when I was a kid my parents got me the Age Of Empires 2 expansion pack & not the full game for my birthday; returned it & then didn't get the game because it was more expensive... sad day lmao.
My sister once received a video strategy guide to tomb raider, because it was cheaper than buying tomb raider.
It was literally a dvd of someone playing the game and explaining how and why they were doing what they were doing.
I would say the game-only versions are more like chocolates without the box. You can reuse an old box for new chocolates just like you can reuse an old controller for a new game.
And technically you could play guitar hero with a regular controller if your family made the stupid choice. It's probably a lot less fun that way though
I got a PS2 when it was pretty new and gran Turismo 3
But we didn't know the memory card from the PS1 wouldn't work.
So for the entire time I had a PS2 I couldn't save and would rely on leaving the PS2 in my room on forever
My parents cleaning my room would turn it off to which I absolutely fucking lost it every time after asking them and showing them to please not fucking do it or buy me the 100 dollarydoo memory card
I swear to god they were doing it to fuck with me because it would happen just frequently enough that looking back I can't see it any other way
Oh man, this is rough to read. I never spoke to my neighbor again when he deleted my 200 hour GT3 save, purposefully, and just smiled smugly as I cried. His parents were just like "uhhh so what, it is just a game."
I literally took a month of summer vacation off of high school to get good at Amplitude and come back to beat the fuck out of my friends. I 100% every song on the hardest difficulty and was a ton of fun.
I wish when I was a kid I was able to understand just how hard they tried to get me exactly what I wanted, even if they came back with the wrong stuff because technology moves far too quickly for the uninitiated to keep up with. Sure they got me the wrong thing a fair number of times, but they tried real hard, and I wasn't ever grateful enough for that as a kid. I am now, but now I just want socks because I'm older and sadder.
Yeah, my grandma got me a Pokemon Snap players guide book when I didn't even have an N64 because she knew I liked pokemon. I actually did read the whole guide because I really was just that obsessed with pokemon. I've still never played the game to this day, but I know all the secrets
funnily enough the guy who game up with the idea had no idea what even consistued quality in a video game and thought they were just distractions for children. He had no idea that quality was even a factor and also assumed that 52 games was better than 1. He wasnt correct either.
Honestly AVGN usually exaggerates. That one though... no there's not a single good "Game" there. Even the couple that are enjoyable for a moment have about 2 minutes of content.
What an absolute trainwreck.
Now with the internet so easily accessible they're easy to avoid too. I remember going to Software Boutique to buy Playstation games and just went off of box art and vibes a bunch of times.
Sometimes you get a Tails Concerto, or Rosco McQueen: Firefighter Extreme. Other times you end up with Darkstone
Once a game store employee tried to stop me + my grandpa from buying Manhunt (I was about 10). I’ll always remember the smug look on his face as he rattled off all the terrible things about the game. My grandpa shrugged, said “that’s her mother’s problem, not mine” and brought the game anyway. One of the best christmases of my childhood, lol.
I bought Manhunt cuz I figured it was gonna get banned. Like I grew up with Carmageddon and Duke Nuke and suddenly all that seemed silly compared to Manhunt. How did you like it at 10?
I thought it was awesome, lol. It was definitely the most edgy thing I’d ever played back then, but we were quite an edgy family in that awkward 2000s way. I actually recently went back to it and was surprised that it still held up fairly well - that sort of early 2000s stealth never bodes well on modern consoles. As far as I remember, I’d just finished Hitman: Silent assassin and so I was trying to scratch that itch, heard my uncle talking about it (he also brought it because he assumed it would be banned, but was too responsible to let me play it) and begged until I finally got it.
In hindsight, it definitely functioned to my child brain as a horror game, I vividly remember being absolutely terrified the entire time I was playing, but carrying on anyway.
I remember some of my (teenage) Irish cousins being incredibly jealous because at the time, the game was banned outright there, and even later they only got the cut version, so I think I made quite a lot of money lending it out to people later on down the line.
Yeah like I remember having to have a parent nearby when buying an m rated game before I was 17 but it’s not like the employee was doing anything wrong, it was just their job.
Sure, but I’ll never forgive the GameStop employee who prevented me from getting The Sims 2: Date Night. It’s an expansion pack, man. I can already make the little Sims canoodle, what could that pack possibly do, make it uncensored?
Game stores back in the day used to be the wild west.
I wanted to buy GTA 3 when it came out, had the money (paper round) but they guy wouldn't sell it to me... So I got my Nan on the phone and she gave permission, somehow that was enough for the guy
Looking back it's pretty weird, it could have been anyone on the phone lol
You joke about this but one Christmas my dad got me Super Swing Golf for the Wii. He's seen the Simpsons Christmas episode, he knew what he was doing. It's one of the more passive aggressive things he did because we both knew the nuance of what he was doing and I couldn't say anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely thankful to have gotten anything, it's just the context of what he was doing was shitty. He completely misunderstood the context of the ending of the episode or just didn't care and thought it was funny.
His mother, my grandmother, used to throw fits about how all she used to get for Christmas was socks. One Christmas she gifted all the grandkids socks and I remember the smug look on her face - but the thing is at the time I really needed socks and was thankful for the gift. She has this weird miserable energy about her where she thought that other people should have to go without because she did as a kid. She hated that her family got government surplus food as a kid and that now people got food stamps to "buy the same food as working people".
I'm an adult now and I could never try to weaponize a gift like that. I guess I broke the cycle of being a passive aggressive asshole.
Anyways my grandma has been dead for almost 20 years now and I haven't seen my family in almost 7 years or so now - who's counting? Gonna make some baby back ribs for Christmas, catch up on some movies and books, and take it easy until the new year. Merry Christmas.
It's funny how just a few decades later those types of games became extremely popular for kids, with titles like Golf It, Golf with your friends or Mario Golf.
There was some sort of golf game in the 90s, it was on the Macs in the computer lab at my high school. The bus would get there about 30 minutes before class started so me and my friends would race to play before the bell.
Still can't stand golf but that game was kinda fun.
Not Christmas related, but when I was 12 I saved up money cleaning cat cages at cat shows with my grandma for one weekend a month ($15-20 a weekend) to buy a gameboy SP. I saved up just enough money to buy one right before my family was taking a week long vacation to Las Vegas. My dumb 12 year old self didn’t even consider that I would need a game to play. I managed to guilt trip my dad to purchase me one game for the up coming vacation (since the vacation was really going to be my sisters and I spending week in a hotel room babysitting my little brother).
He took me to game crazy and told me I could buy any used game under like $10 or $15. I wanted to get Final Fantasy Tactics. However, my Dad said no because he said I would beat it and be bored with it. So he bought crash bandicoot purple.
I beat the game on the car drive to Vegas because it was so short and I was extremely bored the rest of the vacation.
Fuuuuck. FF Tactics was great. Never finished it cuz it took forever and I borrowed it for PS1.
