Memories of Gaming

[Gabriel]

Back in the heyday of the Genesis and SNES, shortly before the advent of the PS1, I had glommed onto a top loading NES. Now, I love the old arcade games and the classic RPGs. So, I decided to try and get some of these types of games for my new NES.

 

Back in those days Funco would run giant two page ads in the various magazines with lists of all the games you could supposedly buy from them. On these lists were such NES games as Dragon Warrior 2, Pool of Radiance, Donkey Kong Classics, Galaga, and others. Seeing as I was not having much luck finding the games I wanted locally at the time, and seeing as Funco supposedly had these games available for my purchase, I called them up to try and order some games.

 

Anyway, I got a guy on the phone that sounded friendly and helpful at first. Then I started reading off the list of games that I was looking for. I think the rarest game on my list was Galaga. Still, every game I inquired about was met with a response of, "No. We don't have that one."

 

The conversation culminated with my inquiry about "Donkey Kong Classics." At this request the guy on the phone absolutely burst out into mocking laughter. I sat there somewhat shocked and wondering what the hell he was laughing so much about. That was when he started on his little speech.

 

To remind everyone, this was back in the days before "retrogaming" became cool. At this point, people that played older games were just fuddy duddies that were supposedly too stupid to see how much better Shaq Fu was than Missile Command.

 

The kind Funco salesperson told me how I really should "upgrade my system" and "join the rest of the human race" by ordering a Genesis or SNES and several of the "inherently better" games available for those systems. He went on a bit longer about how NES games were obsolete and how anyone that purchased them was a sort of retard.

 

The irony was that at the time I had access to a Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, SNES, and a 3DO. I also had a fair number of RPGs and other types of games for each of those systms, but I wanted to play some Dragon Warrior 2 on my NES, dammit! I just longed to play the older games. The modern games weren't scratching the itch.

 

I concluded the call without purchasing a damn thing. The salesperson I talked to ensured that.

 

Since then, I've built up, slimmed down, and built back up my classic game collection. Since then, retrogaming has also become a very major hobby industry.

 

Where does this post come from? Recently, I finally got hold of Galaga for my NES. Getting that game after all these years made me remember that phone call to Funco. Gaming sure has come a long way.

[MegaManFan]

Where does this post come from?  Recently, I finally got hold of Galaga for my NES.  Getting that game after all these years made me remember that phone call to Funco.  Gaming sure has come a long way.

 

Some things never change though. Every once in a while I still here "Atari, what the hell is that?" when I look through carts at a shop and someone is looking over my shoulder, or "You still play that old shit?" when discussing NES. Classic gamers and fellow AtariAgers generally don't deride other classic gamers, but there are still a lot of others who do and/or who think "Activision Anthology" is some kind of big joke.

[Brad2600]

My friend was over earlier and I took the time to show him my video game collection shelf.

 

He didn't stay too long to say.

 

Oh well.

 

It's a hobby for me..just like smoking weed is a hobby of my friend's.

 

LOL.

 

It's not a hobby..it's a LIFESTYLE! LOL

[AtariDude]

It really is a shame that people don't learn to appreciate the classic games. There are a lot of great games out there but they only want to look new stuff. Oh well..that much better for me since I can get those games inexpensively most of the time.

[PuddWakkr]

I think sometimes people just forget that without those "old inferior games that are for retarded people" to pave the way no one would own a PS2 or Xbox. I don't collect older games but I do like to play them. Anybody who considers themselves a "hardcore" gamer and can't appreciate where that 12 million polygon cruncher sitting under their plasma TV came from is a joke. Not everyone has to be a vintage gamer afficianado but to laugh at someone because they enjoy spending 2 hours straight playing Hero is stupid.

[joeybastard]

Actually I've found that my friends flip out when they see my collection. Most of them want to play it all night which is fine by me but really starts to annoy our wives when we disappear into one room for hours. Some of them have actually started collecting a bit themselves since playing mine.

[Son of Torgo]

but really starts to annoy our wives when we disappear into one room for hours.

I'm not married, but I have a girlfriend. Her and I will actually have people come over for a night of Atari, Sega, Colecovision, etc. The girls usually end up paying no attention to the games by the end of the night, and the guys play til 2am and get drunk, but the fact that we included them, makes them seem ok with it. Video Games were obviously geared toward MAN!

[Inky]

It really is a shame that people don't learn to appreciate the classic games. There are a lot of great games out there but they only want to look new stuff. Oh well..that much better for me since I can get those games inexpensively most of the time.

 

These are the same people that won't watch classic movies becausethey're black and white.

[angusjake]

I think sometimes people just forget that without those "old inferior games that are for retarded people" to pave the way no one would own a PS2 or Xbox.

[Starscream]

I will play anything - from classics to modern. My favorite era was the 16 bit by far - SNES, genesis, TG 16, and Neo Geo. I appreciate all of them for what they are. Personaly, I love the moderns and I like where gaming is heading but it's still no match for the 16bits. So much cool stuff happened back then.....I play my Neo every day and it is still fun as hell

[Vic George 2K3]

It's a hobby for me..just like smoking weed is a hobby of my friend's.

 

Yet gaming as a hobby rules over smoking weed because...

 

1. At least your game won't become ashes once you're finished with it!

 

2. You can't get arrested for possessing it (unless it's pirated or shoplifted).