Most Popular System for Retrogamers Today?

[sandmountainslim]

Which system do you think is the most popular with the retro crowd in 2013?

I of course love the Atari VCS but I know it is far from the most popular and likely only appeals to the Over 40 Crowd (like myself) and in years past I would have said the NES was the most popular of the older systems but nowadays I think I would give the edge to the Gameboy Advance.

EVERY game store sells GBA games and people are still buying the system second hand and also it is very popular in emulation.

 

Am I on the mark with this? What do u think?

[+Gemintronic]

I think the retro gaming starts at NES, SNES and Genesis for most modern gamers. For people who lived through the video game industries birth it's all about the Atari 2600 era (a little below or above)

 

I wish a good litmus test is how active the homebrew community is. This doesn't hold up very well, though.

[Rhomaios]

I don't think you have to be 40+ to appreciate pre-crash consoles today. I had a 2600 when I was a kid, still had it in the early 90s, too. Some younger folk also frequent this board.

 

That said, I think theloon is pretty much right that the NES and SNES are the most popular for modern gamers, probably with PS1, N64 (for Americans), and Genesis rounding out the top 5.

 

I have a hard time considering the GBA retro, since it came out only in 2001. To me it just seems outdated, but not yet retro. It's not "cool" to have a Game Boy Advance like it is to have an original Game Boy.

[Atari_Bill]

It sure seems like the NES and newer are carrying the bulk of interest today which is fine by me since I have absolutely no interest in any of these. For the pre NES stuff I'd have to say that the Intellivision seems to have the most rabid following. I collect for everything pre NES and follow all the boards and price trends as regular as possible and it sure seems like the Intellivision pricing has spiked over the last few years much more than any of the other systems. The Intellivision homebrew community is also extremely active.

[high voltage]

Atari VCS THE gaming classic, there is no other (not even close)

[8th lutz]

Which system do you think is the most popular with the retro crowd in 2013?

I of course love the Atari VCS but I know it is far from the most popular and likely only appeals to the Over 40 Crowd (like myself) and in years past I would have said the NES was the most popular of the older systems but nowadays I think I would give the edge to the Gameboy Advance.

EVERY game store sells GBA games and people are still buying the system second hand and also it is very popular in emulation.

 

Am I on the mark with this? What do u think?

I don't think you have to be 40 to like the Atari 2600 based on my younger brother and I as examples.

 

I have a younger brother that is in his early 30's and he gave a Christmas list that included 4 Atari 2600 games. My younger brother is into multiple systems including the Atari 2600.

 

I am in my mid 30's and I still do play Atari 2600 games on my Atari 7800.

 

My younger brother and I back in the 1980's didn't have a NES. We played Atari 2600 games on an Atari 2600 Jr. and on an Atari 7800 before getting a NES in 1991.

[Manoau2002]

The nes, snes, and sega genesis seem to be the most popular. I would guess the atari 2600 would be after these.

[Jakandsig]

Which system do you think is the most popular with the retro crowd in 2013?

I of course love the Atari VCS but I know it is far from the most popular and likely only appeals to the Over 40 Crowd (like myself) and in years past I would have said the NES was the most popular of the older systems but nowadays I think I would give the edge to the Gameboy Advance.

EVERY game store sells GBA games and people are still buying the system second hand and also it is very popular in emulation.

 

Am I on the mark with this? What do u think?

The VCS is the most collected retro system almost every year.

[+LS650]

I think it would be NES, followed by SNES, the GB family, and then the Sega Genesis.

 

I love Atari, but it doesn't even register on most casual gamers' radar.

[Rex Dart]

If you don't say NES, you're fooling yourself.

[PFL]

Judging by Youtube it would be NES and SNES. Every second game (retro or not!) video is about Mario, Megaman and Japanese RPGs.

 

Continuing using my somewhat questionable gauge (Youtube). I would say that the GBA is sadly under represented. There are a lot of gameplay and playthrough videos (God, those are boring!) but there's very little other content. Relatively few real reviews of games and certainly no 'gamer culture' homages and the like. It can't hold a candle to the cache that the original DMG has. It's a shame 'cos it's such a great little system and still one of my favourites.

[TheGameCollector]

I don't know guys, European retro gamers might have the NES switched out with Sega Master System in that spot. It might even be number one over there unless the Mega Drive beats it.

Edited December 5, 2013 by TheGameCollector

[Rhomaios]

If you don't say NES, you're fooling yourself.

The SNES is a legitimate contender, right along with the PS1. You talk about RPGs, kids remember Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG right along with the great PS1 line-up. I know more non-retro-enthusiasts to have N64s still than any other retro console, assuming N64 is indeed a retro console.

