Longest You've Ever Left a Game Paused

[Ascending Wordsmith]

In the days before memory cards, I always had to do something which usually interrupted my gaming time. Run errands, do homework, visit relatives, and all sorts of other tasks cut my gaming time short. This was very annoying when in the middle of a game that had many levels.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is an example. I knew about the warp whistles and Warp Island, but I wanted to beat the game straight out by playing every stage and every Hammer Brother on every world. No P-Wings, music boxes, or Jugem's Clouds would be used either. One Saturday morning, I was called to go to my grandmother's house. This really pissed me off because I had conquered every stage all the way up to the tenth stage on Iced Land. I wasn't about to turn off my game, so I paused it. As misfortune would have it, I didn't get back to my game until the next day since grandma insisted that I spend the night over her house. For 27 hours, my NES was paused with SMB 3 in the deck.

Have you ever left a game paused for a long while be it purposely or accidentally? How long?

[SoulBlazer]

I can recall playing Little Nemo: The Dream Master by Capcom right after it came out. I really liked the game, it's still kind unique today, but it had no save or password feature. So......

The NES stayed on for over THREE DAYS straight while I played the game when I could and paused it when I could'nt. LOL

I'm sure others can top that, though......

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I think only one or two minutes on every games (i have to go to the bath)

[Drexel923]

I think I've only left a game on pause for maybe overnight at the most.


The NES stayed on for over THREE DAYS straight while I played the game when I could and paused it when I could'nt.

All I have to say is :o

[nesman85]

when i was a little kid a used to leave games paused overnight so i could play them where i left off from the next morning. one time ice hockey was left on in the nes for like 3 days on accident because it was hooked up to a tv in a side room so nobody saw it and i forgot to turn it off. LOL

[maxlords]

I left my Genesis 2 on for a few days once.....I forgot it was on and didn't notice and then one day I saw the little red light :) I wish I knew exactly how long it was on...but it still works so no biggie!

[Anonymous]

I've left my NES ans SNES on at work paused for over 4 days (when I'm not at work). I think the longest is a battle in FF3 where I paused it, went to E3, and came back (just about 2 weeks).

[Gamereviewgod]

Me and a friend took on Rampage on my 6th or 7th birthday. We were on like level 64 or something and we went to Major magics for the party, leaving it on for about 5 hours, coming back home to beat it that night. But 3 days...damn.

[scooterb23]

I accidentally left my XBox on for 26 hours straight. I thought I turned it off after playing a game of World Series Baseball...guess I didn't. When I realized it was still on, I did what anyone would do...I played a couple of games, then turnedit off :D

[Kim Possible]

When I was a kid, I left an NES game ( I forget which) paused for like 6 hours when my mom wanted to go to the store or something. I remember because when we returned and she found out, I thought she was going to explode. ("You left it on for HOW long? Do you KNOW how much the electric bill is going to be....")

[brandver3]

When we got Yu Gi Oh for the PS2 we left the thing on fro 2 1/2 days, you could only save on game per memory card, so we had to wait till we could afford another one.

I left a PS1 on for 22 hours once (9 of them I was actually playing).

[zektor]

Haha. I remember I was actually playing Keith Courage a few days after I bought the TG16, and paused it while I packed for a month long trip to England. I didn't even think about what I had forgotten until two weeks of being there. Well, a month later I came back home and it was still paused, still alive. It was very very warm however.

[IGotTheDot]

Working through crunch last year, I left SSX Tricky running in my office for weeks on end. That game is soooo stable. I don't think it was paused though. I usually left it on the race complete screen.

[dave2236]

Ive never left mine on overnight, but many friends let their NES systems on overnight many times.

I was fascinated when Tecmo Super Bowl had a battery!!!

[sniperCCJVQ]

Back in the day when RBI Baseball was released for the NES, i play the long ass season and you need to pause the game because it don't have code to stopped the console and play later. It probably stay on pause for 24hr.

[CRaCKeRJaCK1980]

The longest I have ever left a NES on was just around 8 weeks straight. We were doing a test to see if the nintendo would actually crash or burn up or what might have you. But nothing happened. Worked great, was playing SMB 1 and paused on the 3rd level somewere. Wonder how long it really would last? 2 months 4 months? Anybody want to try? I can try, I got 53 Nintendo's at my house, I guess I could spare 1 :-D . Anyways, off to work I go,.

