At what age did you become a retro gamer?

[TheSegaSaturnGuy]

I have been a retro collector for as long as I can remember. Even when I got my Xbox I was still going with my dad to flea markets and picking up NES and Atari games. I really think that I owe my love for retro gaming to my dad. Now don't get me wrong I love my 360 but I still find that I play my retro consoles more. The fact that there were so many timeless games on my retro systems is amazing and that they still hold up to the games of today is mind blowing.

[Retrodude]

that they still hold up to the games of today is mind blowing.

It's not that surprising if you think about it. Back then, games didn't have super duper HD graphics, and aside from the obvious (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc), they didn't have a whole lot of room to tell a story, so they had to succeed or fail solely because of the gameplay. Because of this, I would argue that most old school games play better than modern ones. While there are modern games that I enjoy, I think all this emphasis on technology has ruined the industry.

[Snowman Death Droid]

I don't think I became a retro gamer, I think I was just raised as one. The system I played the most growing up was my 64, but my first one was a SNES when I was about 5 or 6, about the time the Gamecube was coming out, and I didn't get a Gamecube until the Wii was almost out. So I've always been behind. My siblings encouraged my retro gaming habit. We all played older systems that we had.

[Retrozoa]

I'd always been one, but the crossing point for me was in my teenage years(probably 16), when I bought my Atari collection. I put a wanted ad in the paper and ended up getting 2 atari systems(one a heavy sixer!), 40 games, and half a dozen controllers for $50. That's still the best retro deal I ever got.

[Bing147]

Good question.

I always had retro games, growing up I had NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, Sega CD, and many others. I also always tended to hang onto old systems, I still had my NES until 2001 and I still played it despite having a Dreamcast/Gamecube. But I did sometimes sell games and even old systems when I ran low on space. I finally sold my NES/SNES in 2001.

I'd say I started collecting really in about 2003 when I picked up a SNES at a pawn shop. I missed it after a few years without. I started snatching up a ton of games, I remember getting a bunch when Gamestop stopped selling them. Kirby Super Star, UN Squadron and Captain Commando are a few I remember getting there at the time. Of course I sold them all again in 2010 when I needed money to move across the country... and that time I sold EVERYTHING. But I have most of it back at this point.

[Menegrothx]

It's not that surprising if you think about it. Back then, games didn't have super duper HD graphics, and aside from the obvious (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc), they didn't have a whole lot of room to tell a story, so they had to succeed or fail solely because of the gameplay. Because of this, I would argue that most old school games play better than modern ones.

Being 2D rather than 3D is just as big part of this. Of course there are 3D games that focus on "purity of gameplay" and succeed in it (although nowadays it's very hard to find a 3D game that possesses this quality and is neither a simulator nor a competitive online game) but it's obvious that tight level and game design is much more doable in a 2D environment, and by default 3D games must be a lot more forgiving than 2D games. You can't have the same kind of challenge in a 3D game as in a 2D game where you'll have to perform pixel perfect jumps and moves.

[pakopako]

When the SEGA Genesis arrived and I was still playing with an NES.
When the SNES came out and I was still playing with an NES.
When the Playstation came out and I was still playing with an NES.

Granted, this is mostly because I was poor and learned to be dirt cheap. I didn't play with my NES because I was a retro gamer, I did it because I wasn't done having fun with the NES.

I still love the old 8-bit style games, my NES carts are cherished, and I have nostalgia for any NES game even if I never played it (which there are a few), but at some point, I stopped "actively" playing NES games and "moved on" to SNES carts, Genesis carts, etc. I can quite easily count how many hours I've held an X360 AND a PS3 controller on one hand. (Spoiler: the answer's two)

I'm not a "true" retro gamer... I just haven't caught up to the modern era yet.

[Razzmatazz]

I only became a retro gamer when I began to earn money. This was from 16 when I left school, and found that I could buy my own games. This ultimately led me down the path of owning the Cube, Xbox AND PS2 (this was 2003 after all). Even then, I wanted to play Dreamcast again, and I think owning more than one console has been lost on me, having since owned multiple Wiis and Xbox 360s. The only console I had kept from originally buying it new was my N64, which I recently sold due to a severe lack of money. I've always had an open mind regarding old games, although anything pre-Mega Drive I haven't really explored. Having embraced the Wii's Virtual Console however, I'm loving the fact I have SNES, N64, Commodore 64 and Neo Geo games all tucked alongside a Gamecube/Wii game in the disc drive. It's probably a retro gamer's nightmare, emulated games instead of the originals, but as I'm massively in debt, the only games I can really afford to buy are PS2 ones. The problem I'm finding lately is my lack of desire to game, but increasing addictiveness to reading about old games, whether it's researching prices, reviewer scores or reading old reviews from the 90s, I'm expending my energy more AROUND games than actually playing them. That may well be because I'm nostalgic but just lazy.

[ryanofcali]

I've been playing video games for 20 years if that is any idea of my age, I was retro gaming before it was retro as it was just gaming back then and I've progressed through each system on its release date since then.