Am I really that old??? Or are you really that young???

[wizardofwor]

I want to know who feels old besides me. I am having a hard time looking at posts about Mario being the starting point in a gamers mind, if not that, it was Sonic or even Crash Bandicoot! Please tell me that I am not a fuddy-duddy in this hobby. I lived through the 2600 and even the 5200 :P . I am 36 and feel 86. Respond if you are over 30 and feel the same way I do!

Thanks!
LOL

[congobongo]

Well, I'm only 28 but mainly into the pre-NES stuff lately. It seems to me that the posts regarding the pre-NES days have dropped off significantly over the last year. Not sure if that is a result of more Jr. members joining, older members tiring of the same old discussions, or just because my focus has changed and I am now starting to notice. Regardless, most of the real personalities and regulars on this site are of your vintage ;) so don't feel too bad.

[wizardofwor]

Thanks dude! I feel better, by the way, you would be considered OLD by the standards I see! Game on!

[Queen Of The Felines]

I'm 31 and none of my co-workers has even HEARD of an Atari 2600 let alone touched one! O_O

Then again the majority of them don't know who David Bowie is either, so I get the double-whammy. :roll:

Kristine

[Starcade]

I am only 15, going on 16 soon, but I feel I am very mature for my age, and also, I am the single ONLY person in my school(that I know of) that has even a HINT of respect for classic gaming, I don't know exactly how it started, it is just the modern games are so damn expensive, and classic games and systems are really appealing to me. I don't know why I posted this.... :D

[wizardofwor]

David Bowie, Little China Girl, WOW! Thanks for making me feel better!

[dsullo]

I am 34 and still love the NES Systems, I repair them as a hobby. My 28 yr old brother in law comes over once in a while for a round of CONTRA on my NES.

I witnesed a heart warming conversation at the PhillyClassic. A mother and a boy around 8-10 yrs old were looking over a Colecovision system at a sellers table. The mother wanted to be sure it was what he wanted. The little guy insisted that YES he wanted a Colecovision. I was watching and thinking 'How on earth does this little kid even know what a Colecovision is?" It did my heart good to see a young one appeciating a classic system

[wizardofwor]

Colecovision, I waited a month to get one because they (Sears Wish Book) was sold out. I got a certificate for Christmas saying "more were on the way". Thanks dude, Ladybug is the best!

[Dahne]

Dang, you guys make me feel like such a whippersnapper. The first game I ever even saw was Mario, and my first love was Chrono Trigger. However, now I'm getting into all the beautiful things I've missed. All right, so the oldest system I've gotten recently is a Sega Saturn, but I haven't had a chance to find a good flea market. (By the way, anyone know of any in the So. Cali area?)

[omnedon]

I'm 32, and yes, it's a rare yougun who gives a rats ass about anything older than as Ps1. They are out there, but they seem uncommon.

When you have a clear memory of the Atari 2600 being an expensive, powerful, king of he hill system, you are indeed old, sadly. However, we may be old, we still know how to PLAY thank goodness!

[Raedon]

at work A kid wanted a part time job and he had a Pac-Man shirt on.. he was born in 1986..

[ARCZero]

I'm 29 and my earliest gaming memories are of Atari 2600 and games like Raiders of The Lost Ark, ET, and Combat. It makes you feel really old when you realize some of these games are two decades + old. The only good thing is that you can get great deals at the flea markets sometimes because many vendors don't value older systems. Two weekends ago I got an Atari 5200 Meteorites for $1 :o

[BIGMIKE]

30 years young here. the 2600 was the psx of yesteryear. i can still remember playing pacman all night long on xmas. you just cant forget that first time, and just knew it was great when i found out how to go thru the escape hole and have ol pacman go thru the middle of the board.
i appreciate the old games, although sometimes it's hard to go from Diablo to lock n chase. if your gonna collect an atari of any kind is a must. i have the 26,52, and 7800 (sure wish i had some controlllers for the 52 though) i really wanted the 52 and ol mom wouldn't get it, so it's killing me not to play it.

[Bratwurst]

Well my first system was an Atari 600XL, and my neighbor had a 2600 and Intellivision I'd go over to play with. This was in the NES era but I suppose poverty had something to do with it, too busy eating canned worms and licking the insides of trash cans to really care about being out of the loop.

[ventrra]

I'm 31 myself. The first game systems I remember were those dedicated Pong systems...(well, ok, actually we had a couple of Pongs, Tank, and a TV Pinball...)

