/vr/ - Retro Games

I play retro games because they don't make games like that anymore. If some indie makes a retrogame I play that too. Nothing to do with nostalgia, I just want to play/like that game.

I shoulda been working not playing retarded manchild toys.

>>7937261

I am 27 so I wasn’t quite old enough to play a lot of retro stuff. My first console I was old enough to remember enjoying properly was the PS1. Dad had a genesis too and we played golden axe and the strike games as well. But I missed NES, SNES, most of the genesis library bc dad was a huge sports guy and didn’t buy much outside of that, and hell my PS1 game access was limited due to of course being a child. So I played very little of the library at large.

All that being said, nostalgia sort of doesn’t apply to me. It does for my niche stuff I did end up getting to play, but 90% of retro games I did not get to experience earlier in life. I play retro because a lot of it is more tightly designed than what we have today. That, and I’m slowly losing my ability to care/want stories and long tutorials and bullshit in games due to just how my tastes have changed over the years and life itself (job, gf, friends, etc). I just want to be engaged with fun mechanics. Retro games do that usually.


I would rather sit down with streets of rage for the nth time than sit through the 27 minute cinematic of whatever modern game. There are great modern games but most are just too busy for me.

>>7937261
I play older games because they're cheaper to play, honestly. I don't mind new games, they are often somewhat better in terms of gameplay, but I can't be bothered to pay hundreds of dollars for the hardware to run them. And you can just softmod old consoles, or get a flashcart, or run them in an emulator, so old games are basically free.

And even though I'm old now, there are a lot of games I couldn't play as a kid, and now I can play them. I don't really go back and play games that I already played as a kid very much.

>>7937261
I play retro because I'm a cheap little bitch that can't afford a proper gaming PC

I like the idea of playing a game and having everything there.
Where I'm not missing out by being offline, no online patch I'm missing out on, no DLC since the game is more or less complete, etc.
The only reason I'd have to play newer games is if it's part of a series I'm still interested in.
And right now, there really isn't anything I'm interested in.

I also dislike how newer games are overly abundant on exposition, cutscenes that interupt gameplay, characters suddenly limping slowly for cinematic effect, etc.
It's also more interesting to learn about how older games were able to bypass technical limitations back in the days.

>>7937298
>new games, they are often somewhat better in terms of gameplay
wut? need an example

Because modern games are fucking terrible.

>>7937261
They're way less time consuming and more "pick up and play". The older I get the less I have time to sit through 3 hours of fluff and tutorials before having fun.

>>7937261
Both. They're more fun because it feels like more time and effort were put into most of these compared to new b.s. ghetto trash games that lack originality, physics, plot, story, etc

New stuff is all too lazy in comparison and it just sucks. Not worth playing

Same reason I read classic lit instead of recent best sellers: I like experiencing all these "greatest games of all time" for myself and judging them on their own merits and my personal taste. I like modern games too, like From Soft shit, Arcane's games and indie titles. But I can't really be bothered to see whatever the fuck "Returnal" is all about when I still haven't played Ico or Mario RPG or Symphony of the Night.

Plus, I fucking despise modern Naughty Dog cinematic shit with slow walking and endless cutscenes. I have no problem playing something like Persona, because I know I'm settling in to play a wordy RPG. But when it's an action game that breaks everything up with endless drivel, I sort of tune out. Doesn't help that those games have absolutely risk-free platforming/climbing.

I hate the open-world action adventure survival rpg with stealth elements monogenre.

>comfy
>soulful
>actual music as opposed to the generic orchestra or ambient common in modern games
>quality over quantity in terms of content
>sometimes I just want a challenge

A lot of 'em can be beat in less than 20 hours.

>>7937261
a), b) and also c) my computer can't run anything past 2005ish
all three just align really well

they were better because they were typically short, focused experiences where every second was handcrafted and playtested and polished to a mirror sheen. Or at least this goes for superior Japanese games.
every new AAA game feels like a fucking job with daily logins and missions and giant open world with 500 things to check off a list.

FOMO. As a small child I could only afford 2nd hand/bargain bin games until I turned 18 and all of my friends had what I would call a "superior gaming experience"
>1990
>my mom specifically asks my grandma to get us a "genesis" for Christmas
>she goes to KB toystore
>Asshole clerk strong arms my meemaw with "oh the NES is WAY better for a kid! its more POPULAR and has more GAMES!"
>Literally the next week NES goes on sale and the SNES comes out later that year
>Mom picks up NES games whenever she finds them at yard sales for years to come
>they all suck
I got a free playstation in 2003 which was my main source of gaming until I invested in a new PC. Since then its been emulation and PC games all the way.

>>7937261
Because there are a lot of retro games that are fun. I dont get how people can exclusively play modern releases. I have a cousin who is the zoomiest of zoomers but even then he'll pick up a PS2 game every so often. I'm a zoomer as well, however.
Also it's fun playing influential games and seeing how similar newer games are to it.

>>7937261
Like alot of indie games, they're way simpler in terms of gameplay and storytelling. I can pick it up and put it down as I please. So many games lack the beautiful simplicity alot of older games have.

I remember going to college and playing the witcher 3, but between me doing side quests and not playing it all the time, I had no clue what was going on. Same thing with tons of games now, they worry too much about being "narrative masterpieces" that they forget to be simple fun to pass the time with.

>>7937261
because my pc is weak

>they were objectively better designed games
Yes, EA and Activision ruined all my favorite IP by buying up the good developers and shutting them down or reorganizing them into unrecognizable garbage. They made sure to never sell any neglected IP to any competent people either, they just sit on it for eternity and flood the market with trash.

>>7937261
I play Retro Games for the eye candy.
I'm a huge fan of the way media was like back in 1996-2002. That uncompromised optimism and blue sky aesthetic combined with the charming low poly models and beautiful pixel art make for what in my opinion are the best looking vidya ever made.

>>7937261
I play fun video games. Some of them happen to be retro.

You "I only play retro" freaks are weird. Not people who just happen to only play old shit, I'm talking about someone who is just convinced that there was NO good video game made after some arbitrary date made up in their mind.

I play retro because they are easier to learn and for idiots like me. Games got too damn hard and complex.

>>7937325
Not him, but can think of some examples. Real-time isometric action (Hades and Synthetic come to mind) is probably better this days, because of production values. Plenty of games that just feel good to play and provide dozens if not hundreds of hours of (albeit, grindy) bing bang wahoo entertainment if that's your cup of tea.

>>7938273
They literally don't make Sega arcade racers, Final Fight beat'em ups anymore. Arcsys, Contra and Ninja Gaiden fans have lots of modern clones but those arcade genres are actually dead.

