#RetroGaming #VideoGameHistory #GamingBeforeInternet
Hey there, fellow gamer! 🎮 Are you one of the OG gamers who can fondly remember the days when playing video games meant loading up your console or PC and not worrying about lag or online updates? 🕹️ Well, you’re in for a treat because you’re about to take a trip down memory lane with me as we explore what gaming was like before the internet took over.
## Before the Internet: A Nostalgic Lookback
### 1. Physical Game Collections 📦
– Remember the excitement of browsing through shelves of game cartridges or CDs to find your next gaming adventure?
– Relive the satisfaction of blowing into a dusty cartridge to make it work (even though we now know it’s not the best idea)!
– Creating a collection of physical game copies that you could proudly display to showcase your gaming tastes.
### 2. Local Multiplayer Fun 🎮
– Gathering your friends for a good old split-screen gaming session without worrying about online connection issues.
– The thrill of competing in local multiplayer tournaments or cooperative play where you could see your friends’ reactions in real-time.
### 3. Gaming Magazines and Cheat Codes 📰
– Flipping through gaming magazines to discover the latest tips, tricks, and cheat codes for your favorite games.
– The joy of stumbling upon a rare cheat code that would unlock hidden content or make you unbeatable in a game.
### 4. Sharing Gaming Stories in Person 🗣️
– Having face-to-face conversations with friends about your gaming experiences without the need for online forums or social media.
– Swapping stories of epic gaming achievements or frustrating moments with fellow gamers who truly understood your struggles.
## Embrace the Past While Enjoying the Present 🌟
As we reminisce about the good old days of gaming before the internet, let’s not forget to appreciate the incredible advancements that have enriched our gaming experiences today. From online multiplayer battles to streamlining game updates, the digital age has brought a new level of connectivity and immersion to the gaming community.
So whether you’re a veteran gamer who remembers the pre-internet era or a modern player embracing the latest online trends, remember that the love for gaming transcends technological boundaries. Let’s continue to celebrate our shared passion for gaming and create new memories that blend the nostalgia of the past with the excitement of the present.Game on! 🚀
Looking for more insights into gaming history or tips for navigating the gaming landscape? Stay tuned for more engaging content and discussions right here! 🎉 #GamingCommunity #GamerLife #MemoriesBeforeInternet
Well, I still haven’t beaten Battletoads. I think I did try using a guide magazine at some point but it didn’t help.
Bards tale 1 – i mapped out the entire game on graph paper. Zero help from any other source.
Still remains one of my favorite dungeon crawler RPGs in existence. An absolute masterpiece
My family struggled with Ocarina of Time. We *had* Internet, but for whatever reason we didn’t look up any solutions. It was, of course, the Water Temple. My dad came home and said he peaked through a guide and find out we could jump the bridge to Geruedo Valley with Epona. Didn’t help with the Water Temple, but it was exciting to have something to explore.
Wolfenstein 3D
Getting all masks in Majoras Mask required a guide as I kept screwing up the timing on a few events.
All of the Sierra Online games. Space quest, Police Quest, Kings Quest, Gabriel Knight…
“hint books” were a thing back then, so we used that instead of the web for most stuff. When I was 15 I learned how to dial my school library’s system and piggyback on its web access with my AMAZING 56k modem.
Wizardry for the SNES
Shadowrun for the Genesis.
Eventually beat both, but took a lot of time lol
> And did you ever use the gaming guides in magazines?
Absolutely. Don’t know how I would have gotten through the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time without it.
I don’t recall too many specific times where I got stuck for a while. The underwater level in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bowser in Super Mario World, and King K. Rool in the first Donkey Kong Country gave me some problems.
Timesplitters 2 on GameCube. Not sure why, but I was never able to make it through the first level.
Kingdom hearts 2, Geist, Wind waker, handheld Pokemon of course. SIMS Urbz and Sims 2 on DS.
Majesty gold expansion, Nemesis of the Roman empire, age of mythology…
Warm memories. Then world of warcraft caved my fucking head in, in 2005. I was 10. Waking up in that elven forest is an irreplaceable feeling.
FFIX I had that garbage “Playonline” strategy guide and it was useless for some things I ran into.
Castlevania II, that game should have been subtitled “Every Fucking Villager is a Liar” because of the atrocities in localization it committed.
A game that absolutely baffled me as a kid and I made pretty much no progress at all on was Myst. Looked super cool though.
Rachet and Clank 1. I got stuck at Blackwater City and could not beat the rising waters.
For 75 hours of gametime. I tried and tried and couldn’t do it. I bought the RYNO I built up so many bolts.
Two different types of games you’d get stuck on back before the internet was mainstream.
Really hard games that you knew what to do but simply couldn’t because it was hard. I’m talking your Lion king, your Aladdin, your NES dragons lair. Most people couldn’t even get past the first screen.
We simply kept playing until we rage quit then eventually get back to rage some more because a new game was a rarity.
The other types of games were point and click adventure games. Most of which were only 2 hours long but we’d turn them into 500 hours just clicking everything and anything. Leisure suit larry 1 and 7 took us years playing off and on to finish.