[EnemyZero]

Yeah overnight is my longest too, lol I remember Major Magics , I used to have my parties there all the time and I always thought that was a local chain o.O....anyways...I fell asleep playing solstice for NES , that game was so much fun but drove me nuts! woke up the next day and just played till night time till i beat it

[Oberfuhrer Hamm]

Yeah overnight is my longest too, lol I remember Major Magics , I used to have my parties there all the time and I always thought that was a local chain o.O....anyways...I fell asleep playing solstice for NES , that game was so much fun but drove me nuts! woke up the next day and just played till night time till i beat it

LOL Solstice... good fun but such a pain in the ass. I have never beaten it, only got to 33%... :(

[Tempest]

7 days. I accidentally left my Atari 400 once on when I went to visit my grandparents. When I came back I turned on the TV there was Miner 2049er still paused where I left it. :)

That 400 still works to this day. Built Tough. Atari Tough.

Tempest

[swlovinist]

Upon getting my ass kicked by Yoshimitsu on Tekken 3, my significant other told me that it was time to leave for vacation. After a week, and forgetting socks, I also forgot to turn off my origional playstaton. I must be very very lucky, because the dang thing kept on working two years after that until I traded it in!!!!!............................I am sorry if yours was left on and died!!!

[RetroYoungen]

I don't use the pause a lot, I usually try to find time to play a game through or however long I'm going to play it. But I have left my SNES on for like 4 hours, and my N64 has been on pause (I think it was paused...) for like a day and a half. That wasn't really me though, it was my former step-mom.

[autobotracing]

I have left my ps2 and xbox on for several days


My friend however would leave his nes and snes on for weeks at a time mainly because atleast 10 hours a day he would be playing one of them

[Nespit]

My ness for about 3 months.. I had it installed at my gf place. Was playing pirates! there. But the battery was dead so i had to leave it on all the time. And at one point we went on holiday for 3 weeks, and after that only been at my place for months. so after a month or 3 we went to her place and i find the ness still running with pirates in it..:-) ah well. all i can say is, the nes is build for stuff like that!

[tssk]

I always remove the plug from the wal when I've finished a gaming session.

Partially because a power surge caused by lighting could destroy the console.

[Gunstarhero]

I've left on many of my systems overnight many times. However, one of my close friends left his Genesis on for over 2 months straight, with some D & D game in it. 2 months is all I kept track of it, heck it could have been on for much longer.

[Ed Oscuro]

I didn't even think about what I had forgotten until two weeks of being there. Well, a month later I came back home and it was still paused, still alive. It was very very warm however.

...dang

[Stark]

Not too long ago I left Gran Turismo 3 paused during one of the endurance reces for approximately 8 hours while I was at work. Came home and finished it. 8-)

[pokobocket]

In the early 90's, my grandmother was completely addicted to her NES. While playing legacy of the wizard, she left it on for over a year. Nonstop. I am NOT joking. @_@

[Miguel_The_Machine]

Maybe like 20 to 30 minutes is the longest, I will turn of the system if I know I'm going to be gone for a long period of time.

[Stamp Mcfury]

I was going to California on bussines for 2 weeks I forgot I had my Playstation on. Then I came back to realize I left FF7 paused for 2 weeks

[BigBoogie]

I had my genny on for 2 weeks. I think it was Chakkan.

[Anonymous]

I know PCs probably don't count, but maybe someone will appreciate this story:

A few years ago, when I built my network firewall, I installed a copy of nethack on it and when I went home from work and set it up, I popped up a game of it, started playing it, and something caught my attention, so I stopped it where it was at and told the game to resume on the next console that was opened locally on the machine (for example, the next time I physically logged into it from the actual machine, not over the network).

Days passed, and I told myself I would get back to the game eventually, but I got really busy, and then the monitor hooked up to it died. It didn't really matter since I could log into the machine to administer it, and the box was on a UPS, so I didn't have to worry about power outages or anything.

Maybe a year later I moved into the house where I'm living now, and when I moved the firewall, I saw no reason to disconnect the machine from the UPS, so we left it plugged into the battery backup and tossed it in the car, then brought it over here and plugged it back in so the battery could charge and the machine resumed routing packets and doing its dirty work since our internet connection hadn't changed any.

Well, as everyone knows, hurricane Isabel recently hit the east coast, and I was in North Carolina at the time hanging out with a friend. He's just as much a computer geek as I am, so I was using a computer at his place while hanging out with him, and I was logged into my computer, when suddenly the connection died. Sensing this was my cue to return home, I left and drove a few hours home to find our entire city without power, and my battery backup was beeping its last few beeps.

