Agreed. But I will say that the one thing I do appreciate from controllers having more than 1 button once it became a thing, is seperate buttons for jump and fire. I can (and do) still play old Commodore 64 game regularly. And pushing up on the joystick to jump is the one thing that gets old really quickly.
Yeah i remember being kid and seeing some of the controllers that were coming out with the consoles and saying how am I supposed to play with that? Gaming was definitely simpler back in the day.
@@frankbrodie5168 The Atari 2600 joystick was inadequate for its later games - should have at least had 2 buttons. The C64 joystick (interchangeable with Atari 2600) should have had at least 3. Often times, C64 games used the space bar as a second button. The Sega Master System was also inadequate in that respect - should have had 3 or 4 buttons instead of just 2. On the other hand, the Intellivision, ColecoVision, and Atari 5200 went too far the other way, and those controllers are very confusing and uncomfortable. The NES and Vectrex controllers were perfect, with 4 buttons.
My nephew who is 12, thinks Super Meat Boy and Megaman are awful. My brother who is just 12 years younger than me, loves to play NES and Genesis, but won’t ever play 2600 or Intellivision games. I’m 45.
@@OM19_MO79 I am 46 and remember playing Atari 2600 and Vectrex at friend's houses. I wouldn't play them now, though. They are too simple. Now, NES, SNES, Genesis, TurboGrafx? Hell yea!
You make good points, For me (a GenXer) it comes down to a few things. 1) Yeah, nostalgia. Nothing wrong with it. 2) Playability. They may not _look_ good, but many of these games are incredibly playable and replayable. 3) Time and emotional investment. A lot of times I don't want to put in a lot of time or emotional effort into a game. Yeah, I play story-based new games like Baldur's Gate 3 or Hogwarts Legacy, but they are huge time sinks. And after a day of work I don't always want to spend hours trying to progress through a multi-layered, emotional story. Sometimes I just want to blow up some alien invaders for fifteen minutes. 4) The toxicity of so much multi-player gaming. Watching how players treat each other is, quite frankly, often disturbing. I don't have to worry about that with older games.
I enjoy the nostalgia, but 2 and 3 resonate with me. I like to be able to pick up a game and just play. I'm not in middle school anymore with the time to spend hours sitting in front of a TV with friends playing Pitall! or whatever other games were hot at the time. I want to be decent and just play. The last time I tried to play a game that wasn't "retro" was Star Trek: Fleet Command. I found myself burning out very suddenly after a few months of steady game play. With simpler games, I can just picked it up and play for a few minutes to blow off some steam. Anstream Arcade is one of my favorite services. I work remotely, so I can quickly jump on that website when I'm done and play Dig Dub for a few minutes or perhaps some obscure title I've never heard of.
Spot on, I also agree 2 and 3 are the main reasons, especially 3 as after a long day at work I just want something I can plug in and go without much thought and lose a half hour. I also think 4 is unfortunately a big part of it too, I mean who wants to be ridiculed by someone 40 years your junior from another part of the world, it’s just not fun and sometimes goes way beyond not fun.
I grew up with the snes as my first console. Grew up with xbox and 360 with online play. So it's fair to say I have 0 nostalgia for atari/early 80s video games. The reason I play old games like these is that there isn't anything like it. Sitting down and playing 30 minutes of games and having it feel like a complete experience is very rare with new games. But with atari or Commodore or w/e, it just hits different.
That's an interesting perspective - I would add that reading the manual to some of these games that unlock unknown knowledge about how to play or strategies helps the immersive experience for those 30 minutes. Hardware also comes into play.
Being a veteran gamer myself this "hit me right in the feels". You're absolutely spot on with this Jon. Not only do I remember playing these old games, I remember doing the paper/milk round to earn the money to buy the latest game. Going up town on a Saturday with my friends to look at the latest games in our nearest independent games store "Softies Den" that basically consisted of a tiny shop space with a few shelves filled with the latest cassette games and typically a ZX Spectrum and C64 set up ready to demo whatever games you were interested in. Then buying the game and reading the inlay card on the way home on the bus. Getting home and waiting for the game to load up before playing the game until it was time for the Saturday night takeaway meal and then more gaming. Typically this would be the game you would be playing every night after school and at the weekend until you had enough money to buy your next game. As you say, when you replay these games, you remember friends and family that are no longer around and a more innocent time of gaming. I wouldn't give up growing up in the late 70s/early 80s for anything. They were truly magical, carefree days before the world got so serious :-) Keep up the awesome work Jon!
Yes, everything you said. My very first gaming experience was when my dad gave me a quarter to play Asteroids in the bowling alley (in November 1979 when I turned 9 years old), and suddenly the bowling wasn't the highest priority on my list. I miss my dad, he got me interested in computers in general. But I think it's more than just remembering friends and family. There's a reason older adults at the time weren't quite as enthused with games as us kids. They saw games as fun and clever but ultimately as devices for entertainment, but as kids we immersed ourselves in the game with all the believability of a young kid, so it became a part of who we were and who we later became. I have a hunch I don't need to explain that to anyone on this channel, they will just "know" what I mean in their own understanding.
