Today, saying you’re a gamer tends to gather far fewer scoffs than it did in the past – although certainly, there are still some with closed minds that turn their back on this amazing pastime. But there’s no question that gaming has become a far more widely accepted, more appreciated hobby than it used to be, and it’s much less reserved for the “nerds” and “geeks.” Gamers are everywhere today… and perhaps that causes some to forget our humble roots. We can’t deny that modern gaming is quite a different experience. There were no VR headsets, no super-slick controllers with vibration and customizable settings, no HD graphics “back in the day.” And yet, old-school gaming remains firmly lodged in our hearts, a dart that we’re never going to free, because ultimately, we still love those classics. Why? Reason 1) Nostalgia Put simply, humans are really nostalgic creatures. We love to revisit things that we used to enjoy, especially when we enjoyed those things in our childhoods. Anybody who feels a rush of emotion confronted with The Sims music, or whose heart beats faster at the sound of the original Worms booting up knows what’s going on here. The games that we played in the past, those formative gaming moments, will never be unseated from their special place in our hearts. Why? Well, there are a ton of reasons we get nostalgic, including as a means of reducing stress and anxiety. Since gaming is also tied in with a desire to relax and unwind, it’s not surprising if the connection is particularly strong here. Reason 2) Difficulty Now we aren’t looking to start a dispute about today’s games being easy, but the fact is, some of the video games of the past were absurdly hard, sometimes even game-breakingly hard! Remember the babel fish puzzle, anyone? How about Simon the Sorcerer, with things like using the princess-turned-pig on the truffle door of the candy cottage to finally let yourself inside? Or tricking the balloon guy into giving you multiple balloons so you could eventually fly up to the castle on them? Yes, the new games have some serious challenges to them, but they feel more linear in those challenges, more straightforward or honest or something. They don’t ask you to think in quite such contortions, at least for the most part! Is that good or bad? Well, for a lot of us, it’s probably ultimately a good thing because we’re not staring blankly at the screen wondering how the heck you’re meant to get the pancake to cook properly (anyone else recall Masters of the Elements?) or scratching our heads over what to do with the electric eel… but we miss that, too. We miss the humorous randomness that these games offered, we miss the euphoria when you finally – and we really do mean finally – figured it out (or weakened and checked a guide, but that was a lot less easy back then). What Have We Gained? We’re not going to lie, though: video games today are in many ways far more amazing than video games used to be. We’ve eliminated so many issues that we hardly even remember now – poor saving options, limited graphics, terrible NPC dialogue, infuriating controller choices, and more. Issues still crop up, for sure – we’re not saying game developers are perfect – but a lot of these problems have been ironed out and eliminated. And oh, the accessibility! Suddenly, games are available in ways we could hardly have dreamed of before. The internet completely altered the landscape of gaming, making it almost unrecognizable across the board. Almost every kind of game has been affected by this: take card games and casino games, for example. Now, you’ve got these by the thousand online, ready with other real players you can test your skills against. You’ve got so many options just waiting to be explored! Blackjack is a particularly popular one; the classic game involves trying to draw cards under 21 to beat the dealer. This makes it super easy to learn for new players, but its charm keeps people coming back again and again. This is part of what has made it an arcade classic for the centuries. It’s not just the gameplay that’s varied online either. You’ve even got payment options galore, making it so much easier to engage with this kind of entertainment. This is what prompts millions of gamblers to play blackjack Bitcoin online, using cryptocurrency to make the game transactions faster and more secure. Crypto-friendly blackjack is all there, and what’s more, it looks beautiful, with today’s graphics ensuring that every game is as close as possible to the physical casino in terms of style and engagement. What a night you can have with this, reinventing the arcade experience from the comfort of your home! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CjC0mqXFUb4 In fact, graphics now are a dream that gamers of the past could barely have imagined. We have things of absolute beauty on our screens – whether that’s huge TV screens or tiny phone screens, another change – and it can be easy to forget just how far we’ve come. Ultimately, today’s gaming is more refined. It’s an art, a tailored experience that has been honed by years of feedback and finessing, positively expert in its approach. It’s what gamers years ago longed for – beautiful, swish, polished to the nth degree… We love it, and yet still, we look back with fondness and deep, unshakable affection for the games that we knew and loved when we were young. Is that going to change? Not likely!

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, playing video games was fun, but visiting the Nintendo section of a store to check out new gaming goodies was often just as exciting. Entranced by fiber optic in-store signage, interactive kiosks, and no shortage of flashy displays, the simple act of browsing through boxes and basking in gaming glory with other kids was a godsend. If your childhood contained experiences like this, it’s easy to look back through nostalgia goggles and feel the warm and fuzzy embrace of youth. But who was responsible for all this seductive, spend-your-allowancehere marketing? After years of in-depth research and hard work, Andy Cunningham, the author of The World of Nintendo Book, has uncovered the truth behind our memorable trips to the video game aisle. Like any other child of the 80s, Andy was constantly wooed by the wondrous visuals and thrilling gameplay of Nintendo. After buying his very own Nintendo Entertainment…. Read the rest of this article on page 44 by clicking here!       Be sure to sign up to get Old School Gamer Magazine for free by clicking here!

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