I had just enough time to find a recently acquired little DEC vt420 (like those library terminals they use for card catalogs and stuff) and plug it in as a serial console because it used less power than any other available monitor.

I tapped enter a few times on it, and up popped my nethack game, right where I'd left it, about 3 years ago.

Then the battery backup let out a long beep and cut all the power, and I was yet to get any more for a week.

[Kamisama]

I paused Final Fantasy 7 for 4-5 hours one time :) I just wanted to go buy cigarettes or something, met some friends there and went with them :)

[Jive3D]

The only game that I ever left on over night was the original Legend of Zelda on NES (of course you know it was on NES, what forum do I think this is?!)

I was about halfway through the game and then my Mother must have turned on the TV to see the game screen. Without thinking, she shut it off. This was one of the original production carts and what wonderful luck, that shutoff done by my mother erased my save file! Boy was I heated.

You guys talk about leaving your systems at work on all the time? I continue my search for a job with a console on my desk, the search continues... >_<

[KirbyStar27]

I left Super Smash Bros. overnight to get Mewto!

[Sotenga]

I think I left Bionic Commando paused for three days. I forgot to turn the system off before I went on a vacation to Wildwood! :frustrated:

[Sofa King Gud]

I may keep a TV on for several days, but never a game paused for over 12 hours.

[Querjek]

I left Super Smash Bros. overnight to get Mewto!
I did that, but to make it work faster, I bought the cheapest controllers I could and left them in, too.

[Balloon Fight]

I left Super Smash Bros. overnight to get Mewto!
I did that, but to make it work faster, I bought the cheapest controllers I could and left them in, too.

I did it the old fashion way, playing 300 or something like that matches in vs mode. God that sucked, but i wanted him that day.

The longest i have had a game on was for a 8 hours. I paused MvC2, and didnt go back up until the end of the day.

[Slipdeath]

mine was while i was playing mario kart, we were going somewhere for a week, everyone was scrambling, so i pressed pause and went to help, and i completely fogot it was on, came back a week later the screen was black, and that snes never worked again

[KirbyStar27]

Left Halo Paused for 6 days. I forgot about it until i listend carefulley! :D

[KirbyStar27]

:D

[KirbyStar27]

[quote=I did that, but to make it work faster, I bought the cheapest controllers I could and left them in, too.[/quote]

Thats harcore right there! Rock On ! :D

[bensenvill]

when I got my ps1 (day it came out), I didnt have enough money to get both a game AND a memory card. So for the first SEVERAL months, we just left it on pause. System still works and yes, now I have a memory card.

~Tj

[Christian Benvenuto]

i've left my n64 on for 1 night while beating the FOX sports: Collage hoop 99'
to beat the ncaa tourney with Mich State University

[Sashanan]

Only within a game counts? Longest for me would be on Grandia, an RPG I recently finished on the PlayStation. Background info: I usually only play the PlayStation in bed just before going to sleep. As such, more often than not I quit not because I'm tired of the game but because my eyes refuse to stay open.

On Grandia, two times it happened to me that I was in the middle of a dungeon and constantly nodding away, too tired to find the exit and too tired to backtrack, so I'd just turn off the TV, put down the controller, and sleep, to continue the next evening after work. These two times the game has been paused for 20ish hours.

[Ze_ro]

When I was younger, I would often pause the game and turn off the monitor I was using (for the longest time, I've been using a seperate 1084S monitor for my games, so that the TV is always available). Many, many times, I'd completely forget about the paused game and do something else. Invariably, I'd end up coming back to play a game, and be completely surprised that the machine was already on. Usually, I couldn't even remember how long it had been on for.

I know I left my Jaguar on overnight at least once... and I'm sure my C-64 got left on overnight many many times as well.

--Zero

[gamergary]

I have left Super Mario RPG and Breath of Fire paused for about 12 hours overnight then I went back to playing them in the morning.

[LazingBlazers]

I left my TurboGrafx on for 2 or 3 days. I was playing it, and had to go do something. I thought I turned it off. 2 or 3 days later I was watching TV and noticed this orange on the system... I literally let out an, "Oh SHIT!!!" I ran over and turned it off as fast as I could. LOL Then I turned it on a few seconds later to see if it still worked... it did and it still does today... owned since '90 or '91.

[Jasoco]

Super Mario 3. On purpose. Just for fun. Only a few hours.

But I do remember leaving another SNES game on while at Church or whatnot.

