5 Things I Miss About Old School Gaming

I am not one to use the expression the good old days. If anything I'm a futurist, one who does think almost everything gets better as we become more technologically advanced and that includes gaming. Let's face it, with the exception of the time you put into an old RPG, you don't game like you do now-a-days with online matches. Literally one game, if you want to be competitive, can be most of your free time for the year. But that doesn't mean there are certain things I don't miss.

1.) Couch Co-op

Technically this still exists today, but it is not the same. Multiplayer now is about being online. There a few titles that offer a fun experience with your friends but you have to go out of your way to find them. During the days of Nintendo 64 days it was almost the opposite. There were some single player games like Mario 64 and Zelda, but a lot of games came with some kind of couch co-op action. Goldeneye 64, Star Fox, Mario Party 1-3, Smash Bros, Wave Race 64, Mario Kart 6 4all offered options to play against a friend, or two, or three. The system even had four controller ports so you knew multiplayer was something it took seriously. A lot of us have memories of getting hit with your friends blue shell or knowing that someone was screen-peaking in Goldeneye 64. It was a lot of funny and brought a group of friends together under one roof.

2.) Instruction Manuals.

These were the shit. Maybe you don't remember these. Before games gave you a tutorial, you learned to play them by reading the instruction manual that came with it. And I'm not talking about the fact that you don't even get a disc now with downloads but old school instruction manuals. A few years ago, when games were still in disc form, instruction manuals started to get shorter and shorter. It got to the point where it was literally one page, you would open it, see some warnings about what not to do for your health (cause those are a fun read) and then close it. That was it. But back in the NES and SNES era you got a booklet. A MANUAL. There was art work in it, background for the game world, all the controls you needed to know and sometimes even tips and tricks. I remember having the one for Zelda on NES. These brought the imagination to life. Imagine having one for Street Fighter that tells you about all the characters and their moves. It was a world you got into even before you turned the game on.

3.) Franchises That Didn't Make the Cut

Mega Man, Battletoads, Chrono Trigger, Earthworm Jim, Sonic, Earthbound and Conker to name a few. Some characters just didn't make the jump onto next gen properly. A lot of them tried. There were 3D mega mans. A sort of sequel to Chrono Trigger (it wasn't bad). But they never really got a footing. Unless Nintendo owns it and decides to make a new one, a lot of these characters fade into obscurity. They might make an appearance in a fighting game or as DLC but no starring roles. The industry has changed. Games are expensive to make and with the high sales of franchises like Assassin Creed and COD (Though I think they are starting to dip in sales) it is probably not worth the risk to make another Battletoads game. Though with downloable content, I would like to see more retro game sequels come out, like they did with mega man 9 and 10

4.) Rentals

Back in my day we went to this place called Blockbuster and rented this thing called a cartridge for a weekend. It cost only a few dollars and allowed you to experience the full game. It could lead to you buying the game but for a lot of games, especially on the ps1 it was a way to play and beat the story and return it without having that $60-70 price tag. A lot of games were not worth the full price tag as they only offered so many hours of gameplay. Sure, sometimes you had some long weekend nights where you had to rush to beat it but part of the fun :p Now games rarely have demos. Who wants spend so much money on a game they haven't even tried? It is probably one of the reasons you see so many sequels, people buy what they are comfortable with.

5.) Nintendo Power And Other Gaming Magazines

"Now you're playing with power". That's right. Gaming magazines were your gateway into news and tips. This was before the internet where you can watch trailers the second they came out and find a guide for almost every game ever created. If you subscribed, once a month you got a magazine in the mail and it hyped up all the games that were coming. With photos! I remember, as a big geek, getting excited when they talked about Pokémon, this game coming from overseas. It was awesome. Now it's still awesome but different. And this is not limited to gaming, magazines in general might be missed by us all in the future.

What do you miss? Feel free to add specific games as well.

@whatageek

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