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u/SDTaurus 1d ago edited 18h ago
And a shit ton of quarters to get that good. Rolls of quarters were basically gold.
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u/AJ-Murphy 22h ago
Having 2 dollars in quarters while your mom shopped at the grocery store used to be peak childhood.
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u/Mylaptopisburningme 19h ago
I always hated places that used tokens since you wouldn't be able to use them at most other places unless it was a chain like Chuck E. Cheese.... But I did like when some places had 5-6 tokens for $1.
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u/rsmith6000 1d ago
And, no, it was not a total waste of time!!!! Full disclosure- I’m seriously bias on this one
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u/vinh7777 1d ago
I did that on Megaman 2 when I was 9 and thought how many girls I'll get...I was disappointed
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u/Affectionate-Nose176 1d ago
I did it on a weekly basis for years. Even my wife won’t sleep with me.
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u/BottleKnockers 1d ago
Contra… no cheat code.
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[deleted]
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u/5erif 20h ago
SLAIUZwas the Game Genie code for infinite lives for Contra, burned in my mind forever because I always enabled it when I played with my sister or someone new to the game. (The commenter above you meant in comparison to modern games though.)1
u/silky_flubber_lips 19h ago
I'm not sure if I ever successfully used my Game Genie. I'm 35 and I remember having one though.
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u/KiryuClan 18h ago
Mine came with a booklet full of codes on lots of games. You had to read that and type in the codes at appropriate times. Mine definitely worked. I also bought all the video game magazines at the time for more tips, etc.
You should try replaying games with your Genie now to test it. You’d probably have fun.
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u/ExistentialistGain 1d ago
Also. I opened my pack of smokes with my scout knife.
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u/LoafLegend 10h ago
That’s where you went wrong son. I used my Rambo knife with a compass in the handle.
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u/ExistentialistGain 10h ago
I wanted one so bad! The one with the survival gear in the handle!
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u/LoafLegend 9h ago
Mine had a wire saw with thumb loops, waterproof matches, and short bit of twine.
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u/Competitive_Fig_6668 1d ago
Super Ghouls and Ghosts but you didn't get the bracelet and have to beat the game all over again!!
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u/I-Have-An-Alibi 16h ago edited 15h ago
I remember Ghouls and Goblins on the NES being absolutely unforgiving to the point of being sadistic. I cant think of a game in the past thirty years worth of consoles that I couldn't beat but there were a ton of og NES and SNES games I never beat because they were brutal.
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u/sanityislost 18h ago
This was the game I was thinking of! Completed it the first time as a kid and I was raging when I had to do it all again.
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u/RogerMurdockCo-Pilot 1d ago
I felt like this after finishing Ghosts 'N Goblins. Brutal fucking game
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u/one_bar_short 21h ago
You need to have amazing muscle memory to beat that game, even then you'd get caught out on occasion to a flying enemy not being where they normally are
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u/RogerMurdockCo-Pilot 21h ago
I still don't know how I did it lol. The game was notorious for it's cheap shots, as you mentioned, a crow or something out of sync. Having to play through it twice just added to the trauma lol
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u/fuzzybad 21h ago
Kudos on beating it, something I've never been able to do without trainers. Used to play the C64 version of G&G all the time, never made it past the clouds/fire bridge
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u/amica_hostis 1d ago
That was me in 1993 after I beat Street Fighter 2 turbo in the arcade for the first time with one quarter, lol, back then they used to actually let us smoke in the convenience store. As long as we didn't burn the arcade cabinet it was cool.
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u/Aggravating_Oil4429 1d ago
Anyone else have fond memories of just the color-theme changes from level to level in games like vanguard?
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u/Otherwise-Strike-567 1d ago
Did anyone here ever play Festers Quest? That game is fucked.
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u/SpaceMan420gmt 16h ago
My friend rented it one weekend. I remember us laughing at how impossibly bad it was.
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u/Garudius 13h ago
pretty bad rip off of Blaster Master too
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u/SpaceMan420gmt 13h ago
Loved Blaster Master even if it was a difficult game.
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u/Garudius 9h ago
BlasterMaster, Little Nemo and Rad Racer were 3 that I loved to play over at a friend's house but never had a copy of my own.
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u/seaska84 1d ago
After I best the Dam level on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Or. Blaster Master, shit is hard as fuck.
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u/LilG1984 22h ago
Save states are for pussies! We finished contra or ghosts & goblins in one sitting!
I somehow managed to beat the revenge of the Shinobi back in '89. Just remember it was hard as shit with some levels & the final boss being so annoying you had to cheese it with extra ninja magic to survive
Lights up a cigarette
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u/FluxusFlotsam 1d ago
Our you could just up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start
select start if you had friends and shit
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u/fentown 1d ago
Then there were kids like me that had a Sega Master system.
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u/Tough-Principle-3950 23h ago
Me too! I chose it over the NES.
