Old games that are better than newer ones!

[Fearless]

I still think the Doom games of old are just as good if not better than 95% of all the first person shooters out in the past 7-9 years. What other games easily kick newer games butts?:rockets:

[strassy]

by and large, old games are better than new games. i could give you a list with hundreds of games on it if you like...

[retroman]

By far the best football game ever, for me anyway. Super Tecmo Bowl 3 Final Edition for the SNES, or the first Super Tecmo Bowl for the NES

[tcv]

By far the best football game ever, for me anyway. Super Tecmo Bowl 3 Final Edition for the SNES, or the first Super Tecmo Bowl for the NES

Atari Football was even better than some football games. Guided passes! Yeah, that could've helped the Pats, but, alas... ;)

[DigitalSpace]

I could spend quite some time typing up a list of games for a response, but I'll just name one: Super Metroid.

[p_b]

Pong beats Virtua Tennis!!!

Seriously, Bubble Bobble is pretty much perfection to me.
The Super Mario platformers have never really been done better on modern systems as well.

[spoon]

I dunno I think NSMB is pretty damn good. Best Nintendo platformer since Mario 64.

I would side with old games. Games of yesteryear were designed to eat your quarters or be damn hard. Todays games are a bit different.

[CartCollector]

The reasons old games seem better are:

-People have had more time to sort out the good from the bad, and also to find cult classics (Earthbound and Chrono Trigger weren't originally popular, but are very popular now),

-On this forum, those who play old games can remember when the system they are on was state-of-the-art, and feel nostalgic when playing them, and

-After the fourth or fifth sequel, most series can't keep up the original quality that they had. Mega Man readily comes to mind. Also Tony Hawk.

There. Now get angry at me for raining on your parade.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Press_Start]

That's like naming all the great and underrated games from all previous systems, at least for me.

What really makes a game stand the test of time lies in one aspect: GAMEPLAY! :2gunfire:

[Graham Mitchell]

I still think the Doom games of old are just as good if not better than 95% of all the first person shooters out in the past 7-9 years. What other games easily kick newer games butts?:rockets:

I was playing Doom last weekend. It's still pretty fun if you haven't played it for awhile. Nice Ambience.

But in the same weekend I also played Bioshock and Call of Duty 4, and it's impossible for me to say with a straight face that I don't see progress. See, because the genre is so technology dependent, FPS is one of very few types of games where I feel they've actually gotten better over the years. I'm not that into them, and it's only the 360/Wii era of them that I've ever really spent a lot of time with, but I think Doom's Achille's heel is the fact that the z-coordinate in game space is purely artifactual. You can never look directly above or below you, and you'll notice that buildings can never be multitiered--for any x- and y-coordinated there is a designated z-coordinate, and you can't move within the z-axis. That's why there's no jumping.

I'm sure this was a technical limitation more than anything else, and as soon as Quake came out they eliminated that problem, thus making Quake a better game in my opinion. Quake also has a cooler environment than Doom, better sound effects and a pretty phenomenal soundtrack (by Trent Reznor of all people!).

So, for me, Doom is important in the history of FPS because it brought them to the forefront of popular attention, but it was eclipsed relatively quickly.

[calthaer]

I would generally say that a lot of action games, fighting games, and real-time-strategy games have gotten better over time.

But there are some cases - especially when it comes to games with real depth - that games have not gotten better over time. I have not seen another RPG since Ultima VII that has that sort of world that is really, truly vibrant and interactive. I was reading the other day about this game "Alternate Reality: The City," and couldn't believe some of the features that game had in it - and some of the features that were planned for the sequels - that have never been realized in any other games since. Seems to me that a lot of the smaller, risk-taking game devs in the West especially have been bought out or quit the industry.

On the other hand I would say that Gears of War is definitely better than Unreal 2 or something. It's just not better than the original Unreal...

[Eternal Champion]

I still think the Doom games of old are just as good if not better than 95% of all the first person shooters out in the past 7-9 years. What other games easily kick newer games butts?:rockets:
The old Dooms still kick butt, that's true. Actually I'll take Quake I over most FPS any day.
Now, then:
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II - one of my favorite FPS and is still the best Star Wars game.
Thief : The Dark Project and Thief II, System Shock 2
Aliens vs. Predator (Rebellion)

[Streetball 21]

I'd say Tecmo NBA Basketball is one of the best b-ball games. You can add Baseball Stars as one of the best baseball games as well.

[smokehouse]

Just being a member of this forum basically proves tat I believe most old games are better than current ones...

Don't get me wrong, there are some really good modern games but I just prefer older ones for various reasons...

