We've all seen the ads in Nintendo Power of phone numbers you could call to get hints about video games. These hotlines seemed to be the rage back in the 80's, but nobody I knew back then ever called these numbers because we were really afraid of racking up the phone bill and pissing off our parents. Does anyone on /vr/ have any stories or experiences about calling these hotlines when they were kids?
>>2797098
They're completely useless. It's like trying to use an audiobook.
No wait, that's exactly what it is.
>>2797120
audiobooks are way more useful.
pay per minute services were invented for idiots that are looking for ways to part with their money.
>>2797098
Would never have been able to get through A Link to the Past without the Nintendo tip line. None of my friends played video games, and there weren't any video game walkthroughs on the internet back then.
I called once, couldn't figure out how to damage the final boss in Sonic 2. Mom was great at science stuff but no help on this one, and either we didn't have internet yet or I hadn't discovered gamefaqs.
Fucking tip line fucking sucked, just some shitty audio recording. You'd think at $1.99 a minute they could have just hired a high school kid or two who was actually good at games.
I never actually beat Sonic 2 back then, because sega was too fucking cheap/retarded to put in a save or password system, and I wasn't allowed to play for more than an hour or two at a time/mom would accidentally turn off the genesis when I was at school.
>>2797098
Nintendo and Sega had live game counselors. After hours, I think Sega had recordings. I don't remember exactly. The Sega recording during the early Genesis days had a very soothing voice talking about the system's features.
>>2797154
shame no one told you about the level select.
as a kid I only played that screen, even to boot one of the initial levels like emerald hill
http://www.nintendoplayer.com/feature/the-man-behind-captain-nintendo/chapter-1-the-most-coveted-job-in-the-world/
Incredibly relevant.
There was an anon around here who used to work at a Nintendo hotline back in the day.
>kid calls up hotline
>there were times when he'd hear their parents show up and beat them for calling without permission
>"There's something really awful about a child being beaten because they asked you for help" (paraphrased)
;_;
I called one of these once, one of the independent ones advertised in GamesMaster and I'm surprised how good it was actually.
I couldn't figure out how to beat one of the stages of the final boss in Link's Awakening, and the guy I got through to knew the answer, immediately. Looking back, I've no idea how it was so good- it can't have been that common a query as it was several years after the game came out.
>>2797178
damn you for making me read that and making me cry at the part about the kid with cancer getting the copy of SMB2.
>>2797098
>Pacific time fags btfo
Feels good living on the east coast, AKA the center of the Universe.
>>2797147
Which part of that game confused you?
My brother used this once I think, but I can't remember if it was a tip hotline or if he just called a friend. It was for the secret stages of Bomberman 64, because I don't think you ever needed to do the bomb jumping tactic where you knock yourself out in any previous stage.
>ITT: Late 90s babbies
You will never know the glory of just making a regular long distance call straight to Nintendo and asking a real operator for a tip and him looking it up in hand made binders produced in house at the US offices.
my mom let me call one back when i was playing tomb raider chronicles. i couldn't figure out what to do in one part in the submarine when you had no weapons.
ended up having to use the crowbar from your inventory while standing close to the enemy guarding the room.
>>2797684
Not him but I had to call to find out where the flute was.
>>2797681
>Eastie scum calling Pacific Master Race for help with vidya
>Nintendo knowing best coast gamers don't need any help
accurate :^)
My parents would never let me call then Nintendo helpline on our home phone (when we had one) so I would have to count out a bunch of quarters and call from a payphone (which worked). I remember calling from the payphone at some backwoods cafe on the side of the highway asking for the code to Street Fighter 2 that let you fight mirror match (It was misprinted in whatever game magazine I got it from and wouldn't work). Dude gave me the correct code. I remember a friend and I calling when we were stuck on Secret of Mana. I also remember calling asking for the blood code to the snes Mortal Kombat which was a huge disappointment.
Anyway, the Nintendo councilors were really friendly and knowledgeable and always gave us the correct information.
Thinking of phoning-lines, I remember reading the manual for an N64 game years ago. In the English part, they advised that if you were having problems, you should call the "service line". In the Italian part, they'd translated "service" as "sevizio", which means "irritant" or "torture". So, they advised Italian customers to call the torture line.
