The Weekend Debate: Retro gaming – where do you stand?

I love playing retro games, be it the excellent Gunstar Heroes, or Retro City Rampage.

I love the 8-bit music of megaman, pixel art of secret of mana, the sharp controls from ghouls and ghosts and, of course, the memories that come with playing some games.
For example, I remember the first time I saw a cutscene, I didn’t know what it was, so I would say that my game “had cartoons” when you finished some levels. It’s a funny coincidence that the game was Shadow Warriors for the NES

It’s just a great feeling to go back to a time where games were pretty simple, there was almost no story, no save games and all I had to do was try to get to the words “The End”, if that appeared on the screen, I was awesome. That’s all I needed then.

I really enjoy complex games like Uncharted, but I also enjoy the simplicity that comes from being inspired by retro games, like the way Ninja Gaiden and Dark Souls have this classic difficulty that imposes memorization of patterns and discovery of effective tactics.

@ SCEE & everyone (part 2/3):

Which brings me to an interesting case – the Wii title, Donkey Kong Country Returns, was developed by Nintendo’s second party, Retro Studios. Contrary to some people’s belief, the title didn’t receive much (if any) input from the original DKC series’ makers, Rareware, as that company was purchased by Microsoft. All the material Retro had at their disposal for their throwback title were the DKC titles available on the Virtual Console! (Although now they’ve been withdrawn without much explanation.)

And that is another reason behind my happiness for the Spyro trilogy finally becoming available once again (the main one being said trilogy becoming finally portable, natch). I hope someone will enjoy the more notable PSOne Classics enough to be inspired by them and provide some good old-school action (preferably a platformer, but that’s gotta be just me) eventually.

@ SCEE & everyone (part 3/3):

Also, Classics (either on Virtual Console or here) are another way to make newer generations enjoy them when lacking physical copies of said games (eBay also ends up being kinda nasty on people’s wallets). I shudder at the thought of younger gamers thinking of videogames as nothing more than FPSs (not saying that’s not a valid genre itself, mind you), or generally grim, gritty, “Rated ‘M’ for Money” franchises. There’s so much more! Five (or ten) euros and you get a masterpiece. It’s a bargain! And not just for your wallet – you’ve already won as soon as you get to play a good game, may it be Spyro The Dragon, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy IX or Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. A bargain for your eyes, your soul, your enjoyment… pretty much everybody wins!

Spread the word on older games. Kickass graphics count nothing when the games themselves aren’t the ones doing the asskicking.

Also, I plan to repost this wall of text when the next Store update hits, I think it came out pretty good.

Honestly? No. I would play games from the start of this gen, and try not to judge them too harshly (ie I did Uncharted 1>3 about 4 years after 1 came out, and replayed Uncharted 1 a year after 3 came out, bluntly put it was noticable how bad the graphics and controls were) bbut Id never pay full price for them.
As for older than that? unless its super hyped (SOTCICO/ MGS) I wouldnt pick up a generation back even if it was HD’d esp without reading into it. I find its better to have the memory of a game, two of my favourites were Spyro 2 and A Bugs Life, replayed both recently with Hercules (also decent), and really it spoiled them for me, I saw just how short they were, the graphics were awful and whilst the controls were on the whole better than they are today the memory of them were far better, and thats what I want, to remmeber a game for being mind blowing when I was a child, than less than mediocre today. So yes I will look into HD remakes/reboots/graphical updates (esp if they are on PS+ for free) but no

Of course I play retro games, Crash Bandicoot and Star Wars: Battlefront (if you count that as a retro game) are particular favourites of mine if I fancy a nostalgic road trip. I love how simple both games are, yet they can be incredibly difficult to complete. When I look back I think to myself ‘they were difficult because I was young’ but when I play them now their harder then I remember, but still immensely enjoyable.

