10 Features That Have DISAPPEARED FROM VIDEO GAMES

[@FflawedMetalhead]

I genuinely miss the booklet inserts for physical games. I do appreciate that a lot of games (at least for Switch/PS4) have reversible cover art, basically including a neat mini-poster with the game.

[@kurtsudheim825]

As a kid, when I was only allowed to play on weekends & holidays, I used to read those booklets after I bought/ got the game in the week before in anticipation of playing it

[@T-NLife]

Spider-Man, God of War, Grand Theft Auto, Arkham Knight, Dragon Ball Z Kakarot, Assassin's Creed, and Tomb Raider are some newer games that have those cool pictures of you don't pay those I suggest getting them if you can get your hands to on the disc they have great storyline and they have the cool picture pamphlet thing on the cover sheet

[@MostlyPonies1]

RDR2 and GTA V at least had maps included. But I miss having booklets.

[@JACKBOOT12]

Remember back when we got those giant folded posters,it was like a poster on the one side and a map on the other man I miss those

[@graysonjd5624]

Splitscreen is my most missed feature, especially being able to do the full campaign that way. The Army of Two games, while not incredible, were a lot of fun because of this. Edit: “No screen peaking!”

[@shalyarkh2633]

Yeah splitscreen playing army of two or mw2 or mw3 and bo1 good times

[@RaspiRoope]

Gears of War games were awesome too

[@Bearical]

Lego games still have it. They are gems, they really are.

[@R3AL-AIM]

Halo and Borderlands too. Really fun split screen with a friend back in the day

[@Gato-xj3ct]

You're speaking my truth here. My wife and I literally can only play borderlands together. Otherwise she is basically narrating my gaming 😅

[@seth1665]

The lack of local multiplayer and local online multiplayer is just another way gaming is less focused on kids and more on adults, the ones with money. It is seriously sad that this feature is gone and kids have a lot less motivation to hang out at each others houses because why would you leave your house to go and watch someone else play a game or take turns, when y’all can play “together” from y’all’s own homes. 360 avatars were awesome too.

[@nathanielcarmona9011]

I agree

[@sahibpreetsingh5514]

Totally, i always prefer local co-op games not only they are fun to play but are also convenient, Online multiplayer has annoyance of long load times, bad servers and all that stuff. Moreover most communities are toxic af, its more depressing than fun

[@michaelsteffler2570]

Y’all?

[@deusrex]

Focuses on adults, yet excludes the adults that want to play local co-op games with their kids. Maybe I'm overblowing it, but I swear this can't be a tiny market. At least speaking for myself, it's a huge reason why I play most of the lego games.

[@seth1665]

@@deusrex I would like to think its a huge market too. but people dont always know what theyre missing and they want to play the latest fad, so local co op might not be a big deal to someone who isnt raised around it.

[@Tarumarugan]

I do miss split screen. Me and my brother grew up on that. One game, one console, one screen, two controllers, some of the best memories of our lives. We blew through all the Halos, gears of war, borderlands, you name it definitely a missed feature.

[@lawrencegarza9624]

And the constant accusations and denials of screen looking🤣

[@prizegotti]

The Demo discs you got from magazines were a crucial part of my gaming history. Growing up getting a new game was rare for me. Demos allowed me to try a game and make a decision on what games I actually wanted to buy when the opportunity arose.

[@jotheunissen9274]

I miss offline multiplayer

[@ENTO_FTL]

Same

[@shen-long9082]

Yeah u do.

[@Mzuka-Moto]

Coach coop

[@Vexrais]

Couch co-op

[@mountaindog1929]

Same. It's strange to think that playing with someone else in your own household is apparently too niche of a concept for developers to accommodate anymore.

[@michaelleiser9229]

The manuals....I miss the manuals! I loved scouring through the entire thing, learning everything I could before booting up a game. Sometimes there was even lore about the world or gorgeous artwork, it was so exciting back then.

[@JohnDoe-xf9bn]

When elden ring said the purchase included a digital manual, I was so excited to feel that nostalgia again. Then I opened the manual and it was basically empty, ugh

[@That_Handle]

No doubt - was astounded recently how much literature there was in PS2 Armored Core manuals - especially the latter releases - any Gran Turismo game from PS1 and PS2 era, PS2 era SOCOM games and Tribes: Aerial Assault. The page count of their strategy guides seem to match the gane manuals, too, among those I've nabbed cheap over the years.

[@aseroxd]

Even better. You could read them while slacking off at work ;)

[@buschicebeer7168]

i love reading through the manuals of my old games

[@kurtsudheim825]

I want asked to pay during the week, so I read those things in anticipation of playing a new game, subsumed you even revert to it whilst posting to help you, before I had internet to search for help/info

[@ElShotte]

One of my biggest annoyances in stealth sections is the fact that one enemy sees you, and all of a sudden everyone knows where you at. I believe communication between AI should be focused on a bit more. If a dude sees you 2 seconds before you drop him, doesn't even get a word out, the whole base should not automatically know you're there, period.

[@defiantreaper2314]

Agreed. Games like Metal gear solid, splinter cell and deus ex. Great stealth mechanics but once seen you have to just shoot everyone, thus making the stealth pointless.

[@TheWindii]

I really appreciate it on the few games that realistically do this.

[@hounsdjentlow3074]

Wish games did this, would love it if the ai could be more realistically reactive and not roboticlly reactive?

