When I was growing up, there wasn’t yet a sense of nostalgia attached to video games. They were too new, and what was old was less than a decade old. By the 90’s, the 2600 generation simply became old, while NES games became dated. Though once we got into the N64 and PS1 era, people started returning to older games and around the year 2000, ‘retro’ started to be a thing.

Reclaiming our childhood

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_{^{Image: Brett Weiss}}

In the 80’s and 90’s, games were pretty expensive when compared to today’s discounted Greatest Hits series and crazy sales on digital platforms like Steam. Most of us weren’t able to own robust libraries of video games and most of what we played was what we were able to get as gifts, borrow from friends or rent. While the price of retail games has increased modestly, from $50 to $60 as the industry standard. A $50 game 30 years ago (due to inflation) costs $107 in 2018 dollars. So most of was were lucky to have more than a handful of games back in the 80’s.

Once these systems were old enough for the masses to move on, the prices of the games plummeted. In the late 90’s, people were liquidating Atari and NES games for next to nothing. I have a stack of over a dozen Super Mario Bros. cartridges that I bought from my local game store, simply because I’d add one every time I made a purchase and at the time, they were $0.49. Many games that fetch crazy prices today were a few bucks 20 years ago. Oh how times have changed.

The combination of ‘get this outta my house’ prices with a generation that started to gain interest in collecting huge libraries of games for systems they owned as a kid kicked off the retro game collecting movement. We could suddenly own all the games we saw behind glass in department stores or in the pages of Nintendo Power. So we started buying them up, and the hobby grew.

What’s old is new again

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_{^{Image: David Walsh Blog}}

Another reason why retro gaming has become popular is that new generations are experiencing these games for the first time. Modern games are visually stunning and offer new ways to play, like online multiplayer. However most would agree that as they’ve gotten bigger and more expensive to produce, the challenge level isn’t there.

Old games were short, so to compensate for their length they were often very difficult to extend their lives. Modern games simply aren’t like this, aside from the odd title like Super Meat Boy. In addition, older consoles have robust libraries of games that younger gamers have never seen and have started exploring. Fresh blood into the market is keeping prices and demand for retro games high.

I’m dodging my question. So what is ‘retro’?

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Well, its subjective. Some think that anything that’s not current gen is retro, others only see games released on cartridges as what qualifies as retro. Personally, I think that anything two generations old or older would be considered retro. The Wii/PS2/XBox is the newest platforms that I would consider to be retro in 2018 — the games are in that awkward phase between peak popularity and nostalgia, so expect prices for these games to start rising sometime in the next 5-10 years.

So what do you think qualifies as ‘retro’? Lets’ discuss!

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!

_{^{Cover Image: Techspot}}