What do you miss most about old school gaming?

Big manuals. Other than that, absolutely nothing

Cheat codes. May just be my nostalgia speaking, but I remember a lot more games having compelling "couch multiplayer" and that is something I really miss.

@rebgav said:

@Nottle said:

@rebgav said:

@MikkaQ said:

I miss how 90% of games were utter shit you could skip.

That's still true.

I feel like there are a lot of games right now that I'd like to play but I don't have enough time or money. Yeah, crap is probably in this arbitrary "90" percentile range but it just seems like there are more games now of better quality.

There are more games, more viable platforms, more distro channels but it still seems to be about the same share of good and bad products. Logically, the "good" stuff can only be a small percentage of the catalog. If "good" becomes the norm then values shift and what was good before becomes ordinary. If we judge a body of work according to the very best examples then, yeah, 90% of everything is crap.

Exactly, there is a lot more good, but also a lot more crap. But who cares about the crap to begin with? The problem (well sort of) is that there is a lot more stuff that is good that takes up more time than it use to.

I like how I can go from everything turned off to actually playing a game in under 10 seconds on my cart-based consoles. Load times and obnoxious menus sure do get in the way.

The music if anything ...

was going to say nothing but a couple of people brought up good points. 
 
cartridges, those are awesome for load times. 
and cheat codes, sometimes i just want to be left alone and sandbox.  
 
for example, Renegade Ops, liked the game but man i just wanted to try having all the power ups and drive around. 

@Bell_End said:

@pornstorestiffi said:

@Sooty said:

@Bell_End said:

@Sooty said:

How about not every game having a progression system.

but not every game has a progression system now.

Almost anything with online does.

But, its so much fun spending 60 hours unlocking weapons to use in online play... oh wait.

if you didn't enjoy the game what the fuck you doing playing it for 60 hours.

I take it, you didn't get my comment at all. Thats ok.

arcades

Miss cheat codes and game genie. Gave game replay value and fun to mess around.

Not miss the games I had as a kid. The internet made me see how many great games I missed out on (I am trying to catch up on that now) and made me realized how much crap I played.

I definitely think that every aspect of entertainment has lost it's mystery and mystique because of the Internet. Since all of the information and (actual products themselves most of the time) became so readily available that "special, wow factor" has been diluted a ton. Shit doesn't matter nearly as much when it's in a digital format as opposed to a tangible physical form, that you actually have to make an effort to seek out and purchase. As with all things digital, I say easy come, easy go. I make a point of buying 99% of my music, movies and video games in a physical format as I tend to appreciate and hold onto them much more.

That to me is the biggest difference between old school and current gaming, and everything else.

Good level design and less cut scenes. I grew up with gameplay focused games like Mega Man. I still believe that games are getting better with the pc Indie boom. I mostly want games to back and be games instead of aspiring to be movies at times.

Good games.

I miss almost eveything about old school gaming.

One of the things that's been bugging me a lot recently is the way in, say, Ninja Gaiden on the NES, the boss battles were just bigger badguys who had more energy and hit harder. This meant that you had to use the same skills you had been using all along, but more competently, to bring them down. There was nothing better than navigating toa great position in the badguys attack routine and then just jamming on the attack button as hard as you could in order to take off the most health you could before you had to get out of there.

Modern boss battles are all based on some sort of "trick" where you are asked to use some bizarre quicktime event or button press that you haven't used ever before and never will again in order to trigger the cut scene where you beat them. It's completely removed from the rest of the game experience and yields no real satisfaction from having to beat them.

THe Boss characters are actually LESS intimidating or dangerous than the normal badguys.

I miss not being able to get past the first level of some games due to horrible design. Wait … Things I actually miss have been said. Arcades, zero load times, couch co-op with buddies.

The joy of acheivementless mental freedom. And characters that were charming in the first game and didn't have to become badass pottymouthed muthas in the sequel.

@Bell_End said:

@Hungry said:

@Bell_End said:

@Sooty said:

@Bell_End said:

@Sooty said:

How about not every game having a progression system.

but not every game has a progression system now.

Almost anything with online does.

what's wrong with having some kind of progression anyway.

Honestly the problem is for me not that everything has a progression system, but everything uses the same progression system. Get XP for doing stuff, unlock extra options for currently existing abilities or traits and then unlock new, unique traits. Which is fine as a progression system, but not what I want to see in every single game ever. Even back in the day games had a progression system, just it usually wasn't as systematic and revealed to the player as light RPG leveling mechanics. It is especially getting tiresome with shooters. Classes. EXP. Perks. Zzzz. Again, it isn't bad, just that it is getting annoying that it is so common.

so how was it done differently back in the day. refresh my memory

Well to go to some iconic roots. Metroid had a progression system that was directly tied to the overall progression of the main course of the game. Megaman's progression, while it had an optimal path, allowed you to get powers in specific orders but was only obtained at the end of a level (or in Megaman X's case you could get some through secret areas). Most older FPS had a progression in weapons in their single player where you got new and more interesting weaponry as you went along. The original Legend of Zelda had all of its upgrades tied to a mixture of exploration and main quest completion similar to Metroid, but it wasn't as core to the gameplay as Metroid. I could keep going on dozens of more games, but introducing new abilities, mechanics, or tools has been a staple of games for a long time.

