Retro Satisfaction & Definition

[Menegrothx]

I never feel done. If anything, I feel the spirit crushing weight of my backlog serves as an ever-present reminder that time is limited and life is ephemeral. Sometimes it's hard to just play one game because I wish I could play 100 games at the same time. I have this inexhaustable fascination with video games that makes me feel like I can never play enough of them. And for every game I do finish, they make 50 more. The industry won't let me rest. Which is good I guess, because I never get bored, but I always have so many things that I want to try and a mountain of games that are unfinished. I wish I had the infinite lives Game Genie code for real life.

Well put, I often feel the same way. And like with watching movies/anime/TV shows/youtube videos, reading books, listening to music etc, it can get really exhausting to go through the sea of crap and mediocrity just to find a couple of gems. Being less inquisitive and settling for a more limited knowledge is usually more rewarding/the sane option, which is sad in a way.

I often, as a compromise, dont play at all because I simply can not decide between which unplayed game to choose from. And I naturally feel guilty afterwards for wasting my time on unrelated things like watching anime or posting on this forum

[RCBH928]

Guys I am not talking about how many retro games you OWN i am talking about how many games you played or wish to play. many people can buy the whole catalogue of any 1 console.

Assuming psx has 1200 titles, lets average every game at $30 each, that will be $36,000 . Insane amount for video games but small amount money wise. Many people make multiple times that amount yearly. So its not about did you buy enough retro games but did you PLAY enough or think you will ever play enough?

@RyantheSlaya
I must say I am surprised by your reply given you are one of the more important members here in the forum (retro game forum hehehe) , but I do see your point. My point of view is of the opposite, its not about how many games are coming out NOW but the fact that just TOO many games came out back then that we can never be able experience even MOST of them. Well I guess that depends on how long we live too, or will we still find gaming entertaining when we arein our 50's. I never heard of any 50 year old playing Sonic of example.

@J T

haha very hardcore of you. I used to feel the same way , but after some time I realized that my life years are limited to spend it on video games or any 1 hobby. Can you imagine someone that would play baseball for 3-5 hrs a day daily? You get the idea.

After a bit of playing I realized that many games offer nothing new and are out just for commercial purposes. How much is Earthworm Jim 1 is different from Earthworm Jim 2? Or how much different is COD 4 from COD 10? You really get this feeling when you pop in older games. When I inserted WCW Nitro then WCW/NWO revenge, they are basically the same game with different theme. You really get the feeling "is it this a different game?" There is also the enhanced sequels. For example, like Mortal Kombat 3 has exactly the same thing has Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 , and then more. So there is basically there is no point in playing 1 + 2 so you might as well skip on them.

Another thing is that many games are just clones of the other. You pop in a game and you basically know everything and how it works, you played this before. Check out Tour-Defense games on iOS you will know EXACTLY what I mean. Also on RPGs, How many crazy looking characters with big hairdos will we see? Its all the same . I personally can't differentiate COD from BattleField from Medal of Honor from the latest Ghost Recon from screenshots.

This why i just tend to play a single game per franchise and skip on "more of the same thing" games. I played through all GTA's(1-3) and then I realized its a mistake even all were great, but I could get the same experience playing San Andreas alone. this feeling made me hesitate to playing GTA IV which was highly recommended by a friend, and before I made my decision, GTA V was announced. So you see how this goes?

Sorry long reply, but I felt like I need to express myself because I had exact same feeling you had , even worse I had similar feeling for Movies and TV shows. At one time I was planning to watch 24, CSI, X-files, Ally McBeal, all the great 90's sitcoms, even Melrose Place , which I am not very sure what is it , but then I realized there is just not enough time in any 1's life

[Key-Glyph]

Don't apologize for long posts, OP! Some of us love reading them as much as we enjoy dishing them out. I'm going to give my answers out of order, so be ready!

2. Why do I play retro games?

I hate how 2D games or 16 bit, 32 bit games are looked at as "retro" why does every game have to be on the bleeding edge of 3D graphics? ... i just wish we had more 2D games.

