Old School Gaming – There Is No Shame

Revisions:
3-26-11: Initial release.

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I said it once, and I will say it again. I love games, and more especially, I really love old school games. Why is that? Maybe its because I grew up on the 8-bit NES console (which I still have with 20 NES game cartridges) and since then I have seen a whole evolution of gaming. I have witness the SNES, SEGA Genesis, Dreamcast, XBox, PS1, PS2, PSP, Gameboy, and other high tech consoles.

What was interesting is that there are several groups of gamers todays: Those who enjoy playing old school games, and those that don’t.

It appears that if you talk to anyone who grew up with the Xbox or maybe the Xbox 360 era, none of them will have had the “pleasure” of playing the old school 8-bit NES games. After all, why would they? In their lifetime, they would never be exposed to it unless someone actively introduced them to old school gaming.

Although I do enjoy playing some of the newer games each and every year, old school games will always have a fond place in my heart. Some examples include:

• Command and Conquer
• Red Alert
• Warcraft 1 and 2
• Dune 2
• Quake 1 and 2
• Duke Nukem 3d
• Doom 1 and 2
• Wolfenstein 3d
• Half Life 1
• Unreal Tournament 1

and more. Let’s not forget all the steller games on the NES, SEGA, SNES, and N64 console. Each console has its gems too that many gamers of 2011 may have never ever played which is a shame.

I have read comments on Youtube before where they said they don’t want to play Minecraft because of its outdated graphics. Seriously, when does graphics make a game any good? Crysis 1 had mind blowing graphics, but the game still sucked you know. Story was poor, and boring.  Now Mario 1 has 8-bit graphics, but man, the gameplay was good!

There is a reason retro gaming is fun. Plus, I feel that games of today are not has hard as they used to be. Sure, Demon Souls and Ninja Gaiden 2 are hard as hell, but even the latest Halo games on the hardest mode doesn’t feel that hard.

If you want a game that will kick your ass, try Battletoads for the NES system. It will make you cry, guaranteed. 😛

Today on my GameDexterity account, I uploaded a CS 1.6 Tunngle tutorial video.  Someone made a comment that they were surprised people are still playing this game in 2011. Why is that? After all, people love CS and some love the 1.6 rather than the CS Source engine. If you want to see the tutorial, I have included it below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLy7z4r0bTU

Do you love old school gaming? What are some of your favorite old school games?