780 6 ай бұрын

Consoles nowadays are just computers with custom software. They have no soul anymore.

@TheOtakuKnownAsWolf 6 ай бұрын

A new retro bird video always makes my day a good one, just like a banana!

@Sirobin44 6 ай бұрын

How on earth does this channel not have more subscribers? Informative, entertaining, joyful. What a treat all of your videos are

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Why thank you!

@segasdreamer 6 ай бұрын

I think the N64 had the most personality. I have the jungle green one and there are a lot of colors to choose from. I always felt Nintendo has done the best job on allowing the consumer to buy a console with the colors they want. Of course, the PS5 allows for the swapping of shells so you don't need a whole new console to have different colors.

@Nordlicht05 6 ай бұрын

I thought a little about it and i agree. The personality coach for consoles 😅

@Mattened 6 ай бұрын

customer*

@elodvezer1790 6 ай бұрын

was waiting for this ❤ another Banger 🎉or Nanner🧐

@ikesours6558 6 ай бұрын

I haven't had any attachment to Playstation since ps2. And my experience with xbox has only been in passing and that was 360. I lost time not gaming for a long time and my most modern console is a Wii. I thought about the Switch but I'm perfectly happy just playing what I have : SNES mini, Genesis classic, Wii and DS. Plenty of personality between that, more importantly, matches my personality.

@NintenDub 6 ай бұрын

It's a little of both....when we get older our personality dies off a bit as well too

@dahubbzgaming 6 ай бұрын

My takeaways when watching your videos with Wii U footage is I miss the Wii U. The Switch has definitely become one of my favorites. But I personally love the Wii U era. As far as the video, I get what you're saying. But to me the Gamecube (which has so much charm and personality) and the PS2 (which is just a black box) are two of my favorite consoles. I base it more off libraries than console styles. The Switch still has that "I'm a game console" vibe while the Xbox has "I'm a multimedia device" vibe. I like them both.

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Your Wii U misses you too!

@nebwachamp 6 ай бұрын

I have a wii u but no switch... I get all happy thinking of all the switch games I still have to look forward to. As long as there is a Zelda I haven't played... there is a console I will own.

@dahubbzgaming 6 ай бұрын

@@RetroBirdGaming Isn't that truth. Gonna have to bust it out soon.

@dahubbzgaming 6 ай бұрын

@@nebwachamp Can't go wrong with Zelda. Zelda is part of what makes the Wii U great. The HD ports of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are awesome. And you get Breath of the Wild.

@Emmie-kn1mx 6 ай бұрын

As a fan of the Wii U I think it was the best time for Nintendo and where we got the best ideas and most creative games. Some of them didn’t work but without much 3rd party support, Nintendo had to lean hard on the first party games that pushed the system, and we got so many great games of the time. Of course, it’s not just first party games that made the Wii U library so good, but it was a big part of it.

@BlankSpacePub 6 ай бұрын

One of the reasons I haven’t played a lot of modern PS/XBox games is because they all seem the same to me: 3D open world sandbox where are you can do just about anything. The only thing different might be the storyline or characters. Some devs have forgotten that sometimes less is more. Having a game that is streamlined-and that is foremost a GAME rather than trying to be everything at once-is what’s important. Great vid!

@kilbabaplays8944 6 ай бұрын

100% agree. Now to me they are just a mid-range PC but with locked-down anti-piracy methods. Back in the day you could easily tell the difference between Nintendo or Sega game, or later Nintendo vs Sony. It was inevitable really though as the video output specs got a parity. Back in the day, the clever part was the optimizations/compromises they chose for example tiled video (max colors on screen and max colors per tile was what made it easy to tell the consoles apart).

@ShonenJump121 6 ай бұрын

I think a lot of the problem does come from how big gaming has become. It means that companies generally want to do things that are much safer rather than taking bigger risks, and when you considering how long it takes for AAA games to come out and how a flop can severely damage a company, its not a great situation. PlayStation used to make a lot more weirder stuff during the PS1/PS2 days compared to now where most of their games now follow a similar formula.

