You could say that these are one of the first generations in gaming which its only riddled by passive aggressive First Person Shooters and other insanely 3D titles- 2D is still around, but its dipped dramatically- and as for the “retro” style; well lets just say it might be getting a little kick back into the game- but its not sticking around. The question is should more olden style games be created as “education” to the new generation about the coin inserting days of old? Or should we keep giving them health regenerating shooters with unlimited lives.
In the past few years “retro” has been thrown around like a fad- a few games have been announced and released with styles of old- and let me tell you this- they are not accurate representations of the gamers frustrations and desires of old- they are just games which mimic the 2D plan which we grew up and maybe chuck in a few cheerful throwbacks to various other titles in the series.
Lets think about the Sonic of this generation which tries to be like its old partner- the reasoning and anticipation of the “4th” entry into the series is lacking because the game might be brining back 2D to the title- and trying to mimic the Sonic of old with the physics- but one thing they got wrong is that Sonic might look like it belongs- but it doesn’t, why? Because something long riddled out of gaming for the “good” is now missing from these newer titles which bring nostalgic aspirations to gamers. What is this? Its hard to explain- as it isn’t just one thing.
Your missing primary the bugs and the holes which allow gamers to explore regions or try tricks to achieve the unachievable. Things the programmers never dreamed of- now days the only things which gamers can explore are horrible faults in the games design which ruin the experience for other gamers- especially online.
You also have physics- these days they are so realistic sometimes its just drab to think back to the days of old- and some games do benefit from the newer ways of thinking and designing the world around the character- but there are other titles which lack the skills to grasp these new inventions, and need to desperately get hold of some magic potion to go back in time- because they need it.
Things are also not as black and white as I’m trying to make it- or think. Back in the day games revolved around the console, these days the console is pretty much a super computer- what I’m saying is there’s no creative thinking to loop themselves around problems which the system would normally have. For example, thinking of ways to save space- or thinking about a different solution to a problem which would require more direction from the player etc. These things are lacking in now- these days games are so much about the picking up and playing aspect have they forgotten how to trick the player into thinking the game is more complicated then it is?
Now back to the education aspect I wanted to preach because it seamed my current point is lacking- or least explained quite horribly. You see the main point is kids these days have their Halo and Call of Duty and other restrictive franchises stuck in their heads they don’t know about our Pokemon or Zelda or Mario or Space Invaders- or even- god forbid Pacman. Also they think everything old like that is ripping off their modern crap- seriously? Are kids that shallow? Someone should tell them Pong isn’t a rip-off of Wii Sports Tennis.
I think by creating more “retro” style games with the problems and restrictions “faked” then kids will learn to appreciate what they have now- and at the same time, learn about true art in video games. Also at the same time release some of the more older prominent IPs which have been around for along time- if they are 2D games with “retro overlays” which change the graphics, sounds and other features to mimic that of the original games in the series.