[@hawken796]

Far Cry 6 fixed that issue

[@mcbdllc136]

Spider man games lol

[@pockylovingranger]

The thing I miss the most now a days is the physical instruction manuals! I LOOOOVED getting a new game at the store, opening the case, pulling the manual out, and reading up about the various aspects of what I was about to play

[@64onehotmama]

Yes!!👍👍👍👍👍

[@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers]

I just ordered the standard PC version of 'American McGee's Alice', and it comes with a 30-page 'Asylum Casebook', with diary entries detailing Alice's treatment at Rutledge and her interactions with the orderlies as she goes from comatose to awake and erratically violent. It's a well-written short story in its own right, and adds extra context which would have disrupted the flow of gameplay if included in-game. People who say 'it's irrelevant, you can get all that in the tutorial' or 'it saves on paper' are missing the point. Developers tooks pride in the whole package 20 years ago; some of these booklets were lovingly detailed with additional backstory and illustrations. They complimented and elevated the game, in the same way the cover art does for an album. The manual was an industry standard, and the game lacks without it. Modern games are a straight downgrade in this area at least.

[@Rhizomorphik]

And some posters 👍

[@calvinjunior6131]

@@64onehotmama 😅

[@TheSultan1470]

@@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers ...I'm sure some games still do that. It's not necessary for every kind of game

[@mirzsarcevic4898]

Demo disks were my favourite, I remember opening an old PS1 game and noticing a hidden disk behind the plastic with a demo in it, gosh I was so excited to play some different games on it. Was the best.

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@BodamEscapePlan]

It's how you'd discover awesome gems like Coolboarders and 3-Xtreme (this game was fun).

[@mirzsarcevic4898]

@@BodamEscapePlan Wipeout was the one for me and then that super weird game Descent. Amongst many many others.

[@StingNicks]

LOL AOL disks made GREAT coasters !!!

[@SentientPotatoXIII]

I was introduced to my favorite game series by a ps2 demo disc. There wasn't an actual demo for the game, it was just a trailer along with other demos but I watched it constantly until I eventually got the game.

[@LisaFenix]

I REALLY miss the 360 era avatars. I found them super fun, customizable and great little incentives for achievements. I loved customizing my avatar and even found secret easter eggs in the customization menu (keeping the menu inactive for a few minutes would make a secret menu to have colorful hair options appear!) Self expression is really important, especially for something like online gaming where it helps you put a 'face' to online friends you make. I'd love for that to come back, with an actually fair amount of readily available options that aren't just locked behind microtransactions. The era of customizable themes/avatars/social media sites (RIP myspace lol) is one I miss a lot.

[@Steel-101]

Yeah I miss those too. My avatar had The Man Of Steel T-shirt and Used the Mass Effect Omni blade. Now the avatars are creepy looking and it’s extremely buggy. You can’t even see your avatar on the main menu. You can only see them in the achievement list(when comparing your progress with your friends). They really need to bring those back

[@garrettrizzo9869]

There was a minecraft knockoff on the 360, Castle Miner, where you'd actually play as your Xbox avatar.

[@LisaFenix]

@@garrettrizzo9869 hahah oh yeah! and avatar survival games I think. Doritos crash course too which was a weirdly underrated fun game.

[@michaelraudabaugh6692]

Remember 1vs100 you played with your avatar

[@chadsingh688]

Same! It was the reason I started to trophy hunt. It should be revived

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

I think the QTEs were implemented to show off more "cinematic" sequences. Ironically, most of the time you would miss what was going on because you had to pay attention to the next button press.

[@junegottschalk7960]

Falcon always unlocked memories for me with these lists. Games were SOOOOO much different when I was a kid. The instant stealth fails were annoying, but for me the GTA missions that had you tailing someone and the missions where you'd fail if there was too much damage to a vehicle nearly gave me a coronary from stress and aggravation

[@kurtsudheim825]

I remember a James bond mission where you had to chase/tail a car, was near impossible. Idk what game exactly because it was a friend, was on ps1

[@Legion849]

Catch the damn train CJ by far the worst mission in San Andreas. I played that mission so many times but never cleared it

[@alexanderneville8117]

I love the physical copy. It's literally collectable. If a company shut down you wouldn't own them anymore if it was digital.

[@WeirdTroll666]

yeah, how do people like "owning" something digital

[@hamsandwich3989]

That's not even true. You can definitely still buy games from companies that don't exist anymore lol

[@SaltSpirits]

that’s not entirely true. games get removed from digital marketplaces like Steam all the time, but they remain in the libraries of current owners. You just lose the ability to purchase them. I do agree physical is ideal, though.

[@RaiRai214]

@@WeirdTroll666 ALL copies of games are digital. The disc/cartridge contains a *_digital_* copy of a game. And you can keep a copy of the game files onto a disc, multiple games even The only benefit physical has is that you can sell it later. And you can still own a game that isn't online dependent. Digital is not your enemy. Game _streaming_ /cloud gaming/games as a service absolutely is

[@petersonp84]

I used to love physical games but now I research before purchase. 4 out of 5 games just have a small amount of data on the disc and the rest needs to be downloaded anyway. Basically the disc is just a license key for most games these days sadly. I still buy the occasional collector's edition if it is worth it.

[@AudioAdvisory38]

Splitscreen console with your buddies was the best. Having to memorize maps and strafe around staring at walls; so as to protect from lookers. Coming up with vehicle only/rocket only modes on Bloodgultch, with the charged alien green beacon gun to indicate "no rush just spawned" self made game modes. 👽

[@sgtraytango]

Or 4-player "Slappers Only, You Only Live Once" settings on Goldeneye 007 for N64. Great times.

[@monkeyporche225]

Best memories from the Halo days on original Xbox, 2 console's connected thru LAN and 8 friends playing via split screen. No looking worries but still in the same room. So much fun.

[@williamsherman7051]

I wish demos for games would make a comeback. It was always nice to be able to check out at least a small portion of games to find out whether you really would like it or not rather than having to rely on trailers and other peoples gameplay.

[@davidlawrence8711]

This is a big part of why I love gamepass so much - so many games I’d never consider buying if I couldn’t try them first, instead bundled in for the cost of a couple full price games a year, so naturally I end up playing lots I’d never have risked.

