I still remember that at that time, a genuine GBA cassette cost several hundred yuan. How could we students afford it? At the stall in the corner of the small commodity market, the owner mysteriously took out colorful cassette tapes from the iron box, which cost ten yuan each. The cover was a sticker printed by a printer, and some even had their names printed crookedly. But those pirated cassettes filled our entire youth.
Sitting on the balcony today, I casually clicked on "Three Swordsmen" on my phone, and suddenly I remembered the days when I played martial arts RPGs. At that time, the cassette battery would disappear when the battery ran out of power, but we could still refresh a move over and over again for an entire afternoon. The picture quality of the current mobile version is really good, the light and shadow effects are so dazzling, the scene on the top of Mount Huashan is made like a movie, and there are domineering mounts and sparkling pendants. But I don't know why, I always feel like something is missing.
Probably because it lacks the sense of ritual of inserting the cassette, hearing the "ding" sound to start up the music, and then holding the handle, even if the screen freezes, you have to patiently blow the golden finger of the cassette. Now when you click on the app, it automatically saves in the cloud, and you no longer have to worry about the battery being lost. However, the feeling of secretly playing with a flashlight under the covers until two o'clock, and discussing the hidden plot with classmates like secret codes the next day, seems like I will never get it back.
But to be honest, the Jianghu flavor in "The Three Swordsmen" is still there. The plot of the showdown between good and evil reminded me of when I was playing pirated cassette tapes. Due to the confusion in the translation, I mistook the "knights" as "blind people" and just laughed and played the whole day. The current version has a much more complete plot and fluent lines, but I still miss those days when there were lots of typos but full of imagination.
Youth is back again, on the mobile screen, in the martial arts world called "Three Swordsmen". Although we will never be able to go back to the age of buying cassette tapes with ten dollars in hand, it is good to be able to see the shadow of those years on this small screen. Jianghu is still the same Jianghu, but we old players have changed from children carrying handheld devices to play in secret, to adults who bow their heads and reminisce on the commute😌
Do you still remember the first pirated cassette game you ever bought? Let's chat in the comment section and let me know that I'm not the only one who misses the past so much~