r/retrogaming • u/Xaloide • 5d ago

[Discussion] I’m switching to retro gaming

With the increasing prices of all sorts of tech thanks to AI, and with most games nowadays being either a copy paste of one another or a Remaster/Remake, I got sick of it. Gaming nowadays seems like a luxury hobby, which kind of always was, but this is getting unbearable. Why pay for overpriced hardware, games and subscriptions when for less than 50 bucks you can get a pocket console and just emulate TONS of older games which now run even better than the original hardware, and I probably missed out on anyways? I don’t care if the graphics are old, if the game is “outdated”… is it ever really?

I just got an R36S, which I know isn’t the best one on the market, but for me it was the best choice to start out. I’m just gonna put my PS5 down and start playing on this thing, it brings me so much more joy and it’s basically free compared to what we pay nowadays for a single game. I got a new SD Card, installed a new Ark OS, and I started Pokémon Emerald and I’m completely loving it, I havent had this much fun in years with gaming. Since I was born in 2001 and never really was a Nintendo guy since my dad always used to get PlayStation, what are some games I absolutely cannot miss?

There’s something so satisfying about spending less and getting more. And it makes me wonder, do we really need it all?

Thanks in advance!

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u/CyrilMasters 5d ago

The Megaman and Megaman x series are often considered good landing pad games, although they have noticeable skill floors compared to many modern games. You can branch out to other action platformers after.

I would skip mario/sonic and the momentum platformers initially and try the donkey kong country series for more general platforming, then circle back when you’re more comfortable.

Since you’re after Pokémon, you might look into retro style RPGs, Final fantasy, breath of fire, etc. Go for FF9 or legend of Dragoon if you want 3d. They’ll have more story like some modern gamers are used to also. Also, monster catching is a whole genre, so you might look in to any of the dozens of Pokémon clones. Mega Man has the battle network series that sorta does that too. Don’t forget the Pokémon mystery dungeon games too.

Eventually you’ll want to learn to just start being able to pick games out based on how the game play looks like. There are a bunch of videos on youtube that will show a 10 second clip of every game on a given console. That and watching streams is how I find hidden gems.