[/div]

And aren't those optional? I never once used the super guide in NSMBWii.
It's a nice option for those silly little soccer moms who love to sit around drinking wine while talking about 10 shades of grey.

@WaveBoy Yes they are optional. It's just the fact the option is there.
@Sony_70 It's hard to explain but I think he means emotional experience. But Square Enix have always pushed to get the best graphics possible on any system they are working on and they will always (most likely) choose the console that can deliver the best cinematic experience.

Still just gets on my nerves that some how the industry has been westernized when western devs have only started working on console s full time this gen. How do you explain the push for tech that Japanese companies pushed for in the eariler gen as well focusing on fmv cutscenes to get better visuals and making a move like experience.

Though thats a conversation for another thread.

Probably the only rthing I miss about the past is more JRPGs, though I cant be too sad be haze its Japan's fault they were too inlet to have the genre succeed this gen.

Man, your description of the Castlevania purchase gets me. Something I miss is not having any money. Maybe that sounds kind of crazy, but being a little kid (with no allowance or anything like that), I was lucky if I got one or two games a year. We didn't do rentals, either. I remember reading about Super Mario RPG in Nintendo Power for the first time and, despite having no idea that it would be completely different than any Mario game I'd ever played before, I looked forward to it with an insatiable anticipation for well over a year. I drew pictures, I read the same articles innumerable times, I studied the pictures so closely that I'd be sure I'd find details the article had left out. Game releases used to be so immediate. You'd get a tidbit here and there, yes, but so much of the game was a huge surprise, and you got to be the first person you knew to experience it. Seems like that's hard to come by these days. By the time I get my hands on a game now, I've usually seen half of it (or at least half of its unique offerings) from trailers and screenshots. Again, the internet has done something to the wonder I approach games with. I'd take it back if I could.

On a positive note, I beat Banjo-Kazooie for the first time the other day, and got to experience some of that joy I'm talking about, as I never completed it as a kid, and the game is now so old that nobody talks about it too much.

Dang, this thread has a dangerous potential for sadness.

I definitely do not miss those days. Visually, the N64/PlayStation/Saturn era was gaming's awkward teenage phase.

It's worse now. I'm a Nintendo fan, and while the Microsoft's and the Sony's argue, they pick on the Nintendo's like me. Only people I know that are Nintendo's would be people whose parents don't let them play violent games, non-gamers that got a Wii a while back and can't afford smartphones, and rich kids whose parents buy them everything.

I'm guessing you're not old enough to make that judgement.

Nintendo games nowadays hold your hand!
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/07/white_tanooki_mario_...

Back in the day we didn't have hand-holding. We would just throw on a Michael Jackson glove on our hand, take an honest look at the man in the mirror and beat it like a smooth criminal. Yeah, or something like that.... I'm 31 and getting old and my memory is is getting worse.

I don't want to take anything away from the games of today, but I just feel like games felt like they were actually games in the retro days. A game being a game is something I miss from the retro days (even though there are still some out there now that fit the bill ).

I miss the concept of "easy to learn, hard to master" that older games use to have.

I miss the charming music (I'm looking at you Sonic games). None of this "generic rock" or whatever, but music that contributed to the experience (and was catchy to boot!)

While I do like being able to do more things with my game console, I miss being able to put in a game, wait about 5-6 seconds, and BAM...there's the game screen waiting for you to choose how many players are playing.

This along with the trial-and-error method mentioned earlier in the thread are just a few things I miss about retro gaming.

/me moonwalks off to play some Moonwalker

In a word, "simplicity." And that word covers so many facets of yesterday's consoles vs. today's. Increasingly difficult to just pick up a game and, you know, PLAY! To think that there are games that you yourself have purchased that you have to have an Internet connection and be online to play. Sometimes, I'd like to hop into the ole Delorean and return to a time without some of the annoying/ridiculous BS of today.

@Ryno
At 35 myself and rapidly approaching middle age, I remember the days when if a game held your hand, it was to slice it off with a katana blade (likely at the shoulder).

I don't remember Super Mario World having that as an option. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I miss sprites and polygons.
None of this point cloud data. - Message from myself, from the future.

I miss not having to pay to play with friends. (Xbox Live)

• Lack of annoying in-game tutorials
• Systems often came packed with TWO gamepads
• Cheat Codes
• Larger variety of genres (or so it seemed)
• SEGA

.best bootup screens
.no disks to scratch
.built like bricks
.people traded games like they did baseball cards

The hassle of buying SD/memory cards and hard drives. Cartridges are easier since everything is just saved to that. Though both discs and carts have their ups and downs.

I also miss the rivalries. When it was Nintendo vs. Sega it was fun. Nowadays it's " Xbox rules! PS3 sucks! Wii's for babies!". These are video games, don't take them seriously.

It's always been like that. I guess a lot of the Nintendo vs. Sega fanboys have grown up since then.
"My Game Boy is awesome!" "No way, Game Boy sucks because it's not in color!"

Another thing I enjoy about retro games versus today's games is the creativity that was put into the entertaining descriptions on the box and the manual. If you have CIB retro games then you know what I am talking about! Game packaging today has some cruddy generic quote(s) from some reviewer with a vague boring description of the game on the back along with a non-existent manual. But hey, you do get some download voucher with some bland instructions with modern games though!