/vr/ - Retro Games

Just the ever increasing living standards. People were also more inclined to defend it due to monetary investment and less choice.
You have to imagine there was nothing before it. So you had nothing to compare it to. 2D gaming didn't peak with Atari in the 80s. It's hard to get enthusiastic over those old relics of games.

The controls aren't nearly that bad. But sure it's easy to point out the flaws or how to improve it in hindsight. But that wasn't possible at the time. Age and experience makes us lose patience for the inferior.

Most old games have since gotten mods that improve them. Also collectathons are simply just a very childish genre. Think about what the objective of such a game entails. It oozes boredom after the novelty has worn off.