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

I agree. The original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 have always been my favorite PlayStation consoles.

@dapperfan44 6 ай бұрын

PlayStation 3 as well. We got games like Puppetteer, we had 4 Ratchet games, a new Sly Cooper in this era.

@dahubbzgaming 6 ай бұрын

@dapperfan44 PS3 games were great. I think people just give it a bad reputation because online gaming and DLC and such were starting to take over. But the games were solid.

@megamob5834 6 ай бұрын

I’d stick a genesis model 1 or funtastic n64 on a shelf even if it didn’t work just because of how darn purdy they are!

@HakeemTheDream616 6 ай бұрын

Being a kid born in 1990 makes me the quintessential 90's baby, and those games were much more magical back then lol I miss those days

@danbauer3669 6 ай бұрын

After I got an Xbox One, I changed my entire game collection to have the disc on the left. I remember thinking, "how come I never thought of this before? This is way better!"

@metaldiceman 6 ай бұрын

My Xbox One _X_ definitely has way more personality than my Series X and I'm reminded of that everytime I boot it up and see that wicked cool animation and effects through my surround system. Worth keeping it around just for that. (the size, shape, and design is also *chef's kiss* console perfection)

@marcoalves9029 6 ай бұрын

oh yeah, I don't have one myself but I do agree it has the coolest start-up out of any modern console

@Nateanderthal 6 ай бұрын

When a corporation makes a lot of money they are going to take less risks with the formula. Great video! PS, I am building an indie currently and started making videos of my art and game design on my channel.

@jared3977 6 ай бұрын

Love watching your videos too see what random wacky humor you're going to throw in there! Keep it up!

@Nightowl1981 6 ай бұрын

My 7 year old son also enjoys your videos😊

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Very cool that you can watch together!

@Nightowl1981 6 ай бұрын

@@RetroBirdGaming Thank you for your comment and I've become your biggest fan and hopefully my son as well soon! My passion is retro gaming until the point where I need to play the music from it as well. I'm sorry I'm such a small KZfaqr now but a huge fan of your Retrobird channel If you ever have 40 seconds of free time, this is Super Mario Bros 3, the Airship (bass line) from my tiny channel...🙇 kzfaq.infocr6OYw8fXWo?si=9HlKvgB3QUkefL34

@BMoore335 6 ай бұрын

One idea that challenges this perception you’ve articulated and which I share is that the standardization of hardware has lead to an increase in more niche, conceptual, fan, and amateur production, specifically including mobile games and online retail, where specialization would be a potential difficulty. The more coherence and support for general features, the greater access people as developers and gamers have. This is essentially what Microsoft, Steam, and Apple provide. A quick note on Sony, who I believe largely followed the older model of more unique and specialized design until a significant shift occurred at the time of the ps4. They were the first real casualty of the new normal with the ps3. And perhaps Sega counts as well, although their internal management may have been the decisive factor in their failure. Nintendo has also made the shift to more uniform development, despite still having success adhering to more older practices. That all said, I share with you a preference for older variations model, rather than access model. I also think it could be a sign of a general secular decline in video gaming happening culturally and economically.

@rooty 6 ай бұрын

As with most things in gaming, it's probably objectively better now, but everything in the past left more of an impression. It was worse that you had to pick one console and miss out on tons of exclusives for the other one, but it gave you a unique experience that you shared with other fans of your console. It was worse that systems had radically different architecture that made it hard for a game to be just as good on each one, but each system did have unique strengths and their own character. It was worse getting stuck in a game when there was no internet, but it made you persevere, it made you talk to your friends, in real life(!), to make progress through collaboration. It was worse having to wait a month to get news and reviews from magazines, but it built up anticipation, it made you savour it, it made you appreciate it more. All these things stand out so sharply in my memory precisely because things were harder. I do wonder how memorable anything mordern will be in 30 years when it is all so homogeneous, so fast, so easy. Are people going to remember the PS3 distinctly from the PS4, distinctly from the PS5? Are they going to remember any game particularly strongly when they are able to play hundreds every year, when they're more likely to only them once before the next thing comes along.

