Re: Let's Discuss why we collect retro games

MaximumRD · Post by **MaximumRD** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:53 pm

reply to Superdan88's topic Why do we collect retro games? A great question, I could not resist adding my 2 cents.

Carlos · Post by **Carlos** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:10 pm

Nice videos, Rob! I have to say that I agree with a lot of your points. I throw in my two cents.

My fiancé made a similar comment about me recapturing my youth as reason for my retro game collecting. I think that’s the case with most retro collectors; myself included. I remember times like when I got my first Nintendo for Christmas and loved it to death. I remember how I used to wolf down my breakfast just so I could get a few minutes of gaming in before having to leave for school. Other great moments were when I first got Super Mario Bros. 3 and trying to re-enact it on the playground at school, getting Sonic The Hedgehog and playing it all day with my cousins, the first time I played SNES at a friend’s house in was insanely jealous. Getting magazines like GamePro (when it was good), EGM, and Gamefan to read about the latest games and systems. It’s fun to relive those precious memories again.

Another part of collecting for me is that I’m old enough to afford a lot of the systems I wanted as a kid, but never had like Sega CD, 3D0, Jaguar, Turbo Grafx, and others. I think another thing, as you mentioned, is cost. It’s nice to walk into a game store and getting 5 or 6 classic games for half the price you’d pay for a new “next-gen” game.

I think the biggest reason for me though is that outside of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Street Figher IV, today’s games just don’t appeal to me anymore on three points. First, I think the “magic” that truly made games fun died with the Dreamcast and U.S. PS2. I say U.S., because PS2 has a shit ton of great games (including some awesome music games and 2D fighters) that never made it outside of Japan. I remember when Gameworks first opened here, and it was a Sega fan’s dream. I would spend every Friday or Saturday night (sometimes both) playing arcade versions of games that were about to be released on the Dreamcast. Being in an arcade and being excited about games coming out just doesn’t happen anymore.

Secondly, when I look back, the last great “next-gen” game I played and beat was Bioshock. Bioshock was a diamond in the rough for me. It had a fantastic story and great narrative that kept me going and wanting to find out what happens next and piece the story together. No modern game has done that for me since. For me, games have always been about great stories and fun gameplay. Unfortunately, we live in a time where high-definition graphics and life-like environments is all today’s gamers care about. Look at the Madden series. It looks real, but plays like shit. I don’t want to have to know stats, pass routes, and a playbook to enjoy the game. Give me Tecmo Super Bowl. Tekken, Dead or Alive? They sure look great, but anyone can mash buttons like a retarded monkey on speed and beat them. Give me games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, Samurai Spirits, or any VS. game. Sure, you can mash buttons, but it won’t do any good. Those fighters actually require a little strategy and know how. I enjoyed games like Halo, Gears of War, and Left 4 Dead, but those got ruined for me too. Which brings me to my third point…

I think it was Gabe from Penny-Arcade that said, “The problem with multi-player or online games is that you have to play them with other people”. Going on XBOX Live and playing any type of death match is a nightmare. If you die a lot, as I tend to do, you get called every racial slur and homophobic name in the book. If you’re on a team, and you screw up, same thing. Even worse, you could end up on a team with people that have no idea what the fuck they’re doing, so you try to correct them, and instead of accepting the help, they just cuss at you. Left 4 Dead is a perfect example. I remember when it first game out, my buddy Cesar and I played for an hour or two almost every night. For those that don’t know, the basic object is to get from point A to point B without dying. Seems simple enough, right? But there’s a catch! You actually have to use teamwork, stick together, and help each other out to survive, otherwise you’ll get killed by various zombie enemies. Anyway, we’d join a game, and then end up with the one guy who thinks he’s Billy Badass and goes out on his own, guns blazing only to get trapped and in dire need of help. By that time, the three of us that know what we’re doing are nearing the end of the stage in a firefight with zombie’s coming from all corners. Meanwhile, dumbass is calling us every racial slur, homophobic name, and any other put down you can think of. Sorry dude, no one’s gonna save you for being a dumbass and risk screwing up the game for the rest of us. Even worse, instead of admitting he’s at fault, and logging off to join another game, he decides to stay in this game, yelling at us, and taunting the people that die before beating the stage. The worst part, is that there’s nothing you can do about it, because it’s just a punk kid hiding being a headset in his room. It’s not like the old arcade days where if someone is being a douche, you have lynch mob justice to have them thrown out. It happens in sports games too, but not as bad. You can be playing a ranked game online in Madden or NHL and playing a great game, and with just a few minutes left, knowing he’s not gonna win, your opponent disconnects, and because of EA’s shitty system, you don’t get credited with a win, but an “opponent disconnect”. Don’t get me started on the World of Warcraft and MMO people. We’ll be here for days, lol. It really makes me miss the days of the arcade and gamer etiquette. You walk up to a machine like X-Men, Ninja Turtles, or Simpsons and play as a team to beat the game, or if it’s a game like Street Fighter, ask if you can fight the person playing. If yes, great. If not, put your quarter on the top of the cab and wait your turn. If two people are in a heated game of Mortal Kombat, stand aside and wait instead of being up in their faces. When it’s your turn, congratulate the loser on a well fought match, whether you won or lost. There’s no fun, social aspect anymore. Now it’s just random strangers you’ll never meet in real life unless they’re personal friends. That’s why, instead of online gaming, I’d rather have people over, get some beer, order some pizza, grab a chair or a spot on the couch and play some Mario Bros., Mario Kart, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Goldeneye, or some Conker.

endrant.exe

Darryl B. · Post by **Darryl B.** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 7:01 pm

Carlos wrote: Tekken, Dead or Alive? They sure look great, but anyone can mash buttons like a retarded monkey on speed and beat them.

