you guys are lucky

[johnkiddier]

Space Harrier on the Master System.

I spent hours in a little back street games shop in Darlington annoying the staff until I finally got one for my Birthday.

Saving up for months to afford a new game (they were still ?25 or more in the 80's).

......and I remember when this was all fields, kids gave you respect and the music wasn't just noise.........


Bunch of arse.

Playing endless R-Type / Shinobi clones, the vast majority of games released were ****e. Even the bad games these days are generally better than the poor games of yesteryear.

It's all too easy to get misty eyed and nostalgic about retro games especially as we focus on the classics, forgewtting the endless rows of tat that was offered.

That said, Chuckie Egg anyone?

[babs]

In order to have those clones though we had the wonderful R-Type and Shinobi in the first place

What I meant before is that for a young person playing one of those clones now and for the first time it's fresh, but for some of us it's stale.

Splatterhouse!

[Ostrog]

I'm 30 as well, and while I started gaming sometime during the '80s, my obsession didn't really take off until '91 or so, when I got an Amiga 500.
Couldn't afford any of the other systems and such, so I just ignored 'em. Most of my mates had C64s, but a few had Amigas like me. 'Twas great chatting about which games we were playing, who got stuck on what level, or how far we progressed. I remember the look on my friend's face when I told him I finished Turrican, and I still remember another mate's exact words when I told him I completed Myth. (they're a tad colourful to repeat here, though. )
Anyone who owned an Amiga back then will doubtless remember the piracy scene going on at the time. All my friends had copies of the latest or not so latest games - except me, that is. I bought all mine. People were often amazed at the number of originals I owned - I had up to 100 games at one time - or perhaps they were just amazed I bought the things, rather than copy 'em like they did. (not trying to sound all holier than thou here, as I grabbed some of those copies too )
I still have fond memories of the weekly SF2 matches we had, or the time a mate called up to play a game of Monkey Island. (came on 11 disks, as I recall) The whole evening just flew by. Good times there.
I didn't get any other systems until '95, when we got a pc, and then later in '97, when I picked up a Snes and PS1. Those were great times, but they don't hold a candle to my Amiga gaming days.

[Zanza]

That said, Chuckie Egg anyone?

The only game I really remember from the c64 days is Chuckie Egg, I have a feeling I probably spent far too much of my time playing that game.

I remember the look on my friend's face when I told him I finished Turrican

Turrican and Turrican 2 were probably the best games to ever grace the Amiga!! Absolutely stunning stuff, I tried playing them both recently and got absolutely anihlated...made me realise how much time I must of put into these games as a child to actualy complete them.

[Bassman]

I went the Spectrum route but upgraded to the Atari 800XL which was a superb machine with a fast (optional) Disk Drive (I believe a tape on Spectum could give a C64 disk drive a run for its money). I then progressed to the Atari 520 STFM (the original version with the single sided drive) then onto the Amiga 500. My first handheld was the Atari Lynx which was actually pretty good. My first console was the PSX (thanks to the original Gran Turismo) and I haven't looked back (much) since. I think I managed to get all the decent Dreamcast titles. More recently I did get a C64 (and disk drive!) which had an Atari 520 STFM and games and a Mega Drive and a few games thrown in for good measure.

[muse hunter]

Although i look onto the 16 bit era fondly, mario world, mario kart, yoshi's island etc, i also remeber seeing donkey kong country in a shop window and thinking that looks amazing. However ther early 32 bit/64 bit era was my favourite time in gaming, there was just so much excitement when these new powerhouses were released, proper 3D was finally available and although it didn't seem like a big deal now back then it was revolutionary, it was a time where the face of gaming began to change forever. Near perfect arcade conversions could now be available for your home and when the n64 was released everything was insignificant, playing mario 64 for the first time is my greatest gaming memory. And in 1997 i finally got a saturn, sega rally, manx tt, and sf alpha 2 in the comfort of my own bedroom, those were the days.

[gamerade]

god. i feel old. (ish)
remember sneeking into the local pub to watch older bros. play pong and getting one of those 4in1 pong consoles for the following chrimbo. Got the Speccy 48k when it appeared (which i traded in last month) and i've been hooked ever since. Seen them all come and go and without a doubt for me the best period (not only games, but the 'scene' as a whole) was the years that spanned the C64 up to the release of the 32 bits. I was permenantly skint and importing/buying from importers was the only way to shop.
C64/Amiga/MD/PCE/Snes/NEOGEO the Golden Age. I'm sure that newcommers have exactly the same feelings for their gen (32bit upto PS2 etc). From a different perspective, it would be nice to have that experience again, as newcomers buying into the retro scene, are (hopefully) going through.

[Bassman]

I had one of those Pong consoles (Magnivision or whatever). Later I also got an interesting chess console called Star Chess with full colour graphics. I eventually had one of the original Atari consoles.

[Wil]

I had one of those Pong consoles (Magnivision or whatever). Later I also got an interesting chess console called Star Chess with full colour graphics. I eventually had one of the original Atari consoles.

