I was always interested in games, but I had phases in which I was gaming a lot and others where it did not interest me altogether. I also was not that retro, I had the consoles when there where half-way new and even sold some of my older stuff. But even then, I was curious how retro predecessors of series like Metal Gear, Zelda or Final Fantasy played.

It all changed in autumn 2007 when I saw a link to the irategamer on youtube. I then re-installed my Sega Genesis and Master System, which resided in my wardrobe until then, and let them accompany my PS2. A NES was bought soon after, and I re-bought a SNES. A few months ago, I also added a Gamecube with gameboy player. My library, which until then consisted of a dozen PSOne games und a few titles for the ps2, the genesis, and the mastersystem was growing constantly, featuring now a few gameboy advance and gamecube games and about a dozen games for my NES, SNES und PS2.

My phases have gone altogether. Though I am still interested in other things, I am engaged in games all the time.

The funny thing is, that I play less than reading about, tracking down and buying games.

I am also changing my taste of games because of the circumstances that life brings when you get older. Actually I am a total nut for RPGs, but since I’m in my twenties, studying, working, and leading an intense romantic relationship and do not have that much time, I want to play shorter games in the future.

I think I’m gonna spend more RPG-time on the SNES, because I do not really have the time to beat monsters like Persona 3 with 80+ hours of game play.

It is strange. As a kid I was disappointed when I finished a game within a few hours, and nowadays I’m happy if a game is finally over and I can switch over to another, but I think most of you also know this phenomenon.

I read a quote once, which I can’t quite remember vividly, but the gist was that games don’t age badly, – women age badly (from the quote; not my words, obviously :p) – a game is either good or it isn’t.

Truth is, if the game is good, most gamers – be it ‘hardcore’ or casual – don’t care about its age or the console it is on.
Take Sonic. Some might disagree, but I personally find that Sonic, being a great game to begin with and not just for its time, hasn’t aged.
I’ll also throw in a lesser title but a well known one to elucidate my point:

Mega Bomberman

Mega Bomberman is probably no less fun now as it was on release – even spoiled or stuck up gamers can still enjoy Mega Bomberman.

Ultimately, at this point, I think modern developers have too much power at their disposal, and they don’t know how to harness it properly. Many think just going all out and utilizing so much of that power so as to overawe the gamer will suffice to make a great game. The fact that they can fit so many mechanics along with stunning visuals with the amount of memory they now have makes the temptation to do so too great.
They do it because they can.
16-Bit developers couldn’t, so they improvised; they had to be more – the magic word – creative.

See you next time.