Question for older gamers

As somebody who was born in 2005 and whose first console was the wii, I see people talking about consoles like the ps1, ps2, OG xbox, gamecube, gameboy, etc. I can obviously experience those consoles now, but surely it was different back when they first came out? What was it like? Knowing that nearly every game company was looking to actually make a quality product? Was there any one game company that you hated with a passion and refused to buy from?