What games you liked, but can't stand anymore.

[8-Bit Archeology]

Died of Disentary.
I loved Oregon Trail as a kid. And with the mind of an optimistic child, I thought of how cool it would be to see such a great game on the gameboy someday.

Fast foward to today and I think. What the hell was wrong with me? I tried so many times after playing the NES, SEGA and so forth to play O.T. and everytime it revealed its evil to me. Its a lesson game on hiw to manage things. And I realized I managed to get mario and qix. Why would I ever go back?

So what games did you play that you can never go back to?

[FrankSerpico]

I absolutely looooved the first X-Men game Sega made for the Genesis as a kid, even though I rarely got past the Shi'ar city level, now I can't stand that game. X-Men 2 holds up well, though. Also, Primal Rage and Eternal Champions. Both control schemes are just a mess.

[disorderlyvision]

I put a lot of time into Aero the Acrobat when I was a kid. I tried it again a couple years ago and hated it. I think I liked it better as a kid because my game selection was rather small.

[Alpha2099]

As a kid, I loved the Godzilla Game Boy game. Now I'm older and wiser and I can't stand it. I was so happy when the AVGN mentioned it in his Godzilla episode.

[sparf]

I've got a few of those, most of which are notoriously crappy. I still own all of these, and I don't loathe them as much as some do, it's just...they were fun once, but did not hold up on re-examining for me

And here they are:

Atari VCS -
E.T. (I know how to play it properly and beat it, just...eh)
Pac Man (once I played the actual arcade version, which didn't happen until much later, since I had the Atari from the time I was born, I just couldn't like this version very much anymore)

NES-
Friday the 13th.
Fester's Quest
Nightmare on Elm St.
Dick Tracy.
Amagon

SNES-
The Mask (seriously...oi vey)
Super Strike Eagle (This one I think I can chalk up to the way some Mode7 hasn't held up)

Arcade/Genesis
Time Killers


As a bonus, a game it seems most people like that I really have never cared for:
SNES Killer Instinct (It feels sluggish and unresponsive to me. Just never liked it. Plus finishing moves? Forget it.)

[AbnormalMapping]

Defender for the Atari 2600.

It's just like the arcade, if you lobotomized all the enemies and hacked the game so that it ran it slow motion. The sprite flicker is a bit worse than Pac-Man, but it's also a gameplay feature - since your ship can't appear in the same animation frames as your giant rainbow laser of death, if you're really good, you can time your shots to avoid being hit...

Or you could just hide off-screen until you're forced to fire a shot of your own.

In order to force all of the arcade's action into a one fire button control scheme, Atari created safe zones from which you could launch smart bombs or risk a hyperspace warp - the enemies can't touch you. The end result of all these compromises is a shmup that's less about reptile brain reflexes, and more about choosing when to attack. There's been nothing like it since. I loved it more than the original arcade game. Especially since the cities at night were easier to relate to than the original's mountains in space.

In my mind, this slow, broken, flickering mess was every bit as epic as the picture Atari drew for the cart. I genuinely cared about the little blocks I was sent to protect. I knew each of my lives by name.

But time passed, and RPGs offered the stories I once made up for my games. The 2600's version of Defender was replaced by Stargate, then by the Gameboy port, the Genesis port (as part of a compilation), and the PS2 emulation. In my mind, the 2600 Defender was still superior to all of them.

Until I had the chance to play it again.

It didn't seem like the same game. The enemies could barely even defend themselves. My first death only came when I forgot to pay attention. It just couldn't grab me the way it used to. Through a child's eyes it was humanity's last lonely stand, but as an adult, I could only see a bad port that should have never been sold as a finished game.

I stopped playing. Best to preserve the memories. Maybe one day, someone will create an updated version of Atari's version of Defender...but I doubt it. And maybe that's for the best. Because there's the kind of mind that creates good games, and there's the kind of mind that can claim the giant pixel mountains are cities, and obsess over creating the best looking laser, no matter what the cost. Without that wild creative streak, what's the point of making one more version of Defender?

[wayultratech]

Yo Noid!!!!

This was my first NES cart, along with the Mario/Duck Hunt combo cart, and man i remember putting so many hours into that sub-par platformer, which was basically a playable Domino's ad.

I still pop it in from time to time, the platforming is most assuredly mediocre and the whole "pizza eating battles" with the stage bosses kills it for me nowadays. Don't know how i played it so much growing up.

[goob47]

Spiderman vs. X-Men: Arcade's Revenge. I used to think the controls were so cool, how you could shoot your web on any platform, swing anywhere with ease... I would explore for hours. Now that I look back on it, the controls are horrendous, the level design doesn't even make sense (there is litterally a sewer in the middle of a wall as big as a nearby building ABOVE GROUND), and everything else doesn't honor the comics at all. :|

[Edmond Dantes]

Bubsy I and II, but moreso the second one.

