what does everyone miss about the old days of gaming?

[Aliengrounder]

Playstation (the original), Sega Saturn (my neighbor had a Sega Saturn back then before we move houses.),
The arcades.

[bittits]

I liked when people didn't make fun of me for playing sonic the hedgehog. lol

[Mistral]

I Still got a few like that only one in the room atm that im typing though is F1 2000

Its sequel was even better. Spiral-bound, over 250 pages, including thorough descriptions of spells, items, special abilities, levelling, characters, and the world. Star Fleet Command 2 had a similar length, but when its based off Star Fleet Battles, with core gameplay books capable of shattering coffee tables forklift pallets when dropped too hard, it's probably not unexpected. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri had a beautiful manual, though. You know that the game developer cared about world-building when they dedicated an entire section of the manual (an appendix, albeit) to the history of human observation of the star system of Alpha Centauri, the actual name of Planet (Chiron), the physical characteristics of Chiron ranging from the physical world itself to its climatology, atmospheric composition, and soil composition, and the xenobiology of Chiron's native life, including the 80-year cycle imposed on it by the orbit of Alpha Centauri B. None of this information is necessary to play the game, but when you know it, suddenly, certain parts of the game start to make more sense (the "planet pearls" you find when you kill the native life, researching for fossil fuels, why a xeno-hybrid economy is so wicked efficient, the Alpha Centauri B perihelion cycle mentioned above), and that same logical extrapolation carries through the entire game, especially the tech tree.

That's actually probably the only thing I really miss about the "old days". Even then, though, the information in these old thick tomes didn't go away. It just moved into the game itself. I can still load up Civ 4 or 5, pop into the Civipedia, and just read. That way, I don't even need to worry about losing the manual. But still, I wouldn't have been able to bring the game to school in the same way I took the manual for Europa Universalis 2 with me and just read the little history lessons from the back of it.

[Wolf the Knight]

Good games, with good levels and characters, with good music, and good game play.
there I said it.

[Shareware]

You know, one thing I dislike about today is that it's perfectly acceptable to get old games like for the NES or SNES, and it's tagged as retro. And that's cool, but when I want to go back and get last gen games like for the PS2 or XBOX, I feel embarrassed.

I mean, there are tons of great games for those systems, and now that they're all so cheap, I can afford the ones I couldn't back when they were new, plus I can get back the ones I sold. But I just feel like that one out of touch guy who just doesn't know the difference between the old and the new... But I do, obviously. I have a 360 and a bunch of games for it, I just like original XBOX games too...

I dunno, I just always get the look from the guy behind the counter like "You know there's a sequel, right?" and I just feel like a loser.

But wait ten more years and it'll be "retro" instead of "old".

[Lee]

You know, one thing I dislike about today is that it's perfectly acceptable to get old games like for the NES or SNES, and it's tagged as retro. And that's cool, but when I want to go back and get last gen games like for the PS2 or XBOX, I feel embarrassed.

I mean, there are tons of great games for those systems, and now that they're all so cheap, I can afford the ones I couldn't back when they were new, plus I can get back the ones I sold. But I just feel like that one out of touch guy who just doesn't know the difference between the old and the new... But I do, obviously. I have a 360 and a bunch of games for it, I just like original XBOX games too...

I dunno, I just always get the look from the guy behind the counter like "You know there's a sequel, right?" and I just feel like a loser.

But wait ten more years and it'll be "retro" instead of "old".

I stare back at him, and say "You know the sequel sucks ass and costs 6 times as much? "

And also, the next gen systems really don't have a cost effective gaming experience as far as I am concerned.

[garrendesares]

also, i miss when games didnt take forever to load. seriously, sony gives us alot of space on cd's but they dont use it all. i wish they could go back to cartrages, at least then we would get systems built to last. also i miss the mascots. sony had spyro and a few others which are now gone or dieing. nintendo, i dont care how much everyone hates it, isnt losing any of thiers. they still have pikachu and mario and link. and alot others. dont know about microsoft lol

[Shareware]

I will always love Nintendo for how they continually baffle me (in a good way) with even their newer games.

My god, I was swept away by Mario Galaxy. Thanks in no small part to the excellent music.

And Twilight Princess, while receiving plenty of hate from plenty of people, gets none from me. I loved that game as much as I loved Link to the Past. Of course something still hits me right in the nostalgia bone whenever I boot up Ocarina of Time, and damn it all, I hate to say it's still my favorite. Unoriginal, I know, but I don't give a crap. And Metroid, oh man I love that shit... And Kirby, and...

Wait...

Sorry the Nintendo fan in me just took over my brain for a second. What were we talking about?

[Nemkoon]

I miss when we had GOOD games that were unique. Wait...No I don't, because I still have my Genesis, Dreamcast, NES, Playstation 1, and Game Boy.
Genesis Sonic games FTW!

[Shareware]

I still have all my old stuff too. Hell, my roommate just bought a Sega Master System.

Buying old games is almost a hobby of mine, but I don't want to say it is, 'cause then I'm that "Retro Collector Guy".

Really, I just buy them because they were fun. Hell, I still proudly display my SNES right next to my Wii and 360, I keep my NES in my brother's room hooked up next to his N64, Genesis, Dreamcast, and PS1.

Come to think of it, I love living in this house.

[Nemkoon]

I must say i love my Sega systems the most out of my collection

I must say i love my Sega systems the most out of my collection

Also, i love sonic games more than Mario.
There's no way Mario can win in a race with Sonic

[Shareware]

Also, i love sonic games more than Mario.
There's no way Mario can win in a race with Sonic

That may be true, but editing posts is a virtue

[Kineas]

I really miss the days when games had incredible storylines and soundtracks that would go along just SO PERFECTLY with whatever was going on. Perfect example being Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. I've downloaded both soundtracks and I've played both many times. I can't get over how incredible they are. The feeling of nostalgia just brings me back to the innocence of my childhood days spent indoors playing those instead of going outside and riding a bike or something.

I also miss when games weren't so fucking elite. Nowadays the communities for many games are flooded with elitist douchebag pricks that get pissed off if you ask a question about something you don't know about.
Me: Why is this like this?
Other person: OMFG GET THIS FUCKING GAYASS FAGGOT RETARD OUT OF THE FUCKING GAME! BAN HIS SHITHEADED ASS! FUCKING NOOOOOOOOB PRICK DOUCHE!
Me: ... *Dies a little inside because I still have memories of when people used to be like, 'Alright, I'll explain it to you. Here's how it goes-'

It's just... The amount of hate and lack of friendly gamers nowadays just makes me wanna cry at times. I truly miss the age of innocence.

[Kermit Da Frog]

Good games, with good levels and characters, with good music, and good game play.
there I said it.

I'll gladly second that.

[Illora]

The old spyro games with the gems and dragons and stuff, CTR, gameboy color games, pokemon gold, the original super mario world