Hmmmm...can't directly reply, for some reason...

Have to hit "Quote."


This is an interesting topic, because this sort of thing has been around for so long now. How many people in 1989 made fun of my CV while they were playing their NES consoles? Even I won't argue that an NES is technically superior to a CV (just how much so).

Then came to 16-Bit Era, and soon those people who stuck with the NES were the dinosaurs.

And when the 32-Bit/CD Era came around, well, the difference between an NES and a CV became largely academic, like comparing a tennis ball to a golf ball next to a small mountain.


There is something about the classic era that people who make fun of it usually fail to mention: in spite of the lesser technology of the time, the arcade scene had much more variety. There were the car games (second-person), gun games, and fighting games you saw so much of during the 1990s (and the 2000s?), but there was also so much more: Jungle Hunt, Moon Patrol, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Mr. Do!, Battlezone, Star Fire, Pengo, Qix, Defender, etc.-style games. By extension, home console owners would benefit from the variety, as well as having the games one didn't find in an arcade (backgammon, reversi, RPGs, etc.).

Thus, there was a much greater chance of any given person walking into an arcade finding something he'd like. This could only have helped keep the arcades going. Even if the visual and audio technology of, say, a one-on-one fighting game is so much better than that of such a game from 1983, it just won't appeal any more to someone who does not care for such a game.

Games that rely strictly on graphics and sound have VERY limited lifespans.