Feature: The Top Ten Reasons Gaming Was Better in the Early ‘90s.
How gaming has changed over the last fifteen years.
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I've been gaming for nearly 20 years. I can still remember the first time I picked up a controller and played the Nintendo Entertainment System. I was six years old, in a basement while my mother had tea with a friend in the kitchen upstairs. I was told to go downstairs and play the Nintendo while they talked about floral wallpaper or how many spoonfuls to sugar would go into their earl-grey tea, or whatever the hell they might have been talking about.
The first game I put into that old NES was The Simpsons: Bart vs. The Space Mutants. Unfortunately, the game wouldn't boot up, and I was not yet familiar with the "blow-into-the-cartridge-and-slap-the-NES-around" method of gameplay as of yet. Looking back, it sure feels like destiny to me.
Who knows if I would be nearly as involved with my favourite hobby today if I had managed to get that awful Simpsons atrocity to function as my first ever video game. Luckily, the second cartridge I tried worked like a charm.
The game was Super Mario Bros.
I was instantly hooked. Unfolding before my very hands and eyes was the future of entertainment, and the future was bright and exciting. Next thing I knew, hours had passed and it was time to go home. I was literally torn from my new friend kicking and screaming. I clutched the controller in my mini-death-grip until it popped out of the console. Clearly this was not my finest childhood moment. I instantly began begging anyone I could to buy me a Nintendo system, and it was two long years before I had one to call my own.
How times have changed.
These days I own every system they are still making games for, and I have access to nearly any game I have even a minute interest in. Gaming has come a long way since I first got that NES and in many ways, has improved for the better. Games are better written, look photo realistic, and provide complex gameplay schemes that can challenge the player in new and exciting ways.
But, there was something magical about a simpler time in gaming. Video games have grown up right alongside me, and it's shocking to think how far both of us have come since that fateful day. Despite all the advancements, the early 90's were an exciting time to be a gamer, and a time period that I am thrilled to have been a part of.
So without further ado, I present to you the top 10 reasons gaming was better in the early ‘90s.
10) Jumping Sound Effects
Unfortunately, as video games have gotten more realistic and complex, those wonderful jumping sound effects seem to have fallen by the wayside. While there is no place for a "BLOING" sound effect in hardcore games like Call of Duty 4 or BioShock, adding the sound effect would add a hilarious throwback to any title. Mario would be proud if Gordon Freeman "bloinged" as he jumped through city 17.
9) No Internet
The internet is one of the most important inventions in human history. The free exchange of information has the power to challenge the biggest dictatorial governments and bring people across the globe closer together. This is even true in gaming, but it's ripple effects aren't universally great.
If you wanted to be a fanboy and express your console preference, you had to do it the old fashioned way. Face to face. I recall actually getting into a fist fight in grade 5 because some kid was claiming that Sonic the Hedgehog was way better than Super Mario World. I wasn't about to stand for that, no sir. For the record, I won the fight, retiring my fighting career an undefeated 1-0.
These days, if you want to express your pompous fanboyism, just head to your nearest forum and flame away. There's no pride, honour, or even good natured fun to these sorts of battles these days. It's just annoying.
8) Multiplayer Meant Actual Human Contact
This is something of an extension of the no internet point.
In the early nineties, playing a multiplayer game meant having a few friends over and actually being social. God forbid these days if a game releases without online multiplayer. Whatever would we do if we actually had to interact with other people?
The best part about "couch multiplayer" is no pre-pubescent jackasses screaming racial slurs into a headset. If anybody on a couch gets out of line, restoring order is only a punch away. The best multiplayer games are always the ones where your friends are around with you. It's why games like Rock Band has been such an unequivocal success lately.
7) Cheating Was Much Harder
If you wanted a walkthrough for a game 15 years ago, you actually had to hope your game was popular enough to warrant a strategy guide or published cheat codes in your favourite gaming magazine.
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Latest Comments (Forum View)
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Give me gameplay over graphics any day. If a game is fun, it is easy to overlook the graphics.
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i pull out the old systems every few months. cant play 'a few short levels' of something nowadays....
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Syncy - May 20, 2008 9:34 AM ET |
Multiplayer Meant Actual Human Contact. Just played burnout paradise for the first time about 2 weeks ago, and wouldn't ya know, no local split-screen. That's just insanity.
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Rick - May 20, 2008 11:24 AM ET |
That's precisely why I cherish my copies of all three Mario Party games on N64 :D
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dacaba - May 20, 2008 5:06 PM ET |
The multiplayer thing is a serious sticking point for me. My girlfriend is a gamer and we love Gears of War because we got to play through the whole game, on Insane, together. Fighting through all that frustration and hard as heck combat was well worth it doing it together. Zip ahead a year to Turok and they're taking local multiplayer out for no real reason. It's practically the same game engine and you have companions just like in GoW? Grah! Misfit smash silly developers!
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i am yet but a child...but my 24 year old brother talks about his old gaming systems and says....ahh the good ol' days.
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my brother talks about the good ol days when sega was around lol....i dont see how u guys survived then.
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Definitely agree. One of my requirements for a game is local multiplayer. Local co-op is even better. Online is nice, but that means extra consoles. Sometimes I just want to play with friends (and be able to watch their screen.) :cool:
I guess having my brother watch me play Twilight Princess and helping me with the puzzles counts in a way. :p
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my sister is such a tomboy she plays gears....ahh shes cool when she's not on her curse WINK WINK
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I still have everything from an Atari forward, hooked up and in working condtion and still play them all on occasion. There is something timeless about putting in Duck Hunt and spending and afternoon with family trying to shoot that darn dog.
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