Gaming Issues of the Past

[BoneSnapDeez]

Haha I remember playing a 50/50 mix of NES and SNES as a kid. Then I got the pink screen one too many times and switched over to the SNES completely. Didn't touch the NES for like 10 years. And of course I was a cart-blower too, we all were.

Some of the game and console prices were pretty steep back then too. I remember my parents dropping like $75 for Chrono Trigger. How much did the 3DO cost? $700? You really had to consider purchases before you made them.

[AppleQueso]

^Kinda funny how prices actually went down quite a bit when the PS1 and Saturn hit. I remember Ps1 new games costing around $40 while N64 carts would sit up there at at least $50-60. Now it's coasted right back up.

[isiolia]

^Kinda funny how prices actually went down quite a bit when the PS1 and Saturn hit. I remember Ps1 new games costing around $40 while N64 carts would sit up there at at least $50-60. Now it's coasted right back up.

The shift to disc-based storage as a consistent, inexpensive to manufacture medium definitely helped offset rising development costs and inflation. At least for a while.

The relative cost of games is still generally the same or lower though. Quick checks to some of the online inflation counters put $1 today (or somewhere in the past couple years) as being around $1.56 in 1993, $1.49 in 1995. So a $60 new game on the shelf is similar in value to a $40 game back when the PS1 launched.

Conversely, a $70 copy of Chrono Trigger would be $109 or so in today's money.

Considering the massive increase in development budgets in that time, I'd say it's a testament to the growth of the industry for game prices to effectively remain at the "same" cost over two decades. Around that era, Wing Commander III made headlines for costing $3 million. Now we have games out there that cost $100 million or more to make.

[MyNameIsVince]

PCs games have always had system requirement and compatibility issues.

Oh, yeah PC's I don't think will ever escape becoming obsolete as games grow more advanced.

Lack of save points was an issue with some older games. Remember Dragon Warrior - it has one save point. Games without save features tended to have those huge awkward passwords too.

Ever played Swords and Serpent on NES? It gives you like 5 passwords! One for each character in your party and then one for the game itself. You could fill half a 120 page notebook with the amount of passwords required to beat the game.

+ 1 on the awkward passwords. I've been playing more NES games with passwords lately and.....yeah. Not fun. Some aren't too horrible, like The Goonies II, but others....well....

100_5539.JPG (159.72 KiB) Viewed 386 times

Yeah, that. Thanks, The Guardian Legend.

Love the game, HATE the passwords (yes I took that picture with a camera, way easier than writing all of it down). Good thing the music during the password screen is awesome. Unfortunately, the beat is very similar to another thing that's starting to annoy me, that "Harlem Shake" song.

[ExedExes]

^ But, at least TGL let you check your password before you realized you wrote it down wrong. Not many games gave you that option, and for a game I really enjoyed, it was such a nice feature.

[Purkeynator]

Another issue back in the NES era was the cartridge chip shortage. I remember Zelda 2 took forever to come to the U.S. and when it did it was in small quantities that slowly dripped out to the supply chain. The problem worked in reverse in the late 16 bit era. Piles and piles of unsold Genesis and Super NES games cost publishers a lot of money. Needless to say, they had improved the cartridge chip supply issue a little too well haha.

[AppleQueso]

Another issue back in the NES era was the cartridge chip shortage. I remember Zelda 2 took forever to come to the U.S. and when it did it was in small quantities that slowly dripped out to the supply chain. The problem worked in reverse in the late 16 bit era. Piles and piles of unsold Genesis and Super NES games cost publishers a lot of money. Needless to say, they had improved the cartridge chip supply issue a little too well haha.

I'm pretty sure the "chip shortage" was just NoA pulling some marketing stunts. They knew it helped increase demand.

[Snowman Death Droid]

Wow, guess I have a lot of research to do here! Thanks for all the information. I probably should have known there would be a ton of crap back then, but I guess it's easy to be ignorant if you didn't live in that time period.

[flojocabron]

Would the early faulty ps1 rails be the old equivalent to first xbox360 RROD?

[Erik_Twice]

The reason why a rating system was created was to avoid censorship. Control yourself so others don't do it for you.

Remember SEGA started using his own system after the Night Trap fiasco, IIRC.