Viral tweet...has the retro gaming community debating the "most significant leap in gaming history"

Is GBA to PSP the real answer?

One question has gotten the retro gaming fandom up in a tizzy, and now the community is trying to decide what the biggest generational leap in gaming history really was.

[darthv72]

8/16bit (2D era) to 32bit (3D era) is what I found to be the most significant. Everything after the 32bit was evolutionary more so than revolutionary.

[Yi-Long]

8 bit to 16 bit was huge, graphically.

16 bit to 32 bit was ‘different’. We were at the cusp of getting absolute gorgeous 2D games, BUT instead the industry instead switched over to 3D gaming, which was obviously a massive and important first step, but to me it was also ‘ugly’, and it felt like we were denied some massive steps in gorgeous 2D pixel-based gaming experiences, and instead we saw both an absolute revolution in gaming (3D characters, worlds, movement, etc) yet also just (mostly) disgusting graphics.

Obviously I realize those first 3D steps were always going to be ‘ugly’ before they’d progress into the gorgeous stuff we see on our screens today, so rationally I was always perfectly fine with that transition and era, cause I understood it would keep evolving and I knew where it was heading.

Emotionally though, I would have loved to have seen 2D gaming evolve a bit more back then, yet sadly so many devs just switched over completely.

[Popsicle]

Though not affordable for most I felt the Neo Geo was really strong for 2D gaming during gen 4. Graphically it blew the SNES and Genesis away. As for gen 5 and even though both failed, the Saturn and 3DO also had some decent 2D releases.

Agreed the transition to 3D was an ugly one, but as you said, it was always going to be because gen 5 was the first to really do it and there was a considerable learning curve. Nevertheless, gen 5 was the catalyst for what gaming was going to become.

[Cacabunga]

16 to 32 is the biggest leap ever.. 3D was a game changer in every way.. Virtua Fighter 1, Tobal Tekken Toshinden Ura i still remember that emotional shock to this day

[Yi-Long]

@Popsicle; Yeah, I remember reading the NeoGeo reviews and previews back then in magazines, and it was arcade-quality, but obviously far too expensive for most of us. And once the 32-bit era came around we saw 2D fighters with similar graphical quality, or even better, than what NeoGeo had been serving, but this time at an affordable price, for PS1 and Saturn.

NeoGeo also seemed to lack ‘an identity’, for me at least. Sega of course had Sonic and a few series like Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Ecco, etc, and Nintendo had some big obvious titles like Mario, Donkey Kong, and also 3rd party like Street Fighter 2 and Chrono Trigger, but I never felt I was truly missing out on anything major when I looked at the NeoGeo line-up.

[DigitallyAfflicted]

I agree, jumping from Sega Megadrive to PSX was unbelievable, I still remember playing Tekken, Resident Evil, Battle Arena Toshinden, PSX blew my socks off!

[RiseNShine]

I agree with this, 2d to 3d was a change of paradigm, jumping from Super Mario World to Mario 64 was a quantum leap, a complete retool of how gaming works and was understood.

I think that only VR has done something similar, creating a new paradigm of how a game is played and understood, most of the other consoles and games are evolutionary improvements, some even revolutionary, but not paradigm-changing ones that completely redesigned how games are played.

[BlackDoomAx]

From 1st go 2nd generation, particularly the atari 2600. Plugging a console on a tv and playing with a joystick/controller was revolutionary and transformed the console videogaming industry forever.

[isarai]

It's a toss up for me personally from the 2D>3D or SD>HD leap. From an objective pov going 3D for sure, it changed quite literally EVERYTHING, but as someone who is obsessed with game development technology, the HD era came with so much nerdy tech that really got and still gets me hyped when something new comes along

[EvertonFC]

From 1998-2003 I worked and lived in France and didn't play any games for 5 years, so when I came back from France and bought my 1st home and HDTV/PS3 popped resistance fall of man and motorstorm into the PS3 my mind was blown 😊

[isarai]

I had a similar experience, within 1hr I went from playing Spider-Man 2 on PS2 on a cheap CRT to playing Uncharted Drake's Fortune on a brand new HD LCD. had been saving up, then my tax return direct deposited so I booked it to Walmart and grabbed everything at once. Was such a a special time as a gamer.

