Gaming

I just got back from an arcade bar, where I played a bunch of retro games like Frogger, Q-Bert, Tetris, Street Fighter II, you get the vibe.

It's so fascinating playing these old cornerstones of the gaming industry and thinking of how much video games have morphed over their history. The first thing that comes to mind is how the way we think of gameplay has completely changed; these old arcade cabinets have very simple but entirely unforgiving mechanics, whereas nowadays I feel like I need two tutorials and a read-through of a manual before I can approach a game, but once you get the hang of a game's particularities stuff gets easier in a way?

Like, the premise of Frogger is exceedingly simple; cross the street without getting killed. The challenge comes from the mechanics. Stuff gets faster, things are more hectic, you have less time to calculate your next move.

Whereas modern game mechanics are kinda smoothed out. There are less pixel-perfect maneuvers and places where timing is important, there's a bigger emphasis on exploration, figuring things out, interacting with the game world. Like just think of the differences between the original Super Mario Bros' gameplay and say Super Mario Odyssey. I'm not saying one style is better than the other, I definitely enjoy both retro and modern games, but the different priorities as preferences and technology evolved over time are immensely fascinating to me.