I could probably still fuck with some Atari 2600 era games. Pitfall, Combat, Pacman, Jungle Hunt, Missile Command, Moon Patrol, Asteroids, Yar's Revenge, Centipede, Pac Man (tho obv. not the 2600 version), Dig Dug...
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
How far back in time could you go before the video games of that era would be unplayable for you?
- Thread starter Deleted member 1659
- Start date
I'm 20 and if all I had to play were NES games I'd probably play SMB3, maybe also Kirby, and drop the medium for the next few years.
I play games for their stories most of the time and the only game I really adore from the NES era is SMB3.
It might be a good opportunity to force myself to finally learn how to play Sonic 1 though.
I play games for their stories most of the time and the only game I really adore from the NES era is SMB3.
It might be a good opportunity to force myself to finally learn how to play Sonic 1 though.
Things like save states and suspend features have me soooo spoiled these days! In terms of original hardware and such, I'm with the others who cap their era at the SNES/Mega Drive generation.
Though I'll concede that even with modern flourishes such as the NES Online service on Switch, I don't enjoy playing older games as much. Also, some early 3D games (PSX/N64-ish) just look and feel not great to me these days. To be fair, I've only run them via emulation on modern displays so my perspective may well be a bit skewed. Maybe I should try to find a cheap CRT...
Though I'll concede that even with modern flourishes such as the NES Online service on Switch, I don't enjoy playing older games as much. Also, some early 3D games (PSX/N64-ish) just look and feel not great to me these days. To be fair, I've only run them via emulation on modern displays so my perspective may well be a bit skewed. Maybe I should try to find a cheap CRT...
Nhaaa that one covers computers and arcades... not restricted to consoles ;)
Your example is simpler and easier to use than videogames today.
So that can't possibly be a detriment to them.
I never could get into pre-NES era games like on the Atari 2600, so I'll go with that.
I probably wouldn't bother with DOS gaming and config.sys, driver loading, etc. That was a pain.
As long as the game still plays well there isn't a limit. A game like Pong is still an enjoyable experience with good friends.
The only dead zone for me is the early 3D model period of the PS1 I can go back and play stuff before and after it.
It depends on the game, and whether it worked with or against the limitations of its time as it were. I think Doom, Sonic etc are still some of the best games of their genre - and I wouldn't mind firing up Space Invaders or Tetris as a momentary diversion either.
Whereas with other games... I'm a big TES fan for instance, but I still find the much lauded Morrowind to be completely unplayable.
Whereas with other games... I'm a big TES fan for instance, but I still find the much lauded Morrowind to be completely unplayable.
I can play all games. As long as the mechanics is fun and the controls are tight, I'll enjoy it.
I can play anything NES an onward. I can't play Atari games again. They're too jank now and they're an eyesore.
for me pretty much 80s and earlier purely because games i'm interested in didn't really exist back then
I can go back as far as C64, and I still play the games on emulators every now and then. I'd love to still have a real one, even if it meant waiting minutes to load games from cassettes.
That said, for some reason I can't stand the NES; the games just have a certain "style" that doesn't agree with me, even if (graphically at least) it's superior to the C64.
Everything 16-bit onwards, I'm fine with, except that there isn't much that interests me from the PS2 generation.
That said, for some reason I can't stand the NES; the games just have a certain "style" that doesn't agree with me, even if (graphically at least) it's superior to the C64.
Everything 16-bit onwards, I'm fine with, except that there isn't much that interests me from the PS2 generation.
Yeah, I'm 36 too and I'd have to say I'd stop at the NES. There are a few Atari 2600 I'd enjoy playing, but other than Yar's Revenge and like... Jungle Hunt I don't care to play games on that system, really.
Granted, nowadays when I play NES games I play them on an AVS on a 4K HDTV and a wireless controller, which is different than what OP's saying with "using a CRT and original system," but it wasn't that long ago where I was playing my NES games on my tiny-ass CRT with an actual NES (NES modded with a blinking light win, but that really doesn't change the experience besides saying goodbye to the ZIF connector, IMO).
i'd say up until maybe 360/ps3 era, it was a slow growth in the number of games that would still be palatable today
i started in the asteroids/pac-man era, and i've gone back through emulation to try all the games i enjoyed while a kid and almost all of them are unplayable (fu kids icarus)
i started in the asteroids/pac-man era, and i've gone back through emulation to try all the games i enjoyed while a kid and almost all of them are unplayable (fu kids icarus)
Probably anything before ColecoVision is too rough for me - and even that's a major stretch. I certainly wouldn't game to the same degree I do now lol.
I'm 28, by the way - I grew up mainly on SNES and N64, but my parents owned a NES when I was born and my cousins owned an Atari and ColecoVision that we'd play when we visited them.
I'm 28, by the way - I grew up mainly on SNES and N64, but my parents owned a NES when I was born and my cousins owned an Atari and ColecoVision that we'd play when we visited them.
I would go back as far as I needed to. A great game will always be a great game. There is still 60 seconds of fun in Asteroids.
I could play SNES/Mega Drive games with few caveats. Prior to that, I'm not sure. I don't think I ever owned a Master System or NES so I have very little nostalgia to carry me through, although there are a small number of games on each system I have fond memories of.
The Atari 2600 is as early as I can go. It's a little rough on the edges, but for every game that you have to use your imagination to figure out, there's gems like Asteroids or Pitfall.
I still play my intellivision so I would go back to 1979.
Frog bog, B-17 Baumer, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Treasure of Tarmin.
Frog bog, B-17 Baumer, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Treasure of Tarmin.
