Retro Gaming has Changed...

Retro Gaming has changed over the years, and I want to talk about retro gaming and how I've seen many changes happen over, you know, literally the last 20 or so years. And many of these things that I've seen kind of come and go, some of them are really, really positive changes, some of them may be not as positive. But I think overall, Retro Gaming is as big now as it has ever been. And I want to talk about and reflect on some of the changes that I've seen. And I definitely want to hear what you guys think about, you know, this video and my take in the comments below as well, and maybe give your input on, you know, what you've seen kind of change over the course of the last, you know, 20 or so years.

Now, the first thing has to be emulation. Now, emulation itself, in recent times, is very, very popular. Emulators have become a lot more sophisticated. We can emulate systems like the PS4, the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, systems really that I never felt we would ever see being emulated. But we've been doing this for, you know, for many years now, and emulators are a good thing. They allow more gamers the chance to play classic games on more devices. And of course, this particular channel is a big advocate for all things emulation, as you guys know.

But I want to talk about the old days of emulation. It was more of an underground scene. It was kind of, you know, smeared in kind of gray areas when it came to legalities, 'cause no one really knew if emulation was legal or if it wasn't legal. And my first experience with an emulator was actually all the way back in like 1990, when I was in college. I was doing a computer science degree, and I had a Commodore Amiga 500 at the time. And I would use a piece of software called PC Task that would convert my Commodore Amiga into an IBM PC, and it would allow me to do my schoolwork. I was using Turbo C, Turbo Pascal, doing computer science laboratories and and computer programs for, you know, for school. And even though it ran exceptionally slow, and it wasn't anything that I was, you know, considering playing games on, what it did do was it would transform my Amiga into a PC, and it would allow me to boot into DOS and do my schoolwork on. And this was really, really awesome, and it was really my first experience, you know, to emulation.

And since then, obviously, there's been a lot of advancements in emulation. We saw emulators such as Nesticle, obviously very, very popular. We saw ines, we saw ZSNES as well, Snes9x, Project64, UltraHLE. These kind of were the original pioneers of, you know, console emulation. But I think the one emulator that made emulation kind of more mainstream and less underground was MAME. MAME kind of made emulation very, very popular, and it obviously allowed the ability for people to play arcade games, you know, on their PC. And MAME is an emulator that is still very much active and still around to this very day.

We've seen many emulators come and go over the years. There's been a lot of new advancements that have kind of superseded the old ways of doing things. For example, there is less uh dependency on something like HLE these days. I think low-level emulation is a lot more popular, a lot more accurate. And because computers are a lot faster now, we can, you know, resort to LLE uh approaches to, you know, get the job done. But there's also a lot more, you know, when it comes to emulation as well. Translation layers are obviously very popular. And we're at the point now where we can emulate effectively current systems that are currently being sold, you know, in retail stores. So, for example, we've seeing the Nintendo Switch, which I don't want to talk about, you know, the legalities of Switch emulation obviously uh in this video. But, you know, the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4, we're seeing early signs of PlayStation 5 emulation, you know, showing up as well. So emulation is becoming extremely important and very, very advanced, a lot more than I ever thought uh it would be.

And emulation plays an important role in the next topic that I want to talk about, and that has to do with the concept of collecting retro game consoles and hardware, or hardware collecting as we know it. Now, hardware collecting was a very, very big thing, I would say during the early 2010s to the mid-20s. A lot of people were buying up old retro consoles, computers, vintage hardware, just to kind of really kind of relive that experience of owning that system, you know, back in the day. Or maybe you were someone that you never could afford to buy a system that you kind of dreamed about owning, and you ended up buying the hardware, you know, to kind of fill that void.

And I think the popularity of retro game consoles and hardware, vintage retro gaming consoles and hardware, has kind of decreased over the years. I think there's a lot less people buying vintage hardware simply because they're very difficult to get up and running these days. They break down, they must be maintained. There's always a situation where it needs to be connected into a modern display. So if you don't actually own, you know, the appropriate CRT for that device, then it makes things a lot more difficult. And I think the market for Retro Gaming equipment itself has kind of just, you know, decreased.

However, there are people in the community that continue to support these pieces of hardware, providing products such as Everdrives and, you know, things like that, right? And I think the biggest thing that I'm seeing in recent times are these recreation systems that effectively recreate the entire experience of an old game console or computer from the '80s and the '90s, but under the hood, it's using emulation and it has modern features. So rather than having, you know, an S-Video or a composite output, it's got modern HDMI. It connects to a modern display. There's a USB port where you can load in more games, more ROMs, and effectively just recreate the entire experience. And these things are becoming very popular, and I think that we're going to see more of these, you know, show up over the years. I think this is a really good thing.

