Games you thought were awesome until you went and replayed them years later

[The 1 2 P]

Actually a lot of 2600 games control faster than a lot of modern games. Kaboom and Indy 500 come to mind. Stuff like Demon Attack & Spider Fighter control pretty slick too. They may have "horrible" graphics depending on your perspective.. but horrible to control?.. no way. ;)

They don't control better than any current gen games I play. And I'm sure I don't need to remind you that the 2600 controller was a cramp inducing, blister causing mofo. I actually use to like Spider Fighter and Space Invaders. What modern games do you think they control faster then? And by "faster" we are talking about response time from controller command to onscreen action correct?

[Edmond Dantes]

In general, I find I don't really like the Beat-Em-Up genre (TMNT IV, Final Fight, Double Dragon etc) as much as I did before.

A friend of mine put it in context: Back in the day, I had people to actually play it with. But now my friends all live two hours away and have wives and kids and I'm about to go that way myself. It's hard to find the time to get together, and when we are together for some reason video gaming just doesn't seem like the thing to do.

It reminds me of something Sid Meier said when he explained why the original Civilization had no multiplayer mode: "The whole point of a video game is that you don't need a second player!" Not entirely sure I agree with that, but the appeal of multiplayer games has dampened big time for me in recent years.

[Steven]

I don't think Super Mario World is as good as it was back in the day. With New Super Mario Bros Wii, ol Mario World seems pretty stale.

BLASPHEMY!

Just kidding. Well, maybe not :p



In general, I find I don't really like the Beat-Em-Up genre (TMNT IV, Final Fight, Double Dragon etc) as much as I did before.

A friend of mine put it in context: Back in the day, I had people to actually play it with. But now my friends all live two hours away and have wives and kids and I'm about to go that way myself. It's hard to find the time to get together, and when we are together for some reason video gaming just doesn't seem like the thing to do.

It reminds me of something Sid Meier said when he explained why the original Civilization had no multiplayer mode: "The whole point of a video game is that you don't need a second player!" Not entirely sure I agree with that, but the appeal of multiplayer games has dampened big time for me in recent years.


I also think, when we were little kids, there was something naturally awesome about beat 'em ups. Sure I love platformers, but when I was 7 there was nothing quite like cleaning up the streets with my older brother in tow. There was a macho, bad-ass feeling about games like Double Dragon and Turtles in Time. Now that we're older, that natural child-like wonder with the genre has faded somewhat, I think, anyhow.

It is hard to find time together with friends for games today. Once in a rare while I get the odd 4 player Bomberman going, or my bro and I will bust out a beat em up like we did 20 years ago, and it'll be awesome while it lasts. But yeah, most of my gaming is done individually these days. Last Christmas though had a family gathering and carved out some awesome new memories playing Turtles in Time and Super Bomberman 2 with my cousins :)

[Atarileaf]

They don't control better than any current gen games I play. And I'm sure I don't need to remind you that the 2600 controller was a cramp inducing, blister causing mofo. I actually use to like Spider Fighter and Space Invaders. What modern games do you think they control faster then? And by "faster" we are talking about response time from controller command to onscreen action correct?

There are plenty of alternatives. I love the Wico sticks - high quality joysticks that feel great in the hand. I never had problems with the regular cx-40's though although many people don't like them.

[bangtango]

Altered Beast. I wasn't infatuated with it like a lot of people were, but I did get roped in with the presentation and the whole "WISE FWOM YO GWAVE" thing. Plus, it was the only Genesis game I had when I got the system.

I played it a couple years ago on the Genesis collection for the 360. What a piece of shit. It's not even playable. It's so cheap that it's impossible to develop any kind of technique to keep you from getting whacked repeatedly. It's such a turd in terms of gameplay, and it's just shocking that it got ported to EVERYTHING!

The Genesis version of Golden Axe is something I loved back in the 90's. Now I find it so obnoxiously frustrating I can't take it after a couple minutes. If an enemy gets a few swipes in, you're dead. It's so unfair. The arcade version is probably just as bad, but at least it's more colorful and sounds better.