>>7938303
Something really unique like Dark Seal 2 Wizard Fire, Lightbringer, Gaiapolis, Battle Circuit they don't make them like they used to.

Back then games were still mostly made by people who wanted to make games, not just corporations who wanted to make money.

Games are basically free.
They can run on a toaster.
No need to sign into any shitware service to play.

>>7938326
>Games are basically free.
>No need to sign into any shitware service to play.
the same can be said for most recent single player games

There's a lot of good games from the 20th century.

>>7938329
Granted, but it wouldn't run on my Linux powered toaster.
Forgot to mention old games have a good chance of running on leenucks.

>>7937307
>build gaming PC
>try new AAA title at max settings, get bored within 20 minutes
>emulate GameCube games that could run on a toaster

Every single time.

i was a poorfag as a kid so i didn't get to own and play most of this stuff. and since there are so many games i've never played i also feel a lack of connection to today's games, almost like missing out on earlier versions of certain games and genres gimped my ability to fully appreciate many new games that evolved out of the old.
so half i enjoy playing them, half i like experiencing the history of games.

>>7938303
Hotshot racing
Trackmania
Onrush
The Dirt series
to name a few...
Everything that you think that they don't make they make in some form or another, the latest DIRT game is literal - pick up and play 3 lap arcade style over in 5 minutes gameplay, it just looks modern

the games don't stop being good just because other games come out recently.

>>7937261
Because i was born after 2000 and i missed them out.

>>7938303
>Final Fight beat'em ups anymore
Did you miss things like Fight n Rage and Streets of Rage 4?

Also...if a certain genre you like is stuck in the past, that doesn't make you a weirdo. You objectively couldn't play new games like that. I'm talking about someone who likes JRPGs and wants to pretend that they're all cut from the same cloth as modern FF.

>>7937261
I actually like all video games today. I love the shit out of Destiny 2, but I also love the shit out of Marathon, and likewise, I love Doom 2016 (not big on Eternal though) and I love Quake too.

>>7938462
>Hotshot racing
Different anon here. It sucked. The original prototype from years ago looked great.
>Onrush
Toted as a Motorstorm spiritual sequel, ended up being Overwatch with cars and burkas where everyone's a winner (and I mean that literally, you don't lose races even if you're last place). It was so bad and sold so little that the studio that made it was dissolved only a month later.
>Dirt series
Only Dirt 3 is good.
>Trackmania
A series for lonely faggots.

>>7938491
They're pretty damn good although a bit on the too long side.

>>7938260
based

I find technical limitations and working around them fascinating. It also leads to creative game design choices.

>>7937261
I try not to let nostalgia cloud my judgement. A good movie/game/show/etc will always be good.

I've gone back and played games I liked when I was younger and found some to be objectively great (Joust and Burgertime are good examples) or trash (Contra and TMNT for the NES). I try to see it as what it is, not what I remember it being.

>>7937261
I play games I like. It doesn't matter when it was released.

>>7937261
No nostalgia at all. I only play the ones I do like, and they amount to, at the moment, little more than a hundred. It doesn't matter if the game is mainstream or not, if other people like it or not, if I'm a normie or a contrarian... I go with my taste. That being said, here are my personal reasons:

1. Retro games tend to go straight to the point. Not much time spent in cutscenes or fillers, just the main gameplay.

2. They are, in general, short. Adult life doesn't give you lots of free time, so it's good that you can still finish games in your spare time, because they don't take that long. I can beat the game multiple times and get better with it little by little.

3. No modern bullshit like DRMs, microtransactions, forced online mode, mandatory (and huge) updates, and DLCs that used to be free content.

>>7937321
>It's also more interesting to learn about how older games were able to bypass technical limitations back in the days.

This is the number one reason for me. I still think it's neat how unique the 5th/6th gen consoles were from each other. Even when dealing with multiplat titles, you could see where devs either had to cut corners or could make things better depending on the strengths/weaknesses of the console.

Consoles suck now because outside of the gimmicky shit Nintendos doing the consoles are all basically the same now.

Maybe big time VR adoption will lead to more specialized hardware again? Who knows.

>>7937261
Honestly? ADHD is a huge factor. The objectives and scope were often limited and simple, and not every game contained crafting, skill trees, and XP treadmills thad make it seem like it's NeEeVeR going to goddamn end. I hate starting new games and feeling like I'm hardly making a dent if I want to juggle it with other games and my real life obligations.

I also just find them pleasant aesthetically and mechanically satisfying. It's also fun to get old shit working. Sometimes getting stuff working is all the game I need.

>>7937261
little A little B to be honest, but really I like retro cuz it's cheap. I'm a total fucking tightwad, and being able to get cheap consoles and an everdrive is great.

>>7938943
VR is the only thing in modern games that is worth the time and money IMO. I am experiencing novel shit with VR that I haven't felt since I first started gaming, or since I first experienced 3D games. That said, I don't think it will really hit its stride until yet another generation of hardware; Quest 2, even with fucking facebook, is probably the best overall device out there, and their focus on making wireless PC VR work combined with making a rock-solid standalone is going to ultimately propel the technology so far forward. There's already been some incredible stuff, and I'm expecting the next decade to really push the tech into the stratosphere (especially once AR becomes more common).

>>7937856
This is a great part of old games, plus when you do so you don't think "great, I paid 30 bucks for this shit and it's already over".

>>7937261
this is a retarded question. why watch old movies? why listen to old music? why look at old paintings? because they're art, not disposable toys. same with video games

>>7938832
explain in full detail how contra on the nes is bad

I have trouble focusing on newer games. Too many of them have a lot of voice acting, longer load times, long cutscenes, and overwhelmingly detailed graphics making me easily distracted. I prefer simpler graphics and reading the story instead.

New console games have no creativity. I blame technological advances.

The only new games I've played are PC games.

it hit me when I started playing ninja gaiden sigma 2 (2008) shit looks awesome zero challenge just time wasters... nothing to go back too

>>7939016
It can be no missed the first time you play it. /discussion

>>7939039
/v/ would rather doompost about sjws taking away their anime boobies. Meanwhile gacha has loads of anime boobeeys but they won't play no fucking gacha, they want the expensive cinematic projects. Meanwhile Death Stranding came out but they ain't no playan' no walkan' simulator they want a gamers game with gameplay. But they won't no DBFZ because poor netcode and they won't play Strive because it's not Xrd and they won't play Blazblue because it's a mechanically bad game and they won't play new Tsukihime because while mechanically sound it's still Twilight for weebs.

>>7939090
Not sure what that has to do with the image I posted.