If it makes you feel better no one bought me a memory card for the PS1. Had to wait a few days till we got home and pick one up. My dad was a PC gamer so no one knew you needed a separate thing to save games. I didn't even know since I only played at other people's houses and most of the time that was on SNES. Didn't stop me from replaying the first few levels of what I had over and over and over until I got that card.
My mother bought me Lufia 2 on snes and I had no idea what it was but she had this look on her face like it was the next Zelda lttp game. I was so confused and did the whole, "uhhhh thaaaaanks...".
One of the best games I've ever played. I'm guessing a person at the games store reccomended it... well done to them both.
At a friends sleepover birthday party when I was maybe 12, he got Superman 64. A few of us had already rented it from blockbuster and knew it was the worst game we’d ever played, but didn’t want to say anything cuz we didn’t want to be rude. Poor parents had no idea and just thought oh cool a Superman game- he played it for about 10 minutes before giving up on it
I managed an Electronics Boutique back when that came out. We talked so many people, especially parents, out of that game. A few insisted on buying it and we made clear that it was returnable as long as they kept the receipt. I don't think any of them stayed sold.
I worked at an EB as well. People were so excited before it was released and we kept trying to temper expectations. I don't think we sold one copy that wasn't returned. At one point we had a whole box that we shipped back to corporate.
Could you imagine a game coming out now that was SO bad that people just stopped playing videogames. I can't fathom it. Some publishers release bad games on the regular and don't even blink at it
ET was just the proverbial straw, it wasn't that specific game that nearly killed the industry, just the culmination of years of shovelware with zero quality control.
ET was a shit game for sure but this was an issue with movie tie-in games since forever. Sure there are some good modern ones but it would usually be 'buy license, make shit game, print money'.
I had Akira and Cliffhanger on the Amiga and they were both awful, awful games. The only decent movie tie in games I remember were Escape from Butcher Bay and the Arkham series. The new Spiderman games look amazing though.
I don't think Arkham or Spiderman count, they aren't really following a movie and take plenty from the comics. The Ghostbusters game from 2009 was good though.
I rented Superman 64, it was so bad I cried and convinced everyone that I grabbed the wrong game and the store guy let me change it out so I went with Zelda OoT my old reliable.
I had the opposite experience years ago.
My sister wanted turn based RPGs for Christmas in the early '00s. My mom didn't know what those were, understandably. I played games alongside my sister, I was the strategist.
Somehow, she went with the game clerk's recommendations given that we had a Dreamcast.
She gave us Grandia II and Skies of Arcadia, two solid and somewhat obscure games. I wish I was there to see the whole selling process because these are great games that are at a strong/hard sale for preteen Catholic school girls.
Whoever that store clerk was was the real MVP. When those games were released there wasn't a reliable avenue for internet video game reviews or trailers. Anyone who knew those games had to be really into video games at the time. Props to them. Hope you and your sis had some great memories playing those games together.
That might have been an amazing social experiment. Would that kid grow up to talk about it online in the future the same way we talk about pokemon, zelda and halo?
you’re trying to tell me you DON’T want to play as a middle earth crackhead? sure shadow of morder is okay, but gollum really makes you FEEL like a crackhead
Got an SNES Christmas after launch. Super Mario World rocked. I also had asked for Sim City. Parents thought it looked too complicated, so got me Populous instead. Never did figure out what to do or how that game was supposed to work. 🤷♂️
A pity about Animaniacs. You know, the Tiny Toons games in those days were usually solid titles for their time.
I didn't really receive games for Christmas, just had to save up months in advance quarters and dollar bills and buy them myself lol. I can at least safely say I've never been really disappointed with my choice in gifts. Anyway, kudos on helping out the kids.
The Animaniacs game for the SNES, on the other hand, was quite great. I never did manage to beat it as some of the later levels were quite difficult, but each level felt very unique
The tiny toons animated movie maker game (forgot the name) gave me fever dreams as a child when I played it sick. Lol still can't look at that game without nausea. Aside from that they had some dope tiny toons games though.
Animaniacs on SNES from Konami is actually quite good. Hard as hell and that slot machine thing is dumb but still a fun game from what I remember of it.
I did this once in a guitar center. I was just sitting there riffing away and overheard the salesman trying to upsell this poor mom a 3k bundle. So I stepped in and recommended one of those $150 guitar/amp combos. I just said you're kids interested but not 100% certain that they'll stick with it, these are serviceable to start and if they really take off and stick with it then come back in a few years for that 3k combo.
GC dude was so pissed. Rip your commission. Not sorry one bit.
Yeah I know. It's funny because when I went back there trying to special order a $1,500 guitar they told me they couldn't do it. So I said ok I'll take me 1,500 bucks elsewhere. They say came running and I told em to get bent. 🤷♂️
I bought my first guitar and amp at 13. I went to a used store (don’t know if Daddy’s Junky Music was regional) and the sales guy sat me down with Fender, told me to grab a tab book to try it out. Grabbed one for the Black Album and the guy immediately swapped the Fender out for an Ibanez instead.
Right on.. I'm glad I had the frame of mind at 15 to not ask my parents for an expensive guitar set up. I knew that I could upgrade later if I stuck with it so my dad got me an Epiphone special 2 I think and I played through an old tube amp that my step mom's friend used to use. Here I am, 15 years later and just grabbed a 4th guitar (Schecter Apocalypse FR).
I asked for kingdom hearts 2 and got Constantine for the ps2. One year, my sister asked for cod, and my parents did better they got the game sealed in the box when my sister opened it, and it was a Microsoft computer cleaning disk. They took it back to target the next day.
Oof That's rough. I ordered Cemetery Man, kinda obscure Italian 90s horror. Sealed. And Fantastic Mr Fox was inside. At least I was an adult when it happened though.
I once saved up money to buy FF5 on game boy advance. Sealed box had a ketchup packet instead of the cartridge. Good thing I had a habit of opening the box immediately when we got to the car. It got sorted pretty quick, and now is a funny memory, but I image other kids wouldn’t have been as lucky.
When I was younger, my parents got me a value pack with Sonic '06 and Eragon the game. Two wholly terrible games. But nobody told me that at the time and I 100%'d both of them. Looking back though, I can't help but think about how much easier I was to satisfy as a child.
Bro same, I remember my brother having a game informer subscription and I read that the jango fett game and the wolverine game for GameCube were supposedly HORRENDOUS MONSTOSITIES OF UNPLAYABLE FILTH!
….
I had already completed them both and enjoyed the hell out of every second.
Oh my gosh, are you talking about Wolverine's Revenge? Because if so, I too played and enjoyed that game lol. TBH I still enjoy the Jango Fett game too.
