12 Things We Miss About Retro Gaming

[IRaMPaGe 3,236]

Interesting read, I must say I agree with all of them for the most part. 

 

12 Things We Miss The Most About Retro Gaming - Goliath

M.GOLIATH.COM

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“Games aren’t what they used to be.” This is a sentiment that pops up again and again among...

 

[Tar-Eruntalion 511]

even though i am too young to have lived through that era of gaming i still got some taste through my gba and from playing at friends houses and i have to agree with almost all of them except the one about challenge and the arcades, i think these two were kinda "interconnected" and in the beginning of home consoles it passed over to them too, arcades had to be very difficult cause they didn't have much else to offer and you had the added feature that you had to use coins or tokens bought with coins to play them so if you lost regularly it would be profitable for the arcade store etc

 

but yeah the rest, i totally agree with the points even with the challenge partially, if it's a fair onee which is kinda rare in most games and that's why from software games are so popular this past decade, they are fairly challenging

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I pretty much agree with everything in that article.  The one big thing is complete games.  It was always a big deal when someone came up or heard of a "cheese" or "easy way" to beat a boss or pass a level and have it still be there to use if needed.  The pause trick in Mega Man 1.  After shooting your electric shot, rapidly pause the game when it first hits an enemy/boss and the damage will tick every time you unpause the game.  It made some boss encounters in that one a breeze.

 

Challenge I'm iffy on.  Some games back then were flat out cheap as oppose to hard.  I look at games like the Souls series, Elden Ring, Sifu and all of those have learning curves that once learned, make the game more manageable.  Some retro games had the same formula, but due to the tech at the time, still ended up being really heap with respawning enemies if you move off screen then come back.  Ninja Gaiden...  Castlevania...

 

I've actually been on a retro style fix lately.  Live A Live, Odin Sphere, TMNT, Mega Man, and some retro style current games like The Messenger.   There's just something about that style of graphics that tickles my sweet-spot in just the right way.  

[Luseth 1,949]

I booted up streets of rage on the megadrive last night with the CRT I picked up recently and it looks surprisingly good. I always thought that graphics had come on leaps and bounds but honestly the 16bit era holds up incredibly well with the right set up. The other thought I had was the time spent waiting for each level to load, there was nothing.... I know there is a lot more data to load with modern consoles but it wasn't all that long ago that Sony were bragging about having next to no gaming load times, then I played the megadrive yesterday and was like 'oh wait they are basically copying Sega 😄 '

 

I think one thing that I probably miss and appreciate at the same time is the evolving of game guides / in game information (waypoints)etc. It's all made easy to speed up our gaming time, as I have gotten older I have less and less time to actually game so this allows me to complete games. However I look back at the Final Fantasy games on the PS1 as my favourite era and at that time I used relatively little to no guidance. This brought more to the experience though, the exploration and the discovery. In fact the first time I play FFVII I missed Fort Condor completely, imagine my surprise finding it years later!

 

The other thing is I sometimes feel obligated to play with friends, if I get a message of an evening 'do you want to play clubs' or 'is anyone up for battlefield' I feel a little obligated to join them (especially if I haven't gamed with that person or group for a week or so). The other thing is, developers need to realise bigger does not always mean better. We have seen it a lot with ubisoft games and the likes of Just cause over recent years. I would much rather they spend time on much more crafted smaller worlds.

 

Now that I have my retro set up, I am just sorting out my gaming storage to make things more accessible but I can see it taking up some more time in my gaming schedule going forwards, there is a lot more uniqueness.

[J4MES OX4D 10,034]

Microtransactions too - at a quick glance, I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the article. 

[IRaMPaGe 3,236]

34 minutes ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Microtransactions too - at a quick glance, I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the article. 

 

It wasn't mentioned, but your 100% right. 👍

[GazzaGarratt 11,049]

Pretty much all those reasons is why we all fell in love with games. Its why when a game comes out now that gets close to certain features of old, then we get a bit giddy and enjoy the nostalgia it reminds us of. Personally, I get we have to be careful of having too much wastage in this planet but I don't see why we couldn't still have Game Instructions and Game Guides for many AAA games. They were amazing to read, didn't blow away the experience, and in fact it made you feel like you'd sit and take it all in more so. I think its why a place Limited Run Games does so well, just a shame they are so expensive with all the additional accessories for the same game.