So I suppose thats the reason I play retro games, because they have stood the test of time; not visually, but in the level of enjoyment they give

^ cntinufied
I wouldnt pick up something 7 or so years old for an older console.
Now when the PS4 comes out? I would likely go back and replay PS3 games, unless PS4 games are super cerebral and involve brain-jacking directly into the console and seeing things as super HD-6D and make PS3 games look laughable, but itll be a few years into that before the pS3 stops making games and therefore becomes “retro” as the PS2 is considered now.
Best to leave memories as they are, and play modern games, ones people always go on about as classics rarely live up to the hype due to unavoidable comparisons (though I mean Crash Team Racing will always be the peak of Cart racers, why this hasnt had a HD remake, full 16 player online suport and a reboot is beyond me, damn you Naughty Dog for selling the licence and letting my childhood die )
Actually thats another point, where its remade or rebooted by a different studio, if the first Crash game I played was uh the one with Crunch, or the PS3 port with no analogue support?

3/3 :X
I wouldnt be nearly as interested in them, 1-3 were super fluid and amazingly fun at the time, due to the graphics looking great (what 1999 or so? polygons yo :X), full analogue support, and the games seeming to last forever, plus they were difficult enough and contained mildly “adult” humour for the time (much more blunt on the whole now across the board =\) yet the port was lazy and buying the PS1 disk would have been a better experience.
Anyway I wouldnt pay full price for a HD remake or retro game, the memory is better than the exper majoity of th time, and kills childhoods =\.

I play many retro games but i feel they just are not competition for the new generation we should stop playing in the past and look forward to the future. For example MARIO the most famous game title is being destroyed because Nintendo keep making quick sequels. also you’ve bought expensive tech capable of amazing graphics and gameplay and so I don’t play retro games on my ps3 only ps vita and android phone

Very interesting debate this week.

I play retro and retro-inspired games, mostly titles that resemble 8 and 16 bit j-rpgs but also some 2D platforms and shoot-em-up games.

It may be due to my childhood because I practically grew up with them but I still feel nostalgic and play again old games or buy retro-inspired ones.

Also this was the reason I got a PSone back in the day because some sequels of my favorite games (like Final Fantasy, R-Type and Mortal Kombat) were released there.

I like the 2D sprites and open worlds the retro j-rpgs had (like Phantasy Star, Link’s Awakening, Final Fantasy 6) and still get whatever games find that are like them (like 3D Dot Game Heroes and To The Moon). The good think for us retro gamers is that there are plenty of retro games and new 2D platforms and shoot-em-ups in PSN that are easily available.

Im in the middle with regards to retro gaming. As there are old retro titles I play from time to time and love wasting a couple of hours on them just for the feel I used to get about gaming as a kid, But the problem I face many times is how some of them have aged badly by regards to controls or they just look and sound really bad.

I am a retro gamer at heart, just love to break out the old C64 every now and then for a bash at saboteur. Sure it doesn’t look pretty but you cant beat that game-play factor.

Actually I do play some retro titles, but not just nostalgic ones. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of games I missed out on as a child.

A couple of years ago I played and beat The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time for the first time, and I have to say that game has aged well. Still hate the owl, though…

I also just played Super Mario Bros for the first time recently, and I’m proud to say i was able to beat it eventually. It wasn’t easy, but I did it.

Also, I do of course go back to some games from my childhood. Recently I played through the first 4 Crash Bandicoot games and the first 3 Spyro games again… Ahh the memories…

However, a game like Retro City Rampage (or any new game trying to emulate a retro-style), aren’t something for me. I still play the old games because they were the best of their time, but a game, trying to immitate the old days, will never be among the best of it’s time, and probably not even worth my time compared to other games that are trying to set the standards for their time, like The Last Of Us or Beyond: Two Souls.

I play retro games, because they were revolutionary, but retro-inspired games aren’t really revolutionary, thus, I don’t play them.

I enjoy playing retro games. Why wouldnt you? Not only does it bring back the nostalgic memories but it makes you appreciate how far we’ve come in a small space of time. With the talk about the ps4 revving up im excited to see what the future holds but I think we’ll all agree that we will be taking the regular trip back to the nostalgic retro days. After all the greatest games are the games we’ve grown up on.

