I grew up playing video games, and they have changed quite a bit during that time — not always for the better. Here are six mechanics and elements I miss from games I played growing up that have largely faded away.
1 Pre-Rendered Backgrounds
Role-playing games on the original PlayStation had a vibe. Have you played any of the Final Fantasy games that came out during that time? You know the look. It came from the use of pre-rendered 3D backgrounds. These were static images that looked far more impressive than anything consoles could actually generate in real-time.
RPGs were not the only genre to take advantage of pre-rendered backgrounds. They were a hallmark of the first three Resident Evil games. You could also see them in games that merged genres, like Parasite Eve.
Since these backgrounds were static, that meant gameplay was locked to a single camera angle. This impacted the way levels were designed and the way games were played. It was a limitation, but limitations often help produce some of the most memorable art.
2 Couch/Splitscreen Multiplayer
Most of my favorite multiplayer experiences involve being in the room with the people I’m gaming with. I love handing a controller to the person next to me and sitting down to play a game together. It takes what is usually a solitary experience and makes it a social one, giving us both memories to talk about later.
This kind of gameplay was common during my childhood. I loved playing splitscreen Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which was a big feature that the sequel offered over the original. I enjoyed side-scrolling brawlers like Golden Axe. When I got a Nintendo 64, the number of players supported doubled. Four of us could race cars at the same time in Mario Kart. Four of us could play Super Smash Brothers or Mario Party. I played plenty of multiplayer racing games like Beetle Adventure Racing and Destruction Derby.
Nintendo has kept four-player multiplayer alive on its consoles. The original Xbox had four ports, but local multiplayer is not something Microsoft leans into anymore (that’s not to say you can’t find any couch multiplayer games for Xbox). Neither does Sony. They both rather have you play online. So do most PC games and mobile phone games.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and sometimes players find unofficial ways to play modern games split-screen.
3 Actual Ownership of a Game
For the first few decades of video gaming, when you bought a game, you owned it. My brother has held on to many of the games that we grew up playing. I can still go find our old copy of Road Rash.
This concept eroded first on PCs, where even if you had a physical disc, it wasn’t any good without a CD key. You weren’t buying a copy of the game but a legal license to play it. This approach has since spread to consoles. Any digital copy you download is not a copy you own, but a copy you’re licensed to play.
Even if you buy a physical disc, it increasingly serves just as a source of the initial files that you download onto your console. Either way, you then proceed to download updates before you can play the game for the first time.
I game primarily on my phone where the situation is even worse. Games are tied to my Play Store account. If I switch Google accounts, I lose my games. Many games don’t work with newer versions of Android. There are many great original games and ports that there is simply no way to play anymore.
4 Collecting All the Things
When I think of the original PlayStation, I think of JRPGs. When I think of the Nintendo 64, I think of 3D platformers where you can move the camera in any direction and your mission is to search for collectibles. In Super Mario 64, you wanted stars. In Banjo-Kazooie, you were after puzzle pieces. In Donkey Kong, you needed bananas. Often enough, you are collecting many different types of things. Some unlocked levels, whereas others mainly served as points.
Sometimes collecting a bunch of stuff grows tedious. Still, what I liked about this style of game was the encouragement to explore a massive world in a whimsical cartoon environment. These games were neither fully linear nor open world. They encouraged you to explore and have fun. There is the occasional new platformer that rekindles the flames of yesteryear, but for the most part, this is no longer how platformers are made.
5 Drop-In Drop-Out Multiplayer
Back when I was gaming on the Sega Genesis, multiplayer was such a casual affair. In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a second player could join the game simply by picking up a second controller and pressing a button. Just like that, they could now control Tails!
In side-scrolling beat ’em ups like Streets of Rage, second players could often jump in at any time to join the fight. This was even an aspect of my favorite Nintendo 64 game, Jet Force Gemini. A second player could jump in to aim for Floyd, a small robot that hovers behind the primary player.
These types of games were great for social settings. Friends could watch if they weren’t in the mood to play yet, eating a snack while you played through the first few levels solo. Then once you got somewhere new and piqued their interest, they could hop in without slowing down the game.
6 Games Designed for a Specific Controller
The majority of games available today are cross-platform, meaning they’re available for multiple consoles. Often, versions are also available for PCs and mobile phones. It almost doesn’t matter what hardware you buy. There are many of us who primarily play games on our phones. I stream PC games via Nvidia GeForce NOW. With my phone plugged into AR glasses or docked to a monitor, it’s easy to forget I’m not gaming on something more conventional.
Back in the day, console exclusives were much more common. Games were designed for a specific set of hardware. Nintendo designed the Wii and the Wii U with unique controllers to allow for control schemes only possible on its machines. That distinction has largely disappeared with the Nintendo Switch.
Hardware-specific games have made a small resurgence on the Playdate, but that is a particularly niche handheld. For the most part, games now feel the same regardless of where you play them.
Do I feel that gaming is worse now than it was back then? No, not really. I love the stories being told in games today. I didn’t see characters that reminded me of myself growing up, and that is no longer the case. Plus, while AAA games have become perhaps unsustainably expensive and time-consuming to produce, the opposite is true of indie titles. A number of games that have left a mark on me in recent years come from very small teams.
I wouldn’t want to go back in time, but as with any type of art, it’s nice to reflect back and make something old seem new again.
