Gaming problems of the 90s

Growing up in the 90s was tough for gamers, we had to deal with problems that the youngsters of today aren’t even aware of.

These problems may seem trivial – or hilarious – now, but when you were 10 years old and your copy of Double Dragon on Golden China wouldn’t work, it felt as if the world was coming to an end.

Here’s a look at some of the more “serious” gaming problems of the 90s.

Buy a PlayStation, but can’t afford a memory card

This happened to most of us. You are so excited to get the hottest console on the block that you save up to the cent, and then rush out an buy it and one game straight away. Of course, you had neglected to take a memory card into consideration.

Lacking the ability to save you game was not fun, and I even resorted to leaving my PS1 on overnight so I did not lose my progress in Crash Bandicoot.

Turning your PlayStation upside down to make it work

Did you ever have a lid failure on your PS1? Or would certain games not load? The solution: turn the console upside down, stand it up against a shelf, or wedge it between two solid items.

Buying Ape Escape only to learn you need a new controller

Back in the day there was no MyGaming website to inform you about all things gaming and to help you make the right choice – you just went out there and hoped for the best.

When I bought Ape Escape, I went with my gut and decided to ignore the “required” DualShock control.

Needless to say that no matter how many times I booted up the game, I never got past the “please insert DualShock controller” screen.

Missing a disc, or the disc is scratched

Those four-disc games were the best – Final Fantasy 8 comes to mind first – as they really made you feel like you were getting your money’s worth.

The downside was that if one disc went missing or was scratched, you had to buy the whole combo again.

Memorising passwords and cheats

Even in the age of memory cards, you had to remember all your passwords – some of which were 12 digits long. This meant you had a small notebook with you at all times, your secret codes always at hand.

The only thing more important were the cheat codes, which you copied down fervently when receiving them, or copying them out of a gaming magazine at CNA.

Blowing into cartridges

Even though all the game companies told you not to, if your game wouldn’t boot up you would take it out of the socket and blow your entire lung capacity into it. There was an 80% chance of it working after that.

Broken controllers

These days we use advanced Bluetooth controllers, but in the 90s it was all about how long your cable was. The problem with those cables, though, was that they always broke – typically at the point at which they met the controller.

You tried to tape it, solder it, and even pleaded with it to work, but it would always let you down – more often than not during a game of Tony Hawk as you were about to end an epic combo.

What 90s gaming problems do you remember? Let us know in the comments and forum.