The 90s… The last decade of the 21st Century. The rise of grunge, hip hop, and technology. A time when pop culture started to grow into the machine it is today. A period of peace and prosperity. A calm before the storm some would say. The 90s aesthetic speaks to all of these defining points.
The 90’s marked the time of the video game boom and if you were a kid in the 90’s, you played video games. Here is our short list for the most popular and most iconic gaming systems of the 1990’s.
Alright so we’re starting off this list with something that was released in 1989, but we don’t care. Do you remember sitting in the back of your family’s mini-van blowing into your Tetris cartridges? Well I do, and it’s why this is on our list. Every kid in the 90’s had a Game Boy and it is the quintessential gaming device of the time. It had the best games, would last a very long time on fresh batteries, and no one seemed to care that it didn’t have any color.
When Game Gear hit the market, it had the ability to crush the ancient feeling Gameboy. It had a bright screen, felt nice to play and for all of us who had been playing GameBoy for years, it felt like a huge step up. The reason it did not become a GameBoy killer was specifically around two major things: Games and that bright screen. You see, Sonic The Hedgehog couldn’t carry this device by it’s lonesome, and Nintendo just had a Monopoly on addictive games. Secondly, if you were a kid trying to play your device without your parents noticing, it was almost impossible with Game Gear. The screen was so bright that any kid under the covers would get caught immediately.
Virtual Boy is on our list because it was way ahead of it’s time. Sure, it was only for the nerdiest and most socially irresponsible early gamers, but with the new advent of VR devices, Virtual Boy will go down in history as an innovator.
When Sony hit the gaming market there was a good deal of skepticism (like X-Box years later). But the original Playstation was the only console that could compete with the massive popularity of N64. With games like Crash Bandicoot, Grand Turismo, and a host of other more realistic games, it did a great job of creating an alternative gaming niche to the often more cutesy Nintendo offerings. The only problem is that it divided friendships into PlayStation and N64 camps. Me? I was on the Playstation side.
Super Nintendo was the vastly popular next step after the original Nintendo console. Graphics-wise it was a huge bump and offered all the classics. It was met with it’s competitor, Sega Genesis but the Super Nintendo system far out performed Genesis and just like earlier situations, offered much better games.
And finally, the game console to end all game consoles, Nintendo 64. N64 was an incredible console for it’s time. This is a bit embarrassing but when it came out, I told my friend “I don’t think games will ever get more realistic than this”. Ok, so I was a little wrong about that, but it goes to show where our head space was at at the time. It out-performed Playstation in terms of graphics, and the games were incredible. Mariokart, Zelda, Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros, and most notably, GoldenEye. Which to this day is ending friendships over Remote mines.
Even though this show was completely awesome, you have to take a cold hard look at the cutting-edge fashion choices that Clarissa made. It is essentially like an instruction manual for your next 90’s Halloween costume. To get the full range of these outfits, you have to comb through various episodes, but it’s worth it.
Some people may not find the president of the United States having an affair to be funny, but it’s really a sad kind of funny. He firmly denied the affair only to have to come back and accept it later on as more evidence came out. Let’s hope Hilary doesn’t get elected next, can you imagine a bored Bill Clinton wandering around the White House?
Given the age we live in now, it’s hilarious to think that we all had to deal with AOL in the early days. Opening up a client, listening to that terrible 56K modem sound. Even though it was the dawning of the internet fro most people, looking back on it, it was just funny.
Ah yes, Ron Popeil, the great TV pitch man. If you were a kid who got home from school early, or an adult staying up late, you invariability found yourself watching Ron Popeil pitch you something with a doubtful co-host. Everything was amazing and incredible… oh and hilarious.
In an ironic way, Saved by The Bell was one of those shows that at the time that young kids liked because the cast was attractive and confident. The sad part is really reflecting upon this show in any sort of objective manner. Forget the fact that Zack could stop time, or that Screech was somehow best friends with the most popular kids in school, just listen to the dialogue of one episode. Even with that said, I would still watch it to kill some time.
If you start to Google the name “Johnathan Taylor Thomas“, the next top auto-complete is the word “dead”. So clearly this once teenage heart throb is so out of the spotlight that people think he actually dies.
But no, he is not dead. Now 34 years old, Johnathan was once known as the most eligible teenager on the TV show Home Improvement, and also voiced Simba on The Lion King. He graced the cover of countless teen magazines and in a time without much internet, he reigned supreme.
