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Thread: Why exactly is retro gaming so much bigger then it used to be?

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gentlegamer View Post
    Idk, who cares about all this "poser" crap? We're not in high school. I'm 27, i just love video games. This kid the other day at a Mariokart 8 party told me the fact that I owned a Dreamcast was 500% hipster. Then my hipsterness was completely cancelled out that I also own a PS4. Then he said it was just plain punk rock that I own a Colecovision.

    I don't get it.
    Last edited by Arkanoid_Katamari; 06-10-2014 at 05:13 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by postulio View Post
    It's not even as popular now as it was 10 years ago, thats when retro gaming was really at the top of its game, with collectors popping up everywhere, insane prices for even PS1 games and everyone and their mother was looking for a top loader NES. That was when this website really blew up in popularity too (it is a shell of its former self). With that boom a lot more collectors and old testers came out of the woodwork and a lot of really rare stuff was pretty easy to find and cheap, until the stock ran out of course (Playstation dev units were rather easy to find for ~50$ if you were on the right forums; even U64 & Dolphin dev units were popping up). While I personally would never consider PS1 and anything that came out after it as 'retro' that is obviously more a factor of my age than anything. To me, the Sony Playstation will always be the turning point towards "modern gaming". To me retro will always be before the modern age of 3d gaming, when sprites were the standard, not polygons.
    But I suspect that OP is right, that 'retro' will be a sliding scale, no matter how inaccurate the scale is, being tipped by newcomers who refer to the games they played when they were 8 as retro. Which reminds me of a comic i once saw on dorkly:





    While "retro" gaming is currently popular, its not actually the old games themselves (at least not as much as it was 10 years ago), but games that are reminisce of old games that are gaining more momentum (mobile games like Knights of Pen & Paper, 10000000, Organ Trail, Star Command; PC games like Hotline Miami, Monkey Island Special Edition, To the Moon...) even GoG has really took off. On the other hand, almost all old games have dropped in price significantly, some by 50%! mostly due to ports and remakes to all modern consoles as well as mobile.


    As for *WHY*, I'd reckon it is for two major reasons:
    1)80s to early 90s gamers grew up into functioning adults with well paying jobs and reminisce about the simpler times (or whatever emotion it elicits). Some are playing catch up, collecting and playing what they didn't have an opportunity to as a child and
    2)Since gaming is mainstream now (thanks largely to the people in the above group) more and more kids are getting into it and are looking to explore "what came before". It helps things that most genres and franchises got their rise in the 80s and early 90s and since they are still around, you get instant brand recognition going backwards. (not to mention that most of the game industry folk, also mostly belong to group 1, further advertising retro games, even if it is implicit).


    Anyone who says modern games suck is just a hater and/or fanboy and/or attention craving hipster (being from Brooklyn, where the modern hipster was more or less born, we have a different definition of the term: someone who is counter popular culture, in everything from film to clothing). There are more games coming out now than ever before, across far more genres and topics. You have self taught basement coders and multi billion dollar companies churning out great games (and literally everything in between). Old games have been preserved (and remade), and developers are pushing further and further.

    There is a lot of people talking about old games being better, but take all that with a grain of salt. Nostalgia has a way of clouding one's vision. There were great games then and great games now. More so now, so much so that it is impossible to keep track of everything that is coming out (consoles are easy to keep track, but if you limit yourself to only playing console games you're playing Solitaire with a deck of 28).

    Every generation will have people coming out of it saying games 'back then' were better, and yet the industry is growing, gaming is a major part of our culture, more games are coming out than ever. Better than ever. Games like GTA V, Skyrim... hell, even WoW are things that the devs 20+ years ago could barely dream of... and thats why each of those has a retro seed which bloomed into the awesomeness we have today.
    It's hilarious cuz people I know have that exact same arguement about Zelda. My mid-20s friends can't understand how my roommate whose in his mid-30s preferred Link to the Past to Ocarina of Time. And vice versa. People just have nostalgia for what they grew up with. They're both great tho, obviously. How bout Turmoil on Atari 2600??

    Seriously, theres so much good stuff being made today, way more then 20 years ago. Its insane. I dont buy it when ppl say theres nothing good coming out. My roommate isn't interested in big time games anymore, but he's constantly playing indie sidescrollers on his gaming PC. I just finished Forza Horizon, then moved onto Tomba! 2 on Ps1, and now some Mega Man. Or a 2nd play thru of Catherine. Idc, I'll play it all.

    I've been playing games since the NES, and have enjoyed every generation ever since. I just don't discriminate.
    Last edited by Arkanoid_Katamari; 06-10-2014 at 05:29 AM.

