The 80's freight train is leaving my head.

[Flojomojo]

The 90s style of arcade games is pretty much all that's left at places like Dave and Buster's, where almost all the non-ticket-munchers are driving and shooting games. A return to the 80's is super welcome to me in that context, and I wish they had more throwback games besides Pac-Man and Galaga.

[Keatah]

Well yes. I'll agree to that. Too many "safe" staples. And retro is more than Galaga and Pac-Man.

[AtariLeaf]

I loved the 90s for PC gaming. That to me was the pinnacle of great DOS and early windows games. The height of companies like Lucasarts, Sierra, Id, among so many others. Sometimes when I tire of the console side of things I will gravitate to some of those great classics. I just wish I could find a cheap working 486.

 

You can keep the 90s music though, to me it was the worst musical decade ever. It got so bad I started listening to country for gods sake!

[Flojomojo]

^^^ all true. I love how GOG has filled in just about every PC game I couldn't afford when new. And the fact that they all run on potato netbooks doesn't hurt either.

[Gamemoose]

I think we all hit that wall sometimes. I remember years back in my "old life" my ex wife and I and her family went to Colorado for a vacation. I didn't feel like going up to Pike's Peak but instead wanted to hang out at the arcade in town. I played a bunch of games for that two hour span-all original machines with most working. In the end I didn't feel that rush like I used to when I'd go to an Aladdin's Castle a mere ten years prior. As this was also getting toward my peak of collecting i wondered if my interest was gone. It was rather sobering.

 

As others said, it can be a mood thing. Maybe arcade games aren't scratching that itch properly, as you mention having a bunch of games to play. I feel a bit in the same boat as I'd love to nestle in and sink my teeth into a meaty game, but can't due to time factors and kids wanting my attention. Playing a bit of Nintendoland yesterday or a bit of Animal Crossing was nice but I'm still itchy for something more.

[Keatah]

I loved the 90s for PC gaming. That to me was the pinnacle of great DOS and early windows games. The height of companies like Lucasarts, Sierra, Id, among so many others. Sometimes when I tire of the console side of things I will gravitate to some of those great classics. I just wish I could find a cheap working 486.

 

Ever consider a Pentium II machine? My local thrift shop has (had yesterday) a couple for $10.

 

 

You can keep the 90s music though, to me it was the worst musical decade ever. It got so bad I started listening to country for gods sake!

 

Same here. There's this run of about 50 tracks that are country. And it's all from the same "beginning of the dotcom era" time.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Keatah

[Keatah]

I think we all hit that wall sometimes. I remember years back in my "old life" my ex wife and I and her family went to Colorado for a vacation. I didn't feel like going up to Pike's Peak but instead wanted to hang out at the arcade in town. I played a bunch of games for that two hour span-all original machines with most working. In the end I didn't feel that rush like I used to when I'd go to an Aladdin's Castle a mere ten years prior. As this was also getting toward my peak of collecting i wondered if my interest was gone. It was rather sobering.

 

As others said, it can be a mood thing. Maybe arcade games aren't scratching that itch properly, as you mention having a bunch of games to play. I feel a bit in the same boat as I'd love to nestle in and sink my teeth into a meaty game, but can't due to time factors and kids wanting my attention. Playing a bit of Nintendoland yesterday or a bit of Animal Crossing was nice but I'm still itchy for something more.

 

I was there when B/W arcade consoles were coming online. I was too young to play them even remotely properly. I would get into stride in the first few years of the 80's however. At first there was a huge selection to pick from, and new stuff coming out monthly it seemed. I still played in the arcades till 1992'ish. And the last games I seriously played were Assault, Blasteroids, Road Blasters, and Super Space Invaders '91.

 

After that the arcade scene went flat with all those fighting games. Innovation all but dropped off the map. The last time I stepped foot in any arcade resembling a real 80's joint was sometime in the mid-90's. It was enlightening and a story for another time.

 

---

 

What was fun, though, was watching MAME pick up all the classics. It was fun anticipating new releases. Now I dread them because of bloat and slowdowns.

[Tanooki]

I think we all hit that wall sometimes. I remember years back in my "old life" my ex wife and I and her family went to Colorado for a vacation. I didn't feel like going up to Pike's Peak but instead wanted to hang out at the arcade in town. I played a bunch of games for that two hour span-all original machines with most working. In the end I didn't feel that rush like I used to when I'd go to an Aladdin's Castle a mere ten years prior. As this was also getting toward my peak of collecting i wondered if my interest was gone. It was rather sobering.

