Oh...! [Wii whirrs to life] What the hell is that supposed to mean? First impressions mean everything. If you’re on a first date and things feel
off, you’re not gonna want to go back for round two. And the same applies with game consoles. Consoles really need to hook you after you
purchase them, because the company wants your money! And they can’t get it if you decide that
your Wii U is s**tty and return it. That hook generally is the games or the gimmick,
but another important factor is the menu. The operating system of the console needs
to be intuitive, user-friendly, and cool enough to not only represent the console, but to
keep the user with them. And, because this is a three-way balancing
act, are you surprised that some companies f**k it up? So today we’re discussing and dissecting
the startup screens and operating systems of various game consoles throughout video
gaming history. [intro music plays] In the beginning, there was nothing. Literally. Game consoles back in the day didn’t really
have a user-controlled OS. Hell, even computers barely had an OS, it
was basically a damn text terminal! These early consoles, the Atari 2600, the
Intellivision, the NES, all of them were cartridge-based consoles. Meaning that the game data on the cartridge
was the first thing you saw. No fancy graphics, unless the developers gave
you some. Think of Super Mario Bros. The game just starts up to the title screen. There were consoles that had startup screens,
but they didn’t do much, so for this video, we’re just going to start with the PlayStation. [PS2 woomp] After Nintendo and Sony had a little scrimmage
in the early 90’s, Sony decided to spit in the face of Nintendo and create their own
console. And it had a startup screen. Triangles coming together to create the Sony
Computer Entertainment logo and then going to the PlayStation logo, all with chimes and
other futuristic sounds. Keep in mind, this was 1994, and CD gaming
at this point was in its infancy. Sony was flexing with what they could do with
CDs. Sure, the SNES could do audio samples, but
could it do this? [PS1 startup plays] I mean, maybe, but for the sake of the argument
I’m gonna say no. And, fun fact about this startup, the second
half with the PlayStation logo is actually stored on the disc, not the console. That’s why when you don’t put a disc in
(or if the disc doesn’t work) it doesn’t show that part of the startup. Unless there’s an error and you get a Fearful
Harmony. [whispers] Watch my video on game console
errors! Speaking of not putting a disc in, what happens
if you don’t? Well, you get into the menu system of the
PS1. Now, it’s fairly primitive, but it works. Also, it looks cool. So that makes up for it. The things you can do on it is edit stuff
on your memory cards and play CDs. Yup! That’s it! I gotta give credit where credit is due, though,
PlayStations have always allowed for things like music and video playing with ease, and
I love them for it. If I wasn’t a Nintendo freak, I’d absolutely
be a PlayStation guy. Sadly, the menu is very janky in my opinion,
and it’s just such a limited set of options. I mean, it was 1994, there wasn’t much to
do, but still. Also, it’s just silence in the menus. I mean, c’mon. Video game console menu design 101. I mean, they were one of the first, but I
don’t care. I’m judgy. But the PlayStation was a success, so Sony
made another. It was alright, too. [ding] This time, they stepped s**t up real good. The startup is of a blue-black void, with
towers representing your save data on memory cards. The sounds in the background sound atmospheric,
and then the screen wooshes in to give you the PlayStation 2 logo with a “woomp.” It’s just so… [chef’s kiss] Maybe that’s the nostalgia talking, but
the PS2 startup is just so cool! And, yet again, no disc? No problem, as it leads you to a menu. It’s here where you can set system settings
and look at your memory card data. And each button press makes more great atmospheric
sounds, it’s just so… perfect. And the ring of lights in the middle…! It’s like the Tetris Effect before Tetris
