Being a Gamer VS Being a Retro Gamer

[Nintendork666]

I don't have a lot of nostalgia for old games anymore. I've already explored that aspect of gaming culture.

JRPGs will always hold a special place in my heart, and the SNES/PSX ones remain the best... but overall I grew out of retro gaming.

I love polish, modern UI, convenient QoL features, and good god graphics have become serene.

Old games are like a novelty, but I get bored quickly for the most part. The Super Mario Worlds, and Rocket Knight Adventures(s) are too scarce for me to seek out older games as a whole.

[pook99]

I always call myself a gamer who prefers retro games. I do love all era of games but retro style games are my favorite by far. Having said that I spend the vast majority of my gaming time playing new retro masterpieces. The fact is many indie games take everything great about the classics, get rid of the annoyances of that era, and typically innovate and expand upon the best ideas of the past. The main reason I love modern gaming so much is that the market has evolved to the point where games from every generation and genre are constantly being released.

[samsonlonghair]

I’ve been exclusively retro-gaming for years now. My retro gaming started partly from financial constraints. I couldn’t afford a (then) brand new Xbox360, but I still had my original Sega Genesis, and I managed to score an NES on the cheap. This was when I really learned to appreciate the retro aesthetic.

Nowadays I think I could afford to purchase a modern game console, but they don’t interest me. I’m a retro gamer through and through.

I have grown to enjoy the mini “classic” consoles that have been coming out the past few years. They’re compact, convenient, and cool. I’ve been eyeballing those Arcade1Up cabinets lately. I know they’re not authentic, but I don’t have room for authentic anyway.

Speaking of arcade, I’ve learned that shorter arcade-style games are my preference. The modern trend of building increasingly larger and larger game worlds feels overwhelming to me. I would have more fun with a game that I could play for an hour or two, but modern games are still walking me through the tutorial for the first hour. I just don’t have the time to commit to playing these massive modern games.

[Key-Glyph]

First of all, Ziggy, I was totally cracking up at the lengthy food analogy intro. Oh my gosh. It was brilliant.

Back to the graphics though. When I was checking out GTA5 briefly, I got to the first save point then I wanted to just sand box for a while. There was something about it that just put me off. It was like there was TOO much detail. It was just confusing to look at, and kept me from getting immersed. Now, I fired up GTA3 and I find it actually more playable with the lack of detail. I kinda felt the same way about Red Dead 2, that it looks TOO nice. Is this me turning into "Get off my lawn!" or is there something to this I wonder?

Not to be a Nintendo fan boy, but I don't find this same problem with Nintendo games. The Switch games are the same resolution, but the art style is cartoonish instead of photo realistic. I had no problem focusing when playing Mario Odyssey, but I had trouble focusing when playing Red Dead 2 or GTA5. It's not that Mario Odyssey wasn't MUCH more detailed than, say, Mario Galaxy. But the art style just feels like a video game to me.

Do this make sense to anyone else?

This makes sense and really resonated with me -- and like you, I've found it hard to explain. I think part of it is definitely the level of detail you mentioned, but I think it's also about pattern recognition, and about our favoring bigger, bolder, chunkier, more one-to-one patterns. Here's my thought on this.

My favorite Mass Effect game is the first, and one of the common complaints I've seen about it is in regards to that endlessly reused interior environment where so many battles take place. The thing is... I actually really like the repetition of that space. It makes my brain feel good. It gives me a familiar baseline structure to work with, and a standard against which I can appreciate new enemy movements. It's the same feeling I get from very good remixes or covers of existing tunes, or other derivative creative works.

As another example, No Man's Sky has completely absorbed my brain. I love that game to pieces. And yet, I know for a fact that I preferred the game's previous build (Atlas Rises) to the current one that's making all the waves (NEXT)... and it has a lot to do with level of detail and relative pattern size. In Atlas Rises, there were fewer individual pieces being used by the procedural generator. Animals were made up of fewer and more obvious parts, and there were fewer fauna per planet; harvestable plants were more obvious (as were the HUD markers in general); ships had bolder, simpler looks; and so on. NEXT is absolutely an amazing experience that I adore, but sometimes I feel... unmoored? Like my brain can't come to rest? And I think it's because I'm not getting the chocolate chunk patterns that I prefer to its current smoother, subtler Milano cookie.

