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Do you find it difficult to play older games?
- Thread starter oni-link
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Some older games arent too amazing to play, but there are games that come out these days like RDR2 that feel much more stiff and unresponsive than a lot of older titles. I've noticed i have a much higher tolerance for "dated game design" than a lot of people though. Honestly I think a lot of people I see complaining about stuff like tank controls in old RE games or other design choices that seem weird at first should just give the game another hour or so. Its pretty easy to adapt to that stuff really quickly imo, and its more fun than complaining about it online lol
I started gaming in the early 80s so "older games" for me means 2D, smooth 60fps, and great and unique art styles. I have zero issues playing games from 1985-1995, that's the best era for me, especially the 90s arcade games. And SNES, I have no issues playing just about anything. I play through Super Metroid regularly, it's still awesome.
But yeah, PS1 and N64 games in general don't hold up well, 2D games are okay but most 3D games feels super janky and is badly optimized. PAL conversions were lackluster as well, 25fps as standard and black borders at the top and bottom. Ocarina of Time even went to record low 17fps as standard, unplayable for me even back in the days and today it's just complete trash, nostalgia is not enough to help out there.
But yeah, PS1 and N64 games in general don't hold up well, 2D games are okay but most 3D games feels super janky and is badly optimized. PAL conversions were lackluster as well, 25fps as standard and black borders at the top and bottom. Ocarina of Time even went to record low 17fps as standard, unplayable for me even back in the days and today it's just complete trash, nostalgia is not enough to help out there.
I can and often do play older games. I've got no problems with them. Some games take a bit to get used to due to outdated controls, but it's usually not that hard to get used to them.
Honestly the hardest part is getting a decent picture from older consoles on modern screens. Luckily there's a lot of people working on things like that these days.
Honestly the hardest part is getting a decent picture from older consoles on modern screens. Luckily there's a lot of people working on things like that these days.
Not at all. Sometimes I even go through phases of only playing older games. I'm a sucker for nostalgia and find most good games of the past are still good once you get past the potentially clunky controls. I've never gone back to an old favourite of mine and disliked it.
I think a lot of older games are fun to play, but I don't mind using cheat codes if needed to get through areas that rely on outdated mechanics
Certain 3d games yes and I hate it. My SO doesn't have this issue and I'm envious of her ability to really sink into older games no matter how fugly they look today. I attempted to play both Saints Row 2 and Shenmue II recently and saints alive (heh) I just couldn't do it, but she was having a blast.
One exception is lofi, low poly indie horror games you find in abundance on itch.io. I think its the fact it hearkens back to that PSX aesthetic, there's something about low poly that just works splendidly for horror. Case in point, things like this game Concluse pull it off very well with just the right amount of texture shading:
The other exception is some N64 titles, some of these are helped by nostalgia of course but again a lot of it is due to just how well these games still control and how fun they still manage to be. Also, the low poly art style imo holds up really well particularly in Mario 64 and OOT. The emphasis on textures with mostly solid primary colors without trying to emulate anything realistic (sans the ground and rock textures in OOT :shudders) helps bypass a lot of the simpler geometry.
Any of the hand drawn or pre-rendered background titles are timeless though, particularly now that we're getting AI upscales that bring out more detail (yes I understand this wasn't there before).
Shout out to the Scumm games, those will always be fun to return to.
One exception is lofi, low poly indie horror games you find in abundance on itch.io. I think its the fact it hearkens back to that PSX aesthetic, there's something about low poly that just works splendidly for horror. Case in point, things like this game Concluse pull it off very well with just the right amount of texture shading:
The other exception is some N64 titles, some of these are helped by nostalgia of course but again a lot of it is due to just how well these games still control and how fun they still manage to be. Also, the low poly art style imo holds up really well particularly in Mario 64 and OOT. The emphasis on textures with mostly solid primary colors without trying to emulate anything realistic (sans the ground and rock textures in OOT :shudders) helps bypass a lot of the simpler geometry.
Any of the hand drawn or pre-rendered background titles are timeless though, particularly now that we're getting AI upscales that bring out more detail (yes I understand this wasn't there before).
Shout out to the Scumm games, those will always be fun to return to.
It really depends. Games from the 80's aren't even remotely enjoyable for me as I find a lot of them clunky, lacking in a lot of QoL features that modern games have, and are too punishing to be any real fun. Games from the early 90's fair MUCH better but I don't really have any fondness for them. When it comes to N64/PS1 games, it's...pretty tough to go back to, save for the ones I'm nostalgic for, and, even there, the games age shines through for a lot of them. Now GC/PS2 games, I can easily go back to, save for shooters as the genre has improved infinitely since then, and it's the generation I mostly grew up with. Anything after that I don't consider particularly old
Most NES games are fine to go back to. I don't find any enjoyment in stuff prior to that though. Also A lot of early 3d stuff is really hard for me to enjoy. Like ps1 era. I can't play Resident Evil from ps1 when we now have hd remakes.