[@Steviebob-]

To be honest I'm kinda scared of the world of gaming evolving to the point where you can only get a game via the online store, mainly because I hate having to deal with online purchases and the area I live in has shit internet.

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

Until recently I couldn't even get Day 1 patches, let alone download an entire game. And there are millions of people in that situation.

[@LTCloud9]

Have you played MK 11? Nothing you do matters offline. You cannot even save your char customizations offline. It's with a heavy heart I didn't buy Diablo 2 remastered because of the online crap, now I will do the same for future mortal kombat games. Oh well, time to dust off my old trusty eyepatch.

[@Steel-101]

Awesome list dude. I miss the dual wielding from the halo games. They got rid of it in reach but what’s ridiculous is that it was never brought back. Also I really do miss the thick instruction video game Manuals in the box(it had instructions and character lore. Like the Rayman games for example) and I do miss those giant video game guides. In my opinion those are a lot better than the online guides.

[@gameranxTV]

Thanks.

[@Steel-101]

@@gameranxTV you’re welcome sir 👍🏼

[@jonmoore3964]

Can not agree with this more! Spot on man.

[@Steel-101]

@@jonmoore3964 thanks dude! Now I’m not saying that online guides are bad. there are people that go out of their way to make videos and write articles on A game and I appreciate that work. However to me nothing beats having that colossal game guide on your shelf. Then when you’re done reading it you just drop it on your desk and you hear that loud “THUD”(example the fallout three and Skyrim game guide lol 😆). Those books were the size of my accounting textbook from college.

[@jonmoore3964]

Or a good Hard cover strategy guide. The last one ever made I believe was God of War, red dead 2, and cyberpunk 2077 (which has to be bought online only) I could read my metal gear solid 4 guide 30 times over and still learn something new.

[@MOH717able]

I remember as a kid I had a whole CD binder just filled with demo discs for the ps2 it amazes me how easy it was to hold my attention back then to be able to replay the same demos over and over again

[@ValHazzard]

I had the same thing. I had demos for the PS1, PS2 and for PC, most if not all of them from gaming magazines. I must have played the demo for Tekken 3 a million times.

[@quitomark]

I really miss the goodies that used to come in physical game releases. Despite the game release going terribly the Cyberpunk physical copy had so much neat stuff and reminded me of those times. Between the postcards, stickers, and booklet there was clearly a lot of love put into that part of the game release.

[@samueltheprideofafrikarobi9319]

Agreed. Like Falcon said, you can still get them for larger releases, but they usually run in the $100+ range. Even the Cyberpunk super-ultimate-crazy edition was near $300 if I remember correctly. It's insane. These days I'm surprised when a publisher decides to give us an instruction booklet in a standard release. You can still get them consistently, but only if you're ordering a small release indie title from someone like Strictly Limited, I Am 8 Bit or Special Reserve Games.

[@blablup1214]

@@samueltheprideofafrikarobi9319 Yes I think this is the difference. Back in the days you got often something game related "for free". There was no Game 50 Bucks and game with stuff for 70 Bucks.... it was just the standard price with a little something ...

[@r.i.t95]

Man, you just brought back such great memories. I had so many of those demo disks growing up and I remember the store near to me would always sell the jampack volumes. Those things were amazing

[@R1N6MA573R]

Jampacks were the fucking shit I loved those

[@Tyler.Burleson]

Demos for sure, especially in the PS1 era with Square Enix. One of the first games I ever got was Brave Fencer Musashi, and it came with the Final Fantasy 8 demo, which became my entry into the Final Fantasy world that I've loved ever since. I of course also had Parasite Eve, which came with a demo disk for another demo of FF8, a demo of Brave Fencer Musashi, Xenogears, and Bushido Blade 2. And yeah, we still get demos today, but it just doesn't feel the same. Maybe it's just the fact that we are older and have income to actually buy games, and as a child the demos were just extra mini games we could play instead of playing our limited library of actual owned games.

[@NoNo-qt4ov]

Love that you talked about Couch Coop going away. By far my favorite feature and it is very disappointing that this feature has been taken away. I love to play games with my girlfriend but it sucks that there's only a handful of games that we can play together

[@gandalf_thegrey]

It's just so hard to monetize

[@NoNo-qt4ov]

@@gandalf_thegreyidk I feel like it's easier for big companies to do it they're just lazy and want to just do the least amount of work possible

[@grabble7605]

You can any co-op or multiplayer game together.

[@godssicario2077]

Demos were absolutely awesome. I remember playing SSX demo many many times with friends. Good times.

[@barryosborn830]

The original Skate demo was so good I never bought the real game lol

[@vicrattlehead8417]

Split-screen and non-internet multi-player is a part of gaming that I miss the most.

[@Dreamcatcher9000]

Back in the day, having 2 controllers was an essential part of gaming, playing with a friend. Now, what's the reason of having 2 controllers for the PS5, for example? Fortunately though, there are some companies like Hazelight...

[@cajintexas7751]

I remember spending hours at the computer store poring over the available video games. At that point in my life, a PC game was a major purchase, so I had to choose carefully. And of course the Internet for normal people was still a few years off. So I had to intuit which games would be good from careful perusal of the game box and reviews in computer catalogues. Good times.

[@martingothberg3593]

I grew up playing split screen with my brother, father or friends in games like Midnight Club 3, NFS Underground and Colin Mcrae 04. But split screen seem to have disappeared almost completely from racing games, even local, which is a real bummer in my opinion

[@haouleo]

I remember me and my 3 cousins playing Uncharted 2 multiplayer, all four of us with only 2 consoles. The tvs were in different rooms, but screaming to the other duo across the house was part of what made it great.

