When it comes to video games, most people consider the 16-bit era the "Golden Age" of video games. Classic Nintendo franchises such as Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Metroid etc. arguably reached their peak on the SNES while Sonic was doing his thing on Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis. Not to mention the Neo Geo and the TurboGrafx-16.

As we approach the end of the decade talk has already begun on next-gen consoles. Will Microsoft and Sony follow Nintendo's lead? Already we've seen them play catch-up with Project Natal and ball-on-a-stick respectively. Will Nintendo simply release Wii HD? Or will newcomer OnLive change gaming as we know it? Who knows? All we can do is speculate, but some things are certain. Namely, price. Gaming will continue to remain expensive and consumers will respond accordingly, opting for the cheaper alternative such as the Wii. Where am I going with this?

Well, I have a dream.

Wouldn't it be cool if one of the big three, say, Nintendo, turned back the clock and released a 8 or 16-bit console? It would be:

1. Affordable

   Cheap to produce, cheap to develop for and most importantly, cheap to buy.
   

2. Easy

   Developers are no doubt familiar with the existing technology, so surely devoloping games for it wouldn't prove to be that difficult, right? Perhaps they could even make it open platform and let us develop games?
   

3. Reliable

   How many of you have a working Nintendo 64? On the other hand, how many of you have sent in your 360 to be repaired? Since the introduction of the CD, it seems consoles have become less reliable.
   

Well it would be cool but I don't know it would be profitable with the average crowd valuing graphics so much. Plus who would take the plunge of actually making games?

" Well it would be cool but I don't know it would be profitable with the average crowd valuing graphics so much. Plus who would take the plunge of actually making games? "

I do miss cartridges every now and again.  Probably the best thing about them is that there never was a loading time.  But the one thing that I don't miss about them is having to blow into them and the NES to get it to play.  However this wasn't really a problem until the SNES was already released, but my SNES is still hooked up and playing just fine.

Wouldn't that be a step backward for gaming, though? A literal step backward? I'm an old school gamer (REALLY old school), but the thing I like about newer games is that they feel...new.

" Wouldn't that be a step backward for gaming, though? A literal step backward? I'm an old school gamer (REALLY old school), but the thing I like about newer games is that they feel...new. "

That would be fantastic. Too bad it'll never happen.

" @Video_Game_King said:

" Wouldn't that be a step backward for gaming, though? A literal step backward? I'm an old school gamer (REALLY old school), but the thing I like about newer games is that they feel...new. "

Not necessarily a step backward, but a sidestep. Say Nintendo did release said console, they could still support the Wii or whatever, but just have this on the side. And this console would be fueled mostly by old school nostalgia, for people like yourself. "