10 Awesome Old-School Video Game Features We Don't See Anymore

As with many entries on this list, the actual structure and framework of old-school games was more a product of the available technology and processing power than of a conscious, creative design ethos.

Think back to your favourite childhood game; what was your favourite level?

See? We’re talking about levels.

Games from this bygone, rose-tinted era existed along very clear, very formulaic lines: Level one, boss fight. Level two, boss fight. Level three, boss fight, and so on and so on ad nauseum.

If asked to name your favourite level in The Witcher 3 or The Last of Us, you cannot answer, as games are measured by a different barometer in the modern era.

We could all name our favourite boss fight from Sonic 2 or Super Mario World, but could not do so for Star Wars Battlefront 2 or Oblivion.

This is not necessarily a criticism either, as some of the greatest and beloved games of all time hail from this era and follow this blueprint unflinchingly.

Games like Super Mario Bros. And Sonic the Hedgehog not only followed but perfected this formula, and the developers of subsequent releases and franchises would look to these legendary titles for inspiration and guidance.

The idea of ten levels and ten bosses may seem quaint and old fashioned to modern gaming sensibilities, where online RPGs and enormous, 200 hour open world adventures are the order of the day, but without the level/boss/level/boss structure to build upon, gaming as we currently know it may never have evolved at all.