Were you late to discover the world of retro gaming?

[Anthony1]

I certainly was. I started gaming in the late 70's when my brother and I received an Atari VCS for Xmas. I'm pretty sure it was Xmas 1978. So, beginning in 1978, I started my journey down the path of video game enlightenment, but I didn't discover the concept of retro gaming till 2003. 25 years later. I don't know why, but for some reason, I never really thought about playing older systems. Like, when I had a Genesis, Super Nintendo and such in the early 90's, I never thought about playing my old Atari 2600. It never crossed my mind. In the late 90's when I had a Saturn, N64 and Playstation, I never thought about playing my old NES. In the very late 90's and early 00's, I was playing Dreamcast and Playstation 2, and I never thought about playing a TurboGrafx or a Genesis.


The thought of playing a retro game was so foreign to me. I didn't even know there was such a concept as retro gaming. I thought that anybody that was playing really old games like that, were playing them because they didn't have the $$ for the newer systems. I knew of people that played games like Pac-Man and Asteroids and Galaga on their computers, but that was mostly cause it was just something cool to do on a PC, because you could emulate the game perfectly for free. But I thought it was just one of those temporary things, like listening to old records just to reminisce about the old days for a little while. I never knew that people actually went "retro" and stuck with it.



Anyways, just wondering if any others were late to the whole "retro-gaming" party.

[Steven]

Hmmm, well, I guess it began in 1999 for me when Saturn was already (quite) long dead in the US. I bought a Saturn for World Heroes Perfect (me) and Fire Pro 6 Man Scramble Wrestling (my brother).

From 1999 to 2005, all I really cared about, gaming-wise, was the Saturn. I also won a DC for free in 2002 or so, and developed a fairly strong interest for it, but I was mostly Saturn.

Then, in 2006 I got tired of Saturn, and now I'm into SNES/GEN/NES.

So yes, I definitely got into retro gaming pretty late.

[Nukie]

I never really disappeared from the retro scene. I like most of the modern consoles and games, but I always had a time
(generally once a year or so) when I would get the itch for zelda, or mario, or final fantasy (yes the original is my favorite).

[geneshifter]

yup

[Hiryu]

For me, it was sort of a slow emergence over time. I always kept my old genesis packed away back in the days of the PSX, and really never thought about playing it, but as time went on, I started to miss old school platformers and shmups, which were a dying breed when 3D was the trend on the PS1. So over the years since then, I have rebuilt my old collection of systems and games that I had traded or sold for others and picked up some stuff I missed the first time around (Dreamcast). Right now I would say that I am entering my retro gaming phase as always in the late spring/early summer, I think it's because when I was younger that was when I did most of my gaming. I also get the itch in late fall and winter as well. LOL

[exit]

I only kind of strayed away from it for awhile, only to come back to it every now and then. Right now I'm back to collecting SNES games again and searching down whatever game I've been wanting forever.

I've also been considering getting a Dreamcast off of e-bay, the main reason is because I've been wanting to play D2 for years and it seems that it will never be ported to another system.

[Anthony1]

One of the main reasons why I drifted into the world of retrogaming, is because I started to crave the simplicity of early games. 2D games have a limit of things going on in their game world. The rules are known and set. With modern day 3D games, the freedom in some of them, can almost be a little overwhelming. Not that I don't enjoy open ended games like San Andreas and Oblivion, but for awhile there, it just seemed like Modern games got too damn complicated, with too much to do, too many controls, etc, etc.

[Haoie]

By definition, you have to be late for the modern in order to be retro. Whoa.

[Hiryu]

Oops, forgot to quote!

[Hiryu]

One of the main reasons why I drifted into the world of retrogaming, is because I started to crave the simplicity of early games. 2D games have a limit of things going on in their game world. The rules are known and set. With modern day 3D games, the freedom in some of them, can almost be a little overwhelming. Not that I don't enjoy open ended games like San Andreas and Oblivion, but for awhile there, it just seemed like Modern games got too damn complicated, with too much to do, too many controls, etc, etc.


I wholeheartedly agree with your statements, although to be fair there are a number of good games on modern consoles. Did you play Shadow of the Colossus?

[calthaer]

I started playing retro games heavily when I realized that most of the newer games just plain sucked. This was around 1999-2000. Before that, I had my NES with me in college - I never got rid of my old systems and always kept playing them.

