I still remember blowing into Famicom cartridges until my cheeks hurt.
I was watching some retro gaming videos on YouTube the other day. There was a channel diving deep into the story of SEGA's Sonic. As I scrolled through the comments, I saw other old-time players sharing how they saved up for cartridges as kids, or how they first held a Mega Drive controller in a small shop. Their memories overlapped with mine.
What surprised me more was the comment section itself. People were rational. They disagreed without fighting. And they were quite welcoming to me, a Chinese commenter.
So I thought: I'll write too. I'll write about how we played, growing up on this side of the world.
Not to compare who had it worse, nor to claim we understood games better. Just our real experiences — blowing into Famicom cartridges, getting yelled at by arcade owners, going from grey-market PS2s to an official Chinese version of the Switch.
We are all gamers who love life. We just grew up in different places.
Before I begin, I want to say a few things. Not as a defense, just to let you know where we started.
First, we don't run from the piracy issue. Back then, there was no other path. When we grew up, we bought legitimate copies — not to whitewash the past, but because we genuinely wanted to pay that ticket.
Second, Steam helped a lot. For many Chinese players, the concept of buying legitimate games began with Steam. For older games that never got remastered, we still seek out original physical copies from back in the day.
Third, the game console ban and the "war on gaming addiction" did shape us. I'm not here to talk politics, but to say this: it was a generational disconnect, not anyone's fault.
Fourth, the shift from grey imports to legitimate copies was a natural process. I'm optimistic about China's console market and its games. If you're interested, you're welcome to join us.
Fifth, we just live in different places. The love for games is the same. Chinese people are often busy, but the way we support legitimate games may be a little different from yours.
Alright. Let's begin.
(Small note: AI helped polish the grammar a little. Every story here — blowing cartridges, the Water Level 8 rumor, the arcade owner's noodles, using PSP as an MP4 player — is 100% my real experience.)
Back then, a PS1 or PS2 was only for wealthy families. Ordinary players had to wait at least five years to experience a PS2 — at a host room, where you paid by the hour. Around 3–5 RMB (under 1 USD) per hour.
Many shop owners couldn’t get legitimate PS2 games. Pirate discs cost 15–30 RMB (2–4 USD), sometimes as low as 3–5 RMB (under 1 USD). Those pirate discs often had bugs and cut content. Players who wanted the full experience sought out legitimate copies. Those who didn’t know English or Japanese turned to gaming magazines for guides. Some even learned a foreign language just to understand the game. You read that right — for some Chinese players, a game manual was their first foreign language textbook.
Pirate sellers, rushing to be first, often used machine translation. And thus, legendary translation memes were born: Devil May Cry became “Demonic May Cry.” The Elder Scrolls became “The Old Gunwale” (literally “old man rolling bar”). The “Old Gunwale” meme was so popular that the official team later learned about it. Some devs ended up referencing it in later games. Chinese players still call it Lǎo Gǔn — literally “Old Roll.”
The game that best represents the PS2 host room era is Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer). That was its final golden age.
Back then, Chinese players’ main concern was “will this pirated copy run?” Even players who could afford many pirated discs were rare. Those who couldn’t afford them read gaming magazines instead. Some magazines hyped the Dreamcast so hard that people bought one — only to find few games to play. I’m not putting down the Dreamcast. I love SEGA. I’ve since bought many legitimate Sonic games — paying back a ticket. I’d like to own a Dreamcast someday. The library was weaker, but the hardware itself I truly admire.