I was born in '65, so the beginning of Gen X, and whilst I personally didn't have a 2600, I live in the UK and witnessed an incredible surge in home computing, starting for me with a ZX81. Blocky monochrome graphics, no sound, but wow was it an incredible little machine. Of course the 2600 was here too, but I didn't get to use Atari until my parents bought me an 800XL, and wow what an upgrade from the ZX81 and Spectrum I had after it. You're right, the nostalgia is heavy and thick in the air, but the memories these machines unlock of carefree times with friends and family is something you just don't get from a PC or Xbox. It's part of the reason I've collected most if not all of the machines that meant something to me from that time. Good take on the subject, love your vids BTW :)
All of your points are exactly right, Jon. I also have a lot of love for my old Atari 2600 games because I still remember to this day what store I was in when my parents, sister, or grandfather would buy them for me, whether it was Zellers, Woolworth's, K-Mart or Sears. I remember clearly the feeling of being so happy walking out of the store, holding that cool game box, studying the amazing artwork, just dying to play it. My dad and I used to play Missile Command together in the mall all the time. He was so happy to be able to play it at home on our 2600 when it came out. Those really were great times!
Nicely said. I remember playing Atari 2600 Asteroids with my Dad and there was always a story. Perhaps we were racing through the asteroid field with precious cargo, or escaping enemies or rushing to someone's defense, or even just racing each other with the score indicating our distance. Missile Command was about the society I was defending and the aliens that were attacking. There was a reason that car was on that weird twisty road in Night Driver. Defender, Chopper Command, - all had a story, a character piloting those vehicles, perhaps a different one every time. When Doom came along it became about marveling at what the game could do and show you and the story and experience it gave you. Previously, much of the context and story was ours to create.
Yes! I remember doing the same with Asteroids! It was my way of adding a layer to the game that the technology itself couldn't do. The box art, and stories in the game manuals did this. In a way, this topic leads to modern vs retro game comparisons. Modern games are still a balancing act among changing expectations on what and how much should be supplied by the game itself.
The game art reflect that too I think. Often you had no idea what a game was going to be like until you played it but that art triggered the imagination.
Hahaha! I love this so much. I remember doing the same thing as a kid. I remember my Dad and I playing Defender on Christmas eve to make sure the aliens didn't stop Santa.
The best games follow this concept: Rules/goals are easy to figure out, simple gameplay, but it takes a long time to master the game. That defines games of the 70s and early 80s.
I still play old handheld games too. They’re still a challenge. They’re still fun. Being born in ‘66 was great as I saw and went through the beginning of something new with videos games: Home consoles and handhelds. The late 70s blew my mind. It WAS magic. I think you’re right on with your assessment.
Born in 66 also first console our family had in 76 was the Sears telegames. I believe their were 4 versions of Pong on it including hockey which was my favorite. Good times.
All valid points. For us early 80s kids there was an anticipation waiting to get that game we wanted and going to the store to buy a game was a magical event, the menories of which we hold on to. For example-At face value, 2600 Coleco Donkey Kong is a bad game. But the day my (since departed) mom took me to get it was magical. The box (plays like real arcade game lol) and game hold that special memory. Many games in my collection hold a meaningful story.
I was so disappointed with Donkey Kong :( But playing it now, I'm like "this actually isn't so bad!" I find myself firing it up as often as any other. It says a lot about expectations we held, and how they often get in the way of enjoyment of things for what they are, rather than what we wished they were.
Right on Jon! Gen X isn't just THE GENERATION that witnessed the birth of video gaming. We are also THE GENERATION still alive to tell the story first hand and give the best perspective when comparing video gaming from its inception to our present day. No other generation can really say that. When the Millennials and Generation Z reach their 50s and 60s then they will have a better understanding of this but they will never have the breadth and depth of experience that Gen X has. We were there when it all started and we are still at it here and now thank God.
I'm only a Gen-Y (Millenial) born in 1994, but I'm drawn to Atari games. My mother kept her system from childhood and shared it with me when I was 3 years old, and as a bearer of a creative mind, it's not a problem having to use my imagination to get into the mood. The games are simple and easy to learn (and sometimes hard to master). So the question should also be, "What attracts younger gamers to blocky games from decades ago?"
I also grew up on all these older systems. I remember when Mattel Football was a newest technology. I think one thing that takes me back to older games today is how technical the games have become and how they all seem to be the same thing. I was talking the other day about how I miss the PS2 days of gaming. It seemed that there were all types of games coming out and companies could take a chance on a new IP. Also we seemed to have new releases every week , there was so much to choose from.
Your "Legacy Gamer" line and how you delivered it got me very misty-eyed. I bought the 2600+ after seeing your channel, and dug the old cartridges out. Touching and seeing the silky matte finish on the Space Invaders cartridge was a sensation I hadn't experienced in 40 years. For that flash of a moment, I was a kid again.
In addition to everything Jon said- It’s like how I like the Ramones but not Steely Dan. Or maybe why I prefer inspired essence to an idea to an over-produced execution. I like rough edges. “Refined” doesn’t always mean “better”.
Well said Jon. I remember the joy and excitement of playing these games with friends on "snow" days from school with fond memories. It was that unexpected extra day off for fun that was so special!
