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Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming, is the hobby of playing and collecting older computer, video, and arcade games. These games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports on compilations. Participants in the hobby are known as retrogamers in the United Kingdom, and classic gamers, or old school gamers in the United States. Similarly, the games are known as retrogames, classic games, or old school games. Retrogaming is often linked to, although not the same as, indie gaming, the hobby of playing games that are not published by any conventional publisher.

The retrogaming hobby appears to have arisen from two sources. The first is that the current middle-aged generation was one of the first to experience computer games during their childhood or young adulthood, and thus those games have become a form of nostalgia for these individuals. It has also -- as with indie gaming -- been bolstered by a backlash against developments in the modern video game industry, where the rising cost of game development -- often as a result of the requirement to meet rising consumer expectations of graphics -- has led to extreme reluctance to publish original titles, a focus on design by committee, and a tilting of the primary focus of game design from game play engineering to graphic design.

Only in recent years has the hobby come to more public light, via the inclusion of "retro" (meaning "back") sections in many gaming magazines (such as GamesTM), the production of a retro-specific magazine (Retro Gamer), and regular retrogaming or retrogaming-based events (such as Back in Time, Retrovision, and the Classic Gaming Expo). Retrogaming has now even spawned Television shows such as the XLeague.tv series, Guru Larry's Retro Corner.

Retro gaming has also become a popular subject for videos on YouTube with such reviewers as "Armake21"[1] and "PlayItBogart"[2] featuring reviews of older (and often less reputable) games, as well as the ScrewAttack Show, The Angry Video Game Nerd which features on Gametrailers.com.

Most popular retro games are those produced around the 1980s, and include games for the Commodore 64, MSX, ZX81. ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Arcade games are also popular, especially early games by Konami, Sega, Atari, and Williams Electronics. Games in this era were frequently attributed to individual programmers, and many retro gamers seek out games by particular developers, such as Eugene Jarvis, Dave Theurer, Jeff Minter, Tony Crowther, and Andrew Braybrook. Some games are played on the original hardware; others are played through emulation, and in some cases entirely new versions of the games are written (so-called "retro remakes").

As well as playing games, a subculture of retro gaming has grown up around the music in retro games. Since older hardware did not have the facility to play music CDs or sampled music, the music in many retro games had to be synthesised on the fly by the game hardware; writing music for these platforms therefore became a hybrid of traditional music composition and programming. One of the most popular genres is SID music, music written to be synthesised by the Commodore 64. As with programming, attribution to individual composers is commonplace and more easily assigned; popular composers include Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway and Chris Huelsbeck.

Various compilations of retro games have been published for modern video game consoles in recent years. Examples include compilations of retro games by Sega, Taito, Midway, Capcom, and Namco. Retrogame compilations for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox usually feature 10 to 30 games each. In addition, "plug-and-play" units (simple systems that look like a game controller and feature built-in games) released in North America have featured retrogames by Electronic Arts, Sega, Atari, and several other game publishers. Moreover, illegal (unlicensed) "plug-and-play" systems featuring retro games for the NES have made their way to shops all over the world from China in recent years. [3] (See also: Power Player Super Joy III). The British based company Alten8 has in the recent past licensed nearly 600 retro games (such as the first ever isometric 3D game Ant Attack, and also what are recognized as the first ever commercial games by Scott Adams), and is now starting to release these on formats such as PC, GBA, and Wii, with legally licensed emulators for machines such as the Commodore 64 and Amiga computers.

Retrogaming attracts controversy on occasion, typically concerning emulation: many software developers claim that the software used within emulation is frequently illegally copied, and some companies (including Nintendo) have argued that if a person has a legal copy of a particular game, they cannot play it on an emulator because doing so creates a derivative work (i.e., effectively a version of the game for another machine) without permission. Some believe that these claims are simply attempts by currently existing game companies to obstruct retro gaming, so that they are not forced to compete against their own back catalogues. Many retro gamers ensure that any emulated games they use have been paid for and often support any efforts to sell retro games legitimately to interested buyers. Alternatively, many other retro gamers avoid this controversy by purchasing and playing the original cartridges and discs on the original systems. However, since the discontinuation of manufacture for older games, many retrogamers find themselves in a situation in which they have to use an emulator to play certain games.

• Abandonware
• Atari Flashback (plug-and-play system)
• C64 Direct-to-TV
• Capcom Classics Collection (compilation)
• Console emulator
• History of video games (8-bit era)
• History of video games (16-bit era)
• MAME (arcade emulation)
• Midway Arcade Treasures (compilation)
• Namco Museum (compilation)
• Gamer
• Wii virtual console

The external links in this article may not comply with Wikipedia's content policies. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.

• Atarimania A database for nearly all Atari games
• Vintage Computing and Gaming - Popular Retrogaming "Blogazine"
• RF Generation, Classic and Modern Video Games Database and Collection Tool
• Classic Gaming Expo, the world's largest classic gaming event
• Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard
• www.rgcd.co.uk A new discmag dedicated to retro gaming and new 8/16-bit releases
• The Classic Computing and Gaming Show, Yearly event held at the end of May in Cleveland, Ohio
• Racketboy Articles and forums that cover different aspects of a Retro Gaming lifestyle
• The Dot Eaters: Videogame History featuring a detailed history of video games
• Classic Video Games Nexus featuring a detailed history of video games
• The Vintage Gaming Network featuring news, information regarding classic video games