>>7939039
>New console games have no creativity. I blame technological advances.
In my mind it started 6th gen and only compounded from there. The problem is that technology outgrew vision.

>>7938524
That is a fair criticism that I agree with. 45 minutes is about my limit for how long a bmup should be.

>>7939113
Incidentally 6th gen was the last I played.

>The problem is that technology outgrew vision.
Good way of phrasing it.

>>7939039
handhelds have had low budgets up until the 3ds.

>>7938405
Things that didn't happen for 200, alex.

>>7939064
prove it

i'm not even old enough to experience most retro consoles (except for 6th gen, and 5th gen, to a lesser extent) but my brothers had everything so I grew up playing them. I like how non-standardized old games were and the odd quirks they had. Games now are very focus grouped.

>>7938943
>Maybe big time VR adoption will lead to more specialized hardware again? Who knows.
I think right now VR is experimental so it kind of feels like the early days of 3D gaming. Nothing is very standardized yet and a lot of new ideas are being tried, some work, some don't, but it's fun to explore and it's exciting.

>>7937893
>>Asshole clerk strong arms my meemaw with "oh the NES is WAY better for a kid! its more POPULAR and has more GAMES!"
lol what a dickhead. he refused to sell your mom the system that costs more money? he's not even a good employee. maybe he had a quota to fill.

>>7937893
...you HAVE played all the nes classics now?

>>7939258
I can't because I've already done it.

>>7939295
the ones that matter, yes. Growing up with a NES while everyone and their brother had 16-32 bit systems was a bit disheartening. I had a few solid nes games that resonated with me but for the most part my library was janky trash.

>>7939290
>he refused to sell your mom the system that costs more money?
Anon said the NES went on sale literally the next week, the clerk definitely knew that and wanted to trick grandma into buying it at full price now.

Nostalgia is only a byproduct. I'm jaded and cynical and I know time only moves forward and you can't ever go back. Games were much better back then and that's the main reason. Modern games reflect the state of the world in every sense of the word, in a way retro games didn't, really, they were detached and whimsical. I play games to avoid blowing my brains off, not to be reminded of the living nightmare we're all in.

>>7937893
My first videogame system was a VCD loaded up with NES games such as Castlevania, Contra, Blades of Steel, basically an emulator.
>Be me.
>Lives in country embargoed by the U.S.
>Have never seen 3D graphics in my life before.
>Neighborhood friend gets a PC with Win 95.
>Get to play Delta Force, NFS 2 SE.
>Amazing graphics.
>Two yrs later, I watched someone play on the PS2.
>0_0
>Holy cow.

Then 2008 came and I emigrated to the U.S. I was gifted a PS1 and a Gameboy SP from some friends of my uncle. Then another friend of my uncle brought me a PS2 Slim with GT4, Mortal Kombat Armaggedon, etc. and I was amazed by those graphics. Never in my life before did I see such advanced 3D graphics.

>>7939329
>Growing up with a NES while everyone and their brother had 16-32 bit systems was a bit disheartening.

You know what's disheartening anon? Having to play with 8 bit graphics while having a neighbor of yours play on a PC with Win 95 and 3D games. My family was poor and there was no way to access the N64 or PS1 in my country at the time (late 90s). Only the well-connected had and still have access to the latest electronic items.

>>7937261
>they were objectively better designed games

This. There is too much handholding now and mid 90s born onwards children dont know how to capture the magic of before. There is no mystery in the games they put out now, they make long videos about "dieversity" being included, current Doom games included.

>>7937261
>or because we nostalgically long to recapture the carefree innocence of our long lost youths?
Some people might but this is probably one of the biggest meme arguments out there, it basically translates in to a really arrogance cunthole type of way of saying "No mate you're just pretending to have fun!" There's plenty of value to be had from old games, many of them didn't just cease to stop being fun. Hence why we have a revival of companies trying to milk their older games or ape older franchises to recapture what a certain genre was like. I like both new and old.

>>7939409
>Modern games reflect the state of the world in every sense of the word, in a way retro games didn't, really, they were detached and whimsical
That is the most categorically wrong thing I've seen posted here over the last month, and I've seen some really stupid shit.
>I play games to avoid blowing my brains off, not to be reminded of the living nightmare we're all in
A noble cause, but if you're restricting yourself to 'whimsical and detached' games, which represent a very narrow sliver of vidya, both retro and modern, I can't imagine there's enough quality options there to keep you from pulling the trigger.

>>7939641
>handholding
Moving away from cynical shekel-grubbing arcade design into long-form experiences like what we saw with gen 5 doesn't mean the games are holding the player's hand, just that they don't need to mask 20 minutes of content and and naked profit motive with artificial difficulty.

>>7939656
Not sure what you mean. Narrative is always grounded in bias and derives from the real world, but traditional plot structure was sparse and served as an excuse for gameplay in retro games. Videogames were a medium of their own, whereas now it's just another soulless pozzed brainwashing tool, that's what I meant by detached, not in subject matter but in essence.

>>7939689
Play some Playstation or PC games from the mid 90s to 99, anon.

>>7939707
Yes yes anon, every 90s videogame was Planetscape Torment or MGS. Fuck off.

>>7939721
Resident Evil series? Final Fantasy series? The best games on the platform were heavily influenced by the politics of the day, and were often grim and not whimsical at all.

>>7939724
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BndS_Vwd41E
Japs don't like inserting politics into fantasy worlds because they think real life issues don't fit the fantastical aesthetic but they're fine with milquetoast neo-liberal "we're all in this together and equal rights for everyone" message. It's like they're perpetually stuck in the 90s.
Also despite losing the war Jap nationalism was never really marginalized like Germany because they believe if they apologize for war crimes their businesses will get taken over by South Korea.
It's a sensitive delicate and fucked situation.

>>7937261
Major developers of today are freaks installed into positions of influence by a cabal seeking the enslavement of humanity. They're put into positions of influence by cultural marxists hoping to destroy the family unit which is where civilization draws its strength from. These freaks are very thorough and leave no stone left unturned. Even with their massive propaganda apparatus half the country still don't believe their nonsense.

Old games and Japanese games are a refuge from that cancer. Maybe if we're lucky we might see the entire system collapse, but for now old games offer a soulful reprieve.

>>7939785
Uber based

>>7939256
Name the last AAA game you played and enjoyed on your gaming PC.

>>7937261
The way games were made were different simply due to the constraints of the time. I think technological constraints forced game developers to be creative in a way that is so incredibly charming and created a style of game design I can’t exactly describe but the game design was so different with retro games, and it’s something I think indie developers completely miss the point of. The best example I can think of is Super Metroid, a game that isn’t as big as you’d think it’d be but it feels so much bigger than it actually is because every single room in the game was unique and had a purpose, and the smaller level design made the game so organic, always going back to previous areas without having to backtrack. Metroidvania games today totally miss this aspect of super metroid’s game design and they end up falling flat.