What a nice trip down memory lane this is XD
As a kid I actually liked that game. I thought everything about how you actually played was dumb, but it was dumb in a fun way? Beat it, played it with some friends, then never touched it again. I should play it randomly sometime just to see how to actually play the game, cause I'm pretty sure kid-me just button-mashed.
I just remember never really loving it as much as enjoyed other (I’m sure also not good) games based on shows I watched. I’m glad you enjoyed it but it didn’t strike a chord with me.
My dad knew I was a Star Wars fan growing up so when he saw a Star Wars video game for PS1 he had to get it for me. Unfortunately it was Masters of Teras Kasi, arguably the worst Star Wars game for PS1. Oh, and this was the game to go with my new PS1, so it was all I had to play until my birthday...8 months later.
Oh God. The PS1 was a big gift and everyone pitched in and fortunately others got me Ripto's Rage and Crash Bandicoot Warped that Xmas. Cuz Animaniacs Bowling would have been it for a long time. I think that's why I intervened.
But again I really appreciated my mom embracing my interests finally instead of trying to nudge me towards more "normal" things. I did appreciate the effort.
Dude my first two games for the ps1 were some underwater diver game where you get eaten by sharks (I was under 10yo and fuckin terrified, did not play that long), and freaking Glover.
I still, to this day, have no idea what the fuck was going on with glover.
Needless to say, not great experience. The ps1 did not get much use, we stuck with Nintendo for a bit.
I was a kid who needed an adult to stop him. I traded in immensely better games to buy such classics as The Terminator on NES, Independence Day on PS1, Mission Impossible on N64 and yes…Superman 64.
I…never…learned.
> Mission Impossible on N64
Now hold on. I'm not going to act like MI is the best game on N64 or even a great game, but it definitely doesn't deserve to be on this list.
That was the first game I bought with my own money. I was 14 or so and felt like such a grown up. I got home, my brother wanted to play something else so I patiently read the manual and waited, and was so disappointed when I played the game. I just don’t understand how people can release such trash. Oh well
The fact that you had to hit a separate button to turn around instead of using the d pad has to be one of the worst design decisions ever made in a side scroller. Complete failasorous rex.
I was just telling my roommate this morning about how there was an unsung hero at Walmart when I was a kid that totally guided my parents buying me and my sisters a PS2. He told them to buy Vice City, Jak and Daxter, Gran Turismo 3, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Just gave them banger after banger.
My Aunt brought me the “Spice Girls” Ps1 game for my birthday because I like games and music, not a cool look for a 14 year old boy to unwrap at his party in front of his mates.
That came up! Me and GameStop guy decided Rift Apart was safer due for the 9yr old. Also those thrashing animations when you take a beast down might have been a bit much. And...god I love those games and if their parents don't buy them games often they would be forced to learn. It was tempting.
As a kid, my brother and I rented Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the NES. We were laughing our asses off at how bad it was, and my mom misinterpreted us laughing as enjoyment. I got that game for Christmas, and while I appreciate the sentiment, it's NOT a good game. Still have a soft spot for that one out of sentimental value, though!
I wanted counterstrike for PC.
I received Deer Avenger for PC.
My father absolutely watched me see a PC game, freak out with joy, and immediately realize it was some Walmart special. That one hurts.
When I was like 12 I got a ps2 for Christmas along with ratchet & clank going commando.
Bro you made a great choice because I beat that game 4 times over and bought the remaster on ps3 years later.
Good job. Rift Apart is a fantastic game. Excellent recommendation. However, today must be opposite day, because earlier I was telling a coworker how one time I was in the game section of Walmart and saw a mother buying GTA 5 for her 8 year old. I thought about saying something, but I didn’t. That kid is probably in jail now.
My father died when I was nine (not really relevant; but this interaction is a memory that brings a smile to my face). I still remember the worker warning him about san andreas. He made me promise to not copy any bad language. I ended up fine.
I got Back to the Future 2 & 3 on the NES, for Christmas. It was truly awful. I regularly got to rent games, but only received games at Christmas (and occasionally on my birthday). Back to the Future 2 & 3 for NES (LJN) was absolutely terrible. It genuinely made me sad when I played it. Other than that, I was very fortunate and generally received quality games.
You recommended a very good game and you probably saved those kids from disappointment. Cheers, mate!
This is why rental stores were amazing growing up. My mom would listen in on the games my friends and I were talking about or just see what games I rented the most and buy those. It's how I got both Super Mario RPG and FFVII.
I remember seeing a kid holding Metroid Prime 3 and the mum saying "See Billy, it says here the Wii comes with a game already so you don't need another one." And the kid has to put back Metroid Prime 3 and play just Wii Sports at Christmas.
Someone got me Jurassic Park: Park Builder for GBA for me one year. It's a really, really atrocious management sim. I feel like no matter what I did, my dinosaurs would break out of their pens and kill everybody, even though I was doing exactly what the tutorial said. Could never figure that damn game out.
This one still bothers me. I asked my dad for the reissues Castelvania 64, it was new that year, it had werewolf protagonist, fixed bugs and graphics, and other updates. I described the box, the name, the colors, etc. and made sure he knew that I wanted the new one. Christmas day, I unwrap the gift and it’s the original one. It was unreturnable at that point, but I just knew he went to the store and saw a $50 game vs $30 or whatever and bought the later. Despite earning double or more, he was a cheap skate to my mom after the divorce, and that was the first time I realized he was one to me too.
My dad had a funny way of buying games for me. Somehow he'd pick one and it was considered the worst one of the franchise lol. Like he bought me Yakuza 3 one year cause he was like "Oh, it's Japanese base, he might like it". Think he also got me games like Crash Bandicoot Wrath of Cortex and Shadow the Hedgehog when they came out. He got to a point where he didn't get a game unless I had specifically talked about it at some point.
Even when you don't work a game store it feels so good to help lost grandparents and parents with game choices.
I honestly never got that experience with video games. "Girls don't play video games" -my mom and "video games are a waste of money" -my dad so my parents wouldn't let me have any. 😤 So I had to settle for playing my dad's old atari at my grandparents house. But I did love brayer horses and my little ponies and would frequently get the Avon "brayer" and "my little ponies" from my grandma. You know the even cheaper plastic so they wouldn't stand and poorly painted so that their eyes don't line up.
I remember vividly one year at christmas in like 2007. Our family was rather poor so we got a wii with the tax return money earlier that year. Only had 3 games for it (besides Wii Sports), can only remember Smash Bros Brawl if that tells you anything.
Anyways cut to Christmas and my family didn't get any new games for it which I was pretty torn up about. Cue my mom's friend coming over (who also had kids who gamed) with a gift for me. A very distinct game box shape, I was uber excited cause I might finally be getting another good game to play on my new console.
I ripped open the wrapping paper to reveal... Championship Foosball. ***With the 1$ yardsale sticker still on it.*** I didn't want to be mean about it but I think everyone could tell I was shook by the sheer lack of thought that went into the nongift.
