Gamer’s Day: 6 situations that only old players went through

Ah, the 80s and 90s. Although some technologies were already available in that period, they were not able to promote many of the comforts that exist today or even make people’s lives that much easier. With the world of games, things would not be different.

As August 29 marks International Gamer Day, how about traveling back in time with Voxel?
With that in mind, we are going to show in the lines below some situations that only old players have gone through and possibly remember (or not) with nostalgia each one of them. Let’s relive this gamer nostalgia?

1. Friday: rental company day

Game rental stores were practically a point of reference for many players. (Source: Blog Tectoy/Reproduction)Source: Blog Tectoy/Reproduction

Every Old Player looking forward to fridayas it was the day of the week when many parents allowed renting games to have fun on the Super Nintendo, Mega Drive or any other console over the weekend.

During this period, it was common to have many cards (after all, one rental company didn’t have all the games available) and even agree with friends to rent together to have more time to enjoy the game. As the logic was “the more rented games, the more time with them at home”, having partners on this journey was something valuable.

2. Not renting exactly the game you wanted

Okay, you ran into the video store, rented your Sonic 3, Top Gear or any other game. He got home, turned on the console and had the controller in his hand ready to start the match and discovered that someone who rented the game before simply swapped out the original chip.

It was very common for rental companies to use some paper seals or other devices (some even used a kind of silicone to block the screws, which causes problems for some collectors nowadays). However, those who had nothing of the kind ran the risk of being at a loss and seeing a Super Street Fighter 2 turning the game Barbie.

3. Play with game magazines on the side

Game magazines have been great allies of gamers for years. (Source: GameBlast/Playback)Fonte:  GameBlast

In a time when the internet was non-existent or still taking its first steps, the best way to stay informed about the world of games and even get a guide to advance in your favorite game was with specialized magazines.

Action Games, Videogames, Super Game Power, Gamers… We had a few options on the market, and one thing in common in them, in addition to reviews and previews, were the detonated. Although they often provided a basic description of what to do, it was certainly enough to help a lot of people.

4. Call expert tip services

Many people may not know, but at the height of the 90s, both Nintendo and Sega maintained a telephone tip service in our country. When a magazine wasn’t much help or you were desperate to get help, contacting these channels was the best way out.

The logic was quite simple: you called, spoke to an attendant and said which game you would like to ask for help about. From that point on, all I had to do was describe which part I was stuck on and wait a bit to get your answer. Simple, practical and (often) functional.

5. Have a password notebook

Seriously, you would certainly get into a lot of trouble if you tried to memorize three passwords that look like these. (Source: Snes Entertainment/Playback)Source: Snes Entertainment/Playback

Current gamers are certainly used to advancing automatically saved at specific times, but back in the day not all games had the save function. That’s when we know the passwords.

The passwords were nothing more than combinations of letters, symbols and numbers to ensure that, when you turned on the console again, you would have a chance to redeem your progress. The video game magazines themselves used to bring some more advanced combinationspractically delivering everything you needed to complete the adventure on a platter.

By the way, these notebooks weren’t just for passwords. Are you going to tell me that you never wrote down some codes of GTA also?

6. Begging to Play on Color TV

(Source: Reddit/Playback)Source: Reddit/Playback

It may be difficult for people of the current generation to imagine something like this, but in the past it was common for our parents to buy a color TV to stay in the living room and, in many cases, we were given a black and white television to play video games.

With some talk, many homes allowed us to turn on the video game on the color TV at a specific time of the weekend, giving us the chance to enjoy our favorite games in the best possible way. Incidentally, it was important to take advantage of this time, as practically all mothers said that the console could ruin the television.

And you, do you remember more moments that only old gamers went through? Share your opinions with other readers using the social networks of Voxel.