Anything other then early 3D(just an blurry mess to me, never liked it at the time either, skipped the N64 because of it.) is quite alright to play imo. Atari games are totally fine still, they are just not super long games. Only so many loops of jungle jim you want to do before turning the console off. But it was that way for me as a kid as well, so...
I actually still play the NES in its original form. It's hooked up to an older tv in the house. I hit up Dr. Mario, Paperboy, Ninja Gaiden, and Tetris randomly, but more rarely now that the NES Online thing's on Switch.
I'm 37 and have no history with Atari from my past. I've played some of the games in their original form and just couldn't get in to it. For me, it would be the Atari era then.
I was playing River Raid on the Atari 2600 just the other day. I'm not going to spend an entire evening on something like that but that was never the point of it.
When you get older you realize games aren't necessarily getting better, they're just getting different. It's happening right now, with subscriptions and live services redefining the zeitgeist.
When you get older you realize games aren't necessarily getting better, they're just getting different. It's happening right now, with subscriptions and live services redefining the zeitgeist.
I play games from the NES/SNES/PS1/PS2 era quite a lot, but I would probably struggle to go back to a lot of older games without save states
Not to cheese them, but because it allows them to be pick up and play. If I need to run or I only have 20 mins to play, a lot of older games are not really feasible to play unless you don't expect to make any progress
I'm 32 and grew up playing games in the 90s
Building (well, making really) a Retro Pi has been one the best gaming decisions I've ever made
Not to cheese them, but because it allows them to be pick up and play. If I need to run or I only have 20 mins to play, a lot of older games are not really feasible to play unless you don't expect to make any progress
I'm 32 and grew up playing games in the 90s
Building (well, making really) a Retro Pi has been one the best gaming decisions I've ever made
Basically back to where I actually started, the SNES Mario All-Stars bundle. I would use the opportunity to catch up on all those classic games I missed the first time.
Unplayable is a strong term and would probably be earlier than the NES for me.
Realistically, I very rarely want to play anything any further back than Xbox 360/PS3. There are probably no more than 10 games in total I'll ever re-play from PS1 or PS2.
Realistically, I very rarely want to play anything any further back than Xbox 360/PS3. There are probably no more than 10 games in total I'll ever re-play from PS1 or PS2.
38. Would still play the earliest arcade games.
But when it comes to home consoles/computers, I don't think I could tolerate anything pre-C64 era.
But when it comes to home consoles/computers, I don't think I could tolerate anything pre-C64 era.
I don't have much interest in the early 3D games of the PSOne/N64, and find them hard to get back into these days, but I'm fine with the 8-bit home computer/console era. I was playing C64/Amstrad/Speccy long before a NES. Early Atari arcade ports I'm fine with (Missile Command etc), as they are accessible by nature, but the home console games not so much.
If I went back in time to being a kid I'd be waiting for Street Fighter 2 to come out to really engage me. Fighting game genre in general came out of the gate strong post-SFII, many clones, some trash, some good. The good ones really picked up after a few iterations.
I'm in my 40s and started with late 70s - early 80s arcade. Nothing is unplayable for me...
...except for PS1 games. The resolution on those is so bad that I prefer not to play them if I had a choice. (Ironically, my favorite game-- FFVII-- started on PS1, but I played the PC version first.) I think I've played through less than half a dozen PS1 games in my life. N64 is fine, for the record.
So yeah, pretty much everything except for the PS1. Probably not the sort of answer you were going for, but there it is.
...except for PS1 games. The resolution on those is so bad that I prefer not to play them if I had a choice. (Ironically, my favorite game-- FFVII-- started on PS1, but I played the PC version first.) I think I've played through less than half a dozen PS1 games in my life. N64 is fine, for the record.
So yeah, pretty much everything except for the PS1. Probably not the sort of answer you were going for, but there it is.
I don't have any experience with any console older than the Atari 2600, but I still enjoy those games and the arcade games from that era. I could probably enjoy Pong and Space War though.
46 here. Started with Space Invader machines at the seaside, and ZX Spectrum at home.
Unlike many of my peers I'm not into retro gaming. I'm delighted with the graphics we have now - though not the squeeze we've had that has banished many of the genres I loved to obscurity or history.
One of my all time favourite games is Microprose's F19 Stealth Fighter. The gameplay was really clever, as it was as much a stealth action game as it was a flight game. I recently bought it on Steam. In theory this PC version is even better graphically than the Atari ST version I spent many hours on in my teens. Fucking hell it was an ugly unplayable mess.
Truth be told, I'm happy on my Xbox One X and GTX1070 thanks. I don't really like playing last gen games.
The only contrary hill I will die on is I think people who say "anything less than 60fps is unplayable" are utter dicks.
Unlike many of my peers I'm not into retro gaming. I'm delighted with the graphics we have now - though not the squeeze we've had that has banished many of the genres I loved to obscurity or history.
One of my all time favourite games is Microprose's F19 Stealth Fighter. The gameplay was really clever, as it was as much a stealth action game as it was a flight game. I recently bought it on Steam. In theory this PC version is even better graphically than the Atari ST version I spent many hours on in my teens. Fucking hell it was an ugly unplayable mess.
Truth be told, I'm happy on my Xbox One X and GTX1070 thanks. I don't really like playing last gen games.
The only contrary hill I will die on is I think people who say "anything less than 60fps is unplayable" are utter dicks.
This. I could go back in time to 16 bit in a whim, but 8 bits have always looked ugly to me, even as a 12 years old C64 owner
