Games

Honestly, I pay for top of line parts. I realize I'm limitiing myself on good games, but...

I paid for this shit, I try to keep top of the line because it is still my hobby (though, my time doesn't allow anymore) and I want to push my hardware.

Low bit games, however good, don't get a chance because... god damn, I expect better. I'm a 80s baby, and 90s kid. Nickelodeon early nick toons are my jam.

I paid for it, let me experience it.

I want to PUSH my hardware, and fine tune for play-ability, as expenses allow.

That being said, I love MMOs and realize how hard they can be to "upgrade" for all users... but damn, I don't have the time or energy anymore. I wish I could raid EQ bosses like I was 13 on summer break, but I fucking can't.

At the end of the day, I hope creative minds create new paradigms in gaming with limited resources. At this point, it is the only way we will grow. AAA studios make rehashes of former successes, which fail, and no one wants them. Gameplay has died, its been several years, and as an "old-head" (Quest for Glory 1 was my first PC game, with parser prompts) and I miss games. Even those are simple by today's standard - but they still stand up in a shorter format.

The 5th generation (ps1 mostly) has aged the worst (imo) and it’s the generation I revisit the least.

I went from getting everything to maybe playing up to 3 new games a year about the same time the PS3 came out. I know what I like and what I want, and the vast majority of games do not deliver these days.

Most handhelds tbh.
I didn't really grow up with "traditional" (home) consoles, but I always had handhelds (and a PC).
I have trouble going back to most handheld games pre-Vita nowadays, even if I remember the PSP (and GBA to a certain extent) fondly, between the controls, smaller screen and cut versions of games vs their home console counterparts, it's hard to go back. Emulation makes it somewhat nicer for me, but still.
And let's not begin with GB or GG games, they have a certain charm, but I usually can't stand them for more than 5 mins nowadays.

Atari era/Pre-Windows PC era.

The Atari era is mostly because the games are short and have very little replay value. It's a fun novelty especially when you see an angry nerd swearing at them on YouTube. But you'd get the gyst of the game after 30 seconds. Or are so confused that you don't know what to do without the manual... even then it's not that helpful.

Now for the Pre-Windows PC era, mostly DOS and Commodore. It's mostly because I don't have the right mindset to play them, and forcing myself to just makes me not want to hate them. Outside of Police Quest, Wolfenstein 3D, and F29 Retaliator (<- I can't believe this is on Steam) which I like because they are nostalgic to me, I wasn't able to get into Civiliation 1, Ultima, SimCity or other giants from the time.

Even though I grew up with 8/16bit I've never really had any nostalgia for it apart from a select few games.

Not so much as stopped feeling nostalgic for, but realizing that there weren't as many great games available as I thought that haven't had better successors or remakes. And for Nintendo consoles, non-Nintendo games that stand the test of time are difficult to find outside of a few franchises that usually have more modern versions on Switch.

We are just spoiled for choice these days when it comes to games, especially with indie games. And indies these days often have better UX than most mainstream games back then.

Growing up I skipped the PS1/Saturn/N64 generation so I've never had nostalgia for that super early low poly 3D era

Most of them, honestly.

When you look back, it was cool what they were doing at the time, but progress is such that all newer games have iterated on those groundbreaking formulas and improved upon them, making the older games seem less spectacular than they were at launch. I have fond memories of playing PS2, N64 and Dreamcast, but when I go back to play some of those games I enjoyed as a kid, I find that there's always something super sub-optimal like the controls or some arcane mechanic that doesn't make much sense. I find this to be the consistent issue going back to PS2 era and earlier.

I think the PS3/360 era is the one I have the most nostalgia for all things considered. There were a lot of stellar RPGs like KOTOR and Mass Effect that generation. Stuff like Red Dead Redemption was coming out. Control schemes finally became generally standardized and understandable. Tutorials, saves and decent graphics were really finally all combined properly for the first time.

I find the same sort of issue with movies. When you go back passed the 80s, you start hitting pacing issues. Same with video games. When you go back passed the mid-2000s, you're going to run into early installment weirdness.

There was a time in my life when my friends and I played a whole lot of Halo, particularly Halo 2 and 3. I never played online but we would have essentially LAN parties where multiple people lugged over their TVs and consoles and play for hours. It was a blast. In college Halo was the de facto way to spend Friday night if nothing else was going on.

Strangely enough though I feel no desire to go back to that.

I certainly feel like people tend to be more nostalgic of the 16 bit era than the 8 bit.