After Home Improvement ended, everyone assumed that JTT would go on to be the next Brad Pitt, but somehow, he seemed to have disappeared. Turns out, he did not disappear and starred in movies like “Tom and Huck” and “Wild America“. Don’t remember them? You’re not alone. It seems like with many young stars, the kid actor never really made it past his early stardom.
He appeared on a variety of random TV shows and movies, but nothing to the scale of his early fame.
These days, with an estimate net worth of $15 million, he’s probably doing whatever he wants. But it’s not acting.
Want to talk to cute buys but don’t know any? This was the toy for you. Of course, if you were using this when you were 16, you may have wanted to re-think your social life.
Bop it was the ultimate time wasting tool, until you ended up hating it. Even though it came out in the 90’s people actually still buy this thing.
Originally invented by a NASA engineer, Super Soakers took a hot day and turned it into refreshing warfare. If you grew up in the 90s and didn’t have a Super Soaker, consider yourself deprived.
Ah yes, the hand held games that started it all. Before smart phones became the thing that everyone stared at aimlessly, the Game Boy is what took everyone attention. Heck, I still use it now. Who needs Angry Birds when you have Mario 2?
This was the ultimate must have for ANYONE in the 90s. CDs were king and if you could listen to Britney Spear on the go, you were a god.
By Lori Ferraro
Cue Bohemian Rhapsody!
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey ruled the early ’90s as basement dwelling metalheads Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, hosts of Aurora, Illinois’ most excellent public access TV series.
In countless SNL sketches and two hit movies, Wayne and Garth made us laugh and taught us how to rock. And now you and your best buddy can recreate this rockin’ duo for a Halloween so awesome you’ll hurl! Take a schwing at these:
The 1990s marked the end not only of a century but also a millennium. The decade leading up to the year 2000 saw a lot of change and excitement, with many important events that shaped not only the 1990s but our lives since then. That change happened in every way you can imagine – politically, technologically, and culturally. With the Cold War over, Nelson Mandela free, and the Internet changing the way we work and live, the events of the 1990s provided the perfect bridge between the outrageous 80s and the dawn of the new century. We have put together all the 1990s events and timelines you need to understand this amazing decade. The events and timelines are broken down by year. You can make your way through the 90s sequentially or jump straight to a year of interest. We cover history and politics, music, TV, movies, sports, and important people who died and were born in each year of the 90s.
90s Timelines – Includes Important Events in Politics, Society, Technology, Music, TV, and Movies
Famous People of the 1990s
Britney Spears – She Drove the 90s ‘Crazy’
Bob Ross is everybody’s favorite painter with a fro and calm demeanor. His program, The Joy of Painting, ran for twelve years on PBS. In his soft voice and slow paced speech, he instructed us how to oil paint using simple techniques and steps that anyone could follow. While my projects never looked like much, Bob could transform a blank canvas into a work of art within 30 minutes. In addition to art tutorials, Mr. Ross provided us with life lessons too like, “We don’t make mistakes, we make happy accidents.” He also taught us that all things in nature a happy . . . “Happy Little Trees” and “Happy Little Clouds.” So why not honor this great artist and dress up like him. After all, they say imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Love it or hate it, George Lucas’ decision to release a series of prequels to the enormously popular Star Wars films spawned a tidal wave of sci-fi fans desperate to prolong the magic of their favorite cinematic adventure. The Phantom Menace introduced the world to a new cast of Jedi characters, those renowned and powerful beings with the ability to manipulate the Force and wield light sabers with dazzling skill.
Mention TGIF (or 90s TV in general) and one image that instantly comes to mind is Family Matters‘ Steve Urkel. You know, the nerd that annoyed the Winslow family (especially Carl). The nerd America instantly fell in love with. From his first “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” he had us hook line and sinker. Urkel, with all his quirkiness, endearing loyalty, and catchphrases, makes a standout 90s costume idea that’s both fun and oh so memorable. In fact, site reader Natalie from Phoenix, AZ transformed into Steve Urkel for Halloween. Let’s take a look at her costume and the trademark items key pieces that make up a great Steve Urkel.
Although it works better if you can get a group of both men and women together, the male characters from Friends still make a fun Halloween costume.
The show was and still is so massively popular that it is unlikely you will run into anyone who hasn’t seen the program. However, given that each of the characters was better known for their personalities than their wardrobes, you will probably have to accentuate their quirks or emphasize certain aspects of their costumes in order to pull off a recognizable imitation.
This costume takes a group effort to pull off properly, but it’s well worth it. The pop sensations that infected the airwaves of 1990s radio and music television are fine fodder for costume fun. Whether you choose to mimic the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC or 98 Degrees, there is a fairly wide variety of different costumes to choose from.