Reasons for playing retro games

[J.B’s rabbit den]

There’s a lot of reasons for me
1. Experience what many types of fun games were like in the past
2. Aesthetics
3. Have something to play as a time killer when bored or want some alone time
4. And lastly because what can I say, I just love retro stuff

 

[Graw]

Because they're fun.

 

[Swerve]

Today's standard AAA world makes for cookie cutter experiences that only provide something over and over that was innovated 3 copy cats ago and I feel as if modern devs are out of touch and more in cline to appease investors and overall sales rather than overall experience. Think about this in the late 90s early 00 it was not rare for some off beat or prominent new genre to just spur out nowhere in a organic way. Nowadays there's no innovation and seldom a good idea that makes titles bend or transform into a "new " genre which is almost frowned upon by the media at large press and players. Simple toys simple ploys. Hell we even champion for om soft for game design when in reality it's nothing new and at one time such care and attention was the norm (Ultima, Contra, Wing Commander, Myst, NBA Jam, even Diablo 1&2, all different but all quality by detail and thoughtful planning that went on to define or inspire a new approach making gaming if you will a often fresh experience back then title to title,)

 

[AkiraSO4]

Fun, ease of access, modern stuff being too overpriced, nostalgia I guess.
But mostly fun.

 

[Leviafen]

because i think something was lost as time went on. i try new games just as often as i try old games and usually the older games have longer lasting impressions on me.
im tired of seeing new games market thier super high definition visuals with washed out art styles.
im tired of overcomplicated ui's that constantly need to remind me how to perform a million different actions while giving me a ton of info on the sides i may not even pay attention to at certain points.
im tired of having the game tug me around telling me how cool it is by showcasing set pieces that they decided were so interesting i have no other choice but to look at it and be less engaged with it than if i were to have made the executive decision myself to go over and see it.
im just tired of being told what im supposed to like about games.
its not like every new game is like this but it sure as hell feels like it sometimes and a lot of these points are exaggerated or overblown but sometimes im right on the money.
not even trying to say older games werent full of stuff i hate cause sometimes they are, but sometimes i just wanna boot up something i can turn my brain off to thats still quality regardless of how much im willing to interact with the game and it just feels a lot harder to do that with newer games.

in short im old....

 

[Adrastia]

The only reason that matters; elitism against modern games
View attachment 63841
Nah I’m just joshing around, I love all kinds of games
I personally don’t subscribe to the idea that games “age badly”, so I enjoy a lot of retro games of all kinds. 2D, 3D platformers, action adventure, what have you.

I once heard someone say OoT aged badly. How? It plays really well even now. The graphics are still serviceable. If I can tell what stuff is then we are a-ok.

 

[YoshifreakZX]

Simply having fascination towards games before my time ever since I was a kid playing my cousin's N64 and SNES in like the late 00s and watching YouTube videos about them. I also had one of those crappy NES clone consoles they sold at malls back in the day (this was way before the NES Classic BTW.)

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Game good.

 

[solidbatman]

im a trained historian and archivist so i have a fascination with the past. retro video games sometimes be a window into it.

plus old jank crap is fun to mess around with hanging out with friends.

 

[DanCalibur]

Games were hard to come by where I grew up so we didn't care if it was old, new, good, bad, in english or klingon, we just played it. A school friend lend you a copy of Dragon Quest V in japanese? This is gonna be a good weekend. The rental store around the corner has Goldeneye running four players split screen in a 14" CRT? Who needs eyesight anyway. You got your hands on Final Fantasy VII but the final disc is missing? Who cares, six is better anyway. You help your aunt throw away some old stuff and find an Atari 2600? A blessing from the Lord. You get a PC and Warcraft 3 runs at 9 FPS? But look at those glorious cut scenes. Your cousin calls you to play his new video game and it's a polistation? You get sad when it stop working after five minutes.
But now we got access to everything and can cherry pick just the best and obviously the chance of finding something good to play is bigger in a 40 year period than in the last month. That and I'm too old to play crap

 

[Yuniheim]

for me it's more convenient, I mostly only have access to my phone so I play on bus, on the restroom or when I have some free time
and I also don't have a very good phone so retro games are mostly everything I can afford to run on it

but also for love, some old games can be quite dated but they're timeless masterpieces either in story or art, they deliver a quality that it's often unseen in newer games, Chrono Trigger and Legend of Mana are some prime examples of this

 

[Bacon Eater64x]

-They are shorter (except JRPGs)
-I grew up with Piracy so my gaming tastes are like 2-3 generations behind the average Zoomer in their 20s
-I enjoy things from the past over the present most of the time since i always had an affinity on what came before i was born or what i missed out on.
-They just don't make them like they used to. (Im not talking about quality but instead style and philosophy)

 

[Varyag]

I share reasons with a lot of people in this here thread (I guess we all kinda do, being in THIS website)

I realized a few years ago, that while modern games were stagnant and getting more and more expensive (if only I knew about $90 Switch 2), there were many old games that defined their genres that I had never played. And with the exceedingly easy accessibility to retro games (even ones not that old, from 6-12 years ago) it meant I had a huge library to choose from at any time. Now, I have archived a huge amount of ROMs for emulators of all generations, that I can play at any time when I feel like it.

