Most young retro gamers I know dismiss anything before NES

[ZeekZoop]

I was born in the early 90's so obviously I wasn't around for Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision or even NES really. Yet, I really like all those games. Just got Yars' Revenge and Midnight Magic today for the 2600 and Space Fury for Colecovision.

 

Most people my age I know who like old games usually say to me "those games are boring", "gaming didn't get good until Nintendo", "no one ever looked at an Atari game and thought the graphics were good", "there is a reason the crash happened."

 

I know they are entitled to their own opinions, but I wish they wouldn't instantly dismiss these old games. I admit when I was an early teen, I thought Atari games looked boring, but then I played some and was impressed. I got Activision Anthology and played it to death. It was what made me purchase a 2600. I got one with 18 games and within a year, had just under 100.

 

I wish people gave these old games a chance.

[Pixelboy]

You can't stop progress, and there's a concept of "current relevance" that goes along with it. Someday, you'll only find the old consoles in museums and private collections. Everyone else will have mostly forgotten about them, and certainly won't be bothering to play with them except on special occasions (like museum visits or whatever). As decades go by, more and more of these consoles will become defective and will simply be thrown away. What you're seing right now with the "young" retrogamers is only the first sign of this.

 

On the up side, games like Pac-Man and Galaga like likely live on as cheap games on future gaming devices. So seing the consoles fade away is not all that important, as long as the games survive. I'm fairly certain people will remember Pac-Man 100 years from now. If not, it will be a sad thing indeed.

[sega_SHARK]

A lot of people play retro games for the nostalgia value alone.

"those games are boring" I'm sure some people could look over my shoulder while I'm playing Nobunga's Ambition for the NES and say the same thing.

"gaming didn't get good until Nintendo" wtf? no really WTF? Who says that? What sort of ignorant fan boy slob says that?

"there is a reason the crash happened" Yes, multiple reasons, stop watching E.T. bashing videos on YouTube.

"no one ever looked at an Atari game and thought the graphics were good" Boulderdash looks good. Pitfall looks good. River Raid looks good. By all means play Killzone 3 in 3D or God of War in 1080p. Graphics aren't everything. Gameplay is also important. Frogger has much better hit detection on the 2600 than on the Colecovision, the graphics on the CV look better, but when I want to play a home version, the 2600 will get popped in.

Enjoy Midnight Magic, it looks like a lot of fun.

[doomwaves]

You can't stop progress, and there's a concept of "current relevance" that goes along with it. Someday, you'll only find the old consoles in museums and private collections. Everyone else will have mostly forgotten about them, and certainly won't be bothering to play with them except on special occasions (like museum visits or whatever). As decades go by, more and more of these consoles will become defective and will simply be thrown away. What you're seing right now with the "young" retrogamers is only the first sign of this.

 

On the up side, games like Pac-Man and Galaga like likely live on as cheap games on future gaming devices. So seing the consoles fade away is not all that important, as long as the games survive. I'm fairly certain people will remember Pac-Man 100 years from now. If not, it will be a sad thing indeed.

 

 

Same.

 

I was born in the mid 80's, my dad played NES all the time while I was growing up, as did I. But we had 2600 too.. & I played it an awful lot as well.. I was pissed at my folks for getting rid of it. The way I see it tho, you can't expect most gamers born post Nintendo/Sega to even consider the Atari/Intellivision/Colecovision consoles.. But I'd bet that most of them know & have played Pac Man, Frogger & Space Invaders in some format.

 

It'll be pretty hard to kill the classics.

[high voltage]

They know Atari though.

 

You know, when I talk with the kids about music (I work with a lot of 16 - 25 year old girls) , Rhianna, Selena and all that, and then I go back to the 90s, they know of Madonna, Kylie, then I mention the 80/70ss, like Kim Wilde, Blondie, Kate Bush, they go like 'WHOOOO?'.

I wasn't even born then....

 

I'll say, I wasn't born when Bach was around, I still know and love his music. There's no excuse if you're into music. Respect the classics.