Because we grew up with them, there was nothing like it back then. You accepted what was presented to you and you were mesmerized. The youth today look at these games today after growing up with modern graphics/sound, and they can't relate and have the "Why would I play this crappy thing? Why am I a square shape?" mentality. I can always pick up any game from most systems from the beginning of it all and still have fun with them, because I appreciate them. If they never happened, there wouldn't be the gaming industry we have today. Solid upgrades to the games over the years because of games like Pong, Space Invaders, and others at the time paved the way for everything that ever came after it.
When you tear away the fancy graphics, the amazing sounds and soundtrack all you have is playability. SO many current games lack actual gameplay and try to hide it behind the graphics and sound. Also you can trace back a lot of modern games ideas and processes back to those original 80's core game actions.
It's almost as though these companies never learn from Atari's past mistakes, the Atari 5200 being an example of having too much focus on graphics over gameplay.
As a fellow gen x grownup, love this take. The 2600 was probably the one and only game console my parents played as much as I did, so that has a lot of good memories associated with it. Started introducing my young kid to the 2600 recently, and fortunately despite the availability of iPads, switch and beyond, he's really liking the Atari games. Especially Video Pinball!
Great video! I love your channel. Not many RU-vidrs recognize that video games were immensely popular and fun before the NES. Born in ‘67 and, like you, experienced the birth of all that we enjoy, today. I started with Pong and haven’t stopped. I completely agree with all of your points. The one thing I’d add (and others have, as well) is the playability factor. While I still love modern gaming, most of them only have a loose correlation to those quarter grabbing wonders we loved in the 80s. They didn’t want you to play too long so the games got difficult quickly… and this made them an adrenaline rush and a do-or-die course in hand-eye coordination that’s a bit different or missing altogether in many of today’s games. Like I said, I love today’s games but I’ll always gravitate to the immediacy and visceral fun of the simpler originals. Plus, how could a person NOT have a strong draw to the old games after spending so many hours in arcades? It’s hard to convey just how exciting and fun arcades were to those that weren’t there. Pure heaven.
Great points, Jon. Especially your points about imagination. It was replaced by immersion. And to be fair, complete immersion is an amazing experience (your choice of RDR2 was a PERFECT example). And personally I think the best mix of those two are the 8-bit pc games. The Ultima series comes to mind- the game gave us *just enough* for us to know "we are in grass", or "on a ship" or "in a forest ". We could tell if we were fighting goblins, or wizards. The rest was up to us. And, I'lll be so bold to point out that perhaps, if exposed to them properly, today's younger generation might actually be drawn to these older simple games- easy to play, quick experiences, simple rules..something you can play for a few minutes, and not require 100 hours to "beat". And maybe that's another draw for us. We *played* those games, we didn't necessarily *beat* them (with some exceptions of course). Anyway, those are my thoughts. Great video !
One word: gameplay - I introduced my daughter to Circus Atari last year, and once she got over the square balloons, she played it for 3 hours! Not only that, she got a kick out of the “splat” animation whenever the clown missed the see saw. The bottom line is that the clever, usually frantic gameplay of these otherwise “simple” games had us hooked.
When I was a kid and Star Wars was still good (Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back), Star Raiders was my way to pilot an X-Wing fighter and battle Tie Fighters. I had no friends who played Dungeons & Dragons, but Adventure was my go-to game for a fantasy fix. Friends would come over with their Atari games and we would play theirs, then I would go to a sleepover at their house and bring mine. It was a great time to be a kid!
Remember how amazing the novelty of being able to control something on the television screen was? I can still remember the first time I played Atari space Invaders or Atari combat and how amazing it was to control the tv. Even when I got a Commodore 64 later and could type words and have them appear on the screen that was magic to me. Those are some of the feelings that I love to relive.
I've introduced my grandson who is 17 too many older games and he has enjoyed every one of them. It's funny isn't it how people will say oh it's just a bad game but once they play it's like oh this ain't so bad.
I can never understand it when I hear the young gamers scoffing at the low-res blocky graphics of our games from the 80s, when millions of them are obsessed with playing Minecraft. 😂🤣
@@ajboomer1347 Yeah, Minecraft may be made of low-res blocks but there's an incredible level of detail to them and depth of gameplay. I have had some of the most nail-biting and exciting emergent gameplay experiences in Minecraft. Even moreso than games with deep stories and photorealistic graphics.
You asked a LOT more questions about Adventure than I ever did! That said, I was so invested in that square, I'd scare myself dodging through the blue maze, gripping the chalice, the Red Dragon nipping at my heels...! VERY FEW video games ever got such an emotional response from me. It shows how good gameplay and world building leads to immersion, and that graphics and complexity aren't the sole driver for either.
