I miss the art (think metroid/link/dragon warrior), which would really help the 8-bit world come to life in your mind. Because those games definitely took some imagination. Sometimes an intro screen and clear/kill screen was all the story in the game. The manual would sometimes tell you the whole story, and get you to buy into the game 'world'. I remember my NES games quite fondly, even when most were unplayable messes. And I remember playing games several times where my parents would ask 'Why are you doing ___?' And my answer was often, 'I don't know. Because it's fun.' I think Final Fantasy II (US/SNES) was the first game I ever geeked out and really lost myself in. Maybe around 10 or 11 years old. I remember beating the game, and then hearing a rumor about the moon dungeons and the heroic weapons. The save counter only went to 100 hours, and I was way past that. I max leveled every playable character, found all the secrets, and felt so proud of it. No strat guides, no FAQ's, no internet forums. Just determination stubbornness.