Indeed; I’m still enjoying games from 1994. They haven’t stopped being fun simply because they’re old. They also represent a significant learning effort over the years. One of the things that makes a game enjoyable is having learned how to play it well. I’m not likely to make that kind of investment in too many more games in my life. I haven’t got that kind of free time. So for me as well, it’s not old games versus new, it’s old games or nothing.

The learning effort thing is a solid point. I think what I play most these days is Super Mario World romhacks. Obviously the level design and whatnot aren't the same as the original, but the controls and physics are and I learned those as a fairly young child in the 90s.

The reason I don't like most other platformers almost definitely isn't because they're actually inferior, it's just because I'm "calibrated" to SMW