Gone are the days of Furbys, Tamagotchis and SNES consoles - in are iPhones, Snapchat and Facebook. Trying to explain the beauty of a VHS to a kid with a Netflix account at the age of 2 now is going to be a tricky task, but one we're gonna have to attempt one day. The year of Nirvana: music, of course, was better. For one, girls on the radio had more fire and brimstone about them. Not only did we have L7, Garbage, and Hole pumping out 90s riot grrl-grunge: the mainstream airwaves had double the soul and substance we have today. The Top 40 around 1997 had Natalie Imbruglia singing about the sky being Torn, and the Fugees Killing It Softly. Let's compare this week's chart-toppers: Little Mix doing a painful cover of Word Up and a song by The Chainsmoker called #SELFIE. Even The Spice Girls had more class than this. Hell, give me Barbie Girl any day. Cartoons were awesome in the 90s. Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel were actually good then: bombing out Dexter's Laboratory, Pinky and the Brain, Johnny Bravo, Recess and Hey Arnold. Animated heroes dominated Saturday morning television: X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman: The Animated Series... and let's not forget the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It truly was a great time to be a wee one - or even an adult. Then there were the toys. AH! The toys. I will say no more. The following pages are brimming with glorious childhood nostalgia and sexy 90s memories. If you haven't combusted with overwhelming year-sickness by the end of it, please do share your fondest times in the comments below...
18. Pogs
Hell yeah! There's no denying it: the 90s raised a generation of Pog Masters. If you were the one rolling up for a tournament with a proper Pog container full of shiners and slammers - you were a goddamn hero. You'd stack 'em face-down with yours and other kids, then take turns hitting them with slammers. Whatever pogs fell face up when you slammed the stack were yours to keep. So many times did we wish we could reverse the 'playing-for keeps' deal we'd settled before the game, as we trundled home with an empty Pringles tube and one crappy Tazo (NOT EVEN A REAL POG) left. My heart's breaking thinking about it.
17. SNES
No lags. No glitches. If your Super Nintendo game was messing up, the solution was simple - just take out the cartridge and give it a blow. Such brilliant simplicity in console design. Then comes the beauty of linear gaming, with gems like Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fighting games were particularly badass: everything from Mortal Combat and Street Fighter II to Battletoads (anyone who never played Battletoads SERIOUSLY missed out.) If you owned a Sega Megadrive, then Sonic was your life. The nifty little hedgehog running through lands collecting rings. And what have they done to him now? Pumped him with steroids and given him weirdly long legs. Damn you, The Future.
