{"id":680,"date":"2013-04-29T17:01:16","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T17:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=680"},"modified":"2013-04-29T17:01:16","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T17:01:16","slug":"nascar-98-playstation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR ’98 (PlayStation)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I actually started this post some time early last year, and the draft for it has been staring me in the face ever since I started the countdown.\u00a0 Now that I’m done, I might as well go ahead and finish it up!<\/p>\n

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\"1997<\/a>

1997 – EA Sports (PlayStation, Saturn)<\/p><\/div>\n

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There were two consoles back in the mid-to-late 90’s that I desperately wanted to add to my collection.<\/p>\n

There was the Nintendo 64, which I had read about non-stop in\u00a0Nintendo Power<\/em>\u00a0since the days it was known as the Ultra 64.\u00a0 I regarded that console as I did the Super NES –\u00a0the reliable standby, with Zelda <\/em>and Mario <\/em>titles for me to enjoy, and maybe (who knows) a Mega Man<\/em> game or two.\u00a0 Good, wholesome family fun that maybe my parents would enjoy watching me play.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Sony PlayStation was\u00a0a console I\u00a0wanted so I could experience racing games, as well as more mature titles.\u00a0 One console would serve\u00a0one purpose, and the other console would serve another\u00a0purpose altogether.<\/p>\n

Buying\u00a0Electronic Gaming Monthly <\/em>or GamePro <\/em>magazines didn’t happen as often as I would have liked, so getting to see the latest news in the gaming world outside of Nintendo was always a\u00a0nice treat.\u00a0 I had friends who preferred Sega to Nintendo, and we’d have childish disagreements as to what the better company was.\u00a0 That might be why I kept an eye out for new Saturn games, or the (supposedly) upcoming Sega Neptune mega-console.<\/p>\n

I didn’t have much of an interest in the Saturn, other than the fact they were competitors with a different-looking product.\u00a0 I didn’t think I’d ever want one, since Atari had\u00a0failed miserably with the Jaguar, Panasonic wasn’t doing too well with the 3DO, and Phillips’ CD-i was already out the door at that point – and for good reason.\u00a0 Why shouldn’t I believe the same would happen to\u00a0Sega, or even\u00a0Sony’s\u00a0new PlayStation console?<\/p>\n

Well, a kid two doors down from my house eventually rented\u00a0those two\u00a0consoles – the first was\u00a0the Saturn, which seemed pretty cool.\u00a0 The controller was similar (if not identical) to that of the Genesis, which I wasn’t really a fan of.\u00a0 He rented Sega Rally<\/em> along with it, and we spent most of a snow day playing that.\u00a0 The graphics did look pretty fantastic, even though I was torn about whether or not I enjoyed the gameplay.<\/p>\n

That day we played the Saturn, we also got that kid to call random phone numbers – mostly 1-800 hotlines\u00a0from the back of food\u00a0labels – and ask completely nonsensical questions.\u00a0 We also got him to call 1-800-ABCDEFG, which was the number for the\u00a0Hooked on Phonics children’s literacy program.\u00a0 He was from Nigeria, so\u00a0his accent, coupled with the ridiculousness of the questions we had written down for him to ask, had us rolling on the floor with laughter.<\/p>\n

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\"When<\/a>

When he\u00a0said the line\u00a0“Hooked on Phonics worked for me!”, I darn near peed myself from laughter.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Not exactly the proudest moment of our childhood, but props to him for not cracking up during those prank calls.\u00a0 He did a\u00a0fantastic job, better than any one of us would have!<\/p>\n

Anyway, a week or so later, he rented a Sony Playstation.\u00a0 I’m not sure if it was the simple fact that the controllers were different, and more similar to those for the Super NES, or what…\u00a0 but the PlayStation just felt cooler than the Saturn did.<\/p>\n

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