I wasn't born until just past the midway point of the decade after the one you're asking about, but I definitely remember games from that time-frame well. The earliest I remember are actually games from around when I was born since my family was not exactly well off so we were usually half a console cycle behind. I also can't speak as much for PC games of the time as I was entirely on consoles until basically the early 2000s.
I'd say those were some Golden years for gaming, although it's important to point out the effect of nostalgia. We place high fondness on our formative years.
That being said, I'm fairly confident in stating that the late 1990s and up to the early or mid 2000s are often considered some of gaming's best years (1998 and 2004 are two years I see a lot as some of the best) so it's not just a particular age group having nostalgia for their formative years that makes that time period good; it actually was good. Games weren't yet quite big enough to be beholden to shareholders and development team size, budgets, and time frames hadn't yet spiraled out of control (though Final Fantasy VII in particular was about to become what many call one of the earliest triple A titles, and in the years after, SquareSoft would hit financial trouble before The Spirits Within even failed). We didn't have games as a service and unfinished games in buggy states as often.
Were there bad points? Sure. Gaming wasn't yet as much online, patches were rare and took a long time, we didn't have digital distribution, and the entire online world was dealing with lower speeds and thus less media (though the internet was better in my mind before social media platforms became the primary focus; decentralized, individual forums were the best balance in my eyes).
Anyway, my favorite game comes from that time frame, my favorite console comes from that timeframe (second and third favorite come from before and after it), as do many other well loved games.
All that being said... (!)
I think gaming is pretty great today too. It has some obvious drawbacks. Certain monetization models are awful. Unfinished or unoptimized games on release are awful. And, it's subjective, but I think the games and many franchises best titles are long behind them and likely not coming back. But the indie scene is thriving. Many remakes are actually good (and they are targeting games from specifically that era). And hardware slowing down in advancement meant you can play a vast, vast library of games on modest hardware. Emulation is alive and well. Digital distribution exists, and Steam isn't as bad as the worst case monopoly could be. The internet, though it has its issues, gives us communities to reach out to. And while games are unfinished because it's a "release it today, fix it tomorrow... maybe..." world, game prices haven't risen with inflation but are actually cheaper, and many games exist at below "standard" pricing (either innately, or with sales).
Overall, those "Golden years" were great, maybe the best, but I think we've living in another, perhaps more muted but more varied, Golden age lately. There's an old saying that comes to mind. You never realize you're making tomorrow's memories until today becomes yesterday. We didn't realize we were living in a "Golden age" back then either. We took it for granted. Don't do the same today. Having a defeated attitude means you'll never enjoy today. We always forget the struggles of the past but remember the good times. So we tend to overestimate years gone by.
'it was fixed a week later and it still holds, at least it wasn't my eye that got hit..'
' with my classmate friends until the ~last year of elementary when I've got more into gaming. 'they sure did not like that cause I was starting to spend less time with them'
In the beginning 90'ies i was at a university studying computer science and after that Communication electronics. I owned a Commodora Amiga 2000. I programmed that one also in assembler. C we didn't use as there was less control about the compiler. We had to read a lot of books then and there. Not only in front of a computer. We had blank papers and sticky notepads in front where we wrote down notes with important things we did want to memorize. Even nowadays i grab the Bibel of Donald E. Knuth (The Art of Computer Programming) to see what a perfect sort or search algorythm might be and how long such a search/sort might take. We have seen how M$ copied Amiga's Guru meditation message (Blue screen), the mouse (from Apple) etc. and made money with mthat stolen ideas. We knew the differenes of a Risc CPU against Intel. We knew that there have been better alternatives than Intel anyway. At that time i had "wet" dreams about workstations with advanced Motorola CPU's. I still own a HP49 calculator and a daily runner (Casio FX87). My mobile is still laying aside without a real need for usage, I still don't use Social Media. The world doesn't need to know anything of my private life. As i have my mobile at home even google don't know where i am.