@nickcommie 6 ай бұрын

The name Dreamcast was actually a portmanteau of "dream" and "broadcast", referring to the online play functionality concept.

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for bringing this up. I had forgotten about that. Not sure if you're disagreeing with me or simply bringing up a cool fact, but the branding of the console is meant to make the consumer think about more than just its online functionality. I think having the word "dream" in there was very important to Sega.

@JG9Youtube 6 ай бұрын

Yes, take one look at the old console commercials compared to now and it tells all. I'll give some love to the Nintendo 'bosses' commercials in the Wii-U-Switch era. Heck even the old console box art. The Gameboy box, Genesis and even somehow the PS2 blue box all captured your imagination. I mean what company now would have the balls to do the Dreamcast's Hidekazu Yukawa box lol. Sadly modern product design overall has become ultra sterile. A lack of different personality in products is a lack of customer choice.

@alyxoj1361 6 ай бұрын

This. Internally, PS and XBOX have been mid range PC's ever since PS4 and Xbox One, it's just x86 architecture but with unified memory. This is why I don't bother with them anymore, I just play on PC for my modern needs and have a Nintendo System. I mean I am mostly into retro but if i am going to play a modern game 9/10 times its just better on PC. I do like their controllers though, so I have a DualSense as my main PC controller. It seems that Xbox are offering a better service, and PS are offering more exclusives. Other than that there is no difference.

@macaroni745 6 ай бұрын

I think the Wii u had less personality than the Wii but more than the switch. The mii maker and included software werent as fleshed out as the Wii but not as bare bones as on the switch. Playing a Wii u feels like meeting an old friend while the switches UI is far more functional. Great video!

@dilbertfish 6 ай бұрын

@macaroni745 Yeah, I miss the Miiverse.

@dahubbzgaming 6 ай бұрын

Great point

@denofcool 6 ай бұрын

I owned a 3DO as a kid, and I know that it has a lot of bad games, but it also had alone in the dark. My exposure to that game alone made owning the 3-D.O worth it. Note: I’m aware that aluminum the dark was also released on other systems and personal computers. The 3DO was just where I was exposed to it.

@marioreds7826 6 ай бұрын

usually, the bigger is the number of potential buyers (or expected potential buyers), the more the product becomes vanilla. it also happens with anime, which typically have less "character" than the manga counterpart, and a bigger audience. sony and microsoft try to sell to the biggest and more varied number of people, so they choose a design that tries not to displease anyone. when you expect your potential buyers to be fewer than the competition, you typically try to attract them with "personality". by the way, the first playstation, and in my opinion the ps2 as well, had plenty of character, just like the dreamcast or the nintendo 64. the generation after the ps2 changed everything because videogames became something the larger public was attracted to, not just videogames aficionados anymore.

@Ukri1 5 ай бұрын

Just discovered your channel. Your videos are very entertaining for a nostalgic gamer like me. Always having a good laugh here :) Greetings from Germany

@RetroBirdGaming 5 ай бұрын

Welcome aboard :) It's great to have you!

@MichaelDrought 6 ай бұрын

Appreciate your videos a whole lot, thank you

@trevorthompson572 6 ай бұрын

Great video! What I really miss is how the systems differed on the hardware level, leading to a certain ‘look’. A Saturn game doesn’t look like a PlayStation game or an N64 game. And not because of ‘power’ because of fundamentally different hardware design.

@ShaneDanger42069 5 ай бұрын

There was a difference in power though

@captain3186 6 ай бұрын

For me As a 40yr old life long gamer, It feels like Consoles Lost Their Personality starting with the 8th Gen

@msd5808 6 ай бұрын

I think they had more personality by necessity in the past due to different chip hardware. But at certain points it got lost as sound and graphics got more and more realistic. For instance, redbook audio on CDs vs the chiptunes of the earlier systems.