Surviving Altered Beast is all about making sure you change into that level's creature as quickly as possible. Meaning getting each of the crystals on the very first try. Because if you don't, as you probably remember, each individual level will take either 2 or 3 times as long as complete and require that you defeat an increasing number of enemies before facing the boss character. Nothing says "80's arcade gaming" like punishing novice players by making the game harder if they don't perform well. :roll:

Golden Axe is best played by using the jumping/slashing attack or by utilizing the fire breathing dragons. Trying to use each character's running attack or trying to confront enemies face to face on the ground is suicidal.

[bangtango]

I recently played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Arcade Game for the NES for the first time in years (at least 15 as best I can reckon). Perhaps, in days gone by, my enjoyment of this game was fueled by my love of TMNT, or it might well have been the case that the monotony was dulled with a second player to share the experience with, but there is no pleasure to be found in playing the game in 2011. None. It is just endless foot soldier after foot soldier testing my will power to play through the entire game in order to justify the $8 I spent on ebay to buy the game again. Without hyperbole I can confidently say that this is THE least fun NES game that I have played since I picked up collecting NES games about a year ago.

Boring? Yes.

If I remember right, didn't most of the advertising for the NES version proudly brag about the game containing "more than 700 enemies" for the Turtles to battle?

[Ackman]

My cousins and I played Turtles in Time last Christmas together. It was still a blast! I'll never tire of the throwing the foot soldier into the screen move. Still cool today :)

Yeah I still love beat em ups, they get so relaxing once you're good at them. Return of the Double Dragon/Double Dragon Advance for the SNES/GBA are still awesome. And you can always play them again after a while, so great replay value, with most modern games I hardly ever replay them. I will say that the better the combat system of a beat em up the more fun it is. I find Final Fight hard to play because you don't have many moves, altho it is very therapeutic to play when your good at it.

[Patney]

Secret of the Stars. I remember it as this awesome and immersive adventure with interesting characters (I couldn't read english at the time though as I was a kid!) and fun combat. After finally discovering what "that one awesome RPG I played as a kid" was called I quickly downloaded a ROM to play it and it was just this bland piece of garbage with extremely slow gameplay in every aspect. And the graphics would be nice on a NES; they are horrible for a SNES game!


Some of the comments in this thread shock me. Resident Evil 2?! I still enjoy that game now and then, it's one of my all time favorites. Silent Hill? Sure it hasn't aged as good as its sequels but it's still atmospheric and overall a great game. Super Mario World?? I'll never tire of that classic. SUPER F***ING METROID?? I played it for my first time a few years ago and it's one of the most amazing games I've played!

[bangtango]

Some of the comments in this thread shock me. Resident Evil 2?! I still enjoy that game now and then, it's one of my all time favorites.

I agree. Too many graphics whores and too many people who buy into the online blog and podcast hype about how awful "old" Resident Evil games were because of the tank control scheme, item system or corny voice acting.

Personally, I enjoyed the simpler, tighter, more compact storyline with 4 different scenarios which helped to tie the story together and tell it better. Graphics that are still good today which highlight very detailed environments.

What's not to like about RE2?

[Patney]

I'm not gonna lie, I would love a remake of Resident Evil 2. As long as they kept the control scheme, because I agree with you, unrealistic controls does not mean it's a bad game. The entire game was designed around the control scheme anyway, if you have a hard time it's mostly the players fault. And the camera angles are important to add crucial atmosphere and highlight items of interest. An example: In Silent Hill 1-4 the angle changed every time there was a key item around (like a dramatic angle from a table surface with a key item in focus), while in the newest Silent Hill: Downpour you get giant messages on screen telling you to press A because this item is important. Huge immersion breaker for me. The reason I used Silent Hill as an example instead of Resident Evil is because the newer RE's don't even have key items/puzzles.

[369WIERDO369]

Adventure for the 2600, and City Connection for the NES.

Wouldn't stop playing either the first time I did...now I never want to play either ever again.

[kupomogli]

What's not to like about RE2?

Absolutely nothing. Resident Evil 2 is an amazing game and the best in the series. Outbreak allows you to use the DMC movement style, but I still use the original movement style.

Not an old game at all, but Outbreak is also an amazing game aside from the awful load times. If you have the PS2HDD for the fat PS2 or you can look past the load times, the game is well worth playing. The second one is just as good. If Outbreak 1 and 2 get an PS3 HD remake, I'm getting it day one. Let's just hope they fix those load times and add some servers for online.