Effect. Now, do I have gripes with the menu? [Laughs] Yeah. If my opinion, if you like something and can’t
criticize it, do you really like it? I mean, look at Wii Deleted You: It’s mid
at best, and yet here I am trying to push it into every video I make. Speaking of… [pen clicks] Anyways, the PS2. What the hell is the system options doing? I was like 3 when I got my PS2, I had
no clue what any of this meant. I thought these were static strings. It made no sense to me. I mean, sure it was kind of a thing meant
for the grown-ups to do, but still. But it’s perfect in my eyes. And how do you improve upon perfection? That’s right, you don’t! The PS3 was the first in what I’m going
to call the “Modern Consoles.” And with it came a time-appropriate menu screen. First up, I’ll say I really like the startup
sounds of both the old and new firmwares. The strings, the synths, it’s very nice. And I like the wave in the background, too. It’s very calming. And *very* 2006 in my opinion. But then we get to the menu. What the hell is happening here? So, instead of having side menus, they put
everything into its own little category right on the main screen. I mean, sure, that makes sense, everything’s
there, but it just gets more confusing the deeper down you go. I mean, the settings section has a bunch of
different settings in it already, but then if you go into one of those sub-settings,
you get more stuff! Sub-sub-settings! Speaking of, there’s like a kajillion system
settings. Like… what?! And the menu has the same issue of the PS1,
it’s quiet as hell. It also looks kinda dull after a while. Sure, there are themes and colors, but by
default it is quiet and dark. And people were defending this console with
their lives why? The menu just has a bunch of crap in it, it
feels like a lot could be trimmed away and it would be easier to manage. So, there’s nowhere to go where up right? Yeah, actually. The PS4 starts bland with a PS logo, but that’s
just to tell you that the console is working, or something. Then, it pulls a Nintendo and tells us to
read the safety information. We’ll get to that in due time. And then we get a nice guitar and a demand
to press a button. Getting into the menu itself, they improved
quite a bit. It’s no longer quiet and dull anymore, so
that’s a plus! They also have moved all the boring stuff
stuff to the top, meaning that all the important stuff (games) are front and center, waiting
for you. Of course, the eighty million different settings
are there, but they’re hidden behind the settings button itself, which is a nice touch,
I guess. And, yeah, this is an entirely cromulent menu. It works, isn’t boring, and even has an
actual Tetris Effect theme. So, it’s pretty good on that front alone. But what about their next console? Well, it doesn’t matter because you’ll
never get one. Okay, fine, I’ll look at it. The startup is very similar to the PS4’s,
with a black-and-white logo, Nintendo fever, and a jingle. This time, it’s very short, but the main
focus, I think, is on the background particles flying about. It looks very nice and shows off the power
that the PS5 has. Not that you’ll ever be able to experience
that. If you thought they modernized the PS4’s
menu, they f**king made the PS5’s more modern. Every app has its own little unique section
at the bottom, and in that section can be things like news or advertisements. Yeah, you can get f**king adverts in the menu. I mean, it’s related to the game and it’s
the game developers giving it to you, but I still don’t give a s**t what new Fortnite
skin is out I just want to be miserable. But one thing I really like is how every app
gives a unique background. That’s just so nice. All the boring junk is even more simplified
now, with there being five whole options at the top now. And only two of them are customization or
settings related! There’s also a dedicated media section,
letting you have easy access to every single streaming service. Because every cable company needs to make
their own streaming service. That makes sense. But what about the sounds? I love it.
