I still remember when I was in junior high school, holding on to the pocket money I had saved for half a month, I secretly ran to a game store and dug out several trays of "yellow cards" under the boss's mysterious cabinet. At that time, I didn't know anything about genuine and pirated copies. I only knew that the stickers printed on the cassette were blurred, but when I inserted it into the GBA and heard a “ding”, I felt like I owned the whole world.
Nowadays, mobile phones are filled with various emulators and "replicas", but every time I open them, there is always an indescribable feeling. Just like the "Clash of Queens" I'm playing recently, watching the lord's castle upgrade step by step, recruiting heroes, and training soldiers, I suddenly want to talk to you about it - isn't this the feeling we had when we stayed up all night in "Fire Emblem" and restarted repeatedly in "Advanced Warfare"? 😌
At that time, for pirated cassettes, the archives were lost when the battery ran out, and all the work was done in one night. But we still enjoyed it, turning every village upside down, for fear of missing a hidden prop. Now in "Queen's Clash", you don't have to worry about losing your save files. It's a global server and you can play against players from all over the world. But when I was collecting resources and fighting wild monsters on the world map, I couldn't help but think: If the game "Golden Sun" from back then could also be connected online, how would I have to show off to my classmates?
To be honest, the game is becoming more and more sophisticated, with high-definition graphics, gorgeous special effects, and even recharging is so convenient (laughs). But the feeling of secretly hiding the cassette for fear of being discovered by parents, the joy of exchanging information and sharing strategies with classmates, seems to have been slowly replaced by automatic path finding and one-click upgrades. But having said that, being able to once again experience the sense of accomplishment of "pulling a city from scratch" on a mobile phone can be regarded as a continuation of youth.
Just like in "Clash of the Queens", you slowly grow from a small lord to a king - why haven't we old players, who saved money to buy pirated cassettes, turned into uncles who occasionally look for old feelings in mobile games? 🎮
Youth is back, if only for a little while.