What's your main retro gaming interest / area of expertise?

[Fragems]

If anything I guess I would consider my expertise geared more towards the acquisition and accumulation of mass quantities of games that I may or may not complete within my lifetime .

I don't really have a focused area of expertise on any particular genre or platform. I just play whatever catches my fancy and my library is pretty diversified. About the only games I avoid are those in the RTS genre I just never could get into those since I'm one of those guys who hates losing units and things just get a little to hectic for me. Not to say I don't have a few piled up in my backlog. I would love to get into some of the games like Total War, Company of Heroes, Warhammer, and etc. it just seems like I start them up and I have all the fun sucked out of me within the first two or three hours.

As for knowledge I've probably got a pretty good general knowledge of most systems, but I've never really gone out of my way to study anything particular in depth. I find it more fun to just learn about my consoles through natural interaction with other gamers and the hardware/software itself.

Skill wise I think I'm best suited for First Person Shooters, but I do pretty well with everything else with the exception of RTS games which I suck at.

[marlowe221]

I guess what I know most about falls into a couple of categories:

1. Classic Atari - I have been making a conscious effort over the past few years of learning everything I can about the classic Atari era, from the VCS (2600) to the 7800 in particular. I'm sure there is still a lot to learn though.

2. The 16-bit Era - That's really my wheelhouse and I know a lot about the history of that era from the classic games to the business side of things.

As far as games go, I am particularly knowledgeable about PC strategy games, ARPGs (PC and console), the Elder Scrolls series, and 16-bit beat em ups. I also know The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past like the back of my hand and can still find all the heart pieces.

[ExedExes]

ExedExes is knowledgeable in kicking classic arcading butt.

I didn't get a chance to congratulate you on your tournament placement, Exed. Bravo, man!

Thank you, Key! Yeah, February was quite a ride! It helped that I had (non-gaming) expertise in knowing exactly who to pick for my team in the Yolympics, some of the world's best were represented on Team Verizontal, players much better than me! The next big competition is in July with the 3rd installment of the Internet Gaming Bash of the Year, this is an individual (non-team) competition.

Ack specializes in USA released SNES RPGs, as well as 90s FPS entries.

I'll pass that along. He gave me a list of FPS to get/try on GOG, and I'm working my way through them now. I'd also like to see what you all think of other people's expertise.

[ElkinFencer10]

I would consider my expertise geared more towards the acquisition and accumulation of mass quantities of games that I may or may not complete within my lifetime.

Yes, I'm a veritable expert in this.

[marlowe221]

And if you want to know about non-English language RPGs BoneSnapDeez is the man!

[ElkinFencer10]

Exhuminator is the go-to for PSP and PS Vita weeb games.

[Sarge]

And FPS from 10-15 years ago.

Oh, and some casual series about fields.

[alienjesus]

I don't feel like I specialise that much in my retro gaming as such, so I'd be interested to hear if anyone else thinks I do.

Maybe someone out there is noticing something I'm not

Key-Glyph is my go-to girl for Mega Drive reviews when she posts in the Games Beaten thread. Always a good read, and her tastes align pretty well with my own.

BoneSnapDeez is the man I think of for really obscure Japanese RPGs and also for 2nd gen gaming.

Random thought - has anyone heard from BogusMeatFactory of late?

[Erik_Twice]

I don't think I have an area of expertise. I think know a bit about most gaming topics but there's nothing I really know much about, much less to the degree of Noise, CRT Gamer or other Racketboy regulars.

As far as intereset goes, I'm an odd one because I tend to focus in just one or two "endless" games for most of my gaming time but I think I have a serious preference towards strategy games because that's what I always end up playing.

[Anapan]

Since this is the only forum I've posted to regularly, I figured everyone already knew.
I don't play video-games much.
I don't collect games on the level that any of the prominent collectors here collect games.
If fact, the main thing I always strive to improve is the visual quality of the games I played in my youth. AFAICT I've far exceeded the quality I used to play games in, even the arcade games, have been far exceeded.
i
Now I mostly want to play games with my immediate family and friends. I've gotten pretty good at buying mutually enjoyable games that are co-op on Steam, but I still get a pretty good gamut of oldschool games going with the strategic old-console startup method.

A short while ago, my friend's son was complaining about my game selection (Why aren't the 250 PS2 games good?) I told him to open the 4th drawer on the left. 20 in-plastic PS3 games and a bunch more used. I didn't even know these games were fun. I'm really enjoying co-op. They bring me beer and challenge me, but I refuse to play VS games past Staurn or PS2.
The kids end up playing sandbox games.