Do you ‘appreciate’ older games?

[Palazzo]

Zelda OOT - A truly excellent game at the time of release, rightly regarded as a masterpiece. Pretty much unplayable by modern standards due to the really shitty frame rate and incredibly annoying menu/inventory system that make it a real slog to get through.

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The real takeaway here is that Ocarina of Time was kind of a shallow game to begin with. The combat is (and was) dull, devoid of interesting decisions to make, exploring the game world is actually pretty linear compared to even LttP (and especially the first Zelda), and the puzzles aren't really that interesting. You're right that Ocarina of Time isn't one of the greatest games of all time - but it's not because it aged badly, it's that the reasons people really fell in love with it were always fairly shallow.

 

[It’s Time To Go]

Let's take a couple of classic games from different era's.

Yars revenge on the 2600 - I played that for hours back then and loved it. I defy anyone to play it for more than 2 minutes and not get bored out of their minds.

Zelda OOT - A truly excellent game at the time of release, rightly regarded as a masterpiece. Pretty much unplayable by modern standards due to the really shitty frame rate and incredibly annoying menu/inventory system that make it a real slog to get through.

Good games (by modern standards) could be made from the core concepts for a lot of old games, but as they stand nostalgia is main reason to compare them favourably with the equivalent modern releases.

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Do you like the 3DS remake?

 

[ThereAreFourNaan]

The further you go back the fewer games I appreciate. Like the OG Mario Bros, but not much in the NES era. A higher percentage of SNES era stuff.

I appreciated and enjoyed (With caveats!) the OG XCom from the early 90's. But it's not until the mid-late 90's that I start to be able to enjoy a significant percentage of games.

The best game of all time was released in 1999 (Heroes of Might & Magic III) so obviously I appreciate that.

 

[smash_robot]

of course the tech is "worse" in OOT, Jesus it's 22 years old! But BOTW gets criticized A LOT for menu management and frame rate... people don't review video games like productivity software or on specs...

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Of course it's worse - it's 22 years old is kind of my point. And this is OoT we are talking about - one of best games of all time - not some long forgotten middling 8/10 game.

Still, I do understand what you mean - an OoT with updated controls, tech and other QoL improvements would actually be a good game by today's standards and one I'd consider paying for given it's over 20 years since I played it. Like with the RE games - I've not played the remakes, but it seems they did exactly that and they look to be highly regarded.

 

[smash_robot]

Do you like the 3DS remake?

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Not played it (last handheld I owned was the DS) - how does it compare to the original?

 

[It’s Time To Go]

Not played it (last handheld I owned was the DS) - how does it compare to the original?

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It has a much better frame rate, and the inventory system management is a lot easier too.

 

[Ultima_5]

not as much as i think im supposed to. my cut off is around snes area which is when i started playing games.

there's some NES games ive enjoyed, but those are pretty far and few between.

 

[Kurtikeya]

I love how the limitations of older systems gave rise to more abstract, more uncanny, and therefore more unsettling depictions. They also weren't super produced, super polished, super deliberate to the point of being kinda bland. They managed to feel so wrong and yet so innocent and pure at the same time. I miss games like that.

Case in point:

 

[Yarbskoo]

I can go back as far as SNES era games.

There are some NES games that still hold up, but not many.

 

[Hoa]

I definitely do.

I also appreciate jank games, old and modern. A little jank doesn't hurt anybody, everything doesn't have to feel perfect.

 

[Morfeo]

I find old games generally much more interesting than new games. New games are all about luring you into an eco system. Old games is about challenging gameplay without filler. Of course there are modern exceptions like Nintendo-games and the Souls-series, but in general this is how I feel.

 

[ThereAre4Lights]

I grew up on NES/SNES and it's not really stuff I'd go back to ever, unless it's A Link to the Past, SMW or Square SNES games. It was fun then, but I'd rather play newer games.

 

[Bradford]

I love old games. Chronology is important. People should play more old stuff.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

There is something magical about older games, where because of the technology and the limitations they feel like a more unified artistic vision. It's not massive 100 person teams touching a game, it's a team of 20 or less trying to do something cool. The limitations oddly felt like they unleashed creativity.

