The problem I have with video games is that I'm beginning to get too good at them. At least when it comes to the games I enjoy. I've never gotten into the FPS or the fighter games, but when it comes to things like Smash bros, Zelda and Mario, I pretty much eat through the games like popcorn.

Any more I have trouble enjoying a game simply because I'm hunting for things in it, like, rather than each level feeling like an achievement, I feel like I'm one step closer to exhausting the enjoyment of the game. I find myself looking at levels and asking myself 'will I be able to enjoy this a 3rd or 4th time through it?'

I can remember when playing LoZ:Link's Awakening, I could end up taking a week to beat a single dungeon. Now I'm lucky if a similar dungeon, like in Twilight Princess or Majora's Mask or Ocarina of Time, actually takes me the whole day. Games feel shorter by comparison too, and i find myself constantly going "that's it? What happened to the rest of the game?" Phantom hourglass was a big offender in this category, if it wasn't for multiplayer battles, i would have sold it or given it to my sister as a gift.

Maybe I actually should go through and try to find all the poes in twilight princess or something, but those types of challenges feel so tedious. what do i get out of it? infinite rupees which I can use to charge my invincibility armor, which i don't need cause every single enemy is freaking easy as hell once you know their routine.

Right now I'm booking through Mario Galaxy, and there is the occasional rough spot where I die multiple times, but dangit, getting extra lives is so easy it's almost impossible to game over. the linear play is really killing my interest in playing this a second time as well.

@bottledspringwater: have you tried many DS games?  A lot of those games go back to simplier, ad-free gaming without worrying about screen size or surround sound, etc.  Just a set of good headphones and the DS and you're set to have a great gaming experience.

Games like New Super Mario brothers really bring gaming back: it's the essense of 2d mario with all of the best aspects from the previous mario games.  It's awesome; I don't know anyone who tried it and doesn't love it.

There are many others, and there are also "classic series" games for the GBA that you could probably get used very cheap (Super Mario 3, Link to the Past, etc).  The DS includes a GBA port. 

As a child those these games were the best entertainment.

sorry to say but as you get older things change.

Soriku and Leo-J savor your younger years of gaming!!@!!@

boy do i miss the good ol days as a child playing games with my brothers..

You just sound like a bitter person, who just can't find one of the many great games that are out there. If you just took the time to find a console that has the games you want, you'll be alright. As other members have already pointed out, there's the Nintendo DS. The Nintendo DS offers a lot of games that play like SNES-era games. There's also the PSP, which, like the DS, offers a lot games that play like SNES-era games. The gaming industry is huge. No matter who you are, there will always be a gaming system that fits your taste in games; you just have to find it!

Johnny Cool, from Zack and Wiki

In some ways it had lost it's touch, it just doesn't have the same taste as before :S I don't know why, I guess some people could agree with me. :P lets start a campaign that makes new gamers to first play old consoles and move up in rank, some people don't appreciate them and that's awful

Johnny Style.

And what the hell does he have to do with my seemingly idiotic name? =P

 As for the DS, it's true some of the games I've played it remind me a lot of old school games. Espeically Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, all though that might be because it was my first Castlevania game. 

You lost the touch for games at the age of only seventeen? How many games have you played till today?

I started gaming with N64/GB but during the GC/GBA era i was becoming bored with games, i played my N64 more than my GC + PS2 put together. The DS changed all that. Also dont blame developers for in-game advertising, thats usally forced on by the publisher (EA).