Do you have a console generation that you consider to be the limit for games to be playable?

[Lant_War]

Sorry if the title is a little unclear, but I mean a generation after which you consider pretty much all games (or at least the best games of the system) to have aged so poorly to the point where you'd consider them almost unplayable.

For example, for me the limit is NES. I can enjoy a lot of NES games, many of my favorite franchises started out in the NES, and generally have a good time playing them, but put me one generation back and you completely lost me. I've tried to play Atari 2600 games many times but I just... don't enjoy them. Breakout is probably the only one I can enjoy due to its extreme simplicity, but that's about it.

So, what's your limit?

If you're not sure which gen is which, check here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_home_video_game_consoles

Quick rundown
Second gen: Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision and the likes.
Third gen: NES, Master System, Atari 7800
Fourth gen: SNES, Genesis / Mega Drive, TurboGrafx 16
Fifth gen: PS1, Saturn, N64
Sixth gen: Dreamcast, PS2, Game Cube, Xbox
Seventh gen: Wii, Xbox 360, PS3
Eighth gen: PS4, Xbox One, Wii U

 

[Kerotan]

The fifth gen. I can't go earlier then the PS1.

 

[Lant_War]

The fifth gen. I can't go earlier then the PS1.

Click to shrink...

Hmm. Do you enjoy stuff like Mega Man X4 or Symphony of the Night?

 

[butzopower]

Yes or no question in thread title, and no "no" option in poll.

 

[Patitoloco]

Not sure what each gen is in terms of consoles, but the earliest I would play is SNES. NES games, except very few exceptions, have not aged well.

 

[nightstalker962]

Gen 4 is about as far as I'll go.

 

[SeriousGoku]

Not sure what each gen is.

But nothing earlier than PS1 is playable to me anymore.

Unless they are all time classics like Pacman or Tetris obviously.

Edit: I actually pkayed some PS1 games the other day and they were borderline unplayable (Twisted Metal, Cool boarders). So I'll change my answer to PS2 gen.

 

[DrHercouet]

The third gen is rocky but there are still a LOT of gems. Super Mario Bros 3, Kirby's Adventure, Metroid, Castlevania... and some more undiscovered nuggets. It was a wild era. This one is the earliest that feels like the proper beginning of video games. The first and second gen were more arcade experiments. It's great to dive in for History purpose, but it's definitely not that fun.

The fifth gen. I can't go earlier then the PS1.

Click to shrink...

But nothing earlier than PS1 is playable to me anymore.

Click to shrink...

My Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu 3, Yoshi's Island, Sonic 2, Thunder Force IV, Parodius and Link's Awakening would like a word.

 

[Noppie]

Eh, not really. I can play NES games just fine but alot of the PS1/N64 era games are so bad graphics, peformance, sound wise. To limit my choice by a gen seems wrong.

 

[The Crystal Exarch]

Gen 4 is my limit, too. I greatly enjoy and still play many thing from the SNES and onwards, but before that point I feel the gameplay is too limited, and doesn't quite click with me.

 

[FusionNY]

I still enjoy everything up until the NES with the exception of gen 5. I find just about everything from that generation down right repulsive. It's difficult for me to even look at some of those games.

 

[VeggieBurger]

i'm not even that old (25) but idk how anyone could say they couldn't go earlier than ps1. i played rondo of blood for the first time recently and had no issues

 

[Richietto]

I can't play most NES games. They're kinda poopoo. 4th gen is my limit.

 

[skeezx]

i can play about anything. just spent two hours last night playing Galaga, some days before that i was playing Ultima VII

more a matter of platform than "gen". like 95% of the Atari 2600 library i could never roll with. the really early crpgs are literally unplayable for me, i've no idea what i'm doing

 

[SeriousGoku]

The third gen is rocky but there are still a LOT of gems. Super Mario Bros 3, Kirby's Adventure, Metroid, Castlevania... and some more undiscovered nuggets. It was a wild era. This one is the earliest that feels like the proper beginning of video games. The first and second gen were more arcade experiments. It's great to dive in for History purpose, but it's definitely not that fun.



My Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu 3, Yoshi's Island, Sonic 2, Thunder Force IV, Parodius and Link's Awakening would like a word.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, its a tricky one. I can go back to stuff like Einhander, Sonic (both side scrollers), etc. But full 3D stuff like Twisted Metal is a hell no from me. S I dont have a real answer as to which gen I can go back to. lol

 

[Deleted member 22750]

No

should be an option

 

[daninthemix]

I can't go earlier than 4th gen, because that's what I grew up with.

 

[Dezzy]

Most Atari 2600 era games just aren't fun anymore. I can still have fun with NES games and up.

 

[tatwo]

I can play NES games fine but PS1 games are too awful with bad frame rate.

 

[Damn Silly]

The 3D 5th gen games can give me headaches but that's the only issue I can think of going back

 

[Bookman]

Nes (3 gen) is where I draw the line personaly. Strange to think that people would consider supermario bros 3, Zelda etc unplayable but ... well i´ll guess the same could be said about pong.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

NES games can still be fun but that's as far back as I'd go.

 

[Clive]

You can always find a few counter-examples but it's rare that I enjoy games pre-dating the Dreamcast if I play them for the first time in 2019. Equipped with nostalgia goggles I can enjoy games earlier than that. It's rare that I find games pre-dating the Xbox 360 great too but sometimes good. Gaming has evolved and become better and better.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

I say 3rd gen cuz there are a few NES games i enjoyed but to me 4th gen is the earliest i prefer going usually

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I can play NES and SNES games just fine these days, but I have trouble with N64 and PS1 games, especially the ones that weren't AAA offerings back in the day with higher production values and actual thought put into player experience.