This. For one thing, I absolutely adore pixelated artwork. Not only does seeing images made up of little boxes simply thrill me on some visceral level, but I have immense respect for what artists are able to achieve in that medium. What can be created in the face of set limitations interests me deeply. Pixel artists accomplish so much with so little, and their graphics, being devoid of the ability to replicate authentic realism, are imbued with a strong sense of style instead. I value that quality much more than a game's ability to be lifelike, and I wish the current gaming culture made more room to accommodate that sentiment. And these arguments apply equally to my feelings on other aspects of the games too, not just their graphics. If you take this entire paragraph and substitute words like "pixelated artwork" and "images" with terms like "chiptunes" and "music," it doubles as a perfect explanation for my love of retro gaming BGMs -- another huge passion of mine.

1. Am I ever done with retro consoles?
No. I find that as I grew up I came to appreciate retro gaming from several totally new perspectives. I'm interested in going back and experiencing the classics I missed from a historical point of view, for instance, as dumb as that sounds in writing. It's similar to reading books from different eras/areas to get a sense of what their respective cultures were like at particular points, or to understand in hindsight where innovations sprang up, why they were innovative for their time, and what sort of influence they had on what came after. But it's not all cerebral. There are undeniably some purely nostalgic motivations in there also. I enjoy being into retro gaming as an adult because I like the sort of community that springs up around it. People are roughly my age, we share a lot of common memories, jokes, and/or aesthetic appreciations... and we "get" each other on some level. So it's an emotional thing too.

3. What do I consider "retro gaming?"
This is an interesting question because my personal definition doesn't fit the actual definition. In my mind the term is defined more by style than by time period, which means that basically anything pixelated or cartridge-based feels "retro" to me. In my mind I consider my Nintendo DS to be "retro," but I consider the Dreamcast and almost anything operating by disc to be "futuristic" (and this is despite the fact that I had a Dreamcast as an adolescent in the 90s but have only owned a DS as an adult). And the distinctions can get even weirder, with Nintendo 64-style 3D titles categorized as "retro" in my brain while PS1 and PS2 3D titles are not. I think that particular quirk relates back to the cartridge vs. disc issue, however. And I do not even know how to comprehend the 16-bit games with non-chiptune soundtracks for the Sega CD. Something in me short-circuits and I just don't know how to make sense of what I'm experiencing there.

[Goregasm]

I never feel done. If anything, I feel the spirit crushing weight of my backlog serves as an ever-present reminder that time is limited and life is ephemeral. Sometimes it's hard to just play one game because I wish I could play 100 games at the same time. I have this inexhaustable fascination with video games that makes me feel like I can never play enough of them. And for every game I do finish, they make 50 more. The industry won't let me rest. Which is good I guess, because I never get bored, but I always have so many things that I want to try and a mountain of games that are unfinished. I wish I had the infinite lives Game Genie code for real life.

what he said

[Goregasm]

I never feel done. If anything, I feel the spirit crushing weight of my backlog serves as an ever-present reminder that time is limited and life is ephemeral. Sometimes it's hard to just play one game because I wish I could play 100 games at the same time. I have this inexhaustable fascination with video games that makes me feel like I can never play enough of them. And for every game I do finish, they make 50 more. The industry won't let me rest. Which is good I guess, because I never get bored, but I always have so many things that I want to try and a mountain of games that are unfinished. I wish I had the infinite lives Game Genie code for real life.

what he said

[Menegrothx]

After a bit of playing I realized that many games offer nothing new and are out just for commercial purposes. How much is Earthworm Jim 1 is different from Earthworm Jim 2? Or how much different is COD 4 from COD 10? You really get this feeling when you pop in older games. When I inserted WCW Nitro then WCW/NWO revenge, they are basically the same game with different theme. You really get the feeling "is it this a different game?" There is also the enhanced sequels. For example, like Mortal Kombat 3 has exactly the same thing has Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 , and then more. So there is basically there is no point in playing 1 + 2 so you might as well skip on them.

That makes sense. That's why I strive (for the most part) to find games that are unique and different. Playing a lot of very similiar games can feel like a waste of time when you could be using that time exploring new experiences. There are games that are gameplay wise very generic that still have unique content/storyline/theme that make the game worth playing.