Again, very atmospheric and ambient. I could literally fall asleep with the menu
music. That is until I get a random ass invite, or
something. I dunno, I don’t have a PlayStation 5. Do I look like I have that money? So, that was just the PlayStation. But what if we went over… to the other side? [Xbox One startup plays] Y’know, I’m writing this script in Microsoft
Word on Microsoft Windows, so I don’t know if I’m going to be hunted down by Microsoft
employees if I talk bad on the Xbox. Oh well, if I die make sure my death gets
popular on true crime podcasts! The original Xbox was going up against the
PS2. And Microsoft basically said, “Yeah you
may have those towers and that void, but we have nuclear slime!” Do you think that tilted the sales in their
favor? Uh… well, there’s always next time. This menu feels like it’s trying too hard. Like, looking at the PS2’s menu, it’s
just words with some fancy graphics in the background. The Xbox’s is so f**king convoluted. Everything feels like it takes ages. Like I just want to go to my system settings,
and I’ve had to wait for so long for the first f**king menu to go through! Sure, it’s unique and kinda cutesy that
it looks like that, but this just ain’t it for a console menu. I mean, there’s background ambience here,
and it plays with the whole… laboratory vibe of the Xbox menu, but it doesn’t get me in
the mood to play Xbox. It’s just... something to listen to, I guess. Oh, and all the sounds when pressing buttons
or going between the menus are very mechanical, just to add on more to the vibe. Also, S.A.M.? The Software Automatic Mouth from the old
8-bit computers? For some reason? [S.A.M. vocalizes against the Xbox ambience] I mean, it's cool, but also... what? The Xbox could play audio CDs, so HA! Take THAT Sony! Oh f**k, they got DVDs now? Of course, there’s settings and stuff, and
something interesting I think is apparent there is parental controls. This allows for parents to restrict games
and movies with certain ratings. So, if you don’t want your kids to play
anything but Early Childhood games, then... you can do that. So, what about the 360? Well, throughout the 360’s life, there were
4 distinct menus that were made: Blades, New Xbox Experience, Kinect, and Metro, each with
their own positives and negatives. And, to save time, let’s condense my opinions. The Blades dashboard is very unique and pretty. It gives off the 2006 vibes of the Xbox 360. Despite this, it is, paradoxically, not really
unique in these sub-menus. I get they were trying to push Live profiles
or whatever, but I’m getting flashbacks from the PS3 and I have no idea where to go. New Xbox Experience is in an in-between state
between old-school skeuomorphism and modern minimalism, and is very 2008 Microsoft. It reminds me of Windows Media Player of the
time. Also, a little bit of iPods of the time with
the wheel of albums you would scroll through. Just this time it’s box arts. Anyways, it still suffers from the “just
shove a bunch of s**t into sub-sub-categories” curse and isn’t all too memorable. The Kinect dashboard leans further into modern
flat minimalism, with just a tiny hint of skeuomorphism hidden in there. Otherwise, it’s a flattened NXE menu with
nice animations. Not really that memorable. And then Metro, which is very Windows 8 slash
Zune-inspired. Basically, fully flat with heavy social-TV-movies-music
sections. To me, this is the most memorable. Maybe because it was the menu that I saw when
I went to family and friend’s houses, but still. Oh, and ads. Lots of ads. Yuck! Oh, and the startups. The first one, for the first two dashboards,
is very reminiscent of the early 360 days, although it feels off. The second is very iconic. Again, maybe that’s nostalgia kicking in,
but it just gives off the aura of Xbox 360. The sound still feels off, though. So, was the Xbox One any better? [Wheel of Fortune bankrupt noise] Again, there are multiple dashboards, so let’s
truncate this down. The first menu, which I’m going to call
the “Windows 8 Metro Start Screen” dashboard, looks pretty much like that. The Windows 8 start menu or Windows Phone
OS. Anyways, as Microsoft was doing early on with
the Xbox One, ads were everywhere and there was a focus on media content that the user
didn’t care about. The menu itself is… fine, but there’s
just a strong focus on, what I’m gonna call “junk,” as many other Xbox users would
probably also say. Then the “New Xbox One Experience” dashboard. I was joking when I made a long-ass name for
the last dashboard, but Microsoft actually did that. Big-ass game screen right at the front, with