As fun as ZX81 or Atari games seemed as a kid, it only takes 30 seconds of play to realise that they should remain nothing more than sweet memories…..and a reminder of how much more amazing, interesting and playable games of today are.

For me, it’s all about the quality of a game. I dont’t care how many “homages” it pays. Right know “retro-styled” games became a niche that’s overloaded with mediocre titles made by greedy people jumping the bandwagon. I understand, we like to long for some mythical “good old days”, but why should I do this when the future is so bright?

It’s funny how referencing a game made decades ago is a “homage” and being inspired by a recent title is a “rip-off”. A good game should stand by itself, regardless of when it was made.

I was born at a time when “modern graphics” were textured polygons clumped together to represent an image. As I ventured further into the industry, I of course took a step back to play the classics. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Pong, that sort of stuff. And whilst they are still great games, the gameplay can be choppy and slow.

When I first got my hands on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, I felt like retro-inspired games suited me much better than actual eighties games. The characters and environments were designed intentionally retro, but still managed to create an admirable atmosphere. Also, being a retro-INSPIRED game it didn’t suffer from slow pacing and game elements. The game also fits in a lot of comedy and references some retro titles.

To be honest I think retro games are in the spotlight only due to hipsters, who enjoy them in an irony to nostalgia geeks, who enjoy them in a reminiscent sense. Retro can be considered artistic, but I wouldn’t sacrifice performance for 8-16 bit graphics.

(If your planning on offhandedly picking this, it should be noted I don’t have a Vita, nor do I intend to get one anytime soon)

I love going back to spyro 2 and sonic 2,brings back memorys

I believe retro games date back to the ’80s/early ’90s, not those published 10 or 15 years ago. “Retro” games were different, much simpler in their gameplay mechanics, funny, and sometimes even annoyingly difficult. Great games like the original Super Mario Bros (why not? Sony wasn’t part of the gaming industry until 1994) and other less famous ones (mainly platforms and arcade shoot-em-ups).

I don’t really play retro (or modern retro-inspired) games nowadays (I wish I had played more such videogames in my early childhood, but sadly it wasn’t to be), but if I happen to get my hands on something I enjoyed in the past, I am more than happy to give it a go.

Maybe it is about reliving my memories, remembering happy times in my childhood where I played Street Fighter II or whatever with my friends, like “you can’t go wrong with Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Sonic, etc.”. That’s exactly why I bought Crash Bandicoot 3 (I know it’s not much of a “retro” game, but you get the idea) on PSN, and I would gladly buy some other games too, if possible (like Super Mario World: Yoshi’s Island on the SNES, and Space Invaders).

I play classic/retro games to get all nostalgic about a time in my life where it wasn’t so work-work-work focused, there were no deadlines, and fun could be had without needing to monitor the time until I need to get back to being busy.

How I miss that time in my life.

I’ve got a great debate for next week

Why do Sony continually treat its EU users like crap?

The latest example being the R&C Deadlocked fiasco. But then again you won’t do that as you don’t like the truth and constantly ignore it.

Do I play retro games? YES! Why? For a couple of reasons:

1. Nostalgia – I think most people’s best memories are childhood memories and just as we can “go back” when listening to music or watch movies from our childhood, retro gaming also triggers great memories.

2. Imagination as a requirement – these days’ games are graphically so advanced that they’re much more realistic than in the past. Therefore, we see exactly how the characters look, we hear the actors’ voices etc. The old games didn’t have this “luxury”. In the early Final Fantasy games, I was a 20×30 pixel character and the background wasn’t much better. They required imagination, I’ve had to think how the real character would look and sound like.

3. Good intentions/unrestrained creativity – in the past, games were made because someone had a great idea and was passionate about it. Now, I’m not saying that’s not the case today, but now in addition to good ideas and passion, there’s marketing, game ratings, corporate producers and now there’s much more to a game than just an artist’s intention. Also, everyone could easily make a game. You didn’t need a team of 100+ people so some games were just ideas that came to life as they were meant to be.

