Feature Going Back In Time - Do You Play Retro Games To Reconnect With Your Past?

Playing games like Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, A Link to the Past, Street Fighter II [and Turbo'], F-Zero, Star Fox, Super Smash TV, Contra III, Castlevania IV, Turtles in Time, Super Tennis, Super Mario Kart, Super Aleste, Super Punch-Out!!, Donkey Kong Country, U.N. Squadron, Killer Instinct, ActRaiser, PlayStation Doom, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye, Ocarina of Time, Halo, etc, are some of the most powerful and fondest memories from my youth. Playing these games as an adult very much recaptures that feeling again. So I definitely play these games for nostalgic reasons. But I also choose to play them because they're just simpler and purer than a lot of modern gaming is these days, with much more immediate satisfaction that's lacking all the faff and fuss and indeed pitfalls of our current gaming times, particularly regarding anything before we fully entered the Internet era, and I love all these old games and retro systems even more as I get older as a result. There's something very special that's worthy of cherishing with these old games. It was a golden age.

I'm in an odd position when it comes to this. Some games I don't have fond memories of, just because of where I was at the time, and others I have such fond memories of that I still choose to let go in order to not taint the good memories.

I think I play 'retro' games really just because I prefer them, even ones I didn't grow up with.

I agree with the existential psychologist because I feel similar things, but in my case, the quality of those games is the main reason to replay them. That means I don't replay games that I played in my childhood if they are not good enough.

Most of the games I played back then were on Nintendo and Sega systems. Nintendo used to make better games then than now, so I revisit them often. I still haven't played a better Mario than Super Mario World nor a better The Legend of Zelda than Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess. They feel infinitely more inspired and enjoyable. Same for Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.

Another reason I have found is the controls. Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 and 3 feel more responsive and tight than Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze. Super Mario World feels more responsive and tight than any New Super Mario Bros. game. That also make the older games more enjoyable and immersive.

Of course I do! I thnk many of these games stand tall without the aid of nostalgia, but i'm not personally able to separate that aspect out.

Someone who was young in the 60s might listen to the Beatles to reconnect to their past, but that doesn't mean that others wouldn't find their music to be well worth a listen.

All I can say is I bought the Disney collection on Switch out of spite, getting revenge for kid me they defeated.

Not really. I don't really have a nostalgic connection to a lot of older games, so I play them more for historical purposes; experiencing what those before us played and appreciating what the developers were able to accomplish at the time with the tech they were given.

@RetroGames That's another big reason. You have to be more selective in starting a modern game, because they require additional time just to learn the menus, UI, controls... The games you mention are intuitive and satisfying right away.

No I play them because they are good. They used to actually try back then.

I can definitely relate here. I have games that I definitely identity with a period of my life, such as Amiga UFO: Enemy Unknown being played for weeks at a time when I was at Uni. Most of my Speccy games-playing relate to my childhood & early teens.

The retro games I play now, such as thru NSO or on my Evercade which I didn’t own as I didnt have a Megadrive or Super NES (etc) give me an opportunity to remove myself from the outside world, having to be an adult and doing ‘grown up’ or responsible activities.

All in all, games help me relax and that’s most certainly worth it for me

Mostly to reconnect, if I'm being honest. There's also the fact that games were a more complete and finished product back then and the truly great ones will be worth your time no matter what decade we're in.

But nothing beats that feeling of booting up a game I used to play with my brother or best friend and instantly remember what it was like sitting on our bedroom floor, or basement trying to master those games. Contra, turtles II and IV, Mike Tysons Punchout, sunset riders, streets of Rage 2, smb3, and even some 64 games like golden eye, Mario party and Mario Kart all tug on those little nostalgic heart strings for me.

It's a simple fact life was easier when I was younger. I was care free, and got to indulge is any media as I saw fit back then. Video games were always #1 for me, and some of the best memories of my childhood were playing with my brother or best friend.