Now if I can’t figure out a puzzle in 1 min I look at guides 😅😅
Two words: Game Genie
I couldn’t find level 7 in the original Legend of Zelda. I eventually asked someone during a baseball game while he was on the base I was playing.
We played Ocarina of Time for like 5 years before beating it.
Blaster Master on NES when I was around 10. Called the 1-800 number in Nintendo power magazine to get hints. I got in so much trouble when the phone bill came 😂
Maniac mansion – couldn’t figure out how to get out of the jail room until gamefaqs helped me beat it years later.
Alundra – couldn’t figure out the stone statues riddle for a long time but eventually figured it out with my friends.
So many other games but some notable mentions that I never did beat were sword of vermillion and dungeons and dragons warriors of the eternal sun. I kept dying over and over again on both of those games. I remember constantly being frustrated because I kept dying and I wasn’t sure where to go next.
I did use game guides but not for either one of those two games. I also remember renting vhs and betamax game guides for games I’ve never played. Felt similar to watching streamers play nowadays.
King’s Quest V! Granted I was like 7 and simply didn’t understand certain parts of the game, but when my sibling and I finally found out how to traverse the desert, that was such a glorious day
FFVII without a doubt you needed some sort of guide to 100%.
Dino Crisis. I was really young and couldn’t figure out the password for the chief’s room.
The shining force saga.
Only stuck cause it spanned 3 consoles.
Driver 2. I read the strategy guide religiously, but it only helped so much. The third-to-last mission had me stuck for at least a few weeks.
Never completed Mega Man Battle Network for the Gameboy advanced. I didn’t know any English, so half the time it was pure try and error. I remember I was stuck in a part a few hours after going to the school at night and nothing I did worked.
I talked to every single npc and interacted with everything I could in the real world and the network, but nothing came out of it. I was 10 back when I got the game, but didn’t start learning English until I was 15. I traded the game for Super Mario World.
Maybe someday I’ll give the new legacy collection a shot.
Edit: To add another game, I also couldn’t beat Super Mario World, because the final fight against bowser was too hard for me. My DS stopped working after that and I traded all my games for a few PSP games.
For me, it was Majoras Mask Ice Dungeon. Had it 90% completed but couldn’t get past the giant pillar in the middle.
I didn’t boot the game up for like a year cause I was stuck and no internet to help.
And the damn fairy didn’t give me a single clue
The next time I played, I put on the Goron mask and just started punching stuff cause I was getting pissed.
Punched the pillar, a section of it just slides out and smashes, making the way accessible.
My jaw hit the fucking floor.
Didn’t have access to gaming guides. Best I had growing up pre internet where cheat code books at the public library.
But when the library did get internet, you bet your ass I printed 100s of pages of Tony Hawk Special moves lists and cheats for other games.
Shout out to CheatCC and Cheat Planet.
There were a few times on Broken Sword 1 and 2 that I must have sat for days trying to get past
King’s Quest 4. That fucking whale
Soul Reaver, man, i loved that game.
Fucking….MYST!!!!!
And kings quest….3 I think it was…with the stupid gnomes in the alice in wonderland type land.
All of them.
I don’t think gamers today understand games of 1990 and early 2000.
All games today, even games on hard more.. you can easily walk through. Every one is a winner.
Back then, you were very much a loser.
My first two were Wizardry and the original Ultima. A friend’s dad had the Ultima maps and would let me peak at them but I mapped all of Wizardry out by hand.
Return to Zork, the swamp part. Had to draw a physical map to beat it. No guides existed.
Ocarina of time water temple – the central pillar had the secret room underneath if you raised the water.
Kingdom hearts – hollow bastion was a fuckin maze.
Metroid on NES. My 5 year old brain couldn’t tell the different areas at the beginning apart. Sure there were color changes on the terrain, but even then some of them were too similar for me. I was also unaware of just how hard you need to search for secrets in that game, so my progression got blocked a lot.
To get around this, I’d snag passwords from game magazines just so I could play each of the different areas until I inevitably got stuck again.
Star Wars episode 1 on PS1 I stuck before Tatooine level
Original Zelda on NES
“Zork”
IYKYK. “It’s pitch black. You’re likely to be eaten by a Grue”
Ninja Turtles on the NES. I don’t believe it is possible to beat that game
Too many to really count but I’ll go with the earliest being OOT
I had no idea what to do in Platoon for the NES.
Hugo’s House of Horrors.
Zork I. You could buy ‘Invisiclues’ from Infocom.
Essentially Invisiclues a FAQ about the game in booklet form, with the answers written in invisible ink. They came with a special highlighter that would reveal the text.
Essentially after the question, there were three “empty” textboxes. The fist had a vague hint. The second had a more specific hint, and the third had the full solution. The gimmick was you could reveal only enough to get you back in track without necessarily giving the entire puzzle away
As a young kid…. DOS Game Decent. God I loved that game. For those who don’t know imagine like OG Doom but you fly in a space ship with weapons. As a 6/7 year old shit was hard as fuck. I’m not sure I ever beat it. Got close. I should go back and play it.