Top 20 Things from the 90s That Don't Exist Anymore

Top 20 Things from the 90s That Don’t Exist Anymore

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 things from the ‘90s that don’t exist anymore.

For this list, we’ll be looking at staples from the decade that either no longer exist or are significantly rarer than they used to be.

If there’s a nostalgic ‘90s relic we forgot, remind us in the comments, dude!

#20: Dial-up Modems

Internet access has come a long way in the decades since the ‘90s. These days, wireless internet, broadband, and LAN cables provide fast and easily accessible internet for billions. But, back in the day, the internet could only be accessed through phone lines. Dial-up modems took up an entire phone line at home. While a few remote or rural areas are still using dial-up modems today, the rest of us will never have to hear that awful dial-up screeching again - except in our nightmares and in nostalgic internet videos like this one.

#19: Butterfinger BBs

There are plenty of discontinued candy products from the ‘90s. One of the most beloved are Butterfinger BBs. These bite-sized balls of Butterfingers were easy to pop in your mouth and still maintained the full-sized candy bars’ unique texture and peanut buttery flavor. Plus, they were advertised by Bart Simpson! Unfortunately, despite the campaigns’ slogan warning that “nobody better lay a finger on [our] Butterfinger”, the BBs were discontinued in 2006. Although no official explanation has been released, some have theorized that the BBs’ chocolate coating, which melted easily, may have been responsible. While a similar smaller Butterfinger version was released, called Butterfinger Bites, they never attained the same popularity. Ay caramba…

#18: Encarta Encyclopedia

During the ‘90s, the internet was not the trusted source of information it is…well, can be…today. Online encyclopedias were still in their infancy. Before the rise of Wikipedia, there was another computer-based encyclopedia called Encarta. Launched in 1993 and originally packaged in DVD form, this annually updated program contained thousands of informative articles on a wide variety of topics. Not only did Encarta include text, there were also videos, pictures, and even trivia games. However, naturally, the rise of online encyclopedias ultimately led to Encarta’s downfall and Microsoft ceased its publishing in 2009.

#17: MiniDisc Players

During the ‘90s, audio formats were still very much a competition. One often forgotten contender is the MiniDisc. Published by Sony, these miniature discs were envisioned as the next big thing to replace cassette tapes. However, despite proving popular in Sony’s native Japan, MD players couldn’t find success at a global scale. Record labels didn’t take to the format quickly, leaving few albums available initially. Plus, blank MDs were twice as expensive as blank CDs. By the time MP3 players became available, MiniDiscs were on their way out - although niche markets kept them in circulation until 2013.

#16: Zima

The ‘90s saw a trend of clear drinks, and alcoholic beverages were no exception. Coors got in on the trend and created Zima in 1994, a clear malt beverage intended as an alternative to beer. While the beer found more success among young women, Coors did their best to market it towards a male consumer base. In the end, most didn’t especially enjoy the taste, and the product began disappearing from shelves… at least in the west. Coors discontinued Zima in North America in 2008, but the beverage remained popular in Japan until 2021.

#15: Pogs

Playground games come and go. During the early ‘90s, the biggest one was easily milk caps or pogs. Players would stack cardboard disks with pictures printed on them - anything from cartoons to sports logos. Then, another larger disk, called a slammer, was used to knock down as many pogs as possible. Because each player would often keep the pogs won this way, it was viewed by many schools as a form of gambling, leading to widespread bans. When kids can’t play something at school, it tends to kill the popularity pretty quickly. While they’re technically still around, and there are variants on the game worldwide, pogs’ popularity is far from what it used to be.

#14: CRT Computer Monitors

Before and during the ‘90s, most screens were created using CRT, or Cathode-ray tube, technology. Naturally, computer screens were no exception. These big, bulky monitors sat on our desks and are how many of us first experienced computing. But, the last few decades have seen the rise of LCD, OLED, and plasma monitors, which are cheaper, less bulky, and generally have larger screens than CRT monitors. Some people, particularly computer gamers, still prefer CRTs, because they don’t have as much input lag and can display images in multiple resolutions more easily. In general, though, these guys have been mostly phased out.

#13: Gaming Magazines

Video games were still considered a niche industry in the ‘90s, so they weren’t mainstream enough to be covered extensively on TV or the still-newfangled internet. Enter: gaming magazines. If you were a ‘90s gamer, chances are you were subscribed to one or more gaming magazines. Electronic Gaming Monthly, Nintendo Power, Computer Gaming World, Tips and Tricks - these publications gave gamers detailed articles on upcoming games, walkthroughs, cheat codes, and reviews. Plus, they had a surprising level of reader interaction for major publications. Tragically, most gaming magazines ceased publication as the rise of internet journalism made the old monthly issue model obsolete. Why wait to read about it in a magazine when it’s already online?

#12: Floppy Disks

Removable computer storage in the ‘90s used to take the form of small, three-and-a-half-inch floppy disks - although the name is a bit misleading for those disks, which weren’t floppy at all. When you needed to save or move information between computers, floppy disks were everyone’s go-to. You just popped them into the fabled A: drive, and off you went. They were so widely used, that the ‘save’ icon in most programs is still the floppy disk to this day! But, as technology progressed, and storage capacity and needs expanded beyond a few hundred kilobytes, floppy disks are no longer in wide circulation. But, if you’re missing them, they’re still sometimes used for emergency booting in older systems, and in other industries like aeronautics.

