This Video Gaming Tradition is Nearly Dead 💀

[@Dragonrider1227]

My original NES came with a cartridge with TWO games, TWO controllers, and a Zapper. Now you don’t even get an extra controller. I think back in the day companies had to work harder to get people to buy their product. Like, the NES needed something really good as a pack in to get people back after the crash, Sega needed a pack in to lure people away from Nintendo ect… nowadays, each major console has pretty much a built in audience ready to gobble up whatever they make next so there’s not as much need to entice with a pack in game

[@BeeBeeagle]

Yeah. The Switch 2 is an example of this that speaks for itself.

[@johntuel2375]

I had the orange zapper.

[@okamijubei]

Mainly because consoles before the 2000s are incapable to go online as online console gaming then was very impractical and gaming consoles then weren't as pricey then compare to today.

[@MrVariant]

Late edition bundles are nice, let alone switch joycons sometimes count as 2 controllers. I got a ps5 with horizon forbidden west, which unlike psvr2 call of the mountain, didn’t increase the price (after some time). Vid is kinda inaccurate given they don’t launch with pack-in games. Phantasy Star IV was $100 with same price as genesis. 8:29 switch lite with animal crossing was great.

[@michaelsegal3558]

My first NES system came with a Super Mario/Duck Hunt gamepak, 2 controllers and an orange light gun

[@elfofcourage]

Mine was the triple game cart(SMB/DH/World Class Track Meet)

[@michaelsegal3558]

@@elfofcourageI know the one you’re talking about I knew people who had that one and I’m assuming your gun was the orange one?

[@MCastleberry1980]

Its funny. Nintendo used ROB to get the NES on shelves in the states, but SMB was the killer app that sold the system after the Atari crash

[@epicon6]

3:18 there were multiple different pack in games for the Mega Drive in addition to those, but yeah those were the most significant. Others included: Super Monaco GT (which is what i got), Sonic 2, Sonic 2 + special 3 game pack, Lion King, Big Six Pack, Sonic 3 + Sonic & Knuckles, Mega Games 1 & 2, Sonic Compilation, Colums, Sonic Spinball, NFL Pack, Comic Zone+ NFL, and a bunch more.

[@ramgladore]

I remember buying a Playstation with my first paycheck and getting a demo disk. It had a paper sleave showing a hand with 6 fingers. The disc had playable demos for Tomb Raider 2, Gex Enter the geko, Jet Moto, Parapa the rapper, Bloody Roar, Cool Boarders and video clips of other games. I played the hell out of that disc for two weeks until I had enough money to get Final Fantasy 7, the game I wanted the most. I used to think the demo disc was ok but lamenting there wasn't a full game so it wasn't really important to me. But I still have it after all these years and I only look back on it with fond memories. It's as much a part of my collection as any full game I have and I unironically still play it.

[@TheyCallMeSledge]

I still have my demo disc back from when my Dad got me the PS1 on Christmas of 1997. For the longest time I thought it got lost in the shuffle of things getting moved around for years but managed to recently come across it at the tail end of 2023 shortly after my Dad passed on Thanksgiving weekend. Me and my mom were sorting through things, mostly clothes that of course won't be worn again and some other stuff he had stashed behind and I found the disc in a small container that was collecting dust in the corner of the closet. That small container was basically a time capsule because it was littered with many fairly obsolete, yet valuable things that have long been out of print or not being made anymore. I have that container with me now and I keep close watch of it. At this point that demo disc is more than just a childhood relic, it's also a small memory of my Dad coming through and getting me the console that I would truly treasure many years ago.

[@Riz2336]

I think it sucks but at least there still is physical releases of games. Now that'll be awful when everything goes digital only

[@joemunoz8378]

Digital is going to end game collecting. Nintendo is the last console for physical which i bet won't be physical throughout the Switch 2 life cycle. They will slowly do away with it to increase their greedy behavior. $$$

[@TheyCallMeSledge]

As much as I do appreciate that still being a thing, it doesn't hold up in value like it used to. It's just merely the disc and even when you pop it in, you'll still have to go through the downloading and installing process of getting the game set up. The disc just merely shortens time and hard drive space. Long gone are the days where games came with instruction booklets with some certain ones having maps and other small collectibles. All that stuff has gone digital and the physical ones that still remain cost an arm and a leg.

[@TheyCallMeSledge]

@@joemunoz8378 Well I give credit to Nintendo for at least holding out long enough. Xbox brought the only digital aspect as early as 2013 with their badly sold Xbox One and the PS5 has pretty much adopted that mindset with the Pro being sold as all digital. The disc drive comes separately and you gotta install that yourself.

[@Face761]

My NES came with 2 controllers, one grey light gun, R.O.B. the Robot , Duck Hunt and Gyromite the Christmas it dropped. I wish the Switch 2 would at least come bundled with one of the new Pro controllers we have yet to see as an option when it debuts.

[@mchenrynick]

When Nintendo cut out R.O.B., then the pack-in game changed to a SMB/Duck Hunt combo cartridge. This is why SMB, in a separate retail box, goes for insane money!

[@chui1976]

I was angry at first with the PS1 demo disk. But played the hell out of it and stuck to PS since then.