For me the control is most important. I have no problem to enjoy an old game with out-dated graphics but good controls.
I've found revisiting anything pre-360/ps3 has been a chore due to some of the QoL stuff games have added that I like.
This is for 3D stuff. 16 bit games can still provide me with a fair bit of fun.
This is for 3D stuff. 16 bit games can still provide me with a fair bit of fun.
Nope. I'm playing Gex 3D(PS1, PAL) now actually. It's pretty fun. Controlls/camera is a bit wonky but i got used to it after 15 minuites.
It really depends on what it is.
I don't think I would have the patience to play through most NES RPG's because they are too grindy, obtuse, probably badly translated and have little payoff. But I can play most games from the PS1 era alright, although I get annoyed by encounter rates in older JRPG's like FF7.
The most recent example of something that struck me as bad to play now is Neverwinter Nights 2. Everything about that game is so clunky lol, moreso than Planescape Torment which I had played right before it and was much more intuitive/easier to play.
I don't think I would have the patience to play through most NES RPG's because they are too grindy, obtuse, probably badly translated and have little payoff. But I can play most games from the PS1 era alright, although I get annoyed by encounter rates in older JRPG's like FF7.
The most recent example of something that struck me as bad to play now is Neverwinter Nights 2. Everything about that game is so clunky lol, moreso than Planescape Torment which I had played right before it and was much more intuitive/easier to play.
I grew up with Atari and NES, so those games are kind of old-hat to me. I was playing Tecmo Bowl last night and the hardest thing was trying to remember that you can only use two buttons, but once that sort of clicked back into my brain, it was easy to pick up again.
Most SNES platformers and Jrpgs make me simply lament how often most modern games pale to their predecessors in these genres. Mario World, FF6, Chrono Trigger and Link to the Past are all GOAT tier games in my book.
I love old games. My only problem is when modern operational systems won't cooperate and the game can't run (like Swiv 3D :/)
Yes. I can't go back to the archaic gameplay mechanics, shallow storytelling, and 2D sidescrollers of the 8/16-bit days. Not to mention, that games with arcade roots were designed to pilfer coins from the players, so they were accordingly difficult to complete at home without limitless continues.
I find it more difficult to get into new games. Old games have a nice no-bullshit attitude to them. In modern games there are always so many lingering issues: Does the game have online requirements? Does it come broken out of the box and requires patches to run in an acceptable way? Does it come incomplete and asks for DLC? Does it even come with predatory microtransaction bullshit?
Older games, up to Wii (but also in many cases still on 3DS) , you could just buy, put into the console and play without any worries. I do not care about graphics as long as performance is acceptable, so yeah, no issues with old games.
Older games, up to Wii (but also in many cases still on 3DS) , you could just buy, put into the console and play without any worries. I do not care about graphics as long as performance is acceptable, so yeah, no issues with old games.
Not in gameplay, can get used to anything, the problem with current obligations is the save system of some games are absolutely brutal.
To give an example, Donkey Kong Country forces you to play like 5 stages in a row without getting a game over or you have to play them all over again.
I have a CRT setup with classic consoles and carts that I cant use because of this reason, just wish someone made a emulation machine that had Analog outs to CRT that enabled Save states. I know we are slowly getting there with flashcarts and FPGAs but it will still be sometime.
To give an example, Donkey Kong Country forces you to play like 5 stages in a row without getting a game over or you have to play them all over again.
I have a CRT setup with classic consoles and carts that I cant use because of this reason, just wish someone made a emulation machine that had Analog outs to CRT that enabled Save states. I know we are slowly getting there with flashcarts and FPGAs but it will still be sometime.
I've tried to go back and revisit old games I might've missed or to experience them again and for the most part I can't get into them. This is either thru the SNES Classic or older games I owe on PS3 from the PS1 or 2 generation and with a few exceptions I drop them almost immediately.
I don't have that issue with the most part from the games in my PS360 catalog. I think my issue with most of the older games is either the camera or the graphics/gameplay just feel outdated.
I don't have that issue with the most part from the games in my PS360 catalog. I think my issue with most of the older games is either the camera or the graphics/gameplay just feel outdated.
