Most young retro gamers I know dismiss anything before NES

[sega_SHARK]

Every person has their preferences, but nobody should diss the stuff without trying it.

 

This.

[Seob]

This isn't the case with younger gamers only. I've friends who are older then me, and really experienced the release of the 2600. They have been gamers for all there live, and they are still saying, the pc is better then a xbox360 / ps3 because it has higher framerate count and higher pixel count. I still can't explain to them that it isn't the graphics that make a game, but it's gameplay.

Even when they buy a older console, they still looking for ways to get better graphics, and then complain that the picture isn't looking that good on they're flatscreen lcd tv. Maybe i'm the odd ball here, but i do like rf interference and the fuzzy pictures the console produced back then. Heck i even recorded cd's onto tape reals to get that old sound.

[SlowCoder]

This isn't the case with younger gamers only. I've friends who are older then me, and really experienced the release of the 2600. They have been gamers for all there live, and they are still saying, the pc is better then a xbox360 / ps3 because it has higher framerate count and higher pixel count. I still can't explain to them that it isn't the graphics that make a game, but it's gameplay.

I'm with you on "gameplay > graphics", but to some people these priorities may be different. This doesn't make them any more wrong or right than you. Just different. Don't give them a ribbing for it.

[Reaperman]

The time period around NES featured a fair number of games with far more complex gameplay than was reasonably available before. It could very well be that they're more into these vastly more complex games than the simpler titles (that NES also provided). Previous generations had complex games, but they often relied heavily on printed manuals that are honestly a bit of a hassle. NES era(ish) started introducing a lot of that complexity into the cartridges themselves.

 

If these folks are willing to go back to NES, they're already less concerned with graphics than most. I say some slack must be cut for that. True though that the later 8-bit systems allowed for a level of charm to be built into characters that wasn't terribly common on earlier systems.

 

Comparing Link on the NES to that dot from adventure, it takes a lot more imagination to make that dot work as a character.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Reaperman

[xDragonWarrior]

I am 15 and i don't hate any console i like them all even the worst(Action max Game.com etc.and Everybody i know dont even give Retro games a look

Edited October 9, 2012 by xDragonWarrior

[Emehr]

Liking only current games and not the classics is like watching only new movies, listening only to new music, and reading only new books. Newer is not better. Newer is only newer. Newer has its share of good and crap just like older has its share of good and crap.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Please bear in mind that some people are only interested in current generation games, and the fact that these people exist is very healthy for the retro gaming market. If ~50% of the gaming public never sold their old games when the new systems came out, and people didn't clean out their garages full of old unwanted hardware for chump change, then our coveted retro gaming/collection hobbies wouldn't exist, and emulation would be the only way to enjoy anything from the past. On the flip side, if the majority of gamers stopped buying new systems, the market would collapse, and video games of any kind would eventually cease to exist, except as untouchables in museums. So, for the market to be healthy, there needs to be a steady supply of old school and new school gamers. Some of us are both! I've got a shiny black deluxe Wii-U preorder waiting for me at GameStop come November.

Even when they buy a older console, they still looking for ways to get better graphics, and then complain that the picture isn't looking that good on they're flatscreen lcd tv. Maybe i'm the odd ball here, but i do like rf interference and the fuzzy pictures the console produced back then. Heck i even recorded cd's onto tape reals to get that old sound.

I just bought my first record player the other day, a USB-powered turntable. Pulled a box of my mom's & dad's (may he rest in peace) old records the other day, and my mom last night heard sweet music that hasn't graced her ears in 30+ years! Now I'm going out purchasing reissues of old albums on vinyl, as well as some discontinued vintage pressings, even though the new albums are 2-3x as expensive as their respective CDs (many of which I already own). Next, I'm probably going to rip the vinyls back to CD-Rs so I can listen to them in my car. It's not as weird/oddball as it sounds, really... Edited October 10, 2012 by stardust4ever

[TheGameCollector]

1982-1983 was really the peak for the Atari 2600. Before 1982 there were like 25 well known good games and the rest was shovelware. In 1984 releases dwindled and after that there was only Ghostbusters in 1985 and a couple games per year after that. Those last releases were mostly afterthoughts from Atari 7800 development due to the existence of the 2600 Jr. and Atari 7800's backward compatibility and are available for both consoles.