The "figure it out" aspect. I know that tutorials are there for a reason, but I kind of miss being in a world and just knowing that you're going to have to figure it out. There was a great post on Gamasutra about how Super Metroid leaves you to figure out the game, but smartly guides you to understand what's going on.

@Hungry said:

@Bell_End said:

@Hungry said:

@Bell_End said:

@Sooty said:

@Bell_End said:

@Sooty said:

How about not every game having a progression system.

but not every game has a progression system now.

Almost anything with online does.

what's wrong with having some kind of progression anyway.

Honestly the problem is for me not that everything has a progression system, but everything uses the same progression system. Get XP for doing stuff, unlock extra options for currently existing abilities or traits and then unlock new, unique traits. Which is fine as a progression system, but not what I want to see in every single game ever. Even back in the day games had a progression system, just it usually wasn't as systematic and revealed to the player as light RPG leveling mechanics. It is especially getting tiresome with shooters. Classes. EXP. Perks. Zzzz. Again, it isn't bad, just that it is getting annoying that it is so common.

so how was it done differently back in the day. refresh my memory

Well to go to some iconic roots. Metroid had a progression system that was directly tied to the overall progression of the main course of the game. Megaman's progression, while it had an optimal path, allowed you to get powers in specific orders but was only obtained at the end of a level (or in Megaman X's case you could get some through secret areas). Most older FPS had a progression in weapons in their single player where you got new and more interesting weaponry as you went along. The original Legend of Zelda had all of its upgrades tied to a mixture of exploration and main quest completion similar to Metroid, but it wasn't as core to the gameplay as Metroid. I could keep going on dozens of more games, but introducing new abilities, mechanics, or tools has been a staple of games for a long time.

but we still have loads of game like that as well now.

A lot of old school games were glitchier. Sometimes they were game-breaking and served no purpose but to crash the game. Sometimes they broke the game in a fun way.

Sometimes, in games like Street Fighter 3rd Strike, glitches were not game-breaking, and became part of higher level play. Even someone playing Q won SBO one year. And it was amazing.

A lot of games now-A-Daysssss.... Try to bug stomp at every opportunity, even in games that were designed to be highly competitive and not allowing the playerbase to adapt and conquer the exploit to see if it really is damaging to the overall experience.

Even bunnyhopping was removed from a lot of shooters that are not realistic in theme, or a lot of tricky, trickish things. Free 2 Play games are typically the biggest offenders of this, trying to find a way to mold their game balance into something that relates to encouraging the users of their game to start a habit of monthly spending to gain an edge or increase entertainment value. In recent history, the XP requirements in a lot of MMO games meshed almost perfectly with their trial period, where the level limit coincided with the average amount of time it takes a user to hit that free-time limit, and also the milestone where XP requirements lift off into exponentially more astronomic values. Those tables are now balanced more toward the end-game content if the game is very old.

The evolution, devolution, and evolution(?) of TRIBES as well. Thundersword bomber that could rain hell down on bases. The ability to pick almost any pack for your alternate power and call on vehicles at any time. The idea that you needed a generator to swap armor types or be forced to run on the default light armor selection. Impossible to balance in a F2P ecosystem and less fun because of it.

Quake 4's support team semi-famously made patches to the game to prevent/hinder speedrunning.

Even Battlefield's direction has changed over the years, from borderline EXPERIMENTAL in 1942 to rigidly hemmed in in BF3 only by comparing the map design over the years. A lot of the old map design emphasized vehicular combat and heavier competition just by looking at the restricted-area zones that kill you by crossing into them for too long. You could, presumably, punish an enemy team by sneaking into their main base and stealing their un-used vehicles, but now they're protected by enormous restricted kill-zones.

Please keep in mind that I'm generalizing, and with that, many flaws to my whinging.

Basically, I miss how we could explore the 4th wall in games and break them for fun or discomfort, and not being hemmed in by too many invisible walls

Staying up all night waiting for a 200Mb game to download. Only to play it for ten minutes and spend the rest of Sunday morning looking for a better game.

We didn't check reviews (we didn't have reviews), we never talked or cared about the developer, the development cycle, the budget, or the publisher.

We didn't care if it was copying something else, or if the genre was bloated, or the if franchise was being milked.

We didn't have to think about whether we'd buy from this store or that store or borrow it from a friend.

We just didn't care about (or have access to) any of the inside baseball that's readily available on the internet today. Games were purely about entertaining ourselves and every title was judged on it's own merits and not the merits of it's franchise name / developer / publisher / whether Giant Bomb liked it or not / etc.

Nothing. We're better off now. I don't have to blow on a disc to make it play.

The absurdity of them. Just look at the SNES TNTs. Most of those games are just stupid, and that makes them entertaining.

Being younger.