 

I've been trying to figure it out myself for probably five years now. Something about how things have horribly decayed into a money game, things drying up, or being prolifically expensive and offensive. It turned me well against something I've enjoyed since the 80s, and nearly 20 years of doing it second hand no less. I've gotten beyond that, but some level of horrible demotivation has set in and I can't figure it out. Something has to trigger it to stop and I can't get my mind wrapped around it yet. I know my tolerances for BS aren't what they were as the time is more limited so I really want to enjoy myself, but the problem is getting started more than the continuing. When Switch arrived I put 50+ hours into Zelda and could hardly put it down and would lose track of time, but little since has done this. I still can get to where I was, but I need something to push it, and jumping system to system, game to game isn't doing it. I've tried re-visiting systems I'd find at a goodwill like the DC and the Wii, and they'd entertain me for weeks or a couple months, then it would spread out, to then just dust collecting so I dumped the stuff again. I've wanted a Turbo system back for like 15 years, got a Core Grafx2 and enjoyed it for like 6mo and haven't used that since either, now I sit wondering why as i like the games and want more, but never turn the stupid thing on. Maybe an everdrive would help, maybe that's a waste too? I don't think my interest is shot, but my blind motivation to just turn on something and go is either hibernating or dead and fixing it I have no idea how to do anymore.

 

Maybe I have too much, but having around 400 games over a period of 23 years doesn't seem extreme to me. It's not like in all of that I need to play most of it, but the newer unfinished stuff I have no good explanation why it's not.

[AtariLeaf]

 

Ever consider a Pentium II machine? My local thrift shop has (had yesterday) a couple for $10.

 

 

 

Same here. There's this run of about 50 tracks that are country. And it's all from the same "beginning of the dotcom era" time.

 

I actually have a Pentium II that I found in a dumpster at work a few years back. Seems to work great. Still some older stuff doesn't want to run properly. Spectrum Holobyte's Stunt Driver for example is very picky about the CPU and prefers a 386 or 486. I can play it in dosbox ok but it's not quite the same, I can't seem to get it "just right" for some reason.

Edited November 6, 2018 by AtariLeaf

[Flojomojo]

I've been trying to figure it out myself for probably five years now. Something about how things have horribly decayed into a money game, things drying up, or being prolifically expensive and offensive. It turned me well against something I've enjoyed since the 80s, and nearly 20 years of doing it second hand no less. I've gotten beyond that, but some level of horrible demotivation has set in and I can't figure it out. Something has to trigger it to stop and I can't get my mind wrapped around it yet. I know my tolerances for BS aren't what they were as the time is more limited so I really want to enjoy myself, but the problem is getting started more than the continuing. When Switch arrived I put 50+ hours into Zelda and could hardly put it down and would lose track of time, but little since has done this. I still can get to where I was, but I need something to push it, and jumping system to system, game to game isn't doing it. I've tried re-visiting systems I'd find at a goodwill like the DC and the Wii, and they'd entertain me for weeks or a couple months, then it would spread out, to then just dust collecting so I dumped the stuff again. I've wanted a Turbo system back for like 15 years, got a Core Grafx2 and enjoyed it for like 6mo and haven't used that since either, now I sit wondering why as i like the games and want more, but never turn the stupid thing on. Maybe an everdrive would help, maybe that's a waste too? I don't think my interest is shot, but my blind motivation to just turn on something and go is either hibernating or dead and fixing it I have no idea how to do anymore.

 

Maybe I have too much, but having around 400 games over a period of 23 years doesn't seem extreme to me. It's not like in all of that I need to play most of it, but the newer unfinished stuff I have no good explanation why it's not.

The answer is clear from here

 

Put down the video games and read a damn book

[adamchevy]

 

The first time I heard 311 played on the classic rock station I just about crapped myself.

I was also in the crapping attitude when I heard this. Possibly my favorite band of the 90s.

[derFunkenstein]

I was also in the crapping attitude when I heard this. Possibly my favorite band of the 90s.

 

 

Agreed. Saw them with Gym Class Heroes and The Offspring at the Illinois State Fair in August and they were amazing. All three bands were great for different reasons.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

That train will come back around at some point, you probably just got burned out on 80's stuff for the time being; it happens to me all the time. I'll get really enthused about a certain console or computer or some other retro thing for a while, then something else will capture my interest and I'll kinda stop caring about the thing I was fixated on before. When that happened I used to sell whatever I had lost interest in because it didn't seem all that important anymore, but I've learned my lesson about that and hold onto them now because that passion and enthusiasm always comes back a few months or a year down the line.

 

So I wouldn't worry about it too much, I think a lot of people system hop and your interest in 80's stuff will very likely return once you've taken a break from it for a while.

[adamchevy]

The answer is clear from here

 

Put down the video games and read a damn book

 

That’s what I’m doing these days mostly.

[adamchevy]

 

 

Agreed. Saw them with Gym Class Heroes and The Offspring at the Illinois State Fair in August and they were amazing. All three bands were great for different reasons.

I saw them twice in Vegas back in the 90s. My favorite band to hear live besides NOFX and Face to Face.

[Austin]

 

I actually have a Pentium II that I found in a dumpster at work a few years back. Seems to work great. Still some older stuff doesn't want to run properly. Spectrum Holobyte's Stunt Driver for example is very picky about the CPU and prefers a 386 or 486. I can play it in dosbox ok but it's not quite the same, I can't seem to get it "just right" for some reason.

