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Comment by madrox | Hacker News Reader

The turn of the century tech was an awkward phase I didn't ever think we'd look back on with nostalgia, but between this and the low-poly video games that have come back around like BattleBits I guess you can long for any time past if it is associated with a carefree time in your life.

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Another reason for the low-poly video games is that it enables small/indie developers to make a 3D game without worrying about the insane overhead of getting ahold of fancy-looking models that probably will look like garbage anyway if you don't animate them properly. A low poly model isn't gonna so easily stumble its way into the depths of the uncanny valley.

Also, they fix a lot of the issues that early game consoles had.

For example, affine texture mapping and the pixel popping that really gave the PSX its distinct flavor is completely gone from modern games that try to emulate it. Or the SNESes texture warping in mode 7. Or the N64s very monotonous textures (or essentially black and white video due to compression).

If a game really tried to replicate the PSX or N64, I don't think people would like the result. Modern sensibilities appreciate the idealized aesthetics, but not the rough edges.

> affine texture mapping and the pixel popping that really gave the PSX its distinct flavor is completely gone from modern games that try to emulate it

> […]

> If a game really tried to replicate the PSX or N64, I don't think people would like the result.

I have some terrible news for you my friend.

https://danielilett.com/2021-11-06-tut5-21-ps1-affine-textur...

PlayStation 1 Affine Texture Mapping in Shader Code

That's not bad news at all. I'm not surprised that someone reinvented it. In fact, I love it. I love "demakes", where someone tries to recreate a modern game on actual old hardware.

However, I stand by my assertion that people who didn't experience these effects first hand wouldn't like it.

Valheim is beautiful, no doubt, but it's not really authentically old school. It's an idealized throwback - its what 20 year olds think a PSX looked like. There's also zero chance it would look nearly as good if it had to run on actual PSX hardware.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/649039-whatever-you-now-fin...

And it makes it easier for the environment to be more interactive/destructible

What? Per WP, "All Nintendo DS models combined have sold 154.02 million units". No nostalgia for the best selling Nintendo system ever, the best selling handheld ever, and the second best selling console ever? PS2 only got to 155 million before Sony stopped with numbers. I get not liking it personally, yet it was one of the most successful videogame events ever.

I'm not convinced past popularity necessarily equates to nostalgia, but as this case demonstrates I may be wrong.

Depends on which generation you are. If you were in elementary school in the 80s or 90s like I presume most HN commentators have, the DS doesn't have much nostalgic value compared to someone who grew up in the 2000s or 2010s.

Can agree that opinions may vary. I was older than the target demographic in the 2010's, yet still bought one because of slightly younger friends. In airports it was great for layovers, because there would be 100's of travelers all doing the piece trading games. Occasionally amusing when a kid was like "Whoa, you're an old business traveler? Wanna trade?"

Cell phones were ok, yet far too many cell phone games are "artificial annoyance, pay us to make it go away."

Maybe I'm more committed to hobbies than some folks, yet once a video game player, always a video game player.

The tech was amazing relative to what the basic science of the time allowed.

I love modern phones, but I often wonder what we would have done back in the day with current silicon.

I loved how I could take out my DS at lunch in highschool and connect directly to another person across the room to play Mario Kart, no network required.

It's a shame "download play" went away with more modern consoles, the DS and the PSP both had a version of it, but the DS one was far more common.

I recently discovered that the switch has a feature to "Match Version with Local Users", if you want to play over p2p wifi, which syncs everybody's game to the latest version that's available in the group. Never used local multiplayer on a switch though, and I imagine it wouldn't play too nicely with pirated games. (though, I'm constantly surprised by what the NX homebrew community creates)

I’m older than you.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Du...

Maybe. I remember doing that too. I'd play Pokemon Red at the ice rink if I wasn't skating.

You can still do this on Switch, I played local Mario Kart co-op with my friend on a camping trip a couple years back.

Though there's no Download Play any more. Though I can't say I really miss it all that much. It was practically an upselling/demo feature. I recall playing Mario Kart DS local co-op, and if you didn't have the game you had to play as a Shy Guy. It's not really going to be a fun competition with friends if the host has an advantage.

I also recently had some pokemon link battles, trades, ane raids with friends without wifi. (It has a “connected to online services” and “disconnected” states, fun thing is that while disconnected the codes to join rooms (ie local) are 4 numbers instead of 6 alphanumerics)

Switch still allows local multiplayer if the games implement it.

Probably figured out a way to cram maximum telemetry/analytics/surveillance and make advertising pervasicenin those devices

I'm sure they would have, but they also might not have made them quite as locked down, and had some features we don't think to do now.

At the very least there might be less endless scrolling, which I think kind of is a major factor in culture.

I was absolutely blown away when I could take pictures on my 4s with amazing colour reproduction and no fringing artifacts compared to my Treo 650 (Black tie edition...).

Looking at old photos from my Treo immediately brings me back to the feeling of a headache you got from sitting in front of a CRT all day.

Between this and the resurgence of cassettes, I am baffled and am starting to feel I am turning into an old man who yells for people to get off my lawn.

> if it is associated with a carefree time in your life.

I think it’s a little bit deeper than that. For almost all of human history, culture was static throughout a person’s life except in rare and exceptional cases (such as being conquered). I don’t think we are wired for such rapid and constant cultural change.

> I guess you can long for any time past if it is associated with a carefree time in your life.

I have yet to see someone romanticize 90s dial-up loading times.

I don’t mean a simulation or reenacting, but a genuine “How I wish my Internet was as slow as in the 90s” sentiment.

Eh, I’ve thought a few times that if the internet were slower I might be on it less and if I were on it less I might be happier. Not only that but people wouldn’t expect instant replies 24/7, less anxiety about going out without a connected phone, less advertisements, less tracking. I could go on.

Fast broad band everywhere = eternal instant gratification and over connection.

There. Now you’ve seen everything.

Seems subtly different; you don’t want slow internet just for yourself; you want fast internet to not be an option, for anyone. But I’ll allow it, looks like you are romanticizing dial up anyway. Congrats?

> I have yet to see someone romanticize 90s dial-up loading times.

You can get them in DE. For some reason, Vodafone at least, jumped from Edge to 4G, skipping HSDPA. And because they have 99% coverage, in some regions you get Edge, in some, 4G.

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