22 Glorious 90s Gems From the Golden Age of Gaming

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Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
May 27, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

For many of us millennials and Gen Xers, the 90s represented the golden age of gaming. Everything was new, nothing had been done before and with each new release big and exciting things were happening. Games would suddenly leap forward in graphical quality. Consoles would transform from generation to generation, reaching new heights previously thought impossible. It was truly a mind-blowing time to be alive.

And so we wanted to capture a little bit of that gaming glory in this collection of glorious 90s gems plucked straight from the golden age of gaming. From the early days of Mario when he was just a puny pixelated character jumping for his life in a two-dimensional world. To the magical movie remakes that let us live out the lives of our favorite famous characters from the comfort of our own homes. To beautiful blasts from the past like when snake suddenly appeared on what was the smallest screen available at the time, the Nokia 3310.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10510153472
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    REVENGE OF REVERED PALCON ONTRA 1 PLAYER 2 PLAYERS KONAMI INDUSTRY CO.,LTD INDUSTRY988.,LTD © 2016 TRAX
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  • 03
    24670 PLEASE WALT
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  • If you did not manage to guess on your own, then we will fill you in. this is a screen grab from one of the early batman games. To think, this was one of the first times in the video game realm that you could cruise around Gotham as the caped crusader. Special feelings like that are far and few between in the modern gaming landscape.

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    The WALT DISNEY'S CLASSIC Jungle Book START GAME OPTIONS BARE NECESSITIES DEVELOPED BY EUROCOM 1994 VIRGIN INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT 1994 THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
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    DRAGON BALL NOVOGOD -武勇烈伝 Damada del destind ロバードスタジオ/集英社・フジテレビ・東映動画 EMMA PROPUSTIONS OBANDAI 1994
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    CRAZY TAXI TM INSERT COIN(S) CREDIT(S) O ©SEGA 1999
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    O ARMS BOMB 60 ARMS BOMB CO 10 1UPE2 2UPE2 MISSION 1 START!
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    Disney's HERCULES START GAME PASSWORDS OPTIONS LOAD GAME PRESS X/START TO SELECT
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  • Honestly, the only thing better than a new movie coming out in the 90s was the video game that came out after the movie. Finally, the world that you had been introduced to through the magic of movies had come to life and was explorable from the comfort of your very own living room. Plus, who doesn’t like getting to be a hero.

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    WORLD 1 ****** $ 1 MDX 0016250 09
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    Cheezburger Image 10510155264
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  • 11
    MARIO 65 *x 0 TIME 273 0% 36 1359830
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    الكار الكلار 1P 200 2 M Viva
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    CE 2 TIME AGE E RE 0128740 CH 3600 DISTAN 205
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    E 30
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    (TOP) 1000000 TIME [SCORE] STAGE COURSE AFRICA 50 SPEED OKM S: ®ZSTARTKO
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    00 2 00000000 G
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    NUMBER OF HITS HIGH SCORE 30000 1UP 16160
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  • 18
    LEO 106 051 2RAPH 04 39 L. HEAD "YOU ARE TOO
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    NINTENDO E K 3RD. 1:32:00 E TEMP: TIME. 0:05:12
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    MARIO 143950 1x99 WORLD 3-1 TIME 344
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    25 100 2abc 3 def
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    afflage elpry 11
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golden age gems millennials nostalgia gen x gaming memes 90s
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