I’d say I’m somewhere in the middle. I never stopped playing many of the games from my childhood like Mario World so it’s more of a constant in my life than a reminder of the good old days.

On the flip side, playing something like the arcade version of Time Crisis or Sega Rally (particularly on a sunny day) reminds me very heavily of summer holidays in Devon playing at the arcade and being blown away by the amazing 3D graphics.

I am somewhere in the middle.

When the NES, SNES were coming out, I was too busy with college. And I didn't even have a TV in my apartment to hook one up to even if I picked one up. But I did pick up a Game Boy. And now that I can play some of those old games on NSO . . . it does bring back some memories.

But . . . there are a lot of games I never played when they came out. Like Zelda OOT. I finally got around to trying to play OOT last year . . . and it just blew me away how awesome this game is. LOL. So . . . no nostalgia there. This is my first time playing through the game. So it is all totally new experience for me. And I am really enjoying the game!

So somewhere in the middle. Playing some games for nostalgia. Playing some games for the 1st time!

I'm just glad that we have access to these old games. Some of them are just really amazing and still hold there own today.

I think it’s easy to be taken back when revisiting a game from your childhood. I do sometimes revisit them to give myself a lift if feeling a bit down about the present. To remember simpler, happier times.
However, there is still entertainment to be had. Only every once in a while though, with so many new games to play with the time I can spare to play them.
The mini consoles have the added bonus of the OG controllers which is a nice touch. Mega Drive, Sonic 2.

I'd say it's somewhere in the middle. I think it's more so just me reconnecting with an era than personal nostalgia, but nostalgia probably has a lot to do with the type of games I like to play, then again it's got a lot to do with my personal taste in games over the years as well.

I think the most appealing thing for me when it comes to retro gaming is probably just the feeling of what games were like in different eras, and reconnecting with a more simple time when gaming was more honest and games were produced by smaller and more passionate teams of people. There is just so much that I used to enjoy from different eras that we hardly see anymore, that can be unique to their eras. Playing older games can remind me of why I fell in love with gaming in the first place, and it can amaze me how much fun I can have with so many classics.

I'm enjoying the whole thread!

@NintendoByNature Very nice comment. I also enjoy connecting to those carefree and happy times with cousins, friends and alone. I also remember sitting on the floor or carpet fondly.

You'll never afford it! Live in the now!

Without a doubt.
I like nintendo from N64 onwards.
I like playing PS1 titles to give me that great nostalgic feeling. Especially Namco arcade games.
But I am absolutely besotted with all things SEGA from the master system to dreamcast and beyond!!!!

I chose "No". It's not that I don't have nostalgia and fond memories linked to certain games, but just that I don't consider those to be major factors that drive my interest in retro gaming.

I missed out on all kinds of top-tier games back in the day (due to not having my own game systems as a kid, not to mention simply being too young to play certain games when they were new!), so I'm still catching up on lots of classics that I missed, as well as discovering gems that I never heard of at the time.

There are many older titles that I played for the first time as an adult, and I still loved them for what they were, not for my (non-existent) memories of them!

I prefer older games, absolutely. Sling "nostalgia" at me all you want, it's just a totally different thing.

But, I also prefer still older games that I played when I was younger 😂 I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

I was born in 85, I watched games get so good I almost couldnt believe it, and then watched them kinda... get worse again... and now we are in this interesting place where modern games are sort of "lost" and "retro" games are finding themselves again. it's been a great ride.

grandpa's tired, 'night kids. 😙

(I chose "yes," because the statement is true for me. "No" would be incorrect.

