I think nostalgia does a lot for those of us who were there. I don’t like some of the modern indies that build on the old games but I will admit they have some serious quality of life improvements.

Fast forwards, save states, extra details you’d normally find in a manual are in-game. Also, the controls are great. When I revisit some old games, I forget that we were really figuring out the best ways to use a controller and it was often very awkward.

The happy middle ground for me are when there are excellent ports of older titles like what M2 has done for a lot of games. Elevating the retro titles to modern platforms and adding enjoyable ergonomics.