I was talking about the original with tank controls, not the amazing remake.  There is a reason I didn't say RE2 remake and stated simply RE2.  

I recently tried playing Code Veronica and Jesus the game has aged horribly.  The controls are just trash.  

My arse were magazine more honest, the amount of games they got me burnt on and money wasted is criminal like the Driver sequels or Metal Gear acid and many PSP games come to mind. If you were only on one magazine you'd have severe bias like OPM. They were about as shite as IGN is today but we didn't know any better. Now you can connect with gamers who you can follow and begin to know their likes and dislikes and read into their reviews in much more of a transparent way. Like Skill Up suggested Watch Dogs legion as a good immersive sim and I wasn't having it cause I knew him and where he was coming from but I know it wouldn't have landed with me. I so rarely get burned now and the money saved is so much better than years past. Picking up a ps1 game cause the cover art looked cool or a ps2 game cause some magazine previewed it in a really positive light only to be disappointed. 

You're wearing rose tinted glasses and blinded by nostalgia. Sure everything is fun as a kid, you can play with a stick for hours and it's a great time. Ya gotta look past the mostalgia and compare things on an even keel. 

You can still play in the past now, many do and build the entire hobby around retro experiences. In fact now is the best time to do that cause you can collect the entirety of it and immerse yourself in all gaming had to offer back then. A mighty expensive task but one you can pursue and you have the benefit of modern technology to help you with this, loads of emulation devices to make it easier qith loads of QoL improvements. 

You know how I know it's all bullshit? Cause I have access to all the Nintendo games from that era, or I had for a year until I quit the service and nothing gave me the enjoyment I had as a kid nor did any of the games I was dreaming of back then live up to it in today. Same with PS+ premium titles, I keep meaning to turn it down to essentials cause I'm disappointed month after month and everytime I download a title yet nostalgia keeps me trying. Most recently I played Time splitters and Future perfect, Time splitters is absolute trash now and future perfect isn't nearly as perfect ot a fraction of the games as I remember it. I much rather when they remake them like Crash, crash team racing, REmake 2 and they actually feel the same as I remember them back then even though they are substantially improved. 

Today's games are just better. 

You are in the minority then, because majority of consumers think otherwise from what you say.

There's plenty of IPs and series that get introduced and games that get expanded from already existing IP.

Case in point with Dragon Ball Sparking Zero.

Case in point with all the indie groups and AA groups and the hundreds of games being made that are unique.

Case in point with new IPs and series being made such as Black Myth Wukong, Metaphor (spinoff but standalone from SMT), Ghost (Sony) series, etc.

There are existing series jumping into other genres, expanding their line up and that they have been doing for years such as Final Fantasy, etc

Just because SEGA isnt making new IPs doesnt mean the industry at a whole is on a disaster route. You just have limited taste.

Which was not an issue back then. Actually I still prefer the tank controls of the early Tombraider games to what the franchise has turned into now.

If RE2 wasn't good back then, how is the remake getting so much attention...

And there's interest to play the remake with old school camera and controls!
https://www.gamesradar.com/after-5-years-you-can-finally-play-resident-evil-2-remake-the-scariest-way-possible-with-old-school-fixed-camera-controls/

Those Hitchcock style camera angles really added to the horror style

"One of Hitchcock's most famous shots is the high-angle. For example, Hitchcock often placed cameras up high to get shots from the top of a staircase (as shown). He also used the rafters of a large room, or balconies. The high-angle shot creates a sense of drama in a number of ways in Hitchcock films."

The original Tombraider trailing camera also added to the suspense. Not knowing what you were running into until the camera followed around the corner. Drinks were spilled as a result lol. Nowadays it's all the same camera, just hide behind a wall and peak around with 3rd person camera. Hence I only find horror games 'scary' in VR nowadays. Suspense is just lost with modern 3rd person camera.


Standardized controls are both a blessing and a curse. Back then you had to learn the controls as well, which gave you an additional feeling of achievement. Having to start over trained you in getting better at controlling the game, getting easier all the time. Now I just get frustrated having to do the same things over again without any feeling of getting better.

It also added to the personality of games. But true, it's a lot easier to pick up and play modern games. Well not entirely true. Some games have so many buttons and action wheels etc I can't get back into them after taking a long break. Original Tombraider, no issue picking that up again. (Got an old abandon ware version on my laptop, still fun)

I was in my twenties during that time with a full-time job.

It was better to play back then because of the communal experience. Word of mouth was the biggest influencer to buy games. It's not the same as playing old games now. Just like you said, nothing gave you the enjoyment you had as a kid. That's not just because you're not a kid anymore, it's like watching 1930s cinema now without the excitement that was around cinema back then.

1939 is regarded as the best year for cinema lovers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_in_film

Today playing old games, you are trying to live in the past. Very different from playing it at the time they were cutting edge when everyone was engaged with those games.

But you had to live in that time to enjoy it fully.

I loved RE2 back in the day, but it has aged poorly.  I'm just saying without nostalgia most gamers aren't picking up the original and having a good time.  

Modern games simply have far superior controls than what was found in the 90s.  C-buttons versus dual analog?  Single shoulder buttons vs Dual?  Isn't a contest.  

Just my opinion but gaming is far better today than back in the day.  

Yet that's avoiding the question, what is/was the best time to be a gamer.

Without nostalgia and without being spoiled by modern controls.

Something you can do now but I have started to purposefully steer clear of to save money. There was great excitement on the net for Elden Ring and you could feel it in the air... but it's not worth paying full price when you can wait two months and there will be a significant sale. As someone who lived on the new release vibe during the ps4 era, eh, one can do without it and still eat well doing so. 

Oh stop. I went from NES to PS1 so memory cards were revolutionary but g'lord they were a disaster. So many game saves lost. Now I don't even know where my saves are but I have saves in hundreds of games and when I bought my pro they were just there once I set up the console. I can't imagine handling hundreds of saves in the 90's, it'd be a nightmare.