However, Truer still would be "Yes, but I also play vintage and retro [remember, retro doesnt mean "old," it means "like old," and "classic" means "old AND broadly well regarded"] games that I've never played before because I like them," and I consider that a different answer than "somewhere in the middle."

i like polls 🙂)

First of all, just a good piece here, Damien. This is something I've thought about before at various points. I'm not particularly driven by nostalgia as some are. I do acknowledge that the time during which I grew up shaped my taste in games, so there might be some amount of subconscious nostalgia, as I refer to it. I don't seek nostalgia like some do. For example, my brother started certain rituals as a young adult to try to recreate feeling like a younger kid at Christmas. That's not me at all. So as I mentioned, I don't seek nostalgia, but my tastes were shaped in the '80s and '90s. I play older games because I enjoy them more. I like the approach to game design more, despite some of the downsides(difficulty spikes, lack of continues, etc.) Some games are just a joy to play the moment I pick up the controller, and many of the best games are easy to figure out, even if they have a lot of less obvious features. Many of my current favorites are games I missed back in the day, so I have no prior connection to them. For example, I discovered Shatterhand a decade or so ago on Youtube. Seeing it in action, I had a strong reaction thinking that it looked very much like the kind of game I would love, though sometimes that expectation doesn't pan out. In the case of Shatterhand, I was absolutely right, as the game was as good as I hoped it would be.

I was a big arcade gamer in the '90s, so I preferred systems that brought the arcade experience home as much as possible. The Saturn was my favorite system of the late 1990s. After the Dreamcast's short life, I just wasn't particularly interested in where video games were going. It was the GBA that excited me the most(I had previously been a big fan of the Neo Geo Pocket) and I really enjoyed that period with it. I eventually got a Gamecube and enjoyed some of the more modern games, but the GBA was my priority because it was a throwback to the 16-bit era. There was a period when I was not gaming, but it was games like Street Fighter 2 and Shinobi 3 that brought me back to gaming. Perhaps it was a nostalgic connection that got me to return, but the fun was real and in the moment, not in the past.

I sometimes wonder if I prefer the old games because they feel more human in how they were made. I wonder that about a lot of pop culture. I have long preferred older media of various types. I like older movies and TV shows(60s-80s), older music, cel animation, comic books when the art was done with inking and the four-color process as opposed to digital. Much of those are before my time, so there's no nostalgia with that. In all those cases, I get a feeling that the human element is much stronger. The limitations of the times helped shaped how those things developed. To use movies as an example, CGI does nothing for me. But more than that, it allows for some very unnatural shots that just wouldn't be possible with an actual camera, and that really takes me out. Plus, shaky cameras are a thing now for some reason. My point is that limitations played a big part in shaping things and creative choices tended to be well considered to serve the work as opposed to "wouldn't it be cool if...". I think the same applies to games. The limitations bred creativity. In modern times, the popular games tend to be open-world, many hours long, with an emphasis on exploration and discovery, and lots of narrative excess, and that's just not what I'm into. So that's how I see it with media in general.

Depends on the game. But I’m somewhere in the middle the majority of the time. Arcade games are definitely my middle ground. Games like WWF Wrestlefest, Final Fight, Double Dragon, TMNT, X-Men, Alien Vs Predator, UN Squadron, Metal Slug, Smash TV, Robocop, WWF Superstars, Pac-Man, Outrun, Street Fighter 2 all give me nostalgic vibes but I love them for their gameplay too.

Given the amount of "The console I had as a kid was the best one" on this site, this will be a resounding yes if people are honest.

I don't think anyone would play a rubbish retro game to reconnect and reminisce with their past.

Sometimes I play a superb one (thankfully there are many of these) to do so and sometimes I play a retro game not for the memories the game brings up but because of the pure playability and gameplay and none of the modern stuff that I find annoying such as cutscenes and story.

For me gameplay is and will always be king.

Yes and no. I was a SNES kid, now I'm hardcore into Mega Drive gaming. I'm nostalgic for the time and 16-bit style of games as a whole, but not for the games of the Mega Drive. I play them, because I missed out on most of them.

For me personally I do go back to old games for nostalgia reasons at times. But the thing that gets me the most nostalgic personally is listening to the soundtracks of games I played when I was a kid. I like playing retro games because experiencing games and systems before mybtime is just cool and it gives me a better understanding of VG history.

