From bulky cartridges to thin Blue-ray discs, video games have evolved over the past 30 years. But despite the evolution of technology, I still believe retro games represent the true quality of video games.

Retro games and old games systems like the Sega Genesis were good because they focused on game play, not graphics. They weren’t 3D, they weren’t a book, they were just games you play for fun and no other reason. These were the good games and I like them better than any of the new, fancy versions.

I prefer old games like the original Megaman or Super Mario Bros. and Space Invaders or Pac-Man. These games were fun; they weren’t a playable art gallery like most new games. They focused on what made games, games.  When you play Monopoly or chess you didn’t care how the pieces or board looked, you played it because it was fun and that was because of the game play.

That is why I like old games over new. How did it happen that we went from games to interactive movies where you can press a button to move the game along? Games where the art of an individual object is more important than the level design. When game play is not the focus, but graphics are that’s when we have to say stop.

When I put that cartridge in the old NES and hear that classic 8-bit Mario music, it’s like jumping into a door to the past when jumping on Goombas was just jumping on Goombas, not jumping on Goombas that look nice. 

Not all new games are bad.  There are some exceptions, Minecraft for example goes for an 8-bit look over the cell-shaded, HD stuff we have now.

I believe that games should stop focusing on graphics and try to focus more on whether it’s fun or not. Until then, I’ll keep playing Megaman X, Sonic and Mario.