>>717420830
>cryptic levels and puzzles, since there was no internet at the time people were forced to buy magazines like Nintendo Power to be able to play the game
People actually searched around for things and combed areas because games back then were meant to be played for weeks or months not 100% over a weekend so you could rush out and buy more slop.
Secrets were supposed to be rewards for autists who were obsessed with the game or players to surprisingly stumble across on their 10th playthrough not for every normie to get in one run. Most games today don't even have secrets to find, you just run to the end of the story.
They also had forums which were actually faster and substantially less homosexual than the internet of today

>artificial difficulty bullshit forcing people to rent games multiple times to be able to finish them
But today nearly all games are rentals that you keep paying for.

>no Youtube so most game reviews came from paid shills
The average youtuber today is more of a shameless shill than the magazine ads were back then.