Gaming at 48
Every Friday night back in the day, my friends and I would have LAN parties. We’d fire up Aliens versus Predator and play until the sun came up. Then I’d drive home, get 40 winks, and start my day like nothing happened.
Now for the truth about gaming when you get older; and why gaming at 48 isn’t the same as it was at 21.
Now if it gets anywhere near 11 PM, even on a weekend, my body just shuts it down. CPAP machine, 5:30 AM wake-up hardwired into my brain, and zero chance of pushing through it. I’ll start dozing off in my chair whether I’m watching TV or mid-game. My body doesn’t care. It just says: you’re done.
Why Retro Games Actually Make Sense at This Age
Here’s the thing people get wrong about older gamers going back to classic titles. They assume it’s all nostalgia. And sure, nostalgia doesn’t hurt. But that’s not the main reason.
It’s the pick-up-and-play nature of the games.
When you’re juggling a job, a family, bills, responsibilities around the house… the list goes on forever. You don’t have two hours to commit to a gaming session. You have 20 minutes, maybe 30 if you’re lucky. Retro games were built for exactly that. My personal go-to when I need a quick hit? Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I can jump in and play all the way through Chemical Plant Zone in about 10 minutes. That’s it. Quick, satisfying, done.
Arcade games are perfect for this kind of experience, which is a huge part of why I’m so excited about the Neo Geo AES Plus. These are games designed around short, intense sessions. No cutscenes. No tutorials. No hand-holding. Just play. If you want the full breakdown on what it is and how to preorder, I’ve got a dedicated post on the AES Plus right here.
One thing I’ll throw in here: once you hit 40, eye strain becomes a real factor. I know some people get these experiences on smartphones, but if I’m going to put my glasses on and sit down with a game, it’s not going to be on a tiny screen with no real controls. I’m picking up something with a proper controller built in.
Losing My Outrun World Record
A few years ago, I was really good at Outrun on the Genesis. Like, really good. I played it so much that I’d literally dream about the controls at night. When to brake, when to hit the gas, when to coast through a turn, how to handle those blind hills where you can’t see traffic coming.
Outrun is a five-minute game. I would play it for hours, getting better and better, memorizing everything.
Eventually I got my world record. And a few months later, someone topped it. I stepped away for a couple years, came back, and found out something humbling: I couldn’t beat my old score. I couldn’t even get close to the range I used to consistently hit.
That was fine. I had a hell of a run being king of Outrun for a little while. But it was the first real sign that the reflexes weren’t what they used to be. If you want to know exactly how I got that record and what it took to master the game, I broke the whole thing down in this post.
Getting Bodied in Street Fighter 6
If Outrun was the first sign, Street Fighter 6 was the confirmation.
A couple years ago I was playing online and someone just absolutely dismantled me. Over and over. I kept rematching because that’s how you get better. Iron sharpens iron. But after a long string of losses, instead of “good game,” this guy told me I was free.
I had to look up what that meant.
When I had to Google the trash talk someone was using against me in a game I was playing, that was my sign. That game wasn’t made for me. I made my peace with Street Fighter 6 and moved on.
The lesson from that whole experience: we aren’t the target market for modern games anymore. And I think that explains a lot of the features in modern games that feel completely disconnected from people our age.
What Modern Gaming Gets Wrong (For Us, Anyway)
This isn’t an old man yelling at clouds situation. But there are some things about modern gaming that genuinely push older players toward classic titles, and I think it’s worth naming them:
Hand-holding and assisted completion. When I run into a puzzle, I want to solve it. I don’t want a hint after three failed attempts and I definitely don’t want the game to just move me past it. That’s a false sense of accomplishment. Games don’t need to be Ecco the Dolphin hard, but a well-designed puzzle should be appreciated and respected, not skipped.
Digital ownership that isn’t real ownership. Companies have a responsibility to their customers to keep games they sold digitally available indefinitely. The idea that something you bought can just disappear is genuinely troubling, and it’s one of the reasons physical media still matters.
Bricking systems over how you use hardware you own. Yes, there are exceptions. If you’re running hacks in an online multiplayer environment, that ruins it for everyone, and there are technical ways to address that (hash verification, etc.). But punishing paying customers for how they use their own hardware is a different thing entirely.
Live service games and subscriptions. I’ll just leave that there.
None of this is going to change anytime soon, because we’re not who these games are being made for. But it does keep pushing me back toward classic titles where none of this was present.
That said, I’m not writing off modern gaming completely. There are still games that get it right. Sonic Racing Crossworlds has DLC and I bought it anyway because the game is just that good. So it’s not a blanket rejection. It’s more about knowing what you’re signing up for and deciding if it’s worth it.
The Competitive Thing
I still play competitive games. I’ll throw down in Garou: Mark of the Wolves or Super Street Fighter 2 and I always try to win. But the way I relate to winning has changed.
I used to care about being the best. Now I care more about the experience itself. The sights and sounds of the game, the feel of the controller, even the hardware. Things that used to kind of annoy me have become endearing. The laser on the Dreamcast moving back and forth. The loud clack of the buttons on the Model 2 Lynx. The thunk of the power switch on the Super Famicom. The way the D-pad clicks on a Neo Geo CD gamepad.
All of that is part of it now. I’ve started to appreciate the whole thing rather than just the score at the end.
The Part Nobody Talks About: The Loneliness
Here’s something I don’t see discussed enough in retro gaming circles.
I’ve got my Neo Geo two-slot MVS cabinet in my house and nobody to play it with. My wife is into RPGs, so she has zero interest in the Neo Geo library. All of my closest friends live in other states. The ones who are local are deep in their own lives and responsibilities. We can play games online in various ways, but it’s not the same as standing side by side talking trash. That part is gone, at least for now.
I’m really looking forward to Southern Fried Gaming Expo in late July just to meet up with people and play arcade games again. It’s been too long.
It wasn’t always like this. Gaming used to pull people together in the real world.
The Couple at Electronics Boutique
When I worked at Electronics Boutique in the 90s (mall location, as most of them were), there was this couple who came in every single weekday. They walked the mall for exercise. They were around 70 years old.
We got to know them really well. The husband bought literally every PlayStation and Saturn game that came out every Tuesday. We kept a stack behind the counter for them because we knew they’d be in and they always got first dibs.
These weren’t gifts. These were for him and his wife. And they were serious about it. Resident Evil. Final Fantasy 7. Mega Man X4. Didn’t matter. They were encyclopedias of game knowledge. They played on their own terms and clearly didn’t care what anyone thought about it.
I think about them a lot. Their friends were probably playing bingo while they were keeping their minds sharp with real problem-solving. They were way ahead of their time
That’s the kind of gamer I want to be.
If any of this resonated with you, leave a comment. I know I’m not the only one with stories like these, and I’d genuinely love to hear yours.
If you want to get in on the Neo Geo AES Plus, the links below are affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra and helps keep this channel going.
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