I'll see that, and raise you "Leaving Blaster Master on pause overnight because it takes multiple hours to play and literally has no save function".
Computer games and the save checkpoint system
- Thread starter Ulorian - Agent of Chaos
- Start date
I'll see that, and raise you "Leaving Blaster Master on pause overnight because it takes multiple hours to play and literally has no save function".
Ruin Explorer
Legend
That's going a little older and more US-specific, I think. The NES wasn't really "a thing" in the UK and Europe, we were all playing on Commodore 64s and ZX Spectrums and BBC Micros and similar, with even Sega Master Systems (i.e. the pre-Megadrive/Genesis Sega) drastically outnumbering NESes. I didn't even see one in person (outside a shop display) until I was 12 or 13 (by which time the Megadrive and SNES were out - we had a SNES before I ever saw a NES).
Oh yeah? Kids these days. I would have loved to have the posh features of a ZX Spectrum. In my day we didn't even have a pause feature. If we needed to relieve ourselves in the middle of a long Pac-Man run, we had move as fast as possible and take the loss of lives!
Four Yorkshiremen, game save version. I think the next line is something about screen burn in on an oscilloscope.
Ulorian - Agent of Chaos
Legend
I'm wondering if there was a subtlety to the post you replied to that you might not have picked up on...
Pale Violet Light
Explorer
Lack of the ability to save whenever I want is an absolute dealbreaker, artistic vision be damned. Unless Miyazaki (or whichever auteur) is willing to provide childcare, I’m afraid it’s a no sale. Fortunately, my preferred genres, cRPG and turn-based tactics, tend to have flexible save systems so it doesn’t come up often.
P.S. ZX Spectrum?! Luxury! We had ZX81, had to chisel pixels from stone down local quarry.
P.S. ZX Spectrum?! Luxury! We had ZX81, had to chisel pixels from stone down local quarry.
Mad_Jack
Legend
Yars Revenge on the Atari 2600 - I played the same game for over eight hours (maxed-out at 99 lives for seven of them and rolled over the score more than eight times) and my friend Sal ate my dinner because this new-fangled "pause" thing was still eight or ten years away back then...
Would have probably been playing either all night or until I broke the joystick off the base (again) if my mother hadn't come into the room and "accidentally" hit the switch to turn off the power to that side of the room instead of "turning the lights on so I didn't ruin my eyes"...
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Someone with severe ADHD getting called out for missing subtlety by someone who is too good to explain said subtlety? Well that's certainly never happened before! Thank you for your compelling, original and so helpful critique.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Interesting, I hadn't really given it much thought, but you are right, I don't remember hearing the name Nintendo until the SNES. I seem to remember the Atari console being the big one, although I wasn't really interested in consoles at that time. I was more interested in tabletop RPGs, and writing my own code on my BBC Micro.
GrimCo
Hero
NES was late to party in Europe. It came out in 86/87, around the time Amiga 500 came out. C64, ZX spectrum, Amiga 500 were all more popular than NES. In the wild lands of Balkans, there were available clones of NES, but original was rare. Computers (above mentioned ones) were available and popular. My older cousin had original NES, her grandpa sumggled one from Germany. SNES was another story, most people i know had them ( mostly bootleged clones though). PC-s were always more popular and available until PS1 came out (and then everyone had modded one).
