Video Games and Agony
Posted by Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 48 comments
Only slightly NSFW for GenX pottymouth.
little background: Older GenX. Even though our childhood video games were Pong, Atari and Odyssey, I had Nintendo and later Genesis systems as late teen/young adult. I've always leaned towards tech, having PC and Mac in the early 90s and pre internet.
So this morning, playing a PS5 Jumanji video game with my 11 yo grand kid. It ended after we died the 3rd or 4th time. He was dumbfounded. Little dude-"What?? We have to start over?!?"
Fuckinghellyeahbrother! I was like, yeah, that's how ALL videogames used to be. Once you die, you had to play from the beginning again. Imagine being on the 6th level of some game you played for hours and you keep dying at a new boss. You need to learn the patterns of each game to get through, but also play for hours to get back to that new boss.
THIS KID: "No wonder you guys are all so angry."
Excuse me we're PATIENT, not angry. Well, we're a little angry. BUT WE HAVE GOOD REASONS.
SIDEBAR: I hope a lot of us had some challenger trauma healing by watching the Artemis 2 the last two weeks.
Love to all. 🖕
Mistervimes65@reddit
Have the kid play the Wizardry games(all of them are on steam) and explain that they have to map the dungeon on graph paper to learn the layout.
beardedweirdoin104@reddit
I’m a gen x’er who grew up on all that, but I play modern stuff too (Elden Ring, etc) and I’m glad I experienced it. It’s a right of passage to be sure, but I’m also glad that era is mostly done.
LonelyMachines@reddit
That's kind of the thing with "roguelike" games. I respect that they exist, but no way do I want that level of stress anymore.
MikeOrTara@reddit
My Life As a Contra Addict...
Prize_Ad6430@reddit
Fuck Contra...I apologize for my language but I will not apologize to Contra.
FlashyProject1318@reddit
Ditto R-Type
Mistervimes65@reddit
Haul out the Genesis and play that final level of Aladdin. That one was brutal.
Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit (OP)
Oof Aladdin. There were a few tough Disney games in the 90s-early aughts.Thw Lion King, and the Game Boy version of Mulan. My kids would bring me their game boy to help them pass levels.
Mistervimes65@reddit
Same. I had to do the magic carpet in the lamp level, the cave of wonders meltdown level, and the Jafar finale for my daughter. She’d just hand me the controller and gesture at the screen. 😂
Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit (OP)
Parenting at its finest!
Obwyn@reddit
Make him play Ghosts N' Goblins on the NES and tell him he can't play anything else until he beats it.
Magica78@reddit
To be fair, we hardly ever beat video games. We'd replay the first 2 levels until it had to go back to Video Vault on Sunday night.
Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit (OP)
I love this! Summer project,!
theMirthbuster@reddit
Ugh. Torture.
JacknSundrop@reddit
That’s my secret Cap. I’m always angry.
LadyNorbert@reddit
Brings back memories of dedicating an entire day to beating Super Mario Bros. 3 - you win or you die, just like the game of thrones. 😉
SometimesUnkind@reddit
I literally had the muscle memory and sound cues of SMB3 down to the point where I could play at least 3 levels blindfolded from any given point.
My parents would want me to go somewhere with them and would cover my eyes with their hands.
ImCaffeinated_Chris@reddit
Donald duck quack attack made me RAGE!
DunkinEgg@reddit
Introduce him to Dragon’s Lair. He’ll never bitch about Jumanji again.
JelloDarkness@reddit
https://youtu.be/vlTD-ClwWhQ?si=MoXKJTC1g98qVo3F
SaltyDogBill@reddit
The most anticipated game when you were running into the arcade. Then you play it. What the actual fuck?
dae_giovanni@reddit
I think about Rygar a lot.
back then, if my mom saw the NES light on and I wasn't actively playing it, she'd turn it off.
many of these games had no 'save' function. some had passwords that were more secure than my freakin' social security number, but plenty had none of the above.
-Lysergian@reddit
Oh my god.. i can't believe i forgot about Rygar.
So many times i had hours of progress loss in kid icarus because of a typo in the save code. Kid icarus is the one i think about the most.
O-really@reddit
Uuuggg great I’m an eggplant again. Great game!
-Lysergian@reddit
I have always had a distaste for eggplant for no good reason... until i remembered the damn eggplant wizards and then it all clicked.
Kusotare421@reddit
RC Pro Am.
Surchen@reddit
Clearly you should introduce your grandkid to Battle Toads from NES.
Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit (OP)
I think we may have that on Game Boy around here somewhere
Timmy12er@reddit
When I read the title ("agony") I thought you might be referring to playing video games with arthritis.
My thumb and index finger joints are painful these days.
Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit (OP)
Two things can be true! My left wrist and thumb joint are not keeping up with the activities.
mrv_wants_xtra_cheez@reddit
Space Invaders, huh?
Bartlaus@reddit
Also, no automapping or other handholding.
O-really@reddit
Ninja turtles game drove me insane!
SaltyDogBill@reddit
Or Starflight. Randomly, during game play, you’d be asked to enter a specific word from a specific page in the manual (early anti piracy). Mess it up and you’d return to the prior save.
quietlumber@reddit
I loved the decoder wheel, maybe with Starflight 2? Loved both of the Starflight games.
I remember Carmen Sandiego came with a World Almanac and Book of Facts, ostensibly to help you solve the mystery, but they made you look up something from it as some of that early anti-piracy.
mrdeviousmonkey@reddit
That was my favorite part of the game, getting to look up the clues in the book.
NegScenePts@reddit
I cannot tell you how much I rage when I forget to save my progress on any of the modern games I play now. WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO REDO THE LAST 30 MINUTES OF PROGRESS?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
I'm defintely angry, haha.
BuckyGoldman@reddit
Zelda had a save function, but I remember writing down passcodes for a ton of games back in the day. The memory/save card on the Playstation in the mid 90s was a godsend.
FearTheReaper73@reddit
Tell your grandson about the time before memory cards were a thing.
Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit (OP)
Oh we have! He has also experienced Gameboy. That was a rough one for him!
automator3000@reddit
If you ever really want to laugh/cry at “kids today”, spend some time in the retro games subs. There are tons of 20somethings “proud” that they finally beat Castlevania or Mega Man thanks to using save states. They can’t understand that we beat those games as grade schoolers without save states, or even being able to type “How to beat ____” into google.
Miserable-Beyond-166@reddit (OP)
Oh for real!
BazingaQQ@reddit
No - thank you undiagnosed ADHD!!! Go back to level one? Screw that, i saw a squirrel outside!
With the grandkid on that one.
KurtStation68@reddit
I've learned to ragequit but also find patience once again playing Arc Raiders on my PS5. My roommate and I play various multi-player games, sometimes with my son. One thing I learned is that it's hard to hide talking smack or various profanity- guess some things don't change.
RedBaron180@reddit
I remember pausing Gran Turismo 2 while doing the 250 lap race (took like 6 hours).
Paused it, went to school.. and hoped there wasn’t a power outage..
FremenStilgar@reddit
I was playing an epic all day game of Turok64 on my N64 back in the 90's, when my brother's toddler ran in front of the tv and tripped over the console cord and unplugged the console. No save, lost everything. I didn't touch the game again. It broke my heart.
I started my campaign of saving anywhere I could after that. Over-saving, even.
charliefoxtrot9@reddit
my middle name is ragequit, all my systems have teethmarks.
ThatStarkGirl@reddit
The struggle was so real! We learned pattern recognition, hand eye coordination and patience. And yes, there was a LOT of anger. And kids these days don't understand.
And yes it was so nice to see the successful Artemis mission! 🙌🚀