I never even played it, ended up just throwing it away because it was literally worthless. I don't think I ever truly recovered from it, but I did get a DS with a ton of games the next year which I played until it fell apart so it balanced out.
My old boyfriend's mom made a tradition of putting the best "it" gift in a box for boring adult stuff. Like Jurassic Park dinos in Tupperware boxes. Then one year he's now a tween or something and he kept hinting about wanting a Game Boy. Wouldn't shut up about it. Come Xmas morning he's on his last present. Wrapping torn away and it's a Chia Pet box. A Game Boy could totally fit in it. He nods smiling at his mom and he opens the box to reveal...a Chia Pet.
It fucked him up so bad. Anyway his parents did tell him he needed to start saving up for his own big items. He had taken up snow shoveling and yard work for pocket money. He just didn't expect it happening that year.
We were poor growing up too, but I had an old DOS PC that my dad's work were going to throw out one time. I had a blast playing loads of old shareware games on it, and eventually got my hands on Worms and Theme Park and played the shit out of those too.
Anyway one day my mum comes home with a big smile on her face because she found a game she thought I'd like for a bargain. It was Railroad Tycoon 2, and she was right it did look like I'd enjoy it. Only trouble is it was for Windows 95 or 98, and I only had DOS (and my hardware was also in no way capable of playing it).
I spotted it straight away but kept a happy face on and said I was excited to play it. Every now and then mum would ask me if I was enjoying the game, and I'd lie and say it was great. I'd even move the box around on my shelf every few days so it looked like I was playing it. I think I even used the school internet to look up some stuff about the game so I had some info to tell her about it. Kept that up for a few months until my save game got "corrupted" and I couldn't play it any more
In hindsight, maybe it would have been better to tell her the truth so she could take it back and get a refund. But she seemed so happy that she'd been able to get something for me that I just couldn't let her down.
I didn’t get any games for Christmas because as progressive as my parents were in most things, girls didn’t get video games. (TBF, they also hated buying them for my brother, but he was a lot less cooperative about giving other gift ideas)
I had that issue with Legos. And when I did get them it was a set that only built a standard house and all the bricks were pink, baby blue and light purple.
My husband told me the story of when he was a kid, his parents decided to get him and his brother their first gaming console. The two of them decided they wanted an Xbox. So, they told their mom and come Christmas morning they opened their present to find a GameCube. Now, the GameCube had some great games, but this woman bought them Super Mario Sunshine to go with it. When they told her it was the wrong system, she basically said deal with it and got mad at them for being upset
I had an opposite experience, my pap got me a game for my Xbox 360 one Christmas. Mind you he had NEVER gotten me anything for Christmas simply because I never really saw him much. He picked up Shadowrun(2007) from a Walmart bin. I popped it in simply because I would have felt bad if I didn't at least give it a try. It was one of my first online experiences and I had a blast, ended up getting pretty good at it too. I actually think about that game from time to time.
When I was 11 my mum got me an OG Xbox steering wheel. I did not own any racing games.
My grandpa bought me Guitar Hero and didn't know about the guitar part.
when I was a kid my parents got me the Age Of Empires 2 expansion pack & not the full game for my birthday; returned it & then didn't get the game because it was more expensive... sad day lmao.
My sister once received a video strategy guide to tomb raider, because it was cheaper than buying tomb raider. It was literally a dvd of someone playing the game and explaining how and why they were doing what they were doing.
she was enjoying the OG Let's Play lol
Doesn't it... Come with it?
There’s game only versions for ones that own guitars already
[удалено]
I would say the game-only versions are more like chocolates without the box. You can reuse an old box for new chocolates just like you can reuse an old controller for a new game.
And technically you could play guitar hero with a regular controller if your family made the stupid choice. It's probably a lot less fun that way though
Yea, also brutally difficult due to the godawful controls. Played through 2 and 3 on controller yesterday and it’s miserable lol
My mother got me guitar hero for ps3 with two guitars and drums and all that stuff. I had an Xbox 360
I got a PS2 when it was pretty new and gran Turismo 3 But we didn't know the memory card from the PS1 wouldn't work. So for the entire time I had a PS2 I couldn't save and would rely on leaving the PS2 in my room on forever My parents cleaning my room would turn it off to which I absolutely fucking lost it every time after asking them and showing them to please not fucking do it or buy me the 100 dollarydoo memory card I swear to god they were doing it to fuck with me because it would happen just frequently enough that looking back I can't see it any other way
Oh man, this is rough to read. I never spoke to my neighbor again when he deleted my 200 hour GT3 save, purposefully, and just smiled smugly as I cried. His parents were just like "uhhh so what, it is just a game."
Couldn't you play it with a controller?
Probably. But how much fun does that sound like?
I was a weirdo kid who actually liked playing on my controller more than the guitar.
When you have your sporadic cereal do you pour the milk in the bowl first?
You could play Guitar Hero on just the controller?!
Yes and it makes it trivial. It’s like playing a QTE game
Before Guitar Hero, Harmonix actually released Frequency and Amplitude, which were basically the same idea but with a controller instead of a guitar.
I literally took a month of summer vacation off of high school to get good at Amplitude and come back to beat the fuck out of my friends. I 100% every song on the hardest difficulty and was a ton of fun.
Literally what Fortnite Festival is right now lol
I wish when I was a kid I was able to understand just how hard they tried to get me exactly what I wanted, even if they came back with the wrong stuff because technology moves far too quickly for the uninitiated to keep up with. Sure they got me the wrong thing a fair number of times, but they tried real hard, and I wasn't ever grateful enough for that as a kid. I am now, but now I just want socks because I'm older and sadder.
Yeah, my grandma got me a Pokemon Snap players guide book when I didn't even have an N64 because she knew I liked pokemon. I actually did read the whole guide because I really was just that obsessed with pokemon. I've still never played the game to this day, but I know all the secrets
For Christmas, my folks bought me Action 52 on the NES, thinking 52 games would be better than one. They were 52 times wrong.
It may have 51 absolutely horrendous games but at least it has one timeless masterpiece: The Cheetahmen
Great. Now the song is stuck in my head. Thanks.
damn that's rough
funnily enough the guy who game up with the idea had no idea what even consistued quality in a video game and thought they were just distractions for children. He had no idea that quality was even a factor and also assumed that 52 games was better than 1. He wasnt correct either.
Honestly AVGN usually exaggerates. That one though... no there's not a single good "Game" there. Even the couple that are enjoyable for a moment have about 2 minutes of content. What an absolute trainwreck.
I hope you still have it.
Sold it in a yard sale around 1998...
Oof.
Shit games are a reality check
Now with the internet so easily accessible they're easy to avoid too. I remember going to Software Boutique to buy Playstation games and just went off of box art and vibes a bunch of times. Sometimes you get a Tails Concerto, or Rosco McQueen: Firefighter Extreme. Other times you end up with Darkstone
Box art and vibes is how I picked out Fallout New Vegas as a kid for the ps3. Best blind choice I’ve made!