[charitycasegreg]

The longest I have ever left a NES on was just around 8 weeks straight. We were doing a test to see if the nintendo would actually crash or burn up or what might have you. But nothing happened. Worked great, was playing SMB 1 and paused on the 3rd level somewere. Wonder how long it really would last? 2 months 4 months? Anybody want to try? I can try, I got 53 Nintendo's at my house, I guess I could spare 1 :-D . Anyways, off to work I go,.

You have 53 nintendos?!!? Jesus! I only have 6 but I haven't been collecting for that long so whatever. Why dont you sell soome on ebay next christmas to make some money? Do you have pictures of your collection.

[atarifan]

When i had sim city for the snes i had the unit on for almost a month i would play and then leave it on all night then play for an hr and let it run while i was at work it's suprising how much money you can waste in the game when you do that.

[Daria]

I used to abuse my PlayStation. I hate having to get to save points and if I had to do something else before reaching one I'd just pause the game and unplug the sound and video cables from the tv. Course this ment I'd forget the system was even on and have games max out at the 99+ hour mark or occasionally (if the game's timer went up that high) 999+ hours. :/

Had the system for a few years before trading it in towards a PSone and the only thing going on it was my controller. So... I guess I was just lucky.
________
LovelyWendie (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)

[Sibs]

Well, the longest I remember ever leaving a system on was overnight. I do recall my uncle telling me he had to buy a new PS2 because he left it on for over a year(no joke) though.

[EASports]

I have a friend who left his NES paused with a power glove plugged in, left the room to go eat dinner, and the damn thing caught on fire! It busted his NES and singed the carpet. At least that's how I remember it, from about 15 years ago...

[BloodshedPlague]

This is my story about the longest time I've ever gone playing video games. This is the summer in which Shining Force 2 and Phantasy Star IV came out. At the begining of this summer my genesis broke, and I had to send it back to sega to have it repaired. I finally got it back two weeks before I had to go back to school(this period of time is the longest I've ever gone without playing video games). Over this summer I had purchased both Shining Force 2 and Pantasy Star IV, and I really wanted to play them All summer. Over the next five days I played through both games with no sleep at all. The only time I stopped was when my mother woke up to get ready to work, and I would pause the game for about an hour to pretend like I was asleep. By the end of this week of sleep depravation I was hearing a constant buzz and hallucinating, but hey I caught up on my gaming. Right?

[HellStar]

Kingdom Hearts

I left that thing paused for 3 days until I could go out and buy a memory card for my PS2 LOL

[Ed Oscuro]

This is the summer in which Shining Force 2 and Phantasy Star IV came out.
That stretch of gaming did more than make you see things - Shining Force 2 was a late September '93 release and PSIV was a December (right before Christmas) release! So, 1994 then?

[Tritoch]

I fell asleep playing Arc the Lad 2 and accidently left my TV and PS2 on all night. When I awoke my almost brand new Sony WEGA had a slight burn-in. :(

I don't think I ever left games paused for a long time because they didn't have a battery backup...my parents were very strict about things like running up the electric bill. LOL

[Brian_Provinciano]

When the PS2s first came out they were pretty expensive, and I was pretty cheap, so I didn't want to fork out the $70 for a memory card after just buying the system, so I'd leave GTA3 on overnight. It would freeze some time the next day though.

[rbudrick]

I left my NES on for about 2 months once...I wanted to see how far the ranking could go in Galaga. So, I gamegenied unlimited lives or invincibility or something and put it on autofire. It seems that when you run out of ranking it starts using random garbage...I think I lost count after a couple hundred rank increases. I did the math based on how many rank increases it does for x amount of minutes and I think I went through several thousand levels....I eventually said fuggit and turned it off.

I think I have left my GEnesis and SNES on for a couple weeks before...

-Rob

[GameBoy]

Well, one day I was playing my N64, and I forgot to turn it off....I left it on for weeks....

[Hakkenden]

My cousin played Xenogears so long that their was a small explosion in the console and after that it smelled funny and the sound stoped working.
I dont think I have ever left a game on for more than 10 hrs.

[Mitch_Naz]

I think over night (didnt remember)

[Psyleid]

Maybe 4 or 5 hours... Probably went upstairs to get something to eat and got distracted.

[Richter Belmount]

terranigma

[ROBOTRON]

24 Hours...I paused Nectoris (Military Madness for PS1) because...

I was winning!!! x_x

[Jumpman Jr.]

About 12 hours..
I was playing Rampage (on the NES) and I couldn't justify turning it off when I had gone through 100 levels of the same thing, over and over, without beating it.
I came back, and beat it.
worst. ending. ever.

