20 Things Only 30-Something Gamers Will Understand
19. There Were No Saves
Late nights, early mornings and mis-spent summer holidays. All common side effects exhibited by early console gamers desperate to complete the hot new title.
Why did they plough on so heartily until the wee small hours for days on end, sometimes not eating or bathing until the job was done?
Until 1986 you simply couldn't save your progress in a console game. It was impossible. From start to finish it had to be achieved by pausing for things like toilet breaks, church and Grange Hill.
But that all changed on February 21st when Nintendo published The Legend of Zelda for the NES. They pioneered what everyone now takes for granted, be it in the form of checkpoints, watch towers or sailing through to the next level.
The lack of saves made (what by today's standards are relatively easy titles to complete) it a task worth writing home about.
Fun fact: In-game saves are as old as Usain Bolt, the M25 and Maradona's infamous Hand of God moment at the Mexico World Cup.