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How we used to buy games in the 90's...



Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
10TB... mental. Only 25 years ago you would be hard-pushed to even imagine those levels of storage capacity!

My first PC hard drive - a Quantum IDE unit from November 1992. A grand total of 52MB. About two years later, I got another hard drive at 340MB capacity, though I can't recall who made it - possibly Maxtor. That was about £220 at the time - lol.

I remember having a c64 with ik+ on it and other weird games. Used to love going to my mates house and playing narc on his spectrum zx. Odd memories but good ones. I remember buying dragon ninja from John menzies after playing it in the arcade and was devastated when the graphics were no where close to arcade standard. Same with double dragon. As kids we were so naive.

Yeah - the arcade machines were on a level that would never seem to be attainable in the home. The majority of coin-op conversions for the home computer were crap tbh - though there were a few noticeable exceptions. Operation Wolf and Thunderbolt were good on the C-64 and I remember being impressed by Renegade on the Amstrad (of all devices). Perhaps the three games that I really thought they had cracked the transition almost perfectly were Buggy Boy, New Zealand Story and the epic Rainbow Islands. All on the Amiga.

Funny you should mention Double Dragon. I first played it on a ferry going over to France in circa 1987. Wasted a few 10p's straight away! Fired it up on my Retropie a few weeks back and the memories came right back. Just a shame that you could beat the game so easily by elbowing everyone who came your way.
 
  RS Clio 182
Anyone remember the competition between the Megadrive & SNES versions of games - i think Streetfighter ran better on SNES apparently,but there was no blood in SNES Mortal Kombat so MD had the upper hand there ha!
 

rctempire

ClioSport Moderator
First games i remember was the Master System, NES, Mega Drive 1 and 2.
First real PC game was Rollercoaster Tycoon, Ahh the days of being at the library for the fast connection downloading patches and fixes to improve and add items into it.
Then theme hospital and theme park.

Then there was Doom, hours spent enjoying that was unreal.

There was another PC game i cannot remember but you walked around in a mysterious world in space. Unsure of what even the game was, but you could fly a ship too. Walk around blasting people. Still to this day have zero idea what it was called.
 
  DCi
I think my earliest memory was getting a mega drive from Toys R us where to buy games you had to get one of those big yellow tickets and take it to the till so they could get the game from the back.

The first 2 games I had were Sonic, standard of course and some other game called quackshot I think where you were Donald duck travelling the world with a plunger gun. You had to complete the whole thing in 1 go which took me agessssss
 
  A4 Avant & A3
So... who remembers, the INPUT magazine!?..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_(magazine)

They used to publish a magazine with code in it to make your own games.... such as pong lol, I remember sitting for days copying code for pong on a ZX Spectrum 48k (still at my parents house) only to run it and it fail, only to have to go through the whole lot to find the mistake.
Most other games around that time, I think we used to do 'tape 2 tape' with mates for games such as Harrier attack/school daze/pyjamarama. (please say someone else remembers those lol)

Just to add, I bet my dad still has the magazines somewhere!.. hoarder!
 
  RS Clio 182
I used to love going into Toy 'r Us and looking at the games section - was amazed by Donkey Kong Country's graphics when i saw it in there hehe. Possibly the best graphics of the MD/SNES era.
 

Jack!

ClioSport Club Member
Do you think that the kids of today will have the same fond memories of gaming when they look back? Like, it's easier to game together now than ever before, but now it's so easy it kind of takes away something romantic about the early days of gaming.
 

Nik

ClioSport Admin
  Clio Trophy #355
So... who remembers, the INPUT magazine!?..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_(magazine)

They used to publish a magazine with code in it to make your own games.... such as pong lol, I remember sitting for days copying code for pong on a ZX Spectrum 48k (still at my parents house) only to run it and it fail, only to have to go through the whole lot to find the mistake.
Most other games around that time, I think we used to do 'tape 2 tape' with mates for games such as Harrier attack/school daze/pyjamarama. (please say someone else remembers those lol)

Just to add, I bet my dad still has the magazines somewhere!.. hoarder!


I remember getting the first issue of Input with my new ZX Spectrum age 6. It was totally responsible for me getting into computing & programming.

Me and a friend spent hours playing Skool daze and Back To skool!
 
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Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
15 quid for a 1MB memory card lol. To be fair on the game front prices aren't massively different considering how good they look nowadays compared.
£54 for the 512k daughter board for my A500. Bought it from Stewart Electronics on Penny Meadow in Ashton-under-Lyne - I think they are still trading to this day? I only got it to play FTL's Dungeon Master as that needed a full 1MB to run.

Struggle to remember the crap I did at work yesterday - but I can recall stuff like this from nearly 30 years ago!
 