But there's also obviously systems like the Amiga and the Steam Deck and the Ayaneo that allow you to play all games on different hardware. And something like the Amiga is extremely popular right now, where you can effectively have, you know, 10,000 games on a small handheld and get your entire fix of retro goodness. So I think, you know, the concept of collecting retro vintage hardware, original hardware, well, it's still popular amongst the purists and the collectors out there. It's seen a decline, at least what from what I've seen. And I was personally someone that was right in there buying old retro hardware systems that I never owned as a kid or growing up, that I wanted to experience for the very first time. Systems like the Panasonic 3DO, the Acorn Archimedes, the ZX Spectrum, the Sharp X68000. I mean, all these systems are fantastic in their own way. But all these systems also are extremely difficult to kind of run in 2024. And I think the the preference these days is really just to, you know, emulate these systems.

Now, FPGA is an area that is getting extremely important as well. Over the last couple years, we've seen some huge breakthroughs where we felt like the ceiling had been hit with FPGA, but we've basically smashed those barriers. We've got FPGA cores available for the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation 1, and the Sega Saturn. And all three of these are in exceptional shape. And we never really felt like FPGA could kind of hit that, you know, 32-bit system CPU system, you know, uh console where it could actually effectively replicate a 32-bit game console, but it has. And I'm very, very interested to see what the future of FPGA technology is.

Obviously, we have Analogue, who has been making these FPGA devices, you know, pretty much for the last 10 to 12 years. This is something that they do. And whether whether you like Analogue or you don't like them, you have to give them credit because they really have kind of put FPGA on the map and made it more of an accessible mainstream thing that people that don't even really know what FPGA is, you know, understand now. Whether you believe their marketing hype verbage or not is really irrelevant. But when you start start to see systems like the Analogue Pocket, the Analogue Duo being talked about in kind of just mainstream magazines and media, then that is a good thing for the community overall. It's not a bad thing at all.

And look, I think FPGA is really doing to hardware what emulation is doing to software. And I think FPGA really is what is ultimately going to replace these old vintage systems that eventually will break down and, you know, will never turn on again. But but I think the biggest takeaway here for me is that vintage hardware, original hardware collecting, is not really as important as it used to be. And I think a lot of people aren't really focusing buying original hardware as much as they used to anymore. There's just so much you need to do in order to get an old system up and running, and it's just easier just to, you know, either use FPGA or just emulate.

Now, CRTs is another kind of, I guess, a sub category when it comes to hardware collecting, because having a CRT is kind of part and parcel, something that you need, you know, when you have old retro hardware, 'cause that's exactly what the system was designed for. I'm also seeing a decline in the popularity of CRTs. I think CRTs were extremely popular, and look, they still are, and they're very, very expensive. But they're very expensive nowadays because if you are on the market to buy a CRT, then the seller knows, you know, what you're looking for, and they're going to inflate those prices extremely high.

Now, for me, I still do use my CRTs. I have a Sony PVM that I break out occasionally. But I will say, it's not something that I use daily. And look, maybe I'm not a hardcore enthusiast, but I think, you know, I kind of mostly, I would think, speak for, you know, the kind of the just the armchair retro game collector out there. CRTs, they used to be extremely important, but I don't think they are as much as they used to, because it kind of goes into the next point about upscalers.

Now, upscalers have become extremely popular over the last, you know, 10 years or so. We've got the RetroTINK 4K, we've got the Pixel FX, we've got the RetroTINK 5X Pro, the 2X. There's an upscaler out there to suit your need and your budget. And I think really, this is kind of front and center what has become very, very popular in retro games these days, having access to an upscaler, which makes the visuals of most systems out there look pretty good on, you know, a modern display. And I think upscalers themselves have effectively replaced CRTs, and this is a good thing, I believe.

Now, again, whether you prefer original hardware with a CRT or an upscaler, it's your preference. But I'm definitely seeing that shift in the retro gaming space where it's all about upscalers, good upscaling quality that have really good, you know, CRT filters, uh CRT masks that effectively just make the image quality look almost as good as an original CRT, minus obviously, you know, some input lag here and there. But I think this is a very important space. And look, I don't really know where upscaler technology is going, but I think it's really the the right kind of approach that the retro community has been headed, you know, in recent times.