 

I would be willing to wage that if someone crunched the numbers, more SNES games will have been sold through ebay than any other retro console.

 

Edit:

 

I don't know guys, European retro gamers might have the NES switched out with Sega Master System in that spot. It might even be number one over there unless the Mega Drive beats it.

Yeah, ultimately where you ask will give you great differences in responses. EU v. Brazil v. US v. Japan v. AUS etc. won't really share in too many answers.

 

I know of no American who fondly remembers the Speccy, meanwhile, what Brit 30+ doesn't?

Edited December 5, 2013 by o.pwuaioc

[jmetal88]

Most people around my age (of those that I know) are most fond of the Nintendo 64. That seems to be the one everyone I knew had growing up. I knew a couple of kids with Playstations, though. I only knew one guy with anything older, and he had a NES. My first gaming experience was on an Atari 2600 that my Grandma had, though. The first console I actually owned (apart from handhelds, as I owned a Gameboy Color to start out with) was a Playstation 2. This was mainly because my parents wouldn't buy me a console as a kid, though, so I had to wait until I had enough of my own money before I could buy a console. Funny thing was, though, that I mostly played original Playstation games on that PS2. After that I kinda worked backwards, haha.

[TheGameCollector]

Sadly a lot of people act like the rest of the world doesn't matter when talking about video games. For example, how old are the games? People like Chrontendo's owner go with the worldwide dates rather than their own region's date. And technically that is more accurate. We all live in the same world and we could go to these people's world if we paid to do it. You've got the importing scene making having seen these things in your own country possible, although it may be a rare occurrence it still happened.

 

I think I remember someone on digitpress saying he was a Famicom importer ever since it came out in Japan even though he lived in the US. People who love technology would do that kind of thing and know where and how to find out about it before it hits the home country. Even back in the day before the internet there were ways. They were just less obvious.

 

So when people say "x" doesn't count because it's not in their country, it really does. But it is also important to keep worldwide release date info and things like that when speaking of nostalgic things because records of what was on store shelves when brings back fond memories. There's also the fact that many games have an edit performed on them before release in a specific country. For example the first Japanese set of the Donkey Kong arcade game lets you play all four stages in every round while the first US set has it like Round 1 only has stages 1 & 4, Round 2 has stages 1,3 and 4, and round 3 finally has all 4 stages. It really makes a difference on what you would get to see. Everybody's experiences are different too though we share many things in common.

 

Who knows how many PAL gamers disliked a game because they were playing it in slow-mo at 50Hz and would have a had a different opinion if they played the 60Hz NTSC version?

[PFL]

Sadly a lot of people act like the rest of the world doesn't matter when talking about video games...

 

...Who knows how many PAL gamers disliked a game because they were playing it in slow-mo at 50Hz and would have a had a different opinion if they played the 60Hz NTSC version?

 

 

Or, indeed, PAL gamers (me) who later found that a lot of games ran too 'fast' at 60Hz!

 

As a European gamer sometimes the internet can be a frustrating place. Very often in threads like this or in YT videos there is a presumption that we're all from North America. There is a really big world out here and it would be nice to be considered a little more often.

 

This is OT but furthers my point I think. Most sites have a marketplace. Most Europeans qualify their buy, sell or trade post titles by stating PAL or suchlike. Rarely do I see that in posts from Americans. They just state the item and only when you go in to the thread you confirm that, yep, it's an NTSC game or console. Sometimes I've even had to ask specifically if the item is PAL or NTSC the presumtion of the OP is so strong! Granted things around here aren't quite so bad but it still happens more than you'd think. Now, take that mentality and apply it to threads like this... You get the same things: NES, Mario and the Big Crash of '83. Shock, horror. Most of the world didn't give a toss about the NES, Mario and we didn't have a Big Crash of '83...

 

I made a 'quip' post above pointing out the NES according to Youtube. However in all seriousness I'm going to be controversial and say the C64. There. Said it.

 

/ Whinge ends.

[TheGameCollector]

Most Americans like myself probably live in the bubble of their own area and it really takes maturity to learn to step outside of it. I am starting to find it more and more interesting to see what other people have seen or been through and compare it to my own. Hey you even have to do that in order to experience what people of older generations have seen too. That's part of the reason my chronology also contains music and tv/movies. So I can compare it to other things that were around at the time. I think it would be really cool to have a folder of nothing but product pictures from a given year. Video games, music albums, cereal boxes, Crayola crayons, video tape covers, machines to play stuff on, household appliance boxes. It's really interesting to see how all this stuff fits in together.

