Are people oblivious to the fact that we exist?

[Flake]

This is a conversation that only happens with gamers like us. Reason #256 why I prefer the electronic company of you folks to the rest of the gaming demographic.

[Jrecee]

But, again, the graphics in 3-D consoles can be improved through emulation. However, I've never used an emulator for the PS1 or Saturn or N64 or anything, so I really can't speak to their quality in areas other than graphics.

Playing F-Zero on an N64 emulator at 1080p is pretty sweet. Something about the superlow polygon count in HD is cool. Eventually I'll get a computer hooked up to my TV along with a usb N64 controller so I can play N64 in HD all the time.

[Ack]

I just can't take the onslaught of "army man" games as I call them. Call of Duty / Bad Company and so on. But every generation of console had their trends. 8-bit had a lot of platformers, 16-bit had even more platformers and tons of bad fighting games. 32-bit era had really crappy looking polygon games that probably shouldn't have been polygon.

And so on.

The retro price gouge is very disheartening. It really takes the fun out of collecting. I hope this recent retro trend dies off a bit. I'm tired of seeing emo kids with NES controller belt buckles that profess to be "old school."

Here's hoe I classify the eras of gaming:

2/4-bit: Generic Arcade Games
8-bit: Platformers
16-bit: Platformers again
32/64-bit: RPGs
128-bit: FPSs
This Gen: Still FPSs...

You underrate the importance of platformers imo. Sure fighting games were at their peak in 16 bit times in popularity, but every other game was a side scrolling platformer. And with the mario vs sonic war and lots of cutesy mascot characters everywhere, I'd say its obvious what genre defines the 16 bit eras games most XD

Also, im not sure i agree with RPGs for 32/64 bit, ESPECIALLY as 64 bit means N64, which had quest, paper mario and uh...pokemon stadium? Personally, I think platformers still had a big part in that era with the likes of mario, banjo kazooie, conker, bug, clockwork knight, crash bandicoot and spyro the dragon being popular games for their system. I also think action adventure was at the height of its popularity with the likes of Tomb Raider and Zelda being enormously popular. Of course, some might say zelda is an RPG, but thats a whole different kettle of fish that we shouldnt get into here XD

Still, fighters were the big draw of the 16-bit era. The highest selling game Capcom has ever released was a SNES fighter, Street Fighter 2 and Street Fighter 2 Turbo are considered two of the biggest reasons Nintendo ultimately outdid Sega during the era, and Mortal Kombat is the top reason why we have the ESRB. There are many platformers during the era, but they were becoming less dominant in terms of popularity., and difficult to pull off in the arcades, which saw a large resurgence in the early 90s because of the fighting game. So I'd say he's right about the 16-bit era, though I agree that we shouldn't forget the popularity of the platforming genre.

I'd also agree with his assessment of RPGs being one of the biggest genres of the 32/64-bit era, as the console with the highest number of RPGs ended up the highest seller, with Squaresoft, Enix, and other companies releasing a large number of RPGs. Final Fantasy 7 is one of the most important titles of that era, regardless of what we think of it. Before this, the console RPG was popular amongst its small niche community; FF7 proved the catalyst that made the RPG popular with the masses and helped put the PlayStation brand on the map. 3D platformers were popular, but not as popular as in previous incarnations, and beyond Mario the console platformer mascot died out(Crash Bandicoot anyone?). And while many great platformers appear during the era, if you ask the average person about what games they think of when they think of the time, titles like Clockwork Knight, Bug, and Banjo Kazooie likely won't come before such others as Final Fantasy 7 and Resident Evil.

As for the 128-bit era, the FPS did end up dominating because of Halo's impact, though it took a little while. And while FPS continue their popularity now, I'd actually argue that third-person action games are taking over: sandbox titles like GTA, Crackdown, Prototype, Infamous, Red Faction: Guerilla, Red Dead Redemption, or titles like God of War, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Darksiders, Dante's Inferno...you get the idea.

[Jrecee]

How you perceive the different generations probably depends on what system you had. If you had a playstation during the 32/64 bit era you probably think of it as the RPG era. If you had an N64, it was the collectathon platformer era.

The 16 bit era was platformer after platformer. Even as that generation was fading away you had the donkey kong country games coming out. Fighting games started becoming popular but other than mortal combat and street fighter, I can't think of any fighters on home consoles that were huge at that time. It seems like arcade style fighters became more popular on the saturn/playstation/dreamcast because not as much had to change when they ported them from arcade to console.

[alienjesus]

Maybe it's because I'm in Europe, but RPGs were never a big deal in the 32 bit era beyond the final fantasy games here. Mostly because the majority of them werent released in this region ¬_¬

[Pichu]

I find it hard for people who are both a classic gamer and own a current gen console. Such as myself, and sometimes I feel like giving up on one and focusing completely on the other. (Guess which one I would give up on if I did....)

Oh also, when I said I wondered how many people here are under 18, I meant, how many teens are active classic gamers or collectors, anywhere in the world.

[Ack]

Maybe it's because I'm in Europe, but RPGs were never a big deal in the 32 bit era beyond the final fantasy games here. Mostly because the majority of them werent released in this region ¬_¬

Maybe so. Here in the states I had people approaching me for advice in RPGs like Final Fantasy 8 that never would have played one at any other time. We started seeing televised ads for titles like Legend of Dragoon and Chrono Cross(funny story, the CG was so pretty in Chrono Cross my mother went out and bought it for me when she saw it). If you ask the average person on the street what was their first RPG, Final Fantasy 7 is the most common answer. In the US, it put PlayStation on the map.

[alienjesus]

Maybe it's because I'm in Europe, but RPGs were never a big deal in the 32 bit era beyond the final fantasy games here. Mostly because the majority of them werent released in this region ¬_¬

Maybe so. Here in the states I had people approaching me for advice in RPGs like Final Fantasy 8 that never would have played one at any other time. We started seeing televised ads for titles like Legend of Dragoon and Chrono Cross(funny story, the CG was so pretty in Chrono Cross my mother went out and bought it for me when she saw it). If you ask the average person on the street what was their first RPG, Final Fantasy 7 is the most common answer. In the US, it put PlayStation on the map.

See, I would say that it was a combination of Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider and possibly Crash Bandicoot here.

[pepharytheworm]

I don't think people are oblivious to the fact that retro gamers exist. They are just having a hard time trying to make money off us, but they are trying. There are plenty of examples of modern games trying to appeal to nostalgia and retro.

I like being into retro games somewhat because its not a big thing. For some reason when some things become popular they lose their appeal to me. I really liked FPS games when they were a niche genre but less so now that they are very popular. Same for RPGs which seemed at the height of their popularity during the 32 bit era, I liked much more before and after. I guess when I see something to much and almost like its forced on me I kinda dispise it, the same goes for negative campigns. One of the reasons I perfered Nintendo over Sega was because of the "Nintendon't" ads.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

I find it hard for people who are both a classic gamer and own a current gen console. Such as myself, and sometimes I feel like giving up on one and focusing completely on the other. (Guess which one I would give up on if I did....)

Oh also, when I said I wondered how many people here are under 18, I meant, how many teens are active classic gamers or collectors, anywhere in the world.

I've been collecting retro as my primary hobby since the age of nine (wwwaaaaaayyyyyy back in 2001! ) and I'm now 18.

That's nearly ten years of scavenging yard sales, friend's basements, closets, goodwills, flea markets, swap meets, making trades and getting into my hobby at an insanely early age.

Just to think I started all of this collecting with simply the intention to buy a Genesis and a Sega CD.......