[Name Last Name]

PS3 Motorstorm was a huge wow moment for me. Truly felt like we were in a new gen. I never felt that again in PS4 or PS5 even though everything looks better.

[P_Bomb]

For me it was the HD era and all the bells ‘n’ whistles that came along with it.

[1Victor]

Technology and graphics wise the gameboy to psp is the biggest leap then 32 bits(Super Nintendo) to 64 bits(PlayStation)is a close second, 480p to 720p to 1080p to 2/4K was nice but it was just a tv catching up little by little with pc monitors.

[Profchaos]

SNES was actually 16 bit and PS was a 32 bit system.
But bits were really a marketing thing like terraflops now good on paper nice to hear your system has more but not all that meaningful

[1Victor]

Yes you are correct I forgot that the 32- 64 bit jump was on the PS2,N64 and Dreamcast era. Thanks for the reminder

[Popsicle]

In my opinion it is the jump from gen 4 to gen 5. Yes gen 5 lacked polish because 3D gaming was new and many kinks had to be worked out during said gen. Nevertheless, gen 5 changed how games functioned in a way no console generation has.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

PS1 games tend to pale in comparison to PS2 games though. It might be the single biggest leap in game quality which in itself is transformative. I think there's a good argument for that jump too.

And SD->HD was an incredible time, not just for graphics but for gameplay possibilities and physics due to a much stronger CPU. Even mediocre games felt very impressive and "THIS LOOKS LIKE REAL LIFE!" was a common sentiment. haha

So I think all 3 are valid answers and it's very debatable.

[Popsicle]

I certainly don’t disagree with you. Gen 5 to gen 6 was a big leap. It’s just that if I am forced into picking only one, it is gen 4 to 5 for me. Mostly because that is the generation where the bones were formed for the modern game.

Gen 5 was super clunky and often ugly by today’s standards, but I didn’t know any better at the time. Doesn’t negate your opinion though.

As I said, 5 to 6 was a significant leap and was the time games started to feel more immersive and realistic. It became much easier to suspend disbelief during gen 6.

[Profchaos]

The article does raise a great point I never thought about GBA to the PSP was essentially a SNES to PS1.8 almost a PS2 with some concessions so yeah white possibly the biggest jump as long as you exclude the ds.

However there was less wow factor as we had the PS2 for quite sometime then but still nothing like this had been seen in a handheld.

I think 16 bit to 32 bit era stands out to me like most people as the wow thing.

[Zeke68]

PSVR 1/2 was the biggest leap for me, and I'm been gaming since early 80's.

[ChasterMies]

Sega Saturn. Thought it was a commercial failure, it ushered in an era of higher fidelity 3D gaming.

[Barlos]

The Saturn was a 2D powerhouse but didn't really excel at 3D. The PS1, even with its weird graphical warping, was more suited to 3D and quite often outperformed the Saturn in this respect, but conversely it often got outperformed by the Saturn when it came to 2D games.

[ChasterMies]

At the time, Sonic 3D and that football game looked amazing on Dreamcast. The N64, Sega Saturn, and PS1 era games were so rudimentary that you could run them on PC with an emulator. Dreamcast kicked off a generation that brought PC games like Splinter Cell and Half-Life 2 to the living room. Now we live in a world where big AAA games often run better on consoles than on more powerful PC hardware.

[RupeeHoarder]

PS3/360 gen was the biggest leap. Not just for graphics but online gaming.

[Barlos]

Online gaming really did take off in the PS360 era for sure, but it had been dabbled in before. The PS2 had a network adaptor add on, the Dreamcast was also online capable, and Xbox live started on the original Xbox. Of course the online gaming as we know it today really began on PS360.

