I dunno man, I started gaming with the Atari, C64 and NES, and I never paid full price back then either. Rentals, used games, piracy... that was a good 95%+ of my gaming experience.
The only time I got full price games was maybe a birthday or Christmas, but even that was rare for a major AAA release like Mario 3 or E.T.
Maybe your memory is just one person's experience and not an absolute truth.