The old-school games-were they cool?
I remember some of the first games that hooked me. Yeah it was Contra at home.... or Street Fighter in the arcade. Survival horror-wise it was Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm St., and this crazy mansion full of puzzles and traps(I can't remember the name of that game, but it was so cool, I swear!)Now this was early 90's. I really don't know any other horror games from around that time, so anyone who does feel free to share. On the other hand, if you were 12 when Silent Hill came out, I was 19, so maybe it's old to you but I consider it one of the leading new video games in the survival horror genre, battling RE and the like for supremacy.

Some of the old games were cool. I really liked Contra and Adams Family, Zelda was about the best that I remember from those days. But as far as the best era of gaming, I would have to say that it was between 1996 and 2000 hands down. RE, SH, TR, FF7 & FF8, PE and a host of others are still untouched. Graphics may be better now, but the substance is gone for me. I mean, there are a few new games that are still awesome no doubt, but as for consistency, the PS1 era was really a whole new dimension in gaming and experimentation. Trust me, I have been an avid gamer since 1978 and I have seen a million games come and go. Actually, this is only my opinion-- but the earlier sentence sound like it gives me cred... doesn't it? :)

Yeah cant disagree with you at all, I consider myself lucky that I got into playing games as a religeon around then. Pro evolution soccer was just brilliant. Resident evil will always stay with me because it scared me soo much when I was younger, it still would if I didnt know each one inside out. Don really need to say anythin bout ff7,8 The ps2 era is filled with awesome games but its not really as consistant as at that time.

Modern games are great, yet I find myself running back to the games that started me, like Operation Wolf, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Chakkan and Xevious. The old days of the Nes, Snes and Genesis are fond memories. Looking back now, we would never have thought of the wonders of the PS3, or even the PS2, back when we where playing Sonic The Hedgehog. We've come a long way, the graphics and games have become better, and so our addiction has grown. Wow, I miss the good old days of gaming. Then there was Duck Hunt. I think that game still takes up most of my time at gaming. An amazing game. Yes, truly awesome.

Of course the old ones were cool! Fuck yes. You cant beat a bit of Mario and Goldeneye 64.

yeah...to me nothing beats Zelda, Link (Zelda 2) Mario even, Final Fantasy 2 and 3 on the SNES ACtually most of the SNES games I purchased were my favorite games to this day. Yes the PS1 era was arguably the best era for gaming with the final fantasies, Chrono Cross was an amazing game. RE and SH, it was the start of the great sports games too mehtinks. Madden took off on the Playstation as well did a bunch of basketball, hockey and fifa soccer games :)

I don't know what is wrong with me. I have a stack of new games for the PS2 and I haven't touched them. I put them in for about 15 minutes and I just can't get into them. I mean, I have had more fun playing Final Fantasy I (which I just beat by the way), than I have with anything else. I just keep going back to the old school stuff. I am glad to know that I am not the only one though. When I go into the game stores, the guys working in there are always talking about how there new Wii's and PS3's are fast becoming expensive doorstops because of the lack of a game that captures their hearts and minds. They talk of the good old days of Link, Cloud, Barry Burton, Lara Croft, etc.

I miss old school games. Now realize, I don't mean old school as in Genesis or PSX games(although those days bring back fond memories as well.) I mean Atari 2600 old school. Games like Pitfall, Pacman, Missile Command, and Centipede had me playing for who the fuck knows how long. Especially Pitfall II. That game was one I could actually beat. The first Pitfall was one that you could not beat at all. The game went on forever. Damn, that used to piss me off! I wish I hadn't sold my Atari and games. :(

I find myself playing way more PSX games than anything else.

I remember my first video game ever. It was super mario land on the gameboy. My brother had a gameboy for his birthday, I think I was 6 at the time. I remember he let me play, I walked right, and into a goomba without jumping. That was so cool! I also remember he borrowed games from friends, he even took me over to thier houses once or twice. back then I could only admire the cool games they played. I do remember he had contra, but it was a different version with a human commando instead of a robot. We also played double dragon alot, I can still remember how to beat the first boss. Even though its been years since I last played that game. Eventually the gameboy broke (involving me and orange soda) but by that time my other brother had one too. I think he still has it lying around somewhere, with the lens broken off and the battery lid missing (duct tape ftw!) Those were definetly my good old days. To be crowned with LoZ: links awakening I rented at a video store. My brother would rent it over and over again just to play the fishing game. While i own the game now and still know most of it. There were some mysteries in the past due to clouded memory. Like how the hell I got power bracelets, while I didnt even know how to get into the second dungeon to get those in the first place. I figured my brothers got them. After that. My dad bought me a snes, for my birthday i think. It came with super mario world and donkey kong country (wich we thorougly admired the graphics of) But thats when the trouble started. My grades dropped and I played hookey (I never stayed out of school unanounced, I was afraid of the consequences, so I acted like I was sick instead) I got my PSX at the age of 11 or 12. It came with tekken 1. I remember I was so excited when I got it, I ran home without stopping, causing me to hyperventilate and puke when I finally got home. I was the strict owner of the PSX. But I still regularly played with my snes. (it was the only computer I was allowed to have in my room.) My father died when I was 12 after wich I lived with my 2 older brothers. There was a positive side to that. Older male siblings are usually much more easy going when it comes to school. I vividly remember waking up one day, went to the living room early and caught my brother playing FF8. Wich he succesfully kept hidden from me for about a week. After that he agreed to let me play. But I wasnt allowed to get past him so he'd desribe certain points in the game he wouldnt let me get past. Anyway I digress, when I found him playing FF8 there was no way I would go to school. So he was all like: "ok, ill call school" and we played FF8 all day :P

Dude, that is a great story! Sorry about your Dad's passing though. I lost my dad 7 years ago and it's still hard for me to think about. It is funny though how we all have some sort of deep memories that have some attachment to games. It just goes to show how the imagination of one or more people, transcending through means of video and gameplay, can inspire and direct our thinking well into our adult years. For instance, have you ever stepped outside and noticed the fog, and for a brief moment you sort of wish that it was Silent Hill for a day? Here is something else; have you ever thought that it would be nice to cast blizzaga on someone that pisses you off? The drummer in my band does that quite a bit, he casts fake magic that is. It is all in fun of course.

As a matter of fact. Yesterday I talked about something like that with friends. (were all accustomed to WoW) We were all tired from the trip when i brought up why we couldnt just use a "hearthstone" instead. (Item that teleports you back to an inn once an hour.)

Of course. My dad conditioned me into being a massive geek from a young age. Some of my fondest memories, no more than 5 or 6 years old, playing Lands Of Lore, sat on my dad's lap and being in charge of the space bar. I possess a positively ancient laptop that I do most of my gaming on. The Legend of Kyrandia, King's Quest, Day of The Tentacle, you name it :D I play older games FAR more than newer ones.

I kinda miss the Sega MasterSystem/MegaDrive days. The time I spent playing the Sonic games - and let's not forget Toejam & Earl. :P

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve sitting at the neighbor's house, playing Atari, mainly q*bert or pacman. i didn't get a game system until the NES had been out for a while, at which SMB2 was a favorite of mine, then later, SMB3 and kirby's adventure, all of which i still love. and tetris, yoshi's cookie, bubble bobble, these games were either totally abstract or they made you use your imagination. i still have my NES hooked up and i love these games still, though i think a lot of my favorite games ever were PSX one (silent hill, RE1, tomb raider 1, clock tower). dark savior for sega saturn was a good one too.