The 2020 Pandemic has changed the lives of so many people. Being quarantined at home for long periods of time has created the need for people to be immersed in something. Whether watching a movie, working at home or reading a book, one has to pass the time. Playing video and computer games has become one of the most popular activities during this Pandemic with the Millennial generation probably the most affected by it. These are people in their late 20's to their 30's who are working adults and now have time on their hands. Playing with the computer online as well as with the latest consoles has been on the rise. However, many who intend to acquire the latest consoles or VR devices find out that stocks have become low and prices high. To this, Millennials have to seek alternatives for gaming devices whether for themselves or their kids.

This is one way of how the current Millennial generation discovers retro-gaming. Retro games are simply old games created from the late 1970's to the early 2000's. Because of the current lack of the newer game devices, many turn to the old refurbished ones, discover the great games of yesterday and start to have fun playing them. Old refurbished gaming consoles to the old-new and un-used working ones (which have been stored through the years) have started to be in demand as more and more people are starting to play old games. Others on the other hand learn of retro-gaming from their elders. Whether from a relative, a family member or an older friend the introduction to the games they played may eventually lead one into acquiring these old gaming devices and playing them.

There are collectors as well who have been collecting games, consoles and computers through the years. Many Internet media content creators are part of these group of people. A Millennial who is an avid retro-gamer can be a big influence to other Millennials as well. Playing old games is fun and addicting as the games of the past (like Donkey Kong) where specifically designed to hook a player into a repetitive challenging activity or loop. Many of current retro-gaming enthusiast had missed out on many of these old games that getting a chance to play them at this current point in time is just too much to resist.

Older generations like Boomers and Gen X usually play retro-games for nostalgic reasons as they where mostly around when the Nintendo Family Computer made it’s debut and have passed through the generations of console and PC games through the years. However, many of the older Millennials have also experienced the later generations (late 1980's and beyond) of gaming so nostalgia plays a role for them as well. Regardless of which generation one belongs to, re-discovering retro-games opens up a very huge resource of gaming possibilities. Retro-Games play differently from today’s games and are stored and accessed differently as well. Console games are based according to the console brand they where made for. Games where ported for various consoles but one would need a specific storage (like a cartridge) for a particular console. A cartridge for the Super NES will not work for a SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive even if the games are the same. Many retro-gamers adhere to this rule thus creating the market for the refurbished consoles, their peripherals and their games.

Fortunately today, retro-game Millennials have devices available for use which will give access to the old games. One of this is the Flash Drive Cartridge Adapter. There are adapters available for many of the old consoles so say one has a Super Nintendo, a Flash Drive Cartridge will enable the user to play SNES games stored in flash drives which are simply inserted into the adapter.

Another innovation is the Retro-Game Emulator Console. There are different brands of these but they all act as emulators that can run old games written for various consoles. If one has a cartridge for the SEGA Genesis and another for the Neo Geo, a compatible emulator console would be able to run the games.

Consoles and retro-games are continually available from certain stores that cater to these although the prices are much higher nowadays pandemic and all. However, acquiring a particular retro-console and the games that go with it may be quite a hassle for many so the alternative of simply using one's PC running an emulator to play the old console games has become popular too. Others have been ported and brought up to date for the current PC operating systems so simply downloading them for the PC would do.

The WWW has become a good source of retro-games too. There are old Adventure, RTTS, Shooters and even Arcade Games that today, run off the web. One can simply play them with a browser. Also, there are sites that still either store or sell retro-games as you can find old classics like Maniac Mansion and other similar games on Steam. The old puzzle solving adventure games have always been a great way to get immersed and have fun with PC gaming.

So, whichever way one gets to acquire and play an old game, the important thing is that one should be having fun and finally saying it was worth it. The Millennial generation has a vast array of computing and gaming resources currently at hand and all one has to do is to find the specific old game to re-discover, play and make one smile.