@prefeitobear9209 6 ай бұрын

My PS4 have split personality. It was bought for gaming but is being used more often as streaming device and occasionally I open my emails on its browser. I will read the reviews online about the air filter add on in ps5 and might consider buying one😂 But heeey, you didn't mention the sms 3d glasses. I did wear them outside once.

@louistrentdarby9248 6 ай бұрын

Im 43 and been gaming in arcades since end of the 80s as a kid....90s was a cool era....gaming changed a lot since then....lost interest during the ps3 and xbox 360 era....During the 2020 lockdown i discovered retrogaming with raspberrypie...man it was so much fun! rediscovered that lost flame.....never coming back to modern gaming...never!!!😂😂😂

@AL_Talks 6 ай бұрын

I think about how Nintendo Marketed the Wii and said they learned from the GameCube that it's not just enough to sell a console but to get your customer's attention. I, however, found the GameCube had a lot of personality.

@whattheheck1000 6 ай бұрын

(For context, I was born in 1992). Back in the PS2 era, I criticized it for not having much personality next to the Xbox and GameCube. Xbox was the "cool" system for teens and grown-ups that brought online gaming to the forefront. GameCube had the Nintendo IPs and was more for a family friendly audience, also it looked cute. Later, as this era became "retro" in the early-mid 2010s, I realized that the PS2's personality was in its huge library of games; it really had something for everyone unlike the other two. January 7, 2024 8:56 pm

@LosHuxleys 5 ай бұрын

Dude i love your videos, you’re so funny can’t believe u are not a bigger channel

@RetroBirdGaming 5 ай бұрын

Thank you! Glad you're liking them :)

@Orpheusftw 6 ай бұрын

For me _personally,_ consoles lost their identity after the "6th gen." I remember assuming I'd get a PS3, but was never interested, and just moved to PC. Never bought another console until the Switch.

@greenneon7314 6 ай бұрын

I’m very aesthetically driven so I tend to only buy game systems I like the looks of, which has been difficult since I find the sleek look of the 90s consoles like the Neo Geo, Genesis 2, and the Turbo Duo just outclass everything else since. I mean I had a Phillips CDI and a Pioneer laser active back in the day and the new stuff like Xbox series is basically following the same media box identity but more modern but I find even those early examples to have more personality, and those early examples were my least fav designs of the time. Btw I hate the PlayStation designs after the PS1 especially the PS3 which looks like a George Forman grill and the PS5 which is compared to a router all the time.

@matthewheupel8960 6 ай бұрын

I heard someone say that the PS5 looks like a robots butt crack... that's all I see when I look at it now. I guess it's personality, but maybe the wrong kind.

@JosephLamb1989 6 ай бұрын

Nintendo fans when a new Mario comes out, "OMG!!! This is so great.... I buy every one." Also the same person. "Wow, another superhero movie. They do the same thing every time. "

@TheRealJPhillips 6 ай бұрын

Great video. I'm so deep into emulation that i don't even think about my physical retro systems much

@signa8 6 ай бұрын

Unclogging a toilet with tongs is basically how I feel about the industry *now*

@kmatlockii 6 ай бұрын

I appreciate the well-rounded discussion about making consoles distinct. I don't even know which side I land on now! Maybe alternate back and forth 🤔

@itsdeonlol 6 ай бұрын

Yes, newer consoles have lost their appeal... The older retro consoles had a unique style to them.

@psi.vasquez 5 ай бұрын

Man, love you vids. You are the only foreign language channel that I follow. Keep it on this high level, congrats

@RetroBirdGaming 5 ай бұрын

Hey, I really appreciate you watching! Thank you :)

@melvinpjg 6 ай бұрын

One of the most fun things that gave a ton of personality are the Wii, Wii U, and 3ds shop tunes and (the GameCube) menu sound effects. I loved it when consoles felt like really great toys instead of multimedia/content delivery boxes.

