Questions tagged [gaming-history]
Questions about the history of games, conventions, customs, traditions and gaming terms, and how they have developed over time.
42
questions
-2
votes
1answer
34 views
If the data in Pokémon gen 1 games is tightly packed due to storage limitations, how come gen 2 games are twice the size? [closed]
The code of the Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow games is notoriously fragile to exploits and glitches. Apparently part of the reason for this is that developers had tight storage limitations and lots of ...
47
votes
1answer
8k views
How did Minecraft's Java/Bedrock split come to pass?
It's been a very long time since I've last touched Minecraft. Recently my interest was sparked again and to my surprise I've learned that now there are 2 dominant Minecraft versions: Java and Bedrock. ...
1
vote
0answers
77 views
Who was the first boss who had multiple HP bars?
It is commonplace in current video games that bosses, most likely final bosses, have multiple HP bars so that depleting one fully reveals another underneath, usually a different color, or sometimes ...
0
votes
1answer
80 views
Have videogames advanced technology? [closed]
I was reading about the PS5 and the new Xbox and it felt like game consoles improve themselves by using existing (high end) technology. This made me wonder if any new (at the time of creation) ...
1
vote
3answers
135 views
Why didn't the arcade machines keep on “scaling” as the years went by?
Growing up in the early to mid 1990s, visiting various arcades was truly fascinating. At home, the SNES already felt amazingly futuristic, and its games endlessly fascinated and impressed me. Yet, ...
42
votes
3answers
8k views
Which game first introduced the concept of weapon recoil?
Context
This morning while watching a video of Wolfenstein 3D from 1992 and Doom (1993) I noticed that weapons don’t need to be compensated for any recoil. Then on my trip down memory lane I watched ...
-8
votes
1answer
168 views
Did really people buy and use the “Super Game Boy”? [closed]
Back in the day, when it was still new, I do remember borrowing it and playing some Game Boy games on it on my SNES. It was pretty cool, but I never had one myself, and if I bought a game on Game Boy, ...
2
votes
3answers
187 views
Origin of game trope where you travel between similar realities to progress?
In the recent years, many games seem to use a trope where you travel between slightly different realities to progress, either as a core mechanic or in a single level. The examples I can think of are ...
0
votes
0answers
85 views
What is the first game to have first-person cutscenes where you can’t move the character but you can turn their head?
In many Bethesda-publisher games, such as Dishonored and Skyrim, you can move your head during cutscenes. Sometimes, the camera pulls you in a certain direction, like with the cutscenes with the ...
6
votes
1answer
181 views
Who made the game “Torus” in the 1990s?
I'm trying to find the publisher of a game from the early 1990s called "Torus".
It was a 2d realtime puzzle game on DOS or Windows 3.x. Spinning rings of different colors fell from above onto spikes ...
10
votes
0answers
198 views
What is the origin of the standard color coding scheme for item rarity? [duplicate]
I recently started playing Hearthstone, and I realized I already knew the correct rarities of different cards without having it explained to me, because I'd seen it before. Stopping to think about it, ...
10
votes
2answers
609 views
What was the first console or handheld to have a user interface outside of games?
Consoles like the NES didn't have any sort of menus when not playing a game. Nowadays, however, stuff like the Switch and PS4 have all sorts of stuff built in:
What was the first video game ...
0
votes
1answer
216 views
Did Game Boy emulation exist for the 486 era (MS-DOS and Windows 3.1)? [closed]
The title says it all: Did we have working emulators for the 486/MS-DOS era back then? Would a 486 be capable enough to run a Game Boy emulator? If so what were they like?
3
votes
2answers
1k views
Is Pearl the first Nintendo character to swear?
Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion has a song called "#$@%* Dudes Be #$@%* Sleepin", which was Pearl's demo before she joined Off The Hook. In it, Pearl earns a lengthy bleep to cover up some kind of ...
3
votes
2answers
515 views
Origin of the name “gaming console”
Why are they called "consoles"?
AFAIK, In computing, the name "console" for machine interface came from the fact, that initially it was a literal console table with typewriter on it. But gaming ...
29
votes
2answers
4k views
What tools were used to analyze & challenge the records for Dragster?
I was reading an article on Polygon which was talking about a longstanding record for an Atari Game called Dragster. In the article it was talking about how people challenged the record by using "...
1
vote
0answers
175 views
Where did the Waluigi myth come from?
A while ago, I heard there was a myth about unlocking Waluigi as a playable character in the DS port of Super Mario 64. I've looked around the internet for the origin but all I can find are ROM hacks....
6
votes
2answers
2k views
Is there any truth to the myth of Polybius?
There is an old urban legend about an arcade game Polybius.
An arcade machine that would have been made to be a government experiment, appeared just for a few days in a few arcades, and then some men ...
-6
votes
1answer
239 views
Around what year did games go widescreen? [closed]
I am building a WinXP box to play games I have trouble with on Win10, and I am thinking of placing a 4:3 screen on it, as I didn't think games really supported widescreen until probably well after ...
29
votes
2answers
6k views
Where does the colour-coded item rarity come from?
In most new titles, especially RPGs, item rarity is colour coded in an easy to remember white-green-blue-purple-orange progression, sometimes with omissions (no green, no orange) or additions (extra ...