 

Just some ideas to potentially help you with this. First off, there are slowdown apps you can use for games that run too fast. Second, check your BIOS and see if there is an option to disable the L1 and L2 cache. You may have it, you may not, but it's absolutely worth checking. Disabling them will force the machine to run much slower and the platform becomes much more compatible with 386 era DOS games as a result.

[Keatah]

DOSBox is sometimes tricky in setting the Cycles and Core Type. Some games I've had to change them, and they're dependent on your host CPU's speed.

 

Too bad the official release is still stuck at 0.74 for like a decade.

[Tanooki]

The answer is clear from here

 

Put down the video games and read a damn book

I do, most nights, if I don't pass out first. I've got a kindle paperwhite I'll put an hour on or more before lights out. Doesn't solve the game problem, but it's a nice alternative. Currently reading/re-reading(earlier books) the Matt Drake and spinoffs book series which has over 20 entries.

[Keatah]

That train will come back around at some point, you probably just got burned out on 80's stuff for the time being; it happens to me all the time. I'll get really enthused about a certain console or computer or some other retro thing for a while, then something else will capture my interest and I'll kinda stop caring about the thing I was fixated on before. When that happened I used to sell whatever I had lost interest in because it didn't seem all that important anymore, but I've learned my lesson about that and hold onto them now because that passion and enthusiasm always comes back a few months or a year down the line.

 

So I wouldn't worry about it too much, I think a lot of people system hop and your interest in 80's stuff will very likely return once you've taken a break from it for a while.

 

Probably right. It does happen to me with my Apple II and vintage PC stuff. I go back and forth between real hardware and emulation. But I spend the bulk of my time with emulation. I've also decided not to trash anything other than the few remaining bits of Apple III stuff I dug up. It's a machine that only has catalog nostalgia for me - meaning I only read about it and lived having one vicariously through print. For the record I'm not dumping anything else.

[Cynicaster]

For the most part I just enjoy my retro games in my spare time and it feels so normal, but there are those occasional moments where it occurs to me just how old some of the stuff is. And then I consider the fact that time marches on, the games only get older, as do I. Where does it all lead? Who knows, but the games are still fun so I play them.

[NE146]

[blainelocklair]

One of the many reasons I appreciate retro games so much is that they don't involve the "walk around in first-person and shoot stuff" Quake III-style gameplay. It's not that I'm opposed to it; it gives me motion sickness. It's the same feeling that you'd get from boating or flying if they give you motion sickness (I'm good with these). After about five minutes of watching or playing one of them, I get dizziness and nausea and have to lie down for about 45 minutes for it to go away. That's a pretty compelling reason not to play them. Problem is, many of the games for PS4 and Xbox are made using that gaming engine or something similar. If it wasn't for the retro games that come to those consoles and the great sports titles, I'd be unable to play them at all. No worries with the retro consoles, few titles not withstanding.

 

Some interesting things about this motion sickness stuff. It's printed in some of the game manuals (when games came with them) warning people about it, right next to the epilepsy warnings. I've experienced it on a few third-person titles where the shift buttons on the controllers cause rapid spinning of the environment. Never have problems with racing games or flying games, no matter how manic the speed or environment. Doesn't seem to matter how texturized the environment is. If it has polygons and spins like crazy, off to lie down I go.

 

So, there's a plus one for retro gaming. That, and they're rad, and always will be. Of course, I'll never be as rad as that one kid in his bedroom in the photo.

[AtariLeaf]

Just some ideas to potentially help you with this. First off, there are slowdown apps you can use for games that run too fast. Second, check your BIOS and see if there is an option to disable the L1 and L2 cache. You may have it, you may not, but it's absolutely worth checking. Disabling them will force the machine to run much slower and the platform becomes much more compatible with 386 era DOS games as a result.

Ok I'll give it a shot this weekend thanks for the tip

[Asaki]

One of the many reasons I appreciate retro games so much is that they don't involve the "walk around in first-person and shoot stuff" Quake III-style gameplay. It's not that I'm opposed to it; it gives me motion sickness.

I only get that with the older FPS games, and only sometimes. Once I get used the playing them again, I don't really get motion sickness anymore.

[Torr]

I only get that with the older FPS games, and only sometimes. Once I get used the playing them again, I don't really get motion sickness anymore.

 

Only one game has done that to me... Dark Forces for DOS.

And I don't get it. I'd played tonnes of FPS games, from Wolf3D and Doom to Duke3D and Quake in their prime, the latter 2 played in both 320x200 and 640x480. And not a hitch.

Then when I got Dark Forces (around 2000, it was in a LucasArts Star Wars Bundle), I could never play it for more than 30 mins. I'd get this weird pressure in my forehead like I was gonna black out (like when you stand up too fast!) plus this slight nausea and headache... so annoying.

So I had to quit trying to play it, even though I continued to play other FPS games, Quake 2, 3, Delta Force series... no problems.

To this day, it's the only game to do that to me.

I've recently tried playing it again in DOSBox, and It doesn't affect me at all now.

Weird huh?

At least I get to play it through now!

Edited November 7, 2018 by Torr