Why There's Never Been a Better Time to be a Gamer

 

The gaming scene really sucks right now, right? That new game shipped in a buggy manner. Games get indefinitely delayed or canceled. Every Triple A game has the same mechanics and forced online modes to maximize the amount of time you need to sink into it. Game development is on fire with scandal after scandal. Layoffs! New consoles steal people's money with crowdsourcing and never ship. Loot box mechanics build and encourage gambling addictions in young children. Physical media appears to be dying. Playing your old favorites on modern consoles is impossible due to rights squabbles and lack of developer interest. Game developers have problematic political opinions. Retro game prices are way high. That new gaming acquisition looks a bit like a monopoly. THAT game has a season pass? I just can't get into these new games! The graphical leaps between generations are negligible. Everything's a remake, where's the new IP? Online communities are toxic.

If you've ever thought along these lines, let me bring you some hope! In my opinion, there has never been a better time to be a gamer. Here are a few reasons why...

Incredible Diversity of New Games

The original NES had over 800 games. Some consoles had more than that, and most far less. But browsing any modern consoles or platform will bring up literally thousands of options to pick from, at an incredible array of prices ranging from free to hundreds of dollars, and everything in between. For fans of nearly any genre, there's never been a better time for you to enjoy a jaw dropping selection of brand new or nearly new games in that genre. Many of the indie games of today are equal in quality to the AAA games of yesteryear, and sell for a fraction of the price. Shovel Knight can hang with ANY NES platformer. Hollow Knight is competitive with the most excellent metroidvanias ever produced. Slay the Spire delivers an incredible amount of content and originality on a budget price. And they're still making excellent AAA titles occasionally, so pick your spots wisely.

Nintendo is Back, Baby!

It looked a little dicey there during the 3DS/Wii U period, to be honest. But the Switch has exceeded all projections, and has an insane library that is up there with the finest Nintendo consoles of all time. And that's without even considering forthcoming likely gems such as Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4. It's good to have the big N back, and they consistently deliver quality first party experiences.

Retro Collections and Remasters

While there's never been a time when every old game I could have wanted to play was on modern platforms, the last few years have been flush with a ton of new retro material that makes classics accessible and puts extremely expensive titles in players' hands for a fraction of the cost of getting original physical copies. Digital Eclipse leads the way here with some absolutely phenomenal collections featuring Contra, TMNT, Atari, Mega Man, and Castlevania, but there are tons of these collections being produced all of the time. Add to that a very nice selection of retro NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis (???) games on Switch Online, and anyone can have tons of retro fun on a very limited budget for a long time. What's more, I would expect that there will be a lot more of these collections forthcoming, as IP holders realize that they have to do very little to prepare these, and as Digital Eclipse and their imitators expand with each successive successful collection. If computer stuff is your jam, GOG has all, or almost all, of your old favorites available for super cheap, too.

Free Games

If you had sat me down in front of a computer in 2005 and told me that there was a game called League of Legends that was DOTA, but way better, with a huge online player base, constant new content, a thriving competitive scene, and it was absolutely free, I think my head would have exploded. In fact, when someone told me that in 2010, I think my head did explode. Now, games like League of Legends are downright commonplace. Fortnite, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Lord of the Rings Online, Elder Scrolls Online, Runescape, Rocket League, Maplestory, countless mobile games...these are all games that I have burnt substantial amounts of time into. Sure, each of them has ways to get your money out of you, but I've honestly spent less than $20 on all of these games, combined. Add to that the free games you get from the Epic Games Store every week, quasi-free games from Playstation Plus and Xbox Live Gold, and you could easily play nothing but free games with a few small subscriptions for the rest of your life.

Clone Consoles and Accessories

Everyone likes to complain about the high price of retro stuff these days, but high prices mean interest and signals development from new entrants into markets. Does Analogue get as popular as they are if Super Nintendos still routinely sold for $10-$20? Probably not. Does 8bitdo produce high quality controllers for retro consoles if interest in retro gaming wasn't high? Definitely not! The market is now filled with all sorts of solutions for classic gaming that didn't exist 10 years ago, and many of these options are super high quality. What's more, we now have stratification of the market, where people who just want to walk down memory lane can get a Retron and some games for super cheap, whereas those who want something higher end can spend the money to do so. 

Advances in Emulation, Everdrives, and MiSTer

If the price of retro cartridges and discs just kills you, just end around and go for piracy, not that I would ever do that. Much like with clones consoles and accessories, there are options here for every price point and interest level, with a simple download of any emulator on most PCs for totally free, to dedicated emulation options like a Raspberry Pi or FPGA solutions like MiSTer. If you really love your classic consoles and real controllers, you can always buy Everdrives, too! What's more, this technology improves every day, with emulators getting tinkered on in real time, and new FPGA cores releasing weekly. If you can never afford a Little Samson, there are options for you!

