I wrote a feature for The Guardian about how companies like Limited Run Games and Strictly Limited Games are manufacturing new cartridges – and sometimes entirely new games – for old consoles like the Mega Drive and NES. I love this trend – long may it continue.

The article itself has been a long time in the making – I first thought about it way back in March, when I interviewed Garry Kitchen about the making of Bart Vs The Space Mutants. He proudly told me about the new game he’d just made for the Atari 2600, and that set me off on a quest to interview other people making new games for old consoles.

It was intriguing how Josh Fairhurst at Limited Run suggested that young folk were really interested in buying these old cartridges, in a similar way to how the younger generation is getting really into collecting vinyl. I wonder whether we’ll see a resurgence in interest in physical games media over the coming years? Maybe we’ll see publishers like Capcom reissuing old games on cartridge if there’s sufficient interest, just like old albums are being reissued on vinyl. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see retro game sections in supermarkets like Walmart…

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