For one thing, I absolutely adore pixelated artwork. Not only does seeing images made up of little boxes simply thrill me on some visceral level, but I have immense respect for what artists are able to achieve in that medium. What can be created in the face of set limitations interests me deeply. Pixel artists accomplish so much with so little, and their graphics, being devoid of the ability to replicate authentic realism, are imbued with a strong sense of style instead

I'm on with you in this subject, but creating pixel art or chiptunes on a modern console or modern anything isn't really impressive, as all the limitations that drove people to make amazing art pieces that way back in the day are gone.You should probably look into demoscene art (if you already haven't) if you are intrested in that sort of thing, programmers limiting themselves on purpose in order to be more creative, force themselves to think outside of the box.

In case you haven't, here you go





(that's only 64k in size!)

[RCBH928]

.

For one thing, I absolutely adore pixelated artwork. Not only does seeing images made up of little boxes simply thrill me on some visceral level, but I have immense respect for what artists are able to achieve in that medium. What can be created in the face of set limitations interests me deeply. Pixel artists accomplish so much with so little, and their graphics, being devoid of the ability to replicate authentic realism, are imbued with a strong sense of style instead

I'm on with you in this subject, but creating pixel art or chiptunes on a modern console or modern anything isn't really impressive, as all the limitations that drove people to make amazing art pieces that way back in the day are gone.You should probably look into demoscene art (if you already haven't) if you are intrested in that sort of thing, programmers limiting themselves on purpose in order to be more creative, force themselves to think outside of the box.
[/quote]

)
I have another thread that I started talking about how limitation drove innovation in videogames back then, and now that anything is possible we just dont see innovative anymore. I am not talking about driving a console to its limit with programing code, but about applying ideas.

Examples:

1) You can see that whoever did Comix Zone wanted to PLAY in a comic strip so they made a game about it. You dont see creativity like that now even though you can recreate every comic strip ever drawn which would be really cool playing as Spiderman in the published comic book. its the comic books turning alive.

2) Whoever did Myst probabaly saw he limits and said I want to play in a 3d fantasy world, so they made this still picture 3d world which still looks amazinf

3) Everyone saw how cartoony 8bit and 16bit are so someone wanted a thing to get as real as possible, so they made FMV. I still believe video can be used to extremely enhance the entertainment of videogames if used well.


EDIT: As for the 64kb, I love how back in the day they made most of the space they had. My jaw droppe when I knew n64 games were like 12mb only. That can be the size of 2 high quality pics or 2 songs. now days you get like a 1 GB update saying "Minor bug fix" !!
thr 2600 is amazing, it looks like it has better graphics than NES. I doubt a real atari would pull that off! (thinking of ET)

philosophical question, but, Will we come back to see demo scene on ps3? Are these machines are way capable than we think they are? I think yes, I would love to see what one could do to a ps3 when they can do so much with the Amiga( I am refering to the video where it has ppl shadows dancing like the ipod comercials)

[Menegrothx]

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As for the 64kb, I love how back in the day they made most of the space they had. My jaw droppe when I knew n64 games were like 12mb only. That can be the size of 2 high quality pics or 2 songs. now days you get like a 1 GB update saying "Minor bug fix" !!

Haha, exactly You should check out .kkrieger. It has graphics comparable to commercial AAA FPS games of it's time (released in 2004) while it only takes 96 kb of space!
Here is some gameplay footage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.kkrieger

.
thr 2600 is amazing, it looks like it has better graphics than NES. I doubt a real atari would pull that off! (thinking of ET)

It does run on real Atari, but I've heard that the rotating cube is a bit glitched. Trilobit has made both 4k and 8k Atari 2600 demos.
Naturally most of demos are written first on emulators, but you can actually play them on the real deal if you have a re-production cartridge for 2600/NES/SNES/Gameboy and some people even make demo cartridges (just like there are new homebrew games for Atari Jaguar and Atari 2600 that were made in 2007-2010!)
Here's an example of demos running on real gameboy color and NES

philosophical question, but, Will we come back to see demo scene on ps3? Are these machines are way capable than we think they are? I think yes, I would love to see what one could do to a ps3 when they can do so much with the Amiga( I am refering to the video where it has ppl shadows dancing like the ipod comercials)