 

1983-1989 Commodore 64 had the largest library while during 1983-1986 Atari 8-bit was close behind it. The fact the Commodore didn't start slowing down till 1989 gives it a longer developer popularity span than the 2600.

 

In 1985-1986 in the USA, the only really innovative platforming adventure type game for NES was Super Mario Bros. The rest of the library was sports and arcade style original games & ports. Many of the arcade ports were just late releases of 1983 -1984 Famicom games. This gave graphics whores a chance to jump to Sega Master System in 1986 which also only had arcade ports & Alex Kidd. Some of their games like Safari Hunt were superior, but they weren't the right genres to capture the mainstream. I think where Sega screwed up their chance in the USA for this system was 1987. 1987 is the year we got the delayed releases of Zelda, Metroid and Kid Icarus plus the brand new games Castlevania, Mega Man and on the last day of the year, Renegade. Sega Master system that year just got a couple more arcade ports and a bunch of sports games. I don't know about you but I would pick adventures with swords and guns over sports any day. 1988 was the year Nintendo started getting sequels and more third party support than it had and graphics were drawn a bit better. Atari 7800 didn't have much yet and all it really had to offer was improved ports of arcade games that were not available for the other two systems anytime soon (or at all).

 

The quality of Nintendo was great early on and Sega had some really fun stuff, but the quantity of games for the three consoles was still pretty low. I think this is why the Commodore 64 survived a bit longer with game releases. For the crowd who wanted quantity for cheaper prices and genres not found on consoles yet, the system was perfect. It was kind of like the Playstation 2 still is now.

[Rex Dart]

Liking only current games and not the classics is like watching only new movies, listening only to new music, and reading only new books.

 

Good point... what's your favorite silent film?

[SlowCoder]

Good point... what's your favorite silent film?

LOL!

[Emehr]

Good point... what's your favorite silent film?

 

I haven't seen any silent films all the way through that I recall but I don't dismiss them. I did make three silent shorts in high school back in the day. Dialogue "cards" and all. I made four, technically, but that last one was meant to have a dialogue track. I did start watching 'Metropolis' on NetFlix but need to find the time to continue it. Buster Keaton is also my queue.

[Zenimus]

Good point... what's your favorite silent film?

 

Mine is "The Goat" with Buster Keaton. The only reason I have a favorite silent film is because I was exposed to them when I was young (and I was born in '84). I think it's the same way with most kids nowadays. They've all grown up with nostalgia for Nintendo 64 or even Gamecube, so they have no interest in older things that aren't relevant to them.

 

I fully admit that I have a bias against silent movies. I won't ordinarily watch one unless it was recommended by someone. For me, the reason is because I know the limitations of a silent film will limit the story that I can see. For the same reason, I also have a bias against going to see an action movie with a PG-13 or lower rating. I know there's a limit on what can happen and what I can experience. I believe this is a big part of why kids might dismiss pre-NES (or even pre-3D) games.

[+HammR25]

Liking only current games and not the classics is like watching only new movies, listening only to new music, and reading only new books. Newer is not better. Newer is only newer. Newer has its share of good and crap just like older has its share of good and crap.

This is exactly why I only read books from L. Ron Hubbard but not stuff like the book of Mormon, the Koran or the Bible.

[Bones Brigade]

Good point... what's your favorite silent film?

The Gold Rush and City Lights are both fantastic.

[sega_SHARK]

Good point... what's your favorite silent film?

Nosferatu and Metropolis (tied)

Black Sabbath's first album works well as a soundtrack to Nosferatu

[Andromeda Stardust]

Not technically a silent film, but there was a hilareous French movie about a voyage to the moon. The audio was later dubbed over with voice, and the French dub was much longer than the English dub. They built a giant cannon to launch the craft up to the moon, and it got stuck in the moon's eye socket! Then they got chased by alien midgets and leapt off the surface and parachutted back to Earth. Classic stuff, and heralded as the first ever Sci-Fi movie. I first watched it in it's entirety in 2006 on youtube, knowing full well that the Americans got there first...