>>7939843
Nioh 2

>>7939845
>The way games were made were different simply due to the constraints of the time
Incorrect. Developers today are under far more pressure and go through worse crunch than developers of yesterday.
>think technological constraints forced game developers to be creative in a way that is so incredibly charming
Not true. 0 for 2, not looking great anon. If you want to see a practical example of what we got from technological constraints, look at how many inferior arcade to console ports we had in gen 3 and 4. There's nothing charming about neutering a game to run on weaker hardware.
>I can’t exactly describe but the game design was so different with retro games
Going by the board rules, FEAR, Bioshock, Doom 3, and Crysis are "retro games", so you're going to have to be more specific with what you mean by that.
>Metroidvania games today totally miss this aspect of super metroid’s game design and they end up falling flat
Nah, Hollow Knight does it all better in every way, and is significantly more challenging to boot.

>>7939039
This is where I'm at.
Photo realistic graphics and the open world meme have pushed budgets to unsustainable levels.
These games require an insane amount of staff including multiple contracted studios for asset creation.
Games are now taking 5+ years to develop.
Publishers can't afford to gamble on new ideas so we get safe formulaic games.
It's just shitty all around.
Games like Cyberpunk crashing and burning gives me hope for a complete collapse of the current AAA industry, but I know I'm not that lucky.

the retro aesthetics, simplicity, and the organic new ideas that were rpesent before they all became graphicsfags chasing real life authenticity or trying to hit as many fanbase checkmarks as possible

>>7937261
I play retro because the past is full of games that are simpler and more pick-up-and-play.
I don't have the time or patience to deal with a long modern game that focuses way more on story that I'm just going to skip and has like 50 seconds worth of fading intro screens, loading, and menu navigation before I actually start playing.
Most modern shit that fits that criteria is indie, and like, I like having things like high-quality graphics (or at least, art direction -- I will cheerfully stomach wobbly PS1 visuals) and level design. Both are fairly rare in indie games (because they're low budget and they don't have the kind of skilled staff that say, Namco or Sega would have). The handful of modern games that are quite pick-up-and-play and aren't indies are largely sequels in franchises that started over 25 years ago

>>7938521
trackmania is fun and one of the few modern games I bother with just because it's so immediately get in and play

>>7937261
I don't catch up on the newest vidya or buy video games these days. Older games are much easier to pirate and are usually very tiny filesize wise.

>>7940049
>Both are fairly rare in indie games (because they're low budget and they don't have the kind of skilled staff that say, Namco or Sega would have).
You'd be right if it was still 2009-2012 or so. Indies nowadays tend to have better art direction than they used to.

last thing I played was witcher 3. fuuuuuuckkkkk meeee devs are just wanks. the choices and outcomes are so lame. you're seriously better off just watching a replay of the "best" ending or reading the fucking book. modern devs are too autistic about their lore to stop and make things fun.

>>7939224
I wasn't talking about handhelds. At all.

>>7937261
They’re easier to pick up and play. It’s not a huge investment of my time, usually. I can boot up Castlevania, Tony Hawk, whatever and just play. Super straight forward. Yeah, some games like Silent Hill require a little more attention/time but it’s not that bad.

>>7937261
Both

>>7939985
>the retro aesthetics, simplicity
Big Pong enthusiast?
>before they all became graphicsfags
The truth is that we were always graphicsfags, it's just the definition of what we perceived as photorealistic shifted over time. Desperately trying to pretend as if everyone was "above that" back in the day is an embarrassing cope.

>>7939959
This. The whole problem is what level of granularity the organization of the industry exists at. With many small companies, a select few creative minds were able to see their small visions to a satisfying level of completion. With just a few massive companies and innumerable indie developers, thousands of developers who might be capable of making something good on a small scale, are either stuck in 5 year production hell making a tasteless game for someone else or a contentless game for themselves.

People claiming retro games are simpler and shorter clearly aren't into PC games

>>7940227
I can tell you never played obscure shitware off of download dot com's DOS section or out of those wire baskets of mixed CD games that were everpresent in electronics stores in the late 90s/early 00s. The average PC game has about 20 minutes of gameplay.

>>7939607
That's wholesome anon
Btw my fondest memory of MK Armageddon is jerking it to Mileena's alt costume as she steps back and forth making her tits jiggle[/spoiler

>>7937261
gameplay-wise most of them have a lot of problems (especially shit before the early 00s). The art is awesome

>>7937856
Yeah, but unlike the 20+ hours cinematic shit they have replay value.

>>7937261
I'm neither a hypefag who only plays this year's AAA, nor a retro game hipster. I'm 34 and I play whatever the fuck I want. I'm still discovering new series and developers, and often times I go through their whole catalogue, if I'm enjoying their games. I don't really care how old or new a game is.

Fun things are fun - there is no justification beyond that needed.

>>7937261
Nostalgia and the fact they are better. Also I like RPGs, but writing in modern games is so shit I can't stand recent RPGs.

>>7939919
hollow knight's movement is so bad compared to samus

>>7940310
Ed gets it.

I'm 31. Grew up playing games since the mid 90s. Played a lot of them. Missed out on a lot of them. The way I look at it, there are far more games that I missed from past generations than there are new games that I want to play.

>>7937261
No

>>7939843
Not him, but Resident Evil 8.

>>7938260
Name that game, anon.

Mostly because I hate new games
>mostly open worlds where you just walk around with nothing to do
>endless unskippable cutscenes
>microtransactions

>>7939919
>technological constraints forced game developers to be creative in a way that is so incredibly charming
This is completely correct. Ports have to reach for a quality standard they cannot achieve perfectly, but the original games were made for their original systems the best their developers could make them.

If you enjoy video games it's a totally normal thing to do. Most people don't only watch movies, read books, or listen to music when it's new and then leave it behind forever, it's a programmed consumer behavior that the video games industry foisted upon people. Having the TV standard switch the last 13 or 14 years didn't make it any easier for John Q Public though.

>>7941948
And they were cutting edge at the time, no different from cutting edge games of today. Here's the uncomfortable truth: Every time someone asks "Why was [thing] from my childhood so special? Why isn't [thing] special now?" The answer is always, because you were a child, and now you're old.