[@recity79]

Split screen co-op. God I miss that… I have no idea how many weeks worth of time my buddy and I played Terrorist Hunt (usually drunk) in Rainbow Six Vegas 2

[@deadman6919]

14:58 i was actually thinking about this the other day.. My favorite loading screen back on PS2 was the Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 game, were if you rotated the joysticks fast enough tons of Saibamen would pop out of the ground. Me and my cousin loved trying to see how many we could get. And doing that all the time built up my forearm muscles, and helped me become way better at beam struggles (another game mechanic I miss) i felt like a true saiyan as a kid getting stronger, and beating my friends in matches.

[@darknesswave100]

Man beam struggles were so much fun. I don't know why they got rid of them when the majority of people I've seen online and talked to irl absolutely loved them

[@deadman6919]

@@darknesswave100 I know right??!! And that would've been perfect for the Xenoverse games

[@TheReZisTLust]

@@deadman6919 Beam struggles are only a ghost of its former self. Now its garbage

[@Hiei-95]

sweet nostalgia

[@Hiei-95]

@@darknesswave100 we need the budokai 3 remake desperately

[@Doctorkilledbydeath]

What I miss the most are unlockables/extras (you know, extra modes, cheats, new characters, new skins or costumes, etc.). They got replaced by achievements (shitty and useless, it's just a pop up text) and that content that was a reward for playing the game was transformed into (paid) DLC

[@itariwasashi1645]

Wow, never even thought about it like that. All these things that we used to just unlock by playing the game is now paid DLC. Games are really dying sadly

[@Shadowx157]

100% hit the nail on the head

[@64onehotmama]

Right!!! I'm 58 & even I know these "trophies" are all bullshit..😂

[@jorgeachievementhunter2240]

We still get unlockables? Achievements have nothing to do with it. Paid Dlc had more to do with it

[@Doctorkilledbydeath]

@@jorgeachievementhunter2240 I can't remember the last game I played that had traditional unlockables

[@hiflyer000]

I used to love demo discs, and I bought several games I probably never would have considered because I played the demo. I also used to love LAN parties with my friends in high school before online gaming became a thing. We'd all haul our desktops over someone's house, order food, and play games together all night. I wish split screen multiplayer was more prevalent these days. I've tried a few recent games that still support it but I wish more did.

[@Welshy]

sonic games in the 90s were BRUTAL with the lives system, not only did you have to start again, you had to start from the very beginning of the game, regardless of how far you were in, also no saves, you had to play to the end in 1 session..

[@MidnightPanther113]

I legit forgot about playing online with local friends. That was such a cool feature! And whenever you matched another team with Username and Username_01, you knew it was gonna be a bit harder. Because of the improved communication

[@TheRagnus]

I don't know if I'm remembering this correctly, but I believe for a brief time during the PSX/PS2 era there were certain games where you could flip the disc upside down to access hidden content.

[@LogicAndCompassion]

PS1 era aswell. They often hit soundtracks and sometimes easter eggs.

[@AngelStarStudios]

@@LogicAndCompassion The first track on a PS1 disc was the data, the rest of the tracks are music. That's how the game worked, it was cool because Castlevania SotN had secret tracks if you played it in a CD player. Theres also other developer secrets with this we know about in the gaming industry :)

[@nothing2see315]

You have to put it in the microwave first tho

[@TheReZisTLust]

Im kinda glad thats over cause that could cause unnecessary damage to it lol

[@HarryMacleodMusic]

Game boxes are amazing and the art and detail that is included is amazing

[@Nightweaver1]

Just ask LGR, he's got a whole library of 'em.

[@mcbdllc136]

Collectibles

[@michaelfusciardi550]

PlayStation magazine with the demo discs was a massive part of my childhood. I would play demos of certain games for hours, replaying the same single mission over and over. I remember being devastated when an issue arrived saying the magazine was over and this was the last one. It’s been about 15 years since then and I still think about it from time to time

[@GreenboyQueso]

YES!!! Man 😢

[@lordofbanana6869]

Gaming magazines were amazing, especially the ones with demo discs! I still have a bunch of old magazines with articles about Half Life 2 and F.E.A.R. 2 and such and the Risen demo i once got actually gpt me in to pc gaming back in like 2009

[@tsb247]

I fondly remember receiving a piece of the Berlin Wall with my hard copy of World in Conflict. It also included a DVD that contained a documentary on the Cold War. ... I miss physical game copies and boxes.

[@haydncox7225]

The split screen Splinter cell franchise co op missions are some of my favourite gaming memories playing with my best mate, oh the fun we had, the strategies we made, we took that s**t so seriously and played through till sunrise 💪🎮

[@terryjones2467]

Yeah worked worked the coop mechanics in really well for that one. You absolutely Had to work together. My buddy and I would play that, gears of War, and take turns on Fable over and over. Such great times

[@paradsecar]

I would add one to the list (and only us old-timers will remember this one): physical DRM. Long before the days of modern DRM, some games would come packaged with a book or placard that could only be “decoded” with a red plastic filter. At certain points in the game, it would ask you to use the decoder to locate and input something like “the second word of the third paragraph” that you could only know if you had the card and the decoder viewing plastic. This ensured that, even if you let your friends borrow the floppy disk and install it, they could only get so far unless you gave them the decoder, or they called you every time there was this DRM checkpoint. I remember Sierra and Lucas Arts games in particular would come bundled with this “feature”.

[@Joreel]

I remember those, what a headache they were. I'm so glad this one died off LoL.

[@Joreel]

I remember those, what a headache they were. I'm so glad this one died off LoL.

[@patches2221]

Thanks LGR

[@alexwalker2582]

It was on the way out when I was a kid but I remember being very annoyed by it.

