Old man here.
>Did people really have to drive to the shops to pick up a game instead of just instantly downloading it?
If you had a PC with internet, you knew how to pirate. If you were on consoles, you had to get it physically unless you lived in the perceived techno-utopia of Japan.
>>713336647
Pic is right on the money. Even as a kid you knew shit was wrong and clung hard to escapism, but even looking past the reality of the situation of the world, I still think there are things worth remembering and preserving. If I could transplant a few aspects of what that experience was like into today's time it would be.
First would be that when you bought a game it was a complete, relatively bug-free experience, at least on console. That was a lot of the appeal of consoles. It meant not having to go through the tinkering of getting the game to run like on the PC. The other thing would be $49.99 AAA game price. There's just something autistically satisfying knowing that $100 covers two game purchases, even if it's only before you get fucked by taxes. Unless you're based and live in Montana or something.

Everything else is Nostalgia goggles.