Metroid, Castlevania, Mega Man, Contra, Super Mario, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, Sonic, Zelda...I could go on and on about what games I feel are better than their modern counterparts...

[MeTmKnice]

I would have to say that even tho newer games have great graphics and all, Most older games actually had substance and were challenging.

[Bloodreign]

I prefer older games myself, they keep me hooked on them, they are harder, don't have hours of cinema scenes, didn't need voice acting, and were generally quite solid. Not to mention I grew up playing them, so they hol a special place in my heart.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

I remember being really pissed off at Tomb Raider on the PS- because there were so many Goddamn buttons you have to hold down to do insanely precise jumps and such. It would really get my dick in a knot, if I was close to completing a stage... only to miss a ledge by an inch and fall to my death. I never finished those games because of the endless frustration. That said, I've had to look up instructions for several 2600 games because of their complexity. Starmaster, I'm looking at you.

[RJ]

I gave up on new games awhile back & have gone almost strictly retro. Recently I got back into Final DOOM (PS), & got Tatio Legends & NES Mendel Palace.

I was watching a newer X-Play show where they previewed a new Bourne Identity game, & Morgan Webb talked to a producer/someone associated w/ the game who explained why "this game is so different than the ones out there now."

They showed gameplay graphics & scenes- ducking & shooting, & fighting. Boy, havent seen THAT anywhere before.

I'll stick to my oldies, thank you very much.

[theMot]

I dont know how you can think old shooters like Doom are better than something like Bioshock or Gears. I think your going the rose coloured glass's route x 3 + 10 lol

You have to face the facts that things have progressed and in a much better way, superior graphics and sound do add tremendously to a game.

I think the real debate here is - are 2D games better than 3D ones... Take Zelda for example i think LTTP was pretty much the high point of the series, im not a fan of all 3D ones, the same can be said for Mario and Metroid. Thats why people look back on the SNES, GENESIS, NEO-GEO days with such fondness because that was the zenith of 2D gaming. 95% of everything went polygon after that.

[James8BitStar]

I dont know how you can think old shooters like Doom are better than something like Bioshock or Gears. I think your going the rose coloured glass's route x 3 + 10 lol

You have to face the facts that things have progressed and in a much better way, superior graphics and sound do add tremendously to a game.

Maybe they do, but are today's graphics and sound really superior? Its impossible to argue that the hardware isn't superior, but that doesn't mean the things created with it are.

I can easily see calling Doom superior to pretty much most FPSes today. Half-Life and Red Faction and Halo were good for what they were but they're just not the greatest. The main thing is that those are games you kinda have to dedicate yourself to, whereas Doom you can just load it up, play a level and be done with it.


I think the real debate here is - are 2D games better than 3D ones...

Depending on how you define 3D, I'd say yeah.

One of the big reasons IMO is just that 3D games drag. Using your own LTTP versus 3D Zeldas... in Link to the Past, you can get from point A to Point B in Hyrule, by foot, in under five minutes. In Ocarina of Time you can get from point A to point B in five minutes... if you're at Hyrule Castle and Point B is LonLon Ranch, and you have Epona, and she doesn't get hung up on any fences or anything when you whistle for her. Camera is also an issue that 2D never had.

I wrote a bigger list of reasons once, but it needs some re-thinking. In general though I find I always prefer 2D over 3D.

[Fearless]

plus, older rpg's werent so linear! Todays rpg's tell you you, go here next, then go here, then go here. Stick in some old rpgs like Bards Tale, Legacy of the ancients, Ultima, etc. you had to do some serious exploring just to see what you needed to do, it wasnt spoon fed to you.

[Rob2600]

Star Fox 64 is better than Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox Assault. Spy Hunter is better than the new Spy Hunter that was released a few years ago for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox. The original Rampage is better than Rampage: World Tour and Rampage: Universal Tour.


Atari Football was even better than some football games.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I agree that overall, old sports games are much more fun to play than new sports games. I'd rather play the original Bases Loaded, Baseball Stars, Double Dribble, Blades of Steel, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Tecmo Bowl, or Joe Montana Football instead of Triple Play, NBA 2K, NHL Faceoff, Knockout Kings, or Madden NFL any day.


Take Zelda for example i think LTTP was pretty much the high point of the series, im not a fan of all 3D ones

I agree that the old 2D versions of The Legend of Zelda were great, but Ocarina of Time was a masterpiece.

[James8BitStar]

plus, older rpg's werent so linear! Todays rpg's tell you you, go here next, then go here, then go here. Stick in some old rpgs like Bards Tale, Legacy of the ancients, Ultima, etc. you had to do some serious exploring just to see what you needed to do, it wasnt spoon fed to you.

