中文 | English

1990-1994
创意与技术
的大爆炸

90 年代初经常被认为是游戏的黄金时代，充满了创新和创意。在短短的几年中，行业发明了新的或完善的新类型，催生很多了仍在进行中的系列和仍然无可匹敌的经典游戏。

《沙丘 II》为 RTS 游戏设定了标准，《德军总部 3D》和《毁灭战士》引入了 FPS，《文明》普及了 4x 游戏，《黑暗中的孤独》带来了生存恐怖，《街头霸王 II》，《真人快打》和《拳皇》主导了街机游戏，平台游戏包括《超级马里奥》，《大金刚》，《索尼克》，《洛克人》，《恶魔城》和《超级银河战士》。日式 RPG 拥有《地球冒险》，《最终幻想 VI》，《龙战士》，《圣剑传说》； LucasArts 和 Sierra 发布了数十款令人惊叹的冒险游戏，《地下创世纪》向世界展示了该如何做 3D 游戏。这个名单还在不断地增加：《极品飞车》，《魔兽争霸》、《模拟城市 2000》，《马里奥赛车》，《幽浮》，《疯狂小旅鼠》和《零式赛车》，《银河飞将》，《星际火狐》等等。

随着越来越多的人拥有拨号连接并可以访问 BBS，“共享软件”开始普及——可以免费试用《史诗弹子球》，《毁灭公爵》和《毁灭战士》等游戏以及一些应用程序，然后通过邮件注册将其完全解锁。这是小型工作室绕开零售商并直接销售其游戏的一种方式。最终，许多游戏杂志开始包括装满共享软件的 CD-ROM 以及演示和游戏预告片，帮助它们进一步的传播。

硬件方面也出现了激烈的竞争。超级任天堂 vs. 世嘉五代是游戏史上最著名的竞争之一。但不太知名的游戏机，如 TurboGrafx-16，Phillips CD-I，NeoGeo 和 3DO 等也在争夺阳光下的位置。

更为致命的是个人计算机之战。借助 VGA 图形和 Intel i386 处理器等新技术，个人电脑已经证明自己是不可阻挡的。1993 年，雅达利（Atari）离开了战斗，专注于他们的 Jaguar 游戏机。Commodore 很快就跟上了，并于 1994 年破产。只有苹果公司经受住了考验，努力保持其 MAC 还能坚持在场上。

IBM 也不是赢家。1994 年，康柏取代了它，成为美国最大的个人电脑供应商。随着 IBM PC 兼容产品的发展，行业标准变成了 Windows 和 Intel 芯片——“Wintel”组合。

虽然计算机正稳步普及，但购买一台电脑仍然是一项艰巨的任务，因为技术发展迅速，出现了相互竞争的标准，而且必须考虑到几个因素——平台、处理器、操作系统、调制解调器、声卡、显卡、CD-ROM 驱动器——所有这些都很难向消费者解释清楚。

但是，如果你做出了正确的选择，你就能享受到人生的乐趣。

1990-1994
The creative and
technological explosion

The early 90s are often brought up as a golden age of gaming, filled with innovative and creative releases, and it's hard to disagree. In just a few years entire new genres were invented or perfected, spawning stillongoing series and classic titles still unrivalled.

Dune II set the standard for RTS games; Wolfenstein 3D and Doom introduced FPS (or “Doom-clones”, as they were known); Civilization popularised 4x games; Alone in the Dark brought in survival horror; Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and The King of Fighters dominated the arcades; platformers had Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Sonic, Megaman X, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Super Metroid; JRPGs had Earthbound, Final Fantasy VI, Breath of Fire, Secret of Mana; LucasArts and Sierra released dozens of amazing adventure games; Ultima Underworld showed the world how to do 3D games, and the list goes on and on: Need for Speed, Warcraft, SimCity 2000, Mario Kart, X-COM, Lemmings, F-Zero, Wing Commander, Star Fox, etc.

With more people having dial-up conections and access to BBSs, “shareware” began to spread – games like Epic Pinball, Duke Nukem and Doom, as well as several applications, could all be tried for free then fully unlocked by registering them via mail. It was a way for small studios to circumvent retailers and market their games directly. Eventually many game magazines began to include CD-ROMs filled with shareware titles, as well as demos and game trailers, helping them spread even more.

The hardware side also saw a fierce competition. The Super Nintendo vs. SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive is one of the most famous rivalries in gaming history, but lesser-known consoles such as the TurboGrafx-16, Phillips CD-I, NeoGeo and 3DO were also fighting for a spot in the sun.

Deadlier yet was the battle for personal computers. Powered by new technology like VGA graphics and Intel i386 processors, PCs had proved themselves unstoppable. In 1993 Atari left the battle to focus on their Jaguar console. Commodore would soon follow, going bankrupt in 1994. Only Apple endured, struggling to keep its Macintosh relevant.

IBM wasn't the winner either. In 1994 Compaq replaced it as the biggest PC vendor in the US. IBM PC-Compatibles evolved, the industry standard became having Windows and an Intel chip – the “Wintel” combo.

While computers were steadily growing popular, it was still a daunting task to buy one, as technology evolved fast, competing standards appeared and several factors had to be considered – platform, processor, operational system, modem, audio card, graphics card, CD-ROM drive – all very poorly explained to consumers.

But, if you made the right choices, you had the time of your life.