Now, the next thing that I want to talk about is game collecting. So, game prices for me are still going up. I never really felt like there was a bubble in a traditional sense. There was kind of talk, there's always talk about a bubble when it comes to retro game collecting, but there's not a bubble. The thing is, retro game prices continue to go up as, you know, as the years kind of continue on. It means that these old games get older, and it means that there's more desirability, and there are more people that want to buy old games that obviously, you know, they played back in the day. They maybe they own them, or they're collectors and they want to buy like a full set or maybe a subset of a system again, they either have nostalgia for, or even the ones that they don't.

But I've definitely seen a decline in retro gaming collections, retro game collecting. And I can only really use myself as a good example of this. I made a video, I think it was like in 2017, where maybe 2018, something around that time frame, where I was showing off my my basement and I had converted it into a, you know, retro gaming space where I had shelves and shelves and shelves and shelves of my entire collection. And I was really, really proud of it, and I thought this was really awesome. I used to love going down there and, you know, just hanging out, playing games. But one thing that I realized was, I don't need all these games. This is not really anything that I'm that interested in. And I've basically just, you know, paired away that entire basement. And I have about one third of the games that I have, well, that I had on that video. I've sold a lot of my collection. I still have a lot of games, probably more than I really need to. But ultimately, I don't really feel like I need to own all these video games anymore. And maybe it's just me getting older, but I feel like the nostalgia that I have for old retro games isn't really as strong as it used to be. Or potentially, maybe because I didn't have nostalgia for certain systems growing up, then I didn't really feel like I needed to hold on to these, you know, these games.

So I've paired down my collection significantly. I know other people in the retro gaming space over the last, you know, 3 or 4 years have done the same thing. And I think that's really something that is where, you know, retro game, well, retro gaming is is headed. It's less about game collecting as much now than it is really just about, you know, being able to play retro games on modern devices. I think the sweet spot for retro gaming collections now, or collecting, is like the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 era. I'm seeing a lot of people very, very interested in kind of, you know, collecting games for that system. But everything before that has already kind of come and gone. That doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, the prices have gone down. The prices don't go down at all, they always continue to go up. But I think the reliance on buying old retro games isn't really as important as it used to be.

And that kind of takes me to the next thing that I want to talk about, and that's arcades. And as someone that, you know, got into arcade gaming, you know, when I when I was a kid, I was someone that bought a few arcade cabinets, you know, in the mid to late 2000s myself. This was before, you know, Arcade1Up kind of came on the scene and really, you know, carved out a niche audience for old arcade cabinets. And I think owning an arcade cabinet in your home or in your garage or in your basement is very much the same thing as game collecting. You were someone that grew up playing arcades and you have nostalgia for your favorite arcade game. And if kind of one kind of popped up on Craigslist for, you know, a few hundred, then it was a no-brainer to buy. Uh, you would take it home with you, you would set it up in your garage, and you would have so so much fun.

But here's the thing, after you've kind of played and beaten your arcade games, you know, it's not really something that you go back to very often, I feel like. And Arcade1Ups, they became extremely popular for for quite a few years, but you've seen in recent times that Arcade1Up is just kind of on the way out. They're not as popular as they used to be. And I think arcade collecting has just kind of gone back to being more niche, like it used to be. But the prices certainly haven't gone back to where they were. The prices are still the same. Everything in the retro gaming space just continues to kind of increase in price, it never goes down. But the interest and the demand and just, you know, more people that want to get into that space isn't really as popular as it used to be, in my opinion.

Now, the next thing that I want to talk about is things like cables, adapters, HDMI mods, internal mods for old systems. I did mention that there's less people buying old retro systems, but in the case of where there is a really good modern solution, in other words, we're talking about internal HDMI mods, something like the GameCube that has an HDMI mod, which is external, the, you know, the KBY, the Insurrection Industries KBY, for example. Those types of things that modernize your old systems are very, very important. And I think having good cables, good adapters, and a community that builds these cables and adapters is very, very popular as well.

I've certainly, in fact, I've got one right here that I use on my uh PlayStation 2. This is the Electron Pulse, and this is probably the best HDMI solution for a PlayStation 2 outside of an internal HDMI mod. And this is not sponsored or anything like that. I'm just a big fan of these kind of good quality adapters and good quality cables. And fortunately, there is a good community out there that that makes this kind of stuff. There's obviously a lot of garbage out there as well. I see a lot of cheap cables that you can buy on places like Amazon, AliExpress, for example. But there is a really good and solid community building really good products for old systems. And I think, you know, systems like the Nintendo 64, the Sony PlayStation that have HDMI mods, these types of systems are very, very popular.

