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[vodka-bull]

I‘ve stopped playing new games, and care more about finishing games from my backlog from GCN era. And yes, I like these games way better. Just finished Halo 1&2 the other day (MCC) and I love how simple games back then were. You habe a gun, you gotta shoot aliens, that‘s it. No overblown menus, character development, skill trees, no artificial overcomplicating of basic game mechanics just to cover that the basic formula of your game sucks. It‘s simple, straightforward and a lot lore fun than 90% of games that are released today.

Also, I love playing old games on my steam deck. Couldn‘t care less about Witcher 3, Cyberpunk or Elden Ring, currently enjoying FFXII Zodiac Age and with that simplicity I really enjoy RPGs, whereas with any modern open-world adventure (or RPG for that matter) I‘d just give up after a fee hours. I even finished FFX two days ago, a game that‘s been sitting in my backlog since 20+ years, but I realized old games are much more fun for me.

 

[ArtHands]

The main reason why the grumpy posts is likely due to them not liking the direction of where this is heading.

Instead of that console experience (of playing high end $70 games on a big TV), these younger folks are embracing lower end retro/cosy gaming on a lot more platforms. On various screen sizes such as monitors and portable devices. It seems unlike your standard hardcore middle aged console players, the younger audience are totally fine playing elsewhere besides a comfy couch too, such as in front of a desk or in bed. Perhaps the younger audience can’t relate well to some gloomy 3rd person cinematic AAA games, and has opt to play fun simpler games.

Not to mention these kids retro gaming via emulation or backward compatibility on PC is destroying the narrative that PC is hard to use, and/or that PC gaming is expensive. if these kids are adapting PC at a young age, it is also less likely they will move away from PC gaming when they grow up.

It fits well with the trends shown with other reports such as the one where people are spending more time on old games.

 

[bender]

Probably because the games were some combination of better and interesting.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Old games are easier all of a sudden?

Some are. Definitely easier to just jump in and start up a game.

 

[gothmog]

It's all a scam to get you to buy one of those retro gaming handhelds. Don't fall for it.

 

[StereoVsn]

It's all a scam to get you to buy one of those retro gaming handhelds. Don't fall for it.

I agree, get a Steam Deck!

 

[SportsFan581]

With those old NES games you press the power button and within like 10 seconds you’re doing something fun. The controls are simple. When you fuck up, you know what you did wrong and immediately get the urge to try again. Your connection to the game feels direct and immediate. You play because the act of playing it feels fun, and it’s satisfying to master.


I think Dreamcast was the last console that felt that way. You played the games because they felt fun and satisfying to play, not because you wanted to experience some “Hollywood blockbuster” story or farm loot or some shit.

Absolutely, the amount of memorization required to master the timing of the old games is something that new games often lack. You really feel it though when you pickup a 8/16bit game you haven't played in 20 or 30 years and still remember the timing of it.

 

[onQ123]

It's not because of wokeness or modern games sucking. Most Gen z don't care about the former and the latter simply isn't true.

It's because they are cheap. You can emulate up to ps2 on a decent phone, and store entire rom libraries on a 256gb SD card. The economy sucks and no one is gonna be out here paying 70 dollars for a game, especially kids/teenagers/starving college students. It's just cause they're accessible.

And this is coming from an actual Gen Z who's also talked to other kids- I think my opinion matters more here.

I agree with everything you said but the part about them not spending money lol

Kids get spoiled more than ever now & spend hundreds on Robucks & Fortnite stuff

 

[Coconutt]

 

[64bitmodels]

Perhaps the younger audience can’t relate well to some gloomy 3rd person cinematic AAA games, and has opt to play fun simpler games.

This also correlates with a lot of these younger members being huge Nintendo fans atleast on Twitter

Nintendo does care about fun first and many of these guys grew up on them. Just instead of branching out to more mature games which sacrifice some gameplay complexity for more interesting stories they are going for indies which often have a similar mindset to Nintendo or do the latter approach while not sacrificing gameplay at all

That being said genz can't catch a break... play modern games you get called mtx season pass addicted whales who don't play real games
Play retro games and you get called a trend chasing tiktok addict who will dump the hobby once you hit a roadblock. No winning

 

[sankt-Antonio]

My kid wanted to get into gaming, Bugsnaxs was free for me so I got him that. Holy shit. The game has multiple control configs, depending on the situation. Time coordinated actions to catch bugs. Every single button on the controller is used, with some having to do double duty based on what mode you are in (Inventory, Camera, Weapon, walking)....

Then I went and got him Rayman which starts out fine, but after a couple of levels get hard (for a kid) for no reason at all.

Where the fuck are modern Sonic 2 like games? They don't exist sadly, so its either Indie games who for some reason are all made for adults and are super hard (taking pride in that) or its pixelated retro games. :/

 

[Barakov]

Why are younger generations embracing the retro game revival?