Absolutely to remember some great times!
I plugged in the namco fighting stick this morning and played Raycrisis for a couple of hours. Part of me was back in a soho arcade, the feeling so strong I could almost smell the arcade...

Not really! I'm older, so the games from my childhood were first and second generation consoles, and I never got into them then or now (sorry!). I've re-purchased a lot of nostalgic things from my childhood, but none of them are video games.

In general, I play older games because modern gaming lost its way somewhere around 2003 and, outside of indie games and smaller niche titles, has become increasingly less enjoyable with every passing year, so I revert to games that remain unaffected by the changes that have made mainstream videogames so unappealing to me.

Then there's the fact that I'm now able to play all of the video games I never got chance to when I was younger as well as games I didn't even know existed at the time. I have no nostalgic attachment to any of these games and yet some of them have become all time favourites.

Having said that, however, there are those rare days — usually when I'm ill — where I want nothing more than boot up old games I grew up with and pretend like I'm 8 years old all over again.

Mostly I'm trying to play games I didn't have as a child. I only have a few games that I go back to for nostalgia and honestly as I have aged and my disposable income has increased, I go back to those less and less. Too many other games to beat. I am just chasing fun.

No, the only reason is to have fun. This is the same reason they were originally played.

First off: what a great article. It really resonated with me, and I absolutely love this thread. What a geniunely great thing to see everyone's experience with this subject.

I love retro and vintage gaming, because I just really love to reconnect with those times , but also I loved the purity of the gaming experience back then. I remember starting as a really little kid with C64, intellivision, and the Atari 2600, and games were cool, but not amazing to me (except going to the local pizza parlor).

Then, the NES came out and my friends and I were HOOKED. I loved that feeling of experiencing it all for the first time. We all felt like explorers in this amazing new world.

Now, I love revisiting titles I loved, and even some that were terrible because they remind me of spending time with loved ones that have passed on. Yes I willingly play Renegade on occasion, because it was a bonding experience with a brother.

Now, as an adult I also really love going back and playing games that I never got to! I remember reading the old game magazines and wishing I had the money to play them all.

Great article. Thank you.

I almost exclusively play games to re-connect to my past.

There's a few reasons for this. Biggest of all is that I've had multiple concussions and other head injuries over the years, and struggle greatly with memory loss despite my sub-40 age. Playing games from my youth can not only remind me of the game, itself, but also a time period that I may have lost to brain damage. I may only get sensations or hints of being there, but the games do a fantastic job of reminding me of a time that my brain had essentially blacked-out.

Another reason is, I like to prove to myself that I've still "got it!" We all have games that we feel we can beat blindfolded. Off the top of my head, I have the original NES Metroid, Mega Man 3, UN Squadron, Doom, and TMNT Hyperstone Heist. Being able to pick them up after several years and slam through them in one sitting is my way of reminding myself that my reflexes haven't slipped too badly, or that there are certain lasting mental impressions that still exist - and strongly.

We all play for different reasons. Those are mine. I don't usually comment, but I thought I would share that little bit with the community.

Be well, everyone!

Great piece Damien. I’m 53, and can relate to many points in the article and many of the responses. Nostalgia, immediacy of older games, time available to play, and the ability to buy and collect now I can pay for them myself are all factors for me.
Key for me though, is I’ll dabble in emulation, on a big TV, but I also can’t get away from using original hardware, often on my CRT. Having said that, just got a Polymega (so convenient) and just ordered an Evercade (I like cartridges). I’m lucky to have the space, and budget to have that stuff, and I’m grateful for modders that can keep the old stuff running, and making it work well on modern displays.
Every time I see that Zzap Christmas cover I think of my C64 and walking to Boots or WH smiths to look at the game section. Putting on Ultimate Tiger on my PC Engine and im back in my first year at Uni, playing this tiny white box on a rental tv that’s blowing everyone’s minds. I hope I never grow out of it.