I’m very much a retro gamer, and thanks to the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection I replay the original Streets of Rage on my PS3 on a monthly basis. Really marvelous game I never seem to get tired of. The gameplay is simple but fun, and the soundtrack is so brilliant. Quite possibly the best couch co-op game ever IMO. And if it was available as a separate purchase on PSN, I would buy it right away so I wouldn’t need to put in the Ultimate Collection disc every time I want to play it!

Another old favorite game of mine is Mega Man 2, I think it’s unfortunate it never been released on EU PSN, while it’s available on japanese PSN and US PSN (as a japanese PS1 import game). I would also love to see more PS1 US import games on EU PSN, like Chrono Cross, Xenogears and Threads of Fate.

Anyway, I recently bought Midway Arcade Origins for the PS3 too, replaying classics like Marble Madness, Rampage and Wizard of Wor been lots of fun!

And I’m currently looking forward to the Capcom Arcade Cabinet, which is supposingly released for PSN/XBLA in april. Although I do think it’s unfortunate that Strider doesn’t seem to be in this collection, now that’s a game I would love to see on PSN.

One of the very first games I ever played was Super Mario Brothers. Even though it was very enjoyable at the time I find that because it is a title that has never really gone away I don’t feel a special bond with it.
However three PS1 games have always had me coming back; Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and Rayman still bring enjoyment, even though they are outdated in the graphical aspects. Whether this enjoyment is from my memory of all the times that they let me escape into a different world or whether it is because they are still strong competitors of the most recent games I cannot say.
Part of the reason I come back to these games is the fact that even though Rayman has had a recent edition and that there are more editions of Spyro and Crash, they are games that just aren’t made anymore and at least not to the same standard.
While I do enjoy many of the more recent games, as long as the mechanics and ideas of a game don’t age badly then they can stand up with the never ending stream of new games.

I would say that I go back because of memories and because even now they are enjoyable.

Retro gaming is one of those things I wish I enjoyed but don’t. I know it has a major following and those people are super cool, but I just can’t bring myself to playing something old, not when there is now so much great new stuff being released all the time.
Life to short for nostalgia.

i personally am not a fan of retro gaming. retro gaming is usually repetitive and repetitiveness results in me losing interest. i can usually play despite that but if im already playing a repetitive game and am forced to restart a level because i died it results in broken things.
for example:
i kicked a hole in my wall
i headbutted my gameboy advanced screen(and shattered it)
i have obliterated at least 3 different ps3 trophies
and punched a hole through my door. its still there.

ps3 controllers* dont know why i said trophies lol

Depends on what you call retro.. NES was our first console and together with my brother we’ve pretty much owned every worthwhile console since that one. I always loved games, but it’s not a bad evolution in my book. I love how they’ve gotten more cinematic and detailed since they went 3D, and I didn’t really consider myself a gamer before I got a ps1, eventhough I played a lot. My real passion for gaming only came after the ps1, with MGS1 being a big part of it, and that’s when I considered myself a gamer and started putting even more time into this wonderfull activity.
Games used to be harder and shorter, and thus more repetitive. None of which are great when pacing is concerned. I’m more of a gamer who primarily plays a game to see the story and experience the atmosphere, games that are too hard (and repetitive in terms of game over screens) are just too pacebreaking for me.
../..

So that games have gotten easier isn’t exactly a bad thing for me, eventhough they clearly have, I see that more as a way of making them more accessible to a larger audience. I don’t think people appreciate buying games and not being able to finish them due to one or two hard parts in the game. Thank God we have the internet now to get the answers to hard puzzles instead of breaking our heads over it for weeks, which might make you feel really enthusiastic when you finally get it, but is just too pacebreaking for my tastes. But what astounds me most is how quickly games have gotten so graphically beautiful and technically superior. That’s one of the perks of growing up with previous generations. To me it has only gotten better though, each PS console better than the last.
Not that it’s all glory and sunshine. Consoles have gotten more complicated and DLC often feels like a wasted purchase, although it really can enhance a gaming experience if done and priced right..
I could go on so.. I’m just really excited for the PS4 and future exclusives.

