Oh yes! Those old days, 80s early 90s, before I became a collector, and I actually play all my games, since they were few, every one of them was magical they were my treasures, and going to rent games was the biggest adventure of each month; one thing hasn't change thou, I still play alone in my room, but not as much as I used to, the happy part is that now I have more gamer friends to play with , in those days nobody knew what a Nintendo was.

@Adam
True, I miss the action of those games where you only had to keep going; precise jumps, accurate attacks, and the occasional hidden alter route, that looked too obvious for the trained eye .

I actually like those (particularly Zelda) even less than Mario, haha. I have high hopes for the sequels to all three franchises though, especially Metroid which already looks promising.

Yea, but Metroid and Zelda were naturally more puzzle centric on the NES / SNES than the Mario games.

The main flaw with the Metroid Prime series was they couldn't do the spin jump in a first person viewpoint. Metroid: Other M does look sweet and should be interesting to see how it plays.

My only problem with the Metroid Prime titles is that they took the platforming out of the game. The 2D Metroid titles featured some great platforming action, something missing from the Prime series. I'm glad they at least named it Metroid Prime as it shouldn't just feature the standard Metroid name because I don't really consider it the same series anymore. I'm anxious to see if Metroid: Other M brings some of the old-school feel back.

Not on the NES. There was not one single puzzle in Metroid, and all Zelda had were "Which random block should I push?" puzzles. Their SNES sequels were just slightly puzzley, but no more than Mario World's Ghost Houses were or Mario World 2.

Obviously I hate the morph ball puzzles, but I also agree with this. Platforming was especially important in the original. It is just awkward in Prime when you do have to jump precisely.

Other M looks like it is going to be very true to its roots aside from the implied heavy emphasis on plot, which I don't really mind since Fusion was pretty entertaining in that regard, and this seems to be inspired by Fusion in some ways.

Metroid Prime was experimental, but I think it works as long as you don't expect it to feel "exactly" like the old games. They were beautifully atmospheric and I think the first person view point worked for that game. It really felt like you were in that suit.

The first Zelda on the NES had some major head-ache inducing moments. You basically had set every bush on fire to look for some dungeon or treasure if you weren't cheating.

Yea, I appreciate Prime for what it is. I don't find it is very replayable though, which is the one and only test for a great game to me. I thought less of the sequels, though neither is awful.

And yes, Zelda 1 has some flaws. I actually love what you're describing when it's for finding unnecessary secrets, but there's one dungeon you find by burning a random tree, and I don't remember there being any clue. Fortunately, I found it on accident, well before I was ready for it, so I didn't have to resort to a guide -- though I did have to check a guide to figure out what to do when the guy says "Grumble, Grumble," haha. How cryptic.

I guess I can see where that would've been more of a problem in Mexico than in America. By the period you describe, EVERYBODY around here knew what a Nintendo was!

I definately do. My childhood was the eighties and I miss the hard challeng that the games had. Even if it was because of tech limitations. The 90s I actually played mostly NES games because I loved them. Even when I had a N64 and PSone I was still in that small section of my local video store renting the few NES game they had available for rent. I remember begging the store to sale me the NES games because I rented them so many times in a row. Especially Skate or Die 2. There was just something almost magical with those early NES games to me. Now when I see a 2D game releasing I am just freaking out for it to release because I know the challenge will probaly be high but the limitions in hardware aren't there so the gameplay is smooth and the games are even better now but can still retain that oldschool feel. MegaMan 9, Contra 4, MFC, Legend of Kage 2, Metal Slug, etc. I have high hopes for the new Aliens game as well. I really miss the eighties.

Yes, I do miss it the tiniest bit. Games do seem to have lost some of the magic they once had. But there are still a lot of newer games that I like just as much as the old ones. Plus, I can relive most of those old-school games on VC now, so I'm okay with the way things are now.

There is only one thing I truly miss about the 90's, and that was the companies that were making games. I was a huge Nintendo fan and ragged on anything SEGA (even at that early age), but I could respect them, and could begrudgingly admit that Sonic the Hedgehog was pretty cool. When SEGA stopped making consoles, I was one of the first to buy Sonic Advance and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle.

I can't say the same about either Microsoft or Sony. And I would never buy Halo if it came to Wii.

I did enjoy the gaming of the nineties, but I think I just miss being a kid to be honest.

You'll always be a kid to me.

I miss it a lot, I remember going to my friend's house and play N64 all day and I still have my SNES but I like thinking what might come in the future

I wasn't alive in the 80's & 90's.

same here

I don't miss it. I look back on it with fond memories, and wish I could experience it again (I guess that's kind of like missing it) but I love living in the Wii era, and I welcome the next generation when it comes. I have all of Nintendo's consoles, and a PS2, so I can go back and experience that history any time I want, but it's still not the same feeling as when I was living it.

Who doesn't? I used to love the days of playing Pokemon, Link's Awakening, Wario Land, and Tetris on my Game Boy, and plaing Crash, Spyro, and Bust a Move with my sis and cousin on the PS1. Back then, games were simple, with charming, memorable characters and a focus on fun gameplay. Games these days are far too gritty, big-budget, and story-driven. I miss the days where games were about collecting coins as an anphropomorphic critter, rahter than blasting aliens/nazis/ect. as some muscle-bound meathead with an oversized gun. It's not just the games I miss though. Everything about the '90s was awesome!

no, i like being able to buy games on the cheap for systems i wanted but couldn't afford or didn't have access to as a kid (via virtual console, compilations and xbla). also lcd tvs rule. the only thing i do miss about the 80s and 90s was the American arcade scene. RIP.