 

Same goes for video games.

[godslabrat]

You need better friends.

[nukeshed]

I dismiss most young retro gamers who don't know anything before NES

 

 

Fixed that for ya

[doomwaves]

They know Atari though.

 

You know, when I talk with the kids about music (I work with a lot of 16 - 25 year old girls) , Rhianna, Selena and all that, and then I go back to the 90s, they know of Madonna, Kylie, then I mention the 80/70ss, like Kim Wilde, Blondie, Kate Bush, they go like 'WHOOOO?'.

I wasn't even born then....

 

I'll say, I wasn't born when Bach was around, I still know and love his music. There's no excuse if you're into music. Respect the classics.

 

Same goes for video games.

 

YES.

 

Excellent reply.

[Rex Dart]

Eh, a lot of people here totally dismiss anything made after the 16-bit era too.

[The Usotsuki]

Hm. ColecoVision Frogger doesn't look as accurate as MSX Frogger on nearly the same hardware. I really need to figure out about converting between those systems and the SG-1000 x,x

[shadow460]

There's a reason I don't have a large NES or Genesis collection. I didn't grow up with them. When everyone else had NES and Genesis, I had Atari. Those are the games I spent countless hours playing just for fun.

 

The NES and Genny are rock solid consoles, and I have spent my share of hours enjoying the games I do have for them. However, crappy systems don't spend 14 years on the market, get the first backwards compatible successor, and have hundreds or even thousands of games released for them. A $800 price tag would be a death sentence for any console these days, but if you adjust for inflation, the 2600's $199 price would be around $800 today.

Crappy systems don't get Jay Leno's attention long enough to sit down with a group of company big shots and tell them "the keyboard will be out in spring".

 

Pick any classic system and I can find a good share of shovelware for it. Heck I've got NES shovelware in my closet, right next to a stack of 2600 shovelware. Outside the closet door is a stack of Genesis shovelware. There's PS1 and GameBoy shovelware around here, along with shovelware for 15 or 20 other systems.

 

I dunno, maybe these kids just were unfortunate enough to get hold of the more endearing 2600 titles like Flag Capture, Brain Games, or Dishaster.

[Pixelboy]

Eh, a lot of people here totally dismiss anything made after the 16-bit era too.

 

What? There was something after the Super-NES and Genesis?

 

Ah yes, there was the Game Boy Advance! Thanks for reminding me!

[GKC]

Their parents failed them.

[Koopa64]

I too am a 90s kid, but I love my 2600 Jr. I've been picking up games for it occasionally and it's always fun. Some of my favorites are Centipede, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Donkey Kong, Haunted House, Sea Quest and Plaque Attack. I'll be getting some new games pretty quick here too. I need some paddle controller though, I already have Warlords and I got Super Breakout... And maybe the driving controller for Indy 500 too.

[HatefulGravey]

The people that understand the draw to classic gaming get it, and those that don't just don't. You have to be mature enough to see past the graphics to understand classic gaming. Seems to me like your friends just can't do that. I understand where you are coming from completely. Most of my friends are old enough to remember the VCS being a new console and everything that went with that. Most of them still can't bother to play it. Its all about what you enjoy, I would love having friends to collect with locally but I don't so I come here and that works just fine for me.

[Reaperman]

I know that I have a similar line that I rarely cross, and while I own many very old systems I find myself having more fun with Atari 8-bit computers and above. Growing up I had an A8, it's where my memories are. For example, I have a fair collection of 2600 games, and have had fun with them, but at its core, most of them are worse versions of the same games (or at least the same type of games) that I grew up with and have fond memories of.

 

It tends to discourage my use of older game systems.

 

Edited October 1, 2012 by Reaperman

[Arkhan]

Its because Hot Topic only sells Nintendo paraphenelia.

 

If it was Atari 2600 stuff they'd be like

 

OMG

 

SEA QUEST

 

OMG

 

BRO.

