Along comes the product of hardware with more power and media with more data storage capabilities: the anthology game. All of a sudden we have discs with numerous old-school games on it, offering gamers an opportunity to replay their favorite games from yesteryear on one machine with one piece of software. And because of that, younger gamers can experience classics that were once thought to be nothing more than memory.

But what is the appeal of retro gaming? Why do these old games stay around long after their heyday? The Rolling Stone recently published an article discussing the sudden popularity of classic rock amongst teens. Kids that shop at Hot Topic and wear Vans are just as much into The Doors and Pink Floyd as they are into Hawthorne Heights and Fall Out Boy. The point of the article was simple: these bands are popular amongst people whose parents grew up with them because good music is good music. The same could be said for gaming. While gamers have been spoiled by the technological splendor of games such as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Far Cry, no matter how you slice it Robotron is still a great game, even when put up against these modern-day marvels.

But what makes retro and old-school games so great, even in this day and age of photo-realistic graphics and the famous “go anywhere, do anything” freeform style of game play?

Retro games are great now—and were great when they were the current titles—because they are simple to learn and they require more skill and discipline in many ways than many contemporary games. And due to technological limitations of the times, the developers of these games were forced to focus on game play as opposed to aesthetics. This combination of characteristics is what made the games classics to begin with, and these qualities are what will have gamers playing them well into the future.

Contemporary games allow the gamer a great deal of freedom in how they play. For example, in Metal Gear Solid 3 the gamer can just as easily blast through the game as if playing Halo 2 as they can hide in the shadows and either avoid their enemies or strike them down in silence. Both games require two different sets of skills and more than likely many gamers combine the two styles into one. Morrowind and its sequel Oblivion are pure freeform single-player role-playing games. You can go through the game at your own pace, either adhering to the main storyline or forgoing it for a completely non-linear experience.

But however great these games may be, they are complex to an almost scientific degree. Metal Gear Solid 3 has controls that require a great amount of time to master, and mastering those controls is necessary to truly enjoy the game. Morrowind and Oblivion—while touted by some reviewers as the best game for gamers with a busy schedule because of it’s do-as-you-please-when-you-please style—is very demanding on the gamer. They both require knowing names of settings within the game, exploring a massive game world, remembering conversations and details; a gamer playing either of these games better have either a great memory or a handy notebook.

Placing these games up against the original Gauntlet or the game that many of us identify with the beginning of our gaming careers, Super Mario Bros., might seem like a one-sided battle. How can these dinosaurs compete with quite possibly two of the greatest games ever made? And the answer is that these two games offer simplicity and ease of game play with an extremely shallow learning curve, something that the contemporary games are lacking. After about five minutes with either game you already have the basics down. A five-year old can play them just as easily as a twenty-year old can. And what’s more, a gamer can keep playing them. They don’t require a high level of stamina and is less taxing on the player mentally, allowing for truly marathon-length gaming sessions. After playing Gauntlet for three hours, you feel like you’ve spent three hours playing a good game. After playing Morrowind for three hours, you feel mentally exhausted.

Of course, the simplicity of old-school games imply that they themselves are easy, that because gamers of various skill levels can play them then they must be push-over games. This is a misapprehension; in fact, sometimes the technological complexity of a contemporary game actually makes it easier.

For example, nearly all contemporary games are three-dimensional. The player-character can move in all directions. This allows for great freedom in avoiding the attacks of hostile non player-characters, or in solving puzzles. While that freedom allows for developers to exercise greater creativity, it also allows for the gamer to become adept at a game by mastering a set of skills that may be larger but require less precise timing and instantaneous reaction.

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