Memory cards limited space.

I mean, for me it was okay when I was a kid and had a LOT of free time. Now I definitely need some guidance! I cannot waste too much time wandering around to understand what I have to do

Ever stepped on the cord and the whole console came off the table by accident? It was nice when original Xbox made them break away.

Load times after the N64 era.

Excessive use of QTEs in the 2000s/2010s.

I still love this era of gaming, but a lot of games abused this mechanic and it usually made games worse.

Long loadtimes, QTE's (liked them in Shenmue and RE4 though), PS360's bloom and poor use of colors, no dual analog, low/unstable framerate.

The "interactive movie" craze when CD-ROMs were first introduced. The 7th Guest and Myst were okay, but after that? Nah.

Subsequently, the "brown and gray" shooter era. I almost gave up gaming because I got so tired of it.

This! I absolutely hate QTEs with a passion.

Going back further to the 80's and 90's, the fact that some otherwise great games got ruined by absolutely horrible UI and controls, especially computer games that could get really opaque at times.

I don't miss the horrendous box art a lot of western releases got.  Also, a lot of poorly translated games, bad voice acting, etc.

I also don't miss the negative stereotypes and low-key racism some early games had.

Pretty sure some games had side quests and even some main quest items so cryptic to sell more guides. 

Again, not condoning more modern monetization practices like planned season passes and such. But still, pretty obvious some game guides benefited a lot from cryptic games.