8 Pre-Internet Video Games That Desperately Needed A Patch

The Era of modern gaming is a double-edged sword indeed.

On one the one hand we're able to pull games from the ether via downloads and enjoy cinematic experiences that blast through our screens in dizzying resolutions, but on the other, we're often viewed by publishers as greasy little piggy banks just waiting to be smashed open via microtransactions and season passes. We've never been treated better and worst at the same time.

But at least our games work.

Well, technically I should say that "At least our games work, eventually" because thanks to patches and hotfixes even games held together by string and hope (and trust me many are in the current time) can be molded into a functional state, with a select few even going on to redefine the industry in their own images.

However, back in the day, we didn't have such luxury. You got whatever was printed to a disc or cartridge and that was it. If it was broken upon release it was bloody well going to stay that way.

But what if we had the power to go back and fix some absolutely stinky glitches and errors from our youth? Would it have changed the course of gaming history if certain titles hit the market in pristine condition? Well let's find out as we covered the pre-internet games that desperately needed a patch.

I know the next sentence might sound like hyperbole, but The Lion King for the SNES is the game that ruined my childhood.

I say this because thanks to this utter hellscape of a title I got to see my Dad utterly defeated and on the brink of such anger that he had to walk away from the console. It was one of those glass-shattering moments because up until that point, my parents were like superheroes, always there to offer help or assistance, and to see him unable to get past some of the early levels was utterly gutting for both he and I.

And you know what? It didn't have to be this way as this wasn't some sort of perceived difficulty, it was actually a horribly oily marketing ploy in order to get longer and repeat rentals of the game! Seriously Capcom was told by Disney to make the game purposefully difficult so that it couldn't be completed in a single weekend rental period and would therefore force people to rent the game numerous times in order to beat it!

Therefore my patch would not only be one that introduced a more lenient difficulty mode but would also act as a salve to my and many other gamers' earliest gaming experiences.