 

[Rhomega]

Born in '86. I'm really not that big on the NES. There's the mainstays like Mario, Mega Man, and Castlevania, but I doubt I would buy one if I made a one way trip in time to the '80s. I do enjoy classic arcade games from Atari's golden age, but I don't play for more than 2-3 times at a time. Never owned a PlayStation, but I do have the Genesis Collection on Steam.

 

[KrillinLikeAVillan]

I have been playing videogames for 36 years, with very few exceptions i have little interest to go back to the games i grew up with or even games just one or two generations back, i like progress i want new games.

I appreciate those games for what they did at the time, seeing games evolve over the years has been amazing but i rarely actually find myself ever wanting to play them again, i am happy with them just remaining as fond memories.

All that being said i am replaying doom 2 right now and really enjoying it, some games age better than others.

 

[Vitamin_B_Complex]

I love how the limitations of older systems gave rise to more abstract, more uncanny, and therefore more unsettling depictions. They also weren't super produced, super polished, super deliberate to the point of being kinda bland. They managed to feel so wrong and yet so innocent and pure at the same time. I miss games like that.

Case in point:

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I agree, things could be a lot more outlandish for "bigger" titles. I miss the Japanese AA games. I hope next gen console will create an environment where these games can be successful again.

Playing Rule of Rose right now and the weirdness is fantastic. They don't make horror games like these anymore.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

I grew up with all of those retro games, so I do appreciate them.
But I also have no desire to revisit them, and feel the majority haven't held up well.

 

[ghostemoji]

I don't always appreciate old games from a perspective of their gameplay-- it took a long time for games to transition out of the arcade model of needing to pump players for quarters, and I don't have the patience for a lot of those games-- but I absolutely appreciate the innovation and creativity that goes into executing advanced software on limited computing systems. I'm always fascinated to read about how developers squeezed every last bit out of often very aged hardware, and what tricks they used to fake certain visual effects.

I think like others in this thread, it's somewhat jarring to go back and revisit games that I hold dear as my favorites sometimes as they don't always age as well as I think they might.

 

[Version 3.0]

Oh, absolutely, I do. But, when going back to play old stuff, the game generally needs to fall into one of three categories:

1. A truly great game that still holds up (great example: Super Mario Bros)
2. A not truly great game, but one that I played at the time that I still enjoy because of that connection (great example: Aliens vs. Predator on Jaguar).
3. A very bad game that I enjoy laughing at, because it's so bad.

Of course, one person's "great game that holds up" is another person's "you only think it's still good because of nostalgia", but either way, it fits into category 1 or 2.

And even though I'm of the opinion that modern game design has reduced the number of truly bad games, these 3 criteria will still apply in 20 years, when looking back at current games.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Of course. Good games from back then are generally still good games today. Sonic 2 still schools a lot of modern platformers. Duke 3D is still a great FPS. Streets of Rage 2 is still a great beat em up etc. The PS1/N64 era is a little harder though, due to early 3D jank.

 

[Kasey]

I still love the NES Zeldas and LttP more than Ocarina.

 

[ParsnipForest]

I almost exclusively play older games but, I admit, my personal cut-off is ~late 8-bit as that's what I played when I was young.

Zero interest in actually playing pre/early 8-bit games (although I like the history), so the vast majority of NES, Master System and Game Boy games are more historical curiosities to me.

There are always a few exceptions per platform: Pokemon, Phantasy Star, SMB3, but in general I much prefer 16-bit stuff, where the art of game design really took off.

 

[BigWeather]

Been binging the Eaten by a Grue podcast and man I am seriously jonesing to play (or create) some Interactive Fiction.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I just want to know if anyone else agrees with me that OoT hasn't aged well

 

[poofynamanama2]

I can appreciate them, I just can't play them. Games are much more fun these days :D

 

[Benzychenz]

Good games are good games.

I started gaming on a Game Boy Color and N64, but I often play games from before then.

