The 1980s Computer & Video Game Shopping Experience | Retro Dreams
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Remember what it was like shopping in computer and video game stores in the 80s or early 90s ?
It was quite something, in no way comparable to what it is now. It was like a fishing expedition where chance played a large part. It was an experience like nothing else.
Back then, there was no online shopping, no online press, no mobile phones and obviously no RUclips. Information sources for video games were scarce. You had to rely on printed press to know what was going on in the computer world, and as a rule game magazines were monthly releases, so that the news weren’t always that fresh. If you hadn’t been in your favorite computer store for a while, there were chances that you came across something new and unforeseen. You could always be surprised and there was the thrill of some unexpected electronic treasure looking at you from the corner of a shelf. It was the Golden Age!
If you like this channel, you might also check my other one: Age of Ink, dedicated to game books, board games and all that has ink on paper. Check it out! / @ageofink
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"How could you ever throw away something like this"....
This comment hit me hard. I got rid of all my big box DOS/win9x games from the 80s and 90s in 2008. I was a bit of a hoarder growing up and after I moved abroad for work I stored all my old stuff stored at my parent's house. However, eventually, they wanted the space so I had to reduce my 20-something boxes of crap down to just 5. So the game boxes, discs, manuals, maps, CDs, DVDs all got trashed. At the time I was kind of happy to be over my hoarder phase and I figured as I had digital copies of everything, I wouldn't miss it. I was very wrong. All the sierra, ssi, origin, microprose, interplay, Westwood , sirtech & lucasarts classics and so many more gones. Now I look back at the photos I took that day and the regret is strong. Even if the discs no longer worked, I would just love to be able to read through the manuals and look through all the boxart again because as a kid that stuff was almost as important as the games themselves.
The lesson that was learned; don't throw away your memories.
I couldn't agree more. Same story here, except that the story still continues with my wife wanting to thrash away my retro stuff that fills half the place. Difficult!
@@RetroDream Uhm...ditch the wife instead? It could be more expensive than the retro stuff, I guess 😆
It's funny how parents figure in a lot of horror stories about retro hardware and software hitting the rubbish bin; It's like they essentially carried that "common goods" mentality from the early 1980s all the way to today.
My horror story involves PC hardware from the early to mid 1990s - 386 and 486 mainboards, CPUs, ISA and VLB cards including IDE controllers and video cards (had at least 3 or 4 highly coveted ET4000/W32); All was stored neatly in two plastic boxes under my teenage years bed in my parents' place. All gone due to "what you gotta do with all this old crap" pressure - contents of these two boxes would be worth a few thousands today.
I'm wondering what kind of misguided pressure to throw stuff out we'll be putting on our kids in 10/20 years?
Haha yes... Although it's likely we've learned from this trauma not to throw away anything
I'm so happy to grow up in 80s90s. The best year's. In my life ❤
2.16 yes the classic Sega System, some people insist that it was never called that
Gold times! My dad bought a Msx I think in 1989.
I remember that "holy crap, it's out!" feeling in the 1980s and 1990s when walking into my local Babbage's software store. The rows dedicated to different machines: Commodore 64, Amiga, Apple II, IBM compatibles, etc.
I also played and loved F-19 stealth fighter. It was probably my first flight simulator. Even though its sequel, F-117A was a better game from a design standpoint, it just wasn't as much fun for me. I had this same experience with Red Baron in 1990. The sequels, Red Baron II and Red Baron 3D, were technologically superior in every single way, yet... the fun factor just wasn't there for some reason.
I still have my F-19 box, Red Baron box, and Wing Commander box, all of them with their respective manuals. My wife and I also have our combined collection of Sierra Online and LucasArts adventure games.
I subscribe to every word... It seems like the only difference with me is that my wife is not at all into this, and even hostile because too many "old computers" home 😀
Thanks for sharing!
@@RetroDream I guess I'm really fortunate in that my wife shares my love of gaming. My wife and I first met because of playing Sierra Online adventure games, and today we play lots of co-op games together on Steam.
Wow, lucky you!
Something like Perifractic on Retro Recipes
Thank you for the memories! I remember the first time i went into out local shop! I played frogger on a vic20 on black and white screen!
Woooooo! That's a good one ;)
I am 55, and this Gen will never know the awesomeness of holding those unique boxes, opening them, and just looking through the booklets.. man I miss those days.
...browsing the pages of magazines, imagination playing (no Internet videos)...
@@RetroDream A certain joy these kids will never know right? I remember waiting at my friends house on the mail person to drop off the new ultima game.