[Cynicaster]

This isn't the case with younger gamers only. I've friends who are older then me, and really experienced the release of the 2600. They have been gamers for all there live, and they are still saying, the pc is better then a xbox360 / ps3 because it has higher framerate count and higher pixel count. I still can't explain to them that it isn't the graphics that make a game, but it's gameplay.

 

Great point, my buddy is exactly this guy. He spends lots of time gaming, but it's only on PS3; he has absolutely zero interest in stuff that isn't the "latest and greatest" (I use the term 'greatest' very loosely here).

 

To give some perspective on how little he cares about classic games, get this. A few months ago we were digging through one of his storage areas looking for extra guitar patch cords and microphone cords. Actually, if you look at the pic in my avatar, the storage room in question would be just out of frame to the right; it's about the size of a large walk-in closet. After a few minutes of searching, I stumbled upon a ratty old shoebox containing a 2600 Jr, assorted controllers (including some nifty Gemini joystick/paddle combo units), and a pile of carts. Nothing spectacular or rare, but some great must-haves nonetheless: Keystone Kapers, Popeye, Mario Bros., California Games, Stargate, Demon Attack, Cosmic Ark, Megamania, Missile Command, Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man, Jungle Hunt, and several more. I dug a bit further and unearthed an old Coleco Telstar pong unit. I've been to this guy's house, on average, probably once a week for the last 6-7 years, the guy knows full well that I like retro games, and I never even knew he had this stuff. Thing is, I don't think he knew either--it's that unimportant to him. Needless to say, I grabbed the box of Atari stuff and said "yeah, this stuff is coming home with me" and he didn't even bat an eyelash.

 

Heck, if you have a great PS2 or XBOX game, even if it is by all accounts an amazingly fun game, he will be completely uninterested. If it doesn't have the very latest in HD graphics and all that wankery, then to him it's old news and not even worth looking at.

 

I agree that nobody is right or wrong with what they like, but I have no problem saying that people like this aren't even real gamers at all--they're nothing but tech-o-philes that just happen to be holding controllers. Even I can see how some people would just prefer to leave the really really old stuff in the past, but if graphics are so universally and singularly important to you that you summarily dismiss a quality previous generation title simply because the graphics aren't the absolute up-to-the-minute-cutting-edge, then you're obviously not in it for the games.

[The Usotsuki]

I agree that nobody is right or wrong with what they like, but I have no problem saying that people like this aren't even real gamers at all--they're nothing but tech-o-philes that just happen to be holding controllers. Even I can see how some people would just prefer to leave the really really old stuff in the past, but if graphics are so universally and singularly important to you that you summarily dismiss a quality previous generation title simply because the graphics aren't the absolute up-to-the-minute-cutting-edge, then you're obviously not in it for the games.

So much this.

[roberto]

Not technically a silent film, but there was a hilareous French movie about a voyage to the moon. The audio was later dubbed over with voice, and the French dub was much longer than the English dub. They built a giant cannon to launch the craft up to the moon, and it got stuck in the moon's eye socket! Then they got chased by alien midgets and leapt off the surface and parachutted back to Earth. Classic stuff, and heralded as the first ever Sci-Fi movie. I first watched it in it's entirety in 2006 on youtube, knowing full well that the Americans got there first...

 

I think you are referring to "Le voyage dans la lune" by Georges Melies, 1902, which became quite popular recently after the success of the movie Hugo. Worth checking out both movies if you didn't already!

 

There are lots of old movies and old games (exactly like old music or books) that the newer generations don't appreciate simply because they never had a chance of being properly exposed to them since it's already impossible to keep up with the never ending flood of incoming new stuff.

I guess the education system has to play a role here to explain the important and innovative aspects of each of those works so students can discover them and appreciate them properly. Luckily more and more game development programs are recognizing this aspect and usually students, at least in my personal experience, seem quite receptive to this.