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    while many new games might have great graphics, story, control, etc etc etc. The fact remains the game industry has become way too much like Hollywood and way too mainstream and gaming in general has just become too popular. Not to mention I never cared for playing video games online with other people. I highly prefer to play alone or with friends in real life, like arcades back in the 90's and N64 4 player gaming. 1990s gaming will never be touched for how awesome it was. You can have your perfect graphics and online achievements etc etc. Also, I hate war related games, and zombie games, that seems to be what most games are these days. Also how many rehashed car racing games and fighting games are there? Sequels were already getting ridiculous by the mid to late 90s. I dunno, I just don't FEEL new games at all. They are like a beautiful girl, but with no heart or soul. Something shallow about new games and systems and the industry in general. Gaming has become way too commercialized and corporatized and, ya. I never liked anything Microsoft or xbox. Except for my modded xbox with thousands of classic games on it. Its great for that. I never saw the draw about Halo etc. Also, video game packaging used to be way cooler in the 90's. And the economy in general was just a hell of a lot better and people in general were cooler than now. Ya.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gameguy View Post
    You beat me to it. I know some people who aren't even into games at all but generally have some current consoles for their kids, mainly complaining about how they look and feel too realistic to be fun, almost like a regular movie but interactive in an annoying way. They're story driven but instead of just being able to watch it, you have to play through a crap level to keep the story going. Instead one these people told me he searched out for a Super Nintendo just to have something fun to play with, and a few Gameboy games like Metroid II or GBA games. This is from someone who isn't into game collecting.
    This is pretty much me, why I retro game. A lot of it has to do with industry politics, the direction games are going in terms of realism/"maturity"/story-telling (which I disagree with), and I really really really really hate how whiny and entitled many modern gamers are. And don't even get me started about online multiplayer.

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    I will +1 about current generation mass of crap games. I do appreciate where technology has brought up to a point. However, like movies, awesome CG/graphics do not make a terrible movie good. For me, gameplay is where it's at. I would rather have amazing gameplay and lesser quality graphics, than real-looking graphics with a crappy story/plot.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevincal View Post
    while many new games might have great graphics, story, control, etc etc etc. The fact remains the game industry has become way too much like Hollywood and way too mainstream and gaming in general has just become too popular. Not to mention I never cared for playing video games online with other people. I highly prefer to play alone or with friends in real life, like arcades back in the 90's and N64 4 player gaming. 1990s gaming will never be touched for how awesome it was. You can have your perfect graphics and online achievements etc etc. Also, I hate war related games, and zombie games, that seems to be what most games are these days. Also how many rehashed car racing games and fighting games are there? Sequels were already getting ridiculous by the mid to late 90s. I dunno, I just don't FEEL new games at all. They are like a beautiful girl, but with no heart or soul. Something shallow about new games and systems and the industry in general. Gaming has become way too commercialized and corporatized and, ya. I never liked anything Microsoft or xbox. Except for my modded xbox with thousands of classic games on it. Its great for that. I never saw the draw about Halo etc. Also, video game packaging used to be way cooler in the 90's. And the economy in general was just a hell of a lot better and people in general were cooler than now. Ya.

    I agree with most of this. I much prefer to play with friends who are over, rather then online, I had a period where I played a lot of Halo online, but really it's nothin like playing with friends. That's why I have people over all the time to play stuff outta my collection. I will say there was a lot of crap to come out of the 90s for games tho lol. There definately was the Maddens and the mediocre movie based games, plenty of shovelware then, also, but games invited u to play with other people together, not just online. I don't play online anymore, either. I love my retro games the most, I love my NES games, my PS1, N64, Genesis, SNES... but I'd be completely lying if I said I don't fully enjoy modern games, too. The difference being I love the "mainstream" games of the 90s like Sonic 3 and Crash Bandicoot, but today I gravitate towards the lesser-known titles, they tend to be the gems. El Shaddai, Catherine, Sonic Generations, SSX, Street Fighter 4, Katamari, all the great indie games... I think to really say theres nothing good out today is just total ignorance. Just ignore the latest Halo's and CoD Blop's and Maddens and all those generic games, dig a little deeper theres tonsa fantastic titles.

    I do disagree tho that packaging was way better in the 90s, sure, everythings in DVD or Blu-ray boxes now, but games still have great artwork. My primary agruement to the packaging thing is this new thing called special editions. This didn't exist 20 years ago.

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    I do agree that gaming has gotten too corporatized and Hollywood, I do own a PS4, but that's cuz I got a ridiculous deal, and I know I will play it. Little Big Planet 3, people.

    I say thank God for Nintendo. People seem to ignore the Wii U, it's sad, I will be buying one cuz they're really the only company keeping the heart of gaming alive, imo. People don't realize how significant their influence on modern gaming really is. There'd be no cameras on the new systems, or motion control, and Sony is following in Nintendo's footsteps by making the PS Vita compatible with the PS4.

    They do need to create some new franchises that are super hardcore awesome, but I love how they keep platformers alive, a dying genre. Microsoft's big franchise is Halo, Sony's, i dont even kno, maybe uncharted, but Nintendo's is Mario. A classic platformer. I haven't played a lot of Wii or Gamecube, but I'm playing Super Mario Galaxy rite now and catching up on my Wii games, and holy god it's good. A platformer with a big budget. When's the last time a game like this has been made??

    Say wat u want about Nintendo being lost in space somewhere, not knowing wat theyre doing, whatever, they're the only ones keeping creativity as #1. And I will be buying a Wii U, proudly.

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