What got you (or got you back) into retro gaming?

[Boo Man]

years ago i mentioned to a friend that i wanted to play nostalgic PS1 games
and he said "Just emulate it" he had to explain what an emulator was and 10 minutes later i was playing my childhood games from emuparadise on ePSXe
also got a ton of malware but it was worth it

 

[BrawlMan]

I presume you physically collect them still? That’s pretty sweet! I lost my collection itch after I got a lot of otome games I was searching for but I’ve been meaning to come back.

Most retro games I don't collect anymore, but if it's something on the PS2 or GC, and is at a cheap/cheap enough price, I will get it. Or if it's a compilation pack on modern systems/PC, I will got those too. Sometimes I might pick up an old PS1 game, but I pretty much use my RG35XXH for those games I don't have or certain Dreamcast games. I don't have DC either, and honestly this works better with my portable emulation device that can hook up into a flat screen of any size.

I first got into emulation around 1999,when my younger cousin introduced me to NES,,SNES and Gameboy Emulation,which around that time,I was still gaming the Latest new Nintendo 64 and Playstation 1 games that were coming out at that time like 'Jet Force Gemeni" and "Street Fighter Alpha 3"

The First 3 games I've ever played on Emulation were "KIrby's Adventure",POkemon Yellow,and Super Bomberman 2.lol

I knew about the emulation scene when I was 12 back in 2002, but didn't officially download an emulator and roms until about 2007. There were actual emulation sites that would let you play games on their web site for free, but most of those tended to be single screen arcade games. Still fun.

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

Being born in Latin America

The secret curse that nobody talks about

 

[cornpops]

My current emulation kick started with Tomba. I was sitting around for long periods of time after work and I wanted something to do, so I bought myself a Kishi (v2) and started picking through emulator titles. Lemuroid, while it sounds pretty painful, made for a very pleasant alternative to retroarch for just making things work.

I was also listening to the Insert Credit podcast and that got me to play Lufia 2.

But, I mean, I've been playing "retro" games ever since the early 2000's. I was sitting on a 120MHz Pentium through to about 2002, and the only things I could comfortably play were the games popping up on abandonware sites. Secret Agent, Wolfenstein, Master of Orion, Monkey Island, Scorched Earth -- I was playing all these things well past their expiry dates. Hell, I had an uncle who had held onto their 486 and I'd be playing Prince of Persia every time we went over.

Now that I think about it, I still have that uncle. Not the 486, though. Bad exchange.

 

[beowulf848]

I guess I never wasn't a retro gamer? I started with an Atari 2600 and an NES back in the late 80s. Still have them to this day. A good bit of nostalgia and the charm of older games has kept me a fan of them.

 

[Metroid_Hybrid]

Depending on how you look at it, I never stopped..

I started gaming when the SNES was the "new kid on the block" back in 91~92 (4th Gen), and continued pretty hardcore into my early adulthood..

Long-story-short... it was during the 7th Generation (PS3/Xbox 360/Wii) when I became very disillusioned with the general state of gaming, matched with a variety of other responsibilities (job, GF, martial arts), I generally fell off for over a decade. That is, outside of playing a shit-ton of Monster Hunter Freedom (mostly 1, and then later Unite) with my then-GF..
So when I finally came back around, my PS3 & PSP were/are considered "retro," and the very thing that initially brought me here (via CDRomance) was to download a pre-patched copy of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd..

 

[ShadowsofCreationAga]

Was a huge FF Fan, grew up during the PSOne Era... so as old ones game out fresh on PSOne (and sometimes in English for the first time) I played a lot of the older games that way. Then because I was already somewhat versed in older games, it wasn't too much of a stretch to play other ones as well.

 

[extermist]

Fighting games, later emulation and later arcade games.

 

[Appiplyer]

First bcs i have a gba emulator soo naturally all games i played was from that time. So instead of playing point blank on an internet cafe i just there playing pokemon and mmbn.

 

[beefbowl]

Consoles werent a big thing in my country back then, everyone had PCs to play games on. My pc wasnt powerful enough to play current games, so i played older games. Then oneday i wanted to play some Sonic, did some research and found out about emulation. Even though i have a pc to play anything nowadays, i still buy older consoles and mod them to play whatever i want.

