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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/vr/ - Retro Games

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683507 No.683507 [Reply] [Original]

So, /vr/tualboys... anyone here ever phoned one of those Nintendo or Sega hotlines to ask help on games?
It's embarrasing, but I did. Twice.
Apart from actually being stuck or frustrated at some point in the game, I was also interested on calling those numbers because that would mean talking in real time with someone who actually plays games and knows a lot about them. Triggered by this, I called my first time. This was 1998, Ocarina of Time. A girl picks up the line and asks me what game I'm stuck in, her voice was kind and playful at the same time. When I told her where I was stuck and mentioned Navy, she reacted by saying "Oh! Navy, Navy..." as if being empathic with the player in that navy is always talking, etc. This surprised me because I genuinely thought she was very familiar with the game and well, I guess she was, she helped me in the part I was stuck in, and I hung up.
Second time I called was for Pokemon, I was stuck in Saffron city tower, that part with the twisting floor puzzle... yeah, I was a huge faggot for not figuring it out, anyway, more than anything, I was lazy and wanted to call again hoping to get the same girl as before again. No such luck, this time it was a very serious girl, she seemed disinterested and it was obvious she was reading a script. 1/10.

Those were the only 2 times.

>> No.683537

a dude came here one time and told US about his experiences working for the Nintendo Hotline

>> No.683538

>"Oh! Navy, Navy..." as if being empathic with the player in that navy is always talking
>This surprised me because I genuinely thought she was very familiar with the game
But Navi is always talking...

>> No.683551

While everyone else was getting stuck on the Water Temple in OoT I was calling the power line repeatedly to find out where those fucking keys were

must've called like 50 times

Still remember that guy's voice in the menu

>> No.683564

Nope. But I called LucasArts to find out why the fuck to do in the demolition derby part of Full Throttle.

The only part I got stumped at.

>> No.683573
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683573

There's a Navy character?

>> No.683604

I remember calling to ask them questions about two games...

Dragon Warrior... I was pestering the guy about how to get those treasure chests behind the merchant counters. Apparently, it's decoration-only.

Final Fantasy 2... I remember asking how to get those rare, albeit useless, summons, for Rydia. Like Imp, Cockatrice, Bomb, etc. He replied, "it's random". And I'm like, "ok, I know it's random, but how many tries am I likely to make?". He just kept replying, "it's random". I'm like 10 years old at this time and I have a better intuition of the implications that there's more to randomness than "it's random" like, oh I don't now, probabilities, but apparently Nintendo's policy was to hire highschool dropouts and homeless schizophrenics for their helpline people.

>> No.683631

>>683573

She is a small yet dilligent fairy.

>> No.683676
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683676

>Missing one bonus in one of the ice levels in DKC3
>Have the guide, but it's not in there either
>Call the call center
>They don't know either
>about 2 months later (after we had already found it), recieve a letter from whoever the president of NoA at the time was listing both bonus barrels

It felt pretty cool getting a letter direct from the top.

>> No.683684

>>683631
Navy =! Navi

>> No.683771

>>683631
A navy is a group of ships designed for sea warfare
Navi is a different word
I don't even at all when anyone makes that typo

>> No.685043

my oldest sis called them back in the day for loz:alttp, since we couldn't figure out how to get to the moon pearl chest in the tower of hera.

i also wrote them back in like 98 about an area i was stuck in the original nes zelda game. Got a letter back and everything. wish i wouldve held on to it

>> No.685072

I never called because I was taught at a very young age that these sort of phone numbers were a scam and would milk you of your money without any real return. Instead, I'd turn to my friends for support, usually the older ones as they generally knew more about games. I remember an older kid in my neighborhood sitting down with my younger brother and I and showing us a ton of secrets in Super Mario 3, and thinking it was really cool since usually older kids didn't want anything to do with younger kids.

Then I got Internet around 1995 or 1996 (maybe 1994?) and I pretty quickly found that there was a lot of information about video games floating around the Internet. Also porn. But really, it only served as a means of me being the guy answering the questions when we talked video games rather than a replacement of video game discussion, up until we all moved on our separate paths in life.