[Eternal Champion]

I'm not old enough to have played it in 1987, but I could never get into the original Metroid at all. And I liked Super Metroid a lot. Metroid just feels kind of clunky and awkward. I think there's a lot of NES games and other games from that era (and some games from other eras too, but not as much) that have this barrier to entry. Once you overcome the barrier -- when you are able to "get into" the game and get used to its flaws/idiosyncrasies -- there's a great game under there. A significant number of people can appreciate the game and enjoy it for what it is. But for a lot of people it'll be, play it for 7 minutes, it sucks, turn it off. I suspect that many of the posts in this thread, and many "this game didn't age well" type statements in general, are reflective of a person's reduced patience for this sort of thing.I think you had to be there. Man, I came from 2600 and Colecovision and here's this game with no map, no clues, tough luck! What a bitch but damn it was exciting to explore that world. No game since has compared to that (map rooms and all that guided shit...).
But I agree about patience - I don't have the patience really for that kind of thing anymore. For one, I don't have hours upon hours of leisure time.

[Sunnyvale]

OK, I'm sure to offend a few, But FF on the NES. Damn, unless I'm doing something else at the same time, I never touch it. Combat takes an hour, doesn't auto-reassign attacks, everything is a cakewalk until you get slaughtered to a man... Weak. And any fetch-quest from the 80's fits that bill, as well. Loved em then, hate em now.

[Sunnyvale]

What's not to like about RE2?

It's a fetch quest.

[Edmond Dantes]

I don't think Super Mario World is as good as it was back in the day. With New Super Mario Bros Wii, ol Mario World seems pretty stale.

I disagree here. I've tried New SMB Wii and wasn't impressed, but I just played through SMW and was genuinely hooked from beginning to end and even found all the secrets again, something I don't usually bother with on replays.

[kupomogli]

What's not to like about RE2?


It's a fetch quest.

What? Granted you can say that yes, it is a fetch quest because you're required to get an object to proceed, but it's not a fetch quest in the same sense as something like Animal Crossing for instance. "Crackhead neighbor borrowed my shirt, please get it back." Or, random game, "Go get this for me, okay, now that you got it, can you bring them this, then bring this back."

Every Zelda game would essentially be a fetch quest. But you have to look at what people really base a fetch quest off of, and it's more than just collecting items to get further in a game. Fetch quests usually involve a lot of repetition of bring the same items back and forth between the same locations. Super Mario 64 gathering all the stars for example.


OK, I'm sure to offend a few, But FF on the NES. Damn, unless I'm doing something else at the same time, I never touch it. Combat takes an hour, doesn't auto-reassign attacks, everything is a cakewalk until you get slaughtered to a man... Weak. And any fetch-quest from the 80's fits that bill, as well. Loved em then, hate em now.

Combat doesn't take an hour. Attacks not auto assigning, certain spells being single target, etc, gives the game more depth the most games in the series. It forces you to learn your targets HP levels, around how much damage your characters take off, the weaknesses of the enemies if you have a Red/Black Mage, etc.

[spongerob]

RE2 was my obsession until I discovered SH2. I still love RE2 to this day and would love a remake. Just, keep the atmosphere. The mood and atmosphere of that game would be lost in the quest to produce amazing graphics with no sense of immersion.

[Edmond Dantes]

I gotta agree that FF1 really isn't that bad. I actually prefer the NES version to the remakes (which I feel "wussified" the game). The drawbacks of the NES game just meant you had to be more strategic and not just mash attack all the time, and the grinding was nowhere near that ridiculous.

[Sunnyvale]

What? Granted you can say that yes, it is a fetch quest because you're required to get an object to proceed, but it's not a fetch quest in the same sense as something like Animal Crossing for instance. "Crackhead neighbor borrowed my shirt, please get it back." Or, random game, "Go get this for me, okay, now that you got it, can you bring them this, then bring this back."

I will start by pointing out the ridiculous circumstances of the Police Station where the game is spent. Go to the statue, get an item, return to the statue... Sounds like your definition of fetch quest to me. The mansion in Res Evil 1 was at least somewhat feasible, but all of those tricks and secret doors in a police station? And you spend 75% of the game looking, not fighting, unless you already know it by heart. I loved that crap when I had all the time in the world, but nowadays, not so much.

