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GAF, what’s your favorite console start-up screen ?

What’s your favorite console start-up screen ?


  • Total voters
    209

Raph64

Member
Hi GAF !

Today, I’ve finally been promoted to member, which means I now can be able to post threads !

Now, because I already have a lot of ideas I think would be interesting to explore regarding the videogame industry of nowadays but it would take me some time to write a decent piece of work, I thought it would be nice to start with a quick poll.

The subject is : what’s your personal favorite console start-up screen of all time ?

Now here’s the thing : imagine yourself back in the time when you have been offered or brought in one of the consoles mentioned in the poll, at that moment, you must have been excitedly unboxing the package of the console, waiting to see what kind of treasure could lie ahead at the bottom of the box.

And then after having struggled to get over the plastic packaging, it was time for you to plug in the Holy-Grail ! You hang on desperately trying to find the right television input entry in order to plug in all the two-meter long cables lying on your way back in the day where we didn’t have modern HDMI plugs and no flat-screens but bloated screens.

And at last, when you managed to plug in all the cables and found a soft spot to place your system, you start to tremble as your finger is going towards the direction of the power button. You feel like maybe all this hard manœuvre will be worth it and then when you finally boot up for the system... you’re greeted to the purchase of a lifetime with a start-up screen that will stay in your mind for a long time.

Oh, I think we’re off to a great start !

Start-up screens have been one among many of the key memories gamers have experienced throughout the period spent playing video games. Even though most of the start-up screens on recent gaming systems are kind of minimalist and forgettable, there used to be a time where booting up a gaming system felt like the second best moment of playing videogames, after playing video games themselves of course. I remember having recently unboxed my old Wii that was lying in the closet and having rebooted it for a short time, when I saw the start-up screen pop up followed by the classic Wii Menu, men I felt so happy. It’s like years of childhood spent with this amazing system as a kid that come back in mind when you witness the boot-up screen.

Over the years, many gaming systems has had distinct boot-up screens that stayed in the many memories of gamers alike such as the iconic PlayStation start-up screen and its mysteriously awesome jingle. Here are some of the most memorable intros of gaming systems !

PlayStation



PlayStation 2



Sega Dreamcast



Sega Saturn



Nintendo GameCube



Xbox



Xbox 360



Xbox 360 Slim



Game Boy Advance



Wii



There’s more gaming systems I haven’t mentioned that I wanted to place in the poll options for a more varied set of choices and a more global response but seeing as you can only put no more than 10 possible choices, I felt it would be reasonable to put a last option where you could specify in your replies what start-up screen is your favorite. In the meantime, all of the possible choices in the poll are based on answers that are the most popular out there such as, again, the PlayStation intro.

Since I know NeoGAF is composed of veteran gamers and recent gamers, this poll is available for EVERYONE. Everyone can answer the poll and feel free to vote and to reply and give your opinion on why you have chosen “ choice 1 ” or “ choice 2 ” as your answer.

So yeah, that was my first attempt at making a “ thread ” ( although more like a “ poll thread “ ), and I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you’ll also look forward to my upcoming threads :messenger_winking:

Have a good day ! ( Because right now in France, it’s night )
 
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Shifty

Member
Cracking first thread R Raph64 :messenger_grinning: calling back to setting up a new console back in the day is a great way to set the stage for the nostalgia in those videos.

For me the heavy hitters are PS1, Saturn and Dreamcast. Though my memories of the Saturn one are of the (cooler, in my opinion) Japanese BIOS, despite having grown up in a PAL region:




As to whether that's because I had a friend with an import, or because of emulation, I can't recall.

I think overall the PS1 takes it, even though the other two are still powerful. Its abstract nature, sound design and two-stage transition from light to dark with accompanying auditory shift is just :messenger_weary::messenger_ok:

Master System will always have a special place in my heart too despite its simplicity, being the first console I ever had:




And as an aside, I remember the original Xbox 360 one being spoiled for me on account of having a TV with a slow HDMI handshake. The good bits were over by the time the picture actually appeared on the screen, leaving me with a floating Xbox logo and not much else :messenger_neutral:
 
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Chittagong

Gold Member
Original PlayStation is incredibly epic, so bad ass. Still the king.

Original Xbox looks almost like a parody but it’s awesome regardless.

Xbox 360 original was awesome too, the whole branding scheme was so well thought out.
 

Stuart360

Member
PS1 of course, simply the best, and somehting new at that point.
I'm surprised 360 has no votes, probably my 2nd favorite.
 

sublimit

Banned
Congrats on your first thread OP! :) My favorite is the original Playstation. PS2 is a close second.
 
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zenspider

Member
Nintendo Switch, in that it has none, but Playstation 1 is the one I am the fondest of - it tickles that lizard brain level nostalgia for so many great experiences.

The Gameboy Advance 'ding' is really nice too.
 
Saturn for nostalgia because I was one of the 6 people in the UK who actually owned one at the time and I have fond memories of playing Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Exhumed and Dark Saviour on that system as a kid. Neo Geo too just for being cool as fuck.

PS1 start-up is good too, but it's a bit ruined for me now after seeing it so many times on my Facebook newsfeed one one of those stupid "ONLY 90S KIDS WILL REMEMBER THIS" posts.
 
Gotta go with the Gamecube. It sounds cool, has a fun little animation that actually makes sense and forms the logo. It's on a whole 'nother level compared to the others. I also like the PS1's epic tune and the original 360 one.

I don't get the appeal of the PS2 one. I always thought that one was super boring. You're looking at a bunch of nonsensical geometrical shapes, the sound is boring... Nothing of interest there.
 

Isa

Gold Member
For me its Dreamcast, PS1, and Xbox. But I did like the Sega Genesis/CD and Saturn stuff too. But man I'll never stop being amazed by the Dreamcast, it was so amazing for a console, way ahead of its time! The VMU acting as a second screen/health bar etc plus take away and play with stuff like chaos in Sonic, online, simple and clean interface and system menus etc. I also love the "powerful" yet ominous star-ups of the PS1 and Xbox. I loved impressing friends and relatives streaming music in my games back then haha.
 

CRON

Banned
This video was a proof of concept from before Windows Vista came out. Microsoft wanted this to be the boot animation for Windows. (The video's a mirror, though the original's from 2006).

 
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DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
So many wonderful memories for these tunes, but I must say my favorite is Dreamcast. It's not even my favorite console, but the tune puts shivers down my spine.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member


When you still in night and put survival horror games like Rule of Rose , Silent hill 2,3,4 , Clocktower 3 or Manhunt 2.

Or playing amazing RPG Games
 

Aren117

Member
GameBoy Color, GBA, GameCube and PS3 (both the console and the nice "PLAYSTATION 3" animation that we had when starting games).

Not console, but I have sweet memories of old Windows (XP, maybe?) startup and shutdown jingles.
 

Raynes

Member
Does anyone else find the PS1 start screen music extremely creepy? It really sends shivers down my spine now and as a kid.
 
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