You know, retro is such a let-down, IMO. You always expect to relive the past and to feel the way you did when you played the game, or saw the film, or did the thing you did to look back and think, “aah, Retro.” It never quite lives up to the memories. Now why is that? Is it because things are so much better the first time around, or is it because over time the memories get elevated to a higher status inside our heads? I think it’s probably a combination of all those things. For instance:

Who had a Rubik’s Cube? And also who was no good at it? (probably a very similar amount of hands to the first question.) And who knew a kid who could solve the damn thing in 10 seconds? Your mum always knew somebody else, who had a son that could do these damn things..! Didn’t you hate him? Didn’t you wish he couldn’t do the Rubik’s Cube? Well if you want to relive that past moment you can do it online (without the peelable stickers) at www.rubiks.com/cube_online.html if you don’t (which is equally understandable) you probabaly want the crappy past to stay where it is..

Now hopefully this won’t cause too much a trauma.. Who also remembers etchasketch? The pictures of etchasketch art that were showed on the box were truly impossible to create. Yet still you wished and wondered over the beautiful complexities of it all… How many people had one of these? (not many) and were you envious of their skills (not at all.) Now the real problem I seem to remember about this game was remembering which way to turn the knobs. It always seemed to be the wrong damn way! Well now you can resolve that with a simple control system of cursors for the online system. You can too can feel like a angular adonis here although, again, who really wants to be that sad?

As a round-up you can also play spirograph which loses so much online it’s unreal. I mean the whole fun with this game was the pens (that were always without ink) the stupid bent pins that would either not stick in the paper, or WOULD stick in your finger, and the cogs that never meched and always ruined the picture you were trying so hard not to screw up! What is the point in trying to create something digitally when the whole point with all of these games was the tactile nature of them??

So the fact remains that retro is crap. Things of yesteryear were great because everything you remembered before them was rubbish, which automatically makes them better. If we look at things we hold dear, they are now rubbish because they are not new now. So enjoy retro, but don’t expect the same feelings. Stuff changes, and if you’re too wrapped up in what was you’ll miss what is!