My greatest fear with No Man's Sky is that they're going to introduce multiple biomes per planet. Yes, it is a fascinating and wonderful idea... but it will drive me to absolute distraction, as yet another expanded pattern that I'll have to shoulder. I like looking at a planet and going, "Yup -- that's a desert planet all right." I love that one-to-one ratio of "planet" to "all the stuff I'm gonna find on it." I'm not sure how I'll handle each individual planet having any of several combinations of terrain, if they move forward with this idea.

I used to describe this as "gamey" elements. As in, I wanted a video game that felt "gamey." Not a very good description, I know. But maybe that resonates with you, Ziggy. Maybe some of us prefer the chocolate chunk patterns, and some of us prefer the smooth Milano cookie.

[Ordinary Gamer]

I feel like I'm in an odd place where I don't really play old games all that much, which would presumably not make me a retro gamer. However, most of the NEW games I play feel very old. I finished The Messenger recently, which is a relatively new game, but it plays like old school, NES-era Ninja Gaiden game. PSVR is a modern thing, yet the games I seem to enjoy the most on it are Until Dawn Rush of Blood, which plays like an old school light gun game, and Astro Bot (which I finished). Astro Bot feels like a classic Mario game

I get super excited when I hear announcements for games like Katana Zero, a retro, 2d, sidescrolling platformer, or upcoming remakes/releases like The Ninja Warriors: Once Again. I recently played through the Spyro the Dragon remakes. I played one of the Gal*Gun games not long ago, which aside from all the fan service and silliness are actually pretty solid, light gun style, rail shooters. S ranking levels in Double Peace is pretty challenging. Rail shooters or light gun type games are practically a dead genre now.

Every "new" game I play has old school sensibilities, or is a remake/remaster of an old game. I want to play Resident Evil 2 remake at some point. I'm eagerly awaiting the remakes of MediEvil and Final Fantasy 7. Guacamelee 2, an old school, beat'em up/Metroid game that came out not long ago, is on my radar. I might even try Sekiro soon. Sure, that's a modern, new game, but From Software games are known for old school design. I never had too much interest in them before, but Sekiro looks right up my alley.

So basically, I like new games that are actually old games, or feel inspired by old games. I generally don't get too excited for stuff like Grand Theft Auto, Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, basically any of your typical, big AAA releases. I like retro stuff. The guy who made The Messenger said something cool about how his company is about taking old games and modernizing them, which I think is a fun thing to do. Astro Bot feels like that too, an old game made for modern audiences. It has a nostalgic quality to it despite being a modern game. That's what I like, new experiences that ironically remind me of old experiences.

[Ziggy]

First of all, Ziggy, I was totally cracking up at the lengthy food analogy intro. Oh my gosh. It was brilliant.

Haha, now just read that in Bender's voice and you've got a classic Ziggy post!

This makes sense and really resonated with me -- and like you, I've found it hard to explain.

It's good to hear that other people get it and agree. I was worried that know one would understand what I was talking about.

I used to describe this as "gamey" elements. As in, I wanted a video game that felt "gamey." Not a very good description, I know. But maybe that resonates with you, Ziggy.

It definitely does. Thanks!

I feel like I'm in an odd place where I don't really play old games all that much, which would presumably not make me a retro gamer. However, most of the NEW games I play feel very old.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm playing this new game right now, it's called New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe.

I think that's why Nintendo makes up most of the new games that I do play. New Nintendo games feel like old games. New SMB is obvious. Super Mario Odyssey very much feel like Super Mario 64.

I get super excited when I hear announcements for games like Katana Zero, a retro, 2d, sidescrolling platformer, or upcoming remakes/releases like The Ninja Warriors: Once Again.

Ah yea, Ninja Warriors. I forgot that was coming out. Thanks for reminding me!