[Slate]

I remember leaving my Genesis 32X Setup on for about 4 or 5 hours.. I turned it on at 6PM then turned it off at about 11PM.

[Tatsu]

I accidentally left several games of Bust-A-Move on the S-Nes and Collumns on the Mega Drive paues over night (means about fifteen hours). I was playing until early morning, then switched to watching TV because I was thinking I need a little break and then forgot about it and went to bed. I don't know how much those consoles can take but both work still fine. Just the Bust-A-Move game is a bit dammaged. Since I've left it on for those fifteen hours it flickers when I play it and the whole graphics look a bit fainted.

[SuperNES]

one time i was borrowing SSBM from a friend, and at that point i did'nt have a memory card. i left it on for OVER 3 DAYS until my dad turned off my 'cube "to conserve power" even though i told him about 20 times over the weekend not to turn it off. i made him pay half the price of my memory card 251... LOL

[Puppetmaster]

I once left a gameboy advance on over vacatation plugged into the wall with pokemon ruby in it and when i got back i had a game time of 572 hours.

[Teo]

I can remember Saving Final Fantasy three on pause one time years ago and then I happened to forgot about it... Needless to say when I found it again, my hours had jumped from 15.00 to the max hours: 99:99

SO I don't know exactly how long it was but it ended up being three days maybe. It's a tough cartridge if you ask me... Never had the battery dies on me yet for any a Super Nintendo game so far so good.

[legov8]

About 15 minutes while playing California Speed. I didn't have a memory card so I couldn't save it. I had to have dinner so I just paused it.

[Sam]

About a week when I first got my Dreamcast. The usual story - no memory card. We were playing it hard out in the flat and had unlocked a few characters we didn't want to use, so if we were going to watch tv or go to sleep we started up the practice mode and left it as you got extra points for how long you played. Each morning the points would be maxed out, we would spend them all, play the game a bit and then leave it again.

[The Sage of Sega]

I once left my Dreamcast on for a week so I could beat Jet Grind Radio (at the time, I didn't have a memory card :embarrassed: ).

[Dart]

One time I left Super Street Fighter II for Super Nintendo paused from the time I went to sleep that night to the time I came home from school the next day. I left it paused that long so I wouldn't have to restart, I guess. Other than that I've always been pretty good about not leaving games paused for a long time.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

Columns (Sega Genesis), eight days so I could beat the game (level 150).

[Moon Patrol]

The longest I have ever left a game paused is........ TWELVE HOURS! And it was all for NBA Jam T.E. on the Sega Genesis. I don't remember the exact reason why I had it paused, I think I had to go somewhere and do something that wasn't as important as gaming.

[LDIS91]

The game i left on pause the longest would have to me Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, I left it on pause for a little over two days, which made my ranking at the end of the game terrible.

[VG_Maniac]

Back when Mega Man X2 first came out and I was renting it, I woke up really early...about 5:00 am to play it. I had gotten to the X Hunter's hideout the night before, but I couldn't get anywhere else cause I had to go to bed. Now I was playing the last few stages of the game early in the morning, but I still had to worry about school. I got all the way to Sigma, but I couldn't play anymore. So I just left the game paused all day till I got home from school...which was roughly 7 hours later.

[Austin]

My roommate once left the new Paper Mario on for an entire weekend while we went on a road trip to Boston. I felt so bad for the poor Gamecube... miraculously, it's lived, considering how hard he is on it.

[Gamebrain]

The longest I ever kept it paused was for Super Mario Bros 3 for NES. I kept it paused for almost a full 24 hours.

[Ulticron]

I left the Saturn in a menu mode on WarCraft II for about 8 hours. I would have saved my progress but I didn't have enough internal memory, or a backup cartrige. The reason I was so hardcore about this was because I'd spent the last 3 days getting my butt soundly kicked again and again at that particular battle.

[MrSmiley381]

Well, I once purposely left on my N64 when I rented Rampage: Universal Tour without having a memory card. Beat it the next day, too.

I also once left my SNES on accidentally with Bonk's Adventure (or whatever it was, I borrowed it) for about 20 hours.

But this one takes the cake. When I got my Neo Geo AES for $20, it didn't have the AV Cables or any games. So, I plugged it in and plugged in some headphones to check for sound to guarantee workability.

I then left it powered on for a whole week straight after testing it. Still worked, though. Not exactly a pause, but this system was on and I forgot about it, so I'd say that's damned close enough.

[Malon_Forever]

One time, I left Toy Story for my Sega Genesis on pause for 4 and a half hours.