I still like to freak out other people's kids by telling them about the old days when the app store was an actual place at the mall and they had shrink-wrapped cardboard boxes with one app inside for like thirty dollars and watch their brains melt.
My favorite stories involve pooling money from us kids to chip in for an Activision cartridge for the Atari 2600. I seem to recall playing Stampede - at least the screen display looks familiar - and new games might have been $40 in 1981 money.
@ed_packet @djsundog as a genZ that plays with old stuff I feel a compulsion to mention my favorite game of all time is Beamrider
My favorite place to play with old stuff is the U of Michigan Computer and Video Game Archive.
https://www.lib.umich.edu/locations-and-hours/computer-and-video-game-archive
Currently closed (COVID) but when they are open they have a complete run of games for a bunch of old systems, plus vintage hardware to run them on. (And new games too.)
I will have to look for Beamrider when they open up again.
@ed_packet @djsundog I use emulators but real hardware is a different experience entirely
Real hardware is hard to get running and to keep running, but it can be a whole lot of fun. The people I know who are serious about old hardware get good at things like replacing capacitors and fixing corrosion damage.
It's hard for emulators to get the weird color effects of NTSC television exactly right, and the characteristic blurry results. NTSC = "Never Twice the Same Color"
