Gaming 20 Years Ago...How Would You Fare?

[Cap'nPipsqueak]

So hypothetical scenario here...

You wake up one morning and realize that you've somehow gone back in time twenty years to 1996. The gaming landscape is a very different place from what it is now. The Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn and Pentium PC are the current platforms. Cartriges share store shelves with CD-ROM games. Titles like Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot and Quake are tearing up the sales charts. Online gaming is still in its infancy and governed by the limitations of dial-up connections. Print media like GamePro, Nintendo Power and Electronic Gaming Monthly are still the dominant outlet for gaming news.

For the sake of discussion, let's assume you're still the same age that you are now and that you've retained all of your memories. Faced with this environment, how would you fare? What elements of modern gaming would you miss, and what elements would you be glad are gone (at least, for now)? As a bonus question, if you had the power to somehow keep the medium "locked" at where it was then (aka new games can still be made, but business trends and means of distribution remain the same)...would you?

As for myself...I'd probably not fare as well as I'd like to believe. Don't get me wrong, there's a laundry list of modern trends I hate. Always online DRM, on-disc DLC, the preorder culture, "Fee-to-Pay" games, season passes, mictrotransactions, the prevalence of assholes in online games, etc. I would be more than happy to see each and every one gone, along with the return to a focus on single player, cheat codes, free demos and other bygone relics.

Having said that, there are so many modern aspects of gaming I take for granted that simply didn't exist or be feasible back then. I like the convenience of online storefronts. I like the speed of broadband internet connections and what it provides for gaming discussion, entertainment and social activity. I like how indie developers have a wealth of options for exposure and distribution where none existed back then. I like the democratization of gaming information, where you aren't reliant on a handful of enthusiast press outlets that are in bed with the industry. Besides, I can still play most of those old games nowadays thanks to the wonders of DOSBox and services like GOG. So no, I probably wouldn't keep things where they were, as tempting as the offer may seem.

TL;DR- If you went back in time to 1996, what aspects of gaming would you like/dislike, and would you force the status quo of the time to stay the same if you could?

Since I was a teenager during that time period, this wouldn't be a huge shock to my system. In fact I have emulators for pretty much all of the system in question - the only reason I don't have physical units is due to the lack of space.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Been gaming since the mid 80s when I was a youngin' so I'd be good! Would be interesting to see some of the oldies again. I'd love to play Mario Kart 64 with my buddy again.

I also kind of miss LAN parties. Getting back into group sessions playing Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, WarCraft, Command & Conquer action would be fun. I may consider trying to find a way to stop Electronic Arts from gaining ground. If we had more independent studios we'd probably have more of a variety. Instead of mega corps devouring the small companies. Then either sitting on the IPs forever and doing nothing with them, or worse - crapping all over them. Like Dungeon Keeper and Syndicate, for example.

Although going back to dial up would SUCK. 350ms ping? Awesome!!

But if I really did time travel I'd be more concerned with buying into Google, Apple and such as soon as I could. Then use the money to make my own game company that is only ran by gamers and not clueless dipshits.. And maybe do actually do something with all the good ideas I had for so many years before they actually came out. Like Fitbit, Cloud Storage/Computing, Kickstarter, and Netflix.. If only I acted on at least one of these. All as I struggle with the ethical implications of altering the future with all my advanced knowledge.

Then again, I'd miss my girl and my family as I know them now. Maybe I'd inadvertantly change my sister and brothers lives so they didn't end up with their current spouses and children. Time travel is scary and complicated and may just really screw everything up.

 

[SilverUchiha]

I go back in time with my memories retained you say?

With all due respect to the original question... fuck what kind of games there are at that time. I'd either take whatever money I had (or my past self's money) and invest it in things like Netflix before it becomes what it is today. Then I wouldn't have to worry about student loans. I wouldn't have to debate on what consoles to buy. I could build the best PC possible. I mean, I get what the question is REALLY going for... but, I mean, priorities people. Priorities.

OT: 96, Pokemon hasn't come to America yet (I think). And I really didn't get into games until then (when I actually turned 8 or 9). Don't remember what was out back then that was really that good. I guess I could try to get into the old SEGA consoles since I've always really enjoyed Sonic. And the SNES was at its prime back then. Though they'd all be more expensive than they are today. So, again, maybe just save my money until PC gaming is relevant and invest in Netflix.

 

[Kajin]

Haven't read any of the responses, so unsure if anyone has had the same idea... But I'd fare well... and I wouldn't.

Most of the games I'd played back then I've played so many times that I'd likely be bored out of my mind playing a lot of them over. I might not even bother. It would, however, give me incentive to try a lot of the games I'd always heard of better never tried and to give other games a chance that I didn't like to see if age gives me better perspective. But mostly I'd probably be bored out of my mind.

Though assuming we're allowed to do other things while in this past, and assuming we're stuck their for the long haul, I'd use my knowledge of the future to my advantage. Get a bunch of jobs. As many as possible. Make as much money as possible while living in the apartment equivalent of a cardboard box. Then put everything I've saved up in the right stocks and wait for the market to soar like a damn eagle. Cash out and use the money to found my own gaming companies. Exploit anticipation of future trends to make hits and buy out all the companies like all the publishers of old did, except I wouldn't screw gamers over like they did. I'd learn from the mistakes of the future and make sure they never occurred to begin with.

In short I'd do everything I could to be the hero of gaming. The hero they never knew they needed.

And if I get to use the money to make entirely new IP that I want to play myself because I'd already seen and done everything I'd wanted to play, then that works too.

 

[GrumbleGrump]

I'd probably invest the money I have on this little company called Valve software, so that by now I'd have TUPPENCE!