[Steven]

One of the main reasons why I drifted into the world of retrogaming, is because I started to crave the simplicity of early games. 2D games have a limit of things going on in their game world. The rules are known and set. With modern day 3D games, the freedom in some of them, can almost be a little overwhelming. Not that I don't enjoy open ended games like San Andreas and Oblivion, but for awhile there, it just seemed like Modern games got too damn complicated, with too much to do, too many controls, etc, etc.

Well said my fine retro friend. The reason I got out of Saturn in January 2006 was... one day this really strong urge hit me -- the urge to play and enjoy simple basic 2D games, specifically platformers. I looked at Saturn's library and despite its excellent 2D reputation (mostly for fighters and shooters) there are a lack of 2D platformers!

Then it got me thinking back to the glory SNES days, where platformers were coming out like two rabbits in the woods LOL

Not before long I also bought a Genesis, and then an NES. Now I'm set for life as far as video games are concerned. I missed the simplicity and beauty of these games as well, Anthony. I don't hate current gen games, but no thanks to countless cinema's and hold left + R1 + Triangle to do a tuck and roll flip!

Give me A, B and C and I'm good to go! Plus these games are great to just play for 15 minutes. I find it hard to enjoy current gen games for 15 minutes since they are more complicated and IMHO required more time to really enjoy. Nothing beats the pick up and play factor of the 8/16-bit era! 8-)

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I thought that anybody that was playing really old games like that, were playing them because they didn't have the $$ for the newer systems.
I've really always played the old games, but maybe that right there is indeed the reason why.

Due to short funds in the family, I've pretty much always been on the trailing edge of each generation. Got my 2600 in 1984, NES in 1990, Genesis (and Master System) in 1994, Saturn in 1999, but I wouldn't say that I considered it something I prefered until I figured out that I really liked the Master System games I was playing through the Power Base Converter on my Genesis more than the Genesis games themselves or the Saturn and Playstation stuff that I couldn't dream of affording anyway, then it was shortly after that that I got online and found rec.games.video.classic (back when even the Master System wasn't considered truly "classic") and it was all downhill after that even when I managed to get a Dreamcast in 1999. Who knows, if I'd been able to afford a Playstation in 1995, I may have never played a Master System and never would have fallen back in love with the games I played--and those that I missed--in earlier days.


...word is bondage...

[cyberfluxor]

Since I wasn't given game consules as teenager, most of my gaming was done either on PC or at friends houses. Thanks to emulation being shown to me in '97 I was able to at least make up for some lost times dial-up allowed me to get the ROMs I wanted. It wasn't until I got my first job in '03 where I could begin grabbing classics and trying them out physically and as they ment to be. It's given me a great insight on the world of retro and classic gaming to a point that it's been worth wild. I'll have to just wait and see where it'll all take me and how much more entertainment I'll get out of it.

So to answer the question more softly, yes I was a late enterer.

[Pantechnicon]

I got my first Atari 2600 in 1981 (hence the "est. 1981" in my sig banner) when it was still a current system. In that time, no matter how innovative revolutionary new consoles were, it never occurred to me to abandon it merely because it was "old".

Indeed, during my dark Atari-less years from 1988 to 1994 when NES, SNES and Genesis were the end-all and be-all of home consoles, seeing these systems in action only made miss my old 2600 that much more. Finding a 2nd system when I did was one of the best days of my life. I felt like a long-missing part of me had been restored.

So in other words, I was never late to the retro-party because the party was held at my house.

:bday: :band: :bday: :villagepeople: :cheers:

[Fighter17]

Yeah.

I was getting bored of the current gen with Vice City and crap like that in 2003 so that's one part of why I love retro games, because it's so simple.

Two was because I was playing many classics on emulators before I said "Hey, I love these simple games, lets BUY THEM!"

Three was on my 16th birthday, my friend of mine gave me his Genesis as a gift. And thus, it began my retro gaming collection.

I miss all the good games that're simple, not those newer games with a lot of buttons you have to know. For this reason I love shmups, the newer ones from Cave like DoDonpachi, ESP Ra. De., and some of the Psikyo offerings like Strikers 1945 I and II.

