How many "retro-gamers" are here?

[Da_Vane]

I currently own and play a shite load of the catalogue of Good Old Games, and I am pretty much determined to own them all, even the genres I don't normally play (or even like).

Check out www.gog.com for more details - it's a great way to support old games that are still for sale, to cut down on piracy, and they do have a slightly modest collection of freeware too.

 

[Antari]

Well I'd definately have to say I'm a retro gamer. Most of the games I play are over 10 years old. Most of my best games were made in the late 80's. I'm not overly concerned what people think about it, screaming nostalgia and such. In most cases older games just had alot more effort and care put into them, making for a better game.

 

[Michael Hirst]

I don't mind retro games, I think a few are awesome, while a few are shit. No different to modern games.

The things I do hate are retro gamers themselves. Not all of them of course, the ones that claim that they know EVERYTHING about the past, present and future of gaming because they were there when it all began. I hate it, they are so proud of playing those 8 bit shit-balls, that for the most part, are only popular because of the cool geek culture they've created.

For example, if Zelda or Mario hadn't of existed, and was released today in all modern graphics glory, nobody would give a shit. It would be a terrible idea. Be honest, it would. They are only popular because they were released at the right time, and spawned a massive, MASSIVE geek culture lineage.

I didn't get into Zelda for ages, it wasn't one of the games I grew up with at all but a couple years ago I played through Ocarina of Time and loved it, the games are still good, while they do have a lineage to the origins of console gaming as we know it they still stand on their own as fun games, once I completed Ocarina I did Wind Waker and Twilight Princess all of which are fantastic examples of Adventure games.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I don't mind retro games, I think a few are awesome, while a few are shit. No different to modern games.

The things I do hate are retro gamers themselves. Not all of them of course, the ones that claim that they know EVERYTHING about the past, present and future of gaming because they were there when it all began. I hate it, they are so proud of playing those 8 bit shit-balls, that for the most part, are only popular because of the cool geek culture they've created.

For example, if Zelda or Mario hadn't of existed, and was released today in all modern graphics glory, nobody would give a shit. It would be a terrible idea. Be honest, it would. They are only popular because they were released at the right time, and spawned a massive, MASSIVE geek culture lineage.

I didn't get into Zelda for ages, it wasn't one of the games I grew up with at all but a couple years ago I played through Ocarina of Time and loved it, the games are still good, while they do have a lineage to the origins of console gaming as we know it they still stand on their own as fun games, once I completed Ocarina I did Wind Waker and Twilight Princess all of which are fantastic examples of Adventure games.

Sorry, I think I worded that wrong. I'm not saying they aren't good games, not by any stretch... Although there are some exceptions to that rule. But yeah, Basically, they won't be anywhere near as big as they are now. If you get my meaning. They'd just be shrugged off as another action RPG or platformer. Completely forgotten within a year of release.

 

[SweetNess_666]

Well I guess I must be a retro gamer. First console was a sega mega drive...o my days how times have changed from my first SYSTEM commadore 64 eeek. One of my fave games is resident evil 2, what a game . Ye I'm retro

 

[Issurru]

I got my SNES when I was four years old and got my Nintendo 64 when I was about 8-9. To this day (I'm 21) I still have the two systems hooked up to my tv and will play them for about an hour or so a week. I grew up on these systems and no matter how old, stale or outdated they get they still give me such great warm and fuzzy feelings. I'd say I'm more into nostalgia than a "retro gamer" as I don't have much interest in old games that I did not play as a child, though I believe the two go hand in hand.

I still play the shit out of current gen games though, there's no contest on what I spend more time on - the new stuff.

This pretty much sums it up for me, I wouldn't say i'm a perfect or hardcore retro gamer. But i do love to go back to my older game collections or just re-buy them if I have the money to spare.

I was born in the 90's but still grew up with a lot of the older systems (Intellivision, NES, SNES, Genesis, etc) there were very few systems I didn't own as a kid. I love how hard the games used to be back then. Like Battletoads, which to this day, I still haven't been able to beat. Albeit I don't play it that often but I still play it somewhat.

 

[Chris646]

I'm a bit of a retro gamer. I play DOS games more frequently than stuff on the PS3. I find that the older I get, the older the systems I'll play get. I also get angry when people are stupid and mistake an NES cart for an N64 one.

 

[GameMaNiAC]

Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Woah, and here I thought I was the only one still playing it. I beat it once every year, as it's my favorite game of all time.

OT: Yes, I play quite many old games, even those before my generation.

 

[RevRaptor]

I love retro games, I still have my master system, megadrive and snes, first system I owned was a atari 2600 I had to share with my sister.

