ADRIAN HON
Alternate Reality
Notes from videogaming’s borders
My PlayStation-owning friends availed themselves of cheap pirated games while I looked on in envy
Illustration konsume.me
When I was 15, I made a decision I would come to bitterly regret: I bought a Nintendo 64. To be clear, I loved zooming through F-Zero X and jetting around in Pilotwings 64, and there are few games I’ve had more fun playing with my friends than GoldenEye 007 and Star Fox 64… but at what cost?
Nintendo 64 games cost around £50 in 1998, or £90 in today’s money, according to the Bank Of England’s inflation calculator. I could only afford one or two new games per year, or maybe more if I got lucky when scouring the used games bins at Electronics Boutique. My PlayStation-owning friends availed themselves of cheap pirated games (note: don’t pirate games, kids!) while I looked on in envy.