But yeah, I totally get what you're saying. The only new games that I get excited for are games that feel old. Like Bloodstained, or Ninja Warriors.

[pook99]

I feel like I'm in an odd place where I don't really play old games all that much, which would presumably not make me a retro gamer. However, most of the NEW games I play feel very old. I finished The Messenger recently, which is a relatively new game, but it plays like old school, NES-era Ninja Gaiden game. PSVR is a modern thing, yet the games I seem to enjoy the most on it are Until Dawn Rush of Blood, which plays like an old school light gun game, and Astro Bot (which I finished). Astro Bot feels like a classic Mario game

I get super excited when I hear announcements for games like Katana Zero, a retro, 2d, sidescrolling platformer, or upcoming remakes/releases like The Ninja Warriors: Once Again. I recently played through the Spyro the Dragon remakes. I played one of the Gal*Gun games not long ago, which aside from all the fan service and silliness are actually pretty solid, light gun style, rail shooters. S ranking levels in Double Peace is pretty challenging. Rail shooters or light gun type games are practically a dead genre now.

Every "new" game I play has old school sensibilities, or is a remake/remaster of an old game. I want to play Resident Evil 2 remake at some point. I'm eagerly awaiting the remakes of MediEvil and Final Fantasy 7. Guacamelee 2, an old school, beat'em up/Metroid game that came out not long ago, is on my radar. I might even try Sekiro soon. Sure, that's a modern, new game, but From Software games are known for old school design. I never had too much interest in them before, but Sekiro looks right up my alley.

So basically, I like new games that are actually old games, or feel inspired by old games. I generally don't get too excited for stuff like Grand Theft Auto, Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, basically any of your typical, big AAA releases. I like retro stuff. The guy who made The Messenger said something cool about how his company is about taking old games and modernizing them, which I think is a fun thing to do. Astro Bot feels like that too, an old game made for modern audiences. It has a nostalgic quality to it despite being a modern game. That's what I like, new experiences that ironically remind me of old experiences.

Based on this post and your other post in the games beaten thread I think your gaming tastes are very similar to mine. Technically, I play tons of new games, but almost all of them are retro inspired. I do enjoy a new style game every so often, but retro inspired indies are what I spend most of my time on.

I just started katana zero yesterday, and will probably finish that today. On my switch I am getting ready to play mercenaries saga(old school grid based SRPG) Battle princess madelyn(heavily inspired by ghosts n goblins), and blaster master zero 2.

I think there are so many amazing indie gems out there that fly under the radar. Sure, you have stuff like celeste, the messenger, shovel knight, and others that receive a lot of attention, but there are so many really solid indie games that get absolutely no attention.

Do you play any fan games? I recently discovered the world of fan games and rom hacks, there is a lot of stuff out there, a lot of it is not that great and consists of either pallette swaps or games that are obscenely difficult, but if you look around there are some amazing "sequels" to classic games made by fans. Most prominent for me would be Mega Man Unlimited, but there are other good ones out there also.

[marurun]

Thing is, Retro is mimicry. The “retro gaming” community has co-opted retro and redefined it. The kinds of games you’re talking about, modern but retro-styled, that’s what retro gaming should be. Just playing old games should be classic gaming. I listen to classic rock stations, not retro rock stations.

[Gunstar Green]

Classic also has a connotation that can be misused. Classic in this sense implies that something has been judged to be of high quality over time so not all old games are classic games.

No one wants to say "old games" though.

Either way you're misusing a word to make something that's old sound more appealing and that's fine, all language evolved to where it is now because someone misused it. We understand when someone says retro gaming that they mean they're into old games so semantically that has become correct.

[marurun]

Well, most people who play old games do stick to the good ones. Only the dedicated folks play the ones that are sub-par, in most cases. The reason we call that stuff “Classic” is because it is still notable despite being old. So it’s not as inaccurate as retro.

The reason I brought it up here is because retro would be the perfect term for a lot of modern indie titles, were it no so misused a term already. It leaves me wondering what else would work.