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Pre-Internet Fanboys

Posted by Cole Stryker

A few weeks ago we talked about whether or not fanboyism was worse today than before the Internet. Well, here's an example of some pretty vicious fanboyism from USENET, courtesy of 1UP's Retro Gaming Blog. Some people weren't very impressed when Nintendo Japan unveiled it's Super Famicom:

To describe it [and I HOPE it was a mock-up because even though Im really not a nintendo fan, I dont want to see anyone get slaughtered the way nintendo looks like their going to get slaughtered] its looked to me to be about 30-40cm by 25-35cm by 5cm. It was stark white, made of some very cheap looking plastic. [unlike the nice IBM creme brown of the SF] and had these god awful square brilliant blue buttons on the control deck. I havent seen anything that cheesy since the Atari XEGS. I hope it was a mock up. Somebody tell me it was a mock up.

Pretty harsh words for the now-universally lauded SNES. Others were more positive:

SMW is an utter delight. The worlds you travel thru in the game are really big and varied, and there seem to be many hidden tricks/goodies for you to discover. The graphics are not as flashy or spectacular as those in Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis, but they have do have a very charming quality to them. I have a feeling that this game only scratches the surface of what the Super NES can really do. (. . .) Anyway, for those of you who still enjoy/would like to get back into Nintendo games, I think the Super NES should not be passed up.

Sounds like pretty typical fanboy fare. Maybe a little tamer than what we see today, but I'm willing to bet that USENET's user base was generally made up of more mature individuals. To have access to USENET was to be well-educated, forward-thinking, and tech-savvy. Not so with today's Internet. Still, an interesting snapshot into the evolution of modern fandom.

Comments

Gwar Against The Internet said:

This website is indicative of the morass the internet has fallen into. Please close up shop as soon as you can.

Don't bother to turn off the light. Just leave.

February 17, 2009 3:34 PM

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.