[Sunnyvale]

Knew I'd get grief bashing FF! Strategic I've heard twice now. How much strategy does it really take? Go through the dungeon, run from everything worthless, fight everything worthwhile, and then run into 10 of those R Gargoyles (can't remeber their names). Wipe out your party in a round, Ice Swords n Shields or no. So you run from them, too. Until you get surprised. As for the assigning combat, it's random as to whether or not your spells are even very effective! Certain enemies, if your fighter attacks em first (hit or miss) your spell will be more potent. And the opposite is true. And the same for attacks; if your spell hits first, some enemies take less damage from melee. Strategic? Seems more like a crap shoot to me. IMHO, the only reason it suceeded where so many others failed is because you didn't get to the end of the game to find you had accidentally dropped the orb you need. I know lots of us love it, I know that it's one of the top selling titles of all time (FF in general), I know it was groundbreaking... I know it's a 'classic'. So was Elvis. I don't like him, either.

[bangtango]

I will start by pointing out the ridiculous circumstances of the Police Station where the game is spent. Go to the statue, get an item, return to the statue... Sounds like your definition of fetch quest to me. The mansion in Res Evil 1 was at least somewhat feasible, but all of those tricks and secret doors in a police station? And you spend 75% of the game looking, not fighting, unless you already know it by heart. I loved that crap when I had all the time in the world, but nowadays, not so much.

Not going to get into the fetch quest argument because your logic could also convert Pac Man into a "fetch quest" (gotta get those dots). Sorry if I come across as a jerk here. :roll: That isn't my intent.

My main reason for responding is that the police station is a darn sight better than some of the harebrained settings that we've seen in the last few Resident Evil games (any of them following RE3). At least it is moderately believable. I wish the series would go back to basics, that's for sure.

Besides, don't most "good" gamers finish the game in something like 2-3 hours? That ain't too long in my book.

[Sunnyvale]

OK, I understand what you're saying. I, too, have no intention of being a jack-ass, sorry if I appeared that way. I agree RE has gone far from its roots, but like so many others on this thread, I found my tastes have changed as my hair has greyed O_o Give me a shmup or a platformer anyday. I can play the original Zelda, Metroid, and even FF. But that's because I know those games well. Still, it's short lived, and only when I'm half-playing. I recently sold a NES with Zelda and a handful of other games locally to a 19 year old. When he next bought games from me, he complained about the original Zelda, and not the music or the graphics, but the difficulty. He didn't want to have to get help online, but he couldn't figure out how to find level 5. RE2 is one of those; unless you know where to go, pack a lunch. For nostalgia, sure thing. For completing the game, give me Rygar anyday. (Rygar? Seriously?!?)

I will elaborate on my personal definition of fetch quest. If the game forces you to search for something before you can continue, if the possibility exists of getting lost, if you are liable to spend hours looking under rocks if you forget something, if you have to go online to find where something is, if vast portions of the game are off-limits until you overturn the right rock, then I call it a fetch quest.

[kupomogli]

You don't have to know where to go in the Resident Evil games. It's all about exploration. What's this? I'm in a new room? There's a door over here? Damn, locked. I need this key. Hmm. What's this on the top of the file cabinet? 30 minutes later. Found key with a heart shaped symbol? Didn't I see a door with this earlier?

On the original Final Fantasy. Here's a hint. Stop running from enemies. Your hit ratio on the game is determined by your level(stats,) and the weapon you're using. You won't miss often except early on in the game, and by the time you get to Elfland and upgraded from something other than the rapier, you probably won't be missing at all, regardless of enemy. You might get one or two less hits than normal, but that's it.

[Sunnyvale]

You don't have to know where to go in the Resident Evil games. It's all about exploration. What's this? I'm in a new room? There's a door over here? Damn, locked. I need this key. Hmm. What's this on the top of the file cabinet? 30 minutes later. Found key with a heart shaped symbol? Didn't I see a door with this earlier?

On the original Final Fantasy. Here's a hint. Stop running from enemies. Your hit ratio on the game is determined by your level(stats,) and the weapon you're using. You won't miss often except early on in the game, and by the time you get to Elfland and upgraded from something other than the rapier, you probably won't be missing at all, regardless of enemy. You might get one or two less hits than normal, but that's it.

Thanks for the hint on FF, but I'm not talkiing about the begining, I'm talking about when you are leveled a bit. You fight every enemy in the ocean after you're level 15? When you go back after getting the Mystic Key, do you kill every wolf? That's what I mean. And if you do, wow, I have nowhere near that kind of time.

