I wish I was there at launch for WoW. I joined in around the launch of BC and it blew my mind. Coming in while everyone was excited and figuring out how the world functioned would've been really cool.
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Period(s) in gaming history you never got to experience but wish you did
- Thread starter daTRUballin
- Start date
I actually only seriously started getting into gaming about five years ago. I used to live in a country where gaming wasn't as big or affordable as it is in the US. I gamed a bit, but I missed out on a lot of defining years. I have been catching up on old games though!
There were never any arcades locally near me growing up, but when we went out of town there were some in the other cities for a lot of my childhood. Going in there and playing the various games gave me a love for lightgun and beat em ups. <3
The PC-88 to Sega Saturn Japanese Era
I love the aesthetic of games from that era, and since lots of them were really obscure, we will hardly see them translated here.
I would have loved to play on reléase almost all of the nihon falcom games
I love the aesthetic of games from that era, and since lots of them were really obscure, we will hardly see them translated here.
I would have loved to play on reléase almost all of the nihon falcom games
I missed the N64/PSX era and I remember I really wanted to have one of those (I never had, sadly).
Eventually I played all the classics during the PS2 era some years later but it probably wasn't the same thing.
Eventually I played all the classics during the PS2 era some years later but it probably wasn't the same thing.
That's alright though, BC was still considered the golden age of the game and close enough to the beginning in the game's long history.
Being born in the 80s I experienced the best part of gaming evolution. I have no interest in the earlier consoles like atari. But where I am from there was no arcade until the mid/end 90s. Even then there was only 2 arcades places and they were open maybe a year or so.
The first time I saw fatal fury 2 in arcade my jaw dropped. My snes games paled in comparison. I wish I had played games like kof 98 or sf3 on arcade.
The first time I saw fatal fury 2 in arcade my jaw dropped. My snes games paled in comparison. I wish I had played games like kof 98 or sf3 on arcade.
Wasn't really much different from today. Most people that say it was are being nostalgic.
You can have the same amount of fun today that I used to have back in vanilla/tbc, just a little more polished.
I've quit it after 10 years and now I'm playing FFXIV anyway lol.
Those of you saying arcades, you can kind of experience them today with the rise of barcades. I went to 1Up in downtown Denver after a Rockies game and, aside from the beer and the random Raw Thrills machine/Pac Man Rumble, it was just like a busy Friday night at the Gold Mine in the mall back in the late 80s. Every machine being played with 2 or 3 people watching and quarters lined up on the cabinet to denote who's next. I was like a kid again...except with the Rainer can in my hand.
What's really never coming back from the arcade era is that arcade games were everywhere. I remember going to Walmart with my mom her leaving me next to the front doors because they had vs Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, and 4 other machines up there. I played Donkey Kong 3 for the first time at the local IGA. On a trip with your family? Your Holiday Inn had a room with some cabinets in it. Every convenience store had some machines set up and you'd take the couple of bucks you'd beg your parents for, buy some cheap candy and a soda, then take the $1.50 you had left and see how far you could get in that vector graphics Star Wars game (if you didn't shoot in the Death Star until you shot the torpedo down the thermal shaft, you got a bonus for using the Force). It's probably a good thing those days are gone, as going to get a tank of gas would take me at least an hour if they had a back room with 6 cabinets in it.
What's really never coming back from the arcade era is that arcade games were everywhere. I remember going to Walmart with my mom her leaving me next to the front doors because they had vs Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, and 4 other machines up there. I played Donkey Kong 3 for the first time at the local IGA. On a trip with your family? Your Holiday Inn had a room with some cabinets in it. Every convenience store had some machines set up and you'd take the couple of bucks you'd beg your parents for, buy some cheap candy and a soda, then take the $1.50 you had left and see how far you could get in that vector graphics Star Wars game (if you didn't shoot in the Death Star until you shot the torpedo down the thermal shaft, you got a bonus for using the Force). It's probably a good thing those days are gone, as going to get a tank of gas would take me at least an hour if they had a back room with 6 cabinets in it.
Going to echo the arcade posts here. I started with an NES with Super Mario 1 so I've been around since then and managed to get nearly every console since then. Would have been quite entertaining to be around when arcades were prominent.
Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely happy I jumped in when I did. It just would've been cool to start and explore with everyone else.
