Can you ever really go back?

I don’t think that’s true. Many of the most praised C64 tracks are from gameplay sections. Sound effects were sacrificed, though.

C64 music isn’t for everyone (it seems to be love it or hate it regardless of whether someone was exposed to it back in the day) but for fans of gritty synth, it’s really good. Most of the music made on it wouldn’t translate at all to other formats of its time. It would sound butchered or flat. I first played Last Ninja 2 after the 16-bit consoles came out and it still blew me away for music.

I think at some point all retro enthusiasts confront this question, and I think in general it’s a mix of nostalgia and general interests that determines a retro gamer’s fate.

Nostalgia seems to be the impetus for most people to get into old games. Whether it’s downloading an emulator, a cheap phone game, buying a SNES classic, or a Super Nt/SNES, I feel like the overwhelming majority of retro gamers are in some part first interested in ‘going back’, at least in part.

As several have said in this thread, once you scratch that nostalgia itch, you’re just left with the games. This is where the barriers start to pop up. It could be that you’re not really into old games, or you find it hard to adjust to the different control and graphics of older games, or after a brief hit of nostalgia you may have had your fill.Still others may go a little deeper (looking at original hardware, upscalers, etc.) to find that the prices and work involved just aren’t worth it to play old games.

I have a good example I think. When my wife first got into into retro games her interest lived and died by nostalgia. She was interested only in the SNES and only in games she played as a kid. For these games, only the best (most original) would do. Real carts, real hardware, low lag, etc. She didn’t care about video quality either, as long as it was authentic she was perfectly happy playing over composite or RF on a little Emerson she used to own. For her it was nostalgia first, games second. She said many times that her interest in games was all about “going back”.

Or it was. Now that we have been playing different games together, many that neither of us played as kids, she is warming up to them a lot. Having someone else around to get into the hobby has given her a chance to explore and find more games that she likes. That’s what I think happens for most of us, though of course we don’t always have a SO to help. Most people of a certain age get the itch to try out some old games, but in many cases, barriers (both internal and external) present themselves that not everyone is willing to deal with. Those that are willing to end up neck-deep in the hobby like we are.

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For me, setting up the consoles and having a cool looking 15 plus console setup is as much a part of the joy of the hobby as is the actual games themselves.

I love seeing the looks on people’s faces when they come over, have no idea I collect old hardware, and see it all set up and displayed. It’s like living out a fantasy I had as a kid, even though I simply don’t have as much time to play as I’d like.

I don’t collect for collecting’s sake, but I also don’t play every game I own non-stop on my hardware. It’s a balance sort of.

It’s a working collection of things I’ve liked and acquired over the years. It’s there in part for novelty. The fact it’s impractical for most people to have the same setup is in part what makes it so novel and fun, especially when people come over and we play some old school games together.

Plus I enjoy playing games on original hardware on a CRT far more than blowing them up on an HDTV. They just look and feel “right” when it’s all authentic. And it’s cool to have.

The novelty has never worn off for me.

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I don’t think that’s true. Many of the most praised C64 tracks are from gameplay sections

That’s a fair point. I should give it a more thorough look. There’s just a lot to sift through online. Some of these C64 music videos are like hours upon hours of music.

I unintentional hide my power level so I get those same kind of reactions but get no real joy from them. It’s just that I’m not one of those people that talks about my hobbies that often and just enjoy them in private though not with the intent of keeping it hidden for any reason.

I’ve always regretted selling games and hardware that I think I will never want to return to or that I’m finished with.

It’s fine if it was a game that I genuinely didn’t like, but when I did it for games I do like, that I thought I wouldn’t have time for, I always ended up regretting it!

