FEATURE: Retro Gaming Making A Comeback

Honestly, I don't think the popularity of retro games has really ever declined, what with people actively going out of their way to create emulators, modded retro consoles, and ROM files - however, as "hollywood" budgeted games are being released more frequently, sometimes it's possible to dismiss the games that started it all.

However, even with games such as Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty: Ghosts, there still seems to be a generally large market for retro gaming, especially when it comes to the remastering or creating a completely new game using the ideologies of retro games.

Examples of this include:

• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episodes 1 and 2
• Megaman 9 and 10
• Duck Tales: Remastered
• Double Dragon Neon
• Castle of Illusion - Starring Mickey Mouse HD
• Street Fighter X Megaman
• Sonic Generations

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I reminds me of
the old days playing MegaDrive, but with a modern twist.

I put Sonic Generations on there because whilst it still contains elements from the more recent Sonic games, it still has a lot of content that relates to the original games, which to me is something Sega should have done years and years ago before Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). I'm still waiting for Sonic Generations 2, Sega!

Games such as Duck Tales: Remastered and Castle of Illusion HD were a huge success, this is probably due to the older generation of gamers who remember playing the original versions who wanted to enjoy those games again, or it could have been that these games simply appealed to gamers in general.

With Duck Tales Remastered and Castle of Illusion HD, I'm sure Disney
will be bringing more games back to life in the future.

There are so many reasons but the success of games like these definitely reminds me that retro gaming is making a comeback and I'm sure they'll be many more remastered incarnations of our favourite childhood games, or even completely new games all together.

Let's not forget freeware gaming - Freeware Remakes specialise in creating new content that follows in the footsteps of true retro gaming.

As I see it, all of these games are completely free to download, however you can purchase the games in bundles to simply keep the website going but that's up to the consumer - my point is, people are willing to spend their own time creating retro-style games to distribute freely, which reinforces the fact that people are still heavily into the retro gaming scene, and I personally hope this will go on for a long time to come.

Above is a screenshot of 7th Swarming of the Machines, which
 can be downloaded for free at the Freeware Remakes website, this is
 just one example of what's available.

Will we see a remastered version of Super Mario Bros or Ninja Gaiden?, there are plenty of retro games I'm sure people would love to play again, whether it be if they're remastered or completely remade whilst maintaining that retro feel.

What games would you like to see again? Leave your comments below. Feature1