Mother who refused to buy a SNES in 1991

[fg]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTzyz2TgGls

Fast forward to 1:30

I like how this Mom says “I’m going to say no and I’m going to explain to him that people market things to make you spend more money.” Apparently she didn’t realize that her kid’s old system was going to be outdated and couldn’t play the then- newer games. How was her kid supposed to play the then newer games? Also, I am betting that she caved in. Also, I bet this mother is the same person who spends money on new smartphones to replace the one she has.

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

Sure he can't play the newest games, but stuff like Kirby's Adventure and Little Samson will be out soon enough to remedy that.

[Cyno]

Back in my day, we had to walk 15 miles in the snow to play Street Fighter II. And it was World Warrior. No fancy same character matches. No playable bosses. And we liked it, dagnabit!

[A Platypus Rave]

May 11, 2021 18:55:22 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Back in my day, we had to walk 15 miles in the snow to play Street Fighter II. And it was World Warrior. No fancy same character matches. No playable bosses. And we liked it, dagnabit!

... did we? >_>

[Perd]

It was so much easier before technology. There was no SuperRock or Stick64. There was just rock and stick.

[Muskrat]

Knew the exact clip this was gonna be, I’ve always thought that woman was an idiot, she’s literally arguing against improving technology. Colour TV’s are nothing but a marketing scheme in her eyes

[Powerline]

May 11, 2021 18:51:51 GMT -5 fg said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTzyz2TgGls

Fast forward to 1:30

I like how this Mom says “I’m going to say no and I’m going to explain to him that people market things to make you spend more money.” Apparently she didn’t realize that her kid’s old system was going to be outdated and couldn’t play the then- newer games. How was her kid supposed to play the then newer games? Also, I am betting that she caved in. Also, I bet this mother is the same person who spends money on new smartphones to replace the one she has.

To answer the question, a lot of people thought it was bogus that they had to buy a new system to play newer games and didn't see why the carts couldn't just have better tech to run on the machines.  Keep in mind, Atari systems always had some degree of backward compatibility (I'm blanking on what played what, but all the same...), and even then the only one they had that was an unquestioned success was the 2600.  This is also in a time where PCs aren't an every-home item either.  So the idea of "Replacing an electronic not because it's old or damaged/broken but because it's obsolete" was foreign.

Sega even banked on this reaction and had the Power Base Convertor that let you play Master System games on the Genesis.  In interviews, staff members said they never expected the convertor to sell well, but it was something they could point at and say "We're not gonna pull a 'Nintendo' and have this great divide.  We'll always support the previous system(s) on our newest consoles", even if people might forget the statement years later and they could just...not.  But they all thought Nintendo was dumb for not having backward compatibility (and reportedly, the SNES was intended to have it early in development, but was cut).

Not saying it's the most sound logic, but it's something people today mostly just accept.

[Deleted]

Kid: My stupid old system can't play these cool, new games!

Mom, tired from parenting all day: ...so?

[Deleted]

May 11, 2021 20:02:29 GMT -5 Muskrat said:

Knew the exact clip this was gonna be, I’ve always thought that woman was an idiot, she’s literally arguing against improving technology. Colour TV’s are nothing but a marketing scheme in her eyes

Many years later, she would be the ideal target for many a Famiclone sold at mall kiosks.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

May 11, 2021 20:05:30 GMT -5 Powerline said:

But they all thought Nintendo was dumb for not having backward compatibility (and reportedly, the SNES was intended to have it early in development, but was cut).

There were two attempts to make the SNES backwards compatible with the NES. The first was to have the internal circuitry to enable the playing of NES carts directly, which was cut before a prototype was ever produced as it became immediately apparent the cost would be prohibitive. The second was an "adapter" of sorts, which was more or less just a NES that passed the TV signal through the SNES.




The red and yellow AV ports were the AV input from the adaptor.

Rumour was Nintendo flirted with the idea of operating a trade-in scheme where you could get money off the adapter exchanging your old NES. In the end they obviously deemed it pointless and the adapter became the NES top-loader.

[bob]

May 11, 2021 18:55:22 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Back in my day, we had to walk 15 miles in the snow to play Street Fighter II. And it was World Warrior. No fancy same character matches. No playable bosses. And we liked it, dagnabit!

and walked to the arcade!!!

AND WE LIKED IT!!!

[Cyno]

May 11, 2021 19:09:35 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

May 11, 2021 18:55:22 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Back in my day, we had to walk 15 miles in the snow to play Street Fighter II. And it was World Warrior. No fancy same character matches. No playable bosses. And we liked it, dagnabit!

... did we? >_>

When Championship Edition didn't exist yet and we didn't know any better? Hell yes we did.

[ERON]

Mothers like this are a big reason why the Wii U failed, IMO.

Kid: Mommy, I want a Wii U!
Mom: No, sweetie, you already have a Wii. You don't need another one.

[DoubleDare]

Well I just imagine if I had a kid and they are playing this thing I didn't grow up with and am not familiar with (videogames) and its 5 years later, wait what theres now a NEW one I have to buy?

So I could kinda see that from her point of her view in that regard.

[Paul]

My argument would have been "Look how amazing Super Mario World looks and sounds!".

[MrElijah]

May 11, 2021 18:55:22 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Back in my day, we had to walk 15 miles in the snow to play Street Fighter II. And it was World Warrior. No fancy same character matches. No playable bosses. And we liked it, dagnabit!

I would love an Early 90s gamer from 91-92 to see fighting games now.

"Wait, there's a Street Fighter 5? There's a King of Fighters 15?! What happened to Fatal Fury?. Hold up what do mean Ryu has fought Mario?!"

[wildojinx]

To be fair, my parents didnt buy me a SNES either, but considering the 90s were a peak time for PC games, it wasnt that bad (and I was able to play Wolfenstein 3d WITHOUT the censorship that the SNES version had).

[Wardlow on Wardlow 54]

I can understand it to a degree. My parents were a bit more with the times, which helped lol but after they got me the SNES, I had to earn the money for any games I got (barring Christmas and birthday gifts). It's also worth noting that they spoiled me that Christmas with the SNES, several games and the Super Game Boy. But any games I wanted, had to be purchased with my allowance, so I had to choose between either toys or games. It taught me the value of earning things and also kept me from becoming an entitled brat. Every console I got after that (N64, PS2, Game Cube, Wii, Switch) were purchased with cash I earned, myself.

So I can see where the mom is coming from, although her reasoning given seems laughable today.

[Z-A Sandbaggin' Son of a b!%@h]

As somebody already mentioned. This was a new concept back then. My parents were like. Why do you need a new system when your Nintendo works fine. Like we just bought new games for it. Now it’s common place for systems to come out and people are used to the frequency. Back then not so much

[Deleted]

In all fairness my mom didn't get it either at first. I had to explain that they wouldn't be making new games for regular Nintendo anymore. And she was in fact impressed when she saw the Super Mario World and Turtles In Time games compared to the Mario and TMNT games for NES when she saw a SNES displayed at a store. She totally caved and got me one for Christmas.