Retro Games - Best Left in the Past?

esmufc07

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I think so, I have downloaded quite a few of the PS Store and I have been disappointed with them all. Prior to buying them my memory thought of them as great games, but after buying them and re-playing them, they really are poor. Driver, which I thought was one of the PS1's best ever game, is just so poor after re-playing it, I can't get into it at all. Same goes with Command & Conquer, International Track and Field, games I loved as a kid but just cannot get into now for the life of me.

Don't get me wrong, some of the older games like Mario, Zelda, FF amongst others will always be remember as truely great games because they were. But I think most retro games should be left in the past, where you can have good memories of them, rather than those memories being erased when you replay them.

Would be interesting to hear what other people think.
 
esmufc07 said:
I think so, I have downloaded quite a few of the PS Store and I have been disappointed with them all. Prior to buying them my memory thought of them as great games, but after buying them and re-playing them, they really are poor. Driver, which I thought was one of the PS1's best ever game, is just so poor after re-playing it, I can't get into it at all. Same goes with Command & Conquer, International Track and Field, games I loved as a kid but just cannot get into now for the life of me.

Don't get me wrong, some of the older games like Mario, Zelda, FF amongst others will always be remember as truely great games because they were. But I think most retro games should be left in the past, where you can have good memories of them, rather than those memories being erased when you replay them.

Would be interesting to hear what other people think.
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Thats pretty much all true but I and a friend were going through my ps1 game collection and we saw "bugs and taz". We decided to give it a go again and man that was what you call REAL FUN. I enjoyed it far more than quite a few of the next gen games. If you're interested we got all the gears:D
 
I recently dusted off Mafia and gave it a go on my PC. It was horrible and I remember thinking to myself this used to be one of my all time favourite games.

I could still play the likes of Mario, Donkey Kong, Contra etc. though. Makes you really admire games that stand the test of time.
 
I recently dug out Legend of Zelda:Majora's Mask. Instantly I was reminded of why I thought it was the best game I've ever played.
 
To be fair, you've not exactly picked classic games that haven't been bettered there have you Elvis.

If you can't go back and find some really truly great games that don't piss over most of today's garbage, then I feel sorry for you.
 
kps88 said:
I recently dusted off Mafia and gave it a go on my PC. It was horrible and I remember thinking to myself this used to be one of my all time favourite games.

I could still play the likes of Mario, Donkey Kong, Contra etc. though. Makes you really admire games that stand the test of time.
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Agreed.


Wonder Pigeon said:
I recently dug out Legend of Zelda:Majora's Mask. Instantly I was reminded of why I thought it was the best game I've ever played.
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Top game!
 
I haven't played Crash Bandicoot in a while, but remember that being great fun when I bought the PS1 because that and Tekken 3 were the first games I had in the bundle. Wonder what it'd be like to play them now...
 
I downloaded Crash off the PS store, along with Red Alert & International Track and Field. Crash I still really liked, even though its save system sucks, I played through most of that again (after transfering it to my PSP). Red Alert I've only played a few times since downloading it, its still a decent game but its definately better suited for the PC.
 
Redlambs said:
To be fair, you've not exactly picked classic games that haven't been bettered there have you Elvis.

If you can't go back and find some really truly great games that don't piss over most of today's garbage, then I feel sorry for you.
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I didn't say that. I could name a lot of games that are a million times better than today's offerings, but the games I have gone back to so far, bar FFVII and X, aren't as good as I remembered them to be.
 
The original Crash Bandicoot is still a great game. I dust off my playstation 1 every christmas when family come round. And I end up deleting the memory card and completing it 100% from scratch every year. Muppet street racer and Mario cart are still the best racing games i've played. That Gran Tourismo stuff never hooked me.

Tetris on the gameboy has never been bettered. This DS version i'm playing at the moment is total garbage. Infinite spins and shift placement makes a mockery of the level speeds. It's ruined the game and made it unchallenging.
Soul Blade is as good as any fighting game i've played since and Super Mario 3 on the NES is still as good a game as i've ever played.

The graphics and power of the games has improved no end but I don't think the gameplay is any better. The best games then are as good as most of the best games now.

Although from Quake onwards there have been many great 1st person shooters.
 
kps88 said:
I recently dusted off Mafia and gave it a go on my PC. It was horrible and I remember thinking to myself this used to be one of my all time favourite games.

I could still play the likes of Mario, Donkey Kong, Contra etc. though. Makes you really admire games that stand the test of time.
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How is Mafia a retro game? It's only a few years old
 
Nistelrooy10 said:
How is Mafia a retro game? It's only a few years old
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Your right it isnt a retro game but I was just making the point that even a brilliant game released in 2002 can become stale when played now. It isnt about how old a game is but more about whether it has the quality to stand the test of time.
 
kps88 said:
Your right it isnt a retro game but I was just making the point that even a brilliant game released in 2002 can become stale when played now. It isnt about how old a game is but more about whether it has the quality to stand the test of time.
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I played it may be a year ago, and I still liked it. Graphics are not up to scratch of course, but it's still sweet. Games, in many ways, are like movies, good stories withstand the test of time, bad ones don't.
 
