I remember playing Super Mario Brothers for the first time, and
marveling at the high-end graphics, the level design, the enemies. It was fascinating, and didn’t cost money to
play.
I had just completed 2-2 and got past that damn Blooper,
when I got a call. I let the machine get it ‘cause I was in the groove, and
heard a friend leave a message wanting to go out.
Ahh, crap.
Now I don’t want to turn this into a kids have it easy today
diatribe, but back then you had to make a choice between your console and
socializing. Back then if you were
knee-deep into a game, and something came up, there was no way to save your
progress. You could pause, sure, but
your only long-term solution was to switch off your console, live your life,
then start over from the beginning the next time you wanted to play.
It sucked…hard. Although,
I was glad I didn’t have to pay for each restart.
When I eventually got the first PlayStation it came with something
I didn’t quite understand at first: memory
cards. For what? For saving your progress… You mean?
Yep, finish a world in Spyro, save your game, take a call, leave the
house, enjoy your time, and come back to a virtual bookmark the next time you
boot up your system.
This is truly what is meant by technology making life
better.
It was so freeing.
And although it may be true that kids today do have it easier,
thank goodness. Imagine BioShock without
saves, or Uncharted. Dark Souls, as
difficult as it is, would be unplayable without saves.
In my mind, periodic saves did more to change games than
almost anything else in the last few generations.