As for RE, unless you know where everything is, you run back and forth. Hand the game to someone who's never played it, but can rock L4D on expert, and watch them get lost, run back and forth, and generally not fight zombies. As for the key on the file cabinet, would that be the key you have to push the ladder (or crate or whatever, I forget) to the exact right spot to find? Nostalgia, yes. Fun game, not for me.

[Patney]

I played Resident Evil when I was 6 years old and I never had any issues just because the game didn't tell me exactly where to find what I needed. I miss the times when exploration was encouraged :bawling:
And why compare L4D with RE? They're drastically different games. L4D is all about shooting zombies for fun (very arcadey game), RE is all about ambience and survival (until RE4 came and changed everything).

Also, Resident Evil 2, a fetch quest? Oh please, you must lack a soul if you didn't notice the flawless atmosphere and failed to appreciate the deliciously cheesy plot and dialogue. I weep for you.

[Aussie2B]

Geez, what's with everyone throwing around "fetch quest" improperly lately? Games like Resident Evil 2 and Super Mario 64 are NOT fetch quests for crying out loud, people. There isn't a precise definition for a fetch quest, but you should know it when you see it. Like if you're playing an RPG and get to a town where a NPC has a key you need to open the next dungeon but won't give it to you until you go to some mountain and fight a monster to get a special herb that will cure his sister's mysterious illness (all of which is never heard of again after it's over), THAT is a fetch quest. A platformer with a variety of different goals to complete its stages is NOT a fetch quest.

[Sunnyvale]

Geez, what's with everyone throwing around "fetch quest" improperly lately? Games like Resident Evil 2 and Super Mario 64 are NOT fetch quests for crying out loud, people. There isn't a precise definition for a fetch quest, but you should know it when you see it. Like if you're playing an RPG and get to a town where a NPC has a key you need to open the next dungeon but won't give it to you until you go to some mountain and fight a monster to get a special herb that will cure his sister's mysterious illness (all of which is never heard of again after it's over), THAT is a fetch quest. A platformer with a variety of different goals to complete its stages is NOT a fetch quest.

Just because you shoot the zombies instead of telling your sprite to doesn't immediately make it not a fetch quest. I left a detailed description of my personal definition of fetch quest. If you believe it to be an incorrect one, than please, point out which parts of my definition are incorrect, in your opinion. As I see it, replace 'herb' with 'Unicorn Coin' and 'NPC' with 'Statue', and we're on the same page.

[Sunnyvale]

I played Resident Evil when I was 6 years old and I never had any issues just because the game didn't tell me exactly where to find what I needed. I miss the times when exploration was encouraged :bawling:
And why compare L4D with RE? They're drastically different games. L4D is all about shooting zombies for fun (very arcadey game), RE is all about ambience and survival (until RE4 came and changed everything).

Also, Resident Evil 2, a fetch quest? Oh please, you must lack a soul if you didn't notice the flawless atmosphere and failed to appreciate the deliciously cheesy plot and dialogue. I weep for you.

I loved the original Metroid for exploring, getting lost, running back and forth... When I was 11. Now, I have other irons in the fire. As for the ambiance of RE2, the apparently Illuminati-controled police station pissed all over that for me. The suspense was gone the third time I backtracked. If zombies kept re-appearing, I'd be entertained. As it is... Weep away.

And play L4D on Expert with one partner and two helath-pack mules, and tell me it's just shooting zombies for fun, not about survival. The smokers screwing a well-laid plan to waste in a second, tanks with no warning, witches in places you must go... And if you don't explore, searching for pills n bombs, you'll have a hell of a time beating it. However, you won't get stuck at the end of a level after killing all of the zombies because you didn't look in the right corner of the right room. And I wasn't comparing the games as much as showing the fetch-questishness of RE2.

[Patney]

Just to get it out there: The Left 4 Dead games are among my favorites, but I was just pointing out the fact that I don't think Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead are comparable and I don't get why you're bringing it up. You're basically saying "a kid who enjoys the mindless shooting of Left 4 Dead (I mean this in the best way possible) would not enjoy the exploring and puzzle aspects of Resident Evil" like it's Resident Evil's fault and not the player's. This is wrong. And even on Expert you barely need to explore to find some pills or medkits, and I don't get how this is any less fetch quest than picking up the occasional herb in Resident Evil.