Focus on Affordable Parts of the Market

If you really want to play authentic stuff, there are always segments of the market that are affordable. Every time I walk into a retro game store, I head straight for Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP. Why? Because these games aren't in collectors' eyes (yet), and many are a ton of fun! Try not to get sucked into the zeitgeist of what everyone else is collecting and playing, or else you'll pay through the nose. The basic rule is that you probably have a 20 year running window of time that you should stay away from. In this case, at the moment, that means Super NES up until PS2. Stuff in this window is what today's 30 year olds with disposable income grew up with, and are collecting for. But if you get into the stuff right after that now, you'll dodge the high prices before they happen. NES stuff is also trending down at the moment, so feel free to dip your toes into that, and go whole hog into older stuff, too. Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision are all pretty affordable, if you want to. Those collectors die or lose interest and sell every day. PS4 and XBox 1 stuff is dropping too, so keep your eyes open and grab good deals when you see them!

In summary, your problem may truly be, that, like me, you are just old. If the pitfalls of modern gaming are too substantial for you, just build a little collection of stuff you love, and enjoy it! Cobble it together with clone stuff, piracy, modern collections, etc. No one is forcing you to opt in to the current generation of gaming. And trust me, no matter how dedicated you are to your gaming hobby, there is always more old stuff out there for you to enjoy. Try out a new console or series you've never tried before. Try out fan translations of Japanese games that weren't released here, or just play them untranslated. Speedrun your favorite games. Replay old favorites. You will NEVER run out of things to enjoy and experience for the first time, even if you focus only on games prior to the year 2000. 

So hang in there friends! All things considered, even if modern gaming has its drawbacks, there has never been a better time to play video games than right now. Until tomorrow, that is. Onward!

-TRO

The 2022 reTROview reTROspective!!!

Well, I guess this is an annual blog now. It's good for everyone except for my faithful reader, I guess. I love making lists, setting goals, and looking back on my year's accomplishments, so this always rises to the level I need to motivate me to get back out there and write something. Without further ado, here are the games I completed this year, in alphabetical order: 

1. Aero Fighters 3
2. Armored Warriors
3. Astro's Playroom
4. Axiom Verge
5. Batman: The Video Game
6. Battle Arena Toshinden
7. Chrono Cross
8. Crash Bandicoot 4
9. Dragon Age: Inquisition
10. Dragon Quest XI
11. Gunstar Heroes
12. Mario Party Superstars
13. Metroid Dread
14. Mickey Mousecapade
15. MLB Power Pros
16. Pokemon Legends: Arceus
17. Pokemon Scarlet
18. Pop 'n TwinBee
19. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
20. Slay the Spire
21. Star Fox 64
22. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
23. Streets of Rage 4
24. Superhot
25. TMNT (Arcade)
26. TMNT Hyperstone Heist
27. TMNT Turtles in Time (Arcade)
28. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
29. Vampire Survivors

My completions were slightly down from last year, but I have also never had less free time for gaming, so 29 feels super productive for me. There was a bunch of fun to be had here, such that some really good experiences fell out of the top 10. Here are the honorable mentions:

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 +2

A lovingly done remake, but it's still a remake so it feels hard to put in the top 10. The levels from 1 feel fantastic with full manual and revert support.

TMNT/TMNT Turtles in Time

I got the Cowabunga Collection once it dropped to $20, and had a blast of a few days playing through all of the old Turtles games. The two arcade games were super fun, but it did feel like they relied too heavily on flashy, quarter munching bosses with little strategy to them other than smash, bash, and pay up. 

TMNT: Hyperstone Heist

I have never played this Genesis gem before, and found it absolutely fantastic. It has the signature Genesis sound, great visuals and gameplay, and the bosses are tremendously crafted for balance, although the end boss is a bit dull. I'd give the edge to the SNES Turtles in Time as it's a bit longer and has that incredible last fight that surpasses even the arcade version, but this is a really good game. It's just a crowded field!

Superhot

Super inventive concept, memorable visuals, and wonderful execution. Highly recommended.

Astro's Playroom

What was a glorified tech demo for the new PS5 controllers ended up being a nicely crafted and quick 3D platformer that delivered some value for PS5 owners starved for content.

Batman: The Video Game

Superb visuals and sound, along with excellent wall jumping, combine to make this a standout budget title for anyone looking to get into NES collecting on the cheap.

