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Were the good ole days really that good or did I just get lucky?
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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:05:26
+2

You know why the good ole days sucked? Because by and large we bought video games completely and utterly uninformed. Since game magazines were far and few in between all we really had to go on was word of mouth and good box art.  Viritually every game I bought on the NES was an impulse buy. Despite that, I was rarely upset with my choices. In fact the only bad game I ever bought on the NES was RoboCop. I don't know if it was lower standards on my part, less shovelware being released or just luck, but overall I always had a good experience.

So today with that in mind I jumped onto PSN and in the spirit of those days of not knowing a damn thing, I bought two games simply by their descriptions and screenshots. No reviews, no online searches, no recommendations, nothing. Just sheer impulse buys. The way it used to be done.

Jesus Christ and all that everyone on Earth holds holy, what the fuck was I thinking? The two games I bought were nothing short that video game abortions. They never should have existed. They were fucking awful.

Piece of shit #1 is Exceleration of Surguri X-Edition. The only way I can describe it is someone wanted to make an old school shooter and a fighting game, but couldn't decide which. This piece of trash was the end result. One of the worst games I've ever played. $5.99 I'll never get back. There is nothing redeeming about this game, and everyone should stay far far away from it.

Piece of shit #2 is The Undergarden. In fairness, Undergarden is not really a bad game per say... there's just nothing good about it. It's sort of like if Lost Winds was more of a puzzle game with better graphics, less charm, and no motion control. Still, there's no reason to buy this game. There's nothing exceptional about it. It's just..... blah.

So kids, the lesson of the day is take a few minutes, read reviews, and for god's sake don't buy any of the shit on PSN.

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:07:20
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...Or ask me first! I've played most of the Down Loadable games worth playing! WinkWink
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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:22:09
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I had plenty of shitty NES games. Never ever buy a game without doing research. And there is a demo for Undergarden, that made sure I never want to play that game again.

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:31:42
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I remember those days, going by my friend's recommendations and the box cover.  Anyone remember Section Z?

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:36:07
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travo said:

I remember those days, going by my friend's recommendations and the box cover.  Anyone remember Section Z?

I had it, one of the games I considered crappy. Nyaa

Yes those were magical times, I get that. I wish for something like that again but if the risk was removed.

Edited: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:36:23
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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:37:31
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On the other hand, who the hell took a chance on Megaman when they saw that box?

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:38:43
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travo said:

On the other hand, who the hell took a chance on Megaman when they saw that box?

Somehow everyone knew Megaman was awesome.

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:41:58
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I skipped the NES, and stuck with my good 'ole Atari 2600 back in those days. The most expensive Atari game was no more than $10 brand new, most were $5. I also frequented yard sales, wherein I could pick up many Atari games for only $1 or 2. I once got a box filled with about 20 carts for $5! At those prices, it really didn't matter to me much if I got a crap game here or there. Shoot, I often enjoyed the bad ones just because they were bad, lol.

Edited: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:42:55

The VG Press

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:45:22
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travo said:

I remember those days, going by my friend's recommendations and the box cover.  Anyone remember Section Z?



Heh! Did you catch my Section Z shout-out when Archie (I think it was) was pondering what Capcom games they were going to resurrect?

I said Section Z and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers!  Nyaa

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:45:41
travo said:

On the other hand, who the hell took a chance on Megaman when they saw that box?



Me!

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:54:31
phantom_leo said:
travo said:

I remember those days, going by my friend's recommendations and the box cover.  Anyone remember Section Z?




Heh! Did you catch my Section Z shout-out when Archie (I think it was) was pondering what Capcom games they were going to resurrect?

I said Section Z and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers!  Nyaa

I can dig a Chip and Daler ressurection.  I liked that game, though you can finish it in about twenty minutes.

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:55:19

All I remember about Section Z was flying through different doors and never figuring out where the hell I was going.

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:57:04

I loved side-scrolling shooters back in the day. I would take anything I could get.

Loved Section Z and later on loved Forgotten Worlds!

*Please people, don't get me started!*

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:10:13
+1

Chip and Dale was awesome.

The Megaman thing got me thinking, even though there was no internet and like only one game magazine everyone with an NES still knew which games were the big ones. Like I said, everyone knew Megaman. Who was the first guy to buy it, play it, tell his friend this game is awesome, and then start a word of mouth that spread across the nation, I wonder... Nyaa

The big franchises were still the big franchises. Castlevania was well known. Contra was huge. Of course Mario, Zelda, Metroid. Metal Gear even had a nice following. Dragon Warrior was well known, I know Nintendo Power had a lot to do with that. The good games still got filtered out without the use of five million sites giving reviews.

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Mon, 14 Mar 2011 01:39:36

"Because by and large we bought video games completely and utterly uninformed."

That was one of the good things about it if you ask me. It's more boring if you know exactly what you're getting and even if you don't reviews it's almost impossible to do that these days. Sad

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Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:59:24
In my case, my expectations were non-existant when I started gaming.  If it was a video game, I'd play the crap out of it regardless of how "bad" it was.  Hell, I didn't even think there was such a thing as a bad game back then.

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Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:03:54
I was actually one of those people who didn't give Mega Man a shot due to the box art. I even had a reccomendation to play it from a cousin who went on and on about how good it was.  But when I saw that cover art..... eewwwww. I passed.  It wasn't until Mega Man 2 started getting a lot of coverage in the few gaming magazines that I was willing to give the series a shot.  And then after that game everyone scrambled like hell to find the original.
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Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:30:51
Dvader said:

The Megaman thing got me thinking, even though there was no internet and like only one game magazine everyone with an NES still knew which games were the big ones. Like I said, everyone knew Megaman. Who was the first guy to buy it, play it, tell his friend this game is awesome, and then start a word of mouth that spread across the nation, I wonder... Nyaa

That would be me, again!

Nyaa

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Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:36:00
Foolz said:

"Because by and large we bought video games completely and utterly uninformed."

That was one of the good things about it if you ask me. It's more boring if you know exactly what you're getting and even if you don't reviews it's almost impossible to do that these days. Sad

It may be a little more boring but after playing a turd like Exceleration of Surguri X-Edition I'm quite happy to be bored. Jesus Christ this game is so fucking bad I can't even come up with words for it. Honest to god this is the worst game I have played this generation and possibly the worst game I've played in the last decade.

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