I don't know how many times I've gone back to Super Mario 64. I feel like a little kid again whenever I'm greater with "It'sa me! Mario!"

@Banjo- thanks for that 🙂. It was truly a special time I always hold dear to my heart. I fully remember going to the video store on Friday night or Saturday morning knowing I was having a sleepover with a pal, or knowing my brother and I were going to try and beat a game that weekend. Those moments are unforgettable and something I'll cherish for an eternity.

Gaming was factually better before the modern era. Last gen (PS4, X1) had a handful of great titles that were highlights but it quickly became ports, remasters and remakes of games that already existed.

The best of gaming has already occurred. That is the sad reality of this hobby.

Absolutely I identify games and consoles with certain periods of my life. I bought my Dreamcast in middle school and right around the time my wife and I started dating. I had a lot of time to game, and because the Dreamcast was on the way out, I gathered a collection quickly. The Wii was the first console I bought with my "own money," so I identify it and its games with starting my "adult years." Replaying these games does "take me back."

But while these consoles and games are linked to certain periods of my life, retro games are just better and more interesting than games being released now. I still keep a toe in modern gaming. Yakuza, for example, is a series I continue to enjoy. But by and large, "modern gaming" has moved beyond my taste, and that's okay. I have more games from the third to sixth console generation (and maybe some seventh gen — they were okay) to play than I will ever be able to in a lifetime, especially since I so often replay my favorites. I'm fine with this.

Sometimes I do, but often it's just experience games from the past, even if theyre not from my own

Hey that's the reason Donkey Kong Country 2 is one of my favorite games now

Perhaps a little. A lot of out of to do with frustration. For example I have yet to play a dungeon crawler as straightforward as Phantasy Star Online in the modern day nor have Sony bothered to make a new WipEout in some time.

I'm a little column A/B

Videogames have been a constant ever since I was about 4, so like with any song/book/movie there are gonna be unavoidable emotional connections to a period of my life, but I can chart that feeling to as recently as last year.

With consoles I definitely have a fondness for games that were designed around their inherent limitations and have always found it fascinating. For actual nostalgia though I'd say I lean more into arcade games, as that's something I simply don't do as often as I used to.

@Banjo-
Banjo!! It's good to see you commenting on other sites. lol.

I totally get the nostalgia factor, but growing up we didn't have a whole lot of video games, so most of the classics I never played until I was in my 20's. I didn't even play through the Halo games until Xbox One with the MCC.

But I love classic games because I think they leave more room for the imagination. Modern games are just too concerned with trying to explain every little thing. It's the difference between Zelda before and after Hyrule Historia. Or classic Final Fantasy compared to the modern FF with entire encyclopedias in the menus. Or Metal Gear Solid 1-3 surprises and plot twists, compared to MGS 4 explaining everything with Nano machines or MGS 5's enormous catalog of audio tapes.

Info dumps and exposition are so exhausting but that seems to be the main form of story telling in games these days. I like being able to create theories and my own head canon, and write fan stories and draw fan art to fill in the gaps.

I grew up with the GameCube. My older sister had the N64 and I barely played it because I was very little. I recognize the power of nostalgia and I agree that it definitely can play a part into why people love something from their childhood. But for me, despite not growing up with the PS1 at all, I absolutely love it and it's one of my favorite consoles. I also love the SNES and the Sega Saturn.

I started really getting into collecting video games when I was around 12 and since then, I've gotten into a wide variety of games across 20+ consoles. There are amazing NES games out there, just like there are amazing PS5 games out now. I don't think everything is nostalgia.

Sometimes you just like good games because they're good and fun. I also think the limitations of a console can have their own charm. I absolutely love the low-poly aesthetic of the PS1, for instance. And sometimes I'm looking for a clunky PS1 experience because it just feels cozy. Maybe I'm nostalgic for a time where I wasn't even born. That's apparently called anemoia, but regardless, in my opinion, every era has good and bad media and every era has something interesting to offer.

