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Retro Gaming Youtubers...Good or Bad for the Hobby?


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Graphics Team · Posted

Retro Gaming YouTubers were a big part of what got me into the hobby, and they helped build my knowledge-base for classic gaming as a whole. I could spend an eternity watching YouTube, and my viewing habits are almost entirely skateboard videos and retro-game related stuff. 

There's definitely a lot of mediocre classic-game content on YouTube, but I think that retro-gaming YouTube channels are a net positive overall. 

I also want to start my own retro-game channel in the near future, so that's pretty telling of my opinions here haha.

-CasualCart

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Definitely bad.  Not only is it driving up the prices like crazy, but all the "hidden gems" that these guys magically discover are pretty much already known to us long time gamers and often we've been talking about them for years...it's just no one would listen.  I get that people mostly watch videos these days, but personally I hate it.  I prefer to read my articles...and forum responses, and so on.  I also prefer guides and faqs to video walkthroughs that can much more easily spoil a game. 

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Homebrew Team · Posted
1 minute ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Talked with the dude a ton on the SNES reddit where we were both mods.  Definitely the one person (outside of myself) who seems to actually know the SNES library inside and out.

You should join his Discord channel if you are not already on it.

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2 hours ago, CasualCart said:

I also want to start my own retro-game channel in the near future, so that's pretty telling of my opinions here haha.

-CasualCart

Nice. If you bring something new and unique to the table, even better. It's a crowded place but eventually you will gain an audience and will start to grow.

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Events Team · Posted
1 hour ago, ChickenTendas said:

Was this Nintendrew? I remember seeing him do this about a year or so ago.

As others have stated I feel Youtubers are really good for the hobby. Although it causes price spikes I think well-done Youtube videos have the ability to give previously unloved games a second chance. If not for YT, games like Barbie: Groom and Glam pups and Earthbound would not be as popular and highly desirable as they are today.

And then you have people new to older stuff. They see a video spotlighting Super Mario Galaxy. They enjoy said video, they buy a copy, and they become lifelong collectors/retro gamers. Personally I got into retro gaming through loving modern games in longtime franchises and wanting to play earlier titles to see how the series has evolved over time (also farting around with emulators), and I'm sure a ton of people got into it with VC on the Wii, but there's no denying how big of an impact YT has had on the retro gaming space. 

I'd also like to bring up preservation. I think the retro game community as a whole has done a really good job with this through creating lists and documenting libraries of older systems, creating emulators for ease of access to every game imaginable, and of course uploading gameplay and longplays on Youtube. 

Finally at the end of this long-ass post I'd like to shout out @Tekdrudge who is now the master of creating great discussions

 

1 hour ago, maxlords said:

Definitely bad.  Not only is it driving up the prices like crazy, but all the "hidden gems" that these guys magically discover are pretty much already known to us long time gamers and often we've been talking about them for years...it's just no one would listen.  I get that people mostly watch videos these days, but personally I hate it.  I prefer to read my articles...and forum responses, and so on.  I also prefer guides and faqs to video walkthroughs that can much more easily spoil a game. 

It's interesting seeing the back-to-back contrast between these two posts.

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9 hours ago, ZeldaFreak said:

 

It's interesting seeing the back-to-back contrast between these two posts.

I don't know if it's an age thing or what, but I absolutely loathe YouTube.  I won't let my son use it except on rare occasions, and I try to avoid it as much as possible.

These days it has so much that other sources are actually atrophying though.  A couple of years ago, I met a couple of YouTube game hunting streamers while I was in a store.  I tried to talk to them about it but not only were they painfully arrogant, they also honestly didn't know squat about the hobby when I started chatting to them.  It was a pretty big turn off to the practice and the changes in the hobby in the last 5-10 years have only made it worse in my opinion.

 

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If we’re recommending channels, I’m also going to promote SNESDrunk and Gaming Historian. HappyConsoleGamer may not be everyone cup of tea on this forum, but he does have a retro past that he discusses often and I love his passion for what he’s talking about. 

Game Sack is good for general hardware and software overviews. Friday Night Arcade has good retro gaming footage and commentary. DefaultGen does great showcases/reviews of NES homebrew. 

Sega Lord X has fantastic Sega content covering all consoles and their arcade stuff.

There’s plenty more out there, but these are some I enjoy.

 

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I'd like to recommend Digital Foundry Retro. John Linneman puts together amazing videos. 

 

 

 

Also, Jeremy Parish has been going through chronologically doing retrospectives on various systems. He used to write for EGM among other mags.

 

 

 

These guys are professionals and really dig into the history of the games. Highly recommended.

Edited by RalliArtEvo
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59 minutes ago, RalliArtEvo said:

Also, Jeremy Parish has been going through chronologically doing retrospectives on various systems. He used to write for EGM among other mags.

I just started watching Jeremy Parish recently too. Great channel that really digs deep into the history of everything he discusses.

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21 hours ago, ZeldaFreak said:

It's interesting seeing the back-to-back contrast between these two posts.

