I use this combination because of the reason stated by tinyE. There is "space" on keyboard before F5 and F9 and I aiming on it, then I put the button on the right ;-)

Hahaha, good one :D

I like your attitude. You, sir, really cheered me up this time. Thank you for this.
We old school hipsters really had it going with F6 and F9 (I think at least jedi knight used this). For some reason someone brought this nasty F5 thing into the game and it stuck. Now every time I hit F6 followed by F5 to be sure. This especially sucks in games where F6 is quickload. ;)

More important in the land of old school gaming is the essential shortcut of ALT+X though. Really I think a lot of games just counted on you knowing about ALT+X (or reading the manual).

I'm glad when games offer up the chance to re-map the keys....now every game can have the same quick save/load buttons(well every game with remappable keys, anyways.). :D

*AHEM*
We old school hipsters wait till we die in game, write down the 24 digit continue code, have a break, go back, type code in, realize that we missed 1 of the 24 digits and have to start over, tell everyone we never liked the game to begin with, go play Tetris.

Respect.....heck, I can't stand any game that doesn't offer me at least a quicksave option(I usually play mostly games with quicksave/manual save function built in.).

I'm getting old. :D In my day we played Metroid, Metal Gear, and Zelda and they had no quicksave. And that's the way we liked it!

I'm guessing if there were games with quicksave back then that the whole "password save system" would've been seen as less than ideal. :p

;)
(Also on a related note: Thank the gods for emulators and their save anywhere functions. *bows*)

(Addition: For some reason your replies keep getting broken.....usually the quote you're quoting is missing the body text and the (/quote) tag. When I reply to other people if the post i'm replying to has more than 1 quote within it the earliest quote doesn't show when I go to reply to it.)

You should tell her to go to the kitchen while you play games.

You will then be able to play games for eternity.

That beats my answer.

First thing:
Girlfriend and time alone problem:

Most of it has already been said, but she wanted to be your girlfriend the way you are. She didn't want some sycophantic "Muttersöhnchen" with an oedipal complex wanting to spend the rest of your -would be pathetic- life with your parents.
She wanted a lone wolf character with the strength to resist the urge of civiliation and socalisation.
Someone to be able to withstand the hordes of undead without getting mad, should the Zombie Apocalypse finally bring salvation to all of us.
Some like you, me and all the others who need their "me time" every once or twice in a while.
Considering how few "lone wolves" we are, she should be happy that she is allowed to bask in your presence, she actually should encourage you in doing what you do. Like giving you head while you play BG2 for example.

Is it a regional (or national thing)????
As I would swear that F6 and F9 are the most natural choice for quicksave and reload option.

Hey yo old man... My memory may do me a disservice but I think Zelda was the first cartridge to feature battery powered save games (no quick saves though). It told you to hit power + reset to "save the game" after each dungeon or so. Metroid had the password system you described. Can't talk about Metal Gear as this did never turn up in realm of PAL.

Regarding nefarious password systems I remember a particular Ninja Turtles title for the Game Boy. This game was difficult as hell and the passwords it gave at the game over screen were far to complex to quickly remember. Of course after a few seconds the screen went back to the main menu.

I was first going to lecture you about denying her from inviting her parents visit you/her over Easter... but then I noticed it was about _your_ parents. :) Anyway, would that just been normal visit, or would they have stayed at your home for many days?

In a relationship, I've already stopped hoping for non-stop gaming for more than a few hours at a time, and even that mostly after my SO has went to sleep. At least she is fine with that, some don't like it even then. I guess Friday would have been good time for me gamingwise, but my SO asked if we could go to see another couple 60km from us that day. I said ok fine, so much for my gaming then. We spent there like 8 hours, ate and talked shit. It is mostly her friends, but I get along fine with then (and the husband, even though he is not a gamer).

Then again, when we got back home, I expected that my SO gives me no trouble into staying up late with the computer, which she didn't. I felt we both got what we wanted and in the end both were happy.

About dividing house work: does your gf work too daytime, or is she a "housewife"? I think it helps if you still do some things without much asking.

Ridiculing me over me liking "video games" is something where I have pretty low tolerance though. I've given up some relationships pretty early for that, as to me it tells quite a lot about the other person overall if he/she feels obliged to ridicule someone with whom she is supposed to be in a relationship over something he likes. To me, it is the same if I called her fat or ugly, "just in jest of course".

My SO sometimes does say I am "crazy over games", but since she still seems quite cool about them overall and even likes to watch them sometimes, it's all fine.

Anyway, such bitchings may come from just the other feeling neglected and not getting something from the relationship he/she wants. Some people may just be incompatible and want different things from a relationship.

Very good; you are right. In fact I recently saw an article about how those batteries had a rather limited lifespan thus if you dig out your old NES and Zelda cartridge and expect to find your game progress waiting for you, tough shit. :P