![]() ![]() “I won’t need it,” I thought haughtily back. “Good luck,” a robotic voice said as I entered the opening mission. “ Star Fox 64” I read aloud, pressing the bright red start button. Just as I took the trident-shaped controller into my hands the demo reset and returned to the title screen. Put off by his defeat, he retreated to find his parents, leaving me to try the game myself. After a few minutes, a stray laser struck his already damaged fighter which then crashed to the ground, prompting a scream from one of terror from one of his wingmen. Fighting these invaders, the boy holding the controller was piloting a white and blue starfighter that zoomed around the screen spewing bombs and green lasers. The screen depicted a chaotic cityscape filled with robots and alien fighters. ![]() Even just staring over their shoulders though, I was amazed by what I was seeing. Another boy was already using it and, being the timid sort, I didn’t have it in me to try and interject. At first, I could only look at the thing. Arriving at that section however, I was met by something that immediately enthralled my imagination: a Nintendo 64 display. I was walking into the electronics section of a Canadian Wal-Mart. I can still remember the first time I had that experience. Silly as it seems now though, it’s a feeling I very much had myself. The early years of 3D were ofte clumsy at best and, looking back, it can be hard to believe there was a time where gamers looked at the era’s ugly textures and crude polygons with awe. In retrospect, it was probably more of a belly flop. In the space of a few years, the major video companies moved away from 2D visuals and made the dive into the third dimension. For console gamers, the mid-1990s played host to one of the biggest shifts the industry has ever seen.
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