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

Following on naturally from lives and continues is the idea of health pick-ups.

We would once struggle on through a level with only a sliver of health remaining, only to let out a primal sigh of relief to discover a medi-kit or chicken leg hidden within a crate or other seemingly innocuous set dressing.

Such discoveries of hidden elixirs made us feel like Indiana Jones (especially if we were actually playing an Indiana Jones game).

Today, when the red border of imminent death encroaches on our field of vision, we simply avoid conflict for five seconds and miraculously recover to our initial state of health and happiness.

While this is, again indicative of a tidal shift in the industry toward new gameplay norms and innovations within the games themselves, it takes away a huge piece of what lent older games the added sense of tension and stress which is missing in a lot of current games.

Obviously there are still plenty of modern titles with health pick-up systems in evidence - Breath of the Wild or Skyrim for example - but these tend to revolve more around the gathering and manipulation of ingredients and potions than the good old fashioned chicken in a wheelie bin trope of yesteryear.