Iain C

ClioSport Club Member
I used to save up my school lunch money and head to wollies once a month to get a game for the mega drive. I was never interested in games till the mega drive came out. Most of my mates had amigas, spectrums etc but I didn't care much for them.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Do you think that the kids of today will have the same fond memories of gaming when they look back? Like, it's easier to game together now than ever before, but now it's so easy it kind of takes away something romantic about the early days of gaming.
No, definitely not. Everything is so accessible now and instant. Even the media with consoles is a dying trend - "you mean I actually have to plug a cartridge/DVD/Blu-Ray in? Eeewwww." More so with the likes of faster and faster broadband - at the apartment block we're in, you can pre-order 1GB fibre internet for £60 per month. We're getting to the stage that the bottleneck is the storage device within the PC/console - the interface of mainstream hard drives simply cannot cope.

It's the same with music. Hundreds of albums and thousands of songs, stored on your phone. Or more likely these days, the world library of tunes simply streamed to your device. There's none of the chart listening/recording going on to the same level as there was in the 1980s. None of the look and feel of new albums that you saved up your cash for and handed over to a bloke in a shop on a Saturday afternoon.

It's all now-quickly-bored-done, these days - and not for the benefit of anyone, imo. There's almost an obsession to chase and demand the 'new thing' that you hardly have any chance to appreciate what's right in front of you.

Death by choice. And it shows no sign of slowing down.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
So... who remembers, the INPUT magazine!?..
I remember getting the first issue of Input with my new ZX Spectrum age 6. It was totally responsible for me getting into computing & programming.
I remember the magazine, too! Happy days! Sadly I didn't keep all my older magazines other than Edge. I have every single issue made and still receive it each month today. My library room is full of the bloody things! LOL!

It's all now-quickly-bored-done, these days - and not for the benefit of anyone, imo. There's almost an obsession to chase and demand the 'new thing' that you hardly have any chance to appreciate what's right in front of you.

Death by choice. And it shows no sign of slowing down.
^ This x10^24. Nail. Head.
 
  A4 Avant & A3
I remember getting the first issue of Input with my new ZX Spectrum age 6. It was totally responsible for me getting into computing & programming.

Me and a friend spent hours playing Skool daze and Back To skool!

Yeah back to skool.. love it, writing on the black board, catapults.. think i'd be disappointed firing up a spectrum emulator now though!!

The spectrum zx was also where I first delved into programming too, probably around the same age I guess.. used to make my own little text based "adventure games".... lol
Over the years I dabbled in programming on & off, never got properly into it (uni made us learn java & hated that lol)
I do actually work as a network engineer now so not too far away ('program' routers & switches I suppose!)

As for the INDEX magazine, if I remember rightly, they are all stored in Branded Black ring folders too! god help me when I next pop round the parents house lol.. bet they're still taking up space in the back room bookcase... good times!

I wonder what my kids will remember about their childhood... probably me constantly telling them to get off the 'screens!'
 
  A4 Avant & A3
It's all now-quickly-bored-done, these days - and not for the benefit of anyone, imo. There's almost an obsession to chase and demand the 'new thing' that you hardly have any chance to appreciate what's right in front of you.
Death by choice. And it shows no sign of slowing down.

Was just trying to get that point through to my kids last night, as they downloaded the 1millionth game onto their tablet!
They flit from one game to the next never really playing much of any of them, free to download & on the device within a minute, without even moving from the sofa (they don't know they're born!! lol)
We've got tablets, wii u, xbox one, laptop... guess what's already on my 9 years olds Christmas list... Nintendo switch!... and wants whatever the latest DS is for his birthday!.
All his mates are getting it all.. as they do!
Kids! lol
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Was just trying to get that point through to my kids last night, as they downloaded the 1millionth game onto their tablet!
They flit from one game to the next never really playing much of any of them, free to download & on the device within a minute, without even moving from the sofa (they don't know they're born!! lol)
We've got tablets, wii u, xbox one, laptop... guess what's already on my 9 years olds Christmas list... Nintendo switch!... and wants whatever the latest DS is for his birthday!.
All his mates are getting it all.. as they do!
Kids! lol
Get them to watch this...... 8 MINUTES 3 SECONDS before anything happens!



Those were the days! :tongueout:
 

Daz...

ClioSport Club Member
  Inferno 182 Cup
Which Ghostbusters game was it where you had to buy bits for the car and traps etc.?

Also, it had a bit of state of the art speech in it. "He slimed me!"
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Which Ghostbusters game was it where you had to buy bits for the car and traps etc.?

Also, it had a bit of state of the art speech in it. "He slimed me!"
That was the first Ghostbusters game. Virtually impossible to complete, iirc? I never got anywhere near finishing it - I certainly didn't get to buy ECTO-1 anyway!

One of the most soul-destroying games in terms of load times vs. actually working, was Racing Destruction Set. Took an absolute life-time to load and crashed..... a LOT. The only option left? To reload the bloody thing. This was over two sides of two tapes - but it was massively ahead of its time for a game. Not only did it have a track designer, but you could dial-in what gravity level you had, etc. Split screen co-op too!

 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
I remember Bruce Carver's classic Beach Head on the C64. My first game that I ever played on it and I've lost track of how many times I completed it.