The most excited I've ever been to receive video games was when I got Suikoden II and Terranigma. Suikoden II came out when I was 1 and Terranigma came out before I was born. My favorite game of all time is currently Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but there's quite a few PS1 and SNES games that are pretty high on my list, despite never growing up with either console.

@jake1421 It will be mine, oh yes! It will be mine!

I’ve bought an OG Xbox and I’m having an absolute blast with it! There’s so many games I haven’t played because I never had one as a kid (I had a GameCube) also got a 360 now absolutely love them so for me nostalgia has nothing to do with it because I didn’t own these systems till recently but I’m enjoying them more than the majority of newer games.

I started with Atari 2600 so every subsequent computer and console do remind me of another time, at least the games I played while they were contemporary. By the time I got to consoles though, games were expensive, so it's only years later I got to explore their a wider range of games on each system. It's not always nostalgia therefore, sometimes it's just catching up. Super Castlevania IV became one of my favouite games ever, but I never got around to playing it until the Wii VC as I never had SNES. That's what additionally interesting about retro games for me, they can be 'new' even now if you've not played them before.

I voted that I’m in between, because I feel that I am influenced by nostalgic memories to some degree but I wouldn’t say that’s the main or primary reason I play retro games. Instead I would say I’m after a certain feeling of fun and excitement that’s not exactly a “memory” but definitely was easier to access when I was a kid. I agree with those saying retro games are simply more fun. They are quicker to get into, faster paced, shorter (a good thing - many modern games are far too long), easier to understand and play (simpler controls, for example) but at the same time usually much more challenging. There’s a long list of further complaints which I won’t type out since I’m sure everyone on this site already knows and agrees with most of it. I will say I do play a lot of indie games and I find Nintendo’s games to be pretty good still, so there are a few bright spots in the gaming landscape still I’d say.

@Uncharted2007 I don't know that I'd take it that far, but I do agree that gaming has stagnated. The generational leaps used to be bigger and more consequential.

The current generation has been the least exciting "upgrade" over the previous one since the Atari 5200, and I don't make that comparison lightly. I'm not sure I've played any current-gen game that would have been outright impossible on prior hardware with anything but some graphical/cosmetic sacrifices.

@Utena-mobile Thanks!

Usually, I read all the files I find, but when I have beaten the game I often feel that I wasted too much time. Modern games tend to favour quantity over quality. They also get hectic too fast to catch the player, before the player even care about what's going on and don't know what the characters are talking about, or who the characters that they refer to are. They overwhelm and bore the players when they try to make a strong early impression.

There are some games that manage to be cohesive and build a story with scattered files without overwhelming players with what is perceived as padding. Some games that do it correctly are the Resident Evil titles, except 7 and 8 that include a lot of stupid and shoehorned stuff. The Project Zero/Fatal Frame games do storytelling masterfully with subtle cut-scenes and scattered files that are focused and logically connected with the other files, the environment and the story. They make the whole game balanced, immersive and real. The Nintendo game that also nailed it is Ocarina of Time, in this case with focused, coherent and well-written dialogue and cut-scenes, especially compared to newer entries such as Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. When a team is able to make a video game that is not only inspired but captivating, the experience becomes priceless and unforgettable.

