Thinking about xkcd comic 2501 about how experts often assume people who aren’t experts have a lot more knowledge than they actually do, what are some things that retro game fans often mistakenly assume that everyone who’s not a retro game fan knows about retro games?
For example, some things retro enthusiasts might know that even the wider gaming audience might not know:
Franchises that we consider important or well-known
That a Genesis is really called a Mega Drive
I mean, the whole world besides the US call it a Mega Drive so it’s easy to assume that everyone knows that but that’s not the case.
I’ve had a few occasions where someone will mention on my Battle of the Ports shows that I’ve missed the Genesis version because I’ve called it a Mega Drive
I mean, that machine has a very distinct sound. You’d think people would put two and two together.
Try arguing this on English Wikipedia, as it applies to a lot of things. Games are also listed as the USA title.
eg. Buster Bros (when it’s called Pang in its native Japan, all around the world, and even in the USA for subsequent games in the series.)
In fact I went through the motions of changing it on Wikipedia. Countless editors declined the request, citing “the most common name” should be used …but as they are not required to give any data to support that claim that’s the end of that.
On that topic I do think there is a definitely bias toward the perception or recollection of events and games in North America. It will likely continue due to US-centric content creators having a bigger influence via platforms such as YouTube.
When it comes to information sharing though it certainly has an impact.
I think that boils down to more factors as well, such as
Younger non-US content creators grew up watching US content creators and learned their retro gaming tastes from them.
UK PC games from the 80s and 90s are genuinely off-putting to people who didn’t grow up with them. They have significantly worse sound and visuals, and most of them are ports of games that have better versions on other platforms. The only reason I see to play a ZX Spectrum port of a game in 2024 is if you have nostalgia for that specific version or as a curiosity.
Indeed, it was all about the Master System
But what gets me the most is British YouTubers who are in their 40s calling the Mega Drive a Genesis. Bunch of picks selling out just to gain more views. It really winds me up!
The reality is the sales numbers in the US also dwarf the other territories unless it’s one of those situations where something sold really well in Japan or the UK than it did here. Most people in the US have no idea what a Sinclair Spectrum is and aren’t arsed to care about it (in your foreign parlance… ). Master System is a huge also-ran in the States as well. For most US Sega gamers, console Sega began with Genesis (and probably ended there for a lot of them too).
TurboGrafx aka PC Engine? Yeah, that’s “foreign” to a lot of US gamers.
One thing I would say is that at the very least a lot of great games from systems that weren’t huge hits DO have larger following today than they ever did back when they were new and still going concerns. Within the larger community of “gaming” you’re at least more likely today to be able to mention something from Sir Clive and not have everyone in the US looking at you like you have two heads.
That said, Eurogames do have a definite stigma attached to them. Crap gameplay with superlative graphics being one. Also, tough as fucking nails for no good reason. Punishing difficulty that makes your hands bleed. Jesus Christ… what was in the water over there back in the 80’s and 90’s?
There’s no way one game in the Pang series in the USA counts for more that all the other releases on other platforms, never mind the other games in the series some of which were never even released in the USA.
If you can give specific example of an old game from the vintage era with an alternate name that we have data/figures for, I’d love to chat more about it.
I’m British and can’t stand the shitty games on home Micros
I did play on the likes of the Amiga, ST, Speccy and C64 but I don’t have any nostalgia for them simply because most of the games I wanted to play on those systems sucked. Consoles was where the good games got played
Saying that, I also couldn’t care less about the NES simply because it wasn’t popular in the UK.
For me though, a console should be known by the original name is was released under. The PC Engine is an odd one. It was a massive flop in the US and barely released in a few European countries yet the net still refears to it under the US name rather than PC Engine.
). Master System is a huge also-ran in the States as well. For most US Sega gamers, console Sega began with Genesis (and probably ended there for a lot of them too).