Some people like to decry nostalgia as pointless, but it is actually a normal emotion for people to feel. Looking back to the past with fondness and yearning is something that almost all of us do at one time or another.
Such feelings are one of the reasons for the appeal of all things retro, but not the only reason. Many of those who love watching old movies or reading books from the past genuinely consider them to be superior.
One industry where you would not expect to find retro fever, though, is the gaming sector. Surely this technology-fuelled form of entertainment is all about the shiny and new?
Well, there is no question that cutting-edge games and gaming devices are a billion-dollar industry. But at the same time, retro games are now so in demand that entire sites are being created to archive them.
This article will look at how and why that is being done.
The Importance of Preservation
Notions of preserving and archiving old video games might seem odd to some people, but they should not. We do this for movies, television shows, and books – and games are cultural artifacts just as they are.
Looking at the games of the past has the same capacity to teach us about the time in which they were made. It is not just historical analysis, though – some of them hold up as entertainment, while others inspire the developers of today.
We only have to look to the world of online slots for evidence of that. The original Tomb Raider game came out in 1996 before inspiring a slot of the same name eight years later. Anyone who checks out online slots nz in 2025 will find lots of other games that are based on past classics, too.
The biggest argument in favor of game preservation, though, is that it is badly needed. Research into the subject makes grim reading for gaming fans.
According to a study conducted by the Video Game History Foundation, around 87% of titles from the past are in serious danger of being lost forever. If that transpired, it would be a cultural disaster on the scale of the infamous silent film losses.
Game preservation is really vital, then, but how are people going about the work?
How Retro Games are Being Preserved
The high-tech world of 2025 offers plenty of options in terms of accessing games. People can buy hardware like consoles or sign up for online subscription services.
The idea that a majority of games would be inaccessible seems strange, but that is the way it is. This mostly applies to ones that were made earlier than 2010.
It is those titles that preservationists are focused on. They have a number of methods for keeping the titles in existence and safely archived.
-
Console Alterations
One of them is to modify current gaming consoles so that older games can be played on them. Examples of that are the classic Atari 2600 titles that are now being reissued for the company’s modern consoles.
This has started to happen since Atari bought the games studio called Digital Eclipse. They are dedicated to making retro games playable on modern consoles and will now have Atari’s money behind them.
There are other examples, and it could be an important preservation move.
-
Preservation Programs
Another strategy that is being pursued is the creation of game preservation programs. The most notable of them has been set up by the GOG PC gaming platform.
All games that come under its auspices will be preserved, with GOG shouldering the costs of doing that. The program has committed to making sure that retro titles are playable not just on contemporary devices and systems but also on those of the future.
-
A Physical And Digital Museum
A museum for memorable video games from the past now exists – both in the real world and online. It is the brainchild of the Video Game History Foundation, which does the hard work of preservation as well as research.
The online version contains over 30,000 files, all of which come from the physical archive. They include deleted games, promo materials, gaming magazines, and artwork.
This is something interesting people can access if they wish.
-
Fan Preservation Work
Some valuable preservation efforts are by individual fans. One person saved the mobile game Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia.
The game was deleted, but this fan recorded and uploaded it to YouTube, one scene at a time. It took three years of focused work.
The job of ensuring that old games do not vanish is a vital one. They are pieces of history, but they can also still be fun to play.
