Recently I’ve started dipping my feet into the console emulation world and let me tell you something, it’s AMAZING (sometimes). And don’t worry, I’ve done all of it legally and haven’t broken any laws… I think… but I should also say for legal reasons that this is not a “how to” emulation guide or that you should go emulate games. Although you know, if you did… I wouldn’t blame you. And I definitely won’t show you how to do it, there’s plenty of videos showing you how on Youtube.

So, we all know that there are some iconic and timeless games in gaming history like Ocarina of Time or Golden Eye that have seen some kind of reawakening from their tombs to bring hours of fun and nostalgia to our doorstep, only for the amazing low price of 40 dollars or a Nintendo Online subscription. But the real question is, do the originals hold up? Are they truly timeless? Cos let me tell you something, that Golden Eye port is looking mighty polygonal, but still, it doesn’t seem to ruin the fun for most of us.

So yeah alright, maybe the “timeless” stamp we’ve put on certain games doesn’t carry on to ALL the aspects of that game, maybe sometimes it means “it’s fun to play now a days” or “the art style is amazing for the year it was made”, or “the game idea is awesome and the company who owns the IP doesn’t want to mAkE MORE GAMES FOR SOME REASON SO I HAVE TO KEEP PLAYING THE ORIGINAL BECAU…” you know, that sort of thing. I’m still kinda angry about Jet Set Radio not having a third game… Anyways, the thing is, is the “fun” or gameplay of said games actually timeless, or could it be that we’re just looking at it with nostalgia glasses.

So the root of the topic – at least to me – is the matter of WHO is playing the game, ya know? Of course our favorite SNES or PS1 game seems like a lot of fun and super awesome to us, we have memories playing that game and actually playing the game again brings back those memories of fun, even if just for a little bit. But the thing is, someone who grew up playing games like Halo on the Xbox 360 or Team Fortress, might not think that a game that looks like those games but with a thousands more polygons and less “4K 150 hz graphics  at 60 fps” – which I wish was just noneses but it’s actual gamer “specs” talk – our beloved Crazy Taxi for the Dreamcast might look like hot garbage when looked at closely.

And the question remains, when looking past the decades old graphics, are these games still fun? And I think that the quick answer is yeah. Some of those games are still really really fun. Just look at the amount of people looking to get into the emulation world to play old games, or companies like nintendo doing their Virtual Console thingy and people actually using it. There’s no doubt that some of the old games can still hold up and be amazing gaming experiences 20+ years after their release. But you know, just as not all people like certain types of games, I think it also comes down to the kind of game you like playing.

A lot of people in the game development world have grown past Bartle’s taxonomy of player types, and look, I get it, we hate it now collectively because it’s impossible to box gaming styles and preferences in these 4 little cages. But this is my article, so I’ll do whatever I want.

THE C.O.O.L. GAMER VS THE L.A.M.E. GAMER 

Now, we’ll proceed to absolutely destroy and super-simplify Bartle’s player types into two new types of players: the C.O.O.L player and the L.A.M.E. Now those code names signifying of course the Cursing Obnoxious Online Lord and Likes Adventures and Multidynamical Experiences accordingly.

C.O.O.L gamers might prefer to have a gaming experience more centered on a competitive aspect, and I don’t necessarily mean that it has to be specifically an online Player vs Player kind of game like Fortnite, Call of Duty or Rocket League, but also games also games that take the game experience to a more competitive and “Arcade Leaderboard” kind of level. There’s plenty of people who play games like Elden Ring to build the strongest character possible and one-shot a boss to then share on Twitter a video, and then proceed to invade unsuspecting players online and destroy them in a single hit. So you know, that type of player might not want to explore every single corner of the world to find out about the story and lore of the world, I’m not saying he’s not interested in doing that, but it might not be his priority for the game. On the other hand, a L.A.M.E type of player will absolutely play the game to find all the hidden story bits and lore.

And back to the topic at hand, these two poorly thought out and explained player types might enjoy an old retro game just the same and think it to be a good game still in 2023, but the important third (or second, I lost count) factor to consider is what they think of current gaming practices. A lot of the new games nowadays focus on being “games as a service”, meaning that the game might be free to start playing like Fortnite, but to get all the possible fun you could get out of said game, you might have to pay Subscription type of deal like a Battle Pass. And don’t get me wrong, that’s all fun and games (quite literally) if that’s the type of game you like playing, maybe it’s a game that you can play online with your friends or maybe it’s just convenient that it’s free and you can save your money for other things. But I think that if you are looking for something with a bit more juice, games as services start getting old pretty quickly.

So in the end, yes, I do think old games can be more fun than new games. Not necessarily because of the graphics or super immersive world gameplay or nothing like that, but because retro games – and yes, sorry but I am considering GameCube, PS1 and the original Xbox as retro – they were made to be a single X amount of hours experience to tell you a condensed story with thought out beats and moments, without having to worry if you have an internet connection. While games as services like Fortnite, Rocket League, Call of Duty  or even League of Legends base their fun and entertainment on a lot of variables. Is your internet connection good? Are you using the best weapon of the current update? Are you playing with friends? Are you on console or PC? and the worst of them all… did you pay the battle pass?

It’s not necessarily that new games are better than old retro games or vice versa, it’s about the fact that maybe playing some of those awesome retro games, with their janky 3D graphics and even jankier controls, feel better just because it asks less questions. You can just sit down, boot up the Nintendo Virtual Console and enjoy a pretty fun match of Golden Eye split screen with your friends, only slaps allowed. And you know what, sometimes, that kind of thing IS better and IS more fun than another reskin of the same game we’ve seen a hundred times, but this time around it’s themed around superheroes and has(supposedly) better graphics. Yes, I’m looking at you Suicide Squad. We all know what you’re doing…