I know quite well who David Bowie is, too. ... I have the Movie Labyrinth on DVD and it's soundtrack on CD :D

[thekeepr]

Well....being 48 years young....and still playing videogames after ALL these years....remembering my first 2600 at a tender young age of.....was I 20(or somewhere about there) that long ago??? Wishing soooooo bad I could buy all the cool systems back in the days (early 80's) and not being able to because I just bought a house,a wife,etc,etc....wanting so much to have a Colecovision cause it had killer graphics(dates me for sure saying that!!!) Fast forward to now....I have EVERY system I wanted back then.....and all the games I could ever want for said systems to play and enjoy, along with all the memories of looking thru my Electronic Games mags and dreaming....I wish I had that....and that....and this.... The Keeper

[wizardofwor]

Thank you all. I feel vindicated. The hobby started in the 70's with the VCS. I think that the systems of today are cool, I have all but the PS2, waiting for the price cut, and I don't want to take away from today, but the systems of yesteryear are still dear to me. This site was founded on those systems and I just want to make sure I am not the only one who remembers the old. Sometimes with the mags and all, you feel like a moron if you are over 30 and still into videogames. I want to know that there is a true ADULT audience out there. Adult being really adult, as in over 30. Been there, done that 8-)

[badinsults]

I'm 20, and I grew up with the NES and SNES, but the SNES is where my passion lies. It may seem like sacrilege, but I never owned one of the "classic" systems (unless you count the Vic 20).

[scooterb23]

28 here...I had an old pong machine, before getting a 2600 when I was about 5...

and I was getting strange looks because I was driving around blasting Kansas from my car stereo today... :hmm:

[DDCecil]

I'm 23, and I love the older stuff. The newer stuff is good and all, but I just love the classics, ever since getting my Atari 2600 back in 1984. My 19-year-old brother will not touch anything above 32-bits, and all he plays is the NES and SNES. My 15-year-old brother will play anything, but give him Taz for the Atari 2600, and he won't leave the room for HOURS.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

30 here. The Sears Pong Sports IV console was my first. Then I got an Odyssey 2 and the rest is history. :-D

[digitalpress]

Yeah, don't go feeling "old" and stuff, Wizard. You are simply "wise".

I'm sure I don't need to re-tell my story to everyone here, but in a nutshell when I was a kid I got that Odyssey with the plastic overlays (I used to call them "placemats", Ralph Baer loved that one) you stick to the TV screen; my earliest arcade recollections were black and white - and that wasn't in a dream, they WERE black and white; arcade games had no 'endings' and home games had no 'bosses'. Nor did I have save features, 3D, surround sound, texture mapping, compact discs, cheat devices, strategy guides, combo moves... and the list goes on and on.

So you've evolved. You're only "old" if you feel old. So don't.

Play.

[CrazyImpmon]

Here's another elder on the forum... 29. LOL My first console was a Sears heavy model. Got Target Fun and Circus that Christmas day.

[kainemaxwell]

My earlist was having an Atari 2600. Some my friends only remember from the NES to now.

[tom]

Wow,
45 years young here.
When the Odyssey arrived in Germany in 1974 I was WAY too old for videogames, so I thought. After all, I was a drummer in a Rock band and only interested in music and girls.

I made up for it in the late 70's, when Pac-Man arrived........

[TVs Hasselhoff]

Wanna feel really old? Check out the forums on G4TV.com about most expensive or coveted game in your collection or the forums about best game system. I think you can count on one hand the number of times anything older than a NES is mentioned.

One of my fondest memories was when I got Intellivision for Christmas and getting to play, what I consider, one of the best pack-in titles of all time...Intellivision Blackjack/Poker. Those shifty eyes. Those Burt Reynolds good looks. The box art with what is clearly James Caan in a three-piece brown suit. You just don't get that kind of magic anymore.

[zmeston]

At my friend John's most recent all-night gaming party, I brought over my Astrocade for some Artillery Duel goodness; one of his friends, a guy in his early 20s, said: "Dude, what's that game? It looks like two mailboxes with dicks!" I wanted to weep.

Many of the current crop of videogame journalists, including a few folks for whom I have much respect, started out with the SNES/Genesis, and thus don't really have a knowledge of (or appreciation for) games of the '70s and '80s. Which begs the question: does it make someone "like SO not hardcore" if they appreciate classic games for their place in the evolution of the medium, as opposed to their play value?

