5 ways you know you're an old-school gamer

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SALT LAKE CITY — When I was a kid I would play video games until I developed a rock-like callous on my thumbs. "Super Mario Brothers," "Mega Man," "Chrono Trigger" and many more entertained my friends and I for countless hours.

However, when Super Nintendo gave way to the GameCube and Playstation I never caught on and wanted my 16-bit games back. If you're like me, you see past the simple graphics and music of those old games and realize they stand the test of time. Below are some other ways you may be an old-school gamer.

Reason one

"Battletoads" for the Nintendo is regarded as one of the most difficult video games to beat of all time. I admit, not only did I never beat it, it was the cause of some vicious fights between my friends because in two-player mode you could harm the other player. But "Battletoads," like many 8-bit games, was more difficult because there was no save function.

Save functions are a given now, but old-school games didn't often have this function. You had three lives to beat the entire game; maybe you got lucky and found some warp function or an extra life, but more often you died and were brought back to the very beginning.

"I threw my controller at the TV with the original 'Tomb Raider,'" Jason Webb, a geek father-of-two, reminisced.

In the time of old-school games, there were a number of friendships and controllers broken. If you have ever thought to yourself, "gamers today don't know how easy they have it," you may be an old-school gamer.

Reason two

The plots, oh those plots with such twists and amazing characters. I still remember the saga that was Final Fantasy IV: romance! betrayal! and airships!

Shawn Cogswell, YouTuber and geek critic, commented that "nowadays you pretty much get games with bald, white angry males on the cover holding whatever weapons focus-tested best with teenage boys."

If you crave conversations over combustions you may be an old-school gamer.

Reason three

I remember being very confused with my first major run-in with an open-ended game: "Animal Crossing" for GameCube. "But how do you beat it?" I asked. Then a dawning horror hit me: this game had no end. Like SimCity, FarmVille or others, there have been some people playing Animal Crossing for over a decade.

If games like "World of Warcraft" leave you asking, "why?" you might be an old-school gamer.

Reason four

Along with having a definable end, you could finish many old-school games in an afternoon. There were some times that I could start a game after school and be done by dinner. There is a unique satisfaction and payoff that comes with watching the scrolling credits at the end of a game — something I suspect many gamers have never experienced.

If you have fond memories of reaching the end of "Metroid" where it's revealed that Samus (gasp!) is a woman, you may be an old-school gamer.

Reason five

Today there are YouTube tutorials, online cheat sheets, chat forums and more to help you out when you get stuck on a game. Back then, you were stuck. There was a Nintendo Power hotline that you could call, but likely your parents never let you use it because it cost around $9.99 per minute. Maybe you had a friend who beat the game, but more likely you were out of luck. Hard games were beaten with a combination of patience, lost friendships and rock-hard calluses.

If you waited eagerly for your Nintendo Power magazine each month, you may be an old-school gamer.

Yes, there are some amazing games now and I admit that these games blow my 8-bit favorites out of the water with their graphics. But for some of us, it can feel like something is missing. Cogswell said that "back then people were willing to take risks and try new and innovative things. But now with high costs… studios and publishers just aren't willing to roll the dice anymore."

Play an oldie once in a while — you just might enjoy it.


Carrie Rogers-Whitehead is an old-school gamer and lover of all things geek. She can be reached at rogers-whitehead@hotmail.com

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