Not everyone who's a fan of these games now was around to play them then. I think it has more to do with the 'gamer' demographic growing larger. In my experien

Not everyone who's a fan of these games now was around to play them then. I think it has more to do with the 'gamer' demographic growing larger. In my experience, niche stuff often has more emotion behind it, evident even when it's not your niche and not your emotion. Modern 'indie' games, which are often more focused than 'mainstream' fare, have something of the same feel about them.