Retro video gaming: a solo pursuit or shared passion?

[Steven]

Largely a solo pursuit/escape/get-away for me.

Once in a while, when my brother visits, we'll play something. We beat Brawl Brothers earlier this year and I also introduced him to the awesome BS Out of Bounds Golf game on SNES, and he loves that game.

Also, Christmas is a family gathering time where usually we get our Super Bomberman on. Last Christmas I spent over 2 hours playing Super Bomberman 2 and TMNT IV with two of my cousins -- it was an old school blast. Really a fond memory for me

Other than that, it's mainly solo. Which is fine, since I'm going through a lot of the great SNES 1-player only games right now

[cooky560]

Defiantly shared, nothing like classic co-op gaming in Streets of Rage 2!

[Pedro Lambrini]

I play alone. I've got a bunch of pals who claim to be into older games and systems ("SMB3 is the bestest game in the world.!!") but when it comes to the crunch they all invariable play Xbox Live. To be fair, one of them does own a SNES... I've even seen it powered on once!

I'd like to play multiplayer games sometimes but, in general, I'm pretty happy in my own world most of the time.

[djshok]

I hardly ever play games with someone else, and it's always been like that. I never much cared for 2 player games unless they're turn based like SMW or fighting games. It's just too annoying to play a co-op game with someone when they're at a much different skill level than you. It only ever worked out once when my wife and I beat TMNT Manhattan Project together, she's a little better than me at that game but not so much that it made gameplay annoying.

Usually when I play with a friend we just take turns each level, even in 2p games.

[Shulamana]

I was considered the "loner kid who was good at video games" back in school, because people just assumed I was good at games because that's what I did all the time (mainly because I had few/no friends). As an adult, other than my mother playing Dr. Mario or Tetris Attack on my old SNES every other year or so nobody I know really expresses an interest.

My sister bought a Wii in April, and has literally never used it after I set it up for her.

[Baloo]

I wish video games were more of a shared passion for me, but unfortunately I do most of my gaming alone. Usually I go to a video game gathering once a month though at my local game store (Next-Level in Blackwood, NJ) so at least I get some time to talk about games and compete with others, because after a while playing by yourself it just meh.

[Aussie2B]

Shared, definitely: I get the pleasure of the game, and my cat gets to lay in my lap.

Cute.

To answer the question, for my circle, it's more a matter of one person playing and everybody else enjoying just watching rather than all of us actively playing competitively or cooperatively. Or sometimes a few of us will be playing different games together, like one person on the TV and the others on handhelds. I guess we just tend to go after the single player-only games, especially me with my love for RPGs and platformers. But we do have a blast pulling out Mario Kart 64 or such and four controllers once in a blue moon.

[Shulamana]

once in a blue room

Not sure if intentional or not, but

[Aussie2B]

Not sure if intentional or not, but

Doh, that's the second time I've done that lately. I don't get how you think that ties in with my comment, though. :P I think playing Castlevania is messing with my brain, with the maps filling in with blue, haha.

[jammajup]

Being an old bastard (40) I play all of my games alone (except xbox live) my friends and my wife aren't gamers so it's just me. But that's fine with me because I mostly play RPG's.

Similar situation with me as i am also 40,most my friends who i used to game with back in the day have other commitments now and do not even talk games let alone play them.
So of all the people i have known i have just 1 cousin and 1 friend who enjoy to talk or play retro/classic games.