Gaming: Then vs Now

[Fogel]

Since someone pointed out I am "old school gamer" I thought it might be fun to compare gaming today versus when I was a young pup calling other people old.

 

Few vs Many

 

Back in my day we had to walk uphill in 10 foot snow banks against the wind (both ways!) to buy/rent our games - JK Seriously though, I remember when you bought a game (or really your parents bought you a game) you had to make it last. These days people go through games faster than a lifesaver candy. Before one game is released people already have 5 games on pre-order. Back in the day when you got a game (thru parents,lawn mowing/birthday money, whatever) you played the hell out of that game.

 

At one point I could tell you where every secret passageway was in Metroid, all of it's glitches, and how to get the Screw Attack as your third powerup instead of the last powerup. People did speedruns all the times. It wasn't uncommon to open up an EGM magazine and see more speed runs from the game you been playing for months or more. People didn't brag about what game they were buying next but what they managed to accomplish in a game. Even if you got more than 1 game a year many kids had at least 1 or 2 games they played all year long.

 

PC Games were even more rare. I started out on the PC before I got my first console and there really wasn't many PC games ...and honestly they kinda sucked even though the graphics were better.

 

 

Face-2-Face vs Online

 

There were two ways to play with others - the Arcade and Consoles. Some of you have probably read about arcades in your history book. Arcades were great. It was were all the troublemakers got dumped off by their parents so they (parents) could have a peaceful house for a bit. So imagine a bunch of rowdy kids with no parental direction forced to get along with each other. You had to put your quarter/s on the game you wanted to play to reserve your spot in line. Better remember how many quarters were there before you put yours down. If you had an issue with the way someone played you could tell them straight to their face. For the most part everyone was pretty civil and any trash talking that did occur was always in fun. You sure didn't have to hear 10 different racial slurs and try and process how your momma fits into all of that. The worst you had to hear was typically, "I would be good too if I played everyday." Then you throwback, "I play once a week so don't blame me if you suck." That was the ultimate in nasty trash talking. Sure sometimes fights break out but it was so rare people would talk about it for weeks if it did happen.

 

The other way we battled it out was in our homes with friends ...oh and of course that next door neighbor kid our parents made us play with. So after we got tired of playing out in the street or in the backyard we ran inside from the heat and booted up our Nintendos/Segas and had epic battles on ancient TVs pretending you aren't watching the screen above/below yours that you friend is playing on. Then when someone gets mad you get back outside and settle it with a game of hoops or a wrestling match.

 

 

That's how we old schoolers did things. Respect!

Edited March 7, 2012 by Fogel

[Black64]

I grew up in the 90s so I like the gold old days where multiplier meant split screen. And anything with Mario in the title was awesome. And I never really gamed that much on PC, because N64 and Playstation rocked! Having your friends over to play is far better then playing online IMO. Those where the days....

 

 

EDIT: Also I am totally confused with the poll options.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Black64

[ClayMeow]

I don't get your poll options at all, so I won't vote, just voice my opinion...keeping it brief.

 

I grew up with an NES and then an SNES. I was never into arcades. Sure, I went to the occasional one, but it wasn't something I really cared for. When I did go, I leaned more toward the games that awarded tickets to redeem for prizes, rather than the ones that strictly sucked up your quarters. Maybe that's why I've never been much of a Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat fan (though I did play SFT2 on the PC and MK with my friend on his Genesis).

 

Fast-forward to today, I'm almost strictly a PC gamer, only playing console games with friends on their systems.

 

I find it very difficult to enjoy "old school" games now. Many of them have such atrocious graphics and/or control schemes, that it pains me. There are so many great modern games, that old games are often not worth my time. I sort of touched upon this in my HL2 thread - it's one of the few older games I still find extremely engaging, though growing up in the NES era, I certainly wouldn't call 2004 "old school".

[Deathmineral]

Back in my day...

 

[ClayMeow]

Back in my day...

 

Aren't you like 20?

[Andrewr05]

People didn't brag about what game they were buying next but what they managed to accomplish in a game.

+1

 

99% of the time IDGAF about multiplayer, just give me a good long game I can enjoy for months at a time.

[NikoDG]

I played all the old Legend of Zelda games at least a dozen times (Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask). My favorite FPS for over a decade was Goldeneye. I also agree that any game with Mario in it kicked ass, especially Super Mario RPG. Old school for the win.

[Deathmineral]

Aren't you like 20?

Tomorrow I will be.

 

As for gaming "then" for me. I started out on NES/SNES Mario/Zelda stuff, and sure I enjoyed it, any little kid loves just about any video game after all i think. However once I started getting a little older I discovered PC gaming through games like Duke Nukem 3D, Catacombs, Hexen, Diablo, Warcraft, and the sort of late 90s games. Well I fell in love with PC gaming at that point, especially once I started playing Diablo 2 specifically.

 

As for the "now" for me. Anymore my gaming preference deals a lot with story more than anything, that's just the thing I really enjoy in games now. I believe gaming has really become more of an art style in recent years, which is why I think it's really kind of hard to compare gaming now to gaming then. Not quite "apples and oranges" but not far off either I don't think.

 

Overall I definitely feel like gaming has seen major improvements over the years though and I don't think gaming now is lacking anything that we had in game 10 or 15 years ago. For example, a game like Demon's Souls shows off that it can have all of the modernness of great controls/graphics/etc. while maintaining that feeling of hardcore old school gaming.

 

Also, arcades aren't really extinct or anything, here in the U.S. they've certainly lost their appeal but you still see it in other countries, especially some of the Asian ones.

[ciddono]

I played all the old Legend of Zelda games at least a dozen times (Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask). My favorite FPS for over a decade was Goldeneye. I also agree that any game with Mario in it kicked butt, especially Super Mario RPG. Old school for the win.

Old Zelda games are "The Legend of Zelda," and "Zelda 2 : The Adventure of Link." Not that those you mentioned weren't masterpieces. I loved NES and SNES. But I also loved the arcades. Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, and later SFII, sucked up a LOT of my quarters.

[Il_napoletano]

even though im just 16.....I remember me and my dad playing the coolest game out there...midtown madness..I remember I got after it just came out...and everyone was like...CHECK THE GRAPHICS...IT LOOKS SO REAL!!!...then we used to play a game called moto racer, in multiplayer(split-screen) also with top graphics....lol

 

...also remember when the nintendo gameboy COLOR came out and I got it for christmas..it made me the coolest kid in my area....lmao

[WhenKittensATK]

I still play some older games, but they aren't too old. Mostly games released in 2000.

 

NES->SNES->PS1->Xbox->PS2->Xbox 360->Wii->PS3

 

First 3 PC games were Microsoft's Best of Entertainment, Math Blaster, and Diablo (all the way back in 1997-98, like 2nd/3rd grade).

 

So I've been gaming for a long time, however I still mostly play games from 2000 instead of the 1990s.

Edited March 6, 2012 by AZNguyen

[Guest_Jim_*]

Tomorrow I will be.

Happy day-before-Birthday! I may forget to say something tomorrow.