Racketboy and the Future

[TSTR]

cool thread is cool

[Exhuminator]

I think fragems has hit on it. We've always made references to emulation, but I think an article focusing on retro in the current generation effectively bridges some important gaps, and avoids the issue of dealing with ROM files.

I was just going with what you said earlier:

So, what are current options for folks who want to play retro games, shy of buying original hardware and software?

If you'd said current LEGAL options then I wouldn't have mentioned emulation.

So excluding god master dirty pirate emulation, we're left with stuff like Virtual Console, retro package collections like Intellivision Lives! or Amiga Forever, or those weird Atari or Genesis conglomerate machines you see in dollar stores and what not. For example:

[BoneSnapDeez]

A best compilations and plug n plays type article would be solid. I know a fair deal about that stuff. So does prfsl_gnmr.

[Ack]

Hey guys, just letting you all know that Racket has been reading these and really likes the suggestions. I've already reached out to several of you about your proposals, but since there are quite a few, please feel free to reach out to myself or Fastbilly via PM to discuss ideas about writing them.

[Fragems]

I think fragems has hit on it. We've always made references to emulation, but I think an article focusing on retro in the current generation effectively bridges some important gaps, and avoids the issue of dealing with ROM files.

I was just going with what you said earlier:

So, what are current options for folks who want to play retro games, shy of buying original hardware and software?

If you'd said current LEGAL options then I wouldn't have mentioned emulation.

So excluding god master dirty pirate emulation, we're left with stuff like Virtual Console, retro package collections like Intellivision Lives! or Amiga Forever, or those weird Atari or Genesis conglomerate machines you see in dollar stores and what not. For example:

Well I mean there are ways to tip toe around emulators for instance we could probably review the software we just would have to stick to home brew roms or something to that effect or try to get away with using "back ups" of games we own to test them. Really I don't think many people would have issues that way but the law is just so fudged in terms of copyright that people can make claims for just about anything .

Hopefully copy right law gets cleaned up over the next decade or so but for now it's pretty archaic. Hell the Happy Birthday song was owned by Warner until this year and technically you were breaking the law every time you sang it unless you paid Warner $700+ for the rights .

[prfsnl_gmr]

An article about the best "modern retro" games (modern games in a retro style) would be neat but I'm not sure how to approach something like that. Maybe do it genre by genre (platformers, RPGs, etc).

I plan on titling the eShop article:

"25 Great eShop Games for Retro Gamers"

(I decided against "best" because I do not think I will have completed emough games to really say which ones are the best.) The article will then contain headings like:

"For the Gamer Who Likes Picross"

"For the Gamer Who Likes Punch Out!!"

"For the Gamer Who Likes Robotron"

etc.

I will then list a few games, like Electronic Super Joy, Mutant Mudds, Rage of the Gladiator, X-Type+, etc. under each heading, and each game will have one or two paragraphs of text associated with it. I will try to include only games that are console- or handheld-exclusive to the eShop, and I will not be including any Virtual Console titles or remakes of older games.

I think that this is a good way to structure an article on "new" retro games, and I think it would be cool to do articles like this for each of the major digital distribution platforms. (For some of the more robust digital distribution platforms, like Steam, we could even break it down more to titles like, for example, "10 Great Retro-RPGs on Steam", etc.) I also think that this format would be easy to update - it is easy to make a 25 great games list into a 30 great games list - and I think that, by avoiding the term "best" we would avoid debate on whether some games deserve to be included in the list.

A best compilations and plug n plays type article would be solid. I know a fair deal about that stuff. So does prfsl_gnmr.

Thanks! I have a few of those and think plug n' play games would be a great topic.

[Fragems]

One thing that I bounced around at RF gen a while ago was adding Board images for cartridge based games to their database if we made a master list of those somewhere that would probably draw some steady traffic. Not only are they interesting to look at but it would help people spot boot legs as well.

There are also some interesting variations that alot of people probably haven't noticed for instance.

Metroid Zero Mission(GBA) AGB-BMXE-USA they swapped over to FRAM at some point. There is no revision number on the label so the only way to notice is to pop it open or look very closely right above the pins.