As much as I loved my first ever console and games collection on the Mega Drive, I’m a bit ashamed of myself for leaving some of my favourite games in the past, with the exception of Sonic which always seems to find me when I upgrade consoles.

Ps1 produced some of the best games ever, and I’m a little more proud to say I still crack out my Metal Gear Solid, and Resident Evil games out every few months!

The thing I love about retro games compared with 90% of modern titles is the challenge they present. Sometimes awkward controls/camera angels, and the complete void of checkpoints and the seemingly never-ending spawns of bad guys really makes you use more mind more.

Unfortunately, trophies have somewhat corrupted me, and I don’t pay enough respect to some of the great past games any more. However, I recently completed all the trophies for Outland, which I very much enjoyed as a retro-esque platform game, very tough boss battles, almost hair pulling lack of checkpoints at times. I really enjoyed the challenge though, and would like more developers to not forget their past while still looking forward!

i love retro gaming. i keep playing games like bubble buble or shadow dancer. why? most likely because its simplicity, its realy a good time to spend.

Don’t even know how to answer this question. I got sonic generations as an xmas gift a while back and when i put it on and played the first level (green hill zone) just hearing the song immediately put a massive smile on my face and made me insanely happy, am not even completely sure why. The last time i played the first sonic was before i got my playstation 1 (very long time ago lol) and yet i still new the whole song. I must have played that first level alot. i guess i just like playing retro nostalgic games to simply remember how much fun i used to have with them. Its weird coz i only get this feeling with games.. i don’t get any nostalgia from watching a movie from a long time ago.

Also re-released retro games give you the option to play the ones you missed out on like i did with golden axe.

I still play alot of retrogames.
Theres just a certain charm that makes the well executed ones never get old,especially 2d games stand the test of time much better than 3d games.

Thats why i’m happy we are getting alot of refined retro inspired games these days.
It seems more developers are focusing on gameplay over graphics again,so it will become even better from here.

This truly is the golden age of gaming.

I’m a big sucker for the pixel art used in 16-bit games. It’s absolutely timeless and still looks good, even today. I can’t help but smile when I notice little things such as how sprites animate during victory dances in classic RPGs. Then there’s the music. When I hear Sonic music it takes me right back to my childhood and Saturday mornings spent paying on my Megadrive.

I’m really glad that we have access to retro games on new consoles as it gives us the opportunity to play games we missed the first time round and otherwise wouldn’t be able to play. It would be a terrible shame if people were cut off from gaming’s important and gem filled history. Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger are two of my favourite games and neither were originally released in Europe. It’s amazing when I think of the gaming experiences developers were able to produce on such limited hardware.

I don’t care for retro gaming, I lived it. Yes I’m that old.
Every generation, every improvement, kept my interest going. The splendor of 8 bit, 16, 32 etc.
Yes I have loving memories of those old times because I was in a particular time with THAT generation of gaming. But going back to those old love affairs is going back to that tv show that you loved as a kid. You see the settings are fake and the acting is terrible just like the writing.
With games it’s the same to me. I would never go to that old love again because I find out the graphics of Wing Commander aren’t the best in the world, the game play of Pac Man is more frustrating than fun and the animation of the first Prince of Persia wasn’t that great after all.
Give me the newest console, the newest games, the best stories, music, acting and game play the industry has to offer and I’m as happy as can be and I never need to go back to the good old days except for their memories.

I don’t play retro titles, for two simple reasons.

1. There’s enough quality current titles that I own and haven’t played that I don’t have the time.

2. I don’t have the space to keep all my old consoles hooked up.

It’s not like other forms media such as movies where I can have all my movies on DVD and they all play on one single small machine. Playing games is so complicated just from a practical standpoint compared to any other kind of media that it’s rather limiting.