Those Were The Days and kids will never know
Ah yes, great times! Thanks for the memories!
Love that clip of flipping through the page of Tilt magazine on top of a CPC 464 at 0:30!
A great classic ;)
Everything I owned was either used or pirated. That was the market in my country of birth. Until a relatively rich friend started buying imported original MicroProse games like Red Storm Rising. I felt like I could operate a submarine after reading that manual. It even came with a keyboard layout for controls. I played hundreds if not thousands of games on C64 but I realized I could never appreciate a game enough until I got my hands on a comprehensive, physical copy.
Thanks for sharing. You're right, there's nothing like the physical games, if one can afford them.
So happy to have grown up in this era, it'll never be as fun.
I rode my bike from my dad's business a mile or so down the road and popped into the small computer store in our small, rural town. They had a PC setup with the demo of Alone In The Dark. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 3D Graphics. Environment interaction. Hitchcocky camera angles. I raced my bike back to my dad's shop and told him I had just seen the most incredible thing on the planet. After work he came with me and we brought the game home. Thanks, Dad.
Haha yea, I definitely can figure it out. Alone in the Dark made a similar impression on me, although it was already 2 years that I played PC games. Thanks for sharing your experience with us :)
I remember when the Sega came out my brothers and sisters saved our Christmas money and convinced our dad to take us to get one. We didn't make it 5 minutes from the house he turned around cause we were being to loud. He didn't want to go to begin with just wanted a reason to be a dick. Thanks dad
feels good to hear how good you felt in the stores then . .idid too..
Thanks Mike
That was a golden age !
Indeed it was! Unforgettable
Man I would give everything to go back to that time and do it all lever again.
I’m 50 now… I was a kid right in the middle of this era….
Almost makes me teary eyed to see how fked the world is now, yeah technology is just awesome and I love my Microsoft Flight Simulator today but I would trade it ALL for my Nintendo 8-bit, Zelda, Kid Icarus, Metroid and how it felt playing them for the first time
Oh man when I had my first VGA PC with sound blaster….playing Kings Quest series….
Dammit man….I want to go back
Golden times indeed. Here in Poland we didn't get proper big boxed original games since there were no copyright laws untill early 1994 IIRC, so pirated copies were literally sold in stores without those awesome boxes and sometimes with printed out short version of the manual. I started collecting big boxed PC games since 1995 and have gathered pretty nice set, mostly flight simulators. I hunted for all those older ones I couldn't get as a kid and they truly are something special - all those goodies - maps, manuals and other items. Half the fun was playing the game, the other half was reading the manuals. I also have that F-19 release, along with many other titles from Microprose like its sequel - F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0, F-15 Strike Eagle 2 and 3, Gunship 2000, F-14 Fleet Defebder, 1942 Pacific Air War, and much, much more. Today's gaming has lost that aspect - and it's not nostalgia talking.
Absolutely true: flight sims were rock solid for their manuals, especially those from Microprose. Real encyclopedias. Thanks for sharing your experience in Poland!
The mic sweeping left to right constantly makes this pretty unbearable to watch on headphones.
I'll try mono next time!
The feels. The video was great but the standout for me were the actual store pictures. In my area, we didn't have such massively stocked computer stores, but I did travel to the US east coast during summers and whenever we'd go out shopping...it looked like that!
Many thanks for your interest and glad it evoked something to you!
I remember my first year of U of Michigan with my VGA PC in the dorm playing LHX ATTACK chopper… I was the fkn man, it ran so great, I was 17 in 1990…
If I could take a pill and go back again I would right now
Thanks for sharing!
Definitely a great time for gaming
fun for the french pictures & issues
0:58 whoa is that Woodfield?
I believe so!
@@RetroDream I was probably inhaling a Filet O'Fish and playing with a recent KB Toy Store acquisition in that McDonald's when this photo was taken. That mall used to be so fun with all the fountains and crazy brick landscaping everywhere. The whole place was parkour for kids. I bought an Atari at that mall and a good number of cartridges for all the systems that followed.
Great video and indeed what a time it was. We had the advantage living in an area in Europe where different countries were all so close by and I always managed to squeeze in a casual visit when we went on vacation to other places in Europe. I remember how divers it was even between countries, but have the best memories from Germany and their Amiga games. Great times, which has moved on with time. Though I wish I could let my kids experience what I did back then.
Thanks for sharing your experience in European countries!
Mine was in France :)
And for sure, these were good time.
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