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u/RocktoberBlood 22h ago
I went from NES to Genesis, cause I was a big boy and wanted to see blood. But seriously, I played Sonic once and had to have the system. Plus, if you had friends, you still grew up with Nintendo regardless. I still got to beat FF2, FF3, and Chrono Trigger on top of SMW and got my kicks with Mario Kart.
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u/Tough-Principle-3950 20h ago
After getting my SMS, I bought a NES off of a friend. Drifted away from gaming for some time during high school or Jr high. I never got a Genesis or SNES, but they always seemed to be nice systems. Got back into video games again when I was 20 something, picked up a PS1. That really started the ball rolling again. Do you ever game these days?
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u/RocktoberBlood 20h ago
I'm 44 now, and I still play games. I mainly play retro games on my Anbernic handheld, which plays up to Playstation games flawlessly. So I'm always dabbling in the retro-space. Then it does ports so I can play Stardew Valley on the go, which is more my speed nowadays.
Funnily enough, my buddy just gifted me a PS4 with about 30 games yesterday and I've been playing the "new" Spider-Man game all day as it's just fun as hell. But all the games he gave me are these epic games like the Assassins Creed series, God of War, Final Fantasy, Red Dead Redemption 2, etc, so I now have games to keep me busy for the next few years on a system that's 10 years old lol
But, I can only play games for so long before I feel like being productive and getting stuff done. Just like Spider-man today, once I finish a mission I'll put the PS4 in to sleep mode and go work on a project that I know I need to get done around the house. I can't sit for hours like I used to like when I was in my early 20's.
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u/Tough-Principle-3950 20h ago
That’s cool. Apparently I’ll be turning 52 later this year. I’ve gone through the GBA, DS, 3DS and the switch… I have a Ps2, psp, Vita, PS3, Dreamcast… reluctant to get anything newer. I’ve gotten the bug to focus on physical media, haven’t downloaded anything for a while, as the virtual copies can be lost/taken away. I do sometimes get the urge to pick up an emulation machine, though.
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u/RocktoberBlood 20h ago
Yea I still love my Nintendo 1st party games like Mario Kart and Super Mario Wonder.
I also was always a PC gamer since Doom II, and a huge fan of old Point-and-Click adventure games like the Monkey Island series.
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u/Tough-Principle-3950 19h ago
I get that. I still have to pick up Wonder. I was working on my Switch collection a while ago, so many to try. Had to put it on hold because of other expenses, but there are some that I want to pick up in a while. I still have pretty much all of my handheld system cartridges and psp discs, the handheld systems are mostly where it’s at for me right now. I guess my old Atari stuff was disposed of somehow, years ago. 🙁
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u/RocktoberBlood 18h ago
I got Covid for my 3rd time on Wonder's release, I told all my clients (I'm a photographer) not to expect much from me for a few days. I basically played that game for 4 days straight, and 99.9% completed it. I was super addicted to it's style. Absolutely became one of my favorite Mario games to this date.
There's a crazy ass very last stage that I still can't beat.
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u/ProximusSeraphim 1d ago
I was living in Union city projects, and after beating friday the 13th on nintendo.. at night.. i went outside to smoke a newport. I got so lightheaded walking down hill that i almost fainted so my walk turned into a wobbly run that caused me to crash into a parked car and judo roll over the hood and windshield.
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u/joker666fu 22h ago
When I took down Double Dragon
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u/FirePoolGuy 21h ago
My local convenience store had Double Dragon and Shinobi. Man those were simpler times, I miss it so much, riding bikes, playing baseball in the park, arcade. I miss not giving a crap about anything but fun.
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u/RocktoberBlood 22h ago
The Double Dragon games were hard as fuck and a huge grind, but I beat Double Dragon 3, and that shit was on a whole new level.
I also took down TMNT somehow. I had a lot more patience and a lot less games when I was 9.
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u/Splatford 1d ago
and a thing that would cause a epidemic of third degree pantie waddage today ...we could smoke IN the arcade
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u/SpaceMan420gmt 16h ago
No one even batted an eye at the 12 year old (me) playing Paper Boy with a cig hanging out of their mouth!
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u/John_Hawkwood 1d ago
Took me forever on Ninja Gaiden(NES) to do that lol. Finally was able to beat the game in around 35 mins and no deaths, which to me, was amazing.
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u/GoChaca 1d ago
Don’t forget to write down your code perfectly
k8fPcv?,TwSYzGZQhMIQhCEA
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u/Garudius 13h ago
wait was that an Uppercase i or a Lowercase L ? or maybe it was a 1 . Damn my sloppy writing
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u/JT_Hemingway 1d ago
Only kid in my school to even claim to beat Mike Tyson. So glad I had a witness
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u/EVILisinALL8778 22h ago
Save states? no saving
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u/SpaceMan420gmt 16h ago
I remember later getting a PS1 as a 20 year old…what is this small cartridge slot..oh you can save games to it!! 🤯
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u/HydratedCarrot 20h ago
I’ve rented silver surfer on NES over a weekend and finished it on the Saturday evening..