Stuff like Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid are amazing, and I adore Dragon Quest 1 and 3.

 

[martincrimson87]

Sure. I love emulation so I get to play old games from time to time. But I am almost 33 years old and grew up with a NES clone and a SNES. The points of no return to me are several NES games, convoluted SNES JRPGS and some 90's PC games. I would love to get into the Black Isle RPGs but they are too complex. And some genres just couldn't be topped so you have to make do with old games: Genres such as Survival Horror, Car Combat, and Arcade Racing.

 

[Sharivan]

Definitely. Still love playing old games (NES, Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES, PS1, Dreamcast, GameCube, etc.)

 

[Combo]

As a software developer, I think those devs were geniuses.

 

[ConfusedOwl]

My long list of favourite games ranges from SNES all the way to this gen so of course I appreciate them. I started a playthrough of Baldur's Gate 1 recently and I was 4 years old when it released.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Sure. There are tons of NES games that I regularly go back to and love. That tends to be the earliest I really care about though.
Though there are arcade games from before then that I enjoy too.

Good games are just good games.
Sure, some early 3D games are kinda janky today because of their lack of camera control, but it'd not a big deal generally.
One of my favorite games to this day is Doom/Doom II.

 

[SturokBGD]

No I like my games to be homogeneous and filled with microtransactions.

 

[deftones r cool]

Mostly only old RPGs and Super Metroid. Those games are like my favorites ever though, so it's a weird perspective

 

[PancakeBurglar]

SNES is my favorite system, played through Mario World and Megaman X over the weekend and I think they hold up. So yeah I appreciate older games and try to play games I missed or hidden gem.

 

[TaySan]

i'm 26 years old and started gaming on the PS1 and i can enjoy gaming past the NES era.
SNES and up is when gaming really started being enjoyable.

 

[Lardonate]

The older I've gotten, the shorter my attention span seems to have gotten, I find it hard to play the hundred-hour long games of the present day and I mostly play older arcade style games on the Megadrive, Pc engine, Saturn etc.

Loads of actual arcade games that I played back in the day, I still play regularly. Raiden II, SF2, Bubble Bobble, Solomon's Key, Gradius.

Arguably I spend far far more time watching videos and reading about old games and acquiring them... than actually playing them.

Fuck.

 

[Hzsn724]

I'll just repost this again.... Slow news day huh?

Im a millennial and my favorite game of all time is Valkyrie Profile... Beyond that I grew up with Bucky O'Hare, Zelda, TMNT... Not really sure what you're talking about here OP....

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[Chaos2Frozen]

Only if I'm watching someone else play it

 

[Mutagenic]

They are by far my favorite games.

 

[Bit_Reactor]

I'll just repost this again.... Slow news day huh?

Click to shrink...

A fellow VP fan. -highfive-

 

[Vilix]

I grew up playing Atari and NES and have no desire to replay those games. However, games from last gen, like Bayonetta and Vanquish, I still love to play. And games from the Dreamcast and GameCube are still great too.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

If you cut me open, instead of blood, thousands of tiny 1-Up mushrooms would spill forth.

Because of this, I am effectively invincible

 

[Jerm411]

The NES is still my fav. console of all time and my favorite game ever is an arcade classic lol...

Def. respect and love all the old and nostalgic games and systems.

 

[SiG]

I missed out on the Quake craze during the early 90's. When I was made aware of vkQuake, it took it as an opportunity to play the classic in it's closest (but optimized for modern hardware) "vanilla" form.

In the end, it made me appreciate how much level design plays an important role to my enjoyment of first-person games, sometimes even moreso than gunplay.

 

[Puggles]

I can't play anything from NES or earlier anymore. I still enjoy most SNES games.

 

[GamerJM]

I'm 25 and I can enjoy games from the NES era, and arcade games from the early 80s. So yes I appreciate them a lot. I want to play more of them eventually honestly.

 

[King Kingo]

If a game's good then I appreciate it regardless of how retro it is.

 

[Shining Star]

Not really. I think the furthest back I can go is maybe Gamecube.