 

SEAQUEST

[desiv]

What? There was something after the Super-NES and Genesis?

What are these mythical names you use??

 

16-bit? Oh, you mean the Intellivision??

:-)

 

Seriously, a serious gamer (IMHO) is someone who apprecaites a great game. Graphics/Sound/etc are a "part" of that.. But playability/fun above all else..

 

desiv

[SRGilbert]

Good, more for us without the inflated prices.

[AtariLeaf]

This cannot be stressed enough - Kids are stupid!

[sqoon]

"no one ever looked at an Atari game and thought the graphics were good", "there is a reason the crash happened."

 

Beware of revisionist history. It goes on among gamers all the time. I lived during those years and can truly say that there were VCS and Intellivision games that were impressive when they came out. Demon Attack. HERO. Enduro. Jr. Pac Man. Seaquest. Phoenix. Robot Tank. Dig Dug. Etc.

[SlowCoder]

Ugh ... Another thread that reminds me just how old I am!

 

Seriously, though ... the excuse that someone wouldn't consider playing a console older than X is simply limiting their understanding of what a good game is. They've been sucked in by the "what's cool today" syndrome, and may be afraid to leave their comfort zone and try something different. Maybe they think because it's only 8-bit it's a lot harder. Kind of like Windows XP vs. DOS ... and that's scary to them. Not funny scary, ... "I don't want to look ignorant" scary.

 

On the other hand, maybe they just aren't interested because 8-bit isn't capable enough for them. Like not wanting an older car that drives like a dream, but doesn't have power windows or A/C.

[Rex Dart]

On the other hand, maybe they just aren't interested because 8-bit isn't capable enough for them. Like not wanting an older car that drives like a dream, but doesn't have power windows or A/C.

 

Sure, people have limits to what they find acceptable. Some demand the simplicity of instant loading & no updates. Others want a minimum of hardware capability & gameplay complexity. Marvel vs Capcom #__ isn't for everybody, and neither is Pac-Man Clone #__.

 

I've found there aren't a heck of a lot of people on this site that can tolerate both ends, and if can't deal with ancient/modern gaming, you don't have much right to whine about the ones on the other end.

[+Random Terrain]

I always felt like the NES did a lot to ruin gaming. Seemed like almost every game had the same style: die repeatedly and be forced to replay many levels until you memorize those levels (which are always the same), learn dance steps to beat a boss, repeat until you 'beat' the game. The main reason most NES games were devoid of controlled randomness and were too hard for the average player was so they could sell you the official strategy guide for each game too. What a scam.

 

 

Update:

 

Look above. Do you see where I said "I always felt like the NES did a lot to ruin gaming"? It does not say that the NES ruined gaming all by itself. It helped to promote a certain type of game. It funneled a bunch of these games into one place, so even kids who rarely got a chance to go to arcades could play them. Not only did the NES promote the "level, level, level, boss" style, it also promoted the idea that games should be mostly devoid of randomness. The part about strategy guides was tacked on at the last minute. It is not the main point of my post.

 

You can read more about it here:

 

http://www.randomter...layability.html

 

http://www.randomter...restarting.html

 

http://www.randomter...ng_tribulations

 

After reading this, anyone who says that I said that the NES ruined gaming is a moron. I said "I always felt like the NES did a lot to ruin gaming." Pull your head out of your ass and learn how to read.

[Torr]

Whereas nowadays they don't really try to sell you strategy guides (because they know they are available for free all over the 'net) they just sell you the perks/unlockables/whatever that you would have unlocked yourself for free had you played enough to get good enough to earn it yourself.

Much like seeing the ending to an NES game, you could have earned it with play and practice, but you'd rather spend 20 bucks on a book that will show you how to do it, so you can then complain you're bored and want a new game. Nowadays you could play game 'X' for however many hours to unlock all the cool shit and be 'awesome' or just pre-buy the game before launch for some bonuses and then pay even more for even more bonuses and cheat yourself out of valuable play time.

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Edited October 2, 2012 by Torr