@tomlion0116 6 ай бұрын

I like the little detail that you have an Oled Switch but still you used the standard LCD Switch for the gameplay segment! Every time I see nowadays a Switch handheld video they use always the Oled version, because it's the newest one. I only have the V2 Red Box Switch since 2019 and it is still a great system. 😊

@cameronoverton4440 6 ай бұрын

10:45 lololol that joke had me rolling lolol 😂😂😂

@nunyabusiness9013 6 ай бұрын

I had a Super Nintendo growing up and my neighbor friend had the Genesis. We were at each other's houses constantly inviting each other over to play the latest banger on each of our respective consoles.

@rotallyPumpered 6 ай бұрын

Sony and Microsoft tend to be very gentle in giving their consoles unique attributes these days, and those things tend to get ignored completely. I thought it was really cool when I first played an Xbox One and discovered that the triggers had rumble in them, but I'd struggle to think of a single game that made memorable use of that, besides Rise of the Tomb Raider. I thought the PS5's adaptive triggers were cool too, but I find they're getting used less now than they were near launch. Nintendo have done a lot of things to set the Switch apart, with projects like Labo and Ring Fit Adventure, but it's clear they don't want to scare off developers with another frivolous, mandatory gimmick. The IR camera has been put to ingenious work by Nintendo themselves, scanning user pulse rates and looking out for reflective markers to turn cardboard contraptions into controllers, but they don't want to give the impression that it's an inherent part of Switch software. I don't know if they'd get away with a system as daringly unique as the DS these days. The market only seems interested in playing more of the kinds of games they're already enjoying. I'm a little depressed with the notion that games design has plateaued, and we can only expect better looking versions of what we're already playing. I really miss the days before anybody talked about framerates.

@myplatinumlife 6 ай бұрын

I bought a virtual boy to add to my collection a few weeks ago. My retinas hate me, but a young, teenage me is happy I won’t have to worry about the woman from blockbuster coming to yell at us for playing it too long

@13Carrey1 6 ай бұрын

My thoughts are: NO Console has a Personality! Except for @retro-bird's Wii U, this always comes with a Knife on board :D. A Console is not a Person, but we can talk about Video Game Characters who have Personality :) For example Sparkster :)

@DivisibleByWaffle 6 ай бұрын

I literally went to the midnight launch of the Switch because I was so sure that it was going to be Nintendo's last console, and I couldn't have been happier to be wrong. It was also the only midnight launch I have attended, and it was a blast to come home and stay up all night playing Breath of the Wild. I love the Wii U, especially in hindsight, but I would never dare to defend it in an open space. It was flawed and poorly marketed. But full of personality? Oh yes. I will always miss Miiverse and its implementation into games like Wind Waker HD. The Animal Crossing plaza was even fun because you could see everyone's messages and drawings. So, good? No. Full of fun and personality? Absolutely.

@Aubrey_2_Hotty 6 ай бұрын

Glad you said that about how you feel about new games.. im generally the same! I do enjoy them, but idk how to say it.. the older things feel more comfortable to me... its simpler without the online hooplah. Its like spending time with your lifelong pal. Theres lots of new people you could talk to, but its just not the same. Example: For Xmas this year, a friend of mine gifted me his Xbox One S because he got a new Xbox Series and the One S was basically taking up room. My newest console i had was a PS3... so it was great! But you know the first thing I did? Got my free Game Pass trial, downloaded Like A Dragon Gaiden, skipped the first 20 min of cut scenes, and ran to the Arcade where im currently saved, playing Daytona USA 2 😅 SEGA!!

@Lester.M 6 ай бұрын

Excellent video, glad I found your channel. You have personality Mr. Banana Man!

@RetroBirdGaming 6 ай бұрын

Thank you and glad to have you on the channel my friend :)

@hwangcubu9392 6 ай бұрын

Bought Street Fighter 6 yesterday. Took me 2 hours just to play it. Updates after updates. Product registration. More downloads. By the time I was able to play. I got bored. Nothing like just pop in a game and play like the old consoles.