Oh, and if you think finding items in Resident Evil is so cryptic, you severely need glasses. Every usable items emits a blinking light or something like that, and they're usually out of place (either an unusual object or a 3D object on a 2D background).

[Sunnyvale]

Again, not comparing the two games. And think back to the first time you had to insert the crank in the socket in RE2. Find that hole real quick? No one I know did, and I was in my 20's then. I have a degree of appreciation for the RE series, but when I think of games that had promise but crapped on it with stupid puzzles and htf items, that one tops the list. Remember, this is about games we used to like but now don't. As for L4D (yes, it's awesome!), I haven't found a single kid that can thump it on Expert without help or finding loopholes (run to the safehouse after alerting the horde on the 3rd level of the Airport, for example. The horde seldom comes.) My statements regarding both FF and RE are opinion, my personal taste.
You don't find medkits on expert. And if you're slow about finding the pills, kiss em goodbye, Louis will have them. No, not the same, but to say it's a player's fault for not liking puzzles and searching is a little, well, 'wrong', IMHO. I like Cosmic Ark on the 2600. Does that make me a newb?
I won't give you a hard time for not liking Mountain Dew, please don't tell me I have no soul or need glasses because I find fetch quests tedious. I'm sure we have more in common than not...

[Aussie2B]

Just because you shoot the zombies instead of telling your sprite to doesn't immediately make it not a fetch quest. I left a detailed description of my personal definition of fetch quest. If you believe it to be an incorrect one, than please, point out which parts of my definition are incorrect, in your opinion. As I see it, replace 'herb' with 'Unicorn Coin' and 'NPC' with 'Statue', and we're on the same page.

It's just a puzzle that's naturally incorporated into the game. Plus Resident Evil games and the like often give you the opportunity to find whatever item you need before you get to whatever impasse that requires it. And if they didn't have these puzzle blockades, then they'd just be straight action games, which isn't what the developers are aiming for. Going back to my RPG example, you can have a puzzle just like that in the middle of a dungeon too, and that wouldn't be a fetch quest. That's just a part of the dungeon. A fetch quest is something that's completely off to the side and irrelevant, created solely for the purpose of busy work and extending a game.

[Sunnyvale]

OK, thanks for the clarification. My definition is different, or perhaps I see things differently. I find the entire 'put a coin on the statue' thing completely irrelevent, and it's not the only example of this in the game. Puzzles are one thing (bookcases), searching for this to put it into that is busy work. The opportunity to get things in the right order exists, yes. If you know the game well. Or get damn lucky. That game is supposed to be about killing zombies, uncovering Umbrella's involvement, surviving... But instead it seems to be about finding this to go with that, completely off-topic items. If you had to find a vial of zombie blood and use it to get access to a new area, I would still label it a fetch quest, but not a ridiculous one. The unicorn coin and police station that was obviously cryptic before the virus just ruined it for me.

[The 1 2 P]

There are plenty of alternatives. I love the Wico sticks - high quality joysticks that feel great in the hand. I never had problems with the regular cx-40's though although many people don't like them.

I have absolutely no desire to play any 2600 games ever again, regardless of the controller.

[Edmond Dantes]

Knew I'd get grief bashing FF!

Dude, "getting grief" means that someone is actually flaming/harassing you. Nobody is.

And I second Kupomogli's advice: stop running from enemies. It appears that you're approaching the game the wrong way which might be why you're having problems with it. I certainly never had half those difficulties.

[Sunnyvale]

Dude, "getting grief" means that someone is actually flaming/harassing you. Nobody is.

And I second Kupomogli's advice: stop running from enemies. It appears that you're approaching the game the wrong way which might be why you're having problems with it. I certainly never had half those difficulties.

Seems we differ on the definition of getting grief. Yes, I'm not being flamed or harrassed. I am being given advice on how to play a game I beat 20 + years ago.