I think it is great for discussion. I have talked to people on both sides. I'm more in the middle. Also the great thing about this, is no one is wrong on their opinion. I think people have made valid points on all sides.

Also, personally I like to hear opinions different than mine to get another perspective. I feel I learn more that way.

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Events Team · Posted
7 minutes ago, Tekdrudge said:

Also, personally I like to hear opinions different than mine to get another perspective. I feel I learn more that way.

Huge agreement with you on that. Having a conversation with someone who agrees with you always feels good, but having a conversation with someone that disagrees with you is a surefire way to learn something new, or, failing that, at least come to understand a different perspective than your own, which is always humbling.

The problem is that we as stupid apes can be very combative, so sometimes we have a hard time having respectful discussions with people who disagree with us, so a lot of the time it just turns in to a shouting match. I think that's what turns a lot of people away from enjoying the act of going out of their way to seek out and converse with people they disagree with, even though I think doing that is very good for your brain.

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1 minute ago, ChickenTendas said:

What about HappyConsoleGamer do people dislike? I don't really watch him but I've mainly heard good things.

I just meant people here may not be into his channel as much because he does talk a lot about modern games and does do “pickups” videos. Regardless I still enjoy his channel. 

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3 minutes ago, ChickenTendas said:

SNESDrunk and Gaming Historian have now been mentioned 4 or so times each lol 

What about HappyConsoleGamer do people dislike? I don't really watch him but I've mainly heard good things.

I liked him before but I unsubscribed when I realized he talks like Snagglepuss and I couldn't get the image out of my head. It totally ruined the channel for me...

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, ChickenTendas said:

There are tons of cartoon channels. There are tons of gaming channels. But I can't think of a single channel that combines both. That could totally work.

The Game Chasers have a few animated videos. They are very Adult Swim style cartoons. You kinda gotta know all of their stuff to get the inside jokes in the animated videos however.

 

 

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1 hour ago, DarkTone said:

Before I stopped watching game grumps, there was an episode where they tore apart AVGN rip offs. A majority of videos 📹 I've seen are how they described it and thats sad. 

There’s one episode of game grumps in particular where they really hammer AVGN in the head with his nerd persona.

Its the one where they play Mickey mousecapade for NES

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16 hours ago, ChickenTendas said:

Most likely an age difference. I've been watching Youtube videos for years now, and we actually use the platform in school a lot. Why exactly do you dislike Youtube? I get that those guys were jerks, but that doesn't say anything about the platform itself. Even if you aren't too big on the "collector" channels, there's still plenty of great retro gaming content out there. SNESDrunk does Super Nintendo and Genesis reviews and is pretty knowledgeable on both libraries, My Life in Gaming is mostly hardware-based reviews and history and their videos are really well filmed, The Retro Future is great for hardmodding systems both handheld and home console, Gaming Historian covers the history of games and systems, Summoning Salt breaks down speedruns and I've heard great things about Game Sack.

Basically my point is that there are plenty of really good channels on Youtube that contain well made and well researched videos. There's also loads of variety other than just your basic vlogs and pick up videos. If you really look you are practically guaranteed to find something you like, but if you simply choose to not watch YT I get that too.

I'm going to come off like a grumpy old man here but I'm being thorough.  I'm 42 and I've been in this hobby since I was 15, just for some perspective.  I've even had my own retro arcade at one point. 

I like to read reviews.  I read extremely fast and absorb information better that way.  In addition, I particularly dislike watching videos of people talking about games, listening for the few things I want to know for X minutes when I could have gotten that information in a few seconds from a written article.  I feel like it takes far too much time to watch videos.

In terms of retro reviews, honestly, I've played almost everything out there for every retro system I'm interested in, especially NES through to Dreamcast or so, and if there's something I want to see, I only want to see a few non-spoiler gameplay clips without someone yammering in the background. 

I can't think of a piece of older hardware that I either have already owned, currently own, or am not interested in because I'm familiar with it (like the Pico or original Odyssey for example).  I lived through a lot of the history too and mostly read about it as it happened, and I've read several of the main books on the subject.

As for speed runs?  No interest whatsoever.  I despise watching other people play games and find it one of the most boring things in the world, generally.  Occasionally it's neat to see someone play something like that in person.  I have a buddy that's pro level at shmups and I've watched him play.  I appreciate that other people are skilled but I play for personal enjoyment and entertainment.

For me, while gaming is a big part of my world, it's not something I have any use for watching videos about.  If I'm going to watch something, I'd rather it be a show or movie.  I do make exceptions for videos about installing or modding software and hardware, which can be useful.  But I rarely need them and would generally rather pay someone as my hardware electronics skills are negligible at best.  Software I can manage fine. 

Whew.

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, Tekdrudge said:

The Game Chasers have a few animated videos. They are very Adult Swim style cartoons. You kinda gotta know all of their stuff to get the inside jokes in the animated videos however.

 

 

Oddly enough, these are the guys I met at random in a local game store that I mentioned above.  I was very put off by them and thought they were ridiculous.

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