>>7941956
>>7937261
Exactly. "Hey John - are you watching the original Die Hard movies because they were objectively better or because you nostalgically long to capture the carefree innocence of your long lost youth?" would be a good way of getting your ass grafted to your face in real life yet somehow questions like that are treated as normal on /vr/. You're a faggot OP. People play /vr/ games because they're often really good and yes our choices probably have something to do with when we were born which is normal.

>>7942123
The answer is never that faggot. Most of my favourite games I never played as a child and that is the way for 99% of people.

>>7942236
Yet, strangely, your favorites were released in that highly specific sliver of time that coincided with your formative years. What a coincidence!
>and that is the way for 99% of people
Going to need a source on that statistic.

>>7942248
>Yet, strangely, your favorites were released in that highly specific sliver of time that coincided with your formative years. What a coincidence!
No they weren't, did you even listen to what I said? Are you claiming I could somehow like games not because I played them during that time but that they were around back then, as if by some sort of osmosis? Also my favourites were released all over the timeframe of gaming, it has/had nothing to do with my "formative years".

For me personally it's just an escapism to simpler times.

>>7942263
>games were developed in a special and magical way when i was a kid
>games developed now that i'm old are no longer special and magical
You're a parody of grandpa simpson and you don't even know it.

>>7942287
Not him but that's actually correct. It's become extremely corporate and soulless now. At least back then the technology was still developing and improving in meaningful ways that truly inspired directors and development teams, unlike now where the technology has hit a point of noticeable diminishing returns. You can screech about old men yelling at clouds all you want but if you think it's the same now as it was then you're retarded.

>>7942287
It's more like you're in denial that the world is worse than it's ever been.

>>7942287
I'm really getting tired of this summerfaggotry nonsense. You're talking as if you aren't even following the conversation. I just told you I enjoy games from widely disparate timeframes. If you want to imagine your idea of me as grandpa simpson as the reality it's up to you child but it makes no sense and is not true.

>>7942304
>It's become extremely corporate and soulless now
We've come full circle and now you're a Cobain parody. Nice.

Actually, is there anything in modern entertainment thats actually as enjoyable as things of the past?

>>7942371
Everything, really. Once you've closed yourself off to new experiences, you're already dead.

>>7942380
>open myself to new experiences
>they suck
I guess I should just shut up and consume, right?

>>7942383
Fiction is aimed at 14 year olds. At this old age you shouldn't consume fiction at all.

>>7942392
why are you here?

>>7942383
If you find that anything and everything new sucks, perhaps >>7942392 is right. Tune in to Fox or MSNBC and wait for the reaper.

Being a "gamer" today is a complicated and expensive investment, and I always get the impression that companies and the gaming community both hate my guts. I play retro because it's low budget and pick-up-and-play (less worry about lag and resolution or the right PC spec, and no GaaS/DLC), not necessarily because they're old and comfy

>>7942394
Covid but I should have left 6 years ago along with m00t.

>>7942397
Modern gaming (which includes emulation) is cheaper than it's ever been, and retro gaming (on original hardware) more expensive than ever. It's now viewed as an investment, rather than a hobby.

>>7942402
All of that is wrong.

>>7942402
>modern gaming
>emulation
Are you talking about Yuzu or something?

I thought I wanted more Streets of Rage but when SoR4 came out I realized I have no nostalgic connection to that game. Paprium was a real wake up call, I don't see the point in reliving the same old things with a coat of paint.

>>7942404
>zero attempt to refute it
Must be right.

>>7942406
Using modern emulators on modern hardware falls under modern gaming. I can't imagine many are still using zsnes, nesticle, and genecyst on retro hardware.

new games are mostly gay and I have zero desire to spend hundreds of dollars on a new console and take up space in my place so that I can play gay games that don't work unless you're signed into something. even the /vr/ games that are gay you at least don't have to pay for

>>7937261
>Do we play older games because they were objectively better designed games
Because they're subjectively better designed games

>>7937261
>Do we play older games because they were objectively better designed games
They weren't, we have plenty of examples of games that do not age well. Doesn't mean you can't like it though, but then it turns out to be a subjective matter. Now I do agree with pic >>7939039. The problem with modern gaming is that even though we are at the finest in technology and budget wise, games have become a bigger mess to produce, hence the industry becomes limited to formulas because its better to play safe than risk.

I play retro games because they're the kind of games I want to play. Some modern games capture the same feeling, but typically they're indie games heavily inspired by SNES and Genesis and PS1 games. Most modern AAA titles are more complex in a lot of ways, but fail to offer the same fun and exploration and ease and "fun" of movement as retro games. Even the new RPGs change the classic formula so much it doesn't feel like playing the same kind of game.

>>7939959

>tfw no comfy gaming crash to ride out on my hacked wii and psp

it hurts anon i know

>>7937853
it's nice to see someone else who hates orchestra music for games, it's a videogame not a theatrical performance

>>7937261
probably a bit of both.

However, I have no nostalgia for half life as i didn't play it on release and half life 2 is much closer to the sorts of games i played as a child.
nevertheless, I much prefer the first game.

>>7938405
most of my computer activity is web browsing I could do on a pentium 4.
but then i wouldn't have been able to play RE8 (or any of the games i've played this year).

>>7943296
It's even more fun to watch normies lose their shit hating on every single new game that comes out while our ancient /vr/ libraries stay radical.

>>7942412
>Using modern emulators on modern hardware falls under modern gaming.
Hardware autists are just so fucking obnoxious. I mean, I'll take this over the midwittery you find on lame and boring boards like /vrpg/. At least it's comical. But holy christ what an idiot.

>>7943342

Hell yeah brother. To be perfectly honest and lame, I do sort of experience some fomo with modern games, but that's honestly why I don't fucking bother with them anymore. Too much to keep up with for too little payout. There has been exactly 2 modern titles I've truly enjoyed in the last 6-7 years and I not only don't play them anymore but am not interested in the rest of them. So I just don't keep up with modern releases now.

/vr/ is negative fomo for me. It's all already been said and done and is just there waiting and will be unchanged and complete forevermore. Top comfy.

>>7943376
I don't play exclusively vr games either. There are actually a fair amount of non retro games that I really enjoy, but they're so different that it's kind of an apples to oranges thing for me. I also don't pay full price for any vidya, so I'm usually a "ill play that one next year" type of person, and so far so good on that.

>>7942412
Yes. By your logic, whenever a food reaches its expiration date, just put it in a newer packing. There! Now it's good and fresh again.

>>7942346
and you're a retarded faggot but you don't see me celebrating that

>>7938853
THIS. Fucking based answer.

The other day I was listening to somebody talk about how the old guard of writers from TV and film, they grew up reading books. Their media tends to reflect it. Whereas the modern writers grew up on TV and film, and why it's contrived derivative shit.

