--- title: Bring Back the Cool Save File Screens | daily.dev description: Sixth-generation consoles each had distinctive save file menu screens worth remembering, the author argues. The Dreamcast showed small square icons over... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/bring-back-the-cool-save-file-screens-7irljln9e twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Bring Back the Cool Save File Screens | daily.dev og:description: Sixth-generation consoles each had distinctive save file menu screens worth remembering, the author argues. The Dreamcast showed small square icons over... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/bring-back-the-cool-save-file-screens-7irljln9e og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/7IRLjLn9e.png og:image:alt: Bring Back the Cool Save File Screens og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Bring Back the Cool Save File Screens **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Sixth-generation consoles each had distinctive save file menu screens worth remembering, the author argues. The Dreamcast showed small square icons over rippling water, while the GameCube used floating cubes over a black grid. The PS2 displayed a 5x4 grid of detailed 3D models, like Dragon Quest 8's slime or a God of War blade. The Xbox menu had round icons and wires over a green honeycomb grid. The author misses these details compared to today's plain cover art save screens. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 27 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-10-26). **TL;DR:** Developers broadly agree old save-screen UIs had more personality, but debate why that changed — pointing to ballooning budgets, design homogenization, committee-driven decisions, and the fact that save management is no longer a scarce resource to showcase. **Sentiment:** 30% positive · 45% mixed · 25% skeptical **The case for** - Some note niche/indie games still experiment with diegetic and whimsical UIs instead of homogenized corporate ones. - One commenter highlights how PS2 save icons had charming interactive details like animations when hovering over delete. **The pushback** - Big-budget development now goes through committees (marketing, management, research) that push toward safe, homogenized designs rather than passionate individual creativity. - Modern UIs are seen as bland, corporate, and ad-driven, with one example suggesting a classic UI revival is really just about fitting more ads in. - Save files are now cloud-backed and nearly infinite, so there's no practical need to visually manage them like a limited resource anymore. - A couple of commenters push back on nostalgia itself, arguing old systems like manual saves and long load times are objectively worse. **By community** - hackernews (mixed): Agreement that old save screens were more characterful is mixed with pragmatic explanations for the change and pushback against pure nostalgia. **Hottest debate:** Whether the shift from quirky save screens to plain ones reflects corporate homogenization/cost-cutting or simply natural design convergence and reduced technical necessity. **Open questions** - Will distinctive, personality-driven UI design make a comeback as the current corporate-bland aesthetic cycle ends? - Could accessible, interesting UIs coexist with generic ones via multiple design options, as one commenter suggested? **Highlights** > I think the earlier console generations where created by a bunch of passionate nerds eager to make something cool. The current generations are created by highly talented designers whose work is reviewed by committee after committee with user research, marketing, management and creative direction all wanting to have a say - leading to the most universally acceptable compromise. Once game development goes into the 300 million plus per title range, you really can't have any John Carmak or Romeros running around building stuff they are passionate about anymore. There's just too much money on the line... > — [turbobutton on hackernews · 3 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50233738) > Save file screens - cool or otherwise - are a way to deal with managing a limited resource. Now we have effectively infinite space to save our games and we don't need one of these any more. Saved games are tiny compared to the space the games take up. They're not taking up space on a little wafer with enough room for a couple dozen games. They're backed up to the cloud. How many save games are on my computer and Steam Deck, hidden from me deep in the filesystem? I have no idea. I don't want to have any idea. I've never had any desire to manage them once it stopped being a necessity. My save games just kinda happen. > — [egypturnash on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50235183) > The PS2 save file models also had state animations. For example, if you hovered over "delete", a character would get on their knees and beg to be spared…! > — [semolino on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234157) > It’s a cycle. Everything looks bland and professional and serious and homogenized right now, from Xbox to McDonald’s. I bet by the end of the decade we’ll see more designs looking to stand out again. > — [smelendez on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234046) > The blades are taking up a huge portion of the width. The modern Microsoft knows that space could better be used to squeeze in additional ads. > — [3eb7988a1663 on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50235101) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195184) · 55 points · 27 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The Death of Character in Game Console Interfaces](https://daily.dev/posts/the-death-of-character-in-game-console-interfaces-x9f2zvyck) · Lobsters · 18 upvotes · 0 comments - [Beauty in DVD Menus](https://daily.dev/posts/beauty-in-dvd-menus-4sdruuxyb) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Old icons](https://daily.dev/posts/old-icons-jwoucxne4) · Hacker News · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [I play my PS2 collection upscaled to 4K, and some of the games look like remasters](https://daily.dev/posts/i-play-my-ps2-collection-upscaled-to-4k-and-some-of-the-games-look-like-remasters-urq9dpc38) · XDA Developers · 4 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#gaming](https://daily.dev/tags/gaming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/bring-back-the-cool-save-file-screens-7irljln9e) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Bring Back the Cool Save File Screens","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/bring-back-the-cool-save-file-screens-7irljln9e","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/bring-back-the-cool-save-file-screens-7irljln9e"},"datePublished":"2026-10-25T18:38:01.819Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T01:54:04.459Z","description":"Sixth-generation consoles each had distinctive save file menu screens worth remembering, the author argues. 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