Any fellow Retro Gaming fans

The Dutch Ghost

The Dutch Ghost

Grouchy old man of NMA
Moderator
Hello all,

While I am primarily interested in new games for the PC and current day consoles next to that I am also interested in retro gaming. Not always so much as in emulation though I play do play old favorites on those as well but more just enjoying going through old console and home computer game databases such as Mobygames and fan sites to check out games that were released decades ago.

Next to that I also follow news on any newly developed games for these older platforms as several of them have quite active development scenes with some of their products being very professionally done. (not just the games themselves but also what comes with it such as boxes, manuals, extra content such as maps, postcards, stickers)

It is sort of a nostalgia space for me but when I feel rather frustrated because there isn't anything current day that interests me I can at least turn to this.

I primarily use this website to keep up with news: http://www.indieretronews.com/

Game database sites I enjoy: http://www.lemonamiga.com/ https://www.lemon64.com/ http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ https://www.generation-msx.nl/

Some of the online stores I check out for new products: http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/ and https://www.protovision.games/

Are there any other old console and home computer enthusiasts here?
 
I am not much fond of the retro gaming word. When you want to watch a good movie, read a good book or play a good video games, does it matter how old is it ? (Same for the bad ones)

It baffles me when I am watching a movie from the 50s and someone tells me *You enjoy old movies?* or *You know there are more recent movies available?* The age is irrelevant. I don't get why some people are so obsessed about how old something should be. The good ones are made to be perpetually good.
 
Yep, one of my favorite and frequently visited sites is Slovak retro gaming community, with large Czech and Slovak computer magazine archives and stuff. Discussions, reviews, or ongoing gaming diaries are in our native languages mostly, only with a very few entries in English. For the good perhaps, since there's a lot of politically incorrect remarks here in this great place, which would have driven modern folks crazy:
http://www.oldgames.sk/en/
 
Naossano I understand why you are saying that regarding media and why age should not make any distinction if something is still enjoyable or good.
But when people are talking about older computers/consoles, and their games it is rather common and widespread now that it is called retro gaming because it involves platforms many current gamers don't find interesting due to their technological limitations.

I agree that age should not be an obstacle but you know the mindset of today's gamers. If it doesn't have realistic shading and particle effects it is not worth their time.

Valcik, I know that sit; I have occasionally also visited it in the past and I think I got a copy of Star Trek Judgment Rites from it that includes the additional videos and music effects. (the version on GOG does not include these)
 
The Dutch Ghost said:
But when people are talking about older computers/consoles, and their games it is rather common and widespread now that it is called retro gaming because it involves platforms many current gamers don't find interesting due to their technological limitations.
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...Additionally, it can allude to a design philosophy that does not ascribe to the gut turning obsequiousness that infects nearly all of the mainstream modern titles.
 
Kinda gave up on the wider Retro Gaming world after CPC Zone died. Every so often a community dies, most people migrate somewhere else, but you lose a few people. Then the community they migrated to dies, and most people migrate somewhere else, but you lose a few people. After a couple of decades of that cycle repeating itself with dwindling numbers each time, you eventually become one of the few people who gets lost yourself.

I mean, compare NMA today to NMA fifteen years ago. Attrition has even worn this site down, and that's without the site closing and everyone having to migrate somewhere else every couple of years (unless you count a couple of forum updates).

Still play retro games - more than any other type of game - but my only interaction with any sort of community is in threads like this, in unrelated forums.
 
I don't join that many retro communities myself because I already find it difficult to balance RL with online activity (I suffer from a degree of internet addiction). Plus sometimes I really do not know what to tell or ask on a forum or discord channel as so many topics have already been discussed.

Had I been a developer of retro titles myself I probably would have had a lot more reason to join communities if just to show people that I have a game in development that may appeal to them.

While I do have a certain fondness for the Commodore 64 and Amiga (and other home computers) as they play an important role in computer game history my biggest interests go to older consoles (Sega 16bit, SNES, Gameboy Advance) and DOS/Early Windows games.

Recently I have been playing with a Commodore 64 emulator (Vice I think), trying out some older games that I was interested in such as the Last Ninja series, Arnie (a Commando clone), Project Firestart (a sci-fi action survival game) and some new games I had bought from Psytronik such as Rocky Memphis and the Legend of Atlantis, Organism (Alien inspired game), Steel Ranger (looks Turrican like but is actually more Metroid like), I found out that I have just outgrown some type of games.

Perhaps I have been a bit coddled by modern gaming but I don't like games with one hit kills. (especially when there are no restart points)
And some games could really have done with a bit more tighter design. Being killed because you can't make out where you can jump is an error on the designer's side and not the gamer.

Developers that make new games for retro machines today do not have to strictly adhere to the design mindset of the 80s and early 90s. There is a good reason why changes were made.
 
They're all really hard to play these days - even for someone who played them at the time - but if you're interested in games for historical value rather than for how much fun they are to play now, Tir Nar Nog, Marsport, Heavy On The Magick, Iron Lord, Driller, and Total Eclipse are all historically interesting. There are some very neat ideas between them that we still haven't managed to make work successfully - and the seeds of most of the ideas that have become a staple of all modern RPGs.
 
There is this strange expectation now, that one is owed the right to win. A lot of those early games were for the sake of playing them—win or no; but with some winning was a possibility. Spy Hunter was a superb time waster; one that you played to experience playing it... AFAIK, there was no winning it, no saving of progress, and there was no ending to it. You played it for as long as you could remain alive in the chase.
 