I can't play most of the NES generation and back, shit fucking feels like garbage to play most of the time. Not everything can be Mario 3. SNES and forward it's no problem because developers learned how to make great games.
it depends on the game. some games i can revisit regularly (like Castlevania: SOTN and Chrono Trigger), and then there are some games where the mechanics just don't feel good enough to overcome my nostalgia (ie, Red Faction 1 and 2).
it's not even a graphics thing for me (i can replay MGS1 and Silent Hill 1 no sweat). It's just older games in some genres don't feel as fun to play. i've noticed this mostly with PS2 era 3rd person shooters (with a few exceptions). One of the biggest issues i notice is with cameras. a lot of 3rd person 3D games back in that era had really funky cameras (like Kingdom Hearts 1), which makes revisiting them annoying. some i can still enjoy, but often it just doesn't feel good to me to battle the camera (or the looseness of the camera is really disorienting).
it's not even a graphics thing for me (i can replay MGS1 and Silent Hill 1 no sweat). It's just older games in some genres don't feel as fun to play. i've noticed this mostly with PS2 era 3rd person shooters (with a few exceptions). One of the biggest issues i notice is with cameras. a lot of 3rd person 3D games back in that era had really funky cameras (like Kingdom Hearts 1), which makes revisiting them annoying. some i can still enjoy, but often it just doesn't feel good to me to battle the camera (or the looseness of the camera is really disorienting).
There are some quality of life things that can make it tough to go back to some games. I started with the N64 so to me that's the bare minimum level of quality of life, and even then a few of them (like Starfox 64's inability to save midway through a story mode run) can feel a bit off. SNES games can feel punishing in their native form, like when I played Super Mario World on SNES, the difference between the World I fell in love with on GBA via Advance 2 was quite apparent in terms of a vastly reduced ability to save, one hit taking you back down to small Mario, and saves not counting in your accumulated lives or score. Still a great game but somewhat diminished.
Nah. I grew up with the the SNES for the majority of my childhood, only dabbling in the NES, but even then I was aware there were NES games I had missed out on and wanted to play. I've been going back to play games on older consoles I missed out on at the time alongside new games my whole life, so I don't have any issue bouncing from one to the other. A good game is a good game. To be honest, I have trouble understanding people who only play new / current games and don't understand the particular strengths of older ones; it's not as though modern games are flatly improved.
Only most 2D games since I don't have the skill. I like going back to PS1 the most though because it's neat to see so many interesting experiments in trying to figure out 3D games.
I've only ever had extreme difficulty with extremely old RPGs like the Wizardry games or early Megami Tensei. They're regarded as difficult today but not in the same absolute ballbusting fuck you way they used to be.
I only struggle to play old games I didn't play at the time of their release lol
Like Banjo Kazooie. Everyone that I know and their grandmas swear is the best game ever but for whatever reason I didn't get to play it back then. And years later I struggle to find the motivation to go and play it on some emulator or something, I don't even enjoy watching the videos on youtube, it's just not appealing to me, but I would play any other N64 game that I DID play back then, or PS1.
The same with NES, SNES, etc.
Like Banjo Kazooie. Everyone that I know and their grandmas swear is the best game ever but for whatever reason I didn't get to play it back then. And years later I struggle to find the motivation to go and play it on some emulator or something, I don't even enjoy watching the videos on youtube, it's just not appealing to me, but I would play any other N64 game that I DID play back then, or PS1.
The same with NES, SNES, etc.
I'm in the same boat. I started with SNES and Genesis as a wee lad and played until the end of N64. I was mostly into Half Life/Counter-Strike and some other PC games. I skipped the Game Cube, Wii, and a lot of PS3/Xbox 360.
I recently bought a neat little 14" CRT for my desk and hooked up my PS2, Wii, and Game Cube. Currently playing through Super Mario Galaxy and Luigi's Mansion(already played this one). I pretty much skipped all of PS2 as well, so, I'm going to have to look into picking up some PS2 games.
I don't have issues playing old games as long as performance is too bad. I really enjoy playing on my 1980s Sony Triniteon set, even if it's not a PVM or anything
I recently bought a neat little 14" CRT for my desk and hooked up my PS2, Wii, and Game Cube. Currently playing through Super Mario Galaxy and Luigi's Mansion(already played this one). I pretty much skipped all of PS2 as well, so, I'm going to have to look into picking up some PS2 games.
I don't have issues playing old games as long as performance is too bad. I really enjoy playing on my 1980s Sony Triniteon set, even if it's not a PVM or anything
No idea why all my images upload side ways lol
Unfortunately not all games age that well. Some 'oldies' are really not that fun (anymore) because gaming has changed and improved a lot in the last 30+ years (With some bad developments of course. Not everything is better than ever.). But I don't see that as a big problem. I don't have to play or finish these old games and can just stick to games - old and new - that a fun for me today. And it can be fun just to replay an old game for 30 minutes or turn on some cheats. The really difficult part is playing old games I did not play 20-30+ years ago and where I don't have some great memories to have a better experience.
I find it hard to stay interested in older NES-era games. Ones that don't have any kind of save system where you're just supposed to go for a high score; I'll play them for a couple of minutes but I have no motivation to keep coming back. I'm fine with games from the SNES onwards, though.
No. It's actually the opposite for me, since I've been continuously playing old games for so long.