Also, some particular old games have experiences that no modern game can match. Especially with the vibes that playing many of those give off. Classic Doom, arcade shmups (CAVE is kino) Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Dawn of War.

Also also, nostalgia. I grew up with a PS2 with a massive library of pirated games. I still love many of those, and there's PS2 games I've been discovering only now.

 

[sadasa]

1. insert cartridge​

2. power on console and tv​

3. enjoy​

(The game is complete. No internet is needed to enjoy it)​

 

[rugal]

1 nostalgia i did grow up with snes. nes and ps1
2 i find the old games more fun to play
3 the music in old nes and snes are great
4 the creators did have more freedom to create the game they wanted to create

 

[Leo-Dash]

1. Growing up with GC, GBA, DS and PS2 (Thanks to my cousins)
2. I grew up that owning a new game every 1-2 years was a LUXURY
3. I despise the modern triple A gaming
4. I'm stuck with a 15+ years old PC
5. Unique graphics, from beautiful 2D pixel art to low fidelity and chel shaded graphics
6. A lot of hidden gems to find!

 

[garbodorman]

because some of them are fun, simple yet addicting gameplay, you don't need tutorial/manual to learn how to play it( like classic megaman). and the music can be really good( like classic megaman).

 

[MegaDrive1987]

Even if i wanted to play modern games(I don't), I simply can't those things are too resource intensive and I'm not buying a new computer every few years, to play a copy/paste cover shooter or open world...
Also most modern games that I been interested you can probably play then in a 386, like Shadow of the ninja reborn.
Too much eye candy to little game.

I'm exactly the same now which is why I won't be upgrading my PC any further than what I've got apart from planning to switch to an AMD card because I now run Linux. System requirements are absolutely ridiculous nowadays and games being buggy and badly optimised doesn't help. Plus most AAA games aren't even worth buying anymore as they're all basically the same, PLENTY of classics to keep me entertained.

 

[Esidemoken]

They are the closest thing to the expectations I have about video games, the modern problems in the medium as games as a service, DLC and other micropayments, death of classic sagas or that still exist but so altered that no longer resemble previous deliveries.... I prefer retro games, every now and then a new one comes out that really catches my attention but there are fewer and fewer, for example the only game I expected this year was Ender Magnolia and I finished it.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

I have more than just one reason :

1. I've missed out a huge quantity of games as a child , Teenager and even as an adult . Retrogaming makes me enthusiastic about gaming again , even in its romhacks .

2. Old games have concepts and design ideas that were much more daring , focused and really cool which nowadays you wont see with modern gaming and sparingly in indies . Maybe years later but right now its a treasure trove of fresh backlog material .

3. The Pixel-art , the older graphics and stylistic approaches (even in its camera-use) is much more engaging and interesting (except when the camera becomes your worst enemy but nothing is perfect) .

4. For Inspiration-purpose . Those older games have a soundtrack , a story , a setting and much more that just tickles my brain in the right direction for new ideas because these are either very awesome , experimental and have an potential behind it that needs a spiritual successor in any form . For me its great for my self-made TTRPG-adventures , when i compose music or just appreciate their works when it great.

 

[Pokenami's icon Pokenami Pokenami]

1. The fun value is still there
2. I can play most of the games I didn't get a chance to try out and play
3. Older games were more creative and wild with their ideas compared to modern games of today.
4. For the most part, older games are more complete and it doesn't require any updates or DLC.
5. I honestly prefer playing older games instead of newer games

 

[The Missing Link]

Their fun even if there old, they feel complete. The graphics aren't everything to me, as long as its playable. No DLC required or you need to be online to play. There from a time I remember when I was the happiest, and yeah while I'm okay now, they take my mind away from all the BS I'm dealing with, which is a good thing.

 

[Matricks]

 

[Poltergeist]

I just see a game I might like and simply start playing it. I don't care if it's retro or not.

 

[Retro Doomer]

Well Reasons for Playing Retro Games are

1.Classic Games that are not Available on Newer Systems
2.Often Better Gameplay and Polished Games
3.Soul those old Games had a Actual Soul in them
4.Full Games for the Price no shady DLC and Microtransactions
5.Eat Less of your Memory as they take up less space on your Hardrive
6.A Huge Gaming Library to chose from
7.Those games are from a Time where Companies where still sane or at least had to pretend to be.
And many more Reasons.So in overall its very much worth it to play Retro Games nowadays.