I totally agree, except for the part about WrestleMania being a shitty game. It is probably Rare's finest work.

That game probably made young d21lewis cry (plus, I think it was made by Acclaim).  Every character had 4 moves, max!  Punch/kick, bodyslam (only a few had this ability), run while punching/kicking, and a top rope move (only a few had this ability).  No audience.  No going outside of the ring, period!  It was jus a 3 sided ring floating in space.

And, every now and then, a item would fly across the ring ($ for the Million Dollar Man, Shades for the Macho Man, a foot (?) for Andre the Giant, etc.) that would restore some health.  Just thinking how long it took me to save up that $50 to buy it took me to buy that turd is pissing me off!! 

-I'm going to youtube to see if I can find a video of it.  Then, I'm going to kick a puppy.

*edit* Found it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zx-qsaXD78

It was published by Acclaim but developed by Rare (see here - if you squint, you can just make it out). It was also one of the best NES games ever made as it had Bam Bam Bigelow, so I can only assume that you're a butthurt WCW fan.

Anyway, I, too, remember the pain of saving up $50 and then buying some random piece of shit like World Games (which would be sneered at today if it were released as a $5 XBLA game). Gaming gives people such a ridiculous amount of bang for their buck these days, and I actually agree with Pachter that the average gamer is incredibly spoiled.

Very interesting perspective.  Looking back at economies and productions of scale.

I got you beat even, do you remember how much computers cost way back when?  My first computer was a PC II 66 mhz computer with (I don't even remember how much ram).  Cost almost $4k 

Imagine what kind of rig you could build at that price!!!!

I had World Games, too! 

Oh, and I see the programmed by Rare line on the back of that manual.  Years of misplaced rage.  I've been saying "Fuck Acclaim" when I should have been saying "Fuck Rare.......and Acclaim!"

I was born in the mid 80s so Its not in my place to say games were cheap during thoes times. Although it did took me a long time to save up for a 300 dollar GameCube bundle (so many quarters saved). Also TVs have gone down in price. 32, 40 inch 200 lb  1st HDTVS tvs used to cost a couple grand [2-4k]. Now you can get a good 40, 32 inch for a fraction of that (5 to $700) with good quality.

The difference between games we get on PSN,XBLA and the games we got on the NES is todays games are made for preschoolers. Seriously, the challenge is completely gone. Back in the old days a game like Contra (without the Konami code) would take months of blood sweat and tears to beat. Now games like Shadow Complex make a mockery out of the industry as far as challenge goes.

Screw inflation. Gaming is still an expensive hobby any way you spin it. Consoles cost $400-$600 (still $300 5 years after release), games cost $60, controllers are $40 each, and you now need to spent $500 on an HDTV just to get the full experience. Not to mention the monthly fee for Xbox live, which simply should not exist.

O.O I didnt realize that the games were so expensive back then. No wonder my parents only bought me 2 snes games.

I remember NES games when they first came out by Nintendo, were like $30 a pop or so.  I think I got Zelda for $35 I believe.