 

[Rocket2049]

every game selling part of the game seperately for more money is the major reason.
every FIGHTING GAME is ruined by this model...
i always wait to buy ANY games these days because
1. i'm too broke to buy 70$ plus games AND THEN SPEND MORE on it later!
2. most games go on sale to 50% off roughly 6 months after release, if a game goes on sale earlier, i always say "alright what's wrong with it?"
3. on launch every game is broken in some way, small bugs, major bugs, horrible balance, etc.
4. massive backlog of games, my PS5 (PS4 and 5 games together) has 400 games...INSTALLED
meaning, i have over 700 in TOTAL to download. if you're wondering how the F, i share with a friend who buys more games than I would.

now i just hate everything being remastered (most doing absolutely NOTHING to make it better)
but i never really left retro gaming lol...
i got backlogs to the NES days,
never beat chrono cross, Final Fantasy 8, Tactics, the original dragon quest 7 (reimagined is so much easier and shorter than PS1 game)
never played donkey kong 64 until a few days ago!!
just now started shining force 2 planning to get through all shining force (CD, gaiden, 3 JAPAN version which is 3 discs)
only beat 3 fire emblem games out of... omg how many are there now LOL

 

[Retro Doomer]

Nothing got me back into Retro gaming I never stopped it in the first place.

But if I need to state a more precise reason games that look interesting that i failed to experience since I was born to late for them or games I missed since I did not know about them,simply I find them fascinating also I am not a fan of moser modern games in the first place for various reasons.

also the feeling when you simply play games you played as a kid and are considered a retro gamer simply by doing that,we are all Boomers now.

 

[Snipo]

I got into retro games as a kid because they were cheaper, so to me it just made more sense to buy multiple older games than one newer game for the same price.

 

[Sadeame]

Guess it kinda always just was there. Started my gaming with Snes at my cousins place and other cousin had a PS1 and Later original Xbox. Fastforward a bit and I randomly learned about emulators (zsnesw in my case) and then the retro just stuck with me. It's been like 15 years and counting.

 

[fake-chan]

Emulators and having zero scruples about piracy.

 

[Blamhammer]

Oh gawd that retro gal image haunting us all again.

It was MGS on the PS1 back at release. How? T'was the Previous Operations option that gave a summary of the first two games. Tracked them down, learnt about emulators and the rest is history.
Good timing too since soon after MGS1 came out the first English patch for MG2SS was released. What a good game!

 

[JellyjamLu]

A good few years ago it was because I wanted to collect physical N64 and Dreamcast again, console and all, as it seemed fun and was, nowadays though it's because I moved to PC entirely, there I was not only able to emulate almost everything and have it all in one place to boot but also mod, enhance and play better quality or definitive versions of classics.
Goldeneye, high framerates? insane resolution? plus custom leveles? done.
The pushing point for me to go PC in the first place was SH2 definitive edition, I absolutely had to have it, that one project alone helped me make that transition, not looked back since.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

I was around even before arcades were a thing, and even when I was homeless for a time,
gaming NEVER left me. But boy do I miss the golden days of arcades

 

[CaptainSkelly]

I’ve always enjoyed old games. But I forget what year exactly, must’ve been like 8 or 9 years ago idk, I was getting really into collecting physical copies of old games especially ps1 and ps2 stuff. I got Lunar Silver Star Story Complete and I was so so so fired up to play another jrpg. I went on to play FFV, VI, and then VII along with RE2 and 3 on the side. I modded a Dreamcast I bought so I got classic RE2 and 3 and lots of other games on the GDEMU. I’ve always enjoyed jrpgs but Lunar 1 really really put me back in the zone for loving jrpgs. Especially old jrpgs from the ps1 era. Btw I have the special box editions of Lunar 1 and 2. Very proud to own them. And ps1 copies of RE2 and 3

 

[DjQuick2008]

Definitely the anbernic handheld boom had a guy on ebay teach me how to set up the sd cards then i started dabbling with setting up standalone systems and ive been at it ever since. Having never owned a dreamcast or gamecube im having a great time of gaming plus grabbing a PS2 again this year and having the biggest amount of games ive ever had for that system.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Definitely the anbernic handheld boom

Omg were practically distant twins

 

[DjQuick2008]

Omg were practically distant twins

sounds good lol the handhelds are a great addition to my hobbies.

 

[shaggi]

New games begins to be less enjoyable for me, so i decided to go back to games from my childhood. I also found many old consoles that i never had. I got interested in all that machines and games. I couldn't afford to buy any of that consoles, so i start emulating them. That's how it's going to this day.

 

[Aldia Aldia]

I was an autistic kid with unsupervised internet access and a terrible computer, and I went places.

 

[Aunt Sarah]

When my addiction to FF14 Online ended, (because the job homogenization, Free Companies becoming much less social in general, and story getting really cornball) I tried to stay on modern stuff primarily. Bought a PS5. But I wasn't jiving with it. I actually had a big physical retro collection for a while after that. I was especially voracious of Saturn, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD. Then I was unemployed long term and sold almost all my physical retro stuff to service my debt.

Brother in law built me a gaming PC around his 2080ti after he upgraded to a 4080, and suddenly blammo, I was diving headfirst into emulation and frontends. Then I found out about retroarch and it;s huge suite of CRT shaders and I was IN. Doesn't hurt that when a modern game arrives I want to play the rig is capable of running anything PS5 runs, but better. Now I have a SN30 Pro and it just feels so good.