Pop 'n Twinbee

I've been flirting a bit with vertical shooters this year, and Pop 'n Twinbee was the one I enjoyed most. The visuals were fantastic, and the powerup mechanic immediately gives this game a much different, and more frenetic, feel than most vertical shooters.

And now, the top 10!

10. Streets of Rage 4

Speaking of well-crafted beat 'em ups...wow! This one really blew me away. Great visuals, sound, and tons of fan service for long-term enjoyers of the series. The gameplay was superbly balanced, as well. This delivered everything you might want from a modern beat 'em up.

9. Dragon Age: Inquisition

We moved this year into much smaller, temporary housing while we are in the process of building a new house. All of that translated to me having to make some difficult decisions about which games to bring with me, and which to leave in storage. I chose a ton of longer RPGs, hoping to keep myself occupied with a limited number of actual discs. I finally got to this one a few months ago, and found myself enjoying it tremendously! It doesn't quite rise to the level of BioWare's magnificent Mass Effect, as I felt it aped a bit too much from other collect-a-thon AAA games designed to wring 80 hours of gameplay out of 20 hours of content. With that said, it had BioWare's typical, excellent writing and character development, and the combat was super fun. Check it out!

8. Crash Bandicoot 4

It's been a while since a good Crash game, and Toys for Bob totally delivered year. They perfectly captured the spirit of the PS1 games, and brought back to life a franchise that desperately needed it. 

7. Gunstar Heroes

This is the kind of game that if I had played it upon release in 1993, would begrudgingly have racked up another point in the "Genesis" column in my mental console wars spreadsheet (Team SNES, btw). This game is absolutely superb, with great visuals, sound, spectacle, and game play. The powerups weren't particularly balanced, but that's ok. This is a fantastic retro experience that everyone should enjoy.

6. Pokemon Legends: Arceus

When it comes down to it, I've always been part of the gang of crotchety old folks incredibly satisfied with getting a predictable, enjoyable Pokemon game every 3-4 years. I've never wanted Pokemon to push far past its familiar boundaries, precisely because I enjoyed the traditional experience so very much. My least favorite Pokemon games have come in the last few years when they seem to have been playing around with the formula the most. And yet, Arceus was an absolute masterpiece. The graphics are total garbage, there are frustrating things about it, but it absolutely delivered on the promise of iterating on the classic Pokemon formula to build a compelling world and novel exprerience. Scarlet, on the other hand...

5. Chrono Cross

This is a game I underappreciated for decades thanks to one little word. Chrono. In my opinion, Chrono Trigger is the greatest RPG of all time, and perhaps the greatest video game of all time. In an all-time run for Squaresoft, it stands alone. However, it's on me not to bring my own baggage to my conception of a video game, and after playing this game from beginning to end, I have to say that this is one of the finest RPGs of the era. Change it's name to anything else, and this is a game that would be discussed in the hallowed spaces of the PS1 Final Fantasy games, Suikodens, Xenogears, etc. It feels like it never gets that credit, however.

4. Dragon Quest XI

Crotchety old men like me can fall into a nostalgia trap of believing that the past was always better than the present. The golden age of whatever we like is gone, replaced with an amalgam of garbage poisoned by Commercialism and the bad taste of the next generation. I absolutely began to believe that in regards to JRPGs, missing the era in which I grew up, and decrying the newest era of games, despite the fact that I'd tried almost none of them. They just didn't look like something I'd be interested in playing. So, in surprise to no one, the last few years have been filled with several reminders that the JRPG is not, in fact, dead, and that the last decade have been filled with several standouts that would have thrilled and delighted me at any age. Included here are games like Xenoblade Chronicles, Bravely Default, Ni No Kuni, and now Dragon Quest XI. The last game in that list absolutely delighted me with its retro stylings, stunning visuals, and deep and interesting systems. It's always cheap, so if you find yourself jaded with the current state of JRPGs, go try one of these four. I'd bet you'll find something to like, and I'm also sure that the last few years are also chock full of games that I've never had the chance to play yet.

3. Metroid Dread

Those other games were excellent, but now we're talking all time classic levels. Because human society demands that we form into ultimately self-destructive tribes, when it comes to Metroidvania, you can count me on team Vania. Symphony of the Night is one of my all-time favorite games. I'm getting dangerously close to an annual playthrough for it, joining Super Mario World and Link to the Past. The Metroid games have never quite sat right with me. I enjoy most of them, but it feels like the jumps in progression are too small and unnoticeable and that the level design is never quite as intuitive in Metroid as in the modern Castlevania games. However, Metroid Dread completely exceeded all of my expectations with the most genius level design in any Metroidvania, ever. There are obviously always side paths you can take to explore, but the bread crumbs are laid so magnificently in this game so that you will rarely be lost, and always be finding something productive to do. The boss fights are razor sharp, the visuals are fine, music is excellent, and the EMMI sections are among the most heart-pounding, well designed challenges in gaming to date. This is a must play!

