I want remakes and remasters but also the originals and a little bit of backward compatibility

Go ahead and say that this article does not intend to get into the ridiculous console wars and these things that, unfortunately, we see every time Microsoft or Sony present news about Xbox Series X and PS5 respectively. But the fact that, at least initially, the latter will not have retro compatibility with pre-PS4 consoles, does make it a good time to talk about it.

And, to begin with, this is where I have to say that rumors do a lot of damage to this industry. The media is the first to publish them, it's true. But a lot of times that's what it is, regardless of whether we're comfortable with that. The problem is, it has to be our responsibility to filter out those that might be interesting from those that might not.

False expectations

And yet, if they do come out, it can be easy to fall into the trap of getting your hopes up or creating expectations that may actually be false. With the issue of backward compatibility and PS5, that's a little past. There was talk of patents allowing the console to be backward compatible with all previous systems. And while that would be one of that less damaging news because, in the end, the patent exists, we're back to the same thing: it creates unnecessary expectations. It would be time to talk about it if the patent actually went somewhere.

Having clarified this, which is important to also understand why the blow may be stronger later, I have to say that I am sorry to see that the path drawn by Xbox on the issue of backward compatibility is not being followed by other companies. Yes, that may have led to PS5 at least considering compatibility with PS4 games, but it's not enough. I also understand that we retro lovers are "much less", compared to those who can really give money to companies. And that's exactly why I think they haven't messed around with previous consoles so far. Anyway, the issue is much more worrying than that. And I'll explain below.

In the past, that lack of backward compatibility was made up for by the fact that a lot of remasters and classic games were arriving (for example, in the Store or in Nintendo's eShop, based on Virtual Console). And although it was misleading, because we had to pay once again for a game that many of us already owned, at least it was an interesting solution and one that I am very grateful for (playing on Vita or 3DS classic SNES or PSX games is priceless, for example). However, to this day they have forgotten about these releases.

We already saw how far the PS2 classics for PS4 went, and Nintendo only adds its retro games through the Nintendo Switch Online Subscription.

At least we have remakes

What am I getting at? Very simple: that "halfway" solution we had in the past, has been evolving for the worse. With game remasters from just an earlier generation (from PS3 or Xbox360 to PS4 and Xbox One there are a lot), but paying again. And also with paid subscriptions that, in the end, also don't give access to certain retro games that you could buy before and that now only work on older systems.

At least we have remakes, which is something that -I won't deceive you-, I also appreciate it. I love them if they are done well. And in many cases, like Resident Evil 2 Remake, they are perfect complements of the original. But that's just another problem if we forget about backward compatibility.
Okay, for the new player who never lived the era of the original, maybe the remake is the only one he will need. But the fans of 'Resident Evil 2', or 'Final Fantasy VII' will keep on revisiting the old ones. And although as a retro lover I love to keep using my old consoles, it's a pity that to play them I can only resort to their original version and console, or through digital stores but in equally "obsolete" consoles.

Let's hope that, at least, the exceptional (and I don't put it in capital letters because this is a serious text) work of Microsoft with the Xbox brand keeps convincing the other companies that this is the way. And you can have it all, without giving up remakes or remasters. Everyone who chooses what he prefers, later. Some, like me, would keep everything.