[@mariawhite7337]

Remember CD keys? I remember CD keys. I once bought a old game off ebay and had to message the seller for the keys!

[@Lurker-dk8jk]

There used to be automated cheat lines, created by the publisher or developer of a game (like Sierra Online), where you'd pay by the minute for game hints. Think it was late 1980s to early 1990s. Games like the King's Quest series or the Space Quest series. You could also order hint books that were printed in invisible ink. You'd use a highlighter to make the ink visible. 3:22 - Where do you think the password system came from? Old NES game systems without battery-backed cartridges REQUIRED passwords to preserve your progress. Metroid is a prime example (pun not intended), but far from the only one. 5:13 - They already have reinstated the lives system, in a way. It's now called HARDCORE difficulty in some games. Except you only get one life.

[@NeatoManeato]

I’m 35 and you sent me straight to my childhood in the 90’s with those PC magazines/Demos. I always wanted one when my dad went grocery shopping. My dad was on a budget but I remember getting one with Thief, Hexen 2, and the other game on the demo I can’t remember.

[@jettblade]

I think one of the best implements of Loading screen mini-games was Okami. You could actually get Demon fangs, a 'premium' currency only given by defeating enemies a certain way. It wasn't difficult to get them but a way to get more was nice. I do like having physical versions of games. I've been burned a few times with digital only games but having a physical copy just makes me feel a little more secure. The fact you could share games with friends for free was a nice bonus. Had a friend want to play Kingdom Hearts 3 but didn't want to buy it. I had a copy and let him borrow it. Also wanna point out that physical copies tend to have a lower price over time than digital copies. For example I was able to buy Borderlands 3 for $6.99 used when it is $24.99 digital. I want to know why digital games don't drop price or why they are as expensive when there isn't any additional costs like making the disks.

[@Alloveck]

I agree. It makes zero sense to me how digital games can be more expensive than the disk version of the same game, at the same time.

[@beatboxmix]

Best years in gaming for me was from 1990 until 2005, every game had a guide book that countained a lot of great information with pictures, I would read them all, even yesterday I was reading prince of Persia sands of time guide book and is such a gem, another thing was magazines, I can barely see any magazines around, I always prefered to see gaming news on magazines than the internet, the feeling is diferent, from 2000 until 2010( more or less) was such a rush with games, every year more than 10 games were advanced for that time, the hype was real, no microtransactions, no online shitty games, barely no remastereds, no copy and paste indie games,( some but not a lot like these days) I have played since 1990 until 2022, from Freddy hardest on spectrum zx until GT 7 on the ps5( playing on dirt courses at the moment) I never skipped any generation of consoles or pc, I saw all the evolution of the industry, my favorite moments was the change from 2d to 3d in the 90s, the jump from gen 6 to gen 7, the graphics were awsome( first time I played project Gotham racing 3 my mind was like wtf is this? The jump from crt tv to full HD, my only let down in gaming was from 2013 forward, gen 8 focused a lot in stupid remastereds with no need, microtransactions, online gaming like fortnite etc, most of the best games in previous gens only had 1 or 2 follow up on gen 8, there was lot of day 1 patches and not only, games with flaws, fake news by gaming companies, however, there was some great games on gen 8, but not groundbreaking and bought something new, it was just something that was done before but bigger and with more stuff to do, and the graphics also are sick, specially God of war, spiderman, order 1880, uncharted 4, ryse son of rome, last of us 2, but that's it, ive counted how many games truly impressed me like previous gens did, there are 18 games that are really master piece in gen 8, gen 7 there were 56, gen 6 114, gen 5 82, gen 4, 91, and I know all of them by heart, well its just my option of an old timer that been playing games for 30 years almost non stop, sorry for English, I know it sucks, it's not my native language, I love your channel, keep up the amazing work Falcon

[@FranciscoSciaraffia]

As a AAA dev, i can tell you split screen died because how demanding current AAA games are. Players go ape shit and it goes viral when a hyped AAA does not look perfect at all times. Having the game rendered 2 to 4 times is simply not possible if you want crisp graphics. Mario kart for example, goes down to 720p on TV mode when you play split screen. However since it is a cartoonish casual stylized game, its ok.

[@AlucardTheFuckMotheringVampire]

That's honestly a stupid excuse to cut splitscreen gaming 😒

[@galgor]

Such a load of shit

[@hallaloth3112]

It's unfortunate.

[@TheSultan1470]

A person who knows what they're talking about! A rare sight.

[@Wachalpharoh]

The death of local splitscreen/couch co-op is what is killing a lot of my overall interest in gaming as a hobby. Sure I still love the single player epics, but the reason gaming was so much fun growing up was doing it with my friends in the same room. As Falcon said, get some pizza and some soda and let the hours melt away as the trash talk fills the air - perfection. I have come to realize that it is not only a dying feature but a lot of the newer generation of gamers seem to not want it -- I was shocked when I asked if the upcoming Darktide would consider 2 player splitscreen on console, and having fans tell me to shut up and play online unless I am too 'socially awkward' to do so, like dude it's more social to be in the same room with your friends and family playing together. At least Nintendo and Indies still give us great couch co-op fun.

[@Danny___Riot]

I really miss map editors in games. I remember being excited about new FarCry games exclusively because it had a map editor. Those days are gone. ☹️

[@Astraeus..]

Nintendo literally made 2 Mario games that are nothing BUT map editors...

[@Roxor128]

Valve makes the SDK for the Source engine available, including the Hammer level editor, for free. Likewise for the developers of the Unity and Godot engines. Hell, Godot is open-source. I think my favourite level editor, however, was the BUILD editor, used with Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior. There's just something about it that's really intuitive that you don't get with Hammer. Okay, maybe you're referring to editors built into the game itself? Portal 2 has such an editor, as do many Zachtronics games. Though to be fair, in the case of the latter there generally isn't that much to actually build, as the nature of the games tends towards level-editing being a matter of defining inputs and outputs and limiting the tools the player can use.