adverts on the side and your stuff way below. Because that makes sense. Although you can go from the top to the bottom
with the triggers, but eh. And finally, “Fluent Design.” Instead of Windows 8, it now looks like Windows
10! It feels a little bit confusing, but it’s
not too bad. It’s still manageable. But there’s some Mixer junk there so I’ll
have to dock it points for that. Overall, a nice menu. It shows that Microsoft was improving. And the startup screen, which I quite like. The sound is iconic, it’s not too overcomplicated,
and just overall feels nice. It really defines “Xbox.” I like it. Then we get to the other console you’ll
never get: The Xbox Series X. Why the f**k did they name it like that? So far, only one real dashboard. So, we’re not gonna give it a name. It’s just there. The [menu] itself looks very clean and metro,
as to be expected with Microsoft, but it isn’t that bad, really. The most recent apps are at the top, the
most-most recent being the biggest. Then you have your standard advertisements
underneath. They kept the “pins” feature, which is
nice, but I feel the “most recently played” section works out the need for it, but I digress. Maybe there’s some apps that don’t show
up there, or something. I don’t know. Do I look like I have that money--? Settings are pretty alright, its consolidated
in a menu of its own and it looks much better and easier to understand. But, for some reason, there’s silence. Like, come on, nothing in the background? It’s 2023, and there’s nothing
without themes? Be real. Oh, and the startup screen is stupid. It makes it look like the Series X is a cinematic
masterpiece or something. You’re not fooling me, Microsoft. But, we’re finally out of the hell of the
Xbox realm. And we’re still not done. Oh god, I need to talk about Ninten— [Nintendo Switch click] Nintendo is strictly a games company, unlike
Sony or Microsoft. So that means they have the upper-hand advantage
in knowing what consumers want right? Right? Technically, the first OS Nintendo really
had was the 64DD, but there was nothing going on there. So, we’re going to ignore it. The GameCube! Definitely a success story for Nintendo, right? First console to use discs, technically portable,
four-player support right out of the box— Oh, come on! The GameCube’s intro is insanely iconic,
even with its embarrassing sales number. It literally was a meme for a hot while there. And, it had secret alternate sounds if you
held some buttons on the controllers, which is a neat touch. Going further into the menu reveals a menu
of insane uniqueness, as will be commonplace with Nintendo. You get some nice ambient music in the background,
which will also be commonplace. For a while, at least. The cube itself is the menu, and each side
is a different element. You have your options, which is just audio
and screen adjustment settings, your calendar, which is where you set your date and time
for the console, your memory card, where you can see and edit the contents of your memory
cards, and “game play,” where you can run the game you have in. Also apparently the music in the background
is just a slowed down and reverb edit of the Famicom Disk System’s startup jingle. [Famicom Disk System's startup jingle plays] [Sped-up version of the GameCube ambience plays] Now, the GameCube was a console where you
put the game in and it automatically played, similar to the competing consoles at the time,
so this menu probably was seldom used. But you know what console didn’t auto-play
games? Great segue. Well, it was a little-known console called
the Wii. It was alright, I guess. [ding] The first thing the Wii greeted you with was
this: A health and safety warning message. Although, it really isn’t. It just tells you to read the manual’s section
about health and safety. Because that makes sense. And it isn’t just once, either, it pops
up every time. I guess Nintendo didn’t want everyone suing
them over their broken TVs after the Wiimote goes flying. Then we get to the main screen, a grid of
channels with that iconic background music. What more can I say, this is the life. If I could live here, I would. It’s so intuitive and easy to use, with
the Wiimote it just makes sense. You know what doesn’t make sense, though? The settings menu. I made fun of the PS3’s settings menu for
being too complicated, but what the f**k is this, Nintendo? Not even a joke, I didn’t know how to set
up the internet with my Wii for the longest time, it was that confusing. Everything here looks so foreign, like...
