Retro consoles and games have been given a second life, as companies and gamers crave for simplicity and nostalgia.

Just outside Croydon’s Whitgift Centre lays a gamer’s paradise. Playnation Games, a video game store that has been in business for over two decades, is filled with everything a gamer could ask for.

Crane machines filled with plushies for anyone to try to win, glass cases displaying old video game consoles, anime statues and tech, and tables in the back for people to engage in card games and Magic: The Gathering battles. The store has racks and racks of several different types of games, ranging from PlayStation games to Nintendo games to X-Box icons. The bright orange walls are decorated with anime and game posters. Playnation Games even has a door that opens to the neighbouring business, Heart of Gaming, an arcade filled with retro, arcade family fun.

Owner Dan Grossett, 43, was putting away Pokémon cards into clear sleeves, and his endless love for retro gaming was evident on his person, with his SEGA lanyard around his neck and many pins adorning it.

He explains that he keeps retro games close to his heart and seems to prefer the old school way of gaming rather than today’s play style. “Sometimes, people just really like old games. Like, for me, I love Tetris. I keep a Game Boy in my car. I like the simplicity of it. It’s less complex than the modern stuff. For example, I pick up the controller for Modern Warfare or Call of Duty and I’m wondering, ‘Why are there 800 buttons?’ Whereas Halo, I walk forward, I shoot, I punch a guy and throw a grenade. That’s the whole thing for me.

“I think it’s the lack of complexity or relative complexity tied with the memory and nostalgia that makes retro gaming so fun.”

As technology has been rapidly developing, the gaming industry has also been changing exponentially as the years have passed. With new releases, like the PlayStation 5 (PS5), Splatoons, GTA 6 and more, it seems like there is an infinite stream of new games and latest add-ons for people to explore, play and enjoy.

But, like Dan, not everyone is grabbing the hottest games. For the past five years, retro gaming has made its return into the gaming sphere, with many classic vintage games resurfacing after their fall into obscurity decades ago.

Retro gaming popularity has made such a welcomed return, it has even caused companies like Analogue and ModRetro to make their very own revamped version of retro consoles during this high. Palmer Luckey, billionaire, CEO of defence technology company Anduril, and founder of ModRetro, believes that ‘The Future is Retro’ and released a modernised Nintendo console that will allow nostalgia filled gamers to replay their favourite old games.

Retro games, especially made by companies such as Nintendo, have made a huge impact on gaming and its landscape, selling millions of iconic consoles and games before going out of production. Systems such as the Game Boy Advance has sold more than 81 million hardware copies in its lifetime, and sold a staggering 377 million software copies. Other consoles like the Nintendo 3DS, NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and the Nintendo 64 (N64) have also experienced major success in the gaming market during their prime.

However, their influence did not stop there. According to IconEra, an online video game discussion forum, “3.825 million units” of retro handhelds were sold “from 2020-2024,” and the retro gaming console market reached “$3.8 billion in 2025 and is on pace to hit $4.18 billion by the end of 2026.”

Dr Paolo Ruffino, Senior Lecturer in Digital Curation and Computational Creativity at King’s College, believes that retro gaming has cemented itself back into the gaming industry and is here to stay. “Retro gaming has been around for a long time,” he says, “It looks less like a fad and more like a stable niche-to-mainstream market. It’s sustained by hardware makers, active preservation/emulation communities, conventions and continued reissues from Nintendo, SEGA, etc. It’s unlikely to overtake modern gaming, but it has become a durable parallel market rather than a passing trend.”

Dan says that the biggest reason that retro games have made such a big comeback is due to nostalgia. “You play a game, get a couple of your friends over and it feels like you’re back when you were a kid. You’re having a good time and the worries are gone, even if it’s just for a moment. It takes you back to a simpler time where you didn’t have to worry about anything.”

Alan Zucconi, Senior Lecturer of Computer Games Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London, shares the same sentiment. “A massive force that drives retro gaming is nostalgia. In my opinion, retro handhelds are not so much about playing those games specifically but rather, it’s about recreating those experiences which would otherwise be impossible on modern devices. Yes you can play Tamagotchi on your iPhone. No, it’s not the same experience as having an actual Tamagotchi attached to your keys.

“Many of us grew up playing certain games, listening to certain songs, and watching certain movies. It is only natural that as we grow old, we get more nostalgic when we look back on those times. I have very vivid memories of some of the first games I’ve played. It doesn’t matter if they were actually good or not; what matters is that those first experiences have an intensity that is hard to replicate once you’re older.

“It is never just about the CRT scan lines, or the sound of a cartridge slotting into a console, or the deformed textures of the first generation of consoles. But all together, they are the aesthetics that links players back to a nostalgic time where things were easier.

“People are naturally drawn to the games they played as kids, and this creates a massive market for retro console and vintage game paraphernalia.”

At Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, Four Quarters also follows the retro trail. The bar is covered with arcade-style games, and booths with ready-to-play SEGA and N64 consoles, offering a list of iconic games for customers to enjoy with their friends, such as Mortal Kombat 3, Smash Bros, Mario Kart 64 and more.

Manager Matt Field, 47, says that the nostalgia for retro gaming has caused a noticeable difference in game development. “The nostalgia’s always there for old games. I think one thing that’s interesting is the rise in casual games. A lot of those are vey much inspired by the retro games of the past and things that people like from retro gaming. Even though they now have all the modern-day polish and bells and whistles, casual games have themes that people can easily jump into and jump out of.

“There are a lot of games that have the aesthetic of older retro games, whereas the AAA titles (high profile games developed by large studios) don’t take much from the retro gaming market, at least at the moment.”

He says that retro gaming has always had its audience, even before its current boom in popularity. “I think it’s always been something that’s reasonably popular. With the rise of social media over the last 15 years, especially with YouTube and Twitch and things like that, there is definitely a market out there which caters to people interested in retro gaming in a way that didn’t exist prior to that.”

As new games develop, so has the complexity of playing. Controls have become more complicated, with specific button mashing to achieve a certain combo move and different games needing different ways to simply make your character jump, retro gaming is seen as casual, basic and easy to navigate, allowing gamers to play in a relaxed fashion.

Dan prefers the simplicity of older games and says that modern games are too complex for his taste. “Like, with the Call of Duty thing, I’m just getting old. I look at the controller in my hand that has 25 buttons, and I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’ For me personally, my controls are up, down, left, right, A, B, start and select. With some games, there’s just too much shit going on.”

Matt sees simplicity as a key part in retro gaming and says that casual gaming is the way to go. “The majority of retro games nowadays could be called casual gaming because you pick it up, play the game and you’re done.

“Casual games are easy. It’s not something that you need to spend months’ worth of your life on just to get good at the game. You can simply pick it up, play and have a good time!”

Fasce says that gamers should not be bombarded with a million and one things in a game. “Simplicity is one of the biggest things for gamers. I think the industry is wrong for trying to push and overload content onto people. I don’t think it’s what people actually want. They want meaningful experiences that are not necessarily big or that lasts forever.”

It is not only gamers that are cashing in on this new wave of gaming. For years, Palmer Luckey has been reconstructing old Nintendo consoles to fit a modern audience, giving retro entertainment systems a second life.

His first product, ModRetro Chromatic, a modified Game Boy recreation which released in June 2024, allows gamers to play physical, original Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges. The product “raised $19 million” that year, according to Observer.

According to ModRetro’s website, Palmer says that the ModRetro Chromatic is “put simply, my ultimate tribute to the beautiful form, technical excellence and cultural impact of the Nintendo Game Boy.”

With his love for Nintendo, he also created the M64, an open FPGA-based home console (a system that uses a Field Programmable Gate Array chip to re-create electronic circuits and logic of vintage hardware), which allows gamers to play their favourite games if they have the original, physical N64 cartridges.

Released on July 28 this year, the console aims to give players a satisfying experience, with zero latency and promises to provide modern gaming quality without losing the nostalgic elements of beloved vintage games.

Dr Ruffino thinks that Palmer Luckey’s multiple, and very different, companies makes the M64 project fascinating. “It creates an interesting overlap across retro gaming and the military-industrial apparatus. I can’t really comment on the product, although it looks like a promising and interesting innovation in the retro gaming scene.”

Other people do not think the same, however. Zucconi says that this console has very limited potential, but believes its creation comes from a “genuine passion” for gaming. “The M64 doesn’t have the same value as the original Nintendo 64 console, and like many other physical devices, its future is tied to the company that manufactures it. Nonetheless, it seems to be a project born out of genuine passion for retro gaming, which I sincerely appreciate. The main issue for me is that besides the controller and the custom device, it doesn’t add much more compared to what a traditional emulator can already do.”

Fasce dislikes the billionaire and believes that the console will not bring in any new retro gamers into this niche space. “I don’t particularly like him and I don’t like what he does because he is a very problematic person. There are other companies, for example Analogue, that are doing similar kinds of retro machines, and I prefer to look at those instead.

“I think the M64 is for people that are already interested in retro games. It’s a small market, but it’s a market of people that can spend money, and who will spend money on that kind of stuff.”

The Playnation Games owner also does not like Palmer Luckey for “obvious reasons”.

“I find the idea of a weapons manufacturer wanting to get into gaming a little distasteful. There will always be a person behind it who wants to use the considerable wealth of a company that produces weapons of war to do so, and I don’t agree with that.”

He says that it is up to the buyer to decide what they truly want, and is ultimately a debate of personal principles. “There are four different N64 remakes. They are pricey, pricier than Palmer Luckey’s one. But, I mean, hell, you can buy the N64 from me right now for 80 quid. That’s less than Palmer Luckey’s one.