[@Danny___Riot]

@@Roxor128 yea I miss like legit level editors built into the game. I’m a console peasant so my options are limited 😅

[@CapraDemon101]

Sifu has taken the whole "lives" system and worked it into the gameplay excellently. I'd like to see more of this kind of innovation in games.

[@jasonmackintosh1253]

Hell blade did a great job with it too

[@CapraDemon101]

@@jasonmackintosh1253 Yeah they did a terrific job. Great game

[@misguidedkpopper8674]

That mechanic in Sifu was great indeed. Sadly the whole roguelike structure of gameplay turned me off so I didn't enjoy it as much.

[@ender01o66]

Doom Eternal's lives system is really cool too, as well as Minecraft's totems of undying

[@johnpabelloren741]

I miss QTE still, its one of the moments where you suddenly go from casually fucking around to suddenly very serious trying to time everything right or die.

[@alexisfranco5674]

I like these nostalgic lists, really makes you think how far gaming has come.

[@sethemery9529]

It wasn't huge but the physical copy of hades came with a beautiful art book. Actually turned into a tattoo for me.

[@codydoxey2497]

Totally I had bought it again when I found it was on ps4 after having downloading it on my switch. Makes me miss the pre ps3 lil booklets that came with ps2 and GameCube games.

[@Mgranadosv]

Yep. But Hades is so good that if it came with a note that said "ha ha you bought it physical sucker" I would have been ok lol

[@AngelStarStudios]

We're hoping to bring back some of this stuff in the future. We're setting up Unreal Engine 5, and moving into higher-end games soon, things like in the video we'd love to do with our future Unreal games.

[@alexwalker2582]

Just looked at some of what you guys have made, they look interesting. I'll try a couple when my backlog gets under control, for now I'm putting them on my wishlist.

[@AngelStarStudios]

@@alexwalker2582 ​ @Alex Walker Thanks Alex! I appreciate that. I would recommend Dracula if you like 90s RPGs, it's also a free game. After the current retro games are finished up soon we'll be moving into modern graphics (will be a few months).

[@asakukarma]

I really miss split screen. Back when I was in middle school, I used to come home on friday nights, grab my controller, meet up with my friends and play Black Ops split screen. Nothing will top those memories

[@exstatik788]

I truly miss couch co-op online. Me and my brother would constantly play COD and Halo split screen online. Could have a friend over and they could just sign in as a guest and play with your level and unlocks too.

[@mrbusiness575]

I genuinely miss cheat codes

[@elementalist1984]

Reading through the comments I was beginning to think I was the only one.

[@jamesbarnes5192]

What I miss is the music creation games like MTV Music Generator or Magix Music Maker. I don't think anyone has ever done any (good) content about these types of games. Pity, they were hours and hours of fun.

[@MrElijah173]

A game with content during loading screens that I really enjoyed was Darkness (II?), Having Jackie narrate elements of the story to provide context ahead of the level you were about to play or the story thus far was another way to get closer to him as a character.

[@dark12ain]

I've always wished developers would do that more like I wouldn't even mind loading screen if they had lil mini games on em

[@mydigitalanalog]

Worst multiplayer scenario was buying an average racing game (monster truck championship) for PS5 just to get a quick and simple local multiplayer game for some casual gaming friends coming over soon, because it says local multiplayer on the back of the box, only to find out that it doesn’t actually have local multiplayer.

[@midwestyle]

Something I miss, synthesizers in video game music. Yes, the orchestrial soundtracks and actual instruments sound awesome in games. I won't lie. But I miss some of the 32-64 bit music coming out of those older generation consoles.

[@onlyws6810]

Farcry 4 had one really rough mandatory stealthy section where you got into an area by the back of a truck and had to take photos of certain things (I don't remember what else), I remember getting spotted and failing at least 20 times

[@keysterglenjamin8461]

I love challenging sneak levels like the Farcry games had. Some games don’t do stealth well, but farcry 3-5 (haven’t played 6) did it amazingly and in my opinion, the best,

[@onlyws6810]

@@keysterglenjamin8461 I loved the stealth in farcry 3 purely because the map had a lot of water and sneaking on watery levels is always fun, farcry 4 is my personal favorite game in the series so I'll always sing its praises and farcry 5 just has extremely smooth gameplay as a whole

[@MinorZero]

The autofail does suck, but at least "modern" fc games have decent to good stealth mechanics as opposed to a lot of other games that had no stealth mechanics whatsoever and still ask you to do an autofail sneak section.

[@onlyws6810]

@@MinorZero absolutely, and first person stealth is challenging... but also very immersive so I love it

[@mcbdllc136]

Man far cry was hard but good you felt like you had to stock up and you had to fight for your life

[@thatgamerguy3057]

I miss when games had to be good and complete because they couldn’t update it later. They game they made is the game you played and that’s it. The ease of updating games has given us so many half assed, barely running games that only get good a year in or save good content for seasons

[@TheSultan1470]

No.

[@thejackal007]

I definitely miss the big PC boxes myself. Odd shaped boxes from companies like Eidos, huge manuals to read wherever you want, cloth maps to look at and, for the super old among us, even weird fake crystals and things that were shipped in some Infocom titles for the Atari (anyone else remember the hidden clues books that came with Zork?)

[@kalitor]

Warcraft II is another one of those CDs that worked as a soundtrack. Used to do my homework in high school listening to that. Only side effect was that every time I finished, I would blurt out "Job's Done!"

[@TurdF3rguson]

Physical discs with the PS5 are definitely the way to go. There's not a huge difference in price if you're getting newer games (sometimes no difference at all), but if older, used games can be dirt cheap. I just recently bought Resident Evil 7, RE8 and Uncharted 4 for $50 including shipping. To get the same from the PS stores, it would have cost me a little over twice that much.