Anyway, do you kill all the wolves on your way to open the chests after you get the Mystic Key? That's what I mean by running from enemies. If you spend an hour playing, you're lucky if you finish anything besides gaining some XP. Had it in the late 80's, and I loved it then. Seems boring and slow to me now. I do appreciate the advice from you both, but I assure you, I'm no newb. I know how to thump an RPG just fine. Fact is, like so many others who have posted on this thread, my age has caused my tastes to change. What once was interesting and exciting is now dull. Almost any RPG is weak to me now, too much work, too much searching, too much killing for XP. I got Zelda for the Wii 3 weeks ago. I've got about 2 hours into it. *yawn*

[Edmond Dantes]

I typically do kill every enemy I encounter, unless I'm in a hurry or else this close to death.

Anyway, back on topic I found another game for this thread:

Strider (as in Hiryu, not the Lord of the Rings guy). I first discovered this via the copy packaged with Strider 2, and while I never liked the sequel much I loved the first one and would endlessly replay it even though I beat it on my first go. I loved the cipher, I loved the music and the little robots and the climbing up the walls and everything. But I just got done playing it again (this time via the Capcom Classics Collection) and what I originally took to be a fun, challenging game that demanded skill now comes off to me as just plain cheap and cheating. Nine times out of ten, one hit kills you even when you have full health just because that same hit happens to also knock Strider right into a pit. On the flying fortress level I swear I saw Hiryu--several times--actually catch a platform, and then just decide on his own to let it go and fall to his death. This is aside from several times where he landed on the very edge then seemed to just step off of his own accord.

Then again though, one thing I learned from owning the Capcom Classics Collections is I really don't like a lot of Capcom's arcade games... they all seem to be just impossibly cheap and not fun at all, in contrast to their console games.

[Graham Mitchell]

I typically do kill every enemy I encounter, unless I'm in a hurry or else this close to death.

Anyway, back on topic I found another game for this thread:

Strider (as in Hiryu, not the Lord of the Rings guy). I first discovered this via the copy packaged with Strider 2, and while I never liked the sequel much I loved the first one and would endlessly replay it even though I beat it on my first go. I loved the cipher, I loved the music and the little robots and the climbing up the walls and everything. But I just got done playing it again (this time via the Capcom Classics Collection) and what I originally took to be a fun, challenging game that demanded skill now comes off to me as just plain cheap and cheating. Nine times out of ten, one hit kills you even when you have full health just because that same hit happens to also knock Strider right into a pit. On the flying fortress level I swear I saw Hiryu--several times--actually catch a platform, and then just decide on his own to let it go and fall to his death. This is aside from several times where he landed on the very edge then seemed to just step off of his own accord.

Then again though, one thing I learned from owning the Capcom Classics Collections is I really don't like a lot of Capcom's arcade games... they all seem to be just impossibly cheap and not fun at all, in contrast to their console games.

Well, they're arcade games. They're designed to take your money. But I hear what you're saying. I just try to appreciate them for the other things they have to offer (ambience, fast action, cool visuals). Having infinite continues helps curb the frustration a little bit. Have you played Magician Lord lately? Such a tragedy...it's a beautiful game but it's nearly impossible. If anyone has beat it, my hat is off to them.

[Edmond Dantes]

Magician Lord? No I haven't. That's on one of the Taito Legends collections, right?

I'm so disappointed that Taito never collected all the Bubble Bobble games in one place.

And I get that they're designed to be quarter-munchers, but there are ways to do that and still be reasonably fair about it. Capcom seems like they just threw every sadistic trick in the book at you and called it a game. Though, to be fair I also suspect there might be differences between the PS1 port and the Capcom Classics Collection.

[Sunnyvale]

And I get that they're designed to be quarter-munchers, but there are ways to do that and still be reasonably fair about it. Capcom seems like they just threw every sadistic trick in the book at you and called it a game. Though, to be fair I also suspect there might be differences between the PS1 port and the Capcom Classics Collection.

Capcom seemed to enjoy breaking your spirit one quarter at a time, until they came up with the best quarter munching scam of the 90's: Street Fighter 2. Remember the lines of quarters on those machines, and no one mad at the game, just the other person. Marketing worthy of Microsoft.

[spongerob]

Capcom seemed to enjoy breaking your spirit one quarter at a time, until they came up with the best quarter munching scam of the 90's: Street Fighter 2. Remember the lines of quarters on those machines, and no one mad at the game, just the other person. Marketing worthy of Microsoft.

So true. I remember when my local grocery store got MK very early on, and I mean practically as they were being shipped out of the production warehouse, they grabbed one. It was there forever before the home versions popped up. And that thing had lines seemingly from day one, until the Gen/SNES versions dropped in price.

