Would it be a worthwhile venture to learn how to program NES games? I'm talking about games using NES ASM, that could theoretically be played on a real system, or emulator. Would it be a good way to learn about the basics of game programming, or is it simply a waste of time since we've moved beyond ASM, and there are other ways to make NES-like games? My logic is, why not start near the beginning? But there are a lot of games that just use newer conventions to look and feel like a NES game, but are made with stuff like Game Maker, or some other engine.
NES games were often small, not exceeding 1MB, and usually had small teams. They made games fairly quickly. This makes it seem like it can't be that hard to learn, but then again, these people probably went to school, or have years of practical knowledge about the hardware they're working with.
I want to 'get serious' about making a game. It's not going to be some epic, magnum opus that blows people away, I just want to start somewhere. Also, sorry if this sounds really dumb, but I know there's a lot of seasoned programmers here, and even some people who (iirc) do it for a living. I'm thinking about pulling a Kevin Smith, and using my credit cards to hire a small team, and make a game, and hope it doesn't flop (Clerks, by Kevin Smith was pretty much like this) cause really, what else am I doing with my life?