I think that's what happened to games. The people who make them now consume far less nuanced media, mostly games...and everything they do is derivative trash.

>>7945491
>creating derivative works based on books
>wow, highly nuanced!
>creating derivative works based on cinema
>non-nuanced!

I'm a 22 year old zoomer, my parents had a hand me down snes that got me interested in retro games. That combined with angry video game nerd and g4 reruns, I got fascinated with old games and began picking up gba games, retro games with the wii shop, and pokemon remakes. They're incredibly fun and I think I grew up in the best era for a non retro retro fan since all that backwards compatibility and official online retro game stores are harder to come by.

>>7937261
I play retro games because they're generally better than most shit today.
Easy to pirate. Perfect for a NEET who doesn't have the luxury to be wasting money on fucking games.
Certain multiplayer games still have a sizable and active community like PSO1, plus the online is fucking free too.

>>7945521
zero-IQ post
The issue is being derivation of a derivation. The more you derive from derivations the more detail tends to be lost in translation until you're left with the sterile, soulless essentials and nothing else. Personally I find this easiest to observe in music. John Williams derived Star Wars music from Holst and Stravisky. Blockbusters now all just copy something that worked before so all their music sounds the same. There's a great video about this (I wouldn't recommend a video with a pussy-sounding zoomer narrator like this unless it was good)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs

>>7945491
>I think that's what happened to games. The people who make them now consume far less nuanced media, mostly games...and everything they do is derivative trash.
That's part of it, but I think the bigger problem is risk-aversion. And there's probably also a problem with corporate processes that filter anyone with real taste from having much power and authority from big studios.

>>7946484
>The issue is being derivation of a derivation
All fictional works that you grew up with were derivations of derivations of derivations, all the way down. You have no idea what you're talking about, you're just a bitter old xoomer.

>>7941937
Dolphin Blue for the Atomiswave Arcade board, recently ported to the Dreamcast.
It's fantastic.

>>7947147
Not him, but I'd like to hear your opinion about the game, if possible. I've seen some people claiming it's just graphics and nothing else, citing a derivative and boring gameplay, compared to other staples in the genre. Is that true?

>>7946829
shut up faggot. If you can't even read more than one sentence before posting you are part of the problem.

>>7947431
Don't form the basis of your argument on something I can instantly refute if you want me to address the entire thing. You're free to try again.

>>7947436
You didn't refute shit faggot you equivocated and I'm not in the mood to play word games with retards.

>>7947441
You can bow out and take the L too, I'm fine with that.

>>7937261
easy to pirate and easy to run
plus romhacks are fun

>>7939113
The 80s and 90s were chock full of pong, Mario, Sonic, Doom and Street Fighter clones the same way. Video games and art in general have always been a game of follow the leader whether it be by corporate suits seeking the last morsel of profit or starving artists trying to imitate their heroes.

Because they take less space than modern games.

>>7939778
Final Fantasy 7 is about a multi ethnic group of eco terrorists fighting an evil mining/power company.

>>7939778
>Japs don't like inserting politics into fantasy
>Be Godo
>Start trying to take over the world
>More technologically advanced country comes in and fucks your shit up
>Turns you into a shell of your former self
>Literally a tourist country for the more advanced country
>Your daughter gets idea to go steal weapons from more advanced country to return Wutai to its former glory
Post yfw

>>7937261
I play them because they're free, though now I have all those corona bucks and I'm just waiting for Black Friday to get a PS4. I was buying PS2 games, since they were cheap, but then prices shot up in January this year, so I've moved onto PS3 games for the most part.

I did download Dynasty Warriors 4 Hyper, so I'll go dick around with that once I've finished 8.

>>7947696
You're trying to find hints of identity politics in a 1997 Japanese game, that's not how it works. Most FF games have different characters for the sake of gameplay variety and to apply different tropes. Japan is also hang up on war and nuclear shit due to Hiroshima, it's part of their pop culture. This isn't your left wing wet dream, there are plenty of kike allusions as well, such as finding the promised land, and all characters that want it are evil.

>>7939724
The politics of the day weren't gay then but are gay now. Simple as.

>>7948797
You just weren't old enough to know better yet. Everyone has a childhood blind spot for that sort of thing.

>>7937261
For me it feels like a personal escapism because it takes me back to my childhood but at the same time they do require skill so I think it's a mixture of both.

>>7939409
HAHA how the fuck do you believe in time nigga
LIKE HAHA its just a mental construct just live in the moment nigga

What is important in videogames is the gameplay and the music, retro games excel at both things while modern games might as well not have music and for quite a lot of them even the gameplay.

>>7947147
this game is fucking boring. Repetitive spritework

>>7940325
>see retro webm
>WOW SO AESTHETIC I MUST PLAY THIS AND EXPLORE SO RETRO
>install it and jump through all its gay hoops
>get bored 10 mins because its arcchaic shit, and playing a game, especially a zero draw-distance 3d game, just for retro appeal loses its appeal after exactly 10 mins

being a retro gamer sucks ass, but its better than playing modern shit

>>7947453
>lol just take the L XD
not him but you are a giant fucking faggot, and you make him look based by comparison. Gay ass bitch

>>7950467
The real redpill is enjoying all vidya, old and new.

@7950475
>not him but let me white knight him
Oh no.

>>7950498
>Oh no.
you're as gay as he is. Now take my L and shove it up your ass, faggot

I can't be assed to download a 100GB video game.

A few reasons for me. I travel, so hardware specs and storage space are factors. Can't have a gaming pc and don't want a thousand hdd, ssd, sd, usb, microsd cards. Then, availability and nostalgia

Dumb reddit thread to blog about meta bullshit because you have nothing to say about any retro video game

>>7937261
I don’t quite understand your question because no one acts like this about people watching older movies or shows. If you hear something was of good quality or popular for it’s time you’ll want to check it out.

>>7937261
Neither, you stupid faggot. I just play them because they're fun.

>>7937261
>runs easier/quicker
>they are fun and original
>not full of cutscenes and complex stuff to play
>comfy or awesone scenarios
There's more reasons but those are enough said.

>>7947147
I don't own a Dreamcast, would it be better to emulate the arcade version or the Dreamcast port?

>>7950467
kys zoomer

Modern games have too much dialogue for me. I only want a little story progression, not commentary and directions every minute.

>>7939876
Decent

>>7940595
Mediocre

>>7938483
I agree with this

Retro is generally better. I've been blasting through ps1 tactical rpgs lately. Even those games are cut scene light compared to modern bullshit.

