My pre-teen and early teen years came at the height of the 16-bit console generation. Though I was a gamer well before that, it was this generation of games that had the biggest impact on me. Even today I consider the Super Nintendo to be one of the greatest consoles ever released. But that wasn’t always the case.
Sometime at the beginning of that generation, I got my hands on a Sega Genesis and Sonic the Hedgehog. Though I didn’t yet own the console, by the time Sonic 2came out, I knew without a doubt that I had to have one. When I finally did get a Genesis as a gift, Sonic 2 rarely left the console. I probably played that game over a hundred times. Though I did own a few other really great games, the truth was that there wasn’t much else that interested me or that I was allowed to play.
Around this same time, my best friend got a Super Nintendo. The classic Nintendo vs. Sega rivalry crept its way into our friendship. We vehemently defended our system and games, though I’d say the disagreement was never enough to hurt us. Still, we chose our sides and we stuck to them.
This was back when Mario and Sonic were actual rivals, not just friendly sports competitors.
He insisted Super Nintendo was better and only occasionally showed interest in my Genesis. I stood behind my claim that Genesis was the superior machine with much better games. More than that, I denounced the Super Nintendo as a children’s device with no redeeming qualities. I was a Genesis and Sonic fanboy through and through. However, though I would never tell him this at the time, I was secretly envious of his Super Nintendo. As much as I loved my Genesis, I desperately wanted a SNES and all the amazing games I had seen on it. It was my secret, and I would never admit it.
Except I finally did. I swallowed my pride. Though I never went so far as to say the SNES was better, I did at least acknowledge that it was a great machine, at least as good as the Genesis, and I really wanted one.
I’ll never forget that, because it’s the point at which I ceased being a fanboy and became a real gamer.
It didn’t mean that I stopped loving my Genesis or Sega. In fact, I still credit Jungle Strike on Sega Genesis as the game that made me make a promise to myself that one day I would develop games for a living. It took a long time, but I am finally realizing that dream (even if it’s not in the same way I envisioned all those years ago).
As the years passed, so did my allegiances. Yes, I still had favored consoles. The difference is that even if I strongly disagreed with someone or couldn’t understand how they could claim their preferred console was better than the one I preferred, I always at least tried to maintain an open mind. I found favorable things even about consoles that I never owned and insisted that in the end it didn’t matter because we are all gamers.
Too bad that opinion, even all these years later, seems to be such a minority. With Sony and Microsoft both set to release their newest generation consoles on the world, tensions have never been higher between Xbox fans and PlayStation fans.
Same fanboy arguments, different generation
Yes, I prefer the PlayStation brand. I have preferred the PlayStation brand since before Microsoft was even a competitor in the market. Heck, my PlayStation loyalty was even a complete accident (I’ve mentioned that before…and it’s still a topic for another day.) I don’t have anything against the other consoles. I just like PlayStation. I like the controller better. I like the games better. It’s just my opinion.
But the thing is, apparently that’s not good enough. Of course, being a PlayStation fan automatically draws ire from Xbox fanboys who rage about how everything Sony does “is an epic fail lolz” as though my decisions actually impact them in any way. But it turns out that even acknowledging that there are things that interest me about Microsoft’s newest console is enough to draw the hate from the PlayStation fanboys too.
Apparently the trendy new derogatory word for this is a “neutral”. Yeah, I’m a “neutral” now because I either can’t make up my mind or I’m just waiting until I see who “wins” the console war. I’m fishing for “likes” on anything I post and I’m just trying to be the peacemaker, the gamer Messiah, so that I can get friends on both sides for when one of those sides inevitably fails.
Most of the time I find I can just ignore this or at most provide some flippant comment. But sometimes, it just gets to me and I mouth off to someone about it. Look, I understand the concept of having a preference and defending it. I encourage it. What I do not understand is claiming the competition has nothing going for it. Even if you truly see nothing on the other side that interests you (which I highly doubt), does that actually mean it is an unworthy device and that anybody who supports it is in denial or just clinging desperately to a hopeless cause?
I mean, come on people, these devices are setting us back several hundred dollars. Is anybody really going to buy one just to prove a point to a complete stranger? Getting passionate about why you think your choice is the better one is one thing. Completely dismissing the competition and verbally attacking those who dissent is quite another. This is not standing behind your chosen brand. This is pathetic, immature fanboyism. I know the signs because I used to be one.
And that’s why I also know there is hope. You can have your favorite. You can have your preference. You can believe with everything in you that you are right and others are wrong. You can also have all that and still be able to see or at least be intrigued by the idea of what might lead someone else to come to a different conclusion. You can discuss console exclusives that you’ll never get the opportunity to play and understand them to be fine games. You can look at games that you have no interest in and still be interested in what makes other people like them so much.
Basically, if you are a fanboy, you can grow up to be a real gamer.
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