The best time was between 1990-2005. I've been gaming since 1986. Innovation. New ideas. Optimism. Rapid progress. It was exciting. Now the industry is creatively bankrupt and firing 10's of thousands of people per year. Nickle and diming people to death and taking away ownership. It's about as greedy and corporate as it gets right now and getting worse.
Now as for retro gaming accessibility to those games is easier than ever so there is that.