When I was a little kid, my heroes were Aero the Acro-Bat and Bubsy the Bobcat. No, my childhood was not sad or pathetic, but I did often like the strangest things. I even told all my friends that Aero could kick Sonic's ass... aaaaanyway, so yeah, I used to really be into Bubsy, to the point where I would play the first game again and again, and could even beat it in a straight run, losing very few lives, and had all the stages and one-liners and animations memorized.

When I heard Bubsy II was out, I had to have it. New levels, new gags, new playable characters, and you could take three hits now? I was down with the sickness! Sadly, even at the time, I realized Bubsy II was an inferior sequel. Bubsy just didn't seem to have the cartoony charm that made him so lovable in the first game, and the new characters and plot were honestly kinda lame compared to part one's Woolies.

To me, the first game is still kinda-playable and a lot of fun, for the whimsical atmosphere if nothing else. But that being said, I now understand why Bubsy is such a maligned mascot. It's a wonder I was able to put up with these games as a kid, let alone finish them. The second one especially when from being disappointing to being just outright dull.

On a more minor note: Xenogears. It went from being one of my favorite RPGs to being an example of everything that's wrong with RPGs.

[Cornelius]

Winter Games for NES. I think the Olympics had just happened, it was my birthday, and just look how rad the Neon line guy is on the cover! I'm sure my brother and sister tried to talk me out of it, but failed. Anyway, I knew it wasn't fun to play, I'm sure, but figured it was just cause I wasn't good enough at it, which was true for me of other games at the time as I was on the young side. I played that game so damn much. I even managed to get Gold on figure skating. Fucking figure skating. Everything you do makes you land on your ass. Push a button. Land on ass. Push left. Land on ass. So yeah, I was determined to the point of succeeding at 'loving' the game as a kid. But it just plain blows.

[Horsehead]

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" for the NES isn't as fun as I remember it to be.

[8-Bit Archeology]

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" for the NES isn't as fun as I remember it to be.


I Loved that game. I played it a while back after reading one of the old Nintendo Power Mags that had the maps and review for it. To me the nostalgia factor still holds it up. Although I think most games I have played have lost the "it" factor, only because I am not playing it for the first time.

[Horsehead]

Yeah the nostalgia is definitely there. :)

On a random note, one game that I played recently and found to be just as fun (if not more fun) was "Ducktales" for the NES. I'm pretty sure it's one of my favorite games!

[Tanooki]

Sure and it wouldn't be a short list. For me it is easier to more or less put it in genres. I've grown very fed up with racing games, RPGs roughly over 30 hours, and most FPS games. Racing feels like a rerun or you have poor design compensating with cheap rubberbanding AI. FPS games are drowning out variety all being COD me too type crap with yearly rehash. RPGs are ok but I haven't the time for a long one anymore plus after x hours I tend to forget the story which removes my caring to play it.

[A.C. Sativa]

The WWF games for the SNES. How did I even play that trash?

[Clownzilla]

The WWF games for the SNES. How did I even play that trash?

I tried to play one of the SNES WWF games recently (can't remember the exact one) and had to turn it off just because of the fact that most of those wrestlers had died. Kind of a weird assault on my childhood. Anyway, I hate the original Sim City for SNES now. I think it's because of the fact that I have played games like that with a mouse for so many years that I have a hard time playing that type of game with a SNES controller. I didn't have a computer during my SNES days so that is what I knew.

[bigbacon]

Bubsy I and II, but moreso the second one.


I LOVED Bubsy back in the day, now, I can't play it all.

Same thing like Road Runner on the SNES. I dont get the fun of it anymore...and I used to love it.

in all honestly, I like playing these old games but I can't stomach them for more than 10 or 15 mnutes anymore. its weird to look back and remember when I could have sat there for hours on end with one game. I get frustrated so quickly with them now.

[Emperor Megas]

I suppose almost anything on the older consoles like the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. There are only a few games, like Keystone Capers and Pitfall! that I still enjoy today (if they're put in front of me). Other than those games, I honestly can't think of many games that I liked but hate now.

I suppose I was always pretty discriminating. Honestly, all of those Atari era games I really only played because they were the best I could experience at home. I knew that they were mostly shit even then, but I was desperate for electronic entertainment back in the day.

[Horsehead]

I suppose almost anything on the older consoles like the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. There are only a few games, like Keystone Capers and Pitfall! that I still enjoy today (if they're put in front of me). Other than those games, I honestly can't think of many games that I liked but hate now.

I suppose I was always pretty discriminating. Honestly, all of those Atari era games I really only played because they were the best I could experience at home. I knew that they were mostly shit even then, but I was desperate for electronic entertainment back in the day.

I feel the same way about anything that predates the NES. There are exceptions, such as "Space Invaders" and "Pacman" (who doesn't love pacman). I imagine I feel that way about the older consoles due to the fact that the NES was my first gaming experience and I wasn't even alive for anything prior. Heh.

[Lictalon]

Final Fantasy IV (or II, when it came out in the U.S. for the SNES). I played that through several times and never thought I'd get tired of it...

...but I did.

I few years ago, I bought the Nintendo DS remake of it, and halfway through, just got bored and stopped playing (right after the scene where Tellah buys it).

[Edmond Dantes]

Could that simply be, though, that the DS remake was inferior to the original?

I played it again quite recently--both the SNES release and the PSP collection. I got bored of the latter, but it was because I can rarely play the same game twice without getting bored, not because it was bad.

[Tanooki]

The DS game to me is an abortion on a game card, fucking awful. The 3D and cleaner audio is all nice, but it doesn't make up for the damage they did to the gameplay mechanics in relation to boss fights and random dungeon monster battles. The old game from SNES through the GBA remakes had a classic design on bosses where you could learn the weakness and exploit it badly or you just pound away indiscriminately until you or it was dead, same with random monsters. On the DS (and now IOS ported) piece of shit that went out the window. Boss fights now are over glorified games of simon says for sadists. Each boss has a good weakness and that's it, and you damn well better figure it out before going into a fight (ie: it's designed to sell guides or make you read someones faq file) because if you don't do the ONE thing it wants you to do and when it wants it, you're dead or in critical condition. For instance boss #1 the Antlion now has a red eye and a blue eye, and depending which shows you can only do A or B. If you don't do that thing, his classic 'needle' attack has been highly buffed to now dart the entire party for critical damage which at a normal gameplay rate would kill all but Cecil and put him within deaths reach if the antlion feels the need to pee on your leg let alone attack you. Another one of real annoyance, the wind elementalist boss Barbariccia(sp? changes by release) where you need Kain to hit her during a spin to stop that so you can attack. In the pre-3D FF4(2us) titles you could hit her for like 100dmg if she was rolling until Kain jump kicked her. In the 3D game if you hit her when she's spinning she has like Antlion a fatal or near fatal attack which in how she hits aside of that you're dead anyway. So if you queue up some attacks and she goes into a spin after you're dialed in, fights over. The part I quit on the game was the Tower of Bab-il as in all the games a random fight are four of these blue flame dogs and on rare occasion they'd use 'blaze' which was an all party blue flame attack for little to moderate damage. On the DS version they're like bosses but worse, they will on random turns(and it's often so kill fast if you can) use blaze, but it's mega blaze that hits at a level that drops you like 75% of your health, and they never do it alone all four of the bastards do it so it's a fatal battle losing all progress in the tower.

I got fed up with that crap and sold the game at like a 50% loss as it turned me off so badly and used the cash to buy back the SNES version and I later for portability picked up the GBA one again too. FF4 if that's your only experience being on the DS, you bought a broken piece of crap that won't treat you right.

[CelticJobber]

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure for NES and Game Boy. I think I was too blinded by my love for the movie to see how shitty the games were.

Also, Back to The Future 2& 3 and Friday the 13th for NES.

But no matter how much I loved Back to the Future, I still hated the first horrible NES game even as a kid.

[Edmond Dantes]

CelticJobber's avatar reminded me of another one.

I used to love Mortal Kombat. I owned the Gameboy version, and I obsessively rented the console versions, which I would play over and over (and I even played the Gameboy version repeatedly). Like most dumb kids, I was turned on by the blood (so naturally I preferred the Genesis version). At the time, I seriously believed that Mortal Kombat was better than Street Fighter.

Cut to the modern day. I somehow wound up becoming a serious fighting game player--the kind that mods his own arcade sticks and owns the most arcade-accurate console ports of any fighter he happens to like and even a few he doesn't. I've played many fighting games that I was barely aware existed back in the say, finally getting caught up on the likes of King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Virtua Fighter (which sadly convinced me I'll never like 3D fighting games) and several others... including ones like Galaxy Fight, which I didn't even know existed.

So with my newfound love for Fighters, I decided to go back and see how Mortal Kombat held up.

The result was... ehhh.... well, they were good for nostalgia, at least. But playing the original game again I just couldn't get over how seriously nonexistant the play mechanics were. The characters all had literally the same basic moves with no variety, differentiated only by their specials, most of which were pointless because you can win just about every fight by either jump-kicking repeatedly, crouch-kicking repeatedly, or uppercutting repeatedly. The game was clearly more about spectacle than anything.

Now, granted, there were positives. I love how you can "feel" Goro stomping around in his lair just before you fight him, and I love how Shang Tsung loses all the kombatant souls when you defeat