Are Neo-Retro Game Releases a Fad?

[Fort Apocalypse]

Slashdot article asking if neo-retro game releases are a fad, but branches out to ask what people think of classic gaming:

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/08/0259222

 

Speak up and be heard on Slashdot while you have a chance...

Edited November 9, 2008 by Fort Apocalypse

[+Random Terrain]

Looks like there's already 5 billion replies. Who would read it? It might be better to just talk about it here.

[Rybags]

It's just squeezing yet more out of the market.

 

Little investment - just do an emulation layer, which has been done dozens of times before so not exactly a huge investment.

Plus, so many modern games cost millions to develop and so many are just crap.

 

I played the Nintendo DS Impossible Mission on the emulator the other day - gotta say it was quite a yawn. Gameplay nowhere near the original. About the only wow factor was some of the gfx and sound.

 

Another aspect is that a huge slice of the market was PC and many of the classic games that were great on systems like the Amiga and Sega Megadrive/Genesis were utter crap on the PC through the late 1980s to early/mid 1990s.

 

Therefore a fresh release of something from that era will, even if inferior to the Amiga version, appear great to someone who wasn't hooked to that platform at the time.

[jhd]

Personally, I don't see the appeal of these "Neo-Retro" games. They hold no nostalga value for me.

 

I grew up playing Atari 2600 and classic-era arcade games, and much of the reason I enjoy them now (mainly on emulators) is because of the memories they evoke.

 

I still fondly remember playing Zaxxon at the local bowling alley when I was 12; it is not quite as much fun on the PS 2, but it comes darn close. No modern homage to a classic game can inspire those same feelings.

 

That said, I do very much enjoy playing modern games as well, especially RPGs.

[Fort Apocalypse]

Personally, I don't see the appeal of these "Neo-Retro" games. They hold no nostalga value for me.

 

I think that it is really not a new thing to be using older game characters or themes in newer games. It is not really a fad and has been going on for quite a while with the pacman series (long after pacman there came pac world, and a myriad of others), the donkey kong series (from early stuff on the 2600 to snes stuff, etc.), the mario series (and related character games- from super mario bros. to the Wii), castle wolfenstein series (castle wolfenstein, beyond..., 3D, the one from a few years ago, etc.).

 

I think that as long as those that have the nostalgia for a game are part of the target market, they'll continue to make the neo-retro games.

[godslabrat]

Personally, I don't see the appeal of these "Neo-Retro" games. They hold no nostalga value for me.

 

I think that it is really not a new thing to be using older game characters or themes in newer games. It is not really a fad and has been going on for quite a while with the pacman series (long after pacman there came pac world, and a myriad of others), the donkey kong series (from early stuff on the 2600 to snes stuff, etc.), the mario series (and related character games- from super mario bros. to the Wii), castle wolfenstein series (castle wolfenstein, beyond..., 3D, the one from a few years ago, etc.).

 

I think that as long as those that have the nostalgia for a game are part of the target market, they'll continue to make the neo-retro games.

 

I'm a huge fan of these types of releases. As we all know, the limitations of older systems force the designers to focus on gameplay, and the results are very distinct from modern games. At first, it was only the homebrewers who would continue to make Atari and Nintendo games in the 21st century, but now the original companies are getting in on the game. And, since they don't have the limited resources that they did in the 1980s, they can push the platform to its limits.

 

Bring on Mega Man 9. And while you're at it, why not Donkey Kong 4 or Pitfall III?

[Fort Apocalypse]

Bring on Mega Man 9. And while you're at it, why not Donkey Kong 4 or Pitfall III?

 

Even Ghostbusters could be considered neo-retro. The game series is listed in wikipedia but basically encompassed a number of computers and consoles as well as arcade and 16 years after the last of original 9 years of releases it's coming out again by Atari.