My first character was a dwarf and I remember how ridiculously exciting it was to find the tram connecting IF and SW. I remember expressing my excitement to a guy on there with me (probably sounding like a huge noob), and the guy gave me 100 gold. Between that experience and actually getting to SW, I was hooked. I spent way too much time in the game but don't regret it a bit.
I was a huge gamer in the 16 bit and 32 bit era, playing on PC as well, but around the time the Dreamcast came out I was both saving for university and struggling through my first year so I skipped that system. Later on as I got a handle on university I grabbed a PS2 and Gamecube but I missed out on the Dreamcast until much later.
It seems like a lot of people had a lot of fun in the very short time where the Dreamcast was vibrant. It's a fun system to play now, but I wish I could have played it in its heyday and participated in the great PS2 vs Dreamcast console wars.
It seems like a lot of people had a lot of fun in the very short time where the Dreamcast was vibrant. It's a fun system to play now, but I wish I could have played it in its heyday and participated in the great PS2 vs Dreamcast console wars.
I want to re-experience Tekken 7's launch at Round 1. I got my ass kicked way too much due to unfamiliarity with the new systems (+balance changes) and the control layout. Not to mention that I was experiencing some health problems at the time (still am :(, but not nearly as bad as before) that made it extremely difficult to get out and play. I've gotten way better now, but the scene disappeared now that the game is out on consoles/PC.
Yeah same for me. My first console was an NES in the early 90's and my step-dad at the time also had an old Atari 2600 so I got to play some of that as well. A few years later I got a Super Nintendo and I had some friends who had the Genesis. In the mid-90's I also spend a lot of time hanging out in arcades with my friends, so I got to experience arcades from then until the death of most of them. From the PS1 to current I have owned pretty much every major console/handheld, and even some not so major ones like the Virtual Boy. I was also HUGE into PC gaming in the late 90's/early 2000's and played tons of Ultima Online, Everquest, Warcraft 3, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft. I was also super into Half-life and played Team Fortress Classic competitively.
If I had to pick some things, I guess it would have been cool to experience arcades in the 80's more, and I was a little late to the party with the Nintendo DS.
That's good to know! Definitely hear a lot of nostalgia for 'the good old days' but I guess that happens with everything...
One of the (few?) nice things about being old is that I got to experience nearly all the periods of gaming history. Although I'm currently missing out on the PS4 stuff but will likely pick up a Switch pretty soon.
Never had an SNES/Genesis so I mostly missed out on the 16 bit era (started gaming on the Famicom though). Fortunately, the SNES classic is a thing now.
There is one in downtown Chicago that is a geek hangout. I went with my wife and a few friends. I was at the bar alone and got hit on by two women until they noticed I had a wedding ring. That never happens. If I were single that would be my #1 hangout.
They have great retro games and craft beer. It is a win/win.
OP
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Having tried NES development myself I find myself wishing I could go to a late 80s studio and see what techniques and wisdom are lost to time, or at least not well-documented on the internet. Really true for any old game development though.
I was born in the late 80s, I kind of would like to have experienced the early 80s in terms of personal computers, I read about a lot of interesting things going on with so many different systems and people being kind of forced to learn to program and make their games.
Was watching Stranger Things season 2 earlier today and realized that it would have been super fun at those old school arcades during that era. I wouldn't frequent one now even if I were a kid, but back then it would have been awesome
I was PC gaming in the late 80s and early 90s and while we didn't have to code, we did have to manage memory. You had to "program" boot loaders that would only load certain drivers so a game would have more than 600KB of RAM to use. I had a friend that bought Wing Commander and if we had the Turbo button pressed on his 486 DX2 the game would run too fast. Those were crazy times.
I wish I were my age (26) on the mid-90s. The period of 1995 and 1996 was bonkers for technology.
Donkey Kong Country was just released making way to a new era of graphics, the internet started to be more public, the Nintendo64 got released along a boom of experimental 3D platformers, the introduction of Sony into gaming is also a boom for developers using a lot of the space CD-ROMs offer to their benefit, and arcades were still a heck of a business with Capcom and SNK locking horns.