As for graphics, I'd argue that the bigger leap leap was the SNES/ Mega Drive to PS1/Saturn/N64 was a bigger leap. I know the Jaguar and 3DO tried it, but they generally suffered from low framerates and it didn't hit the mainstream until PS1.

[MightyHealthy]

anyone else here have to constantly logged back in every several days?

[DiRtY]

I am here to tell you that I am redirected to scam websites from N4G on iOS.

First the twice a month outage and now scam. Get your shit together, N4G!

[GotGame818]

Popping in Mario 64 and exploring a semi open world for the first time was fantastic. It looked fantastic at the time, and still holds it's own today. It looks good on Switch 3D All Stars.

Tech wise, I will never forget putting on PS4 VR for the first time. It was my first real experience with VR, other than my phone, and Switch. It was amazing the first time.

Biggest jump, PS1. But also N64. Sony had the advantage of storage, but N64 was more powerful. Sadly Nintendo went with cartridges, and that cost them I think.

[gold_drake]

personally, its 2d to 3d

the HD transition was also quite tremendous. all of a sudden the pic was crisp and the colours my god ha.

[Stuart5756]

Having not gamed for years I saw GTA3 at a friend's house, mind blown. I immediately bought a ps2, memory card and GTA3, the rest is history. Hooked. The other impressive jump was 1080p to 4k, this was a console and tv upgrade all in one that blew my mind. Good Times, happy to be a gamer.

[DefenderOfDoom2]

Well as a Arade elitist from the 70's and early 80s I felt the NES was to me the biggest leap because finally a home console almost looks like the arcade video games. and was only 79 dollars and came with Super Mario and Duck Hunt packed with a light gun . Good times.

[badboyz09]

Biggest jump

Ps1 to ps2 25%. Nes to snes 30% Ps2 to ps3 45%

[franwex]

The 90s was such a transformative era for sure. Not just in video games, but with tech as a whole.

My family went from not even having a house phone in 1990 to having broadband by the year 2000. Our economic situation didn’t even changed much either, that’s how much the world was changing.

Anyway for me it was going to 3D. Along with the ps1/n64/saturn to PS2/gamecube/xbox/dreamcast gen leap. It’s not technically HD yet, but the difference was very substantial. To this day I feel that we are basically playing ps2 games with better graphics.

[REDGUM]

For me the leap between PS2 & PS3 was the largest leap in evolution. I've always been a playstation user and never really had consoles before the playstation era (PS one). Although I used to play the Master System back in the day that jump from PS2 >PS3 really stands out for me.

[frostypants]

This is easy. SNES/Genesis to N64/PS. It's all about the polygons. Second biggest was 2600/Colecovision/etc. to the NES/Sega Master System (admittedly skipping a couple of best forgotten systems in there like the Atari 5200).

[Ninver]

Ps2 to ps3 was a massive leap graphically and physics wise.

[chicken_in_the_corn]

Gen 6 to gen 7

[PRIMORDUS]

The biggest leap is when we went from 2D to 3D.

[ROCKY28]

The Dreamcast had the biggest visual leap after PS1 before PS2 of any generation...

[BlindMango]

What is with the random ellipsis in the title? Lmao

[andy85]

The biggest jump for me is when I went to PS2. From blocky PS1 games to seeing things like Final Fantasy X and Gran Turismo 3 was amazing

[Fearmonkey]

no question, it was PS1/Saturn being the consoles at the time and then the 3DFX Voodoo1 dropped. There was nothing console wise that could compare to Quake running at 640x480 fast framerate and looked beautiful.

[hiawa23]

8-bit to 16-bit to N64, cause the first time I saw Mario 64 running, to this day I still have the feeling of awe.

[Lamusiqa]

Nahh it has to be the leap from PS1 to PS2. Sony's monolith square box ushered in a major shift in graphics and online multiplayer. The first time I played SOCOM and Madden online, it felt more next-gen than anything. Then GTA3 launched and suddenly now we got a whole city to traverse and explore which set a whole new precedent in gaming. This is why the PS2 is the most sold game console in the world until now.