In a world dominated by hyper-realistic 4K graphics and sprawling open worlds, it may seem surprising that 8-bit adventures and early PC and console games are making a comeback. Retro gaming is booming – both as a nostalgic hobby and as a serious cultural phenomenon. From cartridge collectors to indie developers reimagining the classics, vintage titles are resonating with a new generation.
Epyx isn’t just along for the ride, we’ve curated and revived our entire library of intellectual property. Of the roughly 150 titles that we worked on, we’re able to license (or re-license) 80 of our original titles. We’ve retired around 30 titles, mostly because the technology has moved so far past what those titles were able to do (our Designer series, for example), and we’ve flagged 40 titles as intellectual property that belongs to a third party. We’ve listed the current owner of the IP if you want to pursue licensing with them.
🚀 What’s Driving the Retro Revival?
1. A Nostalgia Renaissance:
Studies show that nostalgia can boost positive emotions and reduce stress1 – something a lot of us rediscovered (and needed) during the pandemic. Retro titles from the C64, Apple II, and Atari 8-bit computers reconnect players with joy, simplicity, and wonder. I personally have so many incredible and fond memories of my C64 and remember how conflicted and sad I felt when I sold it after going off to college (I’ve bought another one since). For many of us, retro games are a direct portal to simpler times—when social media literally meant sharing your floppy disks with your friends.
2. Less Really Was More:
For many of us growing up with just a few toys, each and every one of those toys meant something. Software titles used to take up a just a single display in Toys ‘R Us. If you were lucky enough to live in a city with an actual software store, you could discover almost every single title available for your platform at the time. Games were made to be played over and over again, and you relished reading the manuals to make sure you could fully embrace the title. Speech synthesis on computers was in its absolute infancy, so “Another visitor…Stay a while…Stay Forever!” was a mind-boggling thing to hear coming out of your computer (and expensive to produce). It’s become an iconic expression and made Impossible Mission one of the most amazing titles of its time.
Unlike today’s titles with steep learning curves and 14-button gamepad controllers, retro titles used a single-button joystick with intuitive mechanics and pure addictive gameplay. They were designed to be easy to pick up and hard to put down. And as an aside, computer memory in the early 1980s was over 8 million times more expensive2 per byte than it is today. So every bit and every byte mattered.
3. Elegant Game Design:
Games like Jumpman, Summer Games, and Impossible Mission delivered astonishing gameplay using minimal resources. The game mechanics were incredible, with tight loops, fast restarts (after a long time loading — we don’t miss that), and immediate feedback. Game designers were limited technically, so crisp and imaginative gameplay was their primary focus.3 Chuck Sommerville told us some of his techniques involved changing the assembly code instructions in memory while the game was running just to conserve resources and deliver the best gaming experience possible.
4. Physical Media Matters:
Retro enthusiasts today can buy new cartridges for their gaming consoles. You can buy a new Atari 2600 PCB board and 3D print the case yourself. We have new potential licensees coming to use asking to build new Lynx versions of our old titles that they would manufacture and distribute. Our old manuals were considered by many to be absolute treasures..blurring the line between software and storytelling. While modern gaming is largely digital, many retro fans prefer cartridges, discs, and original packaging. Owning the real thing means something—whether you’re playing or proudly displaying it.
👾 Our New Style is Retro-Style
We love our original titles in all of their original glory, but there are also some things we love about modern devices, not the least of which is the resolution, color depth, networking capabilities, and of course so much more memory. So we’re looking for licensees to just not port the old games, but to revive them with greater color depth, higher resolution (still pixelated and retro-style, better sound, and a few other modern conveniences like saving progress. Think games like Shovel Knight, Octopath Traveler II, and others.
🕹️ What You’ll Find on Our Website
At epyxgames.com, we’ve curated our own massive library of titles for licensing, and will soon be rolling out merchandise where you can buy titles, accessories, and apparel.
- “Nostalgia increases optimism, social connectedness, and meaning in life.”
— Wulf, A., et al. (2020), Frontiers in Psychology.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01507 ↩︎ - In 1982, my VIC-20 16K expansion cartridge cost $100. Adjusted for inflation that’s $336 today. At the crucial.com web site you can by DDR5-6000 128GB Gaming kit for $274, $295, or $468 – average is $345, but you can go even cheaper. 128GB 134,217,728 KiB /16 Kib = 8,388,608. ↩︎
- “Designers working within technical limitations made gameplay their primary focus. That’s why many older titles still feel tight and responsive today.”
— Wired, “Why Retro Games Still Matter” (2021)
https://www.wired.com/story/retro-games-still-matter ↩︎