Two systems, two companies, two philosophies, two worlds apart, and simply, two choices. You laughed at how it looked like Kano was ripping out a handful of dust when he finished off Sonya Blade. Your D-Day was when Capcom announced Street Fighter 2 would be a SNES exclusive, because at that moment, it was as if the Axis powers had seized Hawaii. Your moment of ultimate triumph was the release of Mortal Kombat 2, possibly the best 'port of a nineties-era arcade phenomenon, with blood splattering and acid spewing amidst bisected enemies. It really is funny how things play out sometimes.
Video games are a lot of things to a lot of different people.
Video games from the nineties are an indelible bookmark to anyone who raised some hell in Mario Kart, busted open the opposing team superstar's head in NHL '94, or plugged in a Final Fantasy game for the first time. Regardless of how establishment you get, or how far away from your roots you stretch in life, you can't escape the effects of the Sonic the Hedgehog theme song or that initial impression of Super Mario World, with its colors and fantastic scaling and rotating revelations. Our parents always chalked it up to shrewd marketing, but it was our version of the Red Ryder Carbine Air Rifle. Something that couldn't be taken away, that which was solely ours. Whatever catastrophes or Senate hearings may have come.