10 Things Only Retro Gamers Will Totally Relate With!
This one goes out to all you awesome oh lucky people who got to grow up through the golden ages of gaming, where save points were few and far between, wireless was just another word for the radio and even a bit of dust could ruin your fun. Simpler times!
Yes, to help celebrate the release of our latest gaming t-shirts into our ever-growing collection of gaming merchandise and gifts for gamers, we're looking back through the earlier days of gaming where the first Nintendo, PlayStations, and beyond were on the scene and blowing our tiny minds with possibilities, action and adventure. But it wasn't all fun and games, was it?
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Check out some of our top things that all you retro gamers out there will totally get and may have struggled with too! Are you ready? Press START!
Having to read every single conversation or instruction
Yep, reading in a video game! Sounds like more homework than downtime but long before the amazing cut scenes and voice actors we have now, every mission and interaction was text on a screen you simply couldn't skip... or you'd be totally lost.
The only thing that needed charging back in the day was your sense of adventure! Yep, we lived in a world of cables that would do everything they possibly could to trip you up, get ripped out during the boss fight or get chewed by a pet. Always meant you knew where they were though to be fair!
Nintendo Super Mario Bros. Question Block Cookie Jar
Precious Save/Memory space
The stress was real! Making room for your new save game was like trying to decide which member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turnes you wanted to get rid of... clearly none of them! Hours and hours of intense gaming could also simply vanish because your sibling wanted to start their own game save... life on the edge.
No updates... ever!
Once a game was released... that was it, forever! Unlike these days where updates come appear almost weekly and even new games come out with fixes and patches, the games you got were just how they were from day one, bugs, glitches and all! Something might get stuck, you'd work out a hack or sometimes it just wasn't possible. Sorry, you're on your own. Something to think about before we grumble again at having to install yet another update (we still will!).
Loading times... oh, the loading times.
From loading up games off tapes (yes TAPES but that's going way back) to even more modern times back on the PlayStation One, load screens were just a part of the whole experience. Going from one level to another, you'd wait, from one room to another, you'd wait and wait... and wait.
Final Fantasy VIII Group Black T-Shirt
No online help or guides... at all.
Stuck on a really tricky level or you just really can't work out what you're doing next? You're basically on your own unless you have an experienced buddy of course to help you through. There was no searching into Google or watching a walkthrough on YouTube, the best bet was to hope it was covered in a recent or upcoming gaming magazine so you could sit and read through it all. Maybe even weeks or months later!
The prices!
This was a really expensive time in gaming! No really. Games were regularly £40+ which back then was not a cheap hobby. Games these days are a relative bargain in comparison, especially thinking back to all new releases of Street Fighter 2 coming out yearly with only just a few tweaks but still £40 a time.
Generally, over the years even with brand new games feeling pricey, they have pretty much always been around the same price which is wild when you think about it.
Come And Visit Vice City Blue T-Shirt
Waiting AGES for the UK release
Maybe one people forget about, but just like movies, not everything was released around the same time internationally. Sometimes you were left waiting for months, if not over a whole year for a game to finally be released in the UK. Think you could wait that long these days?
All over far too soon.
Of course, not all games are the same and depending on the platform, but some games were just so short! You could complete some classic games from start to finish in just an afternoon. And believe us, we sure did that a lot!
Nintendo Super Mario Pipe Desk Tidy and Planter
Wild difficulty curves
Believe it or not, a lot of games now are significantly easier than they were a few decades ago. Perhaps with more emphasis on exploration and collectables. Anyone who has spent hours going through the same levels, over and over, just to get a little bit further each time can relate to this. Because games were much shorter, making them very difficult at the end would extend the playability and overall time spent on each game. Great idea but not great for stress levels at the time we can tell you.
Are any of these ringing true for you? We'd love to know what your early gaming memories were!
Add some extra love for some total classics with our awesome collection of gaming tshirts and clothing as well as heaps of fun gaming gifts for the players in your universe.