And I don't mean GOG.com. I mean the good old games we used to play in the days yore. While many of us here do not like some of the directions modern games have been taking (trivial DLCs, silly achievements, social features, early access...), this thread is for features that you really hated in old games. We can look past old graphics, sounds and similar, especially when we use rose-tinted glasses, at games of our childhood, but are there things about which you can truly say "Boy, am I happy this is no longer present in today's games!"? Things that no amount of nostalgia can make you look past?

Note: this is about features that were fairly common (not an obscure thing that appeared in a game or two) in games "back then" and are fairly uncommon nowdays.

I'll start:

• Game speed tied to CPU clock cycles. And not only because it causes them to run at lightning speeds on today's hardware. This was a problem even back then. I remember switching off that "Turbo" button to make the game slower (easier) or playing it with my friend at my PC instead of his, because it was slower. Then in Windows 98 era, before DOSBox allowed us to slow down games, I had to download programs that would hog up resources to have Ultima run at manageable speeds. Even with DOSBox, with some games like Might and Magic 1, it's difficult to balance between having text disappear too fast and playing the game at a normal non-annoying non-crawling-slow speed.
But the wider problem of this was not having a standardized difficulty. With varying speed it was not always possible. You never knew what the designer tested the game on and what he "intended". If it was too difficult, you couldn't tell whether that was part of the game's charm or whether you were simply running it too fast. Conversely if you beat a game too easily you didn't know whether it was because you were so awesome, or whether simply it was a sign that your computer belonged in the junkyard.
I just started Chagunitzu and it is difficult to find that sweet spot of DOSBox settings that would make it run at the right speed.

I realize early developers wanted to get all the CPU cycles that could have, but this was present in games as late as Magic Carpet (I'm sure it appeared in later games too), and by that time developers should have known better. Anyway, it's really good not to have it any more nowdays.

It is actually still a problem, only nowadays it isn't tied to game logic (CPU), but to rendering (GPU), and it's usually not because the devs want to get all the GPU cycles they can, they just don't think about limiting how many they spend. As a result, some modern games with simple graphics can make your graphics card overheat because it renders them at 12,000 frames per second.

CD-ROM or floppy games where a super tiny text on the backside of the cover informs you that ''This is the shareware version'

True, but this makes it a separate problem. It doesn't result in games becomeing too hard/too easy depending on your hardware or make them unplayable because it's lightning fast.

Games with ULTRA-MICRO-MANAGEMENT

Oh No not Normal Micro-management

EXAMPLE BELOW

Every time Unit takes a Shit you have to Wipe UNITS arse Shit I hated those games and I still hate them with a vengeance today they are so time consumingly GRATING ON MY NERVES!

Turn Based strategies TIME UNITS while walking around Grrrr... now I could understand if loading weapons and or treating wounds with medics but just WALKING AROUND that's some FERAL Bullshit there man I'm looking at you Fallout 1 and 2 and the Xcom - UFO series! Yeah after YOU PAID MONEY YOU DIDN'T NECESSARILY HAVE!

Or or 1200 Free games on disc for only $9.99

Here is another common one:

• "Insert word X from line Y from page Z" copy protection. At best, it was tiresome even if you were the rightful owner and had the manual. At worst, it could make game completely unplayable if you misplaced the manual or your dog ate it. Without the internet you had to look for a manual among your friends, or write to the publisher for a replacement. Makes some of contemporary DRM very mild in comparison.

Agreed, but what you said was: My point was that though it is a separate symptom, it's the same underlying problem (letting parts of the game code execute as fast and as often as the hardware can do it), and it stems from the fact that developers obviously still don't know any better.

Absurdly illogical puzzles that were blatantly put there to drive up sales of the hint book (which they break the fourth wall to advertise when you inevitably get stuck).

Oh, yes.

Oh CAN'T ARGUE WITH THAT!

Left shift key is getting stuck!

Absolutely insane prices - yesterday I was over at a friend's house and he wanted to get rid of some of his old boxed games so I dug through the pile to see if there was anything worth saving (The Secret of Monkey Island yay!). Most of the games still had the original price tags on the box. One of them was a now obscure flight sim (can't remember the name) and had a price tag of 149 Deutsche Mark which at the time was probably around 100 USD.

Nintendo-hard games. You ended up with TMNT on the NES? Good luck beating it. Ghosts n' Goblins or whatever it's called? Good luck too... I'm terribly sorry if you end up with Battletoads though. It gets cuter when you realize that most olden games were just absurdly difficult, and only a few games were truly challenging without being overly difficult. Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 were challenging titles. 2, I'm not sure about, and The Lost Levels is quite the insanity.

Oh, and perfectly hidden dungeons. One of the dungeons in the original Legend of Zelda might as well not-exist...unless you actually think up of burning trees suddenly. Then yeah, you're going to find the entrance. Also you could use the flute in a screen with an abandoned lake to find the entrance of a dungeon. If you can find the dungeons in the game without a guide, I salute you.

I love old games, and graphics don't bother me too much, but old clunky UI are a different matter.

More specifically, I have a personal grudge with the old "click on the action/order icon, then click on the item/character you want to apply this action to". Like in real old adventure games, where you must click on "use" at the bottom of the sceen, then on the stuff you want to use. Or old strategy game where to get info about a unit, you had to click first on the small question mark hiden somewhere onscreen. Since those icons were on the UI, far from the main gamescreen, you had to zigzag the mouse over the screen continually for every little thing.

Most modern games have a way to avoid this (keyboard shortcuts, rightclick, action icons that appear right next to your target, action wheel...) but the games from that "Those new mouses are awesome! Let's do EVERYTHING with them!!!" era are a real pain.

- Not having a 'soundcard' in the PC, so the only sound came from my PC speaker (which at some point managed to almost emulate human speech.)

- My Sound Blaster AWE32 card which refused to play sound.