 

I think the only rose tinted glasses one could easily be the Complete Games one. I agree with all above that I miss Complete Games and patches on Day One and barely full games aren't delivered are a pain. Two things with this one really. First is that we only get disappointed because we are promised a fully fledged game that is around 40 hours at least for most AAA games. A promise usually that is hard to deliver at the best of times. Secondly, we can easily forget that whilst we used to get complete games, it never tricked us that it was more than it was. Many games were just 5-8 levels of pure fun but could be potentially finished very quickly. The difference was it was on the box, so it never rarely missed our expectations by building it up to be something it wasn't.

[Antpool84 1,109]

So many things in that list bring back memories. I used to love being able to play local multiplayer, on racing games especially, and being able to compete with your mates on the same screens when we got together, but so many games don't include it now.

I used to play so mamy demos too!! I would buy 2 or 3 different playstation magazines purely because they had different demo discs, and if you liked the demo it would encourage you to buy the game. Now, if you're not sure about a game all you've got to go on our reviews and gameplay videos, and then if youre still not sure about it waiting until it comes massively down in price to get it so you're not too disappointed if you don't get like it.

[Riff Machine 2,105]

On 8/4/2022 at 4:28 AM, J4MES OX4D said:

Microtransactions too - at a quick glance, I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the article. 

Can you imagine if they had that shit back during the NES/Sega glory days? 

 

"Did you enjoy the Chrono Trigger?  Want to play a New Game+ where you have all the experience, weapons, armor, items etc. for a new game???  Then head over to your local game store and by the password to unlock it in game for $49.99!!!"

 

🤬

[Luseth 1,949]

9 hours ago, Riff Machine said:

Can you imagine if they had that shit back during the NES/Sega glory days? 

 

"Did you enjoy the Chrono Trigger?  Want to play a New Game+ where you have all the experience, weapons, armor, items etc. for a new game???  Then head over to your local game store and by the password to unlock it in game for $49.99!!!"

 

🤬

 

Yup bonkers, it's why I don't wholly get DLC to some extent, I think the only time I have likely appreciated dlc is with the witcher 3 and that's because they were essentially additional games.

 

As with all things though people just accept it as the norm and there are people that must pay for all the additional crap (in fact for my jrpgs I remember seeing some dlc, can't recall the game but you could pay to have the girls in the team run round in bikini's, I mean wtf is that about?)

[Antpool84 1,109]

[Findmartin 235]

Great article, can relate to a lot. I remember having gone out and bought a guidebook to final fantasy 7 as I was struggling. Same with one of the zelda games I had. The multiplayer thing too, I absolutely love going round to Lee's to play his old games. Whilst headsets and online play you cant beat being in the same room. The tensions when we play eachother on mario kart, super tennis, track and field etc you just dont get when playing online for me

[IRaMPaGe 3,236]

12 minutes ago, Findmartin said:

Great article, can relate to a lot. I remember having gone out and bought a guidebook to final fantasy 7 as I was struggling. Same with one of the zelda games I had. The multiplayer thing too, I absolutely love going round to Lee's to play his old games. Whilst headsets and online play you cant beat being in the same room. The tensions when we play eachother on mario kart, super tennis, track and field etc you just dont get when playing online for me

 

I remember the first time playing Roadrash Jailbreak on a PS1 with a Multi-tap with the ability to have 4 players. What a laugh, every 10 seconds "Oi ya dick stop bashing into me!" 😂

 

The good thing about Jailbreak was it had the side car option, so 1 steered and drive and the other got to punch and pick up weapons like bats, chains and glass bottles and knock shit outta each other. 

Literally hours of fun. 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Remember trying to figure out which direction you had to go in certain castles in the original super mario bros?  No guides, no internet, all trial and error.  Same with figuring out which weapons worked on what bosses in Mega Man?  Unless you used Metal Blades, then fuck it.  Lol!  

[GazzaGarratt 11,049]

22 hours ago, Riff Machine said:

Remember trying to figure out which direction you had to go in certain castles in the original super mario bros?  No guides, no internet, all trial and error.  Same with figuring out which weapons worked on what bosses in Mega Man?  Unless you used Metal Blades, then fuck it.  Lol!  

 

Tbh, this was the balancing act when we're younger. I was just so shite and finding my way through stuff. On Zelda: A Link To The Past on my Gameboy, I got stuck so early. Never knew how to find my way even to one of the castles and bosses. Just used to spend my time fishing for more stuff in that mini-game. If I had a bit of a guide I might've been able to do it....although fast forward years later and I played it on the Nintendo Switch Online facility and breezed past 3 bosses in the space of 5-6 hours play. I think just back then some games were just made for people with way bigger brains than my young tiny one 😅