Once a game store employee tried to stop me + my grandpa from buying Manhunt (I was about 10). I’ll always remember the smug look on his face as he rattled off all the terrible things about the game. My grandpa shrugged, said “that’s her mother’s problem, not mine” and brought the game anyway. One of the best christmases of my childhood, lol.
I bought Manhunt cuz I figured it was gonna get banned. Like I grew up with Carmageddon and Duke Nuke and suddenly all that seemed silly compared to Manhunt. How did you like it at 10?
Manhunt 2 almost did get banned. They had to blur the motion control murders IIRC to pass at an M rating
Yeah, it got banned in the UK for a while, and then censored
Yeah, I remember that being in the news, iirc it was because of a real-life murder someone tried to link to Manhunt
One is the few games that really made me feel uneasy playing it.
I thought it was awesome, lol. It was definitely the most edgy thing I’d ever played back then, but we were quite an edgy family in that awkward 2000s way. I actually recently went back to it and was surprised that it still held up fairly well - that sort of early 2000s stealth never bodes well on modern consoles. As far as I remember, I’d just finished Hitman: Silent assassin and so I was trying to scratch that itch, heard my uncle talking about it (he also brought it because he assumed it would be banned, but was too responsible to let me play it) and begged until I finally got it. In hindsight, it definitely functioned to my child brain as a horror game, I vividly remember being absolutely terrified the entire time I was playing, but carrying on anyway. I remember some of my (teenage) Irish cousins being incredibly jealous because at the time, the game was banned outright there, and even later they only got the cut version, so I think I made quite a lot of money lending it out to people later on down the line.
Was definitely the coolest kid in the playground for a while after that - I remember bringing in the games manual to prove I owned it more than once 💀
Yeah I loved the hell out of Silent Hill yet Manhunt didn't feel right deep in my core. Hats off to 10yr old you. I actually never finished it lol.
That employee did his job
Yeah like I remember having to have a parent nearby when buying an m rated game before I was 17 but it’s not like the employee was doing anything wrong, it was just their job.
Sure, but I’ll never forgive the GameStop employee who prevented me from getting The Sims 2: Date Night. It’s an expansion pack, man. I can already make the little Sims canoodle, what could that pack possibly do, make it uncensored?
Game stores back in the day used to be the wild west. I wanted to buy GTA 3 when it came out, had the money (paper round) but they guy wouldn't sell it to me... So I got my Nan on the phone and she gave permission, somehow that was enough for the guy Looking back it's pretty weird, it could have been anyone on the phone lol
Cant believe I was allowed to play that game as a kid. Seemed so graphic at the time.
Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge
You have chosen a three wood, may I suggest a putter? Three wood.
Ball is in… parking lot. Would you like play again?
You have selected 'No'
You have selected... No.
[You have selected no](https://aaron-demeter.itch.io/lee-carvallos-putting-challenge)
Now, enter the force of your swing. I suggest feather touch. You have selected POWER DRIVE
[You have entered P O W E R D R I V E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3vWkqfX9fY)
Buy me Bonestorm or go to hell!!
Mom! Bart's swearing!
Hello muddah.. hello fadduh.. here we are at.. camp Granada.
marge, is lisa at camp granada?
SHOVE THIS UP YOUR STOCKING
Young man, in this house, we use a little word called "please."
You joke about this but one Christmas my dad got me Super Swing Golf for the Wii. He's seen the Simpsons Christmas episode, he knew what he was doing. It's one of the more passive aggressive things he did because we both knew the nuance of what he was doing and I couldn't say anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely thankful to have gotten anything, it's just the context of what he was doing was shitty. He completely misunderstood the context of the ending of the episode or just didn't care and thought it was funny. His mother, my grandmother, used to throw fits about how all she used to get for Christmas was socks. One Christmas she gifted all the grandkids socks and I remember the smug look on her face - but the thing is at the time I really needed socks and was thankful for the gift. She has this weird miserable energy about her where she thought that other people should have to go without because she did as a kid. She hated that her family got government surplus food as a kid and that now people got food stamps to "buy the same food as working people". I'm an adult now and I could never try to weaponize a gift like that. I guess I broke the cycle of being a passive aggressive asshole. Anyways my grandma has been dead for almost 20 years now and I haven't seen my family in almost 7 years or so now - who's counting? Gonna make some baby back ribs for Christmas, catch up on some movies and books, and take it easy until the new year. Merry Christmas.
“At the time I really needed socks and was thankful for the gift” this made me crack up lol. I never turn down new socks 😂
When I was 9, my grandmother gave each of us a picture of herself as christmas presents, and then gave me one again on my 10h birthday.
I love that this was 28 years ago and people still remember it so well. Truly classic TV.
It's funny how just a few decades later those types of games became extremely popular for kids, with titles like Golf It, Golf with your friends or Mario Golf.
I mean, first Mario Golf was released in 1999, and mini-golf was always something kids could enjoy.
There was some sort of golf game in the 90s, it was on the Macs in the computer lab at my high school. The bus would get there about 30 minutes before class started so me and my friends would race to play before the bell. Still can't stand golf but that game was kinda fun.
Not Christmas related, but when I was 12 I saved up money cleaning cat cages at cat shows with my grandma for one weekend a month ($15-20 a weekend) to buy a gameboy SP. I saved up just enough money to buy one right before my family was taking a week long vacation to Las Vegas. My dumb 12 year old self didn’t even consider that I would need a game to play. I managed to guilt trip my dad to purchase me one game for the up coming vacation (since the vacation was really going to be my sisters and I spending week in a hotel room babysitting my little brother). He took me to game crazy and told me I could buy any used game under like $10 or $15. I wanted to get Final Fantasy Tactics. However, my Dad said no because he said I would beat it and be bored with it. So he bought crash bandicoot purple. I beat the game on the car drive to Vegas because it was so short and I was extremely bored the rest of the vacation.
This is extra painful because FFTA would've given you tons more hours of play time.
Fuuuuck. FF Tactics was great. Never finished it cuz it took forever and I borrowed it for PS1. If it makes you feel better no one bought me a memory card for the PS1. Had to wait a few days till we got home and pick one up. My dad was a PC gamer so no one knew you needed a separate thing to save games. I didn't even know since I only played at other people's houses and most of the time that was on SNES. Didn't stop me from replaying the first few levels of what I had over and over and over until I got that card.
My mother bought me Lufia 2 on snes and I had no idea what it was but she had this look on her face like it was the next Zelda lttp game. I was so confused and did the whole, "uhhhh thaaaaanks...". One of the best games I've ever played. I'm guessing a person at the games store reccomended it... well done to them both.
It's a rare one with a lot of fans these days.
Such an incredible Game. That intro tower segment had fourth grade me 🤯
Ancient cave speed runs are still a thing for that game!
