[Fowl Fax]

For me it was the early nineties. Approx 1990 - 1993

Day of the Tentacle
RoboCod
Secret of Mana
Super Mario World
Super Probotector
Street Fighter 2
Super Mario Kart
Legend of Zelda
Secret of Mana
Doom
Dune 2
The Secret of Monkey Island
Mortal Kombat
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Streets of Rage 2

Games just don't have the same appeal for me nowadays in comparison.

[LightningIguana]

The days of the c64. Up all night going bleary-eyed from watching the flashload screen and then endless rounds of Gauntlet.

I don't seem as interested in games these days either.

[2Dshmuplover]

Anyone who knows me knows how much love retro gaming, but in all honesty, nostalgia aside I'd have to say this gen is the best. If XBLA and PSN etc didn't exist then I most likely wouldn't say that but the fact is this gen covers pretty much any style of gameplay you like, the quality and depth of some games out now is just mind blowing plus there was the Wii and the whole motion gaming thing which really led to some interesting gameplay ideas.

It's not always that I'm in the mood for gaming and I don't always appreciate it to it's fullest but when I do, this gen is unbeatable for me.

32-bit era was probably the most exciting, experiencing the massive and sudden jump from 16-bit consoles to 3D polygon gaming was pretty special.

[Alan1981]

Probably around 1996-1999, a few of my favourite games.

Final fantasy 7
Suikoden
resident evil
Track and field
ridge racer

[batdude_uk1]

I loved my Mega Drive, and the games that were on that, I just used to have soo much fun on that, and with my friends, (I remember lots of fun multiplayer on Micromachines for example), all of the Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Sonic games were my favourites.

All though I did have a soft spot for Cool Spot, as I loved the music!

[bob2005]

Mega Drive days were best for me, Sonic a great mascot for Sega.

[Gormond]

I have had pretty much every major games console since the NES/Master System but IMO games just keep getting better and better.

So for me my favourite period is the present.

This year for example I played games such as Skyrim, Farcry 3, Mass Effect 3, Xcom, Dishonoured and I am just amazed at the improvements made ever year.

Currently looking forward to Fallout 4, Watchdogs, Bioshock Infinite...

[MGS4SnakeRulez]

PS1/N64 were the golden years for me.

[Steveaustin316]

It's a toss up between the Saturn/PS1 era in the late 90's and the PS2 era for me.

[SimonB79]

The Amiga era gets my vote!!!

[grazman]

Hard one, but i'd have to say either 1997 onwards when i first got my PC where gameplay ruled

Command & Conquer
Tomb Raider
Quake
Dungeon Keeper
Half Life
Deus Ex
System Shock 2

or 2005 onwards when graphics and sound improved

Grand Theft Auto 3
Half Life 2
Portal 1 & 2
Team Fortress 2
Far Cry 2
Crysis
Batman AA & AC
Bioshock
Deux Ex: Human Revolution

.....

edit - although i did enjoy the Lucasfilm era, Monkey Island, Zak McCraken, The Eidolon, (Labyrinth even... cough!). Can't remember when it was or what computer i had then, might have been Amiga or Atari ST

[Benllech]

The Gamecube/Xbox/PS2 generation

[biggebruv]

ALL OFF IT MAN!! LOL

there's always epic amazing games from every gen

sonic
mario
doom

tomb raider
resident evil trilogy
silent hill
crash banicoot
the sims
mario 64

god of war
resident evil 4
GTA3
GTA VICE CITY
GTA SAN ANDREAS

half life 2

uncharted trilogy
dead space
rayman origins
portal
mass effect
batman aa+ac series
GTA4

and this gen is not even done yet still some games coming out that im really excited for
tomb raider reboot
last of us
GTA V

[SJ_Mental]

Always tomorrow to me, I've been gaming since 1979 and I've always wanted to play the games that are up coming and they get better and better.

[0lly]

16-bit generation for me.

[PinSarla]

Late nineties to the mid 2000s.

Basically the Playstation era through to the GC and Xbox days.

[Yoshi Fan]

The SNES, Megadrive, Gameboy Colour, first couple of years of the Gamecube and especially the N64...so 1994-2004 for me.

[He4rt]

Although i loved the snes era i would have to say around 2007/2008

Not only was it the big boom in online console gaming but in 2007 alone we saw the release of Mass Effect, Rock Band, Modern Warfare, Assassin's Creed, The Orange Box, BioShock and Super Mario Galaxy.

[Ladyxxmacbeth]

Originally Posted by grazman

Hard one, but i'd have to say either 1997 onwards when i first got my PC where gameplay ruled

Command & Conquer
Tomb Raider
Quake
Dungeon Keeper
Half Life
Deus Ex
System Shock 2

or 2005 onwards when graphics and sound improved

Grand Theft Auto 3
Half Life 2
Portal 1 & 2
Team Fortress 2
Far Cry 2
Crysis
Batman AA & AC
Bioshock
Deux Ex: Human Revolution

.....

edit - although i did enjoy the Lucasfilm era, Monkey Island, Zak McCraken, The Eidolon, (Labyrinth even... cough!). Can't remember when it was or what computer i had then, might have been Amiga or Atari ST

I agree

[Ancient IDTV]

The arcade years, 1978 to 1985. Space Invaders, Galaxian, Gorf, Moon Cresta, Defender, Robotron 2084, Missile Command, Stargate, Battlezone, Phoenix, Xevious, Joust Time Pilot.

[NorfolkBoy1]

Originally Posted by 2Dshmuplover

Anyone who knows me knows how much love retro gaming, but in all honesty, nostalgia aside I'd have to say this gen is the best. If XBLA and PSN etc didn't exist then I most likely wouldn't say that but the fact is this gen covers pretty much any style of gameplay you like, the quality and depth of some games out now is just mind blowing plus there was the Wii and the whole motion gaming thing which really led to some interesting gameplay ideas.

It's not always that I'm in the mood for gaming and I don't always appreciate it to it's fullest but when I do, this gen is unbeatable for me.

I often find myself disagreeing with my fellow countyman on a range of subjects, but on this I wholeheartedly agree, many gamers today don't know how good they've got it, and I have amazing memories of gaming from the late 80s/early 90s, but it really has never been so good.

Unless all you ever play is CoD online, in which case gaming is a soulless stat-chase.

[fluffed]

Late 90s, back before the online scene split into a million pieces.

Quake/ Quake2 were the online FPS games
Everquest was the online RPG.

The communities built around those games were superb tight knit affairs, you saw the same faces, got to know people in and out of game. Now everything has boiled down to 'I need to make my stats n+1', played with a bunch of names you don't recognise or care for.

[Pink Knight]

I started with a ZX81. The leap to a Commodore 64 was a huge one. It was nice to have a colour computer that didn't have bits falling off the back.

So between the C64,Amiga and Snes happy days. I did have a Megadrive but regrettably sold it. It was getting too expensive to buy cartridges for 2 consoles.
The games are more advanced now, but I hardly finish any.

[doom&gloom]

N64, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye, Zelda: Ocarina, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, hard to beat (although most people had Playstations at the time so missed out).

[blueisthecolour]

My earlier Playstation 2 years (2002 - 2006) were the best. I think that the PS3 is a great machine however with tv/movie downloading I don't play games anywhere near as much as I did.

These games took up a large part of my early 20s:

Gran Turismo 3
Time Crises 1&2
Pro Evolution 1-4
GTA 3 and Vice City
Final Fantasy X
Freedom Fighters
Mercenaries
Tiger Woods