Am I the only one who remembers Xband?

[WindupAtheist]

I recall being vaguely surprised that even Schild didn't know WTF I was talking about last time I mentioned it a couple years ago. It was a phone modem that fit in between the cartridge and the SNES (or Genesis) the way a Game Genie would, and let you chat and play games against other players. It had rankings, email, a newsletter it would download and display, and even a keyboard you could send away for that plugged into the player two controller slot.

I just found some Youtube vids, and they're making me nostalgic is all. Witness the glory of mid 1990's online console gaming! Chat, play, rankings. Look at all the horriblly dated 'tude they slathered on. Jesus.

Some of my closest friends to this very day were kids I met on Xband. Nobody shelled out for the nationwide service, so everyone could only play people in their local calling area. Hence everyone ended up hanging out IRL. I still have mine around somewhere but, since it relies on a long-dead server, one can't just plug it in and play a round of Killer Instinct for the hell of it.

That "only local opponents for you fucking cheapskate kids" thing was what really made it. Not good for profits though.

[Fordel]

I only know of it through what I saw on commercials and from that one kid in my school, that always, *always* had the most obscure and ultimately doomed consoles and accessories.

[WindupAtheist]

My then-fifteen year old brother bought it, and I scoffed at the time. But god damn, it was the best.

[ahoythematey]

I remember it, but didn't particularly care for the actual product once I had a taste. Even if I had liked it, I was playing Deathwish at the time(now called Aezure, or something), and wouldn't have been able to swing another sub fee past the parental units.

But...yeah, it was definitely a product marketed towards boys in the early nineties.  I remember that pretty clearly.

[proudft]

Anything ending in -band to me means: