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1996: The Year Games Went 3D (Patreon)

Published:
2026-01-05 08:01:01
Imported:
2026-01

Downloads

Content

Welcome to the latest episode of Past Games, a Patreon-exclusive monthly series that uncovers the histories of 2026's biggest and most consequential gaming anniversaries.

Last month, I shared the rarely told origin story of Pokémon. While researching that episode, I stumbled upon interesting details about other games released in 1996 and began to wonder... could '96 be the most important year in the history of games?

In 1996, we saw the beginning of the end for Sega, the rise of Sony's PlayStation, and Nintendo's move to 3D. PC gaming pioneered the violent first-person shooters, complex role-playing games, and internet multiplayer that would become the industry's fiscal cornerstones. And over half a dozen competitor consoles were discontinued, failing to survive the early '90s gaming gold rush.

To learn more about the year, I reached out to the experts at My Life in Gaming, Coury Carlson and Marc "Try4ce" Duddleson. The conversation is split into three parts.

Act 1: The Road to 1996

Act 2: 1996 Changes Video Games

Act 3: Recreating 1996 in 2026

Stories discussed:

My Life in Gaming (YouTube)

The Story Of The 3DO - The Console Born From EA's Founder & Makers of The Atari Lynx & Amiga 1000 (Wrestling with Gaming)

The First 25 Years: A PlayStation Oral History (Game Informer)

Do The Math - The Story Of The Atari Jaguar (Wrestling with Gaming)

Electronic Gaming Monthly, January 1996 (VGHF)

PC Gamer, March 1996 (VGHF)

GamePro, July 1996 (VGHF)

Game Informer, November 1996 (VGHF)

History of the Sega Saturn/Release (SegaRetro)

1996 in Video Games (Wiki)

Analogue 3D - Overclocked N64 Gaming with 4K Upscaling (My Life in Gaming)

DF Retro Super Show EX1 - Analogue 3D Review - Overclocking, Image Quality Boosts + Much More (Digital Foundry)

Good Game, No Rematch by Mike Drucker (Harper Collins)

How to make video games funny, featuring Mike Drucker (Post Games)

Mario 64 (1996) - IGN Gameplay Vault (IGN)

The Best Way to Play Super Mario 64 - N64, DS, Wii, Wii U, or Switch? (My Life in Gaming)

Sixty-forsaken: The Nintendo 64 | N64 Works 000 (Jeremy Parish)

Files

Comments

Goositrous

I just replayed it the other day so this is fresh in my mind: The opening 5 minutes of Mario 64 is so, so well done. The first environment it puts you in isn’t a video game level- it’s the castles front lawn. There’s no music, just the ambient sounds of a natural outdoor space and bird songs, with real animated birds flying around the trees. You have to walk to the castle where the game is, or you can just like run around the yard climbing trees. Because it’s a Place, and you can just Do Stuff in it. As if the concept of 3d space wasn’t enough, the game is selling you on an immersive open world at the same time and it’s still really cool.

James W.

I have the same story about playing Mario 64 on a demo kiosk... But it was at Sears at my local mall 😅 And I'm so glad to hear other people talk about how the N64 controller was a good controller! Maybe not the BEST of all time, but it worked great for N64 games! Try playing an N64 game on an Xbox controller and it is NOT the same.

Daniel Park

Well now I need a Dynamite Headdy episode too. Loved that game.

Rebecca Osborn

Hi Chris, I’m a lifelong PC gamer but we recently bought a switch to play games as a family in the same room. But me, mom, I sneak off with the switch and play these retro games in Nintendo Classics Online, that I missed out on as a kid. All this emulation stuff is pretty far over my head - where do these switch ports fit in as far as being true to the original experience?

Reid M

Really loved this episode. The discussion around Super Mario 64 was especially great - people always talk about it being revolutionary but the episode did a great job of setting the scene and explaining why.