@Zontar82 6 ай бұрын

Yes, yes they did. They are Just Black, soulless boxes nowadays. "b-BuT there Is the switch hurr durr". Sure toggle off the joycon and all you have Is a black, soulless tablet. And a very old One at that

@elodvezer1790 6 ай бұрын

I just bought SAMURAI PIZZA CATS for my NES!!! I am as excited as for this video 🎉 sry I know that was random... Im excited as heck 👹😶‍🌫️🍾

@freedomisntfree7851 6 ай бұрын

Man i want some i love the 90s pants!

@hoot9612 6 ай бұрын

Exactly my thoughts.. PS3 era still had some personality with killzone, heavy rain, motorstorm and metal gear solid 4 exclusives on the PS3 and Halo series on the xbox but then... Just different hardware. With only switch having really unique games.

@shredbraahh8606 6 ай бұрын

I didn't watch the video yet, I'm about to. But just based on the title alone, I want to say that in the last several years, I've found it to be lame that the total majority of games are released on all platforms. Nintendo is cool because it's the only way to play Mario, Zelda, etc. Sega had Streets of Rage, Sonic, etc. Xbox had Halo, Gears of War, etc. PlayStation had Crash, FFVII. There are very few games that are exclusive to PS4 or PS5 or modern Xbox consoles. Nintendo of course still is pretty solid with this. I'm pretty thankful that they still have the same personality that they always had, and if you want to play Mario, Zelda, DK, Splatoon, Metroid, you NEED a Ninendo console. Other than that, console personalities are pretty blurry these days.

@NateTheGnat 6 ай бұрын

In the late 1980s after the 1983 crash and up through the 1990s, video games were marketed more like toys so they had a more colorful and toylike design. In the 1970s and now, they are marketed and designed more like devices for grownups. That includes multimedia capabilities like DVD players (I know now people are like "what are those?" they were like little laser disks...). Which to me is more boring looking but I guess its less 'goofy'. They have no reason to market to kids anymore as video gaming is now considered normal and not a fringe or kiddy hobby.

@OriginalGrasshopper 6 ай бұрын

I’m a Gen X’er so for me the issues expressed here are definitely true. Atari had their own look and feel in the late 70’s/early 80’s and it neither looked nor played anything like a Magnavox Odyssey^2 or an Intellivision or a ColecoVision. They all had a distinct personality and appealed to different types of gamers.

@dmv99 6 ай бұрын

modern games shouldn't be so expensive. It should have stayed at $60.... and NO, i don't care if the games cost more to make now. people seem to forget that we no longer just pay for the base game. now every game has dlc, battle passes, seasons pases, additional costumes or weapons that cost money to buy, micro transactions, etc. more often than not, someone buys into these things so they always spend more than the base game price.

@malcolmmurphy2924 6 ай бұрын

Like i said before I listen to your videos while I'm playing my games.iam getting right into my wii.

@cultivatedgamer 6 ай бұрын

This is the main reason I haven't bought either the PS5 or the Series X yet. I don't really see any games on either that are exclusive and that I want to play. You hit it again Retro Bird!

@enderthegrouch6897 6 ай бұрын

I think about this ALL. THE. TIME.

@mattb6522 6 ай бұрын

Great video! I never thought about it, but I totally agree! Growing up in the '90s, I didn't have an SNES as a kid, so I definitely felt the sting of missing out on some great exclusives. I had a Genesis, so I enjoyed its games, but the competition between the two was so fierce. The glorious result of this competition is that it brought us many stellar games on each console! I'm still a huge Nintendo fan and I feel they do maintain personality compared to their competitors (especially when it comes to exclusives). They just do their own thing for better or worse. Like you said, Sega also did that too with their huge diversity of weird and wacky games! I always appreciate when Nintendo goes a little nuts with an idea such as something like Super Mario Bros Wonder. I still enjoy modern Sony but they usually play it safe. The game industry has definitely changed for both better and worse, so many big name developers are happy with the status quo. I think that is why I still enjoy playing retro games and indie titles...they just sometimes scratch that itch that some modern AAA titles don't satisfy.

