Thought this topic up on the shitter. This is going to be an interesting one, there's going to be alot of varying opinions but that's what good discussion is. See my bahtroom book is the Encyclopedia of Game Machines and I was reading the early half of the book seeing old C64 games, 2600, SInclair Spectrum games, and I got thinking about how well alot of those are aging. The main reason I don't collect or own a 2600 is becasue there aren't many timeless games left on it. Tempest is always going to be a classic as will Breakout and Super Breakout, Adventure has it's place in history as the Prototype for what would become Zelda but for the most part I don't think those games are aging well. I also don't think early 3d games are aging well alot of them still playwell but some just don't have the magic anymore. Final Fantasy VII is a fanboy wetdream but I really can't play it it's a game I feel isn't aging well either, so many better RPGs were made after it and there are plenty on the SNES that stomp all over it. So that's that's my two cents for now, when I can post from someplace that won't format what I'm typing as a wall of Text (I'm on my PS3) I'll elaborate more.
Old 2D PC games with realtime action aren't aging well except for C64 games and other exceptions... NEC PC-80 and Sharp X1 games are unplayable basically, and I don't need to say anything about the ZX Spectrum...
Burning Rangers looked bad even back then. The game is fun and the premise is interesting, but from a technical stand point it has aged pretty terribly.
Final Fanasty 6, Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, Chrono Trigger, & definitely Donkey Kong Country has not age well at all!
Super Mario Kart is the best MK game, all the recent ones are just ADHD item lottery trash, including 8.
Not sure if trolling or not. Pretty much any racing game before the Xbox/PS2/DC/GC era (other than the top down ones) haven't aged well. Console strategy games are usually bad to begin with. FMV games from the 90s with their resolution turned down enough to fit on a CD also aged poorly.
But not Saturn ones amirite? Don't see how you can say all JRPGs is it because of linearity? I do not mind that too much and anyone else that thinks the same will still enjoy them. Chrono Trigger may be overrated, but having played it recently it felt like it would transfer well to a modern system if it had upgraded graphics. In addition SE ported to the DS with a few new areas solely and sold many copies.
Out Run, Daytona USA, Ridge Racer, Sega Rally... Yes, because Saturn games are mostly arcade-style, and those age really well. Linearity doesn't bother me, but archaic user interfaces and random encounters every three steps do. Chrono Trigger has indeed aged well as has Earthbound and a few others, but mostly they're a pain in the ass and not really worth it anymore.
Point taken *other than arcade ones made by SEGA (a lot of the console ports aren't great, even the Saturn Daytona USA Circuit edition)
Design choices go a long way. Games that try to look more realistic than the hardware was designed for, have types of bugs and frustrating elements who'd never pass competent QA standards in similar modern games, or are based upon fads.
First two post's say exactly what I want to. Old 2D PC games tend to have very stiff control, & many old PS1/N64 titles aged horribly, as it was pretty much the beginning of 3d environments & camera control.
Was playing Super Metroid the other day and I did think "Why does everyone thing this game is amazing?". Controls feel fiddly and awful, the constant running around and backtracking are annoying. Just don't understand why people rate it so much. LTTP on the other hand,
True but, personally i just don't see the fundamental on Super Mario Kart and stuff, other then being people's nostalgia. I found better racers on retro PC than SNES's in my opinion without that Mode 7 crap! it worked on people the first time but, even so after that game's release nearly EVERY SINGLE game (even ones that didn't needed it) used it. Yes some games do work with it pretty well, (Mostly Jrpgs) but puzzle, sports, some platformers & tabletop ones don't really need it to begin with. It's ridiculous how some doesn't acknowledge this gimmicky flaw but while Sega's games on the Genesis people gets to easily pick on it but it's never Super Nintendo's case! [Rant done]
I can't vouch for Super Metroid becuase SHOCK I have never played it. Short of 10 mins with the first I can't say I've ever played a Metroid game. But I don't know why anyone would say Chrono Trigger hasn't aged well. It's a masterpiece The art, the music, the story, multiple endings, great battle system. Only RPG I revere mroe than Chrono Trigger is another game Yosunori Mitsuda scored and that's Xenogears.
Early 3d that tried to look realistic usually aged very poorly. Early 3d that looked cartoonish or otherwise embraced the hardware limitation instead of trying to defeat it usually aged better. for exemple, I think crash banticoot aged pretty well for an old 3d game. Old 2D games that had choppy scrolling aged poorly imho. This is the case for some old PC game and most MSX stuff. By contrast, I think smooth scrolling is one of the reason why commodore 64 aged pretty well.