Hm, considering I don't live in the US, I'm not really sure how I would fare, since we always got stuff late here (not now, thanks to the internet). I'd still be playing SNES, maybe got a 64 once I got rich from all that Valve money I'd have (I guess? Can you invest in a company that's owned by another company?). Considering though, that I've played your typical classics (Ninty ones at least) from that era, I'd have to also get a Playstation and finally see if MGS is worth my while. But anyway, what I'd do is probably hold the gaming business practices at the 1998 level. You know, the one where you bought a fucking 60$ game and it was at 10 hours long at the short end. Then bought and Expansion for 40$ and got an additional 8 hours or more of content, without stupid double signing in bullshit or linking it to Facebook, like I want people to know my Sim is taking a shit.

But then again, I'm probably just looking at it from the rosy lens of nostalgia and stuff will eventually get even better.

 

[shteev]

20 years ago was pretty much the exactly when I played Metal Gear Solid, and I thought to myself 'My god, games are just going to be crappy movies from now on, aren't they?'.

I didn't buy another game until Braid came out.

 

[Nazulu]

I'd do fucking great to be honest. Some of my favourite games wouldn't have come out yet, but I would be more ready than ever when those trends start :-D
Another thing I would take advantage of is trying to rake in every game that has become rare/expensive now.

Also, I would like to keep the worst business idea's from becoming the most prominent, but I'm not 100% sure that's the best idea because there are some good business tactics that came too.

 

[Kyrian007]

Also no fucking internet - Christ, it would suck!

We had internet in 96. Hell, I already was past a dial-up connection in 96 and had cable internet in my dormroom in 96.

So if I went back to my golden age of gaming? Yeah, Id be fine.

Id buy games instead of renting them 100 times though. My parents should have realized that.

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell. Like most are saying, of course I'd get rich off of my knowledge of the future... then I'd buy an N64, and PS1. Probably an SNES and put together a gaming PC with one of the new sweet P200 processors (Hell, I still play Masters of Orion 2) as far as gaming goes... yeah it was the golden age.

 

[Fijiman]

Overall I'd probably do piss poor because I would desperately miss things like decent internet and all the nice games we have now. Granted, I would finally have an excuse to play all the older games I never have, but that's little consolation for me. I would, however make sure to spend some of my non-gaming time making wise investments and make them out to myself in a Back to the Future-esque fashion so that I could guarantee myself a reasonable amount of money in twenty years time.

 

[Poetic Nova]

*snaps fingers*

Blasted, one year before Carmageddon was released.

Well, atleast there's Doom, and Donkey Kong.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Also no fucking internet - Christ, it would suck!

Nonsense, I was online back in 1993. Sure there was no WWW then, but Archie, Gopher, NNTP, and other standards of the times were still quite usable.

We had internet in 96. Hell, I already was past a dial-up connection in 96 and had cable internet in my dormroom in 96.

Yeah well, I didn't get any of that till 2004. And even then it barely fucking worked.

 

[infohippie]

Also no fucking internet - Christ, it would suck!

Nonsense, I was online back in 1993. Sure there was no WWW then, but Archie, Gopher, NNTP, and other standards of the times were still quite usable.

We had internet in 96. Hell, I already was past a dial-up connection in 96 and had cable internet in my dormroom in 96.

Yeah well, I didn't get any of that till 2004. And even then it barely fucking worked.

I don't know where I would have gotten my porn from without the internet back then. Magazines were inconvenient and VHS tapes were so expensive! Newsgroups were the perfect solution.

 

[Chaos85]

Oh, just remember how i use to spend endless hours on my favorite game--times go by so fast. Great insights shared here, read all of them with big interest as none of us is willing to give us on gaming. Now I'm fascinating about 3D printing game models [http://www.gambody.com] and find myself talking about it all the time.

 

[Gamerpalooza]

Probably better than I fare today because back then I was more motivated to be committed to this hobby and had 3x the time to game compared to today.

 

[Squilookle]

I dream of this scenario every night.

Seriously though. I would thrive.

Wouldn't be that different to my actual life anyway. I've only just got around to playing through X-Wing, and I've just discovered Star Control 2 and Stunt Island. Plus I'm still busting out my N64 collection on the reg.

The only thing I'd really miss is google, so I'd know which outstanding games to look out for, which ones sell for a mint down the track, what shares to buy, and how to set up all the old hardware.

As for everything else?

My body is ready

 

[SKBPinkie]

Anyone who says that they wouldn't absolutely hate it is straight up lying or hasn't thought this through.

It would be miserable, especially because you're aware of all the changes you're missing out on. We're not just talking about gaming. We're talking about all of the technology that is straight up much better since then. Medicine, internet, communications in general, etc. etc.

And what's more important is that you lose absolutely nothing by remaining in this day and age, because you can experience all of that stuff at this very moment even if you wanted to. You know why? Cause it's already happened.

EDIT: Besides the massive investment opportunities, I don't see a reason to go back. But then again, the OP framed this as a gaming-related topic. So my answer still holds.

 

[DarthCoercis]

Also no fucking internet - Christ, it would suck!

... but we had the internet in '96? Sure, it was slow as hell but it was there. The BBS scene and IRC were still huge then too.

OT: Heck, I'd be fine. I was finishing school in '96, and was playing a lot of great games on my pc and my consoles. Man, if my memory of those games got wiped at the same time so I could experience things like the Quest For Glory series, Doom and Carmageddon fresh? That'd be even better.

 

[Necrozius]

Honestly I'd ditch video games entirely and focus on getting laid, going to lots of parties and making better friends. Lots of wasted years (wasn't until my last year of high school did I start living like a normal teenager). Also listen to better music.

 

[Denamic]

I was gaming back then, and I remember looking forward to what the future holds for gaming.