I still play Mario Kart and Diddy Kong racing on the N64.

Oh and Perfect Dark (N64) > Perfect Dark Zero. Even today.
 
No modern game has reached the status that the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Tetris, Final Fantasy VII or Super Mario World. And I don't think there will be for some time. Retro games will always be around and compared with the drivel some companies are throwing out, will always be playable.
 
So what would be considered retro classics in the future?

Half Life 2? Halo? Metal Gear Solid? I dont think so.
 
A few weeks back when my 360 died I hooked up my PS2 and played a few of my past favourites, one of them was Black which I remember for having amazing graphics and amazing gameplay. I was amazed at how bad the graphics actualy were and the AI were terrible.

Just goes to show how far technology has come in just a few years to make what I thought were amazing graphics at the time turn out to be awfull. It's a shame cause I find I just can't get into to PS2 games anymore but I still love to play a few PS1 classics such as Crash and Croc :D They will always be with me
 
RedKaos said:
So what would be considered retro classics in the future?

Half Life 2? Halo? Metal Gear Solid? I dont think so.
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I'm thinking the Grand Theft Auto series but I suspect it's not going to be the gameplay that it will be remembered for. The Gran Turismo series perhaps but that hardcore-racing genre doesn't really spread its charm over its hardcore fans - the average racing car game fan will struggle with Gran Turismo.

I was thinking that there would be a Wii game that would "change the world" but I think there isn't anyone who's used the hardware well enough yet. But if I had to take a bet, I do think the next "legendary" game will be on the Wii. After all, we've just about hit the limit in graphics rendering ability - anything more and we can't really tell the difference between that and real-life.
 
The PSN store is awful. Driver and Ape Escape are hardly Xenogears or Final Fantasy 7. You should see the Japanese PSN line up, it's infuriating to say the least even the American store gets a couple of cool games. Sony really continually shoot themselves in the foot by not offering better alternatives to homebrewing from a PSP point of view.

I've filled up my whole Wii internal memory and an SD card with old school games so I think they still fun. There's a fair few 8-bit games that stand the test of time, Megaman II for example is still awesome hence it's seeing a remake. IGN gave Megaman 9 a really high review score too like 8.8.
 
RedDevil#26655 said:
A few weeks back when my 360 died I hooked up my PS2 and played a few of my past favourites, one of them was Black which I remember for having amazing graphics and amazing gameplay. I was amazed at how bad the graphics actualy were and the AI were terrible.

Just goes to show how far technology has come in just a few years to make what I thought were amazing graphics at the time turn out to be awfull. It's a shame cause I find I just can't get into to PS2 games anymore but I still love to play a few PS1 classics such as Crash and Croc :D They will always be with me
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A.I hasn't really changed much.
 
To be fair, the only old playstation game i could name is Final Fantasy.

The Nintendo games were on a different level in the 90's, that's why they dont get old. they were just that good, most of them.
 
R.Nilsson7 said:
To be fair, the only old playstation game i could name is Final Fantasy.

The Nintendo games were on a different level in the 90's, that's why they dont get old. they were just that good, most of them.
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Thats an interesting point - why is it that when we think of Nintendo we associate alot more classics yet when PlayStation is mentioned the only title that comes to mind is Final Fantasy 7?
 
Redlambs said:
Because the PS1 era was the start of casual gaming. There are great games on it, but thousands more tosh.
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If anything I thought it was the other way round. IMO, titles like Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye and F Zero-X seem alot more casual-orientated than the likes of Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Resident Evil etc.
 
Wonder Pigeon said:
I recently dug out Legend of Zelda:Majora's Mask. Instantly I was reminded of why I thought it was the best game I've ever played.
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thats weird, ive just put that on my emulator.

i have to disagree with this thread, some of the classic snes games are still awesome. The zelda game, mario kart, super mario world. Then you have that rush of awesome rpgs that came out in the mid 90's. terranigma, illusion of time, secret of mana all fantastic games, then you have the old pc games, baldurs gate, planescape torment (this is still one of the best games ever) Age of empires 1 and 2.

it seems that modern games have lost their touch with stuff like this.
 
RedKaos said:
If anything I thought it was the other way round. IMO, titles like Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye and F Zero-X seem alot more casual-orientated than the likes of Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Resident Evil etc.
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You can pick specific game to prove any point you like, but this isn't just about them, it was Sony's remit with the Playstation.

They wanted the casual gamers, not family or hardcore gamers. People who would have a beer down the pub then come home to play ridge racer.
 
I have one of the original nintendo gameboys , have all the classics for it like Donkey Kong , Tetris , Super Mario Bros etc.

They are good games.
 
Lots of Retro games on Steam. Last week I was playing Doom 2 and it was still brilliant, though takes some getting used to. I was also playing Duke Nukem 3D which again is awesome.

I bought all the X-Com games the other day so once I have Stalker Clear Sky and Crysis Warhead out of the way I'll play through them

Also one game I used to play all the time was Z, and old RTS, though I don't know if I can get it to work on Vista 64 now.
 
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