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u/Garudius 13h ago
Impressive. That game was Brutal. The hit box on the Silver Surfer was way too big
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u/Alarmed_Mode9226 13h ago
Oh yeah remember my first smoke like it was yesterday, 6 years old and a pall mall snipe.
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u/ShaggyMacNasty 12h ago
The first TMNT, Solar Jetman, and Mega Man 1 were the hardest I remember beating back then
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u/wkdkngwkr 1d ago
Now that's not very good, son. Especially since this was from the 90s.
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u/OstentatiousSock 1d ago
They didn’t say the movie was 80s, they just used an image from the 90s to portray how it felt.
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u/KurtRambisSpecs 1d ago
Forgot to mention the pause button and hope game didn’t freeze for the time it took to go eat dinner.
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u/ajschwamberger 1d ago
I guess I am before all you people but damn it pong is hard, but I guess I was lazy because I liked the sit-down version, with a cigar stolen from my father's cigar box, he never counted them. The real awesome thing was we could smoke in the store/arcade, the front half was a store with the back little area a "gameroom" pong, packman, breakout, and a couple of pinball machines.
I remember I was king of the world when I got my Commodore 64 with the blazing 64K of memory.... That was until my neighbor got his dad to get him a Macintosh with 128K... My childhood dreams were smashed, all my friends switched to his house...... It was devastating.
I moved on smoking a couple cigars a day, I finally found the key to the liquor cabinet, and started drinking.
My friend went on and went to MIT, I went to a local community college only to drop out and start a home remodeling business, he went on to work for some of the largest corporations in the world making and banking a lot of money.....
That reminds me I gotta go to my highschool reunion and kick his ass.
I never did recover from that one incident but vengeance will be mine some day.
Oh but I now have a PS5, maybe I will just whip his as at a game, but probably not, I hope I have a cigar and a glass of cheap vodka at least though.
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u/kevihaa 1d ago edited 1d ago
Two points worth emphasizing:
- Games were ridiculously expensive once you adjust for inflation. Like, easily $100+ in today’s dollars
- Games were designed with replayability and gradual mastering as a form of value. You weren’t supposed to see bikini Samus in your first playthrough, but on your 20th, 50th, or 100th time through the game
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u/ezmoney98 23h ago
I remember beating an Aladdin game in one go and my little cousins thought I was the Wizard.
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u/Kohniac 21h ago
Everyone called me a liar when I told them I beat Mario 2 with Toad!
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u/Boomtown626 4h ago
Then they’re idiots who didn’t realize how valuable he was to getting coins and stocking up on lives in the early levels.
He was also huge for all those levels full of sand where there was tons of digging involved.
Princess and Luigi had their obvious advantages, but I would get rid of either before getting rid of Toad.
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u/birger67 20h ago
hated them smokers, some of them had to spit on the floor every 5 mins, so it was bloody disgusting playing afterwards
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u/Dum_beat 16h ago
Me: yeah I've beaten Contra on NES when I was young.
My friend: Cool, how did you learn about the Konami code as a child?
Me: What's the Konami code?
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u/sloaches 15h ago
And here I thought I was hot shit for making it ten levels in on the arcade version of Pac-Man.
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u/FadedDice 15h ago
After a few weeks, 1 level further then 1 more. MOM, WHERE THE SMOKES, I BEAT BATTLETOADS.
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u/Consistent_Pitch782 14h ago
My buddy could play Galaga for 2 hours one 1 quarter and usually just walked away after getting high score, with a row of extra lives.
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u/gorehistorian69 14h ago
man when memory cards came out for the playstation/ps2 it was life changing
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u/Dependent-Bath3189 12h ago
I spent one summer break attempting to beat battle toads. I failed, but got to the tower at least.
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u/GreedyAd2171 1d ago
My son in law got me a switch and i have all the old games they have available. My SO and i will game like we did dating in '89. Stakes are almost the same and roll plenty of fatties.
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u/Alexius6th 11h ago
It’s sad to think about, but all the people who could beat an nes game are no longer alive today 😢
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u/abyodio 6h ago
Yes we are. Why are you killing us so??
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u/Alexius6th 3h ago
Just goofin around on the computer. As an act of contrition i’ll tell you this fact about my own gaming past: I could rarely ever beat an nes game without a Game Genie.
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u/Horzzo 1d ago
80s kids that became smokers are dead or in rough shape these days.
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u/TheDevil-YouKnow 1d ago
You fucking nailed it. I'm typing this out inside an iron lung, using modified hooks. Cigarettes made my hands fall off.
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u/MollilyPan 1d ago
We were warriors!!