@PkmnMasterNeb 6 ай бұрын

I miss the aesthetic that consoles used to have. Consoles like the GameCube and Dreamcast just have so much life to them. Xbox in my opinion is probably the worst offender of this. Genuinely forgot the name of the Xbox Series X until watching this video because it’s just so uninspired…

@ertlexpress 6 ай бұрын

I think game libraries have a lot to do with it, like how console wise the Sega Saturn was a black box while the PS5 has an over the top futuristic design. So why does the Sega Saturn have personality while the PS5 doesn't, well the Sega Saturn has one of the most unique game libraries out there full of arcade ports, rpgs, 3D games and 2D games that all pushed the limits of the time, mean while the PS5 is too plain with most of the games being almost exactly the same as to what they've been publishing for years with hardly any exclusives to call their own and doesn't feel like they do much with the whole "console of the future" look.

@nicholashayes5773 6 ай бұрын

And don't even get me started on gameplay. It's like these games are starting to morph into each other, they all control the same. When I boot up a new game these days, I already know what button does what before I've even played the thing. So not only do modern consoles lack creativity, so do modern controls.

@MrMarrekkk 6 ай бұрын

One could say "It's just a piece of moulded plastic" but for us gamers the certain image a console has is priceless. The console war SNESvGENESIS forever in our hearts.

@TehFoog 6 ай бұрын

I feel like one of the last consoles to have real quality personality was a handheld: the Nintendo 3DS. Even if you don't love the 3D factor itself, the console was/is bursting with charm and let the user customize the heck out of the homescreen, the interface layout, the shell itself for some models, almost everything. And while it didn't stray super far from the DS, it had a lot of extra potential and quality of life additions that it stands on its own. That's not even going into the Homebrew scene, but I suppose that's a separate topic.

@paulonetto9652 2 ай бұрын

I think that this lack of personality never hit as hard as in the current generation. Besides Switch, which has a unique concept and unique games that you can't play elsewhere, the other consoles are basically the same thing. Both Xbox and Playstation go with the "powerful hardware" concept as their only trait, and if it weren't for some exclusive games (mostly Sony exclusives) they would be basically the same thing. Specially these days where a lot of the great games come in multiple platforms. It seems that Nintendo drives all the innovation happening in terms of console, and as you said in the video, when that innovation suceeds the other companies (Sony and Xbox) put up something similar a couple of years later and try to get some of that market, but it always seemed to me that they always do things in a sub-optimal way. The only recent exception I'd say is the Steamdeck, by Valve, because I think it grew on the concept of the Switch, instead of simply recreating it, by showing that these devices could also be more PC-like and have that "powerful hardware" thing that people are used to expect nowadays.

@COIFISHGAMING 6 ай бұрын

Cheese Whiz adds personality to all consoles

@kalvinravn8431 6 ай бұрын

Spot on good sir. You ain’t wrong.

@JakeSweeper 6 ай бұрын

I do own all 3 current consoles (plus a Deck and Ally), and Switch is my main console. I'm a Trucker, so space is always at a premium. And when the Switch was announced, I jumped right on it as it was as close to the perfect console for a Trucker as one could get at the time; I still lean that way even with the increasing number of handheld console-fied PCs out there. I will give Valve props for what they have done and continue to do with the Steam Deck, though; it works with most of the games, and most of those work well.

@reyntime1950 6 ай бұрын

Rumour has it, the new ultra Nintendo switchcube 64U will have the most personality yet. It'll be made entirely out of cabbage and possibly even play games (not yet confirmed)

@Laz3rCat95 6 ай бұрын

I agree I definitely think the newer consoles have less personality than their predecessors. Even the Switch, while it does still have some personality, lacks in comparison to Nintendo's previous consoles in that area. Just start up a Wii or 3DS and compare...