Star Chess! Now you're talking! That was fantastic.

I started off with a Binatone pong clone (complete with gun!) but had to wait ages before proper consoles came in. Radofin, VCS, Intellivision. Then onto the ZX81, Speccy, C64, then Amiga, and then the Japanese stuff kicked in with the Super Famicom. I should have stopped there.

Boy, I am old. I get loads more years worth of nostalgia to get misty-eyed over and an excuse called a mid life crisis to explain it all as well. Now then, did I ever tell you about the first issue of Spider Man I ever got? It was 1970, and...

Wil

[Bassman]

I was collecting Superman DC comics in the 60's and sold them to a friend... argh. At least I have my War Books (Air Ace, War etc). Must be worth a bit now. Provided I could part with them of course!

Yes, Star Chess was excellent. I must dig that out someday and see if it still works!!

[Jay]

Increment the old man counter by another 1. I'm 33 and for me, although I'd say the 8-bit years were the best (aah .. the Spectrum and C64 days), what I really miss is seeing arcade cabs in chip shops, cab offices, youth clubs etc. Never again will we be able to relive the thrill of a quick game of Galaxians or Pacman while waiting for a cab. When we were first bought a 2600 it felt like the most amazing thing ever. Not in the same league as playing Space Invaders at my youth club, but this was in the home! And you could change cartridges and play something else! Bloody expensive games though ...

Jay

[Bassman]

At least you can reminisce on the old Atari stuff with a PS2 or Xbox. More games on the disk that you could possibly have owned then.

[the_dude]

I guess it wasn't really before my time (being 21), but I never owned a NES, Snes, Mastersystem, Megadrive, Saturn or Dreamcast, mainly because my parents thought I was more of an Amiga kinda kid. Looking back, I enjoyed my c64, Amiga 500+ and CD32 more than anything, and I played them all to death.

My friend had an Amiga 500, which if i remember correctly was the same price as the name of the computer i.e. ?500 when launched. My Amiga friend always looked with envy when i inserted a Super Famicom game and got instant gameplay, rather than fannying about with 10 to 15 disks on some games i.e. Monkey Island / Beneath a Steel Sky, Which were excellent games.

For me, the 16 Bit day's were king!!

[peeveen]

Yup, same here. Pong TV Game, Atari 2600 and arcades, Spectrum, Amiga, SNES, PlayStation, and now this .... I still love all kinds of games, but I know that the sense of "magic and wonder" I used to get is now just a fond memory.

Ah, gaming memories ... (if this were a lighthearted TV drama, there would be a wibbly-wobbly effect here) ...

I almost shed a tear everytime I think back to seaside holidays as an 8-year-old ... row upon row of new and varied videogames, as far as the eye could see, not being able to decide which one to play first ... now all replaced by fruit machines and those awful "grabbing" things. Yeah, yeah, I know, "profits" ...

Every weekend, I used to gather up a load of 10p coins and sneak down to the local golfclub, just to play the coinop that was just inside the entrance to the clubhouse ... the excitement when a new game got put in! Donkey Kong Jr, Commando, Track&Field ... even when I play these games now, something is missing: the taste of caramelised draught cola and the carbolic scent of the nearby gents toilets.

I used to love looking through catalogues at the extensive range of oddly-named home-computers: Oric, Dragon, Commodore, Amstrad, Electron. Every picture would be displaying some weird monochrome abstract gaming madness that I ached to investigate.

The absolute joy when an actual arcade opened in my hometown ... Super PunchOut, PacLand, I-Robot, BombJack, TimePilot ... and being one of the few kids there at the time when the old smiling guy came in to empty the machines, and would flick the lever on the back of the coin door to give us all a few free credits. At that time in my life, it was the gesture of a king.

And scrutinising the (rather psychedelic) boxes of Atari 2600 games in department stores, deciding which ones to ask for for Christmas ...

All these things DEFINED my childhood. Sadly, I know that the chances are good that the "Food Fight" machine I so looked forward to playing every day on my school holidays in 1984 is festering in some landfill somewhere, but I'm glad that there are still collectors and enthusiasts out there preserving at least some of this otherwise-disposable culture for the future.

I would love to think that, despite the massive improvement in sound and graphics, and despite the extensive coverage on almost every media format, that kids growing up these days experience that same sense of magic and wonder with the new games technology that we experienced with the old, but some part of me suspects they don't, and that they just take it in their stride the same way we did with established technology like colour TV.

For some reason, I just reminded myself of this quote. It might be appropriate, might not:

"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to discover through the detours of his art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

[wheelaa]

The absolute joy when an actual arcade opened in my hometown ... Super PunchOut, PacLand, I-Robot, BombJack, TimePilot ... and being one of the few kids there at the time when the old smiling guy came in to empty the machines, and would flick the lever on the back of the coin door to give us all a few free credits. At that time in my life, it was the gesture of a king.

Mate, I don't know about the quote you cite, but for me your paragraph I quote above rings so true I swear there is a little tear in the corner of my eye. What I have bolded is one of the greatest phrases I have ever read.