I think I’ll expand a little on what I wrote in my first post.
First, yes, as an 80s kid, it was very normal to play a game over and over again. First and foremost, people complain about the prices of video game today, but they used to be substantially more… especially if you were importing. A simple fighting game from Japan might be the equivalent of 200 USD. Also games were shorter. The major drive for players of this time when playing videogames was not “beating it and moving on” it was how fucking good you could get at the existing game.
The other rationale I’d give are that there is a tremendous amount of gaming history that I consider foundational in my development as a human being. We had a thread about this the other day (I forget if I answered it, I at least began a draft of an answer! Maybe I’ll get to that thread… ADHD, I use timers all over the place now so generally there’s one post an every few days I don’t finish… although, might change that since I found a med that really works for me… obviously, because of this mini-rant, it hasn’t kicked in yet!). But abandoning the DKC trilogy, Sobic, Super Mario, Final Fantasy, and even more recent ones like Dwarf Fortress, Witcher 3, Chrobo Trigger, Xenogears.. that would truly be a shame. Because games are art (much of the time), and while new games often do amazing things, nothing has quite done what Chrono Teigger or Xenogears has done, even Super Mario Bros 3 has been copied a lot but never replicated (as pointed out, that might be the result of a nostalgia bias).
Don’t get me wrong, I like new games. Love them even. And unlike many, I think this period has been one of the best in memory for releases with remasters, remakes, and a lot of interesting innovations. I know there is a lot of hate for Civ 7, but it is honestly the most fun I have had with a Civ game since 2… warfare is fucking great! Witcher 3 Remastered for Switch 2 is such a dramatic improvement (although, I guess technically an old game).
Hey, that reminds me, do remasters (including remakes that keep most or all of the content design) go into the old game or new game pool in this thought experiment? Because, if that’s the case, I’d change to new because of the high chance most of my favourite games will get remastered again. I understand full remakes (like FF7 series) being in the new pile; but what about a game like Witcher 3 Remaster? What about Switch 2 Edition Remasters? What about games that are in the middle like Dragon Quest HD2D which are mostly new but retain a ton?
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