>>7937261
All of the philosophies that drive video games today are dumb. Realism, self seriousness, artfulness. Im sure there are some developers that don't subscribe to those but they're drowned out in the market.

>>7942248
born in 97, never played snes growing up, love snes

>>7942371
Yeah you just have to look past the corporate bullshit. there's nothing metaphysical about the quality decline in video games. its just a matter of corporations taking over. seek out entertainment without corporate meddling which does still exist in some capacity

>>7937261
Because I’m still living in the 90s.

pic related is what the ideal game development team looks like

>>7951242
>z-zoomer
You didn't even grow up on retro games, you're not better than your generation just because you like "alternative" shit. Go project elsewhere.

Fuck the modern game industry.
They can take their consolidation, subscriptions, microtransactions, socio political pandering, and oscar bait and shove them up their ass.

>>7951830
Happier times.

>>7938260
This guy gets it. It has nothing to do with nostalgia.

>>7942371
there's a lot of good music being made, but you have to seek it out and find what niche works for you which takes some effort.

>>7942371
Yeah there is. There's enough shitty music, movies, books, vidya, etc. from the past to fill up warehouse after warehouse but nobody remembers them because they were shit. I like old stuff, I always have even as a little kid, but I admit I have a bias because all the best stuff from the past has been sorted through and passed down to us, giving us easy access, while the new stuff we have to sort through ourselves to find the high quality stuff.

>>7937261
I don't really think about them in terms of nostalgia or being better/worse than modern games. They're just different. I like them because they're fun. Most of my favorite retro games are games that I never played as a kid so it's definitely not a nostalgia thing.

>>7937261
The gameplay is usually better, also the money i dont spend upgrading my pc is a plus.
Modern "retro" games try to emulate the simple nature of tabletop and obviously fail. With computers you are forced to have linear experiences, they dont allow the freedom of imagination and easily modificable rules, however they do have the possibilty of very fast math, something that shows in how early game design was pure gameplay. Meanwhile the AAA just crap out movie after movie, with the gameplay so disconected from the story that one doesnt even experience them as games.

In short: Movies have the best visuals, books the best stories, tabletop has the most freedom and videogames have the best simulations, focus on what works best

>>7937261
A bit of both.

I had a lot of curiosity about games I missed when they were new.

Curious about games that were before my time.

Wanted to get taken back to an earlier time (using a nostalgic smell while playing old games helps).

And time filters out shitty games. The best titles are known, theyre cheaper, and you avoid early adopter issues.

Just a good idea anon.

>>7937281
> would rather sit down with streets of rage for the nth time than sit through the 27 minute cinematic of whatever modern game. There are great modern games but most are just too busy for me.

What he said. Modern games have like 10 hours of cutscenes and spam tutorials and extraneous features that aren't required to beat the game. The kitchen sink approach basically

Retro games took a more lean approach. Tutorials, if there are any, will give you what you need to get started. Games were easy to learn and hard to master, cutscenes had what they needed in them.

Plus... The music in retro games was better. Idk, must have been the console limitations but composers really out in effort to make bleeps and boops into beautiful memorable soundtracks.


I think I'm just stuck in the 90s and early 2000's as far as my video game tastes go. Modern games are great in their own way for the new generation, but I grew accustomed to a certain era of gaming and it just feels right to me.

>>7947226
I don't know if I'd call it "derivative." It's a Metal Slug clone, and if you like metal slug, you'll like dolphin blue. I personally think it has some of the best aesthetic qualities of any game I've ever played, a great combination of good sprite-work in the foreground and extremely soulful low-poly 3D models in the background. love it. Reminds me of Dark Savior for the Saturn.

The game industry was in a very different place in the ~pre-2008 or so era. The emphasis was more on show/do, not tell. There was a great deal of adversity -- designers and coders had tobattle limited hardware, studios usually had money issues, and to top it all off practically every game was innovative somehow! These were the games that had to invent the conventions that we're familiar with now, and sometimes it's good to go back and play games that were made in a style that just doesn't really survive anymore. What is the last game you played that is ANYTHING like Phantasy Star II? Older games are just more abstract, more esoteric, and have more of an "art from adversity" vibe about them.

>>7952528
Lol.

I find a lot of modern games are like Hollywood blockbusters. They're big on budgets, they have a lot of great visuals and passable acting, but they're sort of shallow and feel like they're designed to be marketed to generate cash and nothing more. I find that developers have settled into a comfortable mediocrity and just keep churning out stuff that feels more or less the same to what came last year. They program games to adhere to a formula, and the games are designed to maximize sales rather than push boundaries.

I don't have much of a nostalgia factor driving me towards /vr/ stuff. I first got into Super Nintendo when I was in university, so I definitely have positive memories of playing Mario Kart with my friends in our dorm rooms, but I never owned one as a child. My first console was an N64, but I prefer the SNES and the Gamecube overall.

>>7938405
Fuck, this was me.

>2018
>Quit demanding job and get a chill government job, decide I want to get back into gaming
>Decide to replace my aging Athlon X2/ Radeon HD 5770 combo
>Put together machine with a Ryzen 5 2600X, RX Vega 56, and 16 gigs of RAM
>Try new AAA titles at max settings, initially impressed
>Get bored with new games after a few months

Sometime around the middle of COVID, i just sort of realized that I wasn't playing new games at all anymore. My PC was mainly being used as an internet machine, and I was spending most of my time discovering new old games with my SNES and N64 flashcarts. Earlier this year I sold my Vega 56 (for more than what I paid, thanks crazy clown bitcoin world) and actually went back to using my HD 5770 so I could drive a CRT natively. I'm thinking of selling the 2600X and replacing it with a 2400G so I can use the on-board VGA port, because my understanding is that the RX Vega 11 graphics on the 2400G perform slightly better than a 5770.

>>7938564
you are my man!! some time ago "found" (probably here idr) this yt channel (game hut) dude literally it amazed me how fucking genius they were, pulling some tricks out of nowhere, struggling with the textures, colours palettes, etc pushing the hardware to its limits. giving us some great video games with graphics and playablity perfectly balanced. Also the dev seems or sound very kind and humble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV9x1KY_XWI

>>7937321
Don't forget it size. damn some games have an absurdly huge ones plus poorly optimized.

>>7952976
virgin 100gb GTA online vs chad 3gb of hundreds of SNES roms

>>7938564
Awesome take. You could argue that modern games do the same thing (do what they can with the tech of the times) but there's something special in the limitations of retro stuff. Like the classic "mario grass is the same sprite as clouds" and little tricks like that, all fitting on to like 50 kilobytes or whatever tiny amounts of space. Interesting stuff

>>7937261
>to recapture the carefree innocence of our long lost youths?