Jon, thanx for the video. I too am a GenX Grownup. I recently was gifted an Atari Gamestation Pro. I followed your procedure to flash the firmware and add additional games. I feel like I am 12 years old again! No, these games are not outdated to me. They are memories of my childhood and they make me smile. 😊
To take us back to something we enjoyed in our youth as our bodies age and we’re not up for BBGunWar, Dodge Ball and “the man” took our Jarts away. Also the style of game play is key to me. Even in modern games I am drawn to rather simple-mission player-one games where the only complexity is advancing elements of the similar play (more or tougher enemies, faster speeds). Thanks for another great commentary 👊🏻😎🕹️
These essay type videos are amazing. The connecting with friends from the past is so on the money. I no longer talk to the friend I played all the games with, but the memory of us working together feels as recent as yesterday. Thanks for what you do,
I think a lot of us who play 80's games live in a 80's bubble in general, meaning we may watch 80's movies and Tv shows more than we do todays stuff. We listen to 80's music more than we do todays music. We may even dress like we belong in the 80's. There's a quality that disappeared when that era was over which later decades didn't have which younger people may not be able to see. For me personally, no amount of graphics or Darksouls or GTA5 could beat playing Yar's Revenge or Centipede while listening to Journey or Survivor.
You are so right👍🏻 Born in 1967 I live in that bubble, the music I listen to in my car "the B52's", "the Smith", "New Order", "ABC", "Chicago House"... You name it. The sneakers I wear "Onitsuka Tiger", "Puma", all vintage style of course. During that crazy lockdown times I watched all episodes of "Columbo", "Dukes of Hazzard", "Chip's"... just to feel better. Still got the Atari my parents bought us in 1980 (I got a younger brother) and it's still up and running. But the funny thing is, my nices (13 +10) love the Atari 2600 a lot. They couldn't stop playing when my brother bought the 2600+ So hopefully that 80's spirit is carrying on...
The simplicity, get-go, fast fun of it. I don't know about you guys, but as I get older I don't have the time, patience and maybe capacity to learn all the variables and complexity that involves a modern game. If I try COD the only thing I do sort of correctly is hide. I have a PS5 (still in its box), Switch and Xbox Series X... what do I play? Galaga and Pac Man.
“Bad games?” Definitely not nostalgia. I can gain the same appreciation discovering a “new” Atari game as I have for one I grew up on. Why do I like these games? First, they’re still fun no matter their age and, second, I have a real fondness for simplicity and specific aesthetics. There’s also the added bonus of not having to deal with the internet to any degree playing. Everything I want and need is right in that cartridge!
Great video and I agree with everything you said. I made a similar realisation a few years back about being alive during the birth of video games, it's a crazy thing to think of. As a 54 year old, I play games from the 70s and 80s of course for a heavy dose of nostalgia, coupled with the aesthetic style of early games which I just enjoy artistically - I love the limitations they were working under. But the biggest factor is actually simplicity. For me, a video game is something I play for a few minutes to let off some steam or as a brief distraction. It's a shoot-em-up or a simple 2D plat-former where I blast or jump around for a few minutes before getting on with my day. I don't want something that takes hours, days or weeks to play. I think Sabre Wulf, Underwurlde and Knight Lore were the last 'big' games I completed. I enjoyed Doom but as soon as everything became 3D, photo-realistic, huge AND hyper violent, I was out. I don't have the time or patience, and I find too many controls just too difficult to master! That's why today I love my Vectrex for its simple, satisfying shoot-em-ups, or early Gameboys for things like Bomberman. It also harks back to our early arcade experiences where in order to make money, they were designed to only last a few minutes. We may mock current teens for their lack of attention but video games in the 70s and 80s were all short form experiences!
I'm a few years younger than the gang.. But I grew up gaming on the Commodore 64 and then the NES. I think it's a nostalgia thing for me. The memories of sitting next to my best friend playing a game.. or playing Wrestlemania Challenge with my sister as part of the "Yourself and Yourself" tag team takes me back to a simpler time.. before grown up stuff got in the way. Now, I do enjoy modern games, but will always find myself throwing Mario 3 in the NES or Playing Berzerk or Frenzy on my cabinet (two out of my three favorite games of all time.) Damn it Jon.. you hit me in the feels! :D
I'm 14, and im so obsessed with old games (atari) because of the simplicity and people think I'm weird because of that. I do not care for a second about what they say!
Hey Jon. The reasons you provided to answer the video question were expected. It's about nostalgia and 'ol' times' sake!'. Those of us old enough to remember those days will have a better appreciation for the evolution of video games in general. A game may have the most primitive of graphics, and today's young gamers may be inclined to snicker when they see them on a flat screen; but if one finds an old video game enjoyable, and possibly even beneficial and sharpening to their hand-eye, then they should continue reaping the benefits of what that game has to offer. I was in my mid-teens late in the fall of 1982 when I purchased my first Atari 2600 with money I had saved from delivering newspapers. One of my customers lived across the street from me and their young, adult son also had an Atari system. While at their house once, I saw him playing Video Olympics with a friend of his. I mentioned to him I wouldn't mind borrowing some of his games. He loaned me some third party games; specifically Atlantis by Imagic, and Skiing by Activision. I have them both installed on my computer today and I must admit that I still have a soft spot for 'Skiing'. Thanks Tommy L. You also mentioned that parent who may no longer be around. When I first bought my Atari console, my father wasn't exactly keen on it. Then came that day when I brought home Super Breakout. I started playing the progressive variation (no. 7 on the cartridge). Well, many a day while I was in school and when he was off work, THAT game was his world. He was more hooked on it than I ever could be. He called it, 'that super ping-pong'.
Jon, I can’t help but tell you that you pump out a lot of content and it is always FABULOUS. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. Just please make sure you put your health and mental health first.
