I still remember blowing into Famicom cartridges until my cheeks hurt.
I was watching some retro gaming videos on YouTube the other day. There was a channel diving deep into the story of SEGA’s Sonic. As I scrolled through the comments, I saw other old-time players sharing how they saved up for cartridges as kids, or how they first held a Mega Drive controller in a small shop. Their memories overlapped with mine.
What surprised me more was the comment section itself. People were rational. They disagreed without fighting. And they were quite welcoming to me, a Chinese commenter.
So I thought: I’ll write too. I’ll write about how we played, growing up on this side of the world.
Not to compare who had it worse, nor to claim we understood games better. Just our real experiences — blowing into Famicom cartridges, getting yelled at by arcade owners, going from grey-market PS2s to an official Chinese version of the Switch.
We are all gamers who love life. We just grew up in different places.
Before I begin, I want to say a few things. Not as a defense, just to let you know where we started.
First, we don’t run from the piracy issue. Back then, there was no other path. When we grew up, we bought legitimate copies — not to whitewash the past, but because we genuinely wanted to pay that ticket.
Second, Steam helped a lot. For many Chinese players, the concept of buying legitimate games began with Steam. For older games that never got remastered, we still seek out original physical copies from back in the day.
Third, the game console ban and the “war on gaming addiction” did shape us. I’m not here to talk politics, but to say this: it was a generational disconnect, not anyone’s fault.
Fourth, the shift from grey imports to legitimate copies was a natural process. I’m optimistic about China’s console market and its games. If you’re interested, you’re welcome to join us.
Fifth, we just live in different places. The love for games is the same. Chinese people are often busy, but the way we support legitimate games may be a little different from yours.
Alright. Let’s begin.
(Small note: AI helped polish the grammar a little. Every story here — blowing cartridges, the Water Level 8 rumor, the arcade owner’s noodles, using PSP as an MP4 player — is 100% my real experience.)
Many Chinese players think of the PSP as synonymous with “game console.” That’s quite different from the global market — where globally the DS outsold the PSP two to one, on par with the PS2. But China was the exception.
Casual players didn’t buy the DS because it couldn’t function as an MP4 player. Believe it or not, many people bought a PSP not for gaming, but to watch movies, read e-books, listen to music, and even practice English listening. For hardcore players, the PSP’s graphics and performance mattered most. I’m not dissing the DS — its charm and innovative hardware design changed the world. But in China, the PSP won.
Ask Chinese players what they played most, and most will give the same answer: Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. Hundreds, even thousands of hours.
A small story. In spring 2008, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai came to China. He wanted to visit an electronics shop himself, incognito. The clerk didn’t know who he was and enthusiastically showed him how to hack the PSP. Hirai kept a calm face. Maybe even seemed pleased. Back at the company, he had engineers tear down that hacked unit to study how to strengthen anti-piracy. That eventually led to the PSP 3000’s V3 motherboard. There’s a more dramatic version: the clerk knew exactly who Hirai was and did it on purpose for the effect. Realistically, if a clerk really did that, they’d likely be fired. But that hasn’t stopped the story from circulating for years.
Back then, the PS2 was something only veteran players had access to. The PSP was different — it belonged to the rich kid at school. You couldn’t rent a PSP by the hour like a PS2, so owning one was a big deal. Fortunately, I caught the PSP’s late-mid life. Looking back, I still consider myself a lucky player.
The PSP’s influence in China went so far that some people who’d never touched a game console would see a Switch and ask: “Is this the new PSP?” See a 3DS: “Is this the folding, two-screen PSP?” Veterans want to laugh. But newcomers genuinely don’t know.
Back then, most Chinese players bought their PS2s and PSPs as “grey-market imports” — real hardware, but without official authorization or retail channels. Cheaper than legitimate imports, but with no official after-sales support. When it broke, you were on your own. Next, I’ll explain how we got to that point.