[@Not-Great-at-Gaming]

Earthbound was sold for a premium price though. I think the retail price was $99.99, which even in the cartridge days was A LOT.

[@Taijifufu]

But it had scratchNsniff™ technology included. They were looking to the future.

[@a2pha]

8:25 Now this could be used effectively. While I did love seeing all those playable and non-playable demos on those free discs you could buy or subscribe to, I have seen some games where you did good in a particular area, let's say Pinball, and you "earn" money that can be used to get you new mini-games that run in the main game.

[@thedarkemissary]

I actually really like context QTEs. Like Heavy Rain like you mentioned. Not the ones where if you fail the QTE, you die and the scenarios has to reload, but ones where if the QTE is successful or fails effects the outcome of the scene in which they are presented and so the scenario plays out differently. Like the boss is weaker or you lost a weapon or you accessed a shortcut or you collected a bonus. Wish more games would have some. Changes up replay experience.

[@HarmonicaPL]

In Bayonetta port on pc loading times were so short, if the game was installed on SSD, that you couldn't really get any practice on those training screens. Bayonetta 2 gave a player a way to stay on that screen even after loading but it didn't came to Pc

[@SippyCup]

They may have been initially coined in Shenmue, but the idea of QTE is defo older. Legend of Dragoon, released at least 3 years before Shenmue, used a QTE-like system for ultimate moves. To this day, I still consider that method (QTE mid-turn in turn-based RPG) as one of the few acceptable uses. It was repeated in several Final Fantasy games as well. QTE in say, God of War or Devil May Cry grinds the action to a halt. But in a turn-based game, it adds excitement to the turns.

[@ShadeMeister93]

I actually liked the button mashing QTEs made you feel like you were actually doing something especially in Asura's Wrath, other than the "press now" and live ones

[@jsullivan2112]

Can't even get a manual anymore! Last one for me that wasn't a special run was Demon's Souls in 2009. Also how about demos in general, physical or otherwise? Nowhere near as many as there used to be.

[@jsullivan2112]

@ANOTHER LOST ACCOUNT I noticed that too when I finally bought one!

[@hallbjornthefirebreather8376]

Man, I miss midnight releases and "prestige" editions of games. Buying the premium packages of games and getting the feelies, rushing home to open it, figuring out how I wanted to display all the things.... *sigh* the good times hanging out with mt buddies in the parking lot of GameStop waiting for them to start handing out the games,

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

Those were the days. Not to mention, just talking to strangers about the game you were there for.

[@luanchanquini6787]

one thing that i miss in games today is the unlockables. I lost the count of how many times I've tried to unlock an specific character or anything just to feel rewarded and show it off to my friends. I used to play in times that internet was not so accessible to anyone like it is nowadays, so any cheats or anything discovered by my own merits are special. I remember playing DBZ Budokai 3 with my friends making our own championships with our own rules and the glory to be the champion of the neighborhood was a unique feeling, i also remember when we all wanted to know how to unlock any SS4 transformation, and when me and my brother did discover it, we ran right to the phone to call our friend that we made it. Days like these are just memories now cause none of my friends plays offline games now either by lack of time or anything else.

[@OIFIIIOIF-VET]

I remember playing Fallout 3/NV in a pitch black room and sneaking so slowly through dungeons high as hell. Good times. Also can we get a new Metro game please?

[@fried_3gg0s.]

But where would it be, the first 3 we're based off the book, would it be like a continuation of sam's story?

[@OIFIIIOIF-VET]

@@fried_3gg0s. Could you imagine a METRO in NYC or if it was a continuation of Sam's storyline, San Francisco..........call it METRO: The Subway. I'd be down for that. After all, STALKER 2 is gonna stay in Russia. At least METRO has a connection to the West. Shit I'm down for that. Plus add in UE5......let's go.

[@fried_3gg0s.]

@@OIFIIIOIF-VET but at the same time metro is known for being a Russian fallout

[@darknesswave100]

I got the Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel 4 collectors edition that came with a book that has art and stuff in it, A sick as hell box with the man character in his ogre/normal form, these little mini poster things that have all the awakeners on them, a soundtrack disc with really good music on it, a steel box for the disc and a cloth poster thing that's still hanging in my room. Barely paid 100 bucks for it. All that stuff. Now all that costs 200 if you're lucky. Feels like some developers put nonsense in their collectors editions now that aren't even close to what they should cost

[@YogBaal]

Cool video, Falcon. I, too, am old enough to remember (and greatly miss) the arcades of old (I’m 55)

[@neblettadam]

40 here and I absolutely agree. I truly miss arcades.

[@Joreel]

I use to spend my Saturdays in the local arcade with a couple rolls of quarters. It was the place to meet your friends and make new friends. You could challenge people to games and win or lose everyone had fun.

[@neblettadam]

@@Joreel this is where we started losing everything. The loss of that. I'd love to find an old MvC 2 machine put my quarters in and start wrecking people. For $$$

[@YogBaal]

@@Joreel And all the sounds of all those machines playing at the same time- music!

[@jeremyjohnson9585]

Old PC games had the disc soundtrack. Most Star Wars games had this feature. The Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series is the first to come to mind.

[@Nemesis-ru5ll]

I miss the instruction booklet that came inside the game box. They had a lot of information and it was great having that collection. I also remember buying the PC magazine for the Demos, it was a great feeling.

[@evankociencki1163]

Loving the diverse lists! Keep it up Gameranx!

[@gameranxTV]

Glad you like them!