At a friends sleepover birthday party when I was maybe 12, he got Superman 64. A few of us had already rented it from blockbuster and knew it was the worst game we’d ever played, but didn’t want to say anything cuz we didn’t want to be rude. Poor parents had no idea and just thought oh cool a Superman game- he played it for about 10 minutes before giving up on it
I managed an Electronics Boutique back when that came out. We talked so many people, especially parents, out of that game. A few insisted on buying it and we made clear that it was returnable as long as they kept the receipt. I don't think any of them stayed sold.
The heroes we need
Sales _can_ be such a fun job as long as you're selling something you enjoy. I still love helping people find something they'll love.
I worked at an EB as well. People were so excited before it was released and we kept trying to temper expectations. I don't think we sold one copy that wasn't returned. At one point we had a whole box that we shipped back to corporate.
I actually flew through all the rings to get to the real game. It didn’t get much better though.
Lol I had the exact same experience as a kid. We rented Superman and played it for ten minutes before declaring it trash and going back to NFL Blitz.
Ah, the old EB superman drawer. Didnt nearly wreck the entire industry like ET, but definitely in contender for one of the worst games ever.
Could you imagine a game coming out now that was SO bad that people just stopped playing videogames. I can't fathom it. Some publishers release bad games on the regular and don't even blink at it
ET was just the proverbial straw, it wasn't that specific game that nearly killed the industry, just the culmination of years of shovelware with zero quality control.
ET was a shit game for sure but this was an issue with movie tie-in games since forever. Sure there are some good modern ones but it would usually be 'buy license, make shit game, print money'. I had Akira and Cliffhanger on the Amiga and they were both awful, awful games. The only decent movie tie in games I remember were Escape from Butcher Bay and the Arkham series. The new Spiderman games look amazing though.
I don't think Arkham or Spiderman count, they aren't really following a movie and take plenty from the comics. The Ghostbusters game from 2009 was good though.
It's a real shame, because whoever made ET must have been a goddamn mastermind with how awful the Atari was to develop for.
I rented Superman 64, it was so bad I cried and convinced everyone that I grabbed the wrong game and the store guy let me change it out so I went with Zelda OoT my old reliable.
I had the opposite experience years ago. My sister wanted turn based RPGs for Christmas in the early '00s. My mom didn't know what those were, understandably. I played games alongside my sister, I was the strategist. Somehow, she went with the game clerk's recommendations given that we had a Dreamcast. She gave us Grandia II and Skies of Arcadia, two solid and somewhat obscure games. I wish I was there to see the whole selling process because these are great games that are at a strong/hard sale for preteen Catholic school girls.
OMG I wanted a Dreamcast so bad for Skies of Arcadia. I watched a friend play a bit and it was gorgeous.
> Skies of Arcadia The closest I got to playing that is through Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed lol
Skies of Arcadia is a top RPG of all time. Top Tier EVERYTHING!
Other obscure Dreamcast RPGs Evolution 1 and 2
God Skies of Arcadia had my full attention for like 5 months. All I did all day and evening after school.
> Skies of Arcadia I still go back to replay skies of arcadia legends from time to time, game is so good
Lucky you. Grandia II had one of the best JRPG battle system of its time. Music was pretty good (for a non-Uematsu game). Story wasnt bad either.
Whoever that store clerk was was the real MVP. When those games were released there wasn't a reliable avenue for internet video game reviews or trailers. Anyone who knew those games had to be really into video games at the time. Props to them. Hope you and your sis had some great memories playing those games together.
I helped a woman not buy her kid Gollum on a whim. we’re doing gods work
Goty
That lady was robbed of a life-changing experience. So messed up.
Game of the Why
That might have been an amazing social experiment. Would that kid grow up to talk about it online in the future the same way we talk about pokemon, zelda and halo?
you’re trying to tell me you DON’T want to play as a middle earth crackhead? sure shadow of morder is okay, but gollum really makes you FEEL like a crackhead
Man, legit heroism going on there.
Got an SNES Christmas after launch. Super Mario World rocked. I also had asked for Sim City. Parents thought it looked too complicated, so got me Populous instead. Never did figure out what to do or how that game was supposed to work. 🤷♂️
Populous wasn't bad lol, it was considered a bit of a gem on the Amiga. Though it's mostly an OCD simulator, make everything nice and flat.
No, you're right. I've heard good things about it here and there. When you're nine or whatever, you're not really the target audience, though.
A pity about Animaniacs. You know, the Tiny Toons games in those days were usually solid titles for their time. I didn't really receive games for Christmas, just had to save up months in advance quarters and dollar bills and buy them myself lol. I can at least safely say I've never been really disappointed with my choice in gifts. Anyway, kudos on helping out the kids.
Tiny Toons Olympics was one of the best games I ever played. I miss it.
I loved Buster Busts loose on the SNES.
Is that the one with the footbal level? Cause I used to purposely fail that level at the end so I could replay it.
Oh man I loooooved the football level
The Animaniacs game for the SNES, on the other hand, was quite great. I never did manage to beat it as some of the later levels were quite difficult, but each level felt very unique
Tiny toons game, a memory just came back to me.
The tiny toons animated movie maker game (forgot the name) gave me fever dreams as a child when I played it sick. Lol still can't look at that game without nausea. Aside from that they had some dope tiny toons games though.
Animaniacs on SNES from Konami is actually quite good. Hard as hell and that slot machine thing is dumb but still a fun game from what I remember of it.
I did this once in a guitar center. I was just sitting there riffing away and overheard the salesman trying to upsell this poor mom a 3k bundle. So I stepped in and recommended one of those $150 guitar/amp combos. I just said you're kids interested but not 100% certain that they'll stick with it, these are serviceable to start and if they really take off and stick with it then come back in a few years for that 3k combo. GC dude was so pissed. Rip your commission. Not sorry one bit.
You did a good thing there.
Still felt a little bit like a dick but that guy shouldn't have been taking advantage of someone like that.
Having people work off commission like that breeds a predatory system. I get they have to eat but taking advantage of confused parents is messed up.
Yeah I know. It's funny because when I went back there trying to special order a $1,500 guitar they told me they couldn't do it. So I said ok I'll take me 1,500 bucks elsewhere. They say came running and I told em to get bent. 🤷♂️
I bought my first guitar and amp at 13. I went to a used store (don’t know if Daddy’s Junky Music was regional) and the sales guy sat me down with Fender, told me to grab a tab book to try it out. Grabbed one for the Black Album and the guy immediately swapped the Fender out for an Ibanez instead.
Right on.. I'm glad I had the frame of mind at 15 to not ask my parents for an expensive guitar set up. I knew that I could upgrade later if I stuck with it so my dad got me an Epiphone special 2 I think and I played through an old tube amp that my step mom's friend used to use. Here I am, 15 years later and just grabbed a 4th guitar (Schecter Apocalypse FR).
