The Voodoo was, very literally, a game-changer. The difference in quality between Quake and GLQuake was astounding.
Just a few seconds of gameplay was enough to get someone to make the purchase.
Just a few seconds of gameplay was enough to get someone to make the purchase.
Modern source ports have fixed both issues though (FWIW i recommend Quakespasm)
The Voodoo1 4MB which I had back then as well, was unprecedented. I agree that the Sound Blaster was great (in isolation against older x86 PCs), but 3dfx was the first standout example of the fruit in the IBM-compatible space, and a clear demonstration in the gaming sense as to why it took over the market.
The game that did it for me was Privateer vs Elite II. I had to get a PC after I saw it. It was crystal clear the Amiga could not compete.
PC Speaker vs. Soundblaster is more EGA vs VGA, something much more profound. And beneficiary to the gaming space, as opposed to early 3D, which basically ruined all the things for quite a while...
GUS was better than sb pro/sb 16 but a lot of games didn't take advantage of it and once AWE32/64 arrived, GUS was dead in the water.
And yeah, I knew that the GUS only enjoyed a very short-lived popularity, just like Voodoo cards when the Geforces etc. showed up. Okay, maybe the popularity at its height wasn't quite equal, but the next 3D fads are quite a few steps down (e.g. PowerVR or the first Matroxes).