>> No.685104

I called Nintendo Hotline a few times...

WAY back when I was playing the hell out of Final Fantasy Adventure (a Gameboy game, I THINK is the first in the Mana series?) Well, I was in the final castle, and in that game you can save anywhere, right? So I saved in the castle, and when you do that, all the locked doors reset, and the enemies probably respawn.

Well, you need keys to unlock doors, and keys get used up, so I found myself stuck in the final castle, and I had to call Nintendo Hotline to see if there was something I could do... Pre-internet days.

A man was on the line with me, and he really seemed to know the game, and he told me that sadly, you CAN get stuck in the final castle if you run out of keys, and there was no choice but to start a new game... He sympathized with me, and said it was one of the few flaws of the game.

>> No.685298

A much younger me used to call the Nintendo hotline. A 10 year old, lonely suburban child with no one else to talk to about his nerdy RPGs, I was fascinated to be able to call in and talk to an ADULT about Chrono Trigger maturely. I was a regular caller of stupid questions just as an excuse to have more social exposure.

>> No.685404

>>683507
I had to call a hotline once when I played Discworld 2 as a kid. Was stuck in Death's house and really couldnt find what to do.

Was pretty surreal to talk video games like that with a stranger.

>> No.685414

>>683537
did that thread get saved???

>> No.685496

>mid-90s
>be about 10
>no internet yet
>lived way out in rural Georgia in a town of less than 500, hours away from any city with even 5,000 people in it
>can't talk with any peers about video games since absolutely nobody there really knew shit about them
>town has local hotline for checking movie listings, sports scores, etc.
>they have a small, rinky-dink section for game tips
>separated up in to sections for NES, SNES, and Genesis
>just one tip in each section, usually for a game that's not recent any more
>it's always an outdated and useless tip because they just picked the most obvious shit and ran with it

I just liked calling because it was so weird to me to come aross something vidya-related in my neck of the woods.

>> No.685504
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685504

Yes. Once.

Also, I enjoyed being a nuisance to Nintendo Customer Support. I'm not sure why. I would ask them stupid shit, like whether or not Mario and Wario were cousins.

>> No.685510

I had the SNES-version of Sim City, and after hours and hours I build one hell of an awesome city. A few months later I wanted to show it some friends, and it was gone. Just gone.

I was mad, buttangry, thought something was wrong with my fucking game, after minutes of blowing into the cartridge, my console - after reconnecting everything, still gone.

So I phoned the Nintendo-hotline, and they flat out told me that the stuff is saved thanks to batteries who can go empty.

I wasn't aware of that until then. Also I felt pretty retarded, being 12 or 13 at that point. Well.

>> No.685553

I did a few times after I encountered a glitch in pokemon red. I didn't expect to actually talk to a real person.

And they were really friendly too

>> No.685624

My parents never let my call hotlines ever, so I never got to...I had no internet and no friends, so I had to handle my games myself.

>> No.685761

When I bought day of the tentacle and fate of atlantis back in the early 90's, I'm 30, I managed to clear DoTT, however FoA was a lot harder (that theodolite section!).

I had to wait until my parents would go to a place that had a PC World store every few weeks, the only place that stored a guide for various PC games.

Managed to beat it, some of the puzzles were impossible for an 8-10 year old to beat back then!

>> No.685792

>>683631
Navi. It is short for Navigation. She helps you Navigate.

A Navy is a bunch of sea men.

>> No.685828

And that was the only 2 times OP ever spoke to a girl that wasn't his mom.

>> No.685952

>>685510

I thought only first-party games used battery-backed RAM, while most third-party games used flash or something similar

>> No.685960

>>685828

So funneh everyone who plays le vidya is le virgin XDD XDD

>>>/v/

>> No.685963

>>685952

Whut? No. That would have cost a fortune.

>> No.685976

>>685963

SNES games did cost a fortune anyway, so...

>> No.687195

>>685104
That just happened to me... fuck damn those keys.

also
>Palm trees and an 8