The Dreamcast was on the list at one point for clearing out to make space, just because I haven’t touched it in eight years! I’m glad I never did it, one day I will return to the Dreamcast and discover the games I missed while rediscovering old favourites. It’s just not today.

nostalgia is a hell of a drug

like, i just mostly wanna replay stuff i still enjoy, and dig through the crates of all the stuff i missed/couldn’t get back then. there are absolutely times where i’ll set a vibe by toking/whiskey, play certain songs and enter my game room with a “this is how we chill from '93 till infinity” sign and see where it takes me - invariably though, even the most interesting games get paused to check my phone or something at some point. my recent dive into the Ys series sees less of that though, as it’s just been pure joy for the most part.

i say this knowing i could keep my everdrives & sell whats on the shelves, for the most part, but i really don’t want or need to right now. there’s definitely a line between escapism (something i consider healthy in certain doses, especially in a global pandemic) and taking it somewhere that frames your current/future life as unhealthy. if i ever catch things leaning towards the latter, i take a walk, meditate, and start thinking about changes i’d like to make.

there’s great ways to “go back” in my mind, though - sometimes ill flip through old gamefan mags and get hyped for a saturn import that i’ll have to go burn, or 1st year nintendo power issues and just pick something on that month’s pak watch and dive in for a little. you can absolutely have fun with this stuff, but when it reflects more as regret or depression about how things went since that time, that’s really something for a therapist (done wonders for me), not old electronics.

I’ve been basking in modern gaming throughout most of COVID, but I am getting close to that “I’m going back!” time. It will come in 2021 probably once I’ve got the initial excitement of PS5 out of my system.

That said, I will almost certainly “go back” to 2016 and Battlefield 1 some more on PS5 because it’s in the PS Plus stuff they’re giving away. I’ve been playing it recently in fact and loving it.

When it comes to gaming though, I really feel like as long as you’re not one of those people who cannot handle pixel graphic design (and if you’re one of those, well, I have no time for you…) then it’s just awesome to go bask in an earlier era. It helps to have lived through it like myself or at least get to talk to someone who did and understand the excitement of innovations from that time.

I see myself currently replaying more games than actually playing new games. I know there’s many people out there that are only/mostly in for new experiences and don’t like to replay games at all. For me there’s something special coming back to a familiar game vs starting a new one.

And there are games that I could literally replay all the time, every time. I mean I could put SMW or Alttp into my SNES and finish both games in a short time span. Those are my all time favorites and will probably never become boring to me.

I would also love to replay BotW but it’s too time consuming right now as I have other private priorities right now (my daughter). But one day, be it next year or in 10, I will replay it and I know it will be a good time because I absolutely loved the game.

Also, sometimes I play a new game in a genre only to stop a few hours in because I feel it’s inferior to my favorite and start playing that one instead. Happens all the time with most indie metroidvanias, where I just play SotN or Metroid again or with every Pokémon game after Silver/SoulSilver.

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This is it for me. If I feel like I’m wasting my time playing something that isn’t new or interesting enough in some way, then I cut my losses and move on.

I hunt out new experiences in past releases that I’ve never played. I can understand why people are always waiting on the next new release, but for me there’s a whole history of games to be explored. A new favourite waiting to be found, a game that will fit you like a glove. Rather than the next new thing that will more than likely not be as good as something you could have already played.

I liken it to never listening to The Beatles because they’re not new music. So wrong.

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Yeah it’s funny how that works out if you spend a little time and effort to find those experiences you missed out on. Sometimes a retro game you’ve been meaning to play for years turns out to be completely not worth your time, and other times you’re blown away, and super grateful that you gave it a chance.

I’ve been on a bit of a old PC kick lately, and am almost finished with the original Wolfenstein 3D games. I finished all 6 episodes of the first game, and I’m on the last expansion pack now for Spear of Destiny. Next up, I’d like to finish up the episode IV of Doom, then jump into Doom64 for the first time.

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It’s one of my favourite games of all time, my son was a few months old when I first played it at launch and I thought it’d be many years before I could play it again. However he’s 3 now and it’s one of his favourite games, we started a play through together and he’s gone from only being able to press one button to throw and detonate bombs, to being able to do everything except fight some of the harder enemies. I have to say I enjoyed it even more the second time around with him.

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