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I was thinking about old game styles, and why we don't see some of them anymore. Then I realised that one of the major differences between todays games and console, and the 8 bit games is the memory pack.
Think back to the days of 8 bit and 16 bit. An platform game would take around 2 hours to complete from start to finish if you knew what you were doing. You couldn't stop half way through, and continue later, you just had to keep going! Ever spend a couple of hours battling through a game and reached the end, only to be defeated by the boss? You have to start again from the start.
These days because of memory packs you can play for 20 minutes, save then continue later! So todays games have to be so much bigger. We can make mistakes, and reset and have another go, without having to start from the very beginning.
This is probably one of the reasons that more people play games these days, you can pick up and play, and put down a little later having gotten a little nearer to your goal. Whereas if you wanted to reach the end of Ghouls and Ghosts on the Megadrive, well you'd have to surrender your evening to doing so.
Of course this excludes those games with the battery back-up, like Legend of Zelda, and Phantasy Star, but you get my point no?
Think back to the days of 8 bit and 16 bit. An platform game would take around 2 hours to complete from start to finish if you knew what you were doing. You couldn't stop half way through, and continue later, you just had to keep going! Ever spend a couple of hours battling through a game and reached the end, only to be defeated by the boss? You have to start again from the start.
These days because of memory packs you can play for 20 minutes, save then continue later! So todays games have to be so much bigger. We can make mistakes, and reset and have another go, without having to start from the very beginning.
This is probably one of the reasons that more people play games these days, you can pick up and play, and put down a little later having gotten a little nearer to your goal. Whereas if you wanted to reach the end of Ghouls and Ghosts on the Megadrive, well you'd have to surrender your evening to doing so.
Of course this excludes those games with the battery back-up, like Legend of Zelda, and Phantasy Star, but you get my point no?
I remember playing Metal Gear Solid on the PSX non-stop for 2hrs 10mins 23secs and no saves to get a new ranking. (You can save when you want, but they built in a ranking system so that if you complete the game within a certain time limit, or with a certain number of kills, or number of shots fired, or so many saves, you got a ranking.) So it looks like some developers remember the old days and program this into their current games. That could be why a lot of games nowadays have such a wide appeal, they appeal to the young 'uns and us retro gamers alike, but for different reasons.
I remember those now, Lemmings had a similar system as I recall. I've got to go back and play some of those old Speccy classics now, just to see how they got around the save game feature.
I remember some games giving out long codes, or password at the end of each level, so you could put these in to start from the level where you died, but the problem with these was that you didn't have all of the power-ups you had collected throughout the levels.
I remember Wonderboy3 on the MasterSystem had certain places you could go into, to get a password, and that would remember everything.
I remember Wonderboy3 on the MasterSystem had certain places you could go into, to get a password, and that would remember everything.
A lot of games I remember had 'lives', so you could replay from where you ended the last life.
The difference was when you'd used all your lives and had to restart, as you said, from the beginning.
I suppose it's because games weren't that complex back then and it always made them seem longer. So, what was the first game to come up with save points?
The difference was when you'd used all your lives and had to restart, as you said, from the beginning.
I suppose it's because games weren't that complex back then and it always made them seem longer. So, what was the first game to come up with save points?
What I think is strange is that back then before the memory pack, I didn't mind playing the same part of the game over and over, just trying to get a little further! If a new game asked you to do that I don't think many people would be that excited.
I'll take a game most people have played, Goldeneye. Imagine having to do every single level in order each time you wanted to play the game. How many hours would that take? And when you died you'd have to do the very first level again...
I'll take a game most people have played, Goldeneye. Imagine having to do every single level in order each time you wanted to play the game. How many hours would that take? And when you died you'd have to do the very first level again...
Because less games had backups in the days of the 8-bit computer and console, Datel invented the Action Replay, and it sold really well, allowing you to press the red button on top and save your game wherever you were (as well as allowing you to hack the game and fiddle with extra lives etc)
However, on my spectrum, if I wasn't careful, pressing the red button sometimes crashed the computer due to the dodgy connection ports on the back. In those days peripherals did not seem to be built out of sturdy parts and often fell to bits. I must have got through at least four joysticks a year back then!
Nowadays the cheat cartridges make it almost too easy to save a game and there are plenty of options in the game itself to save at any point. When this doesn't get implemented (like in Zelda MM, where you can only save by getting to an owl, though this is a good thing as it prolongs the game and adds to the strategy) people complain.
However, on my spectrum, if I wasn't careful, pressing the red button sometimes crashed the computer due to the dodgy connection ports on the back. In those days peripherals did not seem to be built out of sturdy parts and often fell to bits. I must have got through at least four joysticks a year back then!
Nowadays the cheat cartridges make it almost too easy to save a game and there are plenty of options in the game itself to save at any point. When this doesn't get implemented (like in Zelda MM, where you can only save by getting to an owl, though this is a good thing as it prolongs the game and adds to the strategy) people complain.
I was thinking about old game styles, and why we don't see some of them anymore. Then I realised that one of the major differences between todays games and console, and the 8 bit games is the memory pack.
Think back to the days of 8 bit and 16 bit. An platform game would take around 2 hours to complete from start to finish if you knew what you were doing. You couldn't stop half way through, and continue later, you just had to keep going! Ever spend a couple of hours battling through a game and reached the end, only to be defeated by the boss? You have to start again from the start.
These days because of memory packs you can play for 20 minutes, save then continue later! So todays games have to be so much bigger. We can make mistakes, and reset and have another go, without having to start from the very beginning.
This is probably one of the reasons that more people play games these days, you can pick up and play, and put down a little later having gotten a little nearer to your goal. Whereas if you wanted to reach the end of Ghouls and Ghosts on the Megadrive, well you'd have to surrender your evening to doing so.
Of course this excludes those games with the battery back-up, like Legend of Zelda, and Phantasy Star, but you get my point no?
Think back to the days of 8 bit and 16 bit. An platform game would take around 2 hours to complete from start to finish if you knew what you were doing. You couldn't stop half way through, and continue later, you just had to keep going! Ever spend a couple of hours battling through a game and reached the end, only to be defeated by the boss? You have to start again from the start.
These days because of memory packs you can play for 20 minutes, save then continue later! So todays games have to be so much bigger. We can make mistakes, and reset and have another go, without having to start from the very beginning.
This is probably one of the reasons that more people play games these days, you can pick up and play, and put down a little later having gotten a little nearer to your goal. Whereas if you wanted to reach the end of Ghouls and Ghosts on the Megadrive, well you'd have to surrender your evening to doing so.
Of course this excludes those games with the battery back-up, like Legend of Zelda, and Phantasy Star, but you get my point no?