Most certainly. The problem with this kind of technology is that by the time we can truly harness the power of the machine, there already exists a new more powerful machine. People who do demos and homebrew games have learned new secrets about old machines like Atari 2600 and VIC-20 that people back in the day werent aware of, like those VIC-20 demos made in 2004-2008 (VIC-20 was released in 1980). Medieval Mayhem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Mayhem) is a great example of this, it's hard to believe it's a 2600 game!

There actually is a "commercial" demo on the PS3 (which is weird, considering that usually demos are hobby projects and there's no money/profit involved)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linger_in_Shadows

[Damm64]

I never feel done. If anything, I feel the spirit crushing weight of my backlog serves as an ever-present reminder that time is limited and life is ephemeral. Sometimes it's hard to just play one game because I wish I could play 100 games at the same time. I have this inexhaustable fascination with video games that makes me feel like I can never play enough of them. And for every game I do finish, they make 50 more. The industry won't let me rest. Which is good I guess, because I never get bored, but I always have so many things that I want to try and a mountain of games that are unfinished. I wish I had the infinite lives Game Genie code for real life.

This, even when i'm still really young there's a ton of games in other consoles... and i want to play them all...

Guys I am not talking about how many retro games you OWN i am talking about how many games you played or wish to play. many people can buy the whole catalogue of any 1 console.

After a bit of playing I realized that many games offer nothing new and are out just for commercial purposes. How much is Earthworm Jim 1 is different from Earthworm Jim 2? Or how much different is COD 4 from COD 10? You really get this feeling when you pop in older games. When I inserted WCW Nitro then WCW/NWO revenge, they are basically the same game with different theme. You really get the feeling "is it this a different game?" There is also the enhanced sequels. For example, like Mortal Kombat 3 has exactly the same thing has Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 , and then more. So there is basically there is no point in playing 1 + 2 so you might as well skip on them.

Another thing is that many games are just clones of the other. You pop in a game and you basically know everything and how it works, you played this before. Check out Tour-Defense games on iOS you will know EXACTLY what I mean. Also on RPGs, How many crazy looking characters with big hairdos will we see? Its all the same . I personally can't differentiate COD from BattleField from Medal of Honor from the latest Ghost Recon from screenshots.

This why i just tend to play a single game per franchise and skip on "more of the same thing" games. I played through all GTA's(1-3) and then I realized its a mistake even all were great, but I could get the same experience playing San Andreas alone. this feeling made me hesitate to playing GTA IV which was highly recommended by a friend, and before I made my decision, GTA V was announced. So you see how this goes?

I can totally see your point of some games sequels are just the same but i still have the need to defend MK III and GTA games

MK I and II are more slow and strategic games (like street fighter, no surprise there) but in MK III they totally changed this and make the game a frenetic super fast fighter and plays diferent from their ancestors. If you want to play a more slow tactical fighter play MK II and if you want a frenetic fast fighter MK III.

The GTA series they are basically the same thing, kill everyone and become the god of the city or something like that. The appealing factor is in the history, the missions and the city itself. I love some missions on GTA series (san andreas having some of the best) in what other game you take a jetpack and shoot soldiers on a train? What other game you take a motocycle and jump from roof to roof. And all the cities feel so diferent. That is wath i love GTA games.

And now maybe i should answer the questions of the topic so i don't feel like i'm spamming:

1- Ever done with retro consoles?
Like i said above, no. There's so many games out there.

2- Why do i play retro games?
My parents never buy me any current gaming console (i grow up on the mid 90's with PSX and N64) all they could got me was a famiclone and some games... but i still enjoy the hell out of it . So now i wanna buy all those games i couldn't experience as a kid.

And sorry for the long post, and the bad english , not my first language sorry.

[gtmtnbiker]

And sorry for the long post, and the bad english , not my first language sorry.

Nice post!