I grew up with SNES games and onward. I still come back to older titles from the earliest days. Some of them are still good in their own right. What's fun is fun.
Play the next game review in black and white! If the "kids today" think blocky is unplayable, most of us had to use a 13" b&w tv. Even into well into NES days. "Your not hooking that up to the living room TV!" 😒
Right?! You remind me of a piece I did some months ago about the TV Type switch on the VCS. If you were lucky, when the 'rents upgraded, maybe you'd get the old color set! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rj4lO_UVuRo.html
12” black and white portable was my display until I started working and could afford to rent a 16” colour, very occasionally got to use the “big” colour tv in the living room, all of 24” if I remember correctly.
This video really resonated with me. Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around myself and my friends playing these "old" games at each others houses on weekends and in the summers. I hear my son in his room talking to friends as he plays his modern games online. It's doesn't seem the same to me, but maybe it is to him. Great video Jon, well done.
During the era when video games were constantly getting better and better in every possible way, people had the mindset that a new game would obsolete the one which came before it. But now that video games have pretty much reached the point where the technical limits have been achieved, we now realise that a good game from the past will always be a good game. It's not like Tetris or Street Fighter 2 will ever stop being fun to play, just because they don't push any technical boundaries by today's standard. Chess is ancient and primitive, but plenty of people still play it.
I was there and still reliving my memories. FYI - I'm 61 years young!!! Just ordered the Atari 7800+ with a handful of games and accessories. Thanks, Jon for another awesome vid!!!
I really like this! I am guessing that I am probably nearly identical age as John here in this video and I can certainly relate. When these games were new, that was the cutting edge of technology and it was indeed something cool and new, beyond simply playing board games with my brother and friends! Yes, part of it is nostalgia, but part of it is indeed reliving fond memories. All those hours of my brother and I playing River Raid, and even Super Mario Bros when we got an NES. Also, since the technology was so limited, it seemed that much focus on these games was to try to implement engaging gameplay, despite the rudimentary graphics and sound, and yes the rest was filled in by the imagination of the player. As other comments pointed out, many of these games are still fun and challenging even to this day.
When it's a truly great game, the complexity of the graphics/sound don't matter. Just look at Minecraft and Terraria. And Jon is right about using your imagination and that sometimes "less is more". The Civilization series is a perfect example. The later editions are much more nuanced and the mechanics are balanced much better. But Civ I and II still have the most charm.
Jon. This, in my opinion, is your absolute best video. I am a BoomerGrownup, as i have mentioned before, so I wasn't 'exactly' a kid when these came out, but you absolutely nailed the reasons why I, at least, love to play old "bad" games. And like most people here, I still do. Even with all the great modern games that I own. There are times when I need to remember what it was like to be younger and play these old games. To relive a simpler time when the graphics were as real and sharp as your imagination Bravo!!
You hit the nail on the head with this one…i find myself almost daily think about the memories and experiences with these legacy game systems. I was born in 1974 and through all of those video game historical moments and miss it everyday. One thing i think is important to hi-light and that is the amount of imagination we had to put in to those games which makes it great. Well done!
Man you hit the nail on the head! I’m 35 so I didn’t quite grow up playing Atari or intellavision (hope I spelled that right). Mine was mainly Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. But yes that’s exactly how I feel about the pixilated games I love to play rather than the newest and best graphics. This was an awesome video and thank you for explaining it such 🙌🏼👏 “Subscribed now”
You are spot on. Simple, but with some skill required, saving quarters from going to the Arcade that not always my family had the money to spare, staring at the box art for hours and imagining the whole story that the graphic conveyed....thank you Jon.
Another thing about the early games is that there was typically no way to "win," you would play until your quarters ran out. You didn't need to sink an entire weekend into a game to derive fun from it.
Jon thank you so much for this video. I am sitting here with tears in my eye, though happy ones, from a memory you rekindled in me. When talking about playing with parents it took me straight back to the one time I persuaded my dad to play. He was an older father and when I was in my early teens and got my first computer,a VIC20, he was in his late 60’s and not at all into these new fangled devices. One evening when my mum was night shift I persuaded him to let me use the “big” colour telly, 24” if I remember right, in the living room rather than my 12” black and white portable that was in my own room. I started playing Cosmic Cruncher, an okayish Pac-Man clone, with my dad watching along. I eventually asked if he wanted a go and he took the joystick and started playing. Well that was the end of my gaming that night as I couldn’t get him off it! I told my mum the story the next day and dad denied it something he did till the day he died. But I knew and any time I load up Cosmic Cruncher it takes me right back to that night and it’s beautiful. Otherwise it’s a piece of code that in all honesty it wouldn’t be worth revisiting but for me it’s gaming gold. Thanks again for bringing this back to me today 🤗
I think another factor comes down to accessibility. If I want to sit down and play an Atari or NES game, I know that I can just turn on the system and within no more than 5 seconds, I'm immediately playing the game. If I boot up a modern console or PC, first the platform needs time to load the operating system, then maybe there's an update patch that needs to install. Once the game itself starts booting, you've got to sit through a minute or two of developer logos, then it's on to the actual game menu. Load your save, maybe watch a cutscene. Finally, after 3 or 4 minutes (if you're lucky), you actually start playing the game. Also, the sheer complexity of modern games can be exhausting. Every modern game these days seems to be laced with RPG-like progression systems, massive open worlds, dozens of fetch-quests, item crafting, etc. Sometimes, it can be refreshing to just run left-to-right, press B to shoot and A to jump. And because "old" games couldn't rely of fancy graphics or complex storytelling, the game play itself had to be rock solid and compelling. And because those games couldn't be very long due to storage limitations, they had to feel rewarding to play over and over again. "Easy to learn, tough to master" was the mantra of the classic video games.
THANK YOU JOHN, you nailed it mate, as you lived through it over there , we did too in Australia. Back then the excitement of seeing the latest graphics in a game specially since we had the old green or amber screens with text adventure games, but these days it’s about the nostalgia of an object, record, game cartridge and reliving game moves and memories. A couple of years ago , me and another old guy introduced his kids to the Atari 2600 games night , us oldies again the young ones , and we couldn’t get over the complaining “ it’s only got one button”, “wow you don’t have to wait for the game to load”, and the rest of the bickering about how hard the games were with no save point and blocky graphics. We were excited to play together and compare scores with each other when we went to school the next day. Todays generation is constantly looking at screens and don’t have the same approach we had. As we are getting older we have to contend with what our bodies tell us while playing a game and for how long? The amount of times I would spend playing Pac man and my wrist was killing me just so I could clock it back over to zero and the only way to get a toilet break was to lose a life as there was no pause button. At least now with the Atari flashback gold I can save, pause and rewind a game , it blows me away at the little size of it compared to the old heavy six console and the fact I have nearly a thousand games on a USB that plugs into it thats not even the size of my thumb nail blow me away, thanks again John., Brilliant Video.
I was a 70’s and 80’s kid and for me it is definitely the nostalgia factor in playing the older games. Memories of those days playing with family and friends trying to get the high score or victory in a four player game like warlords.
Great vid. I think the imagination thing is like reading a book compared to watching the big budget tv or film adaptation, both are absolutely valid. Along with playing modern games I love playing the retro games I played as a kid, but also finding new ones that I didn't get to play, or had never even heard of back then.
Hi Jon, you speak from my heart. These are the exact memories that come to life when I put a cart in my Atari 2600+. Memories of looking forward for months to getting the Atari game I wanted most for Christmas and then filling the living room with the "festive sounds" of Centipede on Christmas Eve 😅. Memories of riding my bike to my best friend's house after school to play Zaxxon with him on the Atari. I was born in Germany in 1970 and have experienced the entire evolution of video games, from the first Pong clone console to Atari, c64, Sega Genesis, SNES, Saturn, Dreamcast and PlayStation. Then at some point the PS3 came along with online gaming, updates, DLC and all that stuff. At that point I lost interest in gaming for a while. Last year I spontaneously bought a well-preserved Atari 2600 jr console with a handful of games and it gave me incredible joy to rediscover these simple but wonderful games. As an adult, I also gained a completely different perspective on the artwork and background story. It is the contrast to today's gaming world and the memories of a wonderful childhood that put a smile on my face today when I play the old blocky games ☺️
This was surprisingly touching. I have a strong sense memory linked with Atari and its games: the smell of floral floor cleaner. I spent so many weekends sprawled on the carpet in front of the TV playing with my Atari while my mother hummed in the kitchen cleaning, that every time I smell that floor cleaner (which she is STILL using 40 years later) brings me right back to our little two bedroom apartment in the projects.
Excellent description for why we revisit old games. Imagination was key. I'm 46, but I can remember playing double dragon and pretending that Marion was the girl I liked in real life. I was the hero on my journey to save her. I remember playing Mattel's handheld football and pretending the red dot was Chuck Norris and I was dashing across the field of war and getting to the endzone was the escape point. Not to mention some of those games remind us of a better time in our lives where we had that friend beside us. Thats why we revisit these games. Not to mention some of them are just fun plain and simple.
Yes you are right Jon, first of all the rudimentary graphics forced us to reconstruct with our imagination everything that was missing. It is the same reason why we read books instead of simply watching a movie. But there are many other reason for me, I have little free time available, I like a lot modern games, I have at home Nintendo and PlayStations (all from 1 to 4) and play them sometimes, but they require hours and hours of time that I do not have. Instead you can play these vintage games even for just 5 or 10 minutes and... you have fun, without thinking about anything, pure entertainment. Then there is nostalgia, the memory of the times when we were kids, the magic of the first video games never seen before, to unbox a new cartridge, playing with my friends, my dad and grandma looked on in pure amazement 😀 I will never forget the winter of '77... An extraordinary era, to remember and to relive
I would add that the minimalism of its graphics not only stimulates the imagination but also has a beauty in itself, like any form of minimalism in art. I am gen x and I witnessed the entire development of digital art, I started programming art on the commodore 128 and I still continue making digital art, with modern tools, but always with an attachment to the technical limitations of the time, whose aesthetic results are unmatched.
Very good video, Jon. I can add another reason: technology has evolved faster than the art of writing games and software, and quite often I miss that some game or software tool was not written decades ago using older hardware. That’s the reason why “homebrews” are still developed for old consoles and old computers: it’s not only feelings and nostalgia, but also that the possibilities of those older systems have not been exhausted (for some systems it can be argued that only a small fraction of their possibilities have been used). And I feel that it’s unfair that older systems don’t get software that pushes their possibilities to new limits. It’s unfair older systems are not produced anymore just because hardware has evolved so fast. You can compose music with a DAW on a computer, but it would be unfair to say that you cannot compose music to be played on a classical piano. That’s how I see old hardware.
You are so spot on with this take. My imagination has always filled ut in. From Pong to Atari to Colecovision and so on. I even have that small Dungeons and Dragons handheld that yiu fill in your imagination for a Dragon and Warrior. I play newer games as well with my grown kids, but the nostalgia make me enjoy the older games more. Something that is so unique and special to each of us.
Sometimes I have 30 secs to 2-3 mins to kill. It takes longer than that to boot up something made post-2010. I also don’t want to think sometimes, it lets me clear my head for a bit. I do the same with arcade games, since they’re designed to be enjoyed superficially for the most part. Nostalgia plays a minor role in that it helps me bridge the gap on games that are measurably awful, but there are legit well-made Atari games that transcend nostalgia, and could be played by almost anyone.
I enjoy your Chanel and honestly…. the point you made in this video hit a chord… I can’t express(in words) how I felt about these games and that era the same way you just did even though I feel the same way, thanks for that. Keep the good content coming
Do you remember Scott Adams' text adventure games? They came on a cartridge that you put in a VIC20. They accepted two-word commands, like "get axe" or "chop tree". These were imaginary fantasy interactions like none other before, except for the pick-a-path adventure books or tabletop Dungeons&Dragons. There was nothing before it except being told what to experience, like watching TV or seeing a movie. It was more than just the pixelated graphics on rudimentary video games. It really was the imagination -- as a kid growing up and being a hero in his own little world where he could do whatever he wanted. And the thrill of figuring out crude text adventure puzzles. I mean seriously, (in the Zork series), "tie chest to rope"??? -- because tying the rope to the chest didn't work. It actually put a new spin on learning actual schoolwork for me: there was a way, and if I think about it long enough, I'll find it! And it was through this work that a job well done was the reward. Then I became a software engineer, and I could write one of those old pixelated games all by myself. What a wonderful life. :-)
To your point about living through it. Yes. Part of it might be how video games unlocked a world of immersion that other game media rarely could. Those times were an experience where you dreamed about doing things, whether it's flying a space fighter or whatever, and then wow here's something that lets you feel you're doing it! Throw DnD into the mix, and you have another explosive development in gaming.
I remember playing gorf for the first time in the local arcades. It blew my mind that it had space invaders, galaxians , multiple levels and an end of level boss alI in one game! spent a lot of pocket money on that. Great days. I still get that excited feeling of days sadly long gone by when I fire up the emulator and play it again. It’s great to see the youngsters experiencing these old games and appreciating them for what they are, but , and I feel really sorry for them that they never will experience the heady summer evenings in a neon lit arcade and the excitement it created. It was amazing and miss those days so much.
It's also nice to go back to certain games an learn that even at my age I can still get to the same level I could 40 years ago. Recently for me it was Atari 2600's Jungle Hunt (the fourth level beginning where the gravity is stronger when trying to jump the ropes) and Frogger (the fifth 'snake on the log' stage).
Before there were awesome graphics and sound, all we had was *gameplay.* Since the machines were not powerful enough to do much, developers had to concentrate on one thing: gameplay. That's why so many of those old games are still fun to play to this day. Relating to this, the different ways that manufacturers dealt with the limitations of the hardware gave those machines their own personalities. This is something that modern machines don't have because their capabilities are so similar.
As others have said, us older gamers simply don't have huge amounts of time to invest in the complexities of some modern games (many of them requiring hours and hours of dedication, for example Fortnite if you want to play that seriously you would need to practice for AGES simply to be able to compete online). I work long 12-hour days (yeah I know, I'm working on changing that XO) and don't have time to invest into most modern titles. For me, firing up a short and sweet retro game (especially older arcade games which are the pinnacle of retro gaming imo) for a couple of minutes is perfection when I want to relax and I would choose this over a modern game most of the time (!)
Older gamer here. Awesome analysis right on point. I tried to get my son (teenager) to play Atari first he kept complaining about the high pitch sound coming out of the crt of course my old ears can’t pick up that high pitch. I put in Surround and we played that for like an hour and it was one game that I could actually beat him at!! Just shows gameplay is king no matter the graphics. The other thing you briefly touch on is that feeling of playing with a friend or family member. When Pac-Man came out I was so excited I still think it gets a bad rap. I loved it at the time. But what makes it extra special is it is one of the few games my mom would play and she was really good at. I still have it and the manual with her “mom” name and high score!
I play TI-99 Parsec because my Mom, who passed 30 years ago, used to watch me play it. I play Atari 2600 Asteroids because my Dad, who passed 11 years ago, played the heck out of it, so these games remind me of the "paradigm shift" of reality since 1981.
You have outdone yourself with this one, mate. Truly a wonderful video, a sweet essay on the true meaning of technological nostalgia. I enjoyed every second and every word, thank you very much!
I agree 100%. I have many memories from the late 70s and all throughout the 80s playing video games with my friends. A lot of my childhood friends are deceased now and old games let me relive those memories. Awesome channel man !!
Missed you at RetroCon! As a later GenXer (got my Atari 2600 in the aftermath of Pac-Man in the arcades), and a programmer, I appreciate just how much modern software developers rely on having gigabytes of memory and storage space to work with. At the time, having an 8K ROM would have been a luxury because of the price of silicon, and the lack of tech to miniaturize to the degree we take for granted now in the computer industry's painful adolescence. These programmers were practically miracle workers!
I have exactly the same feeling of nostalgia and emotions remembering the good old times each time that I played those old Atari 2600 video games. Atari 2600 was my very first video game console. I received as a Christmas gift in December of 1981. I remember the good times when you exchanges Atari games with friends, and relatives. I played a LOT Bowling, Missile Command, Adventure and Pitfall! with a cousin of mine that recently passed away :( . Thanks again for sharing this really beautiful and interesting content of that times!!! and sorry if my English is not very good, but is not my native language. By the way: My first English teach was Atari. I started to study SERIOUSLY English when I was a kid in order to understand properly the games manuals of Atari!! :D Regards!!!
As someone who is turning 67 shortly , I was never a kid when video games started. I was just about to turn 20 when the 2600 came along, but I had been playing pinball and the old mechanical arcade style shooting games in bowling alleys and “arcades” of the time. Then along came Pong and Space War and I was hooked. I finally scrapped up enough money to buy a 2600 and Adventure cartridge. The nostalgia these days is what brings me back to those wonderful classics. Basic as they may seem, they harken back to a simpler time, when squares and blips and bloops were purely magical.
Well said, Jon. I'm a good ten years older than you, a "late boomer," I call it. A sputnik baby. I was a Senior in high school when I found Computer Space at the state fair. I was in college when I first saw Space Invaders and Pong. Asteroids was definitely NOT "blocky." It was the highest resolution computer graphics we had ever seen. I saw a recent video about the arcade version of Asteroids, but the thumbnail shows a conventional upright cabinet. Nope, when WE played Asteroids, it was a table where people could gather around to watch and discuss strategies. The arcade version of Missile Command was the highest resolution color computer graphics we had yesterday seen and it was the first time we had a track ball. I had to get a CX22 Trak-Ball controller to feel right playing Missile Command on my Atari 800 Home Computer. Williams's Defender was gorgeous and just a delight to watch. Sure Breakout and Super Breakout were blocky, but they were BLOCKS! And a good bit moor fun than Pong ever was. At the restaurant I was working in we had tournaments on that Breakout machine. Sure, Centipede was a bit pixelated, but that's just the nature of computer graphics on a CRT screen. The gameplay was great! I dismissed the original Atari VCS because the blocky graphics looked primitive compared to what I was use to seeing in the arcades. At least the graphics on my Atari 800 were better (and a good bit better than any other home computer available at the time). I've recently learned that while the 2600 graphics were crude, the gameplay was still certainly there. Those surely don't look like mushrooms in the 2600 version of Centipede but it still plays very much like the arcade original (especially if you use a track ball)! I never bothered with video games by the time Nintendo came out so I never learned to play those games, nor the games on all those systems that came later. But when I found out that the NEW Atari VCS can give me Asteroids and Missile Command the way they looked in the arcades, I HAD to have it!
I think part of it for me is going back and looking at the games as sort of a time travel thing. I love seeing what their thoughts were, their visions, all while being limited with the systems they were programming for and then seeing those ideas come to life. Then I see today's games and realize that they are the same dream, with a lot more capable hardware. So the hardware of yesterday showed the creativity of the programmers, and the power of today really displays the lack of creativity a lot of companies have today. I find it absolutely fascinating! Your other reasons were correct as well. When my and my friend played Tron: Deadly Discs until we reached a million, it was a memory for a lifetime!
I still play old classics from the mid 80s to early 90s. Jack the Nipper, Wasteland, Eye of the Beholder, Carrier Command, The Bard's Tale, just to name some of my favorites. I still go back from time to time and always have fun doing so.
Nice question. And wonderful comments too. For me it's a lifestyle. I don't know, but the pixel generation with its mixture of pixel art, primitive soundtracks and sound effects plus needed use of immagination is a part of me. I love to play both things: playing the games from my childhood and discover new things and games, console I've never tried, consoles I've never owned that today I try to afford. I love LCD games too, they're addictive and fun if all things are well done. I love the art and the specific tonal variations of those ages. I love going in the physical shops and flea markets, browsing across the internet, all in the name of discovering new exciting things. I don't know. I think it's up to my DNA, just that. I never gave up about this, and surely I will continue to care about this weird world despite the trends and time passing.
Same reason I drive a 50 year old car (hint, its not because its cheaper.) Modern technology can be great in some ways but it introduces just as many inconveniences, headaches and privacy breaches along with the good. I dont buy $50 games to have no physical media, make a 7gb download, apply patches, sit through 60 minutes of cutscreens and tutorials, spend another $30 on DLC and then lose all rights to my game when the server goes down in a year. Oh, and they are also a lot more fun to me.
