Photo: Pexels.

Retro describes more than just decades passed. It describes the aesthetic of older times and is built on a nostalgia for a different time with less technology, social media and chaos. 

The wave of nostalgia for the old and the urge to wave goodbye to the new has created an era of people wanting to ‘go back to the past’ specifically to their childhoods. 

This is why people from Gen-Z and millennials have gotten into the habit of living in nostalgia by watching old shows, listening to music from decades past and playing retro games. It has become a part of life and culture.

Retro games aren’t exactly spick and span. Older games are sometimes incompatible with new consoles if they haven’t been remastered or reworked. Emulators have fixed that as they help people play old video games on new devices and consoles.

There is an entire genre of streaming, ‘retro gaming’ which has become popular on both TikTok and Twitch. Streamers play old popular games hoping to attract people by triggering memories. The streams do gain traction because people love to relive their childhood and see the games they played at that time on the screen. 

Nobody is saying retro games are replacing new games because they’re not. New Games still rank in the best-selling games lists, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and The Elder Scrolls: V Skyrim made IGN’s list.

The best selling games are still available on newer consoles like the PS5. Even after only releasing 4 years ago, the PlayStation 5 sold up to 61 million consoles!

Some of the best and highest-selling PS5 games are part of older franchises, if you glance at the list, you can see the pattern.

Elder Scrolls: V Skyrim, part of the Elder Scrolls franchise, was released 17 years after the OG game, Elder Scrolls: Arena, in 1994. 

The beloved Witcher was released in 2007 and the books came even before then in the 80s.

Thinking about some of the best PS5 games this year, the list should include games based on older console games and new releases because nostalgia is more important than visuals in any game!

So even with a new generation of consoles and new games, why is everyone going back to retro gaming?

Nothing like Nostalgia

Nostalgia is the number one reason why young people love retro gaming. It lets gamers return to a simpler time when game mechanics were simpler and games focused on storytelling and playability, not add-on features. 

Old games also provoke nostalgia because they have evolved into game series that are now on newer consoles, as previously discussed. An element of retro gaming that is popular among streamers and gamers is playing gaming franchises in order from the start to the finish to see how the story, graphics and characters have evolved. 

The appeal can be related to the memories that we have with specific games from our childhood. Retro games take you back to a time without responsibilities and work and when free time was spent gaming for hours. 

Low-cost 

Retro-gaming is relatively cheap unless you have to buy the old consoles. You can buy retro games on Amazon and old gaming marketplaces for relatively cheap and an emulator can help you avoid the console problem.

An emulator is a computer application that mimics another program. Emulators are used to run games designed for older consoles or PCs. Sometimes you see streamers on retro games on PCs because emulators are easily accessible in PC software. Some specific emulators can be run on consoles so you can play older games on newer consoles.

Ability to Play on Modern Consoles 

As we discussed, emulators can make it possible to play retro games on newer consoles, but some consoles provide services so their games can be played on newer systems. Nintendo Switch Online enables players to access old Nintendo DS games and play them without needing the original console, which now is mostly discontinued or harder to find. 

This is more difficult on the PC as games like The Sims require a lot of upgraded graphics as the games go on. The Sims 3 being an open-world game requires a significant amount of RAM compared to The Sims 2 even though the games were released only five years apart, most consoles can now accommodate older games which has helped to revive the retro game community to some degree.

A growing community 

Retro games are still a preference for older people and people who grew up in that era of gaming. However, a growing community is building online with people discovering retro streamers, collectors and enthusiasts. Social media pages dedicated to people sharing their love for old games also exist.

A market for retro collecting has opened up an interest in retro gaming even if it is just to display games, in the same way, there is a market for vintage clothes, and there is one for games and game collectibles. 

In some places, there are retro-themed gaming events. London has the Retro Gaming Market in November of each year and lots of bars and pubs now have retro gaming events and even retro gaming bars like NQ64 and Barcade.