Sorry for the misleading title, anyone at any age can read this, but if you are younger than the target audience I’m afraid I’ll be throwing out some confusing terms, like demo discs, blowing a cartridge, or the fact that YouTuber isn’t a valid career choice.
Let’s go back, to when gaming companies didn’t compete for assets, nobody owned anybody. There was no such thing as a timed console exclusive, you could either play it or not. EA games were good and didn’t cost more after purchase, Codemasters was a household name, and if a game came out about a movie you liked, you had to have it. Those 6 red squares that came out when you punched someone in Mortal Kombat were hyper-realistic, violent and my god it was fantastic.
Do you remember when you were younger, going out to the shops and running to the magazine aisle, seeing a colourful, cellophane-wrapped magazine with a multicoloured disc on it, knowing fully well, when you pop that bad boy into your grey box you would be greeting with cheesy techno music, laser effects and over-the-top sound effects as you scrolled through the choices of the first level of Crash Bandicoot 2, a video of Final Fantasy VI or if you was really lucky, a taste of the newest fighting game taking the world by storm, Tekken 2.
Or maybe we go back a little further, did you grab that hefty box, containing more paperwork than tax returns form, wrapping up a solid grey brick with that colourful N on the top, you had it, Pokémon Stadium for your N64! You legend, time to be the very best right?
Nowadays, once the kids are in bed, or after a 10-hour shift making money for other people, you can to your basement or shed, sit down, turn on your big ass box, pray the internet doesn’t let you down, and be greeted with an update. So you say f*** it and open up pornhub instead. We are the ones who started it. You may not be as fast as the young ones. Playing Fortnite, trying to figure out how in God's name this plunger will help you win while someone is building the Empire State Building out of wood they managed to scrape out of your friend's body using a shovel. While that kid dressed up as Spider-Man is now dancing (I think, or is he having a fit? Not sure) over your body, take a moment to consider the animator.
Maybe that’s not for you, maybe you’re a single player type of person, so you’re running around Skyrim, again, staring down dragons and giants, daring them to come close, trying not to remember when the word “remaster” was a word you only heard at 3 am when you woke up on the sofa to a tv advert about a 1920’s musician coming out on VHS. What about the people who made that map?
What if you’re a thrill-seeker? Playing Resident Evil 8 being chased by a terrifying lady you know will tear you apart at any moment. Just another weekend with the in-laws am I, right? Remember when it was tank controls, from an awful camera angle? Who made this decision?
All these people you took a moment to consider, they were just like you. A young, bright-eyed child, enjoying a video game. Living their best life knowing that the biggest problem they face is whether you remembered that cheat code. It’s times like that we need to remember. Having a little slip of paper in the case with a bunch of codes, going to a friends house and bringing your controller, because you saw a 2 player option on the screen, bragging to your friends in the schoolyard that Tomb Raider does have a trick where you see Lara Croft naked, you just can’t prove it because you didn’t have your memory card plugged in.
They went on to bring that joy and knowledge into the world for the new generation. When we would play these games and wish we could do certain things, go to certain places, they made it happen.
Now, this is just for the adults - if there’s anyone from before the PlayStation 1 era still reading - NO NEW GAME PLUS! NO WIFI - there, that should have scared them off. Listen up, these kids these days, the ones who call a muscle spasm a dance or coughing fit into a microphone “music” - they didn’t screw up. They’re doing a great job, they’re just like we were. The only difference is we had to create what they enjoy. Fortnite wouldn’t exist without the minds of our generation building the foundations, call of duty is a franchise from our era, that has developed to change with the times. We can hate on it all we want, laugh at how cringe-worthy they are,years' and even go so far as to insult them. But in another 20 years time, they’ll be where we are, playing Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Remastered HD definitive edition part 2, and saying how bad it is compared to the good old days. The good old days, that’s now.
The memories we have and the games we love, are trash to the new-gen. And honestly, probably trash to the old gen. I’m from the Megadrive era, where I had to orally pleasure a grey block before I could slam it into the console like it’s another tequila shot after a 60 hour week of work, just to hear that harmonic ‘Sega’ and see Sonic the Hedgehog turn from blue squares into slightly faster blue squares. This was laughed at by the older ones, who didn’t see the point in cartridges. You plug the box into your tv’s Arial port, change to channel 6 and you enjoy that black and white 16-bit movement. Then came the discs, stacking up more plastic waste and sleepless nights than we could ever imagine.
Side note, disc size never changed, why were PS2 cases so big?
Sure, things improved over time. Better acting, graphics have improved further than our wildest dreams, extra content, multiplayer, more things to do, but realistically, gaming is evolving. Not changing. It’s us that changed.
Boot up your favourite game of all time. Go back to your childhood. It won’t feel the same. It will never feel the same. Because you’ve changed. Nostalgia isn’t real, it won’t exist for you. It’s a fantasy created by dreams and memories we used to have. But hold on to them. It may annoy you to see someone say Master Chief is a Fortnite character, or Call of Duty used to be better when they were younger (yeah like you’d know, have you ever heard of big red one?). But don’t be mad, be glad, that your memories, your childhood heroes, have moved on with you, they’ve grown with you, and from entertaining you, now to entertaining your children. May not be in the way you remember, or even the way you had hoped, but that’s how the world is. We have grown up.
It’s time we appreciate the change. I don’t like the fact Skyrim has had over 15 releases, but it means so many more generations have a chance to experience it, and isn’t that what it should be about? Final Fantasy is a mess now, and the remaster of 7 is one of their smartest moves, because, our generation did it better, and we are giving the new guys a chance to play the way we did. There’s no such thing as a bad change. Just what we prefer. Kids are spoilt these days. They want games to be completely finished upon release, and yet still want there to be extra content down the line. But they don’t want to have to pay for it. But they want it to be premium quality. They want it to have a rich, beautiful campaign, but they want to play with their friends.
Game companies are trying hard to achieve this because honestly, we agree. Think back to your childhood. You wished for these things too, and it’s hard. But they’re trying, lead by example because these kids that complain about how things are going to be the ones making them. Games that go back to basics tend to be the most successful ones, Minecraft, Undertale, Terraria, God of War (yes it’s basic and boring, good graphics don’t make an outdated concept a good game, come at me) the cycle will continue, and people will always moan and complain. Embrace it, next time we wait 3 hours for an update that’s changed literally nothing, smile, because honestly, our generation, did this. We are thriving to make gaming better for the new guys. If you’ve got kids of your own, take a moment to remember the first time you felt when you heard chief’s voice, or that first zombie chasing you in resident evil. They’ll never experience it the same way you did. But they can still get the feeling, albeit in a different way.
And if you are one of the younger generation reading this, cut us some slack. Sure, we may not be as fast as you, and may not understand certain mechanics, but we created it, and if it wasn’t for our gamers, the ones who are still waiting for Dino Crisis 4 (it’s been 19 years capcom!), you wouldn’t be experiencing half of these games or characters that you do now. Don’t forget, sure, I can’t figure out how to build on Fortnite, but I can hold an N64 controller properly.
Gaming evolves. People change. But the things we experience and the joy we feel doesn’t have to. Embrace the new generation, and hold some respect for the old. From what we helped create to what we can mold for the future. All generations of people can game, it will never be the same, but it will never get worse, as long as you don’t let it. Also, Tobey Maguire was the best Spider-Man, and as the youths of today would say, *mic drop*.
George Shine
A Nerdy Dwarf
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