It's partly this, but it's often because they offer a style of gameplay that's hard to come by these days.

Modern games are sometimes better, sometimes worse, but almost always *different* to what was on offer 20-30 years ago.

There are new games I enjoy a lot, but very few of them scratch the same particular gameplay itches.

>>7953024
Certainly interesting, but does the fact that the cloud and bush have the same sprite improve the gameplay in any way? Link's hair is pink in ALttP because his sprite has the same palette as his rabbit transformation, even though that clashes with the official art included with the product.

What I'm getting at, is that if we removed that limitation, allowing bushes and clouds to have separate sprites, or fixed the pink hair, would that degrade the experience?

>>7937261
SOUL is the only word to describe why I play old games.
Soul = genuine, authentic, made with passion, unbiased, timeless... etc

>>7938260
9/11 ruined media across the planet. Suddenly everyone got a massive hard-on for bleak and soulless dystopias and dark brooding edgelord shit went from being a fun psuedo ironic thing to a serious everyday life thing. This probably also comes from the fact that all the edgy Linkin Park kids were turning into adults too. This was around the time that game devs forgot what color was and we got the "brown and bloom" era

>>7939919
>ports
yeah, when you take a game designed with fewer constraints and then apply the constraints, you get shit.
The point is that when you design with the constraints in mind you can wind up with greatness.

There's an intuitive elegance to old grid-based games, for example. In Legend of Zelda, there's only ever 5 ways into or out of a room (north, south, east, west, or stairs/warp). It will never take more than 4 bombs to test every wall in a room (and there are only a few rooms in the game that don't already have doors in one or two walls).

Modern developers often find themselves searching for good constraints to give themselves in order to produce something original and compelling.

>>7953350
top is just so much better, I haven't even played the game.

I did a comparison of the original Master of Magic vs screenshots from the upcoming remake. I was focused on graphic design (the old interface is more efficient and effective, designed for the game, the modern interface is just whatever easiest widgets can be bolted on). But the aesthetics are disappointing, too.

>>7953350
And to go beyond just calling it "soul" here, what you have in the top image is a game board filled with game pieces. Although there's still lots of beautiful detail, the role of those icons on the map is to convey information to the player.

>Top
+ High-level view that allows me to see a big part of the map in one glance
+ Bright colors and distinctive icons make it easy to parse visually. Even never having played the game before, I can identify the different structure types.
+ Tile-based grid allows me to easily estimate area and distances in the same units the game understands.
+ Minimap is clear and easy to read

>Bottom
- Zoomed-in view with only a handful of structures visible.
- HUD obscures a big chunk of the bottom of the screen
- Muted colors make everything blend together to look like a generic medieval town. Nothing is distinctive, nothing pops.
- Individual blades of grass have no gameplay relevance
- No sense of the relevant measures of distance or area.
- Gay hand-holding objectives

>>7954024
>- Muted colors make everything blend together to look like a generic medieval town. Nothing is distinctive, nothing pops.

I genuinely believe many games could greatly benefit from going back to more limited color palettes. Diablo 2 to Diablo 3 is another great example of expanding the amount of colors only made everything look duller

>>7953020
YES!

>>7938405
I started Metroid Prime and it has amazing mood but constant changing to scan visor is stoopid. I guess Im not gonna scan shit while I play.

>>7937261
Older games, simply put, are better than modern age games. A lot of things were done 20+ years ago that you COULD NOT do nowadays. For example, thousand arms (psx) was a game about being a macho womanizer picking up chicks to become stronger, something that could never pass the ratings these days. Its being able to experience the humor and stories that only a time 20 years ago could give us.

>>7955058
Also to add on to this: Creators back then put their heart and soul into their work. They would spend restless nights creating the perfect story with gameplay that they felt represented their ideals best. Nowadays its just hit the "make video game button", and add multiplayer so the consumers can use each other to fill empty voids we didnt bother creating"

>>7937261
I do because I didn't get to play that many as a kid. I could only rent a game every couple of months and only got one game a year usually. The backlog of great games I need to play is pretty much endless and it's free.

>>7939785
Is it propaganda destroying the family unit or your inability to attract a mate?

>>7937264
fpbp, if devs were making true spiritual sequels with modern budgets /vr/ would be largely nostalgia, but it's not. at least not for me.

>>7955336
>lol ur incel xd
your kind truly are NPCs.

>>7938260
This is a big factor for me as well, I just draw the boundary a bit later because I think a lot of gamecube/ps2/etc games are peak aesthetic. Now that those are considered retro too, almost every game that aligns with my visual taste is considered retro now.

>>7937261
Because it's fun.

I play retro games because I only want to use my time playing good game, and it just so happens most good games are retro.

>>7955550
this

>>7937261
Gonna isolate and pick some of the games I actually return to regularly to try and articulate it. Note that some of these I play randomized for additional content, even though the base gameplay is the same.

>Quake
It's one of the most simple and basic single player FPS games I've ever played, the campaign is challenging enough to hold my attention and it gets tons of mods that allow for new content. Levels last anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, making it easy to pick up and put down.

>Zelda 1/Link's Awakening/Link to the Past/Super Metroid
While not a difficult game, it's also easy to pick and play, the world is open but segmented into dungeons and other areas that allow you to methodically explore and discover it. Items you find allow you to progress further through some areas, which gradually open up even more of the map. Although it's not cut into discrete levels and can cause some issues when returning to play from a short hiatus, it's usually simple enough to still figure out anyway.

>Megaman series
Overall, each game is around one to two hours long for an experienced but casual playthrough, shorter for someone who clears the games relentlessly. Like Quake, it's very much just solid gameplay with little to get in the way.

>Final Fantasy 1
FF1 is the odd man out of the series because of just how fast it gets started. You're dropped directly into the world with nothing but one screen of text that you can skip when you turn the console on, and character creation is very quick and simple. It's not a short game, but the variety in party composition makes each playthrough different.

The common thread between all of these games is that A: They're quick to get started, most have no extended openings or tutorials before you get to the gameplay, B: They're easy to pick up and put down without forgetting your objective, and C: They're gameplay focused over story or some longer objective. Being able to sit down for 10 minutes and have fun is king.

>>7938303
Streets of Rage 4 just got a DLC release not even a couple days ago

I'm mostly playing retro games made by id software or retro games similar to them, since pretty much all of the modern games (aside from the doom reboot) don't provide such fast-paced gameplay with satisfying movement that makes you use all of your brain to think while you're playing. So yeah, i simply like arena shooters a little too much

>>7937261
I play retro vidya because they were actual vidya and not interactive movies.

>>7957475
>were
*Are