“I don’t have a problem with the idea of somebody wanting to make a console to play older games. I think people making new consoles is great, cool, whatever, but as long as it is legal and all that. That’s the surface level, but below all that, it’s a whole political thing that I don’t want to get into. But really, it comes down to…is your wallet worth more than your morals?”

As the modern gaming industry continues to grow and change, frustrations have surged. With mandatory updates, constant patches, in-game microtransactions and payments, and useless add-ons being rolled out, gamers have become annoyed with the industry’s ‘quantity over quality’ approach and the extra, unnecessary steps that they have to endure to simply play the latest releases.

Dan has not seen frustrations about the modern gaming industry from other gamers, but he himself has experienced his fair share of disappointments and let downs.

“I remember when the movie Pixels came out. There was a huge jump in interest from young people for stuff like Pac Man. The real, real, retro stuff. But I can’t say that I’ve seen a huge amount of kids who says, ‘I’m frustrated with modern gaming’.

“However, what I personally find frustrating about modern gaming are things like online sales and stuff. GTA 6, for example, is not going to have a disc. Back then, you got the game, you got your PS2 and you’re having a great time and laughing. Nowadays, you can’t play a game without being online, which is crazy to me.

“You buy a game these days and the company will force a DLC (downloadable content) onto you. Stuff like that is too much, and I think that is something that other people and gamers don’t like as well.”

Dan admits that the time of wild experimenting in games and insane storylines has passed and will never happen again. “There was a definite era of ‘try anything’, I’d say between the NES to the PS3. There are games, like Tamagotchi, that you could never get on console these days. I think a lot of people look back on old eras of gaming as a place of wild introspection and experimentation.

“Also, there are just games that we don’t get these days anymore. You won’t get another Mario Paint. Nobody’s making another Mario Paint again, because why would they?”

Fasce echoes Dan’s thoughts, but can understand both sides of the coin and why the modern gaming industry does not want to take the plunge into creative uncertainty. “The industry is undergoing a massive crisis right now and remaking old games saves them from experimenting because they already know that that sort of formula is successful. That’s the bad part.”

For him, certain aspects of gaming that were prolific in retro games have faded. “There are thematics that are not explored anymore because they are probably deemed too risky or not interesting enough by industry standards. I think, genuinely, there are games that we don’t see any more but are still worth to be played because they are interesting.

“For the modern gaming industry, even if you make a moderate success, you don’t get the cost back and that’s a very big problem. So, I can understand about companies playing it as safe as possible, because it’s very hard to innovate right now for economic reasons.”

Dr Ruffino thinks that today’s age of gaming has become dangerous and complicated, steering people away from the latest releases. “Videogames are becoming quite complicated pieces of software. They are always getting updated, and they require players to be online for downloading, updating, and often for playing the game too. Many videogames nowadays adopt design strategies borrowed from gambling. Retro gaming just feels like the safer option.”

Sony recently announced that PlayStation will no longer produce discs for their games and will go completely digital from January 2028, abandoning any and all physical support. Fasce acknowledges the reasons behind this decision but does not stand by them.

“This is what is going to happen, unfortunately. This way, it costs less for gaming companies to produce their games, and they get more revenue because they don’t have to split the revenue with the shops that sells the physical copies,” he says, “It’s purely a question of money.

“The landscape of gaming is changing, and this is what we’re going to get. It’s really unfortunate because I would really love to still have physical support at hand.”

Without physical game copies, Fasce believes that a certain spark that has been in gaming for decades will permanently disappear. “I think it’s very appealing to have a thing, like a game, that is self-contained. You don’t need anything else. It’s the game, it’s how it works, and you play it. That’s it! People really like to have the feel of the cartridge and the feeling of the game belonging to them as if it’s their own, and so this decision is something that, because modern games will not offer anymore, a lot of people will now look to retro games for that as well.”

Four Quarters’ main focus has always been providing a social environment for people, and Matt believes that modern gaming does not have the same appeal as retro games for the bar. “This era of games is something that can be done socially in a bar,” he says, “But triple A games are not suitable in a space like this, because they need high-end PCs or the latest and expensive consoles. They’re not the type of system where you can sit down here with your friends and play.

“But with retro games, you can sit at the N64 booth with friends and socialise as you play, whereas, like Grand Theft Auto, it’s online. It’s not something you can play with people in person. That’s why consoles like the N64 are popular for a location like this one.”

Dan’s answer did not come immediately. He gave himself a few seconds to think about his answer, but ultimately, he says that his frustrations with the modern gaming industry grows larger than just the games themselves. He explains that “greed, and a lack of willingness to try new things or try unusual things” are major factors that have left a sour taste in his mouth. “Like I mentioned before with the DLC, picking bits out of games to sell them back to you, that kind of stuff is just sneaky.

“Games that make you pay a monthly fee to play their game when you can just play it offline is pointless. That kind of stuff for me is what frustrates me about the modern gaming industry.”