What's Old Is New Again: Getting Into Classic Gaming July 21,2008 - With the way the gaming industry is going lately, sometimes you just want to step back and play some games from a simpler (and some might say better) time. Some companies are realizing this; Capcom is making a new Mega Man game which is true to the series’ roots, complete with 8-bit graphics and sound. This is the first of such happenings, but it will hopefully be the start of a trend towards acknowledging that many gamers don’t fall into the 18 to 24 year old demographic.

Until game publishers start catering to an older market you can always go back and play older games. This article is going to look at a few ways you can do this along with the pros and cons of each.

Download Services

The first way of getting your fix of classic games is through the download services of the modern consoles. The Wii’s Virtual Console has plenty to choose from already. The Xbox 360’s Live Arcade and PS3’s Playstation Network stores both have a wide variety of downloadable content, but not all of them are recreations of the original titles. Some are new adaptations, and some are original games entirely.

The advantage of using one of these services to get your retro gaming fix is that you’re guaranteed to get the games at a set price. You’re also guaranteed to be able to download the game without much hassle, there’s no waiting for shipping here.

While all of this seems great, it’s not without its problems. The biggest problem is the selection of games. What you have access to is determined by what the platform holder wants you to have access to. This means that you may be waiting for a long time for a specific game to be added to the service. Another big problem is the fact that the controls just aren’t accurate. As good as the Xbox 360 or Gamecube controllers may be, they’re not at all the same as an arcade joystick or a Super Nintendo game pad. Nintendo does offer a “Classic” controller, but even this just doesn’t feel right.

If your only option is using one of these services, you’ll definitely find some good games to download and enjoy, but you’ll have to settle for playing those games with controllers that were designed with other tasks in mind.

Console remakes

The second option is to purchase remakes of classic consoles. There are many companies out there that have released new consoles that will play original NES, SNES, and Genesis games on the market. Some might question whether or not this is legal, and in terms of patent infringement, it is. The patents for these old consoles have expired, meaning others can reproduce the functionality of these old consoles. What they can’t do is infringe on the brand. This is why you’ll often only see the NES, SNES, or Genesis mentioned as 8 or 16 bit systems and not mentioned in proper name.

This is a great way to get into the retro gaming hobby since getting one of these consoles is extremely inexpensive. For $30 to $40 you can have one of your own. They’ll play original cartridges and some will even allow you to use original accessories as well. There are also a few of these consoles, like the Retro Duo, that will play games for two consoles. Currently there are NES/SNES combos and NES/Genesis combos. Since these consoles play original cartridges, it means you’ll have to go and find these games yourself. Flea Markets, Craigslist, eBay, these are all great places to look for old games. Just be careful when shipping is involved, as the costs to ship the games to you can add up rather quickly.

Is there a downside? Yes, if you’re a purist this might not be the best way to go since these consoles might not reproduce everything completely accurately. The sound might be off pitch, or the color palette might be a little off. Another problem is the controllers that some of these systems come with are not entirely great. Finally, not every game is compatible with these console remakes. There are a small number of games that used special memory mapper chips that some of these systems won’t play nice with.

For the die-hard old-school gamer, these systems are probably not going to be your first choice. They are however a great way for someone who isn’t sure that they want to go all out to get their feet wet with retro gaming without having to make too big of a commitment. That said, you might want one or two of these anyway, just for the novelty of having a non-branded console that plays your old SNES games.

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