this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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RetroGaming

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I suppose this is what getting older feels like.

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Here's Mario at nearly 30 years ago (29 years):

Mario 64

[–] [email protected] 39 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I remember everyone gathering around the TV to see this because it was so unbelievable.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago

A buddy of mine bought an N64 with Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 on launch day. We didn't know that it would sell out so quickly. He worked at a retail store and got into talking to a customer about him having the N64. Apparently the guy was a father that was desperate to get an N64 for his kid. He offered to pay 4x what my buddy paid at retail. It was a lot of money for a young guy in his late teens. He sold it to the guy out of his trunk the next day for the cash. It would be 6 months before inventory returned in stores and he was able to rebuy an N64.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Super Mario 64 is 29 years old.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (7 children)

The bottom picture is Super Mario Sunshine. Released in 2002, so will be 23 years old this summer/fall.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah I'm saying that author with 20 years is optimistic. Given development time of video games someone saw 3D Mario 30 years ago.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I can't believe SNES mario was only 6 years before that. I'm so glad I was around to have my mind blown when firing up N64 mario for the first time

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

I remember watching someone playing tekken in TV store in 1995. That was 30 years ago and I'm old as fuck.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Why would you say this

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 days ago (2 children)

One of my University students asked me the other day if I was doing anything special for the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith.

I told him he needs to remember I control his grade.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Should've told him you have the high ground.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 days ago (2 children)

This was Mario 40 years ago:

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Fun fact: New Super Mario Bros turns 19 this year.

Yes, that means we’re close to the turning point where New Super Mario Bros gets older than what Super Mario Bros was when it was released.

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[–] jballs 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

That's what's mind blowing to me. The difference between games used to be staggering. The original Mario Bros compared to Mario 3 was huge. And jumping up to Mario 64 in less than a decade was even bigger still.

Obviously games have continued to improve since then, but we'll never have such rapid massive leaps again.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

The original Mario Bros compared to Mario 3 was huge.

And that was on the same system.

[–] someacnt 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Honestly, I believe technical progress has grinded to a halt. Moore's law was broken with regards to hardware. I cannot think of novel tech after smartphones. Now, it feels like everything new is a wealth hoarding scheme by corporate greed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

We'll know there's been a new tech revolution when HL3 comes out

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I feel like I'm the only one here who actually likes it when games I loved when I was younger become old/retro. I see it as a badge of honour, like them getting to enter the hall of fame.

Super Mario World isn't a bad game just because it's old, it's just as great now as it was in the 90s. Same with Sunshine. And it makes me happy knowing I grew up with these games - no amount of aging or growing old could take that away from me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I agree. Xbox 360 now being considered a retro console now is amazing to me too.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Hey... Shut up.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The first time I played Super Mario on the N64 I can still recall how it made me slightly dizzy, which delighted me. That effect only lasted a short while, but it was a lot of fun to feel that disoriented by a video game, if but briefly.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It was the first time I remember people struggling to mentally map the controls.

Your grandma or little sibling could understand how to move NES Mario around (not necessarily being good at it, of course), but 3D was too intimidating for a lot of people to even try.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

to be fair the sort of primitive camera controls took some getting used to

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Elite 40 years ago

Elite 2025

Yes, the original is lines and crude unlike some of the other examples of "old 3D games", but this is (maybe) the first actual 3D space game, so it has to start somewhere.

Guess I should have been more specific on first home system 3D space game. Yes, there were arcade and mainframe things before. But their game world wasn't as big. :P

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Atari Star Wars arcade game came out in 1983. One year prior to Elite in 1984:

Vectrex Starhawk was 1979

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I had the first NES system with the original inclusion of Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. Actually it was the first console of the line but I don’t think the very first version because I think the very first version did not have Duck Hunt or the gun. Correct me if I’m mistaken. I was a little late to the NES and by then I think they added that element to it.

But also, I didn’t buy any console after that, because once I started gaming on PC I only ever gamed on PC. Although I regret not getting into Turbo Grafx 16 because years later I found troves of the games at a flea market and the guy dug up all of the ones he had and brought them over the following few weeks. By that time I was no longer really interested in them so I was just buying and reselling them on eBay. Massive score on that load. But I wish I had just collected the whole set and gotten a unit.

Why did I start rambling? Oh yeah cuz it’s Reddit. Anyway, consoles were a nice idea but to me, once I could upgrade a graphics card and always still be able to not only play the games that I had already, but continue to be able to get newer ones… I dunno, the console concept seemed to me a money pit, because first of all, the moment it hit the shelves in stores, there were already better graphics chips being sold for PC, and also, eventually as I had predicted, it would become a console war, combined with cutting off older units whenever they pleased, as well as all the rest of the shit they’ve pulled over the years with DRM, and online requirement so they could fucking cut you off when they pleased. I opted to not even bother stepping into that racket. PC gaming for me. Especially retro PC gaming.

Ok ramble over. Just wanted to share my experiences.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Why did I start rambling? Oh yeah cuz it’s Reddit.

🤔

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think what's more interesting is Mario today doesn't even look much different than Mario 20 years ago. The Switch just never bothered, plus graphics in general are flattening out.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (3 children)

On a still picture taken in the right place, maybe. Bright, cartoony graphics also help. The Mario style is probably not the kind that's best to showcase graphic power.

Anyway, animation, lighting and physics is where you can see the gap between Odyssey and Sunshine. Also richer, bigger environments, even though Sunshine used a lot of tricks and already looked rather impressive for the time on that front. Well, until framerate dropped into single-digit halfway through Noki Bay.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

And that's not even the first 3D Mario.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago

Crysis is roughly as old now as Super Mario Bros 3 was when Crysis first released.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I remember in the early 3D days, 2 sequels with a 7 year gap would have looked vastly different. I just started KCD1 after finishing KCD2 and even though it is 7 years older, it looks identical.

To put into perspective: the gap between MGS1 and MGS2 was just 3 years.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

tbf, MGS1 and MGS2 were different console generations...

although the same is true for KCD1/2.

it is insane how were reaching the end of the Moore law.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The thing is, 5 years before that games did look like triangle-boobed-Lara-Croft. There was just an enormous wave of tech progress in the 3D accelerator world from the late 90s to mid aughts

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

God of War 2018 isn't the same as God of War 2005, I'm not that old.

[–] can 11 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It got worse after a closer look - realizing this is Sunshine, and not something earlier...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I love SM64 but Sunshine is actually a great game as well.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Worse still, virtual reality headsets started around the 1960s with the sword of damocles and people still treat it like it's a novel technology...

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (3 children)

You shut your mouth, the 90s were definitely like 10 years ago right?! :P

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes. The 90s will always be 10 years ago.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (3 children)

yeah... PS3 is "retro" now!

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Halo 3, Modern Warfare, Mass Effect, GTA4, Super Mario Galaxy, Rock Band, Assassin's Creed, and Portal all launched closer to the original Sonic the Hedgehog than today.

[–] weirdo_from_space 9 points 3 days ago

This year the original SMB will be forty years old.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Still remember being blown away by the flight in banjo tooei, that I saw in a store, now everyone just starts at such mechanical depth.

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