Bah ha ha!

Luckily I don't have anything current enough to warrant the pleasure (or not) of playing anything online, so I don't have anything to say about that. Is there no way to get peoples' accounts suspended for abuse, or are they even less regulating (although I use that term loosely) than YouTube?

Anyway, a very nice write-up, even though I really don't have anything deep or philosophical to add (or even spell that correctly

), I'm into this because I just like to play games, no 'reclaiming' of my 'youth' or anything like that. I'm just pretty much an eternal teenager, as I think about sex a lot, play video games, and have little money, which is about 70% of my entire being right there!

I WILL agree with the price of the older stuff, although that's just by default, pretty much. I mean, just look at what I'll be collecting for once I get back into the swing of things (I'm pretty much just collecting for Vectrex now due to cheap, multi-game homebrews, but I'm almost out of those now!): the Atari 2600 and Sega Genesis. So many games for those systems are either dirt cheap (I still need a lot of 2600 commons actually) or go for the 'reasonably priced/not expensive' range. There's also my 7800; again, a lot of those games aren't much more than the 2600's (only a few bucks each). Sega 32X, I'm not sure, I've heard that 'they're fairly expensive and hard to get' or 'fairly cheap because not many people have one or want them', so I'm not sure. Sega CD, also not sure (I'm most knowledgable with Vectrex and 2600 prices more than anything else). Once I get a PS2 and GameBoy Advance, again, 'last year's' consoles with many titles in the bargin bin for only $5 or so. Oh, and a Microvision. Laugh all you want, the games weren't bad for only 1K, wish I had kept mine from back in the day. But I could get it's entire library for well under $100, probably even $50, shipping included. Again, not much money there.

Anyway, just tossing in about myself (not that there's much to it anyway), I'll add a comment once I check out Max's video.

MaximumRD · Post by **MaximumRD** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 7:53 pm

Wow! AWESOME reply guys, I am so glad I share videos here, you both make great points.

Darryl B. · Post by **Darryl B.** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:35 pm

I had a POINT in that?!

Hee hee, thanks!

Nice 'brief summary of your gaming life' vid (forgot to mention that in my post, btw)

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:46 am

Great vid Rob!

I collect Retro games mainly to recapture my youth. Same reason I still read comics, it reminds me of when things were better. Before I "grew up". It's so refreshing to pick up a game and instantly be taken back to age nine. And overall, the games are just better on the old consoles than they are now. Granted, they're more advanced now, and they make our old games look like primitive cave paintings, but they're fun, and that's all that matters to me.

nathanallan1 · Post by **nathanallan1** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 3:15 am

Mainly the technical aspect of it. I get to take broken unloved systems and make them work again, and I really like doing it. I was left out of most of the gaming scene back in the day cause of not much money for it. We had an Atari 2600 and a C64, and that was it until lately. I had friends who had all the consoles as they came out so I would play at their houses.

Now I fix them, upgrade and mod them all. I collect the games now to play them, but there's a huge technical aspect to it for me.

Great topic!

Post by **Zap!** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 5:00 am

Great video, Rob! While I don't have the patience to write such long, wonderful replies like the previous posters, I will say this:

There are many reasons why I collect and play classic video games. The main reason is likely because it takes me back to my youth. I have enjoyed and loved gaming ever since I played my first game 30 years ago. They say you have your most fun as a youth, and classic gaming clearly reminds me of my childhood. I had fantastic memories of first playing electro-mechanical handhelds, getting into arcades, and finally getting my first system, an Atari 2600. At 14 in 1987, the memories continued when I got my first NES and SMS, and always having friends come over to play. As far back as 1991 I have called myself a classic gamer, founding Zap! fanzine that year at 18 years old.

I also think collecting things is a lot of fun, so why not make it something you thoroughly enjoy? Some people prefer coins of comics, I prefer collecting anything classic gaming.

My latest thing is to collect the uber-rare, as in things that 99.99% of the population has never heard of. This isn't easy on somewhat of a budget, but it certainly can be done if you're in the right place at the right time. Frankly, I think it's a lot more fun and challenging to have my income and get something mega-rare than to be rich and buy anything you want.

I will close with this: I am a classic gamer and I am proud, and I will be until the day I die!

MaximumRD · Post by **MaximumRD** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 12:57 am

Awesome replies guys, you I just started doing video responses, I like them because I rarely have time to do a full edited video but if someone posts a good topic a video response is as quick as a webcam upload and I just ramble on. I have found these quick vids get great response and comments and I am glad to share them here, thanks for all the replies guys!