 

I keep fantasizing about a future Sims game where you can shape your house but also upload photos and create textures with them to apply to the game's atmosphere. Make those Sims sit down for some Atari games on a woodgrain TV with some olive green carpeting and drapes with orange and yellow flowers on them hanging over a woodgrain "Stereo" that plays records and 8 track tapes. Now that's what I call a retro atmosphere. 10 years ago it was all about creating a future atmosphere by giving the Sims game systems that played projections in mid air instead of on the TV, but what about one that lets you look back into the past or create things around lifestyles of people of any culture you want? One that lets you tailor things to your past experiences maybe too?

 

Then share these saves with other people or make videos of them and let them see how different life is in your artistic recreation.

Edited December 5, 2013 by TheGameCollector

[English Invader]

I would say that the Nintendo systems (particularly SNES and N64) are the ones that attract the most attention. Nintendo is the Walt Disney of video games and has that element of prestige that other brands lack. Nintendo is also the only retro brand that still has a presence in the contemporary market which makes Nintendo the first port of call for younger gamers with an interest in older games.

 

I'm 32 and own pretty much every system in the mainstream market up to sixth generation:

 

Atari 2600

Atari Lynx

Atari ST

Commodore VIC-20

C64

Amiga

ZX Spectrum

Sega Master System

Sega Mega Drive

Sega Game Gear

Sega Saturn

Sega Dreamcast

NES

SNES

N64

GameCube

GB/GBA

DS

XBox

PS2

PSP

 

The first retro system I bought was the VIC-20 because it was something of a lost experience from childhood. My parents had one when I was very young and it packed up when I was about seven. I guess my attitude towards retro gaming is that every system has a story to tell and a voice to be heard and it's our job as gamers/collectors/hobbyists to find those voices and hear those stories. If you play on a system and think "what a piece of shit!", you're not approaching it in the right way.

[TheGameCollector]

 

I guess my attitude towards retro gaming is that every system has a story to tell and a voice to be heard and it's our job as gamers/collectors/hobbyists to find those voices and hear those stories. If you play on a system and think "what a piece of shit!", you're not approaching it in the right way.

 

That's a very good philosophy to use. This month I intend to listen to the voice of where it all started - the Arcade games. With MAME this is possible. It's time to see how these evolved and where all these console ports came from.

[Serious]

Which system do you think is the most popular with the retro crowd in 2013?

 

 

NES in North America. C64 in Europe.

[rsb0204]

it all depends on what you consider retro, if for you that means "back to the basics" then the Atari 2600 is easily the most popular. if retro means the 80's to you then the NES is going to be the first choice for the modern retrogamer. and ofcourse if your interpretation "retro" is something a little more modern then the SNES/Genesis are on a pretty level playing ground for the 16-bit generation. beond that there is the ps1 and n64, witch are also popular among retrogamers who like something a little more modern.

 

Again, it all depends on how you interpret "retro"

[BassGuitari]

I guess my attitude towards retro gaming is that every system has a story to tell and a voice to be heard and it's our job as gamers/collectors/hobbyists to find those voices and hear those stories. If you play on a system and think "what a piece of shit!", you're not approaching it in the right way.

Nailed it.

[CGQuarterly]

Judging by the game collecting subreddit on reddit.com, I would say the NES, SNES, and N64. Those fuckers are really driving up the prices of games on those systems. It drives me nuts to see those people posting pictures of their "finds" along with the "deal" of a price that they got.

 

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't feel like the prices of VCS carts or Sega games have really risen much in the last few years, but watching the prices of classic Nintendo titles really makes me glad that I already have pretty much everything that I want.

[Jess Ragan]

The Super NES seems to be really hot right now, with games running in the $50 to $100 range. I'd love to have Gargoyle's Quest: Demon's Crest, but at its current price I don't think it's ever going to happen.

 

The Genesis doesn't seem to generate the same excitement for whatever reason, although there are a few recently released consoles (mostly from AtGames) that will play its games. The Saturn seems to be coveted among collectors, though, mostly because it's so esoteric and because the games are so much rarer than their Playstation counterparts.

 

Of course age becomes a factor, too. The 2600 will always be the retro console of choice among baby busters, while the NES will be the favorite of Gen Xers like myself. Right now though, I'm really into 16-bit games and want to scoop up as many of them as I can, for both the Genesis and Super NES. I think pixel art hit its apex here... after that everything was either polygonal or hand-drawn.

[AtariLeaf]

Around my area, N64 seems to be the most popular and most wanted at the moment. I'd definitely say that the trifecta of Nintendo is currently the most popular - NES, SNES, N64. Anything Sega or Sony is a distant second. Other than a few of us, precrash systems get no love around here.