-- Z.

[TVs Hasselhoff]

my biggest problem with journalists that don't have knowledge of anything beyond SNES is that, when reviewing games, they don't always have an appreciation for something with simple gameplay, like Mr. Driller, or give an accurate review of a game to determine whether its derivative, innovative, a port or re-release, or just plain bad.

This is getting off topic, but it shouldn't be the age of the reviewer that makes the difference, but please, if you're going to review, at least have a little history to back up what you're saying.

Astrocade, it didn't come with dicks, but didn't it have a dick adaptor, or was that removed in from the final release?

[bargora]

Many of the current crop of videogame journalists, including a few folks for whom I have much respect, started out with the SNES/Genesis, and thus don't really have a knowledge of (or appreciation for) games of the '70s and '80s. Which begs the question: does it make someone "like SO not hardcore" if they appreciate classic games for their place in the evolution of the medium, as opposed to their play value?

-- Z.
That's an interesting question, and one I don't have an answer for. And let me add another question. But first, this:

Yes, I am 30, and I cut my teeth on the 2600. And when I read the current gaming media, sometimes I CAN feel the IQ points dripping out my ears. You are not a fuddy duddy. They ARE that young. Just try not to sound too crotchety when you start a sentence "WHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY..."

After playing the 2600 for a few years, I devoted my gaming time to the Atari 8-bit (130XE) computer we got. At the same time, my little brother discovered the NES. For various reasons, though, I never got into the NES. ("These controllers are stupid" "What's with these 'boss' guys?" etc.) Then I didn't get into the SNES, and finally came back into the fold with the PSX.

I like some NES games, but in general the NES games don't have that visceral grab for me that I feel with the classic Atari stuff. I think that maybe that's just the way it's going to be for most people with respect to older systems if they weren't playing them when they were new. (But who knows? I like SNES games despite not playing them in the system's prime.)

So does it make someone "SO not hardcore" if they appreciate NES games for their place in the evolution of the medium, as opposed to their play value?

[ste]

Respond if you are over 30 and feel the same way I do!

I'm not 30 - but I'm close.... still, I'm gonna add my 2 cents because I feel the same way you do!:
My first exposure wasn't even a real "console" - it was an APF TV-Fun 401A with 4 versions of Pong (Soccer was the best!). I still have it. It was made the same year I was born. It's the most fun game there is when you just want to relive childhood. I was 10 when I got my hands on an Atari 2600 (JR I think...). (That would make it 1986). I didn't see Mario until 1990.

I enjoy my pre-NES games, with the exception of arcade games. Bubble Bobble made me waste so much cash. I evenutally got a C64 and a tape of Bubble Bobble that took eons to load... ahh.. those were the days!

Sté

[gameman007]

Wow, I think I'm the old man of the board. I'm 49, I have all the old systems. I would rather play my neo geo than most of the new systems. I play atari quite a bit tho. :)

[TripppsK]

I'm 36 and enjoy and play almost everything from RCA Studio II to PSX. I dont feel old when talking or playing these games, actually the opposite. One of the best things is having my daughters or nephews begging me to break out the 2600 to play Kaboom! or another ridiculously simple game that doesnt lose its appeal after 20 years. I just wonder if the same will be said for todays PS2 and Xbox hits.

[Aswald]

I'm 36, too. We're old. And we're in danger of becoming what we've always dreaded:

"Man, I liked (fill in the blank) a WHOLE lot better in my day!"

[Lady Jaye]

I'm 27, but I got started relatively late on videogames (granted, I do remember seeing Burgertime arcade in 83-84, as well as play my uncle's Colecovision in those days and see people at school bring tabletop arcade games by Coleco), but I really got involved in gaming in 85 on the 2600, owning my first console (the trusty 2600 in the form of a Coleco Gemini) in 87. Soon after that, I got into the NES and the SMS, thanks to my best friends.

So, I consider myself as being part of both the pre-crash and post-crash 8-bit gens. The only time I wasn't into gaming was from 1990 to 1996 (in high school and college, I just had other interests).

Oh, and regarding game journalists: I just read some reviews (notably Gamespot's) of Final Fantasy Origins, which I think is a fantastic title, despite the lack of FFIII. Well, they still managed to make it sound like it wasn't so great, and the Gamespot journalist even wrote that FFI was easier on the PSX than on the NES. Excuse me? I played it for several hours since Friday, on so-called Easy Mode, and the enemies are actually more challenging on the PSX. And that's only one gripe I have about the review (I find the graphs very nice, esp. considering that Square could have made it a straight port from the NES/Famicom).

