Retro gaming

As has been said before, I own a PlayStation 3. It isn't the only system I own, but it's the only one of this generation in my possession. Still, I find myself playing games like Jet Moto 2 and Twisted Metal 2, which both came out roughly ten years ago. It isn't because the PS3 is lacking games that I enjoy. I think it's a few different factors.

Which brings me to my topic for today. Retro gaming. First, how old does a game have to be before it's "retro"? Personally, I have a difficult time calling anything from the PS/N64 era and later by that term. I usually reserve it for the SNES/Genesis era and everything before that. Of course, an argument can be made for anything two or more generations old.

My ultimate point, however, is that retro gaming seems to be a popular craze right now. A lot of companies are getting into it. On XBox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store, you can find old 1980's arcade games. GameTap, a subscription-based game download service for the PC, has a large library of classic arcade games, along with games from the pre-NES era (2600, Intellevision, Colecovision), all Sega consoles (including Game Gear, SG-1000, Dreamcast, and Saturn, but not Sega CD, last I checked), DOS, Windows, and more. Nintendo has their Virtual Console, which includes all their consoles prior to the Game Cube, along with the TurboGrafx-16 and a few Sega consoles.

Why are these so popular? One reason could be nostalgia. Gamers who grew up with these games may be reminded of their childhood when playing these games. Maybe they are old favorites they haven't quite let go of. Or maybe they just want to see if they are still as good as they used to be.

A second reason could be that younger gamers (as in, children) want a taste of what gaming was like before they came around. They may give it a try, and they may like it, or hate it. But they want to see what older gamers, like myself, are talking about. Why we sing the praises of the classics, and complain about these young'uns who wouldn't know a good game if it bit them in the buttocks. Much like the proverbial old man yelling at kids to stay off his lawn.

One more reason, which is the reason I, personally, still play older games, is the simple fact that they are just plain fun. A lot of these classic games hearken back to the days where you didn't need 40+ hours of gameplay. Where you could understand the plot with a handful of text screens, instead of 20-minute non-interactive cinemas. Where you could pick it up, play for as long as you want, and put it down without having to worry about whether or not you saved your progress.

Sure, the games are simple, but with today's gamer so conditioned to long games and convoluted stories, if you were to release a "simple" game like Super Mario Bros. at full price, no one would buy it. The game would get horrible reviews for being "too simple" and "too short." On the plus side, there are now digital distribution methods for home consoles, where these simple games can be bought for $10 or less. Proving that a game doesn't need to be complex, in order to be fun.

This isn't to say that the modern way of making games isn't fun. A lot of games can be entertaining. They can draw people in. Make people feel. Make them cry. Make them care about the characters. Games these days can create more of an emotional and psychological attachment to gamers than the classic games could. The only problem is that these games demand more of a gamer's time, energy, and attention than ever before.

Sometimes, it's nice to play a quick game that you loved in the past, in between sessions of that new game that has you on the edge of your seat. But, classic games should not be forgotten. Just because there is something new and shiny, doesn't mean the old guard has exhausted it's potential.