With the exception of Arnie and perhaps Organism the games I have been playing are definitely not arcade experiences in which a high score is the main goal. All the other games I mentioned are action-adventure games in which the focus definitely is to get further in the game and solve puzzles. Titles that then probably had passwords and today would have save states.
 
Same here, the only 8-bit games I run via emulator occasionally are puzzle games for PMD 85. The ones I still find really interesting are missed gems from the nineties I never played, turn based strategies or adventures for DOS mostly, such as Fantasy General or I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.

Not enough patience for fast paced arcade games with every single mechanics based on eye-hand coordination, these joystick killers are not intended for slow heavy hands. :)
 
I'm not as much of an enthusiast as I'd like to be. I love older games and hardware though.
I beat Wasteland last year and loved it. It was tough to get into at the time but I ended up getting hooked on playing it.
I recently bought Ultima 1-7 so I have some varying years to go visit there whenever I get around to it.
I've kept all of my consoles and gaming things outside of my PS1 that mysteriously vanished. My SEGA Genesis has a broken power button and someone attempted to sneak into the trash a few times on me lol. I've recently acquired a SNES and a few other things that I need to hook up to see if they work just haven't had the time.
 
I now that most people have been mentioning the PC side of retrogaming, but if you are interested in NES gaming there will probably be a surge of homebrews in the next year because NESmaker was released. Its unofficial, but since all of the patents have expired its completely legit (as long as the homebrewers don't make a unauthorized sequel to someone's IP - which they are not supposed to do). It started on Kickstarter, but now they have a YouTube channel, forums, and a regular Storefront since the release. Playable demos of newly made games have been released.

The game making tool NESmaker can be used to just make homebrew roms or you can get the option to get the flasher and the rewritable cartridge. Its not quite painting by numbers as the workflow is a bit esoteric, and some coding into scripts is necessary. There are, however, a lot of helpful video tutorials and helps in the forums. After the initial release it is still getting supported to streamline the software, remove bugs, and make more modules (which act as a starting point for a particular gameplay style/genre).
 
valcik said:
Not enough patience for fast paced arcade games with every single mechanics based on eye-hand coordination, these joystick killers are not intended for slow heavy hands. :)
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I used to be pretty okay with some fast paced action games including platformers (but usually not shmups) but after having played PC games for years and then trying a couple similar themed games again as well as old favorites I discovered I did not have the reflexes any more or the patience to relearn them.
 
The Dutch Ghost said:
I used to be pretty okay with some fast paced action games including platformers (but usually not shmups) but after having played PC games for years and then trying a couple similar themed games again as well as old favorites I discovered I did not have the reflexes any more or the patience to relearn them.
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I know what you mean. In 2007, I was playing Columns on the Wii Virtual Console and being in my late 20's I must have been in my peak mental acuity (and still pretty good reaction times) because I had a run where I must have done 5 times better than what I had ever done before on the original Genesis hardware or since (though still not professional class I'm sure). Sad that the run was paused because I had to go to dinner, and I never got back in the groove. We all slow down, but at least we usually keep getting wiser until about 60 when we start having mental pauses and forgetting things.
 
I still like to play Blood, and the rest of the Build engine games (except for the most recent one, I haven't played that one yet).

Of the recent shooters, I prefer the Serious Sam(s).
 
RE slowing down - get the PAL version of games. The PAL version of games are slower, even when you're emulating them. Some more so than others, but it definitely helps compensate for getting old, even with the ones that aren't much slower. If there isn't a PAL version of a game, turn the framerate down. In the same way blood doping has become a fountain of youth for professional athletes, framerate doping has become a fountain of youth for hobbyist retrogamers.
 
Beardy Unixer, I do have two examples in which the outcome was surprisingly different.
A while back I was playing Sonic Mania. I have always been a fan of the classic 16 bit games (and not so much its 3D successors) so that is why I was looking forwards to this game.
Playing it made me realize that a lot of my old 16-bit reflexes had atrophied, especially with the special zones. Though the Sonic games tend to to focus a lot on the player memorizing layouts and patterns.

More recently I played a demo of of remake of Sonic Chaos for the Master System and Game Gear, now reimagined in a way similar to the 16 bit games and Sonic Mania. But I had a far more easier time playing that game than Sonic Mania despite having to use a keyboard instead of a game controller which is far more suitable for these types of games.

So I do think game design may also come into play. You probably have heard of some of those sort "asshole" map packs people make for classic games like Mario in which they heighten the difficulty to almost extreme rate by layouts so that only people so experienced in the regular games can get through them.

In Sonic Mania it could be that the game was designed for people who still play the old 16-bit games and other hacks/fan games every day, keeping up their skill levels.

I do know about the differences between NTSC and PAL versions so I could also look into that but I have always preferred playing the games how it was meant to be.

Gizmojunk, I really recommend that you try out Ashes 2063 as I think you will like that TC if you like Build engine games.

Sadly I just can't get into Blood despite that I own it. I am just more a fan of Half Life esque games.
 
I get what you mean. I grew up with PAL though, and never used NTSC until I started emulating. Going back to PAL hasn't just made the games actually playable (I can't even do the first level of the original Sonic on NTSC anymore), it's also feels like going back to the "real" version, since the slow one is the one I grew up with.
 
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