Simplicity. Not needing accounts & logins & passwords, or HDDs or memory cards, or patches or DLC. Not having to charge controllers or buy batteries* for them. Not worrying about which platform to buy a game on because almost everything worth playing was platform-exclusive and unless you were a spoiled brat, you probably only had one current system anyway.

Being able to just put the cartridge in the system and go. That's the only thing I really miss.

*Actually, I only had a Game Boy until '97. So I guess I did worry about batteries back then.

I never replay a game anymore, and today's games don't lend themselves to replay as much. I am usually one and done. If achievements existed back in the day I would have had all of them. Now that they do exist I find them patronizing and pointless. So I guess what I miss about old school gaming was the sense of wonderment and the more innocent joy of playing them in my youth. So, getting old sucks, but I'm glad that the games are growing up with us. Why I played Zelda so many times? I will never know.

Simple, catchy music.

I might get shit for this, but I miss Japan being the juggernaut in gaming it used to be. Honestly speaking the best game development outside the US is Canada now to me, which pains me to say because I don't even think the stuff coming out of Canada is all that great.

I miss renting NES games for a dollar at video vender.

Music being a more crucial aspect of storytelling. We've still got it, but with the advent of voice-acting, music has often taken a backseat as far as carrying emotions goes. Not enough games shut up enough to let the music do the talking (best evident in classic Final Fantasy).

More importantly, the simple act of buying a game and having the complete experience with no intrusions. All of these desperate attempts at social networking, achievements, DLC, constant patches, and other online crap do nothing but make you think of videogames as "products", rather than "experiences". It's very hard to get lost in a game when you're constantly bombarded by the outside world. It's half the reason I've lost interest in all the big budget games out there.

I miss being with my friends all in the same room playing til all hours of the night. When was the last time you got to play a new game with a bunch of your frineds in the same room? I think that is what made ROck Band so awesome. Not the actual game, but playing with friends and NOT online with friends.

Nothing aside from the fact that I was still a child and every game on the shelf at stores or rental places looked amazing to me. Oh and I also miss being able to rent games.

I hate how jaded I've (and others) become. Back in the old days if you gave me a video game and I liked it, I would just play it without thinking. I feel like too many people over-critique games nowadays. They spend more time talking about them and less time enjoying them. Make sense?

@Ravenlight said:

Feelies.

Fucking A man. I remember receiving the game Pirates! for my NES when I was little and it came with a map that you needed to use in the game and stuff. Creative things like that really helped add to the experience and make up for primitive graphics.

cheat codes. there use to be cheat codes to do stuff in the game. it was just a lot of fun having better stuff in the beginning of the game and just destroying stuff.

rumors were good also. since you couldn't tell if it were true or not.

It happens to some degree now, but I miss the discussion and random advice throughout the game. The best example I have of this Zelda OoT

Gaminess, if that makes sense. I miss enjoying the fact that I was playing a game, where nowadays it feels like games are playing themselves. With fighting games being the only exception, I haven't felt like I've made a meaningful tactical decision in years.

I miss not having crappy lootfest or RPG elements tacked on to my action games. I don't want to level up, I don't want to grind for hours to unlock stuff, I want the game to challenge me with good design instead. Being stronger shouldn't progress the game, being better should. Super Meat Boy was awesome for that reason.

I miss what are arguably bad control schemes. I know it seems silly, but it's true. I prefer RE1 to RE4 because I like the fact that the controls are awkward in a way that lends itself to the game. I also really prefer the non-streamlined Armored Core games over the latter ones for the same reason. The controls weren't perfect but those imperfect controls actually made the robots feel robotic.

Couch multiplayer with Mario Kart 64 alternating with GoldenEye.. we could play all weekend, and we did many times. Some of the best gaming moments were had!

several things but recently i've been thinking how much i've missed how pervasive japanese weirdness was on consoles in 90's.

in fact i feel like quirky games with big budgets hardly ever come around anymore regardless of platform.

Cloth maps!

ROM cartridges

@doobie said:

but we still have loads of game like that as well now.

Yeah, I am just more tired of seeing the progression system seen in most modern shooters nowadays. Just like how I am getting sick of seeing voxel-based creativity sandboxes, and I didn't even like Minecraft in the first place.

I don't miss anything about the games, but I miss having the time to play them.

Simple, catchy music.

Games that assumed you aren't retarded. Corridor shooters didn't have waypoints back then, and somehow we managed to find our way through.

I know I am not going to articulate this correctly, but I miss that sense of wonder as games got drastically better. Now the improvements just don't seem to have the same "wow" factor. Granted, this is probably due to my own expectations. I remember how cool it was when games went 3D, the first time I played games with speech, or the first time I played a game over a modem. Now I am just spoiled.

I can't decide between cheat codes and the lack of information.

On one hand, I love it when developers turn the fans loose on their product. "You want to bust it? 'Ruin' the experience? Figure out a way to escape the map? Here's a no-clip code for tree-fiddy, go have fun!"

On the other, I miss the days of not having gamefaqs.com behind me, and having to rely solely on persistence and friends. How am I supposed to get that one hamburger in level thirteen of Commander Keen 4? I'm going to have to talk to Kevin later and see if he managed to get it.