I do hope that the people making games realise this one day. If you own a DVD player then you can potentially be exposed to just about any movie ever made, but if just own a current gen console there are so many fantastic games from just 10 years ago that you can’t play. Having such a fractured history can’t be good.

Anyway I’m rambling.

Yes I play Retro style games, I find myself drawn to them as they remind me of a time when games were not all about graphical prowess and online multiplayer but more when it was about setting highscores and fighting your way through to the end of the game. Big Sky Infinity has me absolutely hooked as I just keep starting over and over in an effort to improve my high score and try and set foot in the top of the leaderboards, similar to how I used to try and top the score in arcade games such as Space Invaders. Retro games are an important part of modern gaming as they show where video-games began and prove that even more simplistic game mechanics and graphic styles can lead to absolute masterpieces.

I have a large collection of retro consoles and games.
Many because i don’t get rid of them. This allows me to play my retro games on the original consoles which really completes the experience.

Downloading a megadrive game from the store and playing it on the PS3 is convenient, but it doesn’t compare to playing the game on the original console with the original controller.

And for this reason my favorite retro game is Sensible soccer international edition ( the one with Ruud Guillet on the front)on the Atari Jaguar.Most people remember Sensible being played on an Amiga or an Atari ST. I was a console guy and never had a Amiga or ST.
My Jaguar was bargain of the century. £5 boxed brand new from electronic boutique and £1 for sensible soccer.

Even now the lads will fight over who is best at Sensy and an impromptu competition will take place.
Bad Words Utd Vs Pizza Toppings classic gaming at its best.

Retro gaming is great! The first ever game I played was Frogger, at age 3. Then 13 years later, BAM! A new, but retro Frogger game is released for the PS3. On Wii, the release of the original Super Mario Bros game created a new way to play this old classic. So, in conclusion, what keeps me coming back to retro games is not the fact that I’ve played them before, but that it is a new way to play. Whether it’s a HD collection, a new control system (eg PS1 games on vita and NES games on wii) or, like Frogger, the game has been tweaked in such a way it still has the old vibe I got from playing the original video games as well as having changed in such a way, it still becomes a new experience.

hmm, as an afterthought, would like Hitman or ICO/SOTC or even Ratchet and Clank Trilogy not make much more sense as a “prize”, I mean I get this Vita game is new and you want some promotion on it, but its a fairly unrelevent one in comparrison :X

I thought I’d play ‘Skool Daze’ as a blast from the past a while back.

Comparitively speaking, it was like swapping out a nice ready meal from Marks and Sparks for a Vesta Beef Curry….

Genuinely, I can retro game on actual machines back to the old Atari 400 – the one with the single-panel keyboard. For me, gaming runs a parallel with music: new artists and albums are so important to challenge and stimulate us, but I will always go back and listen to classic albums again and again. With games a healthy supply of new cutting edge titles is equally important, but being able to go back and explore older classics is also hugely rewarding.
If I had to chose my fave retro system? Megadrive. So many incredible titles.

The reason we come back isn’t just the nostalgia, although that helps. My favourite Retro games have an economy to their design dictated by the limitation of the time that give them a special pick up and play lost by many modern games. It’s really refreshing to play a game that doesn’t require a manual or several spare hours to interpret the controls.

Some of this charm seems to have been rediscovered, with new 2D Mega Man’s, Mario’s and much of the content of mobile gaming. But for me the most exciting thing is the opportunities with new hardware; in the 90s I’d never dream I would have a device like the Vita, that can hold my entire catalogue of PS1 game, nine Final Fantasies and much more besides, that I can take anywhere!

@Vandall – I disagree about running parallels with music. Music can stand the test of time, but games show their age due to the limiting factors that earlier technologies imposed on the developers.

Countless songs or recordings may appear timeless in composition, production and audio fidelity – but if you play a game from the Eighties or Nineties then it’s blatantly apparent.

Well, with my nice little SEGA MegaDrive sitting directly next to my PS3, I have to say that I do enjoy going back to the retro titles.

