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For many systems you fire up the first experience you have with it involves the splash screen, intro screen, logos, sound effects, rocket ships, flying carpets, and belly dancers. Like many things the quality and effort put into these introductions can have a profound impact on the player, or potential player, of a video game console, so let's take a look at the good and the bad ones.
The Bad
Now, in order to be fair I will not include systems which completely lack a splash screen, this is only something that came to prominence in the late 80's for the most part (with exceptions of course). So, which ones just leave you screaming for mercy?
Amiga CD32
Well, that was pretty dull. If you're looking for uninspired intro screens nothing really beats this one, its a CD floating in space with a wordart logo above the disc with some flashy colors flying around. This looks like a $50 job that some video editing student did after discovering how awesome the Amiga is and how amazing a system based on Amiga software with CD support would be.
It would be a commercial failure of course.
FM Towns Marty
Well, my ears are bleeding now. For a CD based system the FM Towns Marty certainly has incredibly weak sound capabilities! It even released in 1993, the same year as the vastly superior 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and even the Amiga CD32 above, at least that one didn't have digital garbage flowing out of the speakers!
Atari Jaguar
The Jaguar just has this look, reputation, and history of being a low budget machine with shoddy engineering. It was Atari's last attempt at greatness (and killing off their fairly popular line of PCs to throw everything at the console probably did not help matters). Now to be fair this one isn't entirely bad, its just a bit boring. A spinning cube with a Jaguar on it is hardly menacing. But, if they had done something like the MGM lion intro it would probably have been the greatest thing ever made by Atari or any company ever! The legitimacy of the menacing roar of the Jaguar is lessened by the rather cartoony, and already by then retro, little jingle that accompanies the cat.
The Good
Sega CD
What happens when a system has not just one amazing startup screen, but two? We end up with the Sega CD! Or Mega CD if you're not a winning American. Oh, I'm not really counting the JVC X'eye, even though that intro is fairly enjoyable as well.
All I really have to say is one thing, I have never before been so entertained by dancing logos. This just shows how superior Sega's execution was in the early 90's, having some of the best hardware creators this side of Nintendo. Sega can just squeeze so much life out of hardware that could be considered inferior, giving their consoles so much passion and soul that no company has really ever been able to duplicate, not even Nintendo or Sony in my opinion.
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo, I love you to death. What cheeky bastards these guys were when designing the Gamecube and its startup screen. Everybody loves Easter Eggs, so let's hide not one, but two colorful eggs on the very first screen you see when playing a Gamecube, all of which are enjoyable in moderation. Absolutely brilliant!
Sony Playstation
There are few words to describe just how amazing the experience of firing up an original Playstation is. Once you turn it on its like you, the gamer, are being sent into a powerful wind tunnel during astronaut training. Then you finally get to launch up into space just as the PS logo comes up and leave the atmosphere into cool, serene calm. An absolute joy for the ears, this is the THX intro of the video game world, and it will never get old.
So what are your favorite system start up screens, least favorites?
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