Or then you had RPGs that start out linear but then let you find your own way once you got to a certain point (pretty much any NES or SMS RPG and more than a few PC ones). Yeah, I love that because it feels more like an adventure that way.

[blue lander]

I don't know. Every time I think "the current generation of games suck! I'm sticking with my Atari and NES", five years later when the system goes obsolete, I find out that there were quite a few excellent games that I missed out on. It's happening now with the XBox.

And I'd normally agree that no FPS has ever been better than DOOM, but that was until I played Serious Sam 1 and 2...

[Rob2600]

I'd normally agree that no FPS has ever been better than DOOM, but that was until I played Serious Sam 1 and 2...

I thought Perfect Dark was great. Goldeneye 007, Turok 3, and XIII were fun, too.

[Daft Punk]

By far the best football game ever, for me anyway. Super Tecmo Bowl 3 Final Edition for the SNES, or the first Super Tecmo Bowl for the NES

I was going to say the same thing! Long live NES tecmo bowl!

[Eternal Champion]

plus, older rpg's werent so linear! Todays rpg's tell you you, go here next, then go here, then go here. Stick in some old rpgs like Bards Tale, Legacy of the ancients, Ultima, etc. you had to do some serious exploring just to see what you needed to do, it wasnt spoon fed to you.
Oh my God, so true. Even back to FFIII on SNES, just too linear for me. The old Metroid felt less linear! Eh, I'll take Phantasy Star II over any Final Fantasy.

[Trebuken]

Older games are much easier to pick up and play...you don't have to adjust or take time to get into them...that's why they seem superior.

Current games are just as good.

Ultima VII was awesome but Morrowind and Oblivion are superior by a hair.

No Unreal game can compare to Unreal Tournament 3. (IMO)

I enjoyed Doom 3 as much as the original Doom but the original is more replayable.

I think games are better but they are not as casual. Even the handheld games are tougher to just pick up and play.

It's remarkable how the greatest games of the past remain among the greatest games despite technology.

[whoisKeel]

I wouldn't say that Doom or Quake are BETTER than Bioshock or Gears, but I don't think that the genre has evolved much since the Quake series. Gears had great co-op, and Bioshock had an OK story, for a FPS, but given that there's 10+ years in-between, that's not really saying much. Because of this, Gears and Bioshock strike me as less memorable, they don't break the same ground that those early id games did. I like all 4 games, Bioshock being the only one that I will probably never play again.

It's tough to compare newer sequels to originals, and really unfair to this generation. I mean, of course, the original Spy Hunter is better, you can't re-invigorate a franchise 20 years later unless your name ends in in Lucas. I think it would be more fair to compare Spy Hunter to the Burnout series, since it could be argued that they target the same demographic.

On that same note, I think Super Mario Galaxy is comparable to Super Mario World. Other than the purple coin thing, which left a bad taste in my mouth, I think that game serves as a great example of updating a franchise for this generation.

[calthaer]

Ultima VII was awesome but Morrowind and Oblivion are superior by a hair.

KEEP MOVING.

[James8BitStar]

Oh my God, so true. Even back to FFIII on SNES, just too linear for me. The old Metroid felt less linear! Eh, I'll take Phantasy Star II over any Final Fantasy.

... Errr, what? Phantasy Star II is in no way, shape, or form less linear than FF6.

[bazariah]

It's remarkable how the greatest games of the past remain among the greatest games despite technology.


it's realy not, i'd say it's no different from film IMO.. the technology and means to play just moves onyet the greats will allways be there
like there are movies from 30 years ago which are still great to watch today

examples:
star wars trilogy (4-6) beats star wars trilogy (1-3)
alien/aliens & lastly predator beat the aliens vs predator movies
dawn of the dead? i'd take the original over the 2004 remake

but i'd take
the halloween remake over the original
transformers live action over transformers 1986 animated


when it comes to this topic
i'd take street fighter 2 hyper fighting over any 3-d beat em up
super mario bros 3 over mario galaxy
mega man 2 over mega man x8

but then on the same basis i'd get more satisfaction out of playing
dead rising over resident evil (which is a game i adore)
halo 3 over doom
new super mario bros over super mario bros

so it's not so much of a what is better, it's more of a deal of what you prefer.. therea are many shining examples of greatness from the last 30 years of gaming, but there are also many more to come.. this runs parrellell to movies, film and books, no matter which way you slice it theres bound to be something awesome which is relevant to your particular tastes.