#11: Appointment TV

Once upon a time, we scheduled our lives around what was on TV. This was because, if you didn’t see a show or a sporting event when it aired - you didn’t see it at all! Each time an episode aired, everyone was talking about it the next day. And, sure, sometimes you could tape a show and watch it later. But, sometimes, working VCRs was more art than science. Appointment television was the norm, and so networks did big ratings when a show hit it big. Of course, streaming platforms now make it easy to binge shows or watch them at your own pace. While some streaming series do release episodes weekly and the concept is making something of a comeback, appointment TV isn’t mainstream again quite yet.

#10: Y2K Panic

We all know that the human race and planet Earth are not going to be around forever. But with the new millennium on the horizon, many believed the year 2000 was going to initiate the collapse of society. In the 90s, several experts warned that because many computer systems represented years using only the last two digits, computers would mix up 1900 and 2000. This led some folks to buy up food and supplies to tide them through an imminent apocalypse. But as it turned out, the world stepped into the new millennium with minimal issues. While we’ve dealt with a few other “end of the world” fears afterwards like 2012, none quite reached the same level of paranoia.

#9: The Windows 95 3D Maze

Screensavers aren’t all that common anymore now that most of our devices have a “sleep” function to conserve power. In the 90’s, however, there was one screensaver you’d see in many homes - the Windows 95 3D Maze. Here, you’re basically watching your computer play a video game as it automatically takes left turns until finding the smiley face, thus resetting and generating a whole new maze. There was something really mesmerizing about it between the artificial intelligence and guessing where the face might end up. Honestly, why hasn’t Microsoft made a full-fledged game out of this?

#8: The Delia’s Catalog

If you weren’t sure what to wear for the Girls’ Night or the high school dance, you probably referred to this mail-in catalog of fashion. Founded in 1993, Delia’s was the go-to catalog for teens who wanted to wear the latest clothes and fashion trends. Unfortunately, Delia’s would be buried by competitors (in addition to being spun-off and acquired on a few occasions) as time went on. By the end of 2014, Delia’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and liquidated all of its stores. While it tried to bounce back as an online-only store in 2015, this venture was a complete failure. Now, you can only get their clothing through the Dolls Kill brand.

#7: Orbitz

Yes, it's the magical beady beverage that has featured on many a WatchMojo list in recent years. This obscure, noncarbonated drink was manufactured with a small variety of flavors to quench your thirst AND hunger. From Raspberry Citrus to Vanilla Orange, the beads and beverage made for a unique type of drink. Alas, Orbitz would live a seriously short life because of its terrible commercial performance. Given the presence of gellan gum and high sugar, one can hazard a guess at why folks weren’t picking these up off the shelves, especially when seeing the edible orbs inside.

#6: iMac G3

Apple’s Mac computers have come a long way. Today, design is all about improving battery life; making everything as thin as possible; and getting berated about updating iTunes even if we don’t use it. But in the late 90’s, a common Mac computer looked about as chunky as a CRT television set. The teal-colored Macs with their translucent Bondi Blue shells were especially a huge success for Apple, but looking back, these desktop computers were also incredibly hefty and awkwardly shaped. That’s because it wasn’t just a monitor - this was the computer itself. Just seeing pictures of these makes us glad schools are using laptops instead.

#5: P.B. Crisps

Yeah, we gotta squeeze in another food product in here, and this is another snack that’s popped up on our lists before. P.B. Crisps was a special kind of sweet treat from Planters, consisting of peanut-shaped cookies filled with peanut butter inside. And if you wanted an addition to peanut butter, you could buy bags of the cookies that were also filled with chocolate or strawberry. Sadly, these snacks were not around for long due to low demand and have become a relic of the mid-90’s. To this day, there are still a group of dedicated fans clamoring for the product’s return, even going so far as to make a website dedicated to the cause.

#4: AIM (AKA AOL Instant Messenger)

It’s been a hot minute since we heard anything remotely relevant to AOL. While AOL currently exists and was acquired by Verizon in 2015, AIM ceased operations in December 2017. We’re shocked, too! The service was introduced way back in 1997 and became the leading messaging service in North America for roughly a decade. But as tech giants like Google and Facebook started taking over, AIM lost all purpose. The two companies had better services and better security. Slowly but surely, AIM would begin shutting down features one by one, starting in 2007 before disappearing completely a decade later.

#3: Netscape Navigator

These days, we have dozens of web browsers vying for our attention, from Google Chrome to Mozilla Firefox to Safari to Duck Duck Go! We remember way back when the internet was a baby that there was only one browser to use - Netscape Navigator. This browser was created in 1994 and for a short time went uncontested in the industry. What happened to cause such decline? Well, Internet Explorer happened. Then, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, all of them. Netscape would receive its final update in 2007 before ceasing support and development the year after.

#2: Discman

Like Walkmans in the 80’s, Discmans became a crucial part of our lives. There just wasn’t anything like going on a walk or exercising while jamming out to the newest music albums. Besides radios, this was pretty much the way to listen to music. Of course, as we find new ways to store data, we also kill off part of a medium. Nowadays, we can just open Spotify on our phones and jam to anything we desire without having to eject a CD and holster something chunky on our waist. Still, there is something tactile to be missed here.

#1: Video Rental Stores

Those who grew up in the 80s, 90s or 2000s fondly look back on video rental stores. While the very first such stores opened in the late 70s, it was in the 90s that bigger brands like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster boomed in demand. For some families, weekly trips to these stores would become a tradition as new movies made their way to the shelves and movie buffs sought out hidden gems. This industry would decline, however, as Netflix and streaming services became more and more prominent. Hollywood Video would go defunct in 2010, while Blockbuster enjoys a few thousand customers through its last and only store, located in Bend, Oregon.