One of the great tragedies of growing up is not being able to share the toys you played with as a child with own your kids. “They don’t make them like they used to” is a phrase grumpy old men often mutter, but these days that’s not always the case. Old school classics are getting a modern makeover with updated releases of Simon, Jurassic Park, and more. These new classics have us feeling like we’re lacing up our light up shoes and heading to recess all over again.

Jurassic World/ Jurassic Park

In 1993  Jurassic Park came out and changed everything. Heck, even today the movie holds up completely fine. To a kid in the 90s a common item seen in toy chests was the Jurassic Park w/ Dino Bite damage figure. With the removable piece, the inside flesh was easily shown to make your once pristine Dino look a bit more gnarly. Never had our Dino related battles been so fun. Now for the recently released Jurassic World, Mattel has revealed all new figures with the now iconic Dino-Damage feature.

Mattel Viewfinder

Thinking back the Viewfinder was our first access to viewing pictures for pleasure. Nowadays most of us browse pictures for pleasure every day with apps and websites like Facebook and Instagram. To update the viewfinder Mattel partnered with Google and their Virtual Reality technology to bring a new type of experience to kids. I have to say I’m pretty jealous this wasn’t around when I was a kid.

Simon

I can remember when Simon felt like the peak of Artificial Intelligence. Now the average Barbie is as smart as an IBM supercomputer. Bringing this 80’s brain game to the 21st century wasn’t hard. A simple button and screen let you pick multiple modes but the main gameplay is the same. Sometimes simpler is better.

Nerf

There wasn’t a much better gift to receive for a birthday than a Nerf blaster. However, the Nerf blasters of old are a lot different than what they are making today. The new Nerf Rival blaster features a spinning wheel that can launch a tiny foam ball at speeds up to 70 mph. On top of firing at insane speeds it’s also entirely automatic. This makes the Nerf guns I grew up with look like water pistols.

RC

It wasn’t long ago that RC was a highly expensive and niche hobby. Nowadays with a new breed of smart phone controlled items, RC is cheaper and more accessible than ever. The Star Wars sphere BB-8 is an RC controlled item that seems like pure science fiction, but the engineers at Sphero have done the seemingly impossible. Not only are fun new types of RC vehicles being invented, but cheaper and better flight controllers mean flying Helicopters and Quadcopters is easier than ever.

It’s an exciting time to be a kid! Modern tech has taken some older classics and updated them for the next generation. I wonder what the next 10 years with bring us?