[jkingsman]

It really is incredible. I've been playing through my childhood games on retro handhelds, and recently jumped from <$100 handhelds to a Retroid Pocket Flip, and it's incredible. Been playing WiiU and PS2 games flawlessly at 2x res, and even tackling some lighter Switch games on it.

[reactordev]

It truly is. My issue though, like in 2010 when I built an arcade cabinet capable of playing everything is you eventually just run out of interest. In it all. Not even the nostalgia of it keeps my attention. With the exception of just a small handful of titles.

- Excite Bike (it’s in its own league) NES

- Punchout (good arcade fun) NES

- TMNT 4-P Coop Mame Version

- NBA Jam Mame Version

- Secret of Mana SNES

- Chronotrigger SNES

- Breath of Fire 2 SNES

- Mortal Kombat Series SEGA32X

- FF Tactics PS1

I know these can all be basically run in a browser at this point but even Switch or Dreamcast games were meh. N64/PS1/PS2/Xbox was peak and it’s been rehashed franchises ever since. Shame. The only innovative thing that has happened since storytelling died has been Battle Royale Looter Shooters.

[Novosell]

Outer Wilds, Baba is You, Blue Prince, Hades 1&2, Disco Elysium, Hollow Knight, Slay the Spire, Vampire Survivors, Clair Obscur, What Remains of Edith Finch, 1000xResist, Return of the Obra Dinn, Roboquest, Rocket League, Dark Souls, etc. I could go on, and on, and...

Not rehashes. Original, phenomenal games covering damm near every genre and if there is a genre you're missing, I can find a modern game to match.

Do you actually engage with modern games?

[haunter]

>The only innovative thing that has happened since storytelling died

lol

There are countless already classic modern story driven games which pushing the boundaries of video games forward.

I know nostalgia is a very strong drug and I also love the games I grew up with in the 90s but it's pure ignorance to say that 1, "storytelling died" 2, no innovation happened in video games in modern times (whatever that even means)

[leguminous]

I disagree. There are some new (sub-) genres and great games since that period.

* Roguelites have proliferated: Hades is the most obvious example, but there are a variety of sub-genres at this point.

* Vampire Survivors (itself a roguelite) spawned survivors-likes. Megabonk is currently pretty popular.

* Slay the Spire kicked off a wave of strategy roguelites.

* There are "cozy" games like Unpacking.

* I don't recall survival games like Subnautica or Don't Starve being much of a thing in the PS2 era.

* There are automation games like Factorio and Satisfactory.

* Casual mobile games are _huge_.

* There are more experimental games, sometimes in established genres, like Inscription, Undertale, or Baba Is You.

Not to mention that new games in existing genres can be great. Hollow Knight is a good example. Metroidvanias were established by the SNES and PS1 era, but Hollow Knight really upped the stakes.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things and people will have some criticism, but I really don't believe games have stagnated in general.

[mlyle]

For the oldies but goodies in my list:

- Any one of the 194_ games

- Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

- Super Mario World

- Final Fantasy VI, VII, IX

- Chrono Trigger (agree)

- Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition

- Metal Gear Solid 1-3, MGS: Peace Walker

But I think there's been good stuff since.

- The Super Mario Galaxy games

- Super Monkey Ball

- MGS4, MGS5

- Witcher 3

- The Bioshock games

- Minecraft-- probably the game with the most replay value of anything of all time.

I don't know what will stand the test of time. I don't want to play any of these games now, since I've burnt them out, but at some point I'll likely want to play them again...

- Undertale

- Bravely Default

- The Octopath games

- Dispatch

- AstroBot

- Clair Obscur

[chongli]

If you're struggling with keeping your attention, you ought to try making a list of games you never finished (or never played) and commit yourself to playing through them in order. I have been doing that with NES games and really enjoying it. I alternate between RPGs/adventures and action games, to mix things up a bit.

Recently, I have played through Faxanadu, Dragon Warrior, Blaster Master, and am now working through Fire Emblem (translated from Japanese).

[RGamma]

Baldur's Gate 3 has awesome story telling for video game standards. Plan 100+ hours for a reasonably complete first playthrough though.

[irishcoffee]

> N64/PS1/PS2/Xbox was peak and it’s been rehashed franchises ever since. Shame. The only innovative thing that has happened since storytelling died has been Battle Royale Looter Shooters.

I was a kid when ps1/n64 came out so I also have a lot of nostalgia about that era of gaming.

However…

There are a ton of great games out there from this era. Hell, the Uncharted series and Expedition 33 will get you 100-200 hours of excellent gameplay, Elden ring is another 200. Lies of P is a fantastic game, 50-100 more. The star wars Legos and star wars Harry Potter games are a lot of fun to play with kids, and Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom are the Zelda games we wanted on n64 as a kid, I love those games. And they’re not a rehash, at all.

There’s a lot of fun things out there to play if you poke around. Your local library might surprise you with the collection for completely free games you can borrow. Modern games even.

[fragmede]

Paradox of choice. When you were single digit/low double years old, and you only had 3 games, you had to play the shit out of them. With every game available at your fingertips, there's no such compunction.

[bluescrn]

It's called getting older.

As a grown adult, nothing can recreate the feeling of exploring a new game as a child/teen. Especially during the 80s/90s, where gaming as a whole was new and rapidly-evolving.

But revisiting old favourites for the nostalgia can still be enjoyable.

[techpression]

What? Dreamcast was a marvel when it came to games, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Tennis, Power Stone, Jet Set Radio, Grandia, SoulCalibur etc.

[wahnfrieden]

The Demons Souls lineage titles are another valuable innovation (I understand the earlier inspirations it had but those aren't playable like these modern ones)

For MAME I recommend trying Pang and Super Buster Bros