[Dreamcast]

Duke Nukem 3D is a hard find to be better. it's level design is very unique and the way the blood droops off the wall.

[sidnotcrazy]

Modern games still hold some interest to me, but the number of games I buy for next-gen systems keeps dwindling. I think there are some classic games that have not been eclipsed by modern titles, and will likely never be. You can get angry, and write it off as nostalgia, but it’s the truth. In some ways a good 35% of modern games just simply ride the coattails of what has come before them.

[Blitzwing256]

transformers live action over transformers 1986 animated




I...don't think we can be friends anymore.

[YrGod]

I honestly enjoy splatterhouse more then I do any of the new resident evil/silent hill/horror games of today.

[Rob2600]

transformers live action over transformers 1986 animated

I just read that. Wow. I don't know what to say. The Transformers: The Movie (1986) is a masterpiece. Transformers (2007) is an embarrassment.


alien/aliens & lastly predator beat the aliens vs predator movies
street fighter 2 hyper fighting over any 3-d beat em up
mega man 2 over mega man x8

At least we agree on a few things.

[bangtango]

Games certainly have more customization, options and unlockable content than they used to. They are better that way. Take Mega Man 2. Probably the best Mega Man game and better than any of the newer ones. However, if it were released today then you would almost certainly get to change the color of Mega Man's outfit or after beating the game you'd probably be able to go back through it playing as any of the other robots (i.e. Metal Man or Air Man) and be able to collect power-ups the same way Mega Man does after beating the other robot masters. I would have loved to do that on the NES, rip through Mega Man 2 as Quick Man or Heat Man, starting with their powers and gradually adding to your arsenal after beating other robots. All while having unlimited firepower of the weapon for the robot you pick (like Mega Man's gun) without needing to collect weapon energy for the guy you are using. It'd be a feeling similar to going through the old Sonic games as Knuckles when Sonic & Knuckles came out.

Now let's talk sports games. Let's face it. The options, stat tracking and season/franchise modes are far and away better than what we used to get in the old days with password systems or single game exhibitions without a full season mode. Fantasy drafts are just awesome. I will say this, though. The gameplay isn't always better in the newer sports titles. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. That debate will go on forever. I like lots of 8/16-bit titles, some of the stuff from the PS1/Saturn/DC era and plenty of newer stuff in the sports genre (since PS2).

[Rob2600]

let's talk sports games. Let's face it. The options, stat tracking and season/franchise modes are far and away better than what we used to get in the old days with password systems or single game exhibitions without a full season mode. Fantasy drafts are just awesome. I will say this, though. The gameplay isn't always better in the newer sports titles. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. That debate will go on forever. I like lots of 8/16-bit titles, some of the stuff from the PS1/Saturn/DC era and plenty of newer stuff in the sports genre (since PS2).

I know that modern sports games are very popular and that's fine, but to me, they're unplayable. I can't memorize which button does what.

"Hey Rob, you should try out this new basketball game. It's easy. A is to pass, B is to shoot, C is to steal, D is to switch to a different player, L1 is to dunk, L2 is to foul, R1 is to call a time out, R2 is to throw chairs into the audience..."

"Wait, how do I pass again?"

Good old sports games are fast, simple, and fun (Blades of Steel, Double Dribble, Tecmo Bowl, Bases Loaded, etc.). Of course, bad old sports games are just bad.

NCAA Basketball on the SNES is my cutoff for realistic sports games. I played that game a lot, but I think most realistic sports games after that era are too complicated. I'm fine with most modern arcade-style sports games though (NBA Hang Time, NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC, Virtua Tennis, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, Sega Soccer Slam, Beach Spikers, etc.). I also think the Mario Golf games are fun.

I'd also rather play a simple, arcade-style racing game than a complicated racing simulation.

[bazariah]

I...don't think we can be friends anymore.

i missed out a bit on my post thus that is out of context, plus i was tired having had little sleep

i like both very much


transformers 2007 live action is the film i would watch now over the 1986 animated, if both were handed to me.. but that is in relation to how many times i've seen live (3) over animated (100+)

transformers 1986 animated, is a part of my childhood.. i love the animation (even the mistakes and continuity errors) i love the music, i love the story.. and i still to this day shed a tear when prime dies

so in reality what i meant over that quote is that i would prefer to watch live action over the animated in this point of time due to my relativly low experience with the film compared to the animated

but overall the animated is a much better movie

[murdoc rose]

By far the best football game ever, for me anyway. Super Tecmo Bowl 3 Final Edition for the SNES, or the first Super Tecmo Bowl for the NES

so true

[murdoc rose]

I'd say Tecmo NBA Basketball is one of the best b-ball games. You can add Baseball Stars as one of the best baseball games as well.