[@pinebarrenpatriot8289]

Getting my Sega Genesis Christmas of 1989 and playing Altered Beast and Ghouls and Ghosts (my only 2 games at the time) was magic. Best Christmas ever😊

[@terran0797]

Wow this was a really well done video, I love finding new content creators that talk on subjects that are barely touched on a subject that many talk about.

[@SquirrelHill]

Do you post that exact same comment on every video that you comment on?

[@lewiscabibi1393]

I think Nintendoland was also an interesting choice for a pack in game for the Wii U. It served as both a pack in game exclusive and a demo disc for the systems capabilities. Unfortunately, the console still failed, but it did try to do both.

[@brianbuchwak9981]

nintendoland was/is so much fun though, I still break it out for parties

[@dwightdixon8508]

This subject sort of reminds me of how manufacturers like Apple no longer include power blocks with their iPhones stating that you already have them so possibly Backwards compatibility has also accounted for no pack in game. Sure, that doesn’t show off new devices capabilities but with an instant update your previous gen game can have some interesting features and graphics like how MS does with some backwards compatible games on Series systems

[@Diegus-]

Hell it's about time. It's been 84 years! Hope you can upload videos a bit more regularly, really miss your tutorials!

[@elfofcourage]

Launch day SNES were packaged with Super Mario World.

[@elfofcourage]

4:23 Where did you learn to fly? 😂

[@mchenrynick]

AVGN's video of this game comes to mind...

[@albertjiminez1144]

Cant believe you didnt mention Gyromite and Duck Hunt.

Think about it, in some alternate universe, 1-2 Switch would've been one of the best selling games of all time if it was the pack in it was clearly trying to be...

[@mchenrynick]

I think pack-in games don't resonate as much to younger generations...

[@AthanasiosJapan]

I had Game Boy bundled with Tetris and SNES bundled with Street Fighter 2. Both were great games. I have also seen Game Boy bundled with 3 games: R-Type, Gargoyle's Quest and Magnetic Soccer.

[@SquirrelHill]

Combat on the Atari 2600 was was the greatest pack in game. This is not my opinion. It is a fact.

[@katherineberger6329]

Pack-in games are a thesis statement for the game console.

[@samuraibeastwarrior2886]

Astro Bot can bring back the pack in game

[@redsilversnake]

Haven't consoles always been sold at a loss? I'm pretty sure taking a hit there while making money on other fees has been standard since well before the PS360 era.

[@samuraibeastwarrior2886]

Astro Bot is awesome

[@WWammyy]

In the early days Video games companies had to convince us to buy their console. So they sold the value proposition of something for free. Also a large library of games wasn't a given the one game you got with the console may have been the only game you played for a long time. Demo discs changed everything because the media was cheap enough to be able to do that but cartridges were not cheap. Today we have the Switch tax for carts and cart sizes. Sega Saturn Virtua Fighter was quite a blow to the console as it was immediately compared as a value proposition against the Playstation. Virtua Fighter is considered a bad port of the Model 1 Arcade however Tekken was an Arcade perfect port of the PS1 based System 11 Arcade and it looked better. Despite being shipped with a Demo disc the PS1 with a game still worked out cheaper and it ended up having a lasting effect on sales. The N64 pack in was considered Mario 64 as retailers made their own bundles.

[@Bro3256]

It's important to note that in Japan, pack-ins were NOT the standard. Nintendo consoles for example? They launched with no pack-ins in the region from the Famicom to the Switch. Even from competitors, NEC didn't bundle in games for the PC Engine, Sega didn't do it either for any of their consoles. Sure bundles came later but when you bought the console within the year it released, you had to buy the games separately. Even the Wii, famous for its Wii Sports pack-in, you had to buy it separately in Japan. The bundle strategy was mainly a western thing and you tend to only see it after a console has been out for a while.

[@michaelsegal3558]

An interesting way of saying 2006 “twenty 0 6”

[@epicon6]

There are pack in games now too for every console but they come later in the life of the console. They are just codes to download the digital version but still they have a sleeve over the regular box showing the game. At my local store there’s a PS5 Fortnite pack in box at the moment.

[@katherineberger6329]

This is brought up in the video at 7:05.

[@evgaming9390]

The reason we don't see pack in games is because Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo dont need to prove to you.

[@TheSnoopyclone]

They don’t even have to include the cd or cartridge. They can include the digital code for the game or a voucher for the player to get. It cost them nothing yet they don’t include them. Clearly it’s all just smoke. Now we know.

[@Fools_Requiem]

IMO, a big reason is the fact that the price of games and consoles did not follow inflation. Video games and video game consoles cost a LOT more in the 70s, 80s, and 90s than they do today. Hell, when the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox launched, video game prices dropped from 60 to 50. When Sony and Microsoft started selling games for the 360 and PS3 st 60 bucks again, people whined.

[@mattx449]

Awesome time in gaming. I think (part of) the reason the prices dipped for a bit was the change from cartridges to discs which were cheaper to produce. But I could be wrong 😂

[@Fools_Requiem]

@mattx449 Discs were likely cheaper, but the production of games was not.

[@gmitch1978]

Launch PS1 came with Ridge Racer. Check your facts.

[@McCucumber]

I never look forward to the newest Xbox what are the newest PlayStation I do look forward to the newest Nintendo console usually, but now with the reveal of the switch to I'm not really looking forward to it at all because well it's just the switch but a little bit bigger and maybe the graphics will be slightly better. Maybe next time around a Nintendo will do something innovative.