12 Nineties Toys That We Miss
By Distributel
Being a grown-up is great and all, but sometimes we wish it was 1995 and we could be at a pool party eating soggy hot dogs and playing with our favourite toys, such as . . .
Game Boy Colour
A major improvement over the original Game Boy, in that it was both thinner and came in colour, we’d also take this handheld over Nintendo’s other 90s offering, the Virtual Boy, or Sega’s six-battery, barely-any-games contender, Sega Game Gear.
Rainbow Brite
The TV show was great (albeit short-lived), but the toys (which were the second generation produced, since North Americans had a hard time getting the first generation Mattel ones) were highly collectable and allowed by most parents who didn’t want you playing with Barbies.
Tamagotchi
Did we raise our virtual pets right by feeding them on time? Sure did. Right up until schools banned them. At the time, this seemed like the height of tyranny. Now, we get it. But we still miss our virtual pets, though.
Bop It
Bop it! Twist it! Pull it! No chip and dip party was complete without one of these! Although, for some reason, parents always wanted us to play with the Bop It in the basement . . .
Furby
Nearly impossible to find that one Christmas and, we’re completely serious, banned from US military bases. Also, super fun to turn on and leave under your little brother’s bed.
Super Soakers
When NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson figured out that squirt guns could be made better by manually pressurizing the water, he made every nineties pool party the best ever and every all cul-de-sac water fight an all-out soakfest. Also, not sure what to get a kid for a birthday party? A super soaker was always a legit choice.
Sky Dancer
Wow, fairies that actually fly? And turn into projectile weapons when your little brother tries to make fun for your fairies? Also, we think there was a TV show about them?
Pogs
Also banned by many schools (because gambling, we guess), Pogs were super cool. You could get Pogs for pretty much whatever you were into, be it wrestling, Star Wars, Nintendo, or whatever. Plus a set of Pogs could be bought with change from your Slurpee at 7-11, which meant your Saturday had just gone from good to great.
Mouse Trap
Honestly, there wasn’t any strategy to this board game. But we loved it, largely because setting it up was its own fun game. Oh, and that sweet commercial made catching the mouse seem like the most fun thing ever.
Gak
Nickelodeon’s gift to slime-loving kids everywhere. See kids? We didn’t make our own slime in the nineties, we got it from Nickelodeon, who promoted it with slime-based game shows that were awesome. Why aren’t there more slime-based game shows, anyway?
Polly Pockets & Micro Machines
A whole entire play set, but it’s tiny and folds up into something you can stick in your pocket! Initially Polly Pockets were pink slice-of-life scenes and Micro Machines were all about cars, but eventually Polly Pocket launched their own books and shows, while Micro Machines did toys by other pop culture stuff, like Star Trek, Star Wars, Men in Black, GI Joe, and so much more.
A Professional Yo-Yo
Remember that three-year period when everyone was all about yo-yos? To the point of spending two hundred bucks on some kind of custom-built yo-yo with a special string, a unique yoke, ball bearings, and collectable side caps? Man, our parents must have thought we were nuts.