I admit nostalgia sometimes plays a big factor, but some old games still have a brilliant gameplay. For example, the original Colonization, despite its archaic graphics and user interface, has some game mechanics and immersion capabilities that and unmatched by many modern games (including its remake).

Did you say DOOM?
I love to play it with mods
YOU GOT GAMING BUDGET!!! wow
Now I am jealous.
As a kid I once asked my father for 10 bucks and he reacted like I asked for his both kidneys.
My mother burned my hand because I was making paper planes.

To be honest, I mostly play chess because I miss the 1470s. Vlad Tepes, Grandson, War of the Roses, inquisition, remember the laughs ?

I like some older games because I played them when I was young. I still love Castlevania 3, for instance. I also like trying new-to-me games that are old, and sometimes I can't forgive their antiquity (I'm looking at you, Realms of Arkania) and sometimes I don't have to (Arx Fatalis). I do employ the shotgun method of buying games. I'll buy games in large bunches on sale if I have the slightest interest in them, and play them as I read more about them when I get to them. Some games I play for an hour or two before I can't play them anymore and others I get sucked in for weeks. Just like some newer games.

I play old games from 1999 to 2008 because I had a 15 year gap of no gaming at all and missed them the first time around - I enjoy them for what they are and how I imagine they were percieved back in their day.

When it comes to ealier games though, such as ZX Spectrum, NES, SNES, Megadrive games I'm a nostalgia junkie. Many nights I've sat and got drunk whilst playing all the old games on my emulators. Alcohol and nostalgia is a truly wonderful combonation!

I recently replayed through Speedy Eggbert because I was living at a place with a data/bandwidth cap, and thus couldn't spend all my time watching UTube vids. :P That was mainly nostalgia and the fact that it's a short and easy game.

You obviously aren't playing enough games.

I don't even play old games. I just post on forums about old games.

All I need is Smooth Doom when playing classic wads. You know a game is brilliant when it is over two decades old and nothing more than some improved graphics make it feel as fun as a modern indie title.

Its absolutely amazing what modders have done with it over the years. Some of my favorites are Reelism Doom & Action Doom 2: Urban Brawl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BowvffJX68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or5Xhhlh3l0

I play games because they're good, not because of their age or graphical fidelity. Most stand the test of time for me (because I have a penchant for intrinsic quality, rather than trendiness). Even if "nostalgia-goggles" were involved... Better than trendy-goggles. Many games here are remembered 20+ years later. Will the games coming out this year be 20 years from now?

Nah. None of the old shareware games I played when I was young had any nostalgia going for me. As far as I was concerned, you could have told me Space Wars came out yesterday.

That's a fallacious argument. You picked one of the greatest games of the current generation. Of course there's some games that will fit both criteria (Skyrim, Dark Souls 3, Doom to name a few others).

Concurred. Some will be remembered (such as the few you named, et al), but given current generations development budgets and time, the number of noteworthy games I suspect will be far fewer.

I've lost interest in certain genres and franchises I used to really like as a kid.
Modern flight combat sims for example, like the Falcon and Apache series.
I've not been interested in playing these as an adult ... yet I still bought them on GOG... just in case.

Some games I was really hoping to replay, like The Dig, Simon the Sorcerer and Homeworld.
Some I'm still waiting for, like Discworld.
These games still hold up, if not surpas, modern takes on them.

I mean, how often do you get a really good third-person point & click game, that actually offers some challenge and depth? not that often, if my GOG and Steam libraries have a say.

The only game I've bought and replayed out of sheer nostalgia was Dragon Lore: The Legend Begins.
It was the first ever game I bought with own money. I still feel quite affectionate towards it.

Racing games especially, hold up well to me. The old-ish WRC games on the PS2, released between 2001-2005, are still some of the best rally games around in my opinion. The same goes for Richard Burns Rally and the McRae games. Not to mention the F1 and MotoGP games from the same period, and Forza 1 and Gran Turismo 4.