Bring back childhood gaming!

I'm currently in a retro gaming phase. Every now and again I suddenly get this urge to break out the old games and revisit the old classics like Final Fantasy 7, Crash Bandicoot, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario World and far too many others to count.

But why is it I take these notions to play older games? Is it because I'm bored of the current games on offer in our current generation?

Far from it! I love how far games have come along, however I can't help but feel that as I've grown older gaming has become something of a norm for me. I'm not saying that I've outgrown or become bored with gaming nowadays. I just miss the days as a kid when I wasn't making my own money, when the only way of getting a game was from your parents as a Christmas or birthday present and getting and playing that game was the most exciting thing in the world. Sounds ridiculous I know, but I miss those days when getting a new game and playing that game was special. Instead I sort of feel it's become standard.

Of course, I wouldn't want to not be able to buy games on a regular occurrence nowadays! But playing the classics reminds me of how excited I was to get and play those games at the time. In ten years I might not be so excited to come back and play, say, Halo 4 because buying and playing it just felt standard. Don't get me wrong, the game is awesome, but it'll never compare to the day I got a psone and played crash bandicoot for the first time, or when I played Chrono Trigger for the SNES! Or when I sat down for weeks and played through Final Fantasy 7 or Metal Gear Solid! Those games may not be able to compare very well to the games of today, but if I had to choose what game I got most excited about, Donkey Kong Country for the SNES or Halo 4 for Xbox 360...well, here's my answer: