I do admit I love the idea of being able to play my old games on my new systems (ps1 on ps3 or psp etc). I was, and still am, a big fan of using custom firmware on the PSP to play my old SNES, NES, Genesis, and Gameboy games on Sony's beautiful little handheld. Sony hates people like me, I know, but the system itself is shaped like an SNES controller. It's like a childhood fantasy come to life. An SNES controller with a giant vibrant screen, with all the games on it I could ever want to play. Ah, what I would have given for a PSP in 1992. But I digress.So on the one hand, I agree with Isaac's article. However, there is still a part of me that loves holding the SNES controller in my hand and playing Super Metroid or Illusion of Gaia . In fact, I recently visited a friend at his new house. He was giving the standard new-house tour and we came upon his back room. In his back room was an ancient wood frame TV set like my grandparents and parents owned in the early 80s. Hooked to it, he had his NES and Atari 2600, and a ratty old couch in front of it. He still had an Xbox360, a big screen, and booming surround sound set up in his living room, but the classic gaming room was almost like stepping through a time portal back to 1989. As soon as i stepped into the room, i felt like a kid again. I couldn't say whether or not this room was an accident, but the feeling it brought me was something I honestly didn't expect.
So i guess I'm torn between both worlds. i love being able to play FFVI on my DSlite at the park, but I also love holding a worn out SNES controller in my hand and playing FF3 in the back bedroom. Same game, but almost completely different experiences for me.
As I thought about this, I had to question why they are 2 different things for me. I recently played all the way through Chrono Trigger again on my PSP while on breaks at work. It was great. I spent a lot of time going through the side quests and building up my characters and getting the best weapons. I played it on the PSP for the game (if that makes sense). Yet when I started up the SNES at home a few days later, I loaded up my Chrono Trigger file from years ago (where i had finished it 15 times) and started running through a newgame+ with maxed stats. But after about 10 min, I was no longer in the mood. I had fired it up on the SNES just for the feeling of playing it the wa
y I used to play it. Holding the controller, feeling the callous-causing d-pad on my thumb and the concave X&Y buttons. I remembered that, as a kid, I never liked the X button for some reason. Sitting up on the top of the diamond layout like that. It just felt different than the rest. The point is, I played it on the SNES simply for the experience.So while philosophically speaking, I agree with Isaac with regards to backwards compatibility and downloadable classics, there is still a 26 year-old gamer here who sometimes likes to relive his youth. My ideal situation, inconvenient (and possibly expensive) as it is, would be to keep all those vintage systems, and hook them up in a different room. Step into that room and sit down on your 1993 couch, turn on your 1993 game system and your standard-def TV, pop on a Metallica CD, and play Donkey Kong Country like it was meant to be played.
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