Pokémon Go fever infected almost everyone in the summer of 2016, sending grown adults sprinting around the city to try to catch the Pokémon that brought them back to the days of their childhood. Several generations caught the Pokémon Go bug and the pop culture phenomenon spread like wildfire. The game proved an unbridled success, which gave game developers their own ideas. Instead of stoking up new content for fans to possibly be enraptured by, why not send everyone back down the memory lane of their own lives with a hit of nostalgia. Why not draw upon something that fans already know and love? Hence, retro gaming was born.
From the N64 and the original PlayStation, to the modern day classics that still churn out new releases – nothing is out of reach to be brought thoroughly into the modern day and slapped on the computer screen to be given a new lease of life. Game developers understand how important it is to keep things new and fresh, but also understand the pull of the past and how nostalgia is a powerful emotion in business development.
Modern online gaming, such as iGaming and online casinos allow the retro to collide with the modern day. From the old Andy Capp machines to the roulette wheel, the best online casino examples of retro gaming in the modern day have to be the online versions of the original slot machines. They are perhaps the best way to bring the nostalgia factor, but also for games developers to link up with new fans. IGaming is an extremely lucrative industry, raking in billions (£4.5b in the United Kingdom alone), so it’s no wonder that retro games are wanting a leg up to step into the modern day. It’s really win-win for both parties – with the cross-promotional platform allowing both sides to gain new fans and spread further the influence of the benefits they can offer.
Those who missed the release the first time around (due to not being born yet) are able to connect with something from the past, brought into the present. In the same way that kids playing Pokémon Go weren’t around for the 1995 original games, they have a second wind to experience the spectacle.
Even board games aren’t free from the resuscitating touch of online games developers. Words with Friends took off as a long-running game of Scrabble between friends – with the new feature of a dating style match system added! While Monopoly continues its reign as the leading board game giving people the ability to play Monopoly online with friends and strangers alike. Though there will likely be no board flipping, just angry tab closing for the losing party.
Although there is a fine line between bringing something back from the past to be further loved and enjoyed – and bringing something back that should have been left in the past. Luckily, games developers are able to judge the temperature and only push forward with the things from the past that we want to see in the future. Shell suits? They can stay in the arcade.
