That's like asking why not watch old movies.

Or read old books.

Those "old" games paved the way for the games we see of today.

Show some respect

Basically the old games that are still played have already stood the test of time. There were just as many crap games then as there are now. People will always remember their favorite games and talk them up.

The thing with older games is that they were the first games for us to play and they are the reason we fell in love with gaming

         Or have sex with old wo....nevermind, the analogy's run its course

Good games never get old.

Agreed!

The games of yesterday involved high speed blue hedgehogs, earthworms in super suites, mutant frogs, child cavemen, Michael Jackson, dolphins, Apes, gum eating blobs and Noids (whatever they were). The games of today that aren't made by Nintendo involve guys shooting other guys...

Is it really a valid question why gaming nostalgia is so prominent?

People don't really like old games. They simply feel as if they like old games because of the warm fuzzy feeling they get due to nostalgia.

The fact of the matter is that everything continues to evolve for the better. Nothing from back in the day is as good as what we have now. If you got a kid that had never played a video game before to play Mario Galaxy and then Super Mario Bros. for the NES he'd probably feel like vomiting from his eyes when the older game came on the screen, and he'd think that a 2-button controller is something designed for people with mental disabilities.

It's like when I have to listen to my Grandpa tell me how babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player of all time, or Gordie Howe is the greatest hockey player of all time, and how the games were so much better back then. Gimme a fucking break. Babe Ruth was a fat drunken pig that wouldn't make a triple-A team today, and Gordie Howe could barely skate backwards.

People simply associate old games, sports, etc with the happy feelings they experienced during that time. People think Super Mario Bros is a great game because it was great for it's time, and they had a blast playing it. It doesn't hold up today, though, that's just a fact. No old game does.

You people all seem to think that you're obligated to say that older games are better the same way sports fans feel obligated to put a fat pig like Babe Ruth or a coke addicted racist wife beater like Ty Cobb up on pedestals.

I don't care what any of you liars say, if you could only chose one game to play for the rest of your life it would not be a game from the 16 bit era. You'd end up falling into a boredom induced coma at some point. You'd want a game like World of Warcraft, Halo 3, Killzone 2 or something else where you can interact with other people and every match/dugeon, etc. has the possiblility of turning out different than the last.

Now you can all flame me in defiance, as you try to reassure yourselves that you really do love 16-bit crap more than you enjoy todays technical and innovative masterpieces.