Some of my friends love retro stuff and may play old games every once in a while, but I don’t think many are as attached to old games as I am. Most of them have and play their games on newer hardware, while I usually only buy a hardware once it’s on its way out. I bought a PS2 in 2006, a Wii U in 2017 and a 3DS in 2019, so there’s a pattern there!
So yeah, most of them are playing whatever new game has just been released. I, however, can wait a few years.
After having our 2nd kid a few months back my wife and I were talking about the possibility of a 3rd. Literally my first thought and primary consideration was: hell naw, the N64 only has 4 controllers. We’re already maxed out. 
Haha… we are at 2 now and I hadn’t thought about maxing out the N64 ports… damnit!
Unless we make it 4 and husband and I just retire from playing, leaving all 4 slots for the kids 
You just need some 5 player PCEngine in your life. Problem solved.
Lol perfect. Honestly, my kids are one of the reasons I got back into retro games, particularly the N64 / SNES / Genesis / NES. Out of all my old highschool and college buddies there’s maybe one that’s still into gaming whatsoever (let alone the retro scene) so family’s all I got.
There’s something so wonderfully direct and tactile about plonking in a cartridge/disc, powering up and booting straight into the game without all the layers of information-dense UI you often have to deal with in modern consoles. I have a drawer full of wireless 8bitdo controllers and have my boy pick one, and then we’ll play a game from that system together. It’s good fun.
Yeah that’s mostly the same with me. I have a few friends that are into retro stuff, but I play far more with my 6 year old than them. I guess COVID doesn’t help.
I have friends who appreciate old games due to the different circumstances in how they were made, but I don’t know anyone IRL who’s actively engaged in the retro scene.
I’ve had colleagues at work call me a hipster whenever I complain about a new game not being up to the standards of its predecessors - I remember that vivdly with Fire Emblem on Switch. I miss that - my local multiplayer gaming sessions have dropped to zero since the beginning of the pandemic.