why was *this* the final design?! There’s also the Wii Message Board, a place
to send and receive mail via your Wii friends. Did anyone really use this for anything other
than looking at your play time and making stupid memos? But otherwise, this is a pretty good menu. Iconic in every sense of the word. But we know the drill, how did Nintendo f**k
it up? The Wii U, a console that, to be honest, deserves
a better rap. But enough about the console, more about the
menu. The Wii U greets you with two things on the
gamepad and on the TV. Starting on the TV, you get WaraWara Plaza,
a plaza with random Miis from around the world posting to the Miiverse about games you’ve played. It’s very cute, and I enjoyed it... until Nintendo killed off Miiverse. On the gamepad, however, you got the actual
menu, with a grid of applications for you to select from. Pretty simple, and I actually was able to
connect my console to the internet immediately. Props to you, Nintendo, you figured out basic
GUI usability! The bottom row was a bunch of Nintendo-specific
stuff, like Miiverse, the E-Shop, the Internet Browser, etc. Nice that it was separated. Oh, and you could switch the menu and WaraWara
Plaza if you wanted to, which was a nice touch. And if you want a complaint, why the f**k
do I need to use the gamepad to change system settings? That is *not* a necessity! I have a broken gamepad what do you want me
to do?! But, the music. Oh, the music. Nintendo weren’t f**king around when they
made the music for the Wii U. I could fall asleep to the main menu music,
but they went through the effort to make music for all the default applications. And they all sound so great. [music plays] But apparently Nintendo used up all their
music points with the Wii U and didn’t have any left for the Switch. The Switch’s menu is… quite boring. Which is weird to say considering it’s a
Nintendo console. They’re meant to be unique, it’s a Nintendo
thing, why is it this bland?! I get it’s because the console is meant
to be both a handheld and a home console, but this is so bland! Anywho, it’s simple. There are games, Nintendo stuff, and account
stuff. And each section has its own little sound
to go along with it. [whistles] [click] [shakers] [jingle] [photos ruffling] [jingle] [wonky sound effect] [jingle] That’s cute. But, yeah, there’s not a lot to say because
there’s not a lot to work with. It’s a good menu, just uninteresting. Oh god, I forgot to talk about the Dreamcast—! [Sega sound effect plays] No joke, I forgot that the Dreamcast existed,
so this is a last-minute addition. That really does represent the console, doesn’t
it? The Dreamcast was Sega’s last hoorah as
a console manufacturer, and it came with a startup screen and menu. An orange ball bouncing to make the letters
of Dreamcast appear, followed by it forming the Dreamcast logo at the top. Although, if you’re in Europe, everything’s
blue because the German company Tivola has a similar logo. Now onto the menu. It’s very simplistic, and I like it. Sure, the 3D animations of the icons are a
little weird, but it gives it a little bit of unique flavor. There’re four options: Play, File, Music,
and Settings. Play just plays whatever disc you have in,
File allows you to look at and edit the content of your memory cards, or the VMU’s, as they’re
called. Music allowed you to play audio CDs and Settings
was… your settings. It allowed you to change the language, audio
settings, the date and time, and whether or not you want to have the games auto-start
when turning on the console. Again, it’s a very simple menu, and I like
it for that. It definitely takes design elements from the
PS1, which is fair because it was the only console with a menu before it. But I think out of all the console menus,
this one is my favorite. Also, there’s a weird “special menu”
if you have a save file from Puyo Puyo Fever. For some reason. But that should be it… Oh, goddamnit—! [DS startup jingle plays] Okay, I’ll make this short: I like the clock and calendar, though I never
really understood why it used 24-hour time. Pictochat was nice, but why do I have to restart
the console to do anything? Hey, we get the privilege of having multiple
games and apps now, so that's cool! The photos you’ve taken being at the top
is weird, but rainbow pen in Pictochat is very cool, and… Flipnote Studio my beloved! I like the little animations of the apps at
the top, that's kinda cute. The whole menu is very Wii U-esque (I mean, it was the same
era, after all). I like the inclusion of themes, but gift demos
are kinda weird. This is just a dumbed down PS3 menu, pretty
much same likes and dislikes from there. The apps look like pills. Having to open a game two times is weird,
but it has a bunch of music that plays in various places, like the Wii U, which is very
cool, and I like it. Phew, and that’s all of ‘em. So, have console menus gotten better over
time? Well, yeah, in a way. The consoles became more powerful and capable,
and the menus had to support that. But they’re all usable, even if some of
them are a bit annoying to work with. And appearance isn’t everything, the Switch’s
is basic as ever, yet it still works! But what is everything is usability. Which begs the question… What the f**k is this Nintendo?! [outro music plays]
