I still remember when I was in elementary school, I saved my breakfast money and ran to the video game store just to find a yellow card. At that time, I didn't know anything about genuine and pirated copies. I only saw colorful vegetables painted on the packaging box. The boss said that the game was called "Cooking Kingdom", which was similar to the cooking game on GBA. I bought it and took it home without saying a word. When I plugged it into the machine, a logo I had never seen before popped up on the screen. I could play the game, but the save files kept getting lost😤
Now that I think about it, that pirated cassette is actually a knock-off package, and it seems to have several game demos stuffed in it. But I really enjoyed it at that time. I used my thumb to press the A button to chop vegetables while staring at the pixel man stir-frying in the pot. I was able to play all afternoon. The most annoying thing is that there is a gap on the back of the cassette. Sometimes it cannot be inserted in place, and you have to blow on it with your mouth to recognize the card. Haha, that youthful smell, I can still think of it now when I smell the plastic smell of game cartridges.
I came across this mobile game "Cooking Kingdom" in the app store today. I originally just wanted to have some nostalgia, but as soon as I played it I couldn't stop playing it! It's still the familiar rhythm of serving food, upgrading, and opening new stores, but the picture has changed from pixels to high definition, and the chefs have become uncles and aunts from all over the world. The fingers click, the spatulas fly, and the gold coins jingle. The joy that has been cultivated is exactly the same as before. Youth is back🎮
Of course, there are still differences. In the past, pirated cartridges were so stuck that they would freeze for three seconds while cooking a dish. Now, mobile games are as smooth as butter. The restaurant used to be a dilapidated bungalow, but now it can be decorated with Mediterranean style and Japanese style izakaya. What touches me the most is that I couldn't save the cassette back then, so I had to start over from the beginning every time I shut down the computer. Now the mobile game saves automatically, so I don't have to worry about my dad unplugging the power anymore haha😆
In fact, when I was playing "Cooking Kingdom", all I could think about was the worn cassette shell from back then, and the evening when I took turns playing with my friends, and whoever died was replaced. The pirated cassettes we played in those years may not have been a glorious thing, but the pure joy was real. Now, reliving the fun of running a food business on my mobile phone feels like meeting an old friend again.
I would like to say to my fellow Time Hunters, if you also have memories of handheld consoles, cassettes, and playing games secretly, you might as well give "Cooking Kingdom" a try and reopen your own restaurant at your fingertips. The moment you click on the game, you will find that the child holding the GBA on the carpet in the living room is actually in your heart all the time. 🍳🍚