 

[Kekkles]

I'm not so much retro, I do still own my N64 and play it all the time but I'm more of a PS2 fan. The games around that time were seriously breaking moulds and setting new boundaries, amazing stuff. The sole reason I don't go back so far is because of the bare simplicity of them. I respect them for what they are and were but I'm not one to enjoy the REALLY old stuff.

 

[CroutonsOfDeath]

Retro gamer? Well, does it matter if it is consoles or computers? Because while I did have an NES and enjoyed it, I didn't really play any retro consoles and don't consider myself a retro-gamer... on consoles.

On computers though? Hell yes. I get at least one glimpse of a C:\> every day I want to game, and no DOS box. Retro-machines for the win. I grew up on PC games rather than consoles, so DOS, Apple ][, Commodore Amiga and ZX Spectrum were my platforms of choice. I also am huge into retro shooters, in fact whenever I die whilst reloading in a modern shooter I almost always grumble "Doom-Guy didn't have to reload, dammit."

I can pull so many retro computer games off the top of my head it's ridiculous sometimes, in no particular order here are a few that spring to mind

Castle Wolfenstein/Beyond Castle Wolfenstein
Zeliard
Fire and Ice
Wasteland (Proto-Fallout =D)
Doom
Wolfenstein 3-D
Quake
Commander Keen
Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion
Wizardry Gold
The Ultima series
Catacomb 3-D Trilogy
Lemmings
Maniac Mansion
Another World
Shadow of the Beast series
etc.
etc.
etc.

 

[kuzaro]

The thing is the market for games is ridiculous now with 100s of potential new games to choose from each year with at least half of them being. How do you know which ones to choose? Its easier to just replay games from 10 years ago or buy games from a series or generation you are familiar with.

ALso games in general have been going very down hill in the last few years with big companies like square enix releasing high volume of low quality games and smaller brands not standing a chance in the market.

I'm currently playing super mario land series on gameboy.

 

[hooksashands]

There are few games I would go back and play with any real conviction... because halfway through I realize I am congratulating myself on discovering a deeper meaning to the characters in these games than in the modern ones.

And then I realize the reason retro games are better is because the need for retarded voice actors was never extravagant then. I carefully scrutinized everything in a textbox. Then the vocal volunteers showed up.

"Hero, your will energy is low."
"Hey!...Hey!...Listen!...Hey!...Watch out!...Hey!..."
"*grunt* Reloading!"

And it's been mostly worse ever since.

 

[kouriichi]

Im quite a retro gamer.
I squee'd like a school girl over a box of kittens when i saw steam had a sega collection for sale.

I also have quite a few emulators. I cant even say its funny that games made 10+ years ago are better then games made these days.

 

[Findlebob]

The oldest i have is PS1. I think that counts.

 

[VelvetHorror]

I have fond memories from when I was a kid, with the original nintendo, super nintendo, and the nintendo 64. I remember playing the original metroid, boy and his blob, duck hunt for the original, loving killer instinct, super mario world, Turtles in Time for the super nintendo, and a ton of games for the 64 including OoT, Majora's mask, Goldeneye, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Snap, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo and Kazooie, Banjo Twooie, and a few other games that I can't quite remember their names.

Ohhhh those were the days.

I don't recall ever playing any consoles older than the original nintendo, but I've played more classic games like Pong asteroids, and Ms. Pacman though other means.

I don't think it's bad to be a retro gamer. It's just fact that at that point in time Nintendo had the market when it came to consoles. Everyone had one and it was only until later that the PS1 came out. While I love the old Nintendo consoles and games, now I'm more interested in indy games that aren't afraid to take risks to make a game that isn't a cookie cutter rpg, fps, or rts. Often times those games can come out on the computer, where I can take it wherever I want and play it whenever.

 

[Vkmies]

I haven't been a collector for long, only for a few years, so that time has been spent in getting the necessary consoles. All the nintendo home consoles, some Sega action, Atari/Commodore and stuff like that. So my game library is still fairly small. Probably around 300-500 games.

But I have gotten 'into' it. Alot. I love the community we have built around youtube and other places. I like looking into the history of my favorite art-form. See how the industry has grown over the years. It makes you look at gaming a whole new way. I love simplistic games and I love going to the "Time-machine-mood" and be techonologically impressed by games 25 years old. What a great hobby.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I've been playing the Gold Box CRPGs (Dragonlance series) recently. Which I first played as a child. I probably count.

 

[Blow_Pop]

I love my retro games and use to own an atari 2600 til my mom threw it out cause "girls don't play video games". I have a few games still on my N64 that I managed to save. (cause it was the 2600, NES, and N64 that she took her wrath out on and it wasn't cause of my grades I was a straight A student back then and logged countless hours playing outside as well as inside on the consoles.) Though Doom was one of my favourites when I had it for the computer. I suspect that disc got thrown out as well....

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I suppose I kind of count because of my regular playing of my SNES.