 

[Bumrush]

Learned from the NES games on switch that they're - on the whole - too outdated for me, with a few exceptions like SMB3. SNES games are still sooooooo unbelievably playable.

 

[The Real Abed]

Whatever the NES is. Atari had some good stuff and I had some faves when I was a kid but NES is where it really became good.

 

[Cookie]

I used to enjoy back to the NES but these days I'm not really interested in playing anything older than 360/PS3.

 

[RisingStar]

It all depends on the game itself rather than the generation. For example I feel loads of SNES games are far more replayable than blocky messes on the PS1 and N64. On the other hand I cannot go back to play OG Game Boy games either. I'd say SNES/Genesis mastered 16-bit games so that's the oldest I'd go. Whereas PS1 had loads of new tech and growing to do which continued into the PS2 era.

 

[The Riot Inside]

I don't remember how the generations broke down but for home console, I cannot stand to play anything prior to NES era. Now granted, my only experience prior to NES was the Atari 2600 so if there is something else out that had better games I'm wiling to give it a shot but I cannot go back to the Atari. Way to clunky in visuals, control and sound.

For handheld, nothing prior to the GBA. Playing games on the Gameboy for the first time felt really weird to me because by the time I played it the SNES was already out and so the entire experience just felt inferior. That feeling stuck with me until the GBA released and I finally understood why someone would enjoy using handhelds.

 

[exodus]

Some NES - decent 2D with generally acceptable performance
Most SNES - peak 2D with generally great performance
Very few N64 - a majority of games are 20 fps
Some PS1 - 2D PS1 games or games with 2D backdrops are fine. 3D games are exceedingly poor due to polygon shifting (a Z-buffer issue I believe)
Some PS2 - graphically demanding PS2 games and shooters have aged poorly. The ones that perform at a locked 30/60 are generally fine.
Most Xbox - better performance targets than PS2 overall means more games feel playable today
Most Gamecube - same scenario
Most PS3/360/Wii - games still feel modern today. As long as they are a locked 30/60, they're perfectly fine today, although image quality will feel somewhat poor.

 

[neptunez]

Like others have stated, the 4th gen is easier to go back to than the 5th gen. PS1/N64 games were pretty ugly and lacked too many QoL features. Same thing can apply to 6th gen games as well.

 

[maximumzero]

All generations are fine.

 

[Pyro]

I would say sixth gen if not for a handful of NES games that I like (Ninja Gaiden especially).

 

[Guaraná]

snes games are more playable than psx and n64 games.

2d games age better.

 

[Platy]

If the best one counts than no generation

Most Atari games aged like milk but the best ones are still playable.

I will not stay 4 hours playing Enduro, but they can absolutely give me joy when I play

 

[RedHeat]

Anything older than the PS2 makes my stomach churn. But, I don't mind games that have good pixel art.

 

[Tohsaka]

Third, I don't have any desire to play anything pre-NES again.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

There are some amazing NES games but I don't think I play anything before that.

 

[Pargon]

I don't have too much trouble going back as far as the third generation of home consoles, but most of what I play is fourth gen or newer.
I avoided NES games for a long time until I came to the realization that they have a lot in common with Game Boy games, but on a system I had no nostalgia for.
I do think that a lot of NES games don't hold up any more though - even ones that people who played them at the time have nostalgia for. The original NES Metroid is suffering.

Second generation games are not something that I seek out at all.
Maybe some of them are still good, but the majority of them don't seem like they are worth playing.

 

[Why would you do that?]

I like and play some 2600 games occasionally. That said, I feel like video games in general really started modernizing and advanced in a way that holds up well today during the NES era (and maybe even a little before on various PCs of the era).

There are several games on the NES that I would still say are the best version, even after their remakes and/or sequels (Mario 2, 3, Mega Man 1-3, Kirby's Adventure all come to mind).

 

[Gnorman]

It's not so much a gen issue for me it's more of a nostalgia thing.

I can happily play Commodore 64 and Speccy stuff because I grew up playing them but NES games seem really bad and I can't enjoy them.

 

[2Blackcats]

I think the pool of games that are playable drops for each generation you go back. With just a handful still palatable by 2nd generation

 

[veterangamerUK]

I need to skip a gen really as 16-bit games are still great to play for me, but the first gen of 3d games are as shoddy as hell

 

[John Omaha]

3rd gen.

 

[shadowman16]

While there's no definitive gen I don't enjoy playing, I mainly stay clear of the old Atari/Spectrum games these days. I played Speccy games all the time growing up but these days most of my retro gaming is playing Capcom games... and the Spectrum US Gold ports are horrendous aside from 1942 and Commando, I mainly stick to the NES gen and up but I still like revisiting Yars Revenge and Pitfall at times when I'm in the mood.

 

[Joni]

2D, NES and SNES. 3D, PlayStation 2.

 

[finalflame]

Definitely 4th gen for me. Can't bring myself to play NES games.

 

[Crayolan]

While there are not many, there are still some NES games I consider to be great.

I have no interest in playing anything pre-NES.

 

[Inugami]

I can play the best atari 2600 games for a few minutes... but I couldn't dedicate any real time to them. NES is the earliest I'd consider truly enjoyable for long periods of time, but that comes with a big ol' asterisk since it's something like 95% of them simply don't hold up... but some of those games? Absolutely timeless. Kirby's Adventure, Mario 3, Zelda 1 and 2, etc are games I could play for hours any day of the week. On really good days I could handle some of the more difficult but still satisfying Capcom licensed fair (Chip and Dale, Duck Tales) or Konami's bread and butter series (Castlevania, Contra, etc)

That said, I'd take NES and SNES games any day over most PS1/N64 era titles... it's just so hard to go back to the days of early polygons unless I have a massively strong nostalgia boner for a particular title (Chrono Cross, Mega Man Legends series, Ogre Battle 64, etc)