did any of you base game buying decisions on if the game had password or battery save functionality?

[orthicviper]

I skipped so many games as a kid when they still made games that didn't save your progress. It's why I didn't buy Contra 3 any many games. If it included a level select cheat then I would consider it. But I never understand how anyone could handle the frustration of playing a game nearly 30 minutes and then losing all their lives at the last stage and having to start over. I didn't want to play a game repeatedly under that stress until I mastered it. But they kept making these kinds of games so I guess you all didn't mind this?

Also these games tended to be shorter which made paying $60 USD for them even less justifiable.

[twiztor]

i grew up with the NES until it was well past its life cycle.

Most of the games i got as bday or xmas presents. that means my parents/uncles & aunts/etc. usually bought whatever was popular and on the shelves at the time. there are only a handful of games that i remember EAGERLY anticipating, like Legend of Zelda II and Super Mario Bros 3. I ended up getting a lot of franchise games (Ninja Turtles, Mega Man). Whether a game saved or not literally had no impact on which games i got, as most of the time, i didn't have any input anyway.

i've never pondered if there was any difference in sales for titles that did/didn't have a save feature.

[kitsunebi]

i grew up with the NES until it was well past its life cycle.

Most of the games i got as bday or xmas presents. that means my parents/uncles & aunts/etc. usually bought whatever was popular and on the shelves at the time. there are only a handful of games that i remember EAGERLY anticipating, like Legend of Zelda II and Super Mario Bros 3. I ended up getting a lot of franchise games (Ninja Turtles, Mega Man). Whether a game saved or not literally had no impact on which games i got, as most of the time, i didn't have any input anyway.

i've never pondered if there was any difference in sales for titles that did/didn't have a save feature.

Agree completely. There were only around 50 NES games with a battery, most of which were RPGs. Limiting yourself to those only would make a pretty sorry collection of games that missed out on most of the greats. I can honestly say I never even had an awareness of whether or not a game had a battery when I made a purchase (or as with twiztor, when I made a wishlist for birthday/xmas gifts).

[te72]

Honestly, apart from RPG's, there weren't many games I can recall that were long enough to even need a save feature. Master Blaster would have been nice if it had a save feature. Legacy of the Wizard also would have benefited. Most games of the 8 and 16 bit era could be beaten in a sitting...

[RetroDefense]

I never based my decisions on battery/password saves back in the day, but have re-purchased some games digitally - on Virtual Console or whatever - for save state functionality. Picked up some physical retro collections for the same reason.

[kitsunebi]

Also these games tended to be shorter which made paying $60 USD for them even less justifiable.

I think this is the most important point you brought up actually, but you've got it backards. Your issue wasn't with the lack of battery saves, it was that you didn't care for the standards of 8/16-bit era game design. Those games were shorter than more modern games, true, but that was exactly why being able to save your progress would have been bad game design. If able to save, the game would be over far too quickly, and you would have felt cheated out of your money. Being forced to replay the game over and over to get skilled enough to progress was part of the game design, not an oversight or lack of anything. It's true I don't have the patience for that kind of game anymore, but back then it wasn't a concern. Replaying a game over and over in the hopes of eventually making it to the end was how you got your money's worth.

[te72]

Being forced to replay the game over and over to get skilled enough to progress was part of the game design, not an oversight or lack of anything.

Good example? Punch-Out. I can take out the first 5 or so opponents with ease, because opponent number 6 has kicked my butt on numerous occasions...

[cardsandcelts]

I chose Baseball Stars instead of the Bases Loaded games for that reason. Creating and running a franchise and saving it all on a battery made my mouth water as a nine year old.

[Samhain]

Not really. It was hard enough to get a read on the quality of games as it was during the NES and SNES era. Honestly, I'd rent first, then make my decision, it was the only way.

[XFactor]

No, most games were shorter back then.

[RoboBlue]

I did... but now I tend to prefer buying games that didn't have save batteries.  Replacing all of those dead batteries is a lot of work.

[Samhain]

No, most games were shorter back then.

Yeah, but man, they were hard as f__k!

 

I did... but now I tend to prefer buying games that didn't have save batteries.  Replacing all of those dead batteries is a lot of work.

Have you replaced a battery before? I've got a Zelda DX that needs a battery. I've got a few thousand games in my collection and have seen a ton of doubles in my day, and this is the first time in 25 years of collecting, that I've seen it.

[TheBlueWhale]

I didn't really buy many games until battery saves were the norm.