Retro video games and aesthetics are having a moment, but it’s not just gen X and older millennials reliving their heyday: younger millennials and gen Z are getting in on the nostalgia too

www.theguardian.com

Retro video games and aesthetics are having a moment, but it’s not just gen X and older millennials reliving their heyday: younger millennials and gen Z are getting in on the nostalgia too

Modern games kinda suck. There's too much bloat in the games themselves and the size of some day 1 patches is ridiculous. Old games you boot it up and you're already playing.

This is more a problem with western AAA games, though. A good example was was when the matchmaking for some old COD games was fixed. In those old games you were probably a button press or two away from getting into a MP match. In the more recent ones you have to deal with COD HQ. It's fine once you get a handle on it but it's unnecessary obtuse for a UI. A lot of these AAA developers really need to reign their BS in. Kinda crazy that there seems to be a parallel with games becoming bloated and the DEI stuff showing up in them.

 

[StueyDuck]

Also these posts are honestly pessimistic, cynical and admittedly piss me off

for one thing if people like you could beat those games there's really no reason why some kid with dozens of online guides and savestates to guide him wouldn't.

Moreover tiktok plays a factor but sometimes people just want to enjoy good games. Do you not think that retro games are enjoyable? This movement wouldn't get started if they didn't delight in playing old games now did they?

Not to mention that this has been a thing with younger gamers for years. I've known kids who learnt how to emulate at single digit ages, and I am one of them myself lol. This trend hardly is anything new and I'm sure it predates the big old tiktok boogeyman you think everyone under the age of 40 worships

Are there some kids who genuinely wanna explore old games, of course.

But you gotta be pretty willing to ignore everything that happens in today's society as well as modern trends to not know that majority of why kids do anything is because an idiot on an app told them to do so.

A large group of genZ doing anything Even outside of gaming usually boils down to a person on tiktok made it popular and everyone wants a bit of that fame

 

[Toots]

Hehehe yeah I wasn’t a member then and I had to look Into it. But yeah it was a bit

i thought you were an OG testing me and i also had to look into it (i was not disappointed)

 

[SHA]

I thought this was extremely interesting. Could be a lot of different things happening here.

• Retro games were easier to pick up and play, more focused on fun and gameplay.
• Retro games were a lot more positive, and were created for kids, teenagers, young adults and not jaded 40 year olds.
• Retro games weren't woke.
• Retro games provide an easier way to even get into gaming compared to modern dual stick games that a lot of these kids didn't grow up with.
• Retro games have infinitely better visual clarity, and aren't bogged down with an excessive focus on hyper-realistic graphics, which often obscure people's ability to play and react. It's not an accident that kids are playing things like Roblox and Fortnite also. I highlighted the importance of visual clarity in a previous thread, and how lacking it is in most modern games. This is why you need Witcher detective vision, which always sucks.
• You see this phenomenon happening in movies, film and music as well. Millenials / Gen Z is the 1st to grow up fully in the social media generation, and when we are this connected we have no more sub culture. No one is isolated enough to generate their own customs so nothing new gets created in isolation. I've definitely seen a lot of younger people wearing Nirvana shirts, or seen articles about people going back to older shows. Seems the same is happening with gaming.
• This definitely should be a wake up call to AAA devs worried about the future, but gives me hope for Gen Z since they seem to realize what they've missed out on. It shows that the draw isn't just nostalgia since these kids have none. The games were different.
• Retro games are cheap / free on PC and not $70 a pop.

Phil Spencer actually mentioned it quite sometimes and nobody payed attention to what he's saying, older games do generate sales, he doesn't speak out of his ass, he saw the pattern all this time and it's not really a bad thing actually.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

for one thing if people like you could beat those games there's really no reason why some kid with dozens of online guides and savestates to guide him wouldn't.

I would get one new game at a time, and that would have to last for months. The questions of choice and attention span weren’t part of the picture.

I remember when I discovered emulators. I was so eager to play the hundreds of games I could only see in magazines or on store shelves before.
And all the romsets I *ahem* found back then have barely been browsed in more than 20 years. Of the games I did play, at least half were games I had played before, or that I even owned but the convenience of emus was better.
Now put a generation of people who’ve been born in a world of literally limitless choice for entertainment in the picture. They have limitless old games to choose from, and limitless alternatives to video games. No, I don’t think they’re that committed to the retro hoopla. I myself don’t have the patience anymore without rewind and savestates, and I usually stick to the old games I know.

 

[rofif]

Are they? My nephew wants nothing to do with games that are not five nights at Freddie’s

 

[RoboFu]

Because games are all the same these days and are barely games more " interactive experiences "

 

[Guilty_AI]

Are they? My nephew wants nothing to do with games that are not five nights at Freddie’s

isn't that game 10 years old by now?

 

[rofif]

isn't that game 10 years old by now?

There are like 10 fnaf games, 3d horror games and even vr

 

[Guilty_AI]

There are like 10 fnaf games, 3d horror games and even vr

They all still look retro tho.