Retro Gaming

[Servo]

No matter how much I love my PS3 and my 360 (and I do love them, immensely), I always seem to find myself getting sucked back into old school games on older consoles. I don't know if it's because I'm a born and bred gamer, or the fact that I grew up playing these games and they remind me of a simpler time, or both. Regardless of the reason, I just can't get enough of them.

A few days ago, I was ordered by the parents to come round to their house and help my Dad go through some of my old stuff up in the loft, a prospect I dreaded initially. It all became worth it though when I came across my old Commodore 16 and 64 systems, as well as my Nintendo Gameboy. What was supposed to be an afternoon of clearing the loft became an afternoon of me "checking that they still worked".
I don't have room at home to set up the C16 and the C64 properly, so I left them at my folks house for now, but I brought the Gameboy home and have already spent several hours playing Super Marioland and Tetris (the only two games I could find in the loft for it), and now I'm watching several GB games on Ebay, hoping to pick up some bargains.

I've had emulators on my PC for years - both console and arcade - and while they're generally pretty good, I do prefer to have the original consoles and games. Either way though, there's a lot to be said for games and consoles of the past, and a lot of them can be just as much fun, and just as challenging, as current gen games.

Anyone else a fan of old school gaming?

 

[Mistral]

Star Control on the Genesis. Whenever my buddy comes in from out of state we hook it up and game until the blood oozes out of our tear ducts(or the beer runs out!). Love it!

 

[MyCylon]

I still adore the Mega Drive (Genesis) and the SNES. Those were some pretty amazing times for gaming.

I recently got an MD collection for the 360 and have been re-playing some of the old titles. Streets of Rage is still incredibly cool somehow. And I enjoy an odd round of Sonic 1 or 2.

However, with most games from that time (let alone Master System ones..) I usually find myself only dipping in briefly every once in a while when a bout of nostalgia sets in. I usually get fed up rather quickly.

One of the things with those collections that's fun is checking out the games you considered buying back in the day but didn't for some reason. And with some of them you're just SOOO happy in retrospect you didn't spend your cash on them .

 

[CaptJimboJones]

It's funny, I'm old enough that I was weaned on the Atari 2600 and wasted much of my youth on classic old games. And yet the few times I've played any of them out for nostalgic purposes (via emulators, or whatever) I have absolutely no desire to play for more than a few minutes.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Star Control on the Genesis. Whenever my buddy comes in from out of state we hook it up and game until the blood oozes out of our tear ducts(or the beer runs out!). Love it!

Star Control is great. I also occasionally break out Starflight and play it on my Sega Nomad.

 

[John Picard]

My son (age 14) and I play Super Mario. We've been hooked on it since the winter school break. He doesn't like the Atari 2600 games because I consistently beat him on those.

 

[LitmusDragon]

I still contend that a little-known game Legacy of the Ancients is one of the best computer role-playing games ever made. The Commodore 64 version is the "best" version.

The Ultima games were great too, particularly on their home platform of the Apple II, but to go back and play them now is kind of tedious. Legacy I think has aged better.

 

[Niorah]

I've always been a big fan of Arcade games, I have MAME on my pc and every now and again I dedicate a whole evening to old games like 1941, New Zealand Story, Lady Bug, Aerofighter, Track&Field and the such.

Good memories. Good fun.

 

[SpaceProg]

Starflight... now that's a game I have the cart and console for and I've not played that in a good long while. It's pretty in-depth for its time.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

For me, retro gaming will always bring me back to the good old BBC Micro.

Exile, The Sentinel, Revs, Elite.... it all takes me back. There was even a version of SimCity for the Beeb.

But the BBC Micro's greatest star, Repton, always has a special place in my heart. [That's because your brain evicted him. - someone]

 

[Gojirob]

If I had enough money and space, I'd pick up one of those multi-multi-game arcade machines with the entirely retro selections.

 

[Darth_Pazuzu]

Does anyone remember a game called Crystal Castles? You play a bear named Bentley who has to pick up all these gemstones strewn around these castle-like structures, all the while dodging these killer bowling balls (no, seriously! ), these living trees, a witch, a swarm of bees, and these centipede-like creatures who can be killed by touching them only while they're gobbling up the gemstones!

Way cool game, and I haven't heard all that much about it these days!

 

[miraclefan]

Boy! this takes me back! I had a ton of NES, SNES, Gameboy, N64, Sega Genesis, Game gear, Playstation, PS2. I'll list my fav games later!

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Does anyone remember a game called Crystal Castles? You play a bear named Bentley who has to pick up all these gemstones strewn around these castle-like structures, all the while dodging these killer bowling balls (no, seriously! ), these living trees, a witch, a swarm of bees, and these centipede-like creatures who can be killed by touching them only while they're gobbling up the gemstones!

Way cool game, and I haven't heard all that much about it these days!

I remember all that - Berthilda was the name of the witch if I remember rightly. I also had fond memories of the pretty impressive BBC Micro version, too.

 

[Canadave]

I play a lot of RBI Baseball III and Tecmo Super Bowl when I need to kill some time. Both are honestly more entertaining than most modern sports games, if you ask me!

 

[Davros]

Star Control on the Genesis. Whenever my buddy comes in from out of state we hook it up and game until the blood oozes out of our tear ducts(or the beer runs out!). Love it!

That was a great game. No Herzog Zwei, but a great game none the less.

 

[Kirkman1987]

Mike Tyson's Punch-out is THE classic game for me. So much of my childhood there. Such Rich chracters, good fighting, and an awesome soundtrack.

As for modern games, I like almost any game prefaced by the words Tom Clancy, especially Rainbow Six.

 

[Aragorn]

For a while, I spent more time playing games like Paperboy and Dig Dug on my 360. I would've played Gauntlet more, but since it was a replica of the arcade version and not the NES version, I didn't last very long since it was designed as a quarter-eater. (Everyone who loves NES Contra, give the arcade version a spin to see how different it is.)

Back in the simpler days, gameplay was everything since the graphics sucked and you didn't have 10 buttons to use. Now days there's an abundance of crappy games that care mostly about their visual and audio presentation.

Also, Night Stalker kicked ass.

 

[John Picard]

Back in my Atari days (mid-1980's) my friends and I came up with a game idea I wish we'd have submitted to Activision. The game consisted a city/town layout on the screen and it's snowing. The object of the game was for the player to drive the snowplow to clear a route for traffic to flow. As the game progressed, the snow could intensify or weaken, meaning routes might have to be replowed. Points would be awarded based on clearing routes for fire, ambulance, and police.

We're talking old school here, folks!

 

[TremblingBluStar]

Anyone else a fan of old school gaming?

Not just old school games, but games that are new but still 2D platformers - such as the new DS Castlevania titles.

I also recently played through quite a few PC titles from the 90's that I didn't try when I had the chance, such as System Shock and Fallout.