Aww the days of old console gaming.

[Onikaroshi]

Ah the days of... this thing



I'm partly nostalgic, but also partly glad we're past that. And why did nintendo thing rectangular controllers would be comfy?

[Rides]

Oh man those really were the days had a bunch of nes games and had a sub to nintendo power awhile but i have lost the issues throughout all my moving around as a kid i remember the day i discovered Rpgs for the first time on super nes it was final fantasy mystic quest then secret of mana secret of evermore final fantasy 3 earth bound lufia
god there were so many good games back then i didn't really do cheat books but i had a game genie and my dad would print me out guides and cheats while he was at work in the Army sometimes for me and himself he played some of those games more then i did now that i think about it.

[Darsithis]

I used to use graph paper for Eye of the Beholder maps. Good times.

[Airlick]

we had a kid in my neighborhood. He had just bout every nes game out. Dude's parents were rich. He rented out his games to other kids, kept records etc. I rented a few nes games from him. He had a nice little business goin for awhile.

The rich becoming richer by abusing their capital, reee

[PACOX]

I remember my cousin and I going to stores, sometimes pen and paper in hand, to memorize notes from game guides.

Then you'd get to school and other kids would compare notes. Then you had a couple of kids with printers at home who bring in the motherlode of cheats.

I never would have learned about Pokemon if not for our game tip sessions.

I don't miss trying to buff scratches out of a PSOne disc though.

[Tekkommo]

Yeah I used to do that as a kid with the Dizzy games on my Atari ST (or maybe XL). Did it for cheats as well, but can't remember what games. Used to buy over priced magazines as well for demos or guides/cheats.

Got shouted at a few times when parents would check the phone bill. Today, I can't believe I done that crap.

It's quite amusing compared to all the whining we see today. Gaming companies have always taken advantage of their users.

[Onikaroshi]

I don't miss trying to buff scratches out of a PSOne disc though.

I used to hate spending 20-30 minutes trying to find a game I wanted at the video store (which was in the grocery store at the time lol) only to get home, find that it didn't work because someone had scratched it too much, and have to bike back out to get a different one... it was like the biggest disappointment

[Daedius]

Never called helplines... instead I had gaming magazines that had cheats and guides in them, along with a comprehensive list of stuff that were frequently on PC Format discs.

[Orby]

Not helplines, but I did write in to a few Nintendo magazines.

Man I miss those days. Such a simpler time.

[dwightyo39]

I remember calling the tip line to find out the red/blue crystal tricks for Castlevania 2.

[JoshuaNLG]

I remember when you could buy a game (or rent it) and just have the game. No season pass no DLC no microtransations no multi GB patches day 1.

Dam i miss the 80 and 90s

Sure was fun having game breaking glitches in games that (in some situations) made the game impossible to complete or would completely brick a save file.

[Kumorii]

Only time I ever used the phone number that came with the manual on old games was during Oddworld: Abes Odyssey. No idea how you were supposed to use the voice locks with the slugs. Asked my sister to call them and ask.

[Bigbazz]

I'm old, but I aint that old. Used to buy magazines for cheat codes though in the 16-32bit era, or rather my parents bought them for me. Recall going to Sainsburies to pick up a gaming magazine because I had heard it had some cheat codes for Sega Rally, went there with my dad to pick it up so we could unlock the Lancia Stratos. Also found out that it could be unlocked if you finished the game in 1st place while taking the top score (best overall completion time vs the devs), eventually got to that point and was able to unlock it without the cheat.

Had an action replay cart for my Mega Drive, thing kept breaking though but it was fun while it lasted. I had a book that came with the action replay that had all the codes in it, and monthly magazines also included new codes sometimes.

[andrewjoy]

Sure was fun having game breaking glitches in games that (in some situations) made the game impossible to complete or would completely brick a save file.

That happened MUCH MUCH less as they know they have to have it work first time as they cannot patch it .

Issuing a new CD pressing or new ROM is many orders of magnitude more expensive than putting out a patch.

[Shaetha]

I remember when you could buy a game (or rent it) and just have the game. No season pass no DLC no microtransations no multi GB patches day 1.

Dam i miss the 80 and 90s

you want me to tell you a secret? Turn off the internet and all those things you're mentioning go away.

- - - Updated - - -

That happened MUCH MUCH less as they know they have to have it work first time as they cannot patch it .

Issuing a new CD pressing or new ROM is many orders of magnitude more expensive than putting out a patch.

no it didn't. people just have better access to information now, so people immediately know.

[Afrospinach]

And why did nintendo thing rectangular controllers would be comfy?

Everything was rectangular in the 80s. Buildings, cars, people.

[andrewjoy]

no it didn't. people just have better access to information now, so people immediately know.

From master system to the last none on-line consoles PS2 Gamecube etc i think i have seen a game crash once ( Excluding knocking the console so CD skips or cart moves ).

I have played 100s and 100s of games across all the console and never seen a game breaking bug in any of them, small bugs (spelling mistakes, clipping models etc) see a fair few of them but not that critical.

I am sorry but your just incorrect. Or the bugs are fixed in the EU versions after the US version is shipped first.

[Aoyi]

I had lots of pieces of paper with various hand drawn maps or codes for various save files/cheats. My friends and I would share things we’d find. I got a very early subscription to Nintendo Power which came in handy for many games too.

[Shaetha]

From master system to the last none on-line consoles PS2 Gamecube etc i think i have seen a game crash once ( Excluding knocking the console so CD skips or cart moves ).

I have played 100s and 100s of games across all the console and never seen a game breaking bug in any of them, small bugs (spelling mistakes, clipping models etc) see a fair few of them but not that critical.

I am sorry but your just incorrect. Or the bugs are fixed in the EU versions after the US version is shipped first.

I've seen several, and that's just from what I've played. Final Fantasy 6, for example, was originally released with a glitch that could brick your cart.

You also have to consider that the largest games back then were 4MB. Now a large game is 40GB. That's 10000 times the chances for something to go wrong. Maybe I misspoke when I said there were technically less glitches, but the software released today is definitely much cleaner.

[andrewjoy]

I've seen several, and that's just from what I've played. Final Fantasy 6, for example, was originally released with a glitch that could brick your cart.

You also have to consider that the largest games back then were 4MB. Now a large game is 40GB. That's 10000 times the chances for something to go wrong. Maybe I misspoke when I said there were technically less glitches, but the software released today is definitely much cleaner.

It will depend on the game. Today they are huge with middle-ware up the wazoo so there are bound to be things that get missed. Some projects i can see being documents very well ( internal code ) like some of the AA old boys who have been in the game for years will have clean code. But then look at the mess that is anything bethesda put out , i bet you nobody knows what half ... ok most , of that code does! I even remember a post of the secret world ( pre them fucking the game up) forms asking if they could make some changes to the chat interface, a dev came back and said that the code is in a horrible mess and nobody has the guts to even touch it :P.

Back in the day it was harder to make mistakes , most if not all pre PS1 era games would have been done in assembly , and it ether will work or it will not work.

But all the above does not give devs an excuse to reliece a sorry ass buggy mess, be it on a 4mb flash cart or a 60GB MMO.