Donkey Kong Country was just released making way to a new era of graphics, the internet started to be more public, the Nintendo64 got released along a boom of experimental 3D platformers, the introduction of Sony into gaming is also a boom for developers using a lot of the space CD-ROMs offer to their benefit, and arcades were still a heck of a business with Capcom and SNK locking horns.
SNES era and early PS1.
I started mid PS1, so I missed a huge amount of games
Donkey Kong Country 2 (only played 1 because of GBA), Link to the Past, and way too many other games to list. Having only played games like OoT or FF7 just last year is pretty embarrassing for a guy playing games as long as me.
I started mid PS1, so I missed a huge amount of games
Donkey Kong Country 2 (only played 1 because of GBA), Link to the Past, and way too many other games to list. Having only played games like OoT or FF7 just last year is pretty embarrassing for a guy playing games as long as me.
Was it Headquarters? I've been there a couple times and it's pretty nice. They don't really have anything modern (at least not the last time I was there), but you can drink and bounce around a bunch of crappy quartermunchers which is a good time.
It's the Comador 64 for me. When I read about game developers talking about their influences, they offer mention the Comador 64.
Can confirm; I remember after virtua racing came out on the mega drive (European here) my friend and I discussing how soon everything would be in 3D. We were so excited at this prospect. We had both read in gaming magazines that with enough processing power "Photorealism" would be possible. Neither of us believed it at the time.
Soon after the same friend got a Playstation. Wipeout was utterly mindblowing! Generational leaps have all been downhill since... I'll never catch that dragon.
Born in 89, been gaming basically my entire life, but I missed out on a lot of the sixth generation titles.
I wish I could be around for 24th Century Holodecks. I too would've enjoyed attempting to outsmart Moriarty or replaying the Battle of Britain with the Chief Engineer of the Starbase.
I've been thinking about this for quite some time now, and I think the period I'd really have liked to have been there for would be about 1998 - 2003 on console. I was busy playing on PC at the time, and skipped consoles for far too long, so looking back and trying to experience it now is the best that can be done, but it's not the same as it would've been in the time. I say 98 - 03 though because that is when several of the games that I'm interested in now came out, and I'd have liked to see them in their heyday: Final Fantasy X, Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue, and TLoZ: Wind Waker to name but a few. Also, it involves two systems I don't think I've ever actually seen in person either and which fascinate me quite a lot now: the Gamecube and the Dreamcast. I really wonder what it was like when the Dreamcast was on sale...
A bit closer to now would be to go back in time and be there for the PS3 around the time PS+ launched (which was still when I was PC-only). As much as I love my PS3, and I'm glad for how cheap the games are, I would have liked to have had one when it was still the current gen system and getting regular support and updates.
A bit closer to now would be to go back in time and be there for the PS3 around the time PS+ launched (which was still when I was PC-only). As much as I love my PS3, and I'm glad for how cheap the games are, I would have liked to have had one when it was still the current gen system and getting regular support and updates.
Arcade boom of the 70 and 80s. Seems really cool in the movies.
We had arcades in the late 80s 90s, but that period seemed magical
We had arcades in the late 80s 90s, but that period seemed magical
The SEGA arcade games from the late 80's to early 2000's are a joy to play at home, but I would have loved to play games like After Burner II, Galaxy FORCE II, Jurassic Park, Virtual ON, or Daytona USA when they were new in the arcades with their mechanical units. If I ever won a million dollars those arcade units would be among the first things I buy. I honestly couldn't care less about growing up with the home consoles or older arcade games like Pac-Man or Sinistar, because SEGA's output was insanely awesome. They were leagues above the competition when it came to the arcades.
I came in at the twilight of the arcade era, I saw some arcade halls but they were mostly abandoned at the time. I would have loved to see them in their prime. I also wish I was more active in the olden days of the massive Lan-parties, but that is more of a place than a time thing.
Wow this makes me feel old (I still consider Gamecube a newish console, lol). Yeah that was actually a really great time; Dreamcast was the first console that made feel like I was committed to videogames, I think everyone who bought into it at the time knew what they were getting into and boy was it worth it.
Also the first xbox was pretty powerful in 2001 with Holo being the absolute jewel in its crown. Time flies.
I wish I would have got into fighting games during their golden age throughout the 90s. Only got into them about 4 years ago and I've been playing catch up ever since