Blog:Grust's Top 10 Reasons It's Best to Be a Retro Gamer Right Now.

I just recently watched The Quartering latest video on Borderlands 3 and made the comment, "At this point I wonder if I'm propagating retro gaming by talking about being one everytime I hear about crap like this or if they're propagating retro gaming by being assholes. Either way, retrogaming forever."

Almost immediately I sensed another idea for a Top 10 list to make. So without further ado, here is my top 10 list why it's best to be a retro gamer right now. If you still wish to play modern games, I'm cool with that, I still play my Playstation 4 and am still collecting for the Switch (very slowly though to get as many Zelda games as possible as it's the one franchise I even go fanboy over). Okay on to the countdown.

10. More Challenging Games: Most games I've played on modern consoles aren't really all that hard anymore. The only series I can think of that is challenging is Dark Souls, but that's about all I can think about. Don't get me wrong I die in a lot of modern games like the Resident Evil 2 Remake or 7 Days to Die, but I die in some easy games to like Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers on NES. I'm talking about dying all the time, developing better reflexes, stuff shooting at you nonstop kind of hard, like Contra. Another example I can think of is Batman: The Video Game on NES. Hard as hell, but when I actually beat it, I got so excited, I shouted OH MY GOD! so loud, it scared my mother. it was very satisfying. When I beat say, The Evil within games, I just moved on.

9. The Good Sonic Games: Sonic has been in a rough spot for years at this point, for every good game that gets made nowadays, at least 3 terrible or mediocre ones show up. Not to mention an extremely annoying fanbase. But back on the Genesis, his games highlighted the "blast processing" with high speed platforming and satisfying speedruns. Even his first 3D game on Dreamcast was pretty good.

8. Easier to Separate Art from Artist: There's a saying that goes, "Separate Art from Artist" and while I agree with the statement, without spoiling anything on the bottom of the list, let's just say, it's getting very difficult. Thankfully retrogaming can no longer profit some of these artists like say Konami. After all the crap they've done, I never want to give them my money ever again. Thankfully their best games are not profitable anymore and many I still love like Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. So basically, when the artist acts like Konami or well see below, I'll only separate the art when the art is not profitable.

7. Reviewers are Unlikely to Be Bribed to Give a Positive Review: As said before a few blogs ago, game journalism is in a very bad state, one that'll probably take decades to recover. One such state is with buying a little ad revenue some game devs and publisher can coerce a positive review. Hell this even led to a decent game reviewer to lose his job for being honest. Thankfully with retro games being unprofitable, it's very unlikely any reviewer would be bribed to give a positive review. It's why I'm far more likely to believe a positive review from an older game than a modern one.

6. Several Studios Have Sided With SJWs: Oh come one, you guys knew this would be a reason right? Companies like EA and Activision and even some indie companies have begun siding with SJWs and chasing a "phantom audience." While this does lead to "get woke, go broke," the message is not sinking that SJWs should not be the audience video game companies seek. With retro gaming, we just don't have to deal with this B.S.

5. Great Classics Still Fun to Play: There are many, many great games that even to this day are still enjoyable. Super Mario Bros. which was released in 1985 is still iconic to this day. Even after 20 years, my all time favorite Zelda game is Ocarina of Time. There is in fact nearly 50 years of gaming that can still be enjoyed. When the problems I mention above and below result in a new video game crash, I won't be upset about it.

4. Complete Games: Starting with the 7th generation of video games and the internet becoming more commonplace in gaming, a new thing sprouted in gaming, patches, which would be downloaded to either fix mistakes in the game or add new content. While patches are pretty cool especially for new content, the downsides are, you need more data to add to your console or PC, and it encourages the art of rushing. The other downside is when a console is no longer supported, there exists a very real possibility that patches will cease to download and your game will no longer be updated. That is not the case with retro gaming. Once you have the CD or cartridge you own the whole game. Now rushing has been been around since the Atari 2600, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial being a very famous example, but when developers worked hard and finished a great game, it was complete, nothing locked behind a paywall or needing an update. It was complete.

3. Several People in the Industry Are Insulting Their Own Potential Customers: This is Dark Masters Only Know a common thing that happening in the industry right now. After criticism of BattleField V, Patrick Soederlund (don't give a damn if I spelt it wrong) called gamers uneducated and either accept it or don't buy the game. Even after the game flopped, most companies learned nothing and now the absolute WORST EXAMPLE is Glumberland, the developers of Ooblets, insulting even their own Patreon Supporters after getting Epic's money. They even got me so pissed off I unretired from making articles (Ooh that means more Good Eats episodes for Best TV Shows Wiki). With such insulting behavior, it makes the term "Separate Art from Artist" feel overrated, cuz honestly I don't give a damn if the game is good, I do not want to support such people.

2. No Microtransaction: One of the worst things to ever happen to gaming, Micro-transactions are incredibly predatory and encourage the pay-to-win model. I want to beat a game because of skill, not because of how much I spent. Nobody likes these, but because a small percentage overpay to obtain items, several companies, including AAA are taking advantage of it and I'm sick of this tactic.

1. No Lootboxes: What happens when you add gambling to micro-transactions, you get the even worse Loot boxes. This is even more predatory as it encourages gambling and a while still a small percentage, several gamers are spending buttloads of money on items they may or may not receive. It's getting so out of hand, that some governments are stepping in to regulate or even outlaw them. But because of how much money some idiots and addicts are spending (it's been reported one woman alone sent over $30,000 on lootboxes), many companies are trying to defend this horrible practice such as EA and Square-Enix opted not to sell a game in Belgium due to outlawing lootboxes rather than simply removing the lootboxes. It's a disgusting practice and with some companies defending and encouraging the practice, I regard this as the best reason to be a retrogamer.