Board (AGB-E06-20)



Board (AGB- E11-10)

[Exhuminator]

Racketboy has a lot of articles about collecting old games, finding good cheap old games, which old games are hidden gems, the history of old games and consoles, stuff like that. That's what I've seen browsing the articles here anyway. And while I understand the importance of material oriented articles thereof, I think that articles exploring the deeper aspects of retro gaming from a philosophical and cultural perspective would be worth doing.

For example, I think articles that demonstrate why old games are still worth playing are important for this site. Explaining in tangible detail how games are more than just the sum of their pixel pushing power for their time. Too many gamers are addicted to the "what's hot right now" angle (whether technological or societal), and that's proven toxic to the long term evolution of this medium. An essay demonstrating how old games can be rewarding to revisit (or explore for the first time) in ways that are not just nostalgia-wanking. Basically that past games can represent lost ideas and forgotten concepts, not just obsolete technology, and are worth pursuing from both a scholarly and entertainment perspective.

From there you can branch into cultural explorations about how the zeitgeist of each decade shaped its games' developments. Or how the technological limitations of each platform shaped the games that were created for it, and how those limitations actually lead to breakthroughs that evolved game design. In contrast an article could be written showing how excess of power leads to homogeneity in current gaming genres, such as too many games being open world just for the sake of it. Perhaps an essay on how games despite having ever increased graphics, often have devolved their genres in pursuit of the lowest common denominator, meaning retro games can be surprisingly more complex and neurologically rewarding than modern ones.

Now there might already be articles like I just described here, and I just haven't seen them yet. If so, that's great. But such introspective articles should be more apparent to find then.

[Ack]

Perhaps an essay on how games despite having ever increased graphics, often have devolved their genres in pursuit of the lowest common denominator, meaning retro games can be surprisingly more complex and neurologically rewarding than modern ones.

I think this would be brilliant from the perspective of certain genres, though I don't know if it necessarily holds true for all genres. Fighting games are an example of a genre that has become more complex over time, to the point that some of the potential audience is driven away for lacking previous knowledge. In this case, articles could be written on why the older games are preferable for teaching a basic framework of the genre to then allow players to progress to the modern world.

Contrast that with WRPGs. I was re-reading the WRPG thread today, and one of the laments(in fact I think it was you, Exhuminator, who mention this) was that this particular subgenre has become more and more accessible for new players at the cost of much of the challenge and skill necessary for the earlier releases.

[nullPointer]

I think fragems has hit on it. We've always made references to emulation, but I think an article focusing on retro in the current generation effectively bridges some important gaps, and avoids the issue of dealing with ROM files.

All good points, and it is definitely a grey area in terms of what's within the bounds of legality and what's not (other than the fairly clear cut situation of providing ROMs outright or describing explicitly where to find them). Bottom line if it's something that can put the site in any sort of danger, it's not worth doing. If it's done creatively, there might still be some ways to provide information though. For instance the recent discovery of that previously unreleased Dizzy game (Wonderland Dizzy) was released for free in ROM form by the creators. That might provide both an interesting story on the game itself, but also a discussion regarding the various means of playing the game through emulation.

Racketboy has a lot of articles about collecting old games, finding good cheap old games, which old games are hidden gems, the history of old games and consoles, stuff like that. That's what I've seen browsing the articles here anyway. And while I understand the importance of material oriented articles thereof, I think that articles exploring the deeper aspects of retro gaming from a philosophical and cultural perspective would be worth doing.

Man I really dig this concept. I've never mentioned it, but your Ardent blog is/was one of my absolute favorite gaming oriented blogs within recent memory (seriously, if anyone reading this hasn't checked out Exhuminator's old blog, you should do so now; it's great). The Nintendo Project: An 8-Bit Psychochronography is another (now sadly defunct) blog that delves into this sort of discussion (though this one occasionally gets pretty bonkers). I think Racketboy has always done a fantastic job of covering the many facets of retro gaming, but at the same time I think we need to be careful not to fall into a slump of "here's another list of games for another system". (Side note: It feels weird to say "we" in relation to Racketboy when I'm still relatively new and have a low post count, so please do pardon my choice of pronouns whilst I walk among the giants. ) Now I don't think we would fall into that trap what with the awesome group of talented contributors we have, and there are tons of great fresh ideas in this thread, but I do think the idea of this sort of article regarding the culture, scene, and philosophy of retro gaming is something that you don't see covered in many outlets.

tl;dr: Great idea Exhuminator!