There was a section where you fired at the other ships with your own battleship. You guessed the range to the target and then a number appeared to tell you how far or short you were off target. Being crap with numbers, I used to force my godfather to help out when he was around - being an accountant and excellent with numbers had to count for something! :smile:
 

sn00p

ClioSport Club Member
  A blue one.
Bought a couple of 48K spectrums (in good physical condition) on eBay, one was working and the other was faulty.

Bit of probing around using the schematic and found an open circuit on a RAM chip, so fixed that and low and behold it sprung into life.

IMG_2396.JPG
IMG_2399 2.JPG
IMG_2424.JPG
 
  3 RS200
I used to pre order at Woolies. Remember waiting ages for Zelda for the N64.

It's funny that all the vintage games are making a resurgence. Mini SNES,NES, megadrive, C64 - all sorts are even available to download on the switch - Nintendo have really tapped into the nostalgia. (I work in the industry)
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
Bought a couple of 48K spectrums (in good physical condition) on eBay, one was working and the other was faulty.

Bit of probing around using the schematic and found an open circuit on a RAM chip, so fixed that and low and behold it sprung into life.
Ha, nice one mate! Is that Target Renegade?
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
No, definitely not. Everything is so accessible now and instant. Even the media with consoles is a dying trend - "you mean I actually have to plug a cartridge/DVD/Blu-Ray in? Eeewwww." More so with the likes of faster and faster broadband - at the apartment block we're in, you can pre-order 1GB fibre internet for £60 per month. We're getting to the stage that the bottleneck is the storage device within the PC/console - the interface of mainstream hard drives simply cannot cope.

It's the same with music. Hundreds of albums and thousands of songs, stored on your phone. Or more likely these days, the world library of tunes simply streamed to your device. There's none of the chart listening/recording going on to the same level as there was in the 1980s. None of the look and feel of new albums that you saved up your cash for and handed over to a bloke in a shop on a Saturday afternoon.

It's all now-quickly-bored-done, these days - and not for the benefit of anyone, imo. There's almost an obsession to chase and demand the 'new thing' that you hardly have any chance to appreciate what's right in front of you.

Death by choice. And it shows no sign of slowing down.

I might add a slight addition here to my own post.

Had a chat recently with a Steam fwend in the US who asked me about the backlog of non-started games that bloat the majority of gamer's libraries. He was saying that he didn't have the time, nor the patience to actually to make any headway in a lot of them, before ultimately saying that it made him feel a little anxious.

My first impression was to 'get a grip' - we're hardly talking First World problems here. However, I can kind of see some logic in what he's saying. Many games these days are so complex and require so much commitment, that they can be too daunting for a majority of players. Most of us lead busy lives and being able to mentally set aside 50, 100, or more hours into a game is not only unrealistic, but in a way a bit 'intimidating'.

The likes of ARMA III for myself - I'd really like to get into. But I know for the first 20 hours or so, I will be totally useless and more of a burden to the team that I'll be a part of online. Plus, if the learning curve is that steep with plenty of keyboard commands and inputs to remember, its likely that after a busy day at work, a more simple FPS will suffice. A bit like starting that 1,000 page novel you've been interested in and seen sat on the shelf for years, but have never got around to it.

Games in the 1990s never seemed to suffer from this level of detail, commitment and requirement from the player, to begin with.
 

botfch

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 182
I think the original Gameboy and super mario was the first game I ever got.
Then the local pub got a Metal Slug arcade game in about 97ish so we used to rob all my Dads change and go play that after school.
 

riz

ClioSport Club Member
  Jaguar XFR
I had this amazing game on my mega drive I used to play loads.

It was groups of armies, slightly cartoon like and you had to position them around a battlefield.

Anyone know the name

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 
I remember seeing a Mega Drive game on sale in WH Smiths, I think it was Sonic 2 for half price (I guess they'd priced it up wrongly) no other place had it so cheap as it was quite new out. I pestered my mum & dad for it but they would't get it. I think my birthday or something was coming up later on so I kept on, we went back a few days later & it had sold out. It was their only copy. I was pissed! Back then the shop did the usual, ring round a couple of other local ones for it, but no luck.

There was also this large game shop place in Romford Arcade (which is a proper weird place) packed full of shelves of games. I never got anything from there though. I do remember busing it into Rom on my own when I was quite young to get Micro Machines 2 on Mega Drive when it came out, I was proud as f**k to have that game!

I had a MD2 as I was late to the party (and my mum & dad weren't into video games at all) but sold it years ago for something else. I did buy one again a while back, along with all of the games I had, plus a few others, and the proper six button joypads. All of it has the boxes & instruction books etc.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
I think the original Gameboy and super mario was the first game I ever got.
Then the local pub got a Metal Slug arcade game in about 97ish so we used to rob all my Dads change and go play that after school.

Have you got a Steam account mate? I've got a key spare for Metal Slug 3, if you want it? ?
 


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