8 Ways You're Wrong About Old Video Games Being Better

7. Passwords & Memory Cards

The time before memory cards were built into consoles was like the Dark Ages of gaming. Not only would you have to slog through the games themselves, but you’d have to contend with the awful issue of turning off the console and realising “Oh, fish sticks, I’ve gosh-dang forgotten to write down the password. What a ninny-hammer I am.”

Or as we’d say if it happened today, “F*****CK”

Yes, while people bemoan the ever hand-holdy experience of checkpoints every 10 feet in Call of Duty, it’s far better than losing hours of progress just because the game had a 20 character password and you miswrote a b instead of an 8.

Even worse was the age of the duff memory card, where you’d be met with the message “Memory Card Corrupt” and just want to die. The moment I lost all my progress on Final Fantasy IX was so bad, it took me six years of recovery time before I could try again.