I'm probably one of the younger commenters here and also wasn't allowed to play videogames until I was older than most, so I missed the boat on being able to be nostalgic for the kinds of games everyone can agree are retro. My thing not just with games but with any form of art is that there is more good old art than new good art, just by virtue of the fact that there is more old art than new art. i have plenty of gripes with the modern AAA game industry but even if every major release of the year was catered specifically to my tastes, that's still a drop in the bucket compared to decades of amazing games that came before. i think it's a terrible shame how we as a society now seem to treat art as having an expiration date. all that said, i'd be lying if i didn't say returning to the first games i ever played don't give me a specific warm and fuzzy feeling, and my favorite games since then that i didn't play as a schoolkid are the ones that somehow manage to replicate that feeling anyway. i also adore listening to people talk about their experiences with games as a kid. i used to volunteer at a big yearly retrogaming event (shoutout to the Long Island Retro Game Expo!) and by far my favorite thing was seeing a parent introduce their child to the games they grew up with, it's always a much more moving sight to behold than you'd think!

Absolutely. There are games I played to death as a kid that I can still blast through. These are like comfort food. There are games that I played but couldn’t beat but I can now. It’s a great feeling to complete something previously unachievable many years later. There are games I wanted to play but couldn’t afford. These are a mixed bag as some are fantastic whilst others have aged poorly. Finally I love retro games for the contrast with a lot of modern games; no updates or internet connectivity nonsense and especially with cartridge games you can turn them on and play pretty much instantly.

I play them for two reasons. One is entirely nostalgia driven and the other is simple because they were complete, well thought out video games. The latter is something more of a rarity nowadays. In no particular order I revisit as often as possible: MegaMan 2, River City Ransom, F Zero, Ninja Gaiden, Jackal, Punch Out and Nemos Dream World on NES. Chrono Trigger, Super Mario World, Street Fighter 2, Micro Machines, MK2 and Killer Instinct on SNES. Final Fantasy 7 and 9, Jet Moto, Chrono Cross, Battle Arena Toshinden and Jumping Flash on PS1. Shenmue 1 and 2, Skies of Arcadia, Dynamite Cop and Sword of the Beserk on DC. After that Era the Rose tint wears off somewhat and it's less and less for each gen. Couple ps2-4 games. The Halos and Gears from 360 era.

I enjoy playing on a GBA SP and DS Lite because they weigh 5 and 8 ounces respectively, with properly sized screens for gaming close to my face, compared to my Switch at 15oz with its cramped joycons, massive screen and clunky connector rails.

If I had a CRT setup for SNES through GameCube games, I'd absolutely play on that rather than any rerelease or virtual console offering. CRT TVs had both far superior latency and color accuracy, and a softer shaded look, and games were designed with them in mind.

In other words, nostalgia has nothing to do with it. I never even grew up with a DS, for instance. There are just strengths of retro platforms that aren't replicated by modern ones, as the industry compromised on things like weight and latency for a variety of reasons.

I play retro games for two main reasons; to hit that that nostalgia itch but also for arcade goodness. I find that the fps, stealth and action type games from early 3D era to have dated quite badly in the main but the variety and range of pick up and play fun single and multiplayer games ranging from the tony hawks games plus every extreme sport imaginable to anything with four or two wheels in a racing game has not been matched.

Nostalgia does weigh heavy on older titles but as with older music or movies or any art form, they can be appreciated by different generations and for different reasons. I sometimes love to see how a series has evolved whether its a mario platformer or marvel fighting games. Also as a keen SHMUP player, the resurgence on Switch is amazing and to start digging at the roots of this genre and it's heyday is fascinating to see the sheer variety that were produced.

Depends a bit on the game.. I still play Swos because it's simply the best football game every created, and the community is still alive (and keeps sensi up to date)

then you have the discovery part: pc engine because you didn't have it here..

and a bit nostalgia... amigavision on the pocket does that...

Mixed for me, Nostalgia isn't changing bad or good Games for me, the Nostalgia is there because a Game was good from the Beginning. Some i replay because i had fun with them and still have, some i get to play something new that was released back in the Time.
And sometimes, i am replaying some bad Games too see if i can manage them a bit better as an Adult haha
Such as Hulk for the Super Nintendo, but i play them maybe a couple of Minutes

@smoreon I agree, there may be a smidge of nostalgia in there but it's mainly to get to play the games that I previously missed.