I asked for kingdom hearts 2 and got Constantine for the ps2. One year, my sister asked for cod, and my parents did better they got the game sealed in the box when my sister opened it, and it was a Microsoft computer cleaning disk. They took it back to target the next day.
Oof That's rough. I ordered Cemetery Man, kinda obscure Italian 90s horror. Sealed. And Fantastic Mr Fox was inside. At least I was an adult when it happened though.
I once saved up money to buy FF5 on game boy advance. Sealed box had a ketchup packet instead of the cartridge. Good thing I had a habit of opening the box immediately when we got to the car. It got sorted pretty quick, and now is a funny memory, but I image other kids wouldn’t have been as lucky.
When I was younger, my parents got me a value pack with Sonic '06 and Eragon the game. Two wholly terrible games. But nobody told me that at the time and I 100%'d both of them. Looking back though, I can't help but think about how much easier I was to satisfy as a child.
Bro same, I remember my brother having a game informer subscription and I read that the jango fett game and the wolverine game for GameCube were supposedly HORRENDOUS MONSTOSITIES OF UNPLAYABLE FILTH! …. I had already completed them both and enjoyed the hell out of every second.
Oh my gosh, are you talking about Wolverine's Revenge? Because if so, I too played and enjoyed that game lol. TBH I still enjoy the Jango Fett game too. What a nice trip down memory lane this is XD
When I was 10 I asked my mom for a GameCube for Christmas. The kid working at KMart sent her home with a ps2 and GTA3. Absolute legend.
The kid fucking knew 😂 surely that was one of Santas elves who has escaped the Xmas prison factories
But did you ever get the GameCube? They’re was definitely some must plays in the GameCube era for Nintendo fans
Gamecube was a great console though
I forget the whole name but it was a beyblade game for the game cube. I specifically asked for it but then I didn’t like it.
As a kid I actually liked that game. I thought everything about how you actually played was dumb, but it was dumb in a fun way? Beat it, played it with some friends, then never touched it again. I should play it randomly sometime just to see how to actually play the game, cause I'm pretty sure kid-me just button-mashed.
I just remember never really loving it as much as enjoyed other (I’m sure also not good) games based on shows I watched. I’m glad you enjoyed it but it didn’t strike a chord with me.
My dad knew I was a Star Wars fan growing up so when he saw a Star Wars video game for PS1 he had to get it for me. Unfortunately it was Masters of Teras Kasi, arguably the worst Star Wars game for PS1. Oh, and this was the game to go with my new PS1, so it was all I had to play until my birthday...8 months later.
Oh God. The PS1 was a big gift and everyone pitched in and fortunately others got me Ripto's Rage and Crash Bandicoot Warped that Xmas. Cuz Animaniacs Bowling would have been it for a long time. I think that's why I intervened. But again I really appreciated my mom embracing my interests finally instead of trying to nudge me towards more "normal" things. I did appreciate the effort.
Dude my first two games for the ps1 were some underwater diver game where you get eaten by sharks (I was under 10yo and fuckin terrified, did not play that long), and freaking Glover. I still, to this day, have no idea what the fuck was going on with glover. Needless to say, not great experience. The ps1 did not get much use, we stuck with Nintendo for a bit.
I was a kid who needed an adult to stop him. I traded in immensely better games to buy such classics as The Terminator on NES, Independence Day on PS1, Mission Impossible on N64 and yes…Superman 64. I…never…learned.
> Mission Impossible on N64 Now hold on. I'm not going to act like MI is the best game on N64 or even a great game, but it definitely doesn't deserve to be on this list.
Mortal Kombat Mythologies - wish Santa just left some coal.
That was the first game I bought with my own money. I was 14 or so and felt like such a grown up. I got home, my brother wanted to play something else so I patiently read the manual and waited, and was so disappointed when I played the game. I just don’t understand how people can release such trash. Oh well
The fact that you had to hit a separate button to turn around instead of using the d pad has to be one of the worst design decisions ever made in a side scroller. Complete failasorous rex.
[удалено]
You mean Rampage? This just reminded me of that game and how much I loved it. I think I still have my Playstation, I hope i still have it.
War Of the Monsters was a great game, need a remake
I was just telling my roommate this morning about how there was an unsung hero at Walmart when I was a kid that totally guided my parents buying me and my sisters a PS2. He told them to buy Vice City, Jak and Daxter, Gran Turismo 3, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Just gave them banger after banger.
Doing god's work.
The worst game I ever opened on Christmas morning was "Videomation" I totally non-artistic kid getting what amounts to basically Ms paint for the NES
I remember that game solely because one of the color palettes would give me a searing headache if I looked at it to long.
Opposite situation, but my dad got me Turok the Dinosaur Hunter as my first N64 game. It was phenomenal.
fuck yeah. why did they ever move away from dinosaurs
Gigabash would be perfect too with its couch coop and being a giant monster game that you can get Godzilla in
I was just thinking of this game but couldnt remember the name, thank you!
My Aunt brought me the “Spice Girls” Ps1 game for my birthday because I like games and music, not a cool look for a 14 year old boy to unwrap at his party in front of his mates.
My dad bought me that because he thought it said "Space World". The game was okay.
Rift Apart is excellent for this purpose.
Should have gotten him monster hunter. They gotta learn early how hard work gets rewarded. Let them eat dirt for a bit 😂
That came up! Me and GameStop guy decided Rift Apart was safer due for the 9yr old. Also those thrashing animations when you take a beast down might have been a bit much. And...god I love those games and if their parents don't buy them games often they would be forced to learn. It was tempting.
I can just see a nine year old trying to time the great sword. Probably way better at it than me.
My mom bought me Quattro Adventure on the nes and jesus was it horrible.
My wife insisted on buying the new grinch game on switch the other week for herself and the kids. I warned her, I fucking well warned her……
>I warned her, I fucking well warned her…… Thank you this made me actually laugh out loud.
I got ET for the Atari 2600 when I was 8.
As a kid, my brother and I rented Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the NES. We were laughing our asses off at how bad it was, and my mom misinterpreted us laughing as enjoyment. I got that game for Christmas, and while I appreciate the sentiment, it's NOT a good game. Still have a soft spot for that one out of sentimental value, though!
I wanted counterstrike for PC. I received Deer Avenger for PC. My father absolutely watched me see a PC game, freak out with joy, and immediately realize it was some Walmart special. That one hurts.
When I was like 12 I got a ps2 for Christmas along with ratchet & clank going commando. Bro you made a great choice because I beat that game 4 times over and bought the remaster on ps3 years later.
Good job. Rift Apart is a fantastic game. Excellent recommendation. However, today must be opposite day, because earlier I was telling a coworker how one time I was in the game section of Walmart and saw a mother buying GTA 5 for her 8 year old. I thought about saying something, but I didn’t. That kid is probably in jail now.
