We were so lame when...

Progress is an amazing thing.In 50 years' time, people will look back at the 360 and PS3 like we would look at a gramophone today. No question.

But on a smaller timescale, we can't believe how much the world of gaming has progressed over the last few years alone. To think this shockingly archaic tech used to impress us. It's not going to be pretty…

The internet ran up our phone bill
Remember when the internet was something you couldn't use while your sister was on the phone? When you had to keep putting 10p coins in a jam jar just so that you could play Phantasy Star Online without your parents nagging you? So do we - just look at this beauty:

But at the time, it was amazing. Seeing the internet load – incredibly slowly – on our TVs was a miracle. And then there was that wonderful day we came home from college to find Chu Chu Rocket sitting on our doormat.

Yup, Sega introduced us to online gaming for FREE. Amazing. Sure, every time you pressed a button, you had to wait a second or so for the tile to be placed (so that everyone had the same horrible lag and not just us with our 33.6k setups), but it was on-line gaming, no question. And then CHAT ROOMS afterwards to gloat, curse creatively, and spam everyone with the function keys. Ah, happy days.

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.