Crippled by Nostalgia: The Fraud of Retro Gaming

[J T]

"If this picture makes your nether regions moist"

...and you are not female, then you might have a glandular problem and should talk to an endocrinologist.

[Luke]

"If this picture makes your nether regions moist"

...and you are not female, then you might have a glandular problem and should talk to an endocrinologist.

My intent was not to bash the author, but...jeez. An editor read that and thought "fine with me"?

[Key-Glyph]

The author mentions that he's snatching up "games he loved and lost," which is a very specific kind of collecting. That's the same kind of emotional phenomenon that makes children turn down stuffed animals that are identical to the ones their dog accidentally ate because "they're not the same," or which makes adults value objects that celebrities have supposedly touched. He's collecting to repair the hurt he thinks he did to himself when he let these games go, or to forgive himself for making what he now considers a stupid move in hindsight. I'm not saying this isn't a totally legitimate reason -- it's just a very particular one.

I've kept every video game that I've ever bought with few exceptions, so the games I'm buying are ones I've never experienced before. I must be nostalgically motivated so far as I have a genuine love of my retro consoles, but this factor serves to whittle down my gameplay choices and purchases, not motivate me to consume even more of them. I also consistently played all of my systems from the time I acquired them onward, so they're not fossilized in one specific era in my memories. In other words, playing a game brings back memories -- but it brings back memories from all over the timeline of my life, not just "childhood." So my buying comes from the same place Michi's does:

...but along the way I realized that I could also buy some of the things that I didn't get to experience when I was younger, but had always wanted to. ...There were so many things I'd wanted to play when I was younger, but didn't get the chance too and now I can. Whenever I want. It was a beautiful feeling

It does make me wonder, though, if the big collectors here got their starts by reclaiming games they'd "loved and lost," and then just kept going. Collectors? Thoughts?

[noiseredux]

He's collecting to repair the hurt he thinks he did to himself when he let these games go, or to forgive himself for making what he now considers a stupid move in hindsight.

Key-Glyph, you are one of the most insightful posters on this forum. Just saying.

[Key-Glyph]

Key-Glyph, you are one of the most insightful posters on this forum. Just saying.

Wrong. The true story is that I'm still struggling with the guilt of giving away the majority of my childhood virtual pet collection, and am simply speaking from that trauma.

What was I thinking?! How could I do that to my cherished friends -- my babies?!

...Honestly though, I'm mostly over it now. Mostly.

[Blu]

Harper and Key-Glyph have summed up the same sentiments I'd share about this article. The only thing I'll add is that retro gaming carries some weight when it comes to nostalgia, but there's so many older games that are unparalleled to modern releases. The games I purchase are those that I either rented and never had the opportunity to own when I was younger, and re-acquiring games I traded when I was certain I would never play it again. Funny thing is those games have revived my interest in playing them again, and when I get around to booting them up they still live up to my expectations. They're much more valuable to me then when I was much more naive. One day, when I have children, I'll have the opportunity to share with them some quality gaming experiences.

[Michi]

It does make me wonder, though, if the big collectors here got their starts by reclaiming games they'd "loved and lost," and then just kept going. Collectors? Thoughts?

I couldn't imagine just continuing to collect things, possibly hundreds of things, just for the sake of collecting. I know some people have that compulsion, but I don't feel I'm one of them.

When I first started getting games I made a list. First I started with the games I knew I wanted, the Final Fantasys, the Resident Evils, etc, etc. Then I did research and found sites like Racketboy ( ), that listed other exceptional games for each system I was interested in and made a list of games from those entries that looked appealing to me. So from all that I know what I like and what to look for if I find it.

Now, have I gotten things that weren't on those lists? Of course. For instance, I had no initial interest in the Sega CD. I'd read a little bit about it and, though some of the RPGs looked interesting to me, didn't really give it any thought. Most of the sought after stuff was more than I wanted to spend anyway. However, when I came across that box at the thrift store with (among other things) the CDX and a dozen games.....Like hell was I going to leave it there with the price they were offering just because it wasn't on one of my lists.