We saw these SD card solutions like the Saturnator for the Sega Saturn. Now we have the Satiator, which is a lot cheaper and arguably a better product. So the prices of these flash carts, the ability to pretty much run any game on off an SD card on original hardware is really awesome to see. And it just prolongs the life of that hardware. And if you have a modern HDMI, you know, uh mod for it, that is even better. It really kind of just replaces the ex entire experience and allows you to relive these moments of those games that used to play back in the day.

Now, going off completely off the concept of emulation and original hardware, there's also remakes, remasters, and ports. Classic games that are being remade or remastered with updated graphics, improved gameplay, and additional content. And this trend is very, very popular right now. Now, whatever you feel about remakes, remasters, ports, some people love them, some people don't like them. But ultimately, this is because people really want to uh re-experience these old games, these old PlayStation One games, these old N64 games, these old Sega Genesis games on modern hardware. They've already invested in the PlayStation 5, the Nintendo Switch, the Xbox. So why not provide the experience to those players if you have the ability to do so?

So we're seeing a lot of studios that are working on remakes and remasters and ports. Studios such as as Digital Eclipse, Night Dive Studios, Limited Run, who I work for, of course. We also see the PlayStation 2 Classics and they're becoming very popular on the PS5 right now. I didn't really feel like Sony was that interested in bringing back classic games, and I've been very kind of critical of Sony over the years. But we're seeing games like TimeSplitters, we're seeing games like Jak and Daxter, we're seeing like Ratchet & Clank, you know, these franchises are coming back to modern consoles, and that is an amazing thing. Having the ability to have save states and rewind and good quality emulation with, you know, minimal input lag and just a good experience overall is is awesome to see.

But it's just meant that more people have different choices now. It's easy just to spend, you know, $30 on a remaster of a game that you loved back in the day versus, you know, spending the hundreds of dollars finding a used copy on eBay. And a lot of these games that do get remastered are not cheap to go back and buy. And this is a great thing having this available, you know, to a modern audience.

So, what do I think the future of retro gaming is going to be for the next 10 years? Well, it's very hard to say. But I do think that we're going to see more people get involved in the community. I think there's going to be more of a demand for accurate FPGA hardware, you know, replication or emulation, whatever you want to call it. And I think we're going to see more boundaries that are broken. But not only this, retro gaming isn't just about the hardware or the software, the emulators, the FPGA cores, the upscalers. It's also about the social aspect of it. I think having more people that are making retro gaming content is a good thing as well, because there are people that probably do want to relive their childhoods, but they don't necessarily want to invest the money to get back into that ecosystem. Which, let's be very, very clear, retro gaming is not a cheap hobby to get into. It's quite expensive. And, you know, if you're someone that wants to relive those moments, it may just be as easy as watching a long play of an old game. And there is a great community on YouTube that does long plays and they do live streams of, you know, of old games and things like that. And maybe that's just enough, you know, for some people to to be satisfied with. Or maybe some type of deep dive retrospective on a game that someone, you know, used to love back in the day, that's that could be enough.

So, look, at the end of the day, retro gaming is just getting bigger and bigger. And I think we're going to see more and more games uh come out, more and more remasters, more and more ports as things progress. I do think there's going to be a lot more, you know, involvement when it comes to things like emulation, FPGA, upscalers. There's very exciting things happening. And look, I think it's a good time now to be in the retro gaming space. More people are in that space right now, more people are, you know, interested in that space. And look, I'm very, very excited about the next 10 years of retro gaming.

But let me know what you guys think about this. This was a bit of an off-the-cuff, uh unscripted, you know, just chat with you guys, but it's something I've wanted to talk about for a while. Let me know your thoughts about retro gaming, where it was, and where you think it's going to go, and what your your favorite aspects of retro gaming is. Look, I think the community is awesome, and, you know, we're seeing so many really cool things continuing to come out. And look, I'm here for the ride. I can't wait to see what happens next. But we're going to leave it here for today's episode, guys. Thank you so much for watching. If you liked it, please don't forget to leave me a thumbs up, and I'll catch you guys in the next episode. Bye for now. For.