Why? Sometimes it’s just…nice to go back to a simpler time. When level design was both a little more simplistic and more important than the graphical integrity of a title. The colorfulness and wackiness of some of the ideas behind the titles. And I guess, the ability to regress to a simpler time, at least for me, when bills, university work or even just work in general were of no concern. Growing up on retro consoles myself (Atari consoles throughout the Mid 90s, thanks Dad!), I have great memories of playing games with my family, when my father and grandma would play with me.

It’s nice to go back…

A few of us had a similar discussion on the Vita forum a few months back and try to echo my sentiments from that.

Yes I have fond memories of old (retro) tiles. My favourite memory being of Target Renegade two player

I recently played a few PS1 ‘classics’. One of them being Destruction Derby. Now my brother and I spent days on that game and had SOOOO much fun but when I booted it up on my PS3 and Vita I found that the passion just wasn’t there anymore. It was good for a 5 minute skip down memory lane but it really was an example of how far(in my opinion) modern games have come.

I would have maybe prefered to keep some of these games as great memories as apposed to playing them now and realising that in modern times they just don’t hold up (in general anyway).

I still stick a few old/retro titles on for say 10 minutes but that is all I can play because like I said before, the PASSION for them has just been lost somewhere down the line.

I prefer the fond memories if I’m totally honest with myself

@Vandall

Many of the great orchestral pieces, concertos etc are well over a hundred years old and sound just as good as they did then as they do now.

Music stands the test of time (in general) a lot better than videogames ever will be able to IMHO.

I suppose it’s a subjective and personal thing at the end of the day

for me retro gaming is a good thing as it takes me back to the good old days with fond memories when games took ages to complete and you got your monies worth from them

Retro Gaming is a good ‘genre’, But it certainly isn’t to my liking, i say it’s good only because the people who want to play the older ‘type’ games Can, however i can’t help but compare various reasons Why people want that kind of gaming experience with the people who, for instance favour a 60s or 70s look in their decor, the reasons seem to be very similar. ie it reminds me of ‘earlier’ days,. when We used to get value for money,. it’s something i / us, couldn’t have back then,. and most of the other ‘reasons’ people have been mentioning in the posts. Though it must i suppose all boil down to personal tastes, i am not really even sure If retro gaming Can just be lumped as retro gaming either. i mean what must a game posses to fall into that catagory,?. All i know is the majority of the games some people want, play, and call ‘retro’, bore the socks off me, i Do get that ‘retro’ is where it All began, and continues ‘somewhere’ in todays games, But (lol) i can remember seeing the first mobile phones, they were in a breifcase sized form, But i really wouldn’t fancy the thought of using one of those today, compared to my other options. btw (cough) Rockin prize Fred, my fingers are crossed for this one.

breeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bup…… breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bup. continue making this noise for about twenty minutes before playing any game. then switch off your console after the title screen loads and pretend it crashed. ahh I remember the days of speccy gaming. knight lore, jet set Willy, manic miner. These were proper games. none of this namby pamby endless continues rubbish. bloody kids today don’t know they’re born! I remember when I were a lad (anybody else hear the hovis tune?)… still love the Sonics, Mario’s and fond memories of the old level nine adventures (anybody else?). still enjoying the hd remakes on the ps3 too, but let’s face it. some games are best left as fond memories. I played elite to death over a year on an old BBC b. played it again recently…… childhood ruined. I was just watching lines and dots on a screen. I distinctly remember pulling up alongside great hulking star cruisers and asteroids… not triangles and rhomboids! (sniff)

The best games i’ve played recently are retro releases.I bought final fantasy VII awhile ago and fell in love with it. After playing it, i bought all of them no questions asked and it’s been the best purchase ever. Playing through the first one which is amazing for a 25 year old release with with just the improved graphics. I love both new and retro games, they don’t need fancy graphics to be fun and just have awesome replayability like Tetris (can’t beat good old Tetris!).