Game Nostalgia - 4-Bit Fanaticism

(I have removed Friday from the posts since I will likely never post on time.)

"You're still playing Atari?" my dad asked me today as I was piddling around on Game Room before we headed out. The truth is that I have always been behind the video game evolutionary curve. We had our Atari 2600 burning up the T.V. well into 1990 when my parents finally broke down and bought a Nintendo system. I have been consistently rewarded with a system about two years before it goes out of style. (With computers and cellphones, it is about two months.)

With this in mind, I must say: I FUCKING LOVE ATARI GAMES! Yes, their graphics are about as interesting as day old coffee grounds, and game plots were as thin as William Shatner's sanity. Yet they existed in an age when graphical limits challenged designers to innovate games more intriguingly, or steal from everyone else, as game copyright laws were extremely lax at the time. I still remember running through endless mazes to avoid Zots for hours of endless fun, and this happened only three weeks ago.

Tunnel Runner, 1983. Copyright CBS Electronics

Now, one could say that games have evolved so much that there is no point to looking back, and in some regards this is true, for nostalgia is often used as a cheap marketing ploy in lieu of innovation. However, to deny the roots of gaming is to forget the foundations that they laid for the games of today.

I guess in the end, what I find most fascinating about my 4Bit Fanaticism is that it mimics my attachment to other hobbies, for I often love my gateway item and my current fascination. All matters in between are immaterial, and it is often the first that stands as the most endearing and memorable experience.

So, for me, when I fire up Game Room, I wish not only to reclaim something that I once loved, but also to remind myself of where I am now and the path that I took to get here. Wiping out the horror of NES-level game difficulty though is an important step in the process.