I think your forgetting rbi and all of the newer rbi 94 but I think 3 stands out as the best imo.

[k8track]

You know, I just don't and can't think of any game from the 90s as being "old"! It just seems like yesterday to me. I still think of them as being pretty modern.

That being said, I am very much skewed towards the classic era (8-bit and especially pre-crash of 1984). In all fairness, my answer wouldn't be too meaningful because my default, gut response would be "all 'older' games are better!"

I also ride an old pack mule and use smoke signals (but I accidentally burned down an old shack and used up all my minutes last month).

[Rob2600]

can't think of any game from the 90s as being "old"! It just seems like yesterday to me. I still think of them as being pretty modern.

I'm the same way when it comes to 90s alternative rock.

[drdrew1469]

short answer: all of them.

long answer: all of them are.

[spoon]

I'm the same way when it comes to 90s alternative rock.

+1 for 90s rock kicking ass. MAF!

[zerohero]

I'd say the playing field is pretty even. I mean yea, I love my classics, and many of them are 10x better than alot of crap that comes out today, but with games like Bioshock being made, and interactivity getting better and better these days in gaming, sometimes I dont mind the trade off.



I still want to play The Lunar Silver Star story one day...

[Clownzilla]

I'd say Tecmo NBA Basketball is one of the best b-ball games. You can add Baseball Stars as one of the best baseball games as well.

I have to agree. What makes Tecmo NBA Basketball, Tecmo Bowl, Baseball Stars, etc. so great is that you can pick them up and play. There is no ridiculous 3D effects, complex control schemes, load times, etc.. It's just pure sports. Now, I do enjoy a game of Madden occasionally (I stress OCCASIONALLY), but nothing beats the pureness of the classic sports games.

[Dreamc@sting]

My favorite FPS of all time is STILL - Rise of the Triad!

Same with platformers and rpg's - platformers dont do it for me the way they used to...I remember the first time I saved the wrong princess....ahh memories...

[James8BitStar]

My favorite FPS of all time is STILL - Rise of the Triad!

Ah yes. The Super Mario FPS.

Has anyone ever actually beaten that secret level that causes the game to crash?

[Hyper_Sonic]

Yeah I can still play Doom today and not get bored with it.

But personally the games that I still go back to all the time are the Genesis Sonic games. Not so much Sonic 3D Blast, but the other ones. While Sonic Adventure was really fun, it never really felt like a Sonic game and I haven't been able to really get into any of the other 3D Sonic games that have come out recently. The only ones that I still play are the Game Boy Advance games and the Rush series on DS. And that's because they are 2D.

[StBob]

Hmmm Arcade wise I have to admit I was a speed junkie. Defender was my game. Won a trip to FL, TVs and a Arcade machine playing that and Stargate. I got tired of wasting quarters at the arcade so i decided to get good at one or two games. It worked.

Best old games??

1. MULE - best 4 player game (SAME room) in history, has not been surpassed yet.
2. Quake2 CTF - God this game took a hunk of flesh from me. Did the clan thing, was on three #1 CTF clans, even played EUROS best which was a joke as one team got super lag.
3. Quake 1 - Liked it because it was FAST. I was a semi newbie when Thresh did his thing. Surpassed them in Q2. I quite when Q3 came out, just too slow for me. The new stuff is too slow as well. Unreal 2004 comes the closest but I'm done with online.
4. Warcraft II - almost as bad as Q2. Made it to 47 on world ladder, brain just about melted after that match. The guy I played said "3 hours just to loose" I thought about it and said yea time to quit. Never played it again.

[LensLarque]

One thing about newer/modern games: how often do you guys see the GAME OVER screen while playing them ?

What's become of the 'challenge' ?
I beat the game or get my ass kicked. Then with perseverence I'll eventually master it and reach godlike skill level, like the hypnotic heavenly performace orgasm of a 1-life clear of a psycho-like danmaku.

Someone pal told me just minutes ago that arcade games sucked because they were too short.
Bleh...:2gunfire:

[guitargary75]

Super mario brothers.

[Kevincal]

I played some SFII: CE on my Genesis today... It had been a long time. That game is so perfect it's scary...

[The 1 2 P]

I still think Bust A Groove is bettter than the majority of DDR games. I never get tired of playing them and wish they would have gotten alittle more mainstream exposure.

[PentiumMMX]

Some examples IMO:

- Crash Bandicoot (The Naughty Dog era was better than the newer stuff)
- Diddy Kong Racing (The original was a lot better than the DS remake)