cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13809164
Ignoring the lack of updates if the game is buggy, games back then were also more focused on quality and make gamers replay the game with unlockable features based on skills, not money. I can’t count the number of times I played Metal Gear Solid games over and over to unlock new features playing the hardest difficulty and with handicap features, and also to find Easter eggs. Speaking of Easter eggs, you’d lose a number of hours exploring every nook and cranny finding them!


I’m surprised nobody has mentioned one of the most amazing things of pre-internet games: No wikis or video tutorials.
Sure there were some magazines if you were lucky and they might offer some hints or maps that could help but that’s nothing compared to the full playthroughs you can find hours after a new game releases today. You might think that made the games harder and more frustrating and you’ld be right. You could struggle for weeks to get past a single level.
But that also meant that every victory you had was your own. That was a feeling that is very hard to obtain today without a lot of self discipline.