2. Vampire Survivors

The surprise game of the year! I only picked up this game because of Twitter, and found that dollar for dollar, this may be the deal of the century. Super cheap, insanely addicting, and conceptually brilliant, Vampire Survivors will absolutely be the best few dollars that you spend. It's hard to even explain what this game is like without playing it, but basically it's a game in which you only move your character, while your weapons automatically fire. You'll need to traverse the dangers posed in each level, and as you kill more enemies, you'll level up, allowing access to new weapons, level up old weapons, and even combine multiple weapons and items together into brand new, extremely powerful weapons. What's more, each level gives you a random selection of weapons and items, which, coupled with limited slots at your disposal, makes every level up choice critical as you strive to survive the hordes of enemies coming your way. My only slight disappointment with this game was that there are few enough weapons/items, and enough ways to skip options in your random rolls, that each run can get a little too similar with a skilled player at the helm. My final build was probably 90% similar to my ideal build every time, and having more options would increase the randomness and thus, the fun of having to be creative about handling different challenges. I spent dozens of hours on this game, and it will almost certainly be something that I circle back around too regularly as new content launches and as I get the desire. 

1. Slay the Spire

Wow, I love this game! It takes a dungeon crawling approach to traversal, a roguelike approach to fresh games regularly, a deck-building card-based combat, and meshes them into one magnificent cocktail of addiction. In contrast to our number 2 games on the list, Slay the Spire features a dizzying array of choices for cards, artifacts that will permanently power your character up, and pathways to make each and every run through the Spire totally and completely unique. If you try to make each run the same, the Spire will thoroughly punish you. The skilled player learns that each class archetype has many paths to victory, and that skillfully building your deck and artifacts in keeping with your very limited options will yield much better results than slavish devotion to one singular approach. This is a masterclass in game design, and I will absolutely spend regular time in the Spire for years to come.

And that's the top 10! Now, as usual, I'll review my 2022 goals to see which ones I completed:

2022 Goal #1: Complete Chrono Cross

Check

2022 Goal #2: Complete 25 games I've never finished before

Check

2022 Goal #3: Complete Secret of Mana 

Gulp. This has been a goal for several years and I never seem to get around to it.

2022 Goal #4: Abandon games that aren't fun or that I'm not enjoying

I gave up quite a bit this year! If I didn't like it, I just didn't play it. My life is too short to play bad games. I did play a few that weren't the best games, but I still found some enjoyment in them, like Mickey Mousecapade, Battle Arena Toshinden, and Pokemon Scarlet.

2022 Goal #5: Buy some pricey new physical games for my collection

I actually did this! I bought several games that were north of 50 dollars, which is very pricey for me. I was also more open to buying some new games at full price if I was excited about them, and I didn't really regret it much. 

Four out of five is pretty good. Here are some goals for 2023.

2023 Goal #1: Complete Secret of Mana

This is the year.

2023 Goal #2: Complete 25 games I've never finished before

I got 29 last year, and my gaming time is ticking back up very slightly, but who knows what the future will bring?

2023 Goal #3: Fix up my hardware

My stuff is going downhill fast. I've got broken controllers and systems, scratched discs, etc. 2023 is the year to fix all of that stuff up or replace it, and get my gaming life back on track.

2023 Goal #4: Get a MiSTer

I had a Raspberry Pi that I enjoyed setting up, so I think I'd really enjoy getting a MiSTer for higher quality output and emulation. This goal goes along with my goal #5...

2023 Goal #5: Downsize my collection

We are moving homes at the moment, and I just don't have the space for all of the stuff that I have in storage right now. What's more, the market's high and I honestly don't use a ton of my gaming stuff regularly at the moment. I probably game on my PS5 80% of the time, the Switch 10% of the time, and everything else about 10%. I'm fine with having old stuff that isn't in play regularly, but what I need to get rid of is the stuff that I don't like, I know I'll never play again, or is high priced. I found myself buying Turbografx-16 stuff, and honestly didn't even know why I was doing it. It's not that the games are bad or I'm not interested in playing them, but they're so expensive, and a MiSTer will do the trick for all of the stuff that I'm curious about. I don't even have a system to play them on! I was preparing for the Analogue Turbo clone, but that seems like a huge waste of money, given Turbo prices. I'm starting with that Turbo stuff and moving on from there. I'd like to trim my collection down by about 25% this year. I sold a bit when we moved and I really didn't miss any of it. I know that if I want it in the future, I can get it back, and it will probably be cheaper then, too.