Edited October 12, 2012 by roberto

[GonzoGamer]

I was a teenager in the early 1970s and can still remember seeing my first PONG coin op in a pool hall, everyone including me could not get enough of it, at the time there was nothing else like it, then later on when i got to play Pac-man in a new arcade filled with video games i thought this was the coolest thing since sliced bread.

 

in the early 80s i was fully grown had a good job and bought myself a 2600 to play at home (to save money and my marriage) and i thought wow this was the best thing since the VCR. move ahead many consoles and years and i play my PS2 and Xbox almost daily (retired now) i don't have the current gen systems other than a Wii i bought for $30 at a garage sale, but found i did not care for most of the games it has, so we use it mainly as a wi-fi movie box.

 

As someone who has been there through all of it from the very start (had a friend who got an original Odyssey for Christmas in 72 or 73) i remember he had a light gun with it and we played that thing to death, i never owned one myself, but for the time it was state of the art, it was never as popular as the 2600, I guess that was mainly because of it's price at the time and no one knew what the heck it was, or what to do with it, not sure why it never really caught on.

 

young people these days have such an overload of stuff that it's no wonder they are bored with playing the older simple games, the magic is not there for them as it was for my gen because these days it's 'just wait a month and the newest thing will come out.

 

I was glad to have been born when i was because i lived through some amazing growth in technology.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I think you are referring to "Le voyage dans la lune" by Georges Melies, 1902, which became quite popular recently after the success of the movie Hugo. Worth checking out both movies if you didn't already!

Yeah, I couldn't remember the title or year. But if it's from 1902, it probably was a silent era film at first then had sound added in as I had mentioned before. I was first exposed to it in the form of brief clips during a documentary about the events leading up to and including the moon missions.

There are lots of old movies and old games (exactly like old music or books) that the newer generations don't appreciate simply because they never had a chance of being properly exposed to them since it's already impossible to keep up with the never ending flood of incoming new stuff.

I just bought a record player not even a month ago. First one I've had since the one I owned as a child wore out during the 80s. Already purchased a number of items. There's a ton of unexplored territory there waiting to be discovered. Wish me luck on the journey... Edited October 13, 2012 by stardust4ever

[roberto]

Wish me luck on the journey...

 

Good luck! It will surely be a long, time consuming but extremely rewarding journey!

[Seob]

As someone who has been there through all of it from the very start (had a friend who got an original Odyssey for Christmas in 72 or 73) i remember he had a light gun with it and we played that thing to death, i never owned one myself, but for the time it was state of the art, it was never asr popular as the 2600, I guess that was mainly because of it's price at the time and no one knew what the heck it was, or what to do with it, not sure why it never really caught on.

because magnavox marketed it wrong. leafing people thinking it would only work on a magnavox tv. This was before vcrs so people didn't know that you could hook up stuff to you're tv.

[Andromeda Stardust]

because magnavox marketed it wrong. leafing people thinking it would only work on a magnavox tv. This was before vcrs so people didn't know that you could hook up stuff to you're tv.

You can hook up virtually any system to any TV. Everyone knows that. I could hook up my Atari to the RF jack on my shiny new LCD TV, or I could wire a Wii console up to an RF adapter + 75/300 impedance converter, and use it on a black and white 1950s vacuum tube dinosaur. The only compatibility issues that arise come from using a light gun on a non-CRT screen, or incompatible standards like using a PAL console on an NTSC TV, etc.

[Seob]

You can hook up virtually any system to any TV. Everyone knows that. I could hook up my Atari to the RF jack on my shiny new LCD TV, or I could wire a Wii console up to an RF adapter + 75/300 impedance converter, and use it on a black and white 1950s vacuum tube dinosaur. The only compatibility issues that arise come from using a light gun on a non-CRT screen, or incompatible standards like using a PAL console on an NTSC TV, etc.

I know that, but what i said, was that people BACK then didn't know you could hookup the odyssey to any tv set. This because Magnavox only displayed the system connected to a Magnavox tv set (Not strange, why display a different brand), but in retrospect they should have displayed the system attached to other brand tv's.

Like i said it was one of the first home electronic device that you could hookup to a tv. So it was new for people back then to use the tv for anything other then watching tv. Like consoles where new back then. So it wasn't obvious for them.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Seob