What happened in the 1990s
The Persian Gulf War begins
After Iraq invades Kuwait, an international conflict begins with far-reaching consequences.
The Soviet Union collapses
The end of the Soviet Union closes the Cold War and opens a new geopolitical era.
Text messaging enters everyday life
Early SMS messages help launch a new culture of short-form digital communication.
The World Wide Web goes mainstream
Web browsers make the internet far more accessible to ordinary users.
November, year by year
- Margaret Thatcher resigns after eleven years in Downing Street
- Freddie Mercury dies a day after confirming his illness
- Bill Clinton is elected president
- The Maastricht Treaty takes effect and the European Union exists
- Sega launches the Saturn in Japan, weeks before its rival
- Toy Story opens as the first fully computer-animated feature
- ICQ launches and puts instant messaging on the desktop
- Iraq expels UN weapons inspectors and a standoff begins
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is released
- Protests shut down the WTO summit in Seattle
The 1990s catalogue
Games, films, animation and hardware, drawn from Wikidata.
Games
Films
Handle it in 3D
Objects from this decade, hand-built in Three.js.
Portable CD Player
The player that put a whole album in your coat pocket, as long as you didn't run. This Sony Discman D-145 from 1995 is rebuilt from its service manual and photos of a real one, with a CD of twelve 90s dance tracks written for the museum (turn your sound on). ▶II plays and pauses, ■ stops, and the skip keys change track or, held down, search. PLAY MODE steps through one track, shuffle, the first 15 seconds of each track and a programme of your own; REPEAT/ENTER repeats, or picks the tracks. Drag the ribbed wheel on the front edge for the volume. OPEN pops the lid so you can lift the disc out, and pressing the lid shuts it. BASS BOOST and AVLS are on the right side, HOLD on the front and RESUME on the left, and fresh batteries go in underneath. On a computer, Space plays and pauses, S stops, the arrow keys skip, M and R are the mode keys, + and - set the volume and O opens the lid.
Winamp
The player that whipped the llama's behind, rebuilt as the handheld it never was. Every button works: pick a track from the playlist, drag the volume, seek and equalizer sliders, click the visualizer to change modes, and try PRESETS. Every track plays its 30-second iTunes preview (turn your sound on), and the equalizer, balance and visualizer work on the real sound. Previews courtesy of Apple Music.
Magic 8 Ball
The fortune-teller of every 90s sleepover, rebuilt from photos of real ones down to the answer die adrift in its blue ink (turn your sound on). Ask a yes-or-no question and shake it: drag the ball back and forth, or just tap it. It turns its window to you, and one of its 20 answers floats up out of the murk - ten say yes, five say no and five won't commit. Drag beside the ball to look round it. On a computer, Space or Enter shakes it.
Lava Lamp
The lamp that came back in the 90s, rebuilt from photos of a Mathmos Astro as it was sold then - the British original from 1963 - down to its hand-spun aluminium base and cap. Tap the base to switch it on: the bulb lights at once, but the wax has to warm up first - about half a minute here, one to three hours in a real one. Then blobs swell out of the glowing pool, rise, cool and sink back, never the same way twice. Tap the cap to put in another bottle - there are five classic colour pairs - and it goes in cold. Never shake a real one: the wax and the liquid turn cloudy, sometimes for good. On a computer, Space or Enter switches it on and off and C changes the bottle. Drag to turn it round.
Casio F-91W
The cheap Casio digital watch that nearly everyone wore in the 90s - on sale since 1989, and still made today, unchanged. This one is rebuilt from photos of real ones down to every line printed on its face, and it stands buckled up, as watches do in a shop window (turn your sound on). It shows your own time and works as the real one does, by the program in Casio's own manual. MODE (C, lower left) steps through the time, the daily alarm (AL), the stopwatch (ST) and setting the time. On the time, the right-hand button switches between 12 and 24 hours, and LIGHT (upper left) lights the display amber, as the early ones did. In AL, the right-hand button turns the alarm and the hourly beep on and off, and LIGHT sets the alarm. In ST, the right-hand button starts and stops it, and LIGHT takes a split time and resets it. When setting, LIGHT moves on and the right-hand button changes whatever flashes. Tap the buttons or hold them; on a computer, the L, C and A keys press them. Like the real one, it thinks February always has 28 days. Drag beside the watch to turn it round.
This week
Release anniversaries from this decade, in the next seven days.
