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
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