And in the few mainstream mags that have retro sections (notably GI and GMR), they rarely ever cover pre-crash stuff (fuck, GI's idea of retro reviews means NES to PSX titles, with more focus on PSX/N64 etc. titles in the past few months!!!).

Anyway, to get back into the topic of classic gaming, I think that people don't give a second thought to twitch games (and other simple games that wouldn't have been out of place on the 2600 and other early consoles), even though they would play them in the form of cell phone games, or java games or even GBA carts like the Game and Watch Gallery series or the upcoming Wario Ware Inc. Notice how many of the classic game designers (with the exception of Eugene Jarvis and maybe a couple of others) now design Java games or cell phone games (even the Intellivision is getting a second life on cells!!!)...

[zektor]

Well, I'm not yet 30 (I'm 27) but my fondest memories and most beloved games come from the pre-crash era. Atari 2600, 5200, Intellivision, Colecovision, and the good old Vic 20 were, and still are, my favorites in the gaming world. I do enjoy *some* modern games...but even there I still don't get the same feeling as I did and do with the games that were made before the corporate big heads kind of "decided" what will and will not sell. In short, don't worry, we'll grow "old" together! :)

[wizardofwor]

I'm 36, too. We're old. And we're in danger of becoming what we've always dreaded:

"Man, I liked (fill in the blank) a WHOLE lot better in my day!"

I'm 36 too and I don't care if I'm obsolete as long as there are plenty of people to accompany me down that geriatric road to unlimited continues.

I have modern systems too, Xbox, Gamecube, and Dreamcast, (no PS2, sorry, waiting for the price cut, is it ever going to get here?), and I still feel obsolete. OK, Dreamcast isn't so modern.... Notice how Activision Anthology, Namco museum, Defender, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, and all the Hasbro remakes don't exactly sell gangbusters! Whether the games are quality or not, and sometimes not, I just don't think there is much of a market for them. I buy them, you probably buy them, but you and I do not a market make! I don't think people our age are a factor at all because according to market analysts, we don't exist! We are busy buying "Land Before Time" on the GBA for our 7-year old.

Thanks for the input, brother....

[Arqueologia_Digital]

17 for me and i´m nostalgic like you LOL

[WiseSalesman]

I'm 20 andthe first console I owned was the NES. I had played on both a C64 and a Tandy comouter previously, however.

I don't collect, or have any desire to play, anything pre-NES. You can call me unenlightened or "a young punk" or whatever, but you'd be wrong. The truth is I don't have any nostalgia like you do to push me onwards with it, and the games just aren't all that exciting to me. Sure, there's the rare one that I will be interested in, but I can probably pick it up on an arcade classicis disc. If it weren't for the nostalgia aspect, I most likely wouldn't be collecting anything pre-SNES. In any case, I don't see anything wrong with collecting games from the pre-NES era. If that's your thing, go for it. But there's no real reason for me to do so.

[lionforce]

Hehe, don't let your age bother you Wizardofwor, gaming is a passion and like I said before, I will keep on gaming until the day I die, I am not as seniored as some of the DP members, I am 24 and if my memory recalls, the first gaming experience I had was in the beginning of 1985, my great aunt gave me an old pong system that she did not play anymore, I believe it might have been one of the Odyssey systems ( I remember it being a black and white version of pong) and I always used to go across the street to play my uncle's colecovision, ahhhh those were the days of Pitfall, Mr Do and Popeye, ya see during my preteen years I kinda grew up on a strict budget, my mother had to support two kids (me and my younger sister) so the games did not flow into my hands like water. That's why when I recieved an NES deluxe package ( the ROB the robot one) for Christmas of 86 I knew my mother was the best woman in the world :-D actually I think my mom's ex-boyfriend at the time got it for me (mwaaahahaha suckerrrrr :P ) but anyway, the first system I ever owned was an NES but that was not the first system I ever played, I have tons of respect for the pre NES consoles and games because I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to play them thanks to a great aunt who did not realize what she was getting rid of and an uncle who lived (and still does) across the street and with that said Game On! :-D

[Six Switch]

Well I am only 15,16 in a month but nobody I know has any respect for classic gaming.Everyone has let the graphics go to their heads and has forgot where gaming began.But it's ok,if they wanna miss out. :roll: