As we roar headlong into the 21st century, perhaps it is time to reflect on our past. The future is here, computerized gadgets of infinite and intricate possibilities are most likely sitting in your pocket or purse. Perhaps the thought of how far gaming has come will remind you of that scene in the futuristic cafe from Back to the Future 2, where the kid says "You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!". I'm sure our younger generations are equally befuddled by some of the things we used to play in the 90s and 80s, although things aren't quite that alien yet. Although if you're anything like me, you watched that scene in the film and doubted you'd ever see it happen.
So roll on 20 years, and you're seeing the beginnings of personal touch-screen technology, and phones with a million additional functions, most of which are completely pointless. Amidst this, most gamers will be quite familiar with the visage of familiar, or at least similar games featured on phones over the years. The amount of variations on tetris/columns on phones is unbelievable.
The main thing about retro games, is that they were mostly quite simple. Their functions matched the technology of the time, and at the time, most games and consoles looked massively impressive. Any gamer these days deliberately going back to a retro games console or computer can find themselves underwhelmed, or consumed with headaches they didn't used to get.
Retro tends to be a bit of a fashion statement these days. You can walk into quirky pubs and cafes and find yourself playing a retro game on a old arcade tower, or even on a gaming table. Old classics such as space invaders, or pacman have become so ingrained in our modern culture that you instantly recognise them.
Naturally, I had them back in the day, as most of our older gamers did. Their simplicity and ridiculous difficulty still resonates today. Most games these days are quite accessible, perhaps even a tad too easy. The fun of digging out an old console for some nostalgia, or just general self-destruction. Think you're good at video games? Dig out your Genesis, Commodore, Spectrum or Amiga and find out just how much you aren't!
Games in those days were so simple that generally they had to beat you. You had to truly earn your victory, and when you did it was generally rather underwhelming, until, that is, you realised the difficulties you had overcome. These days, games keep track of your victories, through achievements and trophies. These can actually be more addicting and memorable than the game, which is a true shame. Mind you, it is much easier to faff about on games these days, and you get a much higher reward for beating games, even though mostly they're not quite as tough as they used to be.
Also, these days you don't quite have to endure as many loading screens, although it is still a frustrating exercise watching them, even if they only last a minute amount of time compared to what they used to, and don't give you migraines as you watch them. Still, one can miss the horrendous loading screech of the Commodore and Spectrum tape loading computers, with the moving lines of death; waiting with baited breath and excitement, for the blank black/white rectangle in the centre to bear the full picture logo of the game you're loading, knowing that it is nearly time for your game to begin.
Retro games keep coming back all the time. Genesis and Amiga compilations are increasingly common, and no doubt we will see many old games from the Amiga to Playstation appearing on phones, i-pads, and so on. You can download emulators to allow you to play old games on your PCs and laptops. The even easier method, is to dig out and dust off your old console from the loft or cupboard and plug it in. Most of the older things still work over a decade later, even when you've hardly got your new Xbox360 home before the red dot of death is staring back at you.
Some games haven't even changed that much. Beat-em-ups are pretty much as they have always been, only they look better, and they're updated more regularly. The philosophy works, if they ain't broke, don't fix em. That's a lesson the makers of Worms could have learnt a long time ago.
Next gen consoles also have "arcade" titles, some of which hearken back to retro games of old, some are remakes of said games, some are even new additions. Surely, Nintendo haven't made a new Mario game in years, but there's plenty of them coming out all the time. There is of course also Sonic 4. Not all of it is met with as much enthusiasm, but nostalgia is a funny old thing.
But Retro is definitely here to stay, at least for now. Gaming has come on an awful long way, and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't still be reminding ourselves quite how far it has come along in 30 years.