So in that regard, I lucked out. Not only was I able to experience some impressive games that I wouldn't have played otherwise, but I also discovered a system (or add-on, whatever) that really I hadn't given a second thought to. It was a completely different experience than just picking up games I'd known I'd missed out on. When I was growing up, I hadn't even known about the Sega CD. There was no previous thoughts of, "Oh, I remember playing Donkey Kong Country at the kiosk at the store. I loved it. I should pick that up if I see it." There was no nostalgia attached to the system. I hadn't known the damn thing existed. It was a completely new warm-fuzzy feeling not brought on by damned rose-tinted glasses. It was finding something new, that you hadn't expected, and enjoying the hell out of it when you'd previously thought you wouldn't really like it at all.

I think that's why I keep going. To experience that same warm-fuzzy feeling of experiencing something new. I do limit myself though. I probably leave twice as much stuff at the thrift stores than I take away from them. Sometimes one must leave experiences for others to find.

[Ivo]

Some of my retro buying habits are nostalgia driven. I buy games I enjoyed in my youth, or games that remind me of games I enjoyed in my youth. But mostly, I'm obsessed with the variations in gameplay, graphics, music, and storytelling. I'm always trying to understand this form of media and how it can affect us emotionally and personally, while also being a lot of fun. I play a wide range of games (old and new) to have a wide range of experiences.

I'm mostly on JT's camp on this (as usual). I'm interested in the variations and so I end up spending a lot of time (perhaps too much) on more original stuff (that frankly is often not as polished as huge classics). Think indie games, free browser games and such. But if I keep doing it is probably what makes me happier, instead of dedicating time exclusively to the classics I haven't played yet.

I also have a bit of the people buying stuff they didn't have when it was their prime-time.

The few stuff I have actually sold when I was a kid (a Megadrive) I actually haven't had the slightest interesting in re-buying, although I treasure the memories of getting it and playing it.
I have some attachment to the bunch of other stuff I did not sell (e.g. my Amiga stuff) and keep wanting to play more Amiga stuff that I haven't yet but mostly haven't done it yet.

I did miss out on most of the N64 / PS1 / Saturn generation (i.e. I played little of that era, and only on the PC). Now I got a system of each. I also got a Dreamcast but no other consoles (although I do have several handhelds). I play the Dreamcast and Saturn much more than the others (I should really get around to continue playing SM64 though), although I play PS1 a bit when I do I usually run the games on an emulator instead of the real hardware (I have an adapter for the controllers). The N64 I play the least because I really want to play on the original controller and have no adapter, and the cartridges don't go in the optical drive either. Sadly my current lifestyle doesn't really make it easy to have all plugged in and ready to go, I really would like to settle down more.

I wonder why I keep putting off playing some of the Amiga games I've really been meaning to play, or in general other classics I've been meaning to play. I'm interesting in discussing this further if anyone shares that kind of sentiment. I mean, most of it is really a chronic lack of time to do it, but I could get time from not playing some other games. Sometimes I wonder if I'm somehow afraid of not liking them, but from the times I did go and play titles that fall in those categories I was really happy I did. I think I honestly would play more titles in this category if I was more settled down though.

Comments anyone?

Ivo.

[soul_hacker]

I seem to do this, but more often it's with current-gen games. I mean, I haven't beaten about 75% of the retro games that I've played, but half of my new stuff are still sealed, and I have no plans as of yet for that to change. I seriously buy more than I play right now, but that's what vacations and retirement is for!

Also, now thinking about it, I also have some "need" to "save" games. I can't tell you how many times people have told me that they were going to throw away games and I told them instead to give them to me, and I've kept all of them, even though they were crappy games, or in horrible shape. I also keep every game system of mine that breaks, because it has some kind of sentimental value to me. Thankfully, that only comes down to two games systems, but still, it's extra room being taken up by broken consoles that I can't do anything with in their condition.

[Gunstar Green]

It does make me wonder, though, if the big collectors here got their starts by reclaiming games they'd "loved and lost," and then just kept going. Collectors? Thoughts?

This essentially happened to me. I still had my Genesis and Dreamcast games, pretty large collections in their own right but I wasn't really collecting new games at this point or buying new games for my old consoles.

The only consoles I ever sold were my original Atari 2600 and my NES. Around 2005 I found a Yobo FC Game console and a copy of Metroid and I thought I'd give it a shot, mainly curious to see how well this fake NES worked. To make a long story short I found myself hunting out all the games I used to own or rent for my NES, which spilled over to my Genesis, which just continued on from there. It eventually lead to buying consoles I didn't own when they were out (but still played at friends houses).

The caveat being I still only buy games I'm interested in playing. I often collect more than I play but I don't collect just for the sake of it or increasing the number of my collection.