[@jesuschrist711]

The last bit there: I'm not sure if the newer few still do, but assassin's creed had always allowed you to walk around a void while you wait, and the elder scrolls/fallout both allow you to spin items in a load, albeit i cant say they're exactly "modern" franchises, more improved and rehashed older games lately. I love even just that little bit of loading screen manipulation like that because then you can tell if something is wrong with the game. I use a very...personable...360 that sometimes acts up, so to have a visual cue the game stopped loading was always a great bonus for me. I imagine they stopped because these days everyone wants a game *now*, or at the least the company higher-ups do, and coding in some load screen interactivety would take time which they could use to debug. It's sad because the little things they put in from being able to (relatively) walk the development were always my favourite. GTA 4 was king for small details, for example. New ones are still being found.

[@Cman04092]

I've noticed a resurgence of demos lately, although they're downloads now and not an add on to other games or a multi demo pack with a magazine. And now you can carry over progress to the main game too, which is nice.

[@erictaylor5462]

To be fair, the game guide books were almost all published before the internet got dood enough to have these guides on-line.

[@kielz_]

I remember on RPGs I've been button smashing every corner just to find an item. I wish they bring this back as I don't seem to see this anymore on games.

[@Movie16Master]

I still buy physical games for my switch. I can usually find them for half the price and I can share the game with my wife.

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@zachbenimble1932]

When it comes to loading screens, I like the ones that give bits of lore like Skyrim or dark souls. I find that more interesting then the ones that would just give you tutorials that would often be the same and usually either be in the beginning of the game or be rather obvious.

[@jordan9272]

I got so nostalgic when you was talking about the good ol days of couch co-op. My friends and I would literally order a couple big azz pizzas, some desserts, and a sh*t ton of Mt Dew! I miss those days lol

[@MrGanjie]

I used to play black ops split screen online with my little cousin. I had to controllers and one couldn't use the ADS button, so I'd take it. That's two distinct gamer experiences tied together right there 😂 the broken controller and splitscreen

[@TH3SHUR1F]

DOOM Eternal had a great take on the “extra lives” mechanic; allowing you to just keep trucking when you run out of health, provided you still had lives left.

[@gagesmith6632]

I’m sorry, those stealth missions in the Hulk tie in game, used to be terrifying to me 😂 I loved the fear of being Bruce and not a war machine like Hulk, it changed up the gameplay

[@georgefrakes8771]

i love how you mention stealth without mentioning the family guy game which had the most aggravating stealth sequences ever

[@Xo7icz]

I definitely miss coming home as a kid and becoming God Mode in early GTA 5

[@slevinkelevra4141]

This made me feel so old lol

[@mugenBCK]

Physical copies should not die down. It takes alot of thoughts of what will be inside the box even the background designs they are admirable. Thank you developers for having done do!

[@tankofnova9022]

6:45 I have 2 of my own stories about hating QTEs that were just agonizing to play. Near the end of the final boss fight in Kingdom Hearts 2 there's this part where you and Reku have to defect a seemingly endless barrage of lasers. Sora has to have X mashed and Reku square I think it was. It lasted so damn long that I had to pause the game after it was over just so I could regain the ability to move my hand correctly. I WAS STILL A KID! Like, 10 or less! The other one is also a late game QTE. In Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots there's a part where you have to make it though a giant hall way of microwaves. Mashing square for ENTIRE MINUTES was just stupid. Absolutely ridiculous. And at the end your solid eye, a gadget that is basically a camera and much more explodes in your face and you are left with like a quarter of your max hp to fight Liquid in a 1 on 1 CQC dual. So it's a QTE that leaves you crippled for the final showdown! WTF!?!?

[@Trinidaddy_Gaming]

For Kingdom Hearts 2, for that part, I missed every button press. I didn't even know it was a qte when I was playing.

[@darknesswave100]

The kh2 one is a bit ridiculous. Even now if I do that part my fingers hurt trying to complete that nonsense

[@BlakeAustin2011]

FFXIV has this crap in it starting with the final fight of Stormblood 4.0 patch. And in some cases, 1 person not pressing fast enough causes a wipe.

[@LogicAndCompassion]

For me, One of the worst QTE segments appears in Halo 4. Super kool, Big bad guy, final boss... "press button to throw grenade". It was such a huge missed opportunity.

[@warkiller]

@@BlakeAustin2011 To be fair the QTEs in FF14 lets you mash any button on your controller or keyboard to make progress on the QTE bar, so if you have a keyboard, you can pretty much faceroll and it works. Can probably do something similar with the buttons on the controllers, just make the hand flat and keep pressing all buttons at once.

[@555ArkIce]

The problem I have with QTEs is like say you’re playing the new GOW and during a boss fight have to stop watching the amazing visuals to make sure you hit X at the right time

[@HiramTuaPR]

I almost cried when you mentioned the ZOE game with the MGS2 Demo. Those were the times 🥲

[@danielschmaderer]

I remember owning a demo disk with Metal Gear Solid packed in thinking how amazing the game would probably be when on release. Boy was I right.

[@adamking4246]

That's one of my all time greats. Probably #1 actually.

[@MMM-gb5ob]

remember when video game companies cared about their players

[@TheSultan1470]

No

[@IISPIFFYII]

Loved my avatars on the Xbox 360, made multiple profiles just so I could mess with them. Forgot they were even a thing, it’s sad to see them go now that you mention it though.

[@ytubestolemyhandle]

About those Instant Fail Sneak Missions - Lost Ark has a LOT of them. All over the world you find quests and dungeons that ask you to sneak around for prolonged periods and if you slip for so much as a nanosecond, your mission fails and you need to start again. To add insult to injury, you "die" for all intents and purposes, losing durability on gear. Now it wouldn't be quite so annoying if the detection radiuses on NPCs actually matched reality. But no. Player character has a big FAT hitbox that's gonna trigger alarm while you're still way out of the glowing red indicator.