The crowd's were huge, you'd have to wait at least 20 minutes or more to get a spot. And then when you got up there, some guy with 30 bucks in mom's quarters and no life went to school on you. And that was playing against a human-the CPU difficulty typically started out easy and then became impossible. But you're completely right, we just ate it up. No one questioned it. Brilliant stuff.

[Sunnyvale]

I was 16 when SF2 hit the arcade. Just had my first crap job, and I hadn't bought a SNES yet (too busy chasing girls n whatnot). I spent $60 a week on that damn machine. Like you said, it was usually a person with no life who schooled me. Then I broke down and bought a SNES, the port looked so good. It wasn't.

[Casati]

NES Super Mario series, but mainly because they've lost their novelty. They really aren't bad games.

Also, Sega's Sonic games. They designed them so just after you reached max speed while gaining rings in those loops, you'd collide with something and lose all of your rings.

[Edmond Dantes]

Yeah, Street Fighter II is when Capcom really hit their stride, and honestly having every version of it is one of the reasons I bought both the Capcom Classics Collections--didn't even really care about the other stuff. I mean its cool to see what the arcade version of 1943 is like (I grew up on the NES one) but as I said, most of the non-SFII games are just junk.

In other news, is there a way to make the robot tiger companion appear in Strider? Getting it is how you unlock one of the bonus features on the Collection, but unfortunately it seems to be totally random--I played through the game twice now without ever seeing it. Sigh... this is why I hate it when they go back and add unlockables to a game that wasn't originally planned around them (actually, why I hate unlockables period).

[spongerob]

Excitebike for me was one of those rare treats as a kid. Perhaps because the local rental place never had a copy in, but when a friend had Excitebike, man I just got that feeling like "I'm in for a shitload of fun". And it was. It was simple bike racing but the course building was a blast and seeing if you could make a course even you couldn't drive was just a shot of joy filled fun for a little kid.

I went back and played it and while I can pinpoint what I found great about Excitebike, it just isn't as fun anymore. It's just gaming evolution. Why play that when I can play Joe Danger?

[Sunnyvale]

Yeah, Street Fighter II is when Capcom really hit their stride, and honestly having every version of it is one of the reasons I bought both the Capcom Classics Collections--didn't even really care about the other stuff. I mean its cool to see what the arcade version of 1943 is like (I grew up on the NES one) but as I said, most of the non-SFII games are just junk.

You can count the console ports that topped the coin-op on two hands, at most. And half of those are Capcom ports. So yes, I think you are dead-on with your evaluation of their early arcade days. Like a lot of the SMS games, just unbeatable. At least you can replay the SMS game for free!

[Tron 2.0]

Magician Lord? No I haven't. That's on one of the Taito Legends collections, right?

Magician Lord is for the Neo-Geo but it is on SNK Arcade Classics for the PS2&Wii.

The game can also down loaded from the psn and wii/vc.

Bewarn it's a hard one though it's one of my favorites on the neo-geo people either love it or hate it.

[Edmond Dantes]

Reviving this thread because I found another one. And yes, it's a Capcom one:

1943: The Battle of Midway

My childhood love of this game can be summed up like so: my dad bought me the NES version so that I would stop pestering him for quarters every time we went to the local arcade.

Today, I'm playing it via the Capcom Classics Collection and... wondering what the hell I loved about it. Besides having the same sort of cheap "challenge" I notice from all other Capcom games, my impression now is that its a really pedestrian shooter, with not a lot to make it stand out. I can only guess that I loved it back in the day because I hadn't discovered R-Type and Thunder Force yet.

[retroguy]

While I can't think of a game that fits this topic exactly (the superficial ages, big whoop), there have been games that I've replayed years later after reading or hearing something about them that suggested there was something terrible or bluntly shit about them. You know, when somebody's complaining about some supposed awful game (or portion thereof) and you think to yourself, "Really? Bullshit." and play the game again to verify?

This! I replayed Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout after seeing James Rolfe's review of it and it's not nearly as bad as he says it is (still a funny episode, though). It's actually a pretty good alternative to Super Mario Bros. if you don't feel like playing that for the hundredth time.

[Edmond Dantes]

Same goes for Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle too. I feel like Rolfe didn't give the first game a fair shake (I never played the sequels though)