Eeeeeh idk about the Sound Blaster comparison. Creative earned their place in the early-mid 90s solely because they were the one company making a sound card with drivers that actually worked properly.

It wasn't really the cool reverb effects or wave tables, though those were a nice bonus. It was just "I can tell my computer to make sound and it actually makes sound without days of troubleshooting."

Granted, similar things could be said about 3dfx. It's was a 3D card with drivers that actually worked.

And then there's the obvious "sound blasters and voodoos go in my computer, jalapeno goes in someone else's computer" thing.