/vr/ - Retro Games

>Back in the day it was typical to do a blind playthrough

Between strategy guides, game magazines, game tv shows, telephone help lines, and word of mouth between players this was just not the case. If you were stuck in a particular game there was usually a resource to help you out.

Which also leads to
>video game magazines and strategy guides were only owned by rich kids
Also no. And even if you couldn't afford them you would be able to look through them at the news stand.
From what I have read over the years this was even the case in countries like Russia which had game magazines and television shows.

The internet was also around a lot earlier than it is given credit for in gaming. I recall going to a cinema to play Mortal Kombat II for the first time right around the time the game was released and there was a young man there with a notebook he had written every special move and fatality inside. I asked him how he got this information and he described something I now understand as a newsgroup posting.