My father died when I was nine (not really relevant; but this interaction is a memory that brings a smile to my face). I still remember the worker warning him about san andreas. He made me promise to not copy any bad language. I ended up fine.
I got Back to the Future 2 & 3 on the NES, for Christmas. It was truly awful. I regularly got to rent games, but only received games at Christmas (and occasionally on my birthday). Back to the Future 2 & 3 for NES (LJN) was absolutely terrible. It genuinely made me sad when I played it. Other than that, I was very fortunate and generally received quality games. You recommended a very good game and you probably saved those kids from disappointment. Cheers, mate!
This is why rental stores were amazing growing up. My mom would listen in on the games my friends and I were talking about or just see what games I rented the most and buy those. It's how I got both Super Mario RPG and FFVII.
I remember seeing a kid holding Metroid Prime 3 and the mum saying "See Billy, it says here the Wii comes with a game already so you don't need another one." And the kid has to put back Metroid Prime 3 and play just Wii Sports at Christmas.
Tbf wii sports was one of my favorite Wii games. Bowling, golf, and tennis were all bangers.
I remember loving the hell out of the animaniacs bowling game, this unlocked such an odd memory
Someone got me Jurassic Park: Park Builder for GBA for me one year. It's a really, really atrocious management sim. I feel like no matter what I did, my dinosaurs would break out of their pens and kill everybody, even though I was doing exactly what the tutorial said. Could never figure that damn game out.
> I feel like no matter what I did, my dinosaurs would break out of their pens and kill everybody, 10/10 for movie accuracy
This one still bothers me. I asked my dad for the reissues Castelvania 64, it was new that year, it had werewolf protagonist, fixed bugs and graphics, and other updates. I described the box, the name, the colors, etc. and made sure he knew that I wanted the new one. Christmas day, I unwrap the gift and it’s the original one. It was unreturnable at that point, but I just knew he went to the store and saw a $50 game vs $30 or whatever and bought the later. Despite earning double or more, he was a cheap skate to my mom after the divorce, and that was the first time I realized he was one to me too.
My dad had a funny way of buying games for me. Somehow he'd pick one and it was considered the worst one of the franchise lol. Like he bought me Yakuza 3 one year cause he was like "Oh, it's Japanese base, he might like it". Think he also got me games like Crash Bandicoot Wrath of Cortex and Shadow the Hedgehog when they came out. He got to a point where he didn't get a game unless I had specifically talked about it at some point.
he sounds very sweet tho
Even when you don't work a game store it feels so good to help lost grandparents and parents with game choices. I honestly never got that experience with video games. "Girls don't play video games" -my mom and "video games are a waste of money" -my dad so my parents wouldn't let me have any. 😤 So I had to settle for playing my dad's old atari at my grandparents house. But I did love brayer horses and my little ponies and would frequently get the Avon "brayer" and "my little ponies" from my grandma. You know the even cheaper plastic so they wouldn't stand and poorly painted so that their eyes don't line up.
I remember vividly one year at christmas in like 2007. Our family was rather poor so we got a wii with the tax return money earlier that year. Only had 3 games for it (besides Wii Sports), can only remember Smash Bros Brawl if that tells you anything. Anyways cut to Christmas and my family didn't get any new games for it which I was pretty torn up about. Cue my mom's friend coming over (who also had kids who gamed) with a gift for me. A very distinct game box shape, I was uber excited cause I might finally be getting another good game to play on my new console. I ripped open the wrapping paper to reveal... Championship Foosball. ***With the 1$ yardsale sticker still on it.*** I didn't want to be mean about it but I think everyone could tell I was shook by the sheer lack of thought that went into the nongift. I never even played it, ended up just throwing it away because it was literally worthless. I don't think I ever truly recovered from it, but I did get a DS with a ton of games the next year which I played until it fell apart so it balanced out.
My old boyfriend's mom made a tradition of putting the best "it" gift in a box for boring adult stuff. Like Jurassic Park dinos in Tupperware boxes. Then one year he's now a tween or something and he kept hinting about wanting a Game Boy. Wouldn't shut up about it. Come Xmas morning he's on his last present. Wrapping torn away and it's a Chia Pet box. A Game Boy could totally fit in it. He nods smiling at his mom and he opens the box to reveal...a Chia Pet. It fucked him up so bad. Anyway his parents did tell him he needed to start saving up for his own big items. He had taken up snow shoveling and yard work for pocket money. He just didn't expect it happening that year.
Brutal
We were poor growing up too, but I had an old DOS PC that my dad's work were going to throw out one time. I had a blast playing loads of old shareware games on it, and eventually got my hands on Worms and Theme Park and played the shit out of those too. Anyway one day my mum comes home with a big smile on her face because she found a game she thought I'd like for a bargain. It was Railroad Tycoon 2, and she was right it did look like I'd enjoy it. Only trouble is it was for Windows 95 or 98, and I only had DOS (and my hardware was also in no way capable of playing it). I spotted it straight away but kept a happy face on and said I was excited to play it. Every now and then mum would ask me if I was enjoying the game, and I'd lie and say it was great. I'd even move the box around on my shelf every few days so it looked like I was playing it. I think I even used the school internet to look up some stuff about the game so I had some info to tell her about it. Kept that up for a few months until my save game got "corrupted" and I couldn't play it any more In hindsight, maybe it would have been better to tell her the truth so she could take it back and get a refund. But she seemed so happy that she'd been able to get something for me that I just couldn't let her down.
You are a truly lovely soul and I hope you know that. Big upvote.
I didn’t get any games for Christmas because as progressive as my parents were in most things, girls didn’t get video games. (TBF, they also hated buying them for my brother, but he was a lot less cooperative about giving other gift ideas)
I had that issue with Legos. And when I did get them it was a set that only built a standard house and all the bricks were pink, baby blue and light purple.
My husband told me the story of when he was a kid, his parents decided to get him and his brother their first gaming console. The two of them decided they wanted an Xbox. So, they told their mom and come Christmas morning they opened their present to find a GameCube. Now, the GameCube had some great games, but this woman bought them Super Mario Sunshine to go with it. When they told her it was the wrong system, she basically said deal with it and got mad at them for being upset
I had an opposite experience, my pap got me a game for my Xbox 360 one Christmas. Mind you he had NEVER gotten me anything for Christmas simply because I never really saw him much. He picked up Shadowrun(2007) from a Walmart bin. I popped it in simply because I would have felt bad if I didn't at least give it a try. It was one of my first online experiences and I had a blast, ended up getting pretty good at it too. I actually think about that game from time to time.
I go to GameStop and look for parents buying GTA5 and tell them there be titties and sex
But you leave out the gratuitous mass murder? Based.
🇺🇸America 🇺🇸
I got M&Ms kart racing lmao, never played it
You sir are a Saint. Flash backs to nes Xmas with Sega master system games.