Should retro stay that way?

I've always had this niggling feeling when i play old games - games that i have fond memories of and that i loved playing when i was younger - a feeling that they're just not as good as i remember them.
There will always be classics but for the most part any retro fare that i partake in is always met with mild nostalgia and then severe indifference. I don't intend to bad-mouth the retro game, i know that alot of games have been essential to the progression of the industry but i always find them a little....prosaic.
In this currrent climate of gaming luxury that we enjoy, and i'm not referring to graphics, gaming has become such an immersive experience. RPG's are deep and involving providing indepth character focus and an emotive storyline, similarly FPS's are fast-paced and atmospheric, often thrusting the player into a dramatic war-torn landscape.
It's this attention to detail which makes the retro game a slightly stale experience with the obvious exceptions of timeless classics.

A case in point is when i purchased the MegaDrive collection on the PS3. I looked on the back of the case and was instantly elated to see dozens of my favourite MegaDrive titles from my wayward youth - Sonic (in all his forms), Comix Zone, Shining Force, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star....the list went on and my gaming euphoria was paramount. At the time i remember thinking that £25 was a tad steep but i looked past the monetary concern and focused on the fact that these were classic games. Games that my brother and I bonded over as we each took a pad in hand and assumed the role of a dwarf or a bird in a tight fitting red lycra mini skirt brandishing a metal pole. These, my friends, were games from a golden age.

Rushing home with no regard for speed limits or children naively crossing from behind a bus i burst through my front door, took the stairs three at a time and literally threw the game disc into my PS3. The game loaded and there they were in all their glory, a plethora of games crammed onto one disc - a feat that if you told me it were possible 10 years ago i'd have gathered an angry mob and burnt you at the stake for witch-craft, possibly stopping to dunk you to see if you floated along the way.
I eagerly loaded up E-Swat, it being the game i have fondest memories about and began to soak up the memories. All was good until i reached level 3 and discovered that the game followed exactly the same formula throughout albiet with the ocassional change of a suit. Walk from left to right, duck, shoot and then usually die. It was a hard game and i suddenly remembered how punishing older games used to be.


I love you E-Swat. I'm just not in love with you.

I recall playing Dizzy for hours on end, dying after playing it for hours and having to start all over again!!! Nowadays that's unheard of, imagine playing Killzone 2 or Gears of War only to die on level 6 and starting from the beginning again? It's madness.


Ah Dizzy how i enjoyed your cruelty. Like an abused spouse i would take the beating you handed out and then come back for more.

I desperately wanted to love the Phantasy Star and Shining Force series as well because they as good as got me into RPG's when i was younger but this time around i just found them too limited. After the haze of nostalgia had cleared i was left with the reality of retro gaming, that ultimately they were amazing back then but that they should probably stay in the past.


I remember being absolutely enthralled by Shining Force back in the day. It still plays well even today....but just not that well.

If game companies were making brand new games but in a retro style they wouldnt shift many copies without the added pull of recapturing some of your youth, they have my never ending gratitude for furthering the games market and for being on the forefront of the games revolution but unfortunately retro games are staying firmly in my past where they belong - along with He-man, 2000A.D. and Woof, that series about a boy who kept turning into a dog but the dog was played by Pippin, that dog who now has a five minute slot on BBC2 in the mornings doing tricks with special needs kids.