I used to do a lot of dev against the NES. 6502 for the NES was my first language, wrote my own assembler, built games, cartridges, etc. etc. Hell, I even have a PCB, minus the PRG and CHR ROMs, from an old Ice Hockey cartridge on my desk in front of me as I write this.

Never had an NES growing up, never played one until I got into NES dev. I was turned onto it by a classmate. We're both too young to have had the NES growing up, so we simply couldn't be a nostalgia play. There's a lot of folks who get into because it's surprisingly approachable, and scratches the itch of "make a game." TFA just had a bad quote...

Nostalgia doesn't have to be purely about one's childhood interests, although it frequently is. In your case, your interest still seems a product of nostalgia.

I don't really understand why people view interests based on nostalgia as a weakness. Being nostalgic doesn't have to mean that life isn't good or that things were better once upon a time.

Like what you like, do what you do, and enjoy what you enjoy without apology!

If we want to get pedantic; "Nostalgia: a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition", where there seems to be an emphasis on 'wistful', 'excessive' and 'irrecoverable' parts of the definition, which in turn can infer a negative connotation about it all.

However, I agree with you, trying to capture past enjoyments and in cases like this, continue to make new memories and fun times, go for it I say!

> Nostalgia: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.

Nothing about what I did, nor wrote was driven by a longing for the days of yore, mine or otherwise. I enjoyed learning to write software for the 6502, it was a simple instruction set, fairly clear, concise, and simple.

I haven't written 6502 in a number of years, and gave my NES collection to a friend last year. That I have an old PCB on my desk, yes, is nostalgia.

Sherry Turkle [1], a psychologist who wrote about humans and the interactions with computers, wrote about people who use computers as a way to satisfy a need for total control. This manifests itself in building/making or using a low level means to accomplish something that could have been done with a higher level or easier means. These users prefer the lower level means over the easier way because the latter would remove some control or transparency of operation from the person.

So, nostalgia is a big part of the NES appeal, but there may be other factors as well.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Turkle

"The NES Homebrew Scene Is Driven by Nostalgia"

Hey, why isn't anyone reading our article?

"You Won't Believe These NES Homebrew Games!"

"Crazy! The NES Homebrew Scene Thrives Like You Wouldn't Believe!"

"When You Read About These NEW Homebrew Games, You'll Never Game the Same Again!"

"I Played NEW Homebrew Games - What Happened Next Blew My Mind!"

Now they'll read it.