What gaming related trends or favorites have grown off of you?

[BLUEVOODU]

What gaming related trends or favorites have grown off of you?  In other words... what did you absolutely love as a kid or even not that long ago that you just don't love anymore?

This could be a certain game, certain game style, or multiple other angles... it doesn't have to be negative as sometimes it's just a part of growing up, moving forward and getting older.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Post it up!

[targetrasp]

Side scroller beat em ups!

These started hard in the 80s and really peaked in the 90s. I could ramble off dozens of titles I played through on the NES, SNES, Genny, and in the arcade. Back then it was my favorite genre. Technology got better, and devs shifted towards making 3d games and the genre just stalled out. Occasionally games like Viewtiful Joe showed up as a reminder of their glory days but going back just didn't hit the same.

There's been a small resurgence with some decent game (Streets of Rage 4 comes to mind) and some good compilations but I just don't get the mileage out of them I used to. 

[CreepinDeth]

For me it's online multiplayer. I started out playing some NBA 2K1 on Dreamcast over a 56K modem. Then Halo 3 and Left 4 Dead came about. COD4: Modern Warfare is where I truly got hooked. Put in tons of hours on Xbox 360. I then moved on to Street Fighter 4 and Battlefield 2: Bad Company.

I just couldn't take the toxic online communities any more. Granted, there are some good people online and it's not everyone, but it just got so exhausting having to hear these people. Now there's at least more online controls to keep games fun but it just doesn't interest me much these days. I'll jump on something here and there on occasion, but it's not my main form of gaming anymore.

I'd rather just play a game on my own time with just myself and at my own pace. Feels good.

[retro junkie]

This is not so much about "gaming trends that have grown off of me," but more of what I've grown into. When I first started gaming I stayed clear of RPGs. Reading about them sounded boring and dull. I thought to myself, yuk, who in the world would enjoy something like that? I am not sure what RPG that I tried first, or what came over me to even purchase one. But once I tasted of that genre, I was hooked by the story and the turn based gameplay, and of course the grinding. It was more like it expanded my gaming field. Final Fantasy 3 on the original Gameboy, Chrono Trigger on the SNES, Lunar 1 & 2 or FF 9 on the Playstaion 1, all of these set the standard for me. And I might be leaving some out, but not intentionally.