[NE146]

Nah man... my old ass has just been gaming since the 70's and packrated the whole deal. I dont think I was necessarily into "retrogaming", I just never abandoned/sold/tossed games I liked. I'd just store stuff thinking I'd like to play it again in the future... which I always did :)

[smork]

I gave up on my VCS a long time ago (still dont play it), but I never really stopped playing other older games. Mostly I played games alot on my computer that were older --　I just never thought of it as retro gaming.

I guess I still don't. If a game is good, I play it, and if not, I dont. I only become concious of it when people look at me strange for buying some old game. So maybe i'm not really into retro gaming, I just don't care if my games are the latest and greatest. Besides, my favorite genres -- shooting and rpgs -- haven't improved at all since the mid 90s...

[exit]

With modern day 3D games, the freedom in some of them, can almost be a little overwhelming. Not that I don't enjoy open ended games like San Andreas and Oblivion, but for awhile there, it just seemed like Modern games got too damn complicated, with too much to do, too many controls, etc, etc.

I agree with you on that. I remember exploring places on FF3 and just feeling overwhelmed with how large the areas were, but compare that to the gargantuas world of GTA: SA and it seems like cake. I sometimes stop playing recent games just because I feel mentally exhausted with the thought of exploring a giant town, let alone an entire world map.

Of course I get over it after getting to know an area, but if I stop playing the game for awhile I'll have to remember the city like areas all over again and then I have to remember where to go. I wish more games had a set-up like Tales of Symphonia, especially one of the bigger RPGs, where theres some kind of log that keeps track of important events and helps you remember what went on after a long break from the game.

[jcalder8]

I have always loved playing my NES so I guess that I have never been into retro gaming or I was into it before it was retro. It has always remained my favorite system.

[swlovinist]

I played back in the day mostly NES, Genesis, Sega CD, and Super Nes. I stuck with the systems even when newer ones came out. I started collecting hardcore in 98 and have never looked back.

[diskoboy]

I never really stopped playing them... My VCS has been hooked up to whatever TV I've owned since 1981 (I loved it that much).

My carts happen to be another story, though... I've bought and sold them, then re-purchased them all several times over.


Kinda funny sidenote - I've gone through 4 different TV's in my lifetime, and am still on my original VCS.

Damn, they built things to last back then!

[s1lence]

I think I've always been into retrogaming as all the systems I had in the beginning of my console gaming life were older systems. (ie I had a 5200 while everyone else had a NES). Same with my computer, I had an Apple IIe until 1993. I had to get a new computer after a teacher told me that they have ink jet printers now and that she didn't like the way my DOT matrix printer printed.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I had a Commodore 128(D) that was the only computer I had until about 2000. While I mostly wrote papers on the computers at my school, when it came down to the wire (i.e. 1a.m. the night before the paper was due and I hadn't written anything) I did occassionally have to write them on the Commodore and print them out with my 1525 dot matrix printer. I found that if I went to Kinkos in the morning and made copies of the pages printed out form the 1525 all the signs of dot matrix-ness would vanish and it would just look like it came from any normal printer.


...word is bondage...

[Push Upstairs]

I really took a 5-6 year hiatus from console gaming and spent my years from 1994-2000 playing PC games.

It was around 2000 when i cracked open the box with my Genesis and games stuffed in it. I am glad i kept it as i remember being really pissed i sold off my NES.

Honestly, i view my XBOX gaming as nothing more than picking things up from where they were in 1994 (just with a 12 year gap.)

[cbroddy]

I remember getting an Atari 2600 in 1983. Most of my time at Sears, Lechmere and Service Merchandise were at kiosks looking and playing the Atari 2600 games.
I received my NES in 1987. Metroid, Contra, TMNT and Super Mario Brothers 2 were among my favorites to play.

During my middle school years from 89-91 I stopped playing NES and Atari 2600 games and played Kings Quest/Space Quest and the Quest for Glory series for a while.

[dreamcaster]

When I think about it, I've always been fascinated by older systems.

I mean, even when the SNES was still alive and kicking, I was interested in playing Master System and NES games, just to see what it was like and I've always felt that way.

I guess I'm just the kind of person who doesn't want o miss out on any good games, no matter what system they were on, or how old they were. :-P

It wasn't until 2001 though that I got a Sega Game Gear which was my first 'retro' acquisition.