47
votes
1answer
8k views
What happened on September 24 1990 (or 1998) at 08:24?
I’ve just bought Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. It’s a great game! Played through the first world already.
There are retro pop culture references all over it!
Anyway, in the opening scene there is ...
2
votes
1answer
606 views
What are Typing Jet and De La Jet Set Radio?
On the tag wiki page for jet-set-radio, I noticed that one of the listed platforms was java-micro-edition, with two Japanese only releases from 2001 under the names De La Jet Set Radio and Typing Jet.
...
4
votes
1answer
475 views
What is Blast processing?
Back in the Super Nintendo era, Sega's whole Marketing campaign hinged on one thing: Blast Processing.
I don't think I've ever seen it explained. It was just "WE GOT IT AND NINTENDONT."
So, What is ...
4
votes
1answer
285 views
What was the first Mario game that featured taking Bowser down with 3 hits
So in all of the Mario games I played (which is not that much), I have to take down bowser with three hits. I was wondering which Mario game first had that on there, since it seems to be adapted into ...
64
votes
1answer
6k views
Unsold Atari videogames dumped in a desert?
I've heard about a massive amount of Atari consoles and video game cartridges (most of them were unsold copies of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) buried in a sort of dump in the middle of a desert in the ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
How did people discover the Konami Code?
Everybody knows it, everybody's done it, the famous Konami Code has been around for as long as cheat codes have existed, and is one of the most famous and well known cheat codes in history - most well ...
9
votes
2answers
429 views
Was the Atari 2600 the first home console to have a screen saver?
The Atari 2600 had a screen saver feature, where the colors of objects in the screen were randomly changed.
Was it the first home console to have such feature, if not who holds the title?
7
votes
2answers
415 views
Where does the term “quick time event” come from?
I know what the term quick time event means and that one of the first usages of the gameplay element was in Dragon's Lair, but I don't know why they are called that. Was that the term used by Dragon's ...
0
votes
1answer
1k views
How were cheats for the GTA games on PC found?
I Googled around a lot but came across only 1 such example where some guy tried combinations (permutations?) on his PS2 controller. But that does not give me the reason how the ones on PC are found.
...
4
votes
1answer
2k views
When were achievements, especially their timestamps, introduced to Steam?
I need to know for a project centered around achievements, furthermore the date they were unlocked. I want to mitigate the fact that some achievements before a certain date had no timestamps for ...
4
votes
1answer
412 views
What is the etymology of the term “Console Wars”?
(After this discussion on Meta, the question has been undeleted.)
As we know today, there is a competition between the holy trinity of the console gaming industry (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft) about ...
65
votes
3answers
12k views
Why does the original Game Boy support four shades of grey? [closed]
Why does the Game Boy specifically support four shades of grey, why not three or five? Is there something about the hardware that made four colours optimal?
Was there a precedent to using four shades ...
15
votes
3answers
4k views
How do people discover cheat codes in games?
Cheat codes are programmed into some games by developers. As an example: Have you ever played International Super Star Soccer 64? Well this game had several codes that would unlock new teams, give the ...
8
votes
2answers
802 views
What factors contributed to E.T's reputation as a bad game?
According to a documentary on Atari called Game Over it is stated that "ET" is the worst video game ever made.
Why is that?
I played the game when it was released, and although very young, I ...
21
votes
1answer
5k views
What sort of hardware was used to transfer Mew at Pokemon Red & Blue worldwide events?
Many years ago when Pokemon Red / Blue was immensely popular, I attended a Pokemon tour in Melbourne. For attending you got a showbag with a Pikachu trading card (with a gold logo stamped in the top ...
54
votes
1answer
3k views
Origin of achievements
Achievements have become pretty standard in games (and other gamified content, like Stack Exchange) these days. However, they definitely weren’t part of “classic” gaming, in the arcade/8-bit/16-bit ...
17
votes
3answers
2k views
How did the term 'buff' originate?
I was interested in learning that the term 'nerf' originated from Nerf gun toys. The opposite of nerf is buff, but I have found no information on the origin of it.
In the video game community, how ...
31
votes
3answers
9k views
What is the origin of the WASD key scheme?
My gaming memories go way back to the Atari 2600 with its single-button gamepad, and with computer gaming I started with the PC XT.
Back in the day, movement would be controlled by the arrows and ...
18
votes
3answers
13k views
Why do Electronic Arts games for Genesis (Mega Drive) have a different cartridge size?
Why do Electronic Arts games for Genesis (Mega Drive) have a different cartridge size?
Jungle Strike Cartridge:
NHL95:
The Immortal:
"Normal" USA/Europe cartridge:
6
votes
1answer
449 views
Who wrote the game 'The Pits'?
I'm looking for info on a game called 'The Pits', a text based adventure game which was on "The Source", a BBS computer system in the early 80s.
Who wrote this game? Was it ever ported to more modern ...
22
votes
6answers
152k views
Where did 'Soon™' originate?
I've seen coming Soon™ attached to some Valve and Blizzard products, but did it start with one of them (and if so, which)? What was the first game (or other product) that was to be launched with the ...
11
votes
5answers
16k views
How did the term 'noob' originate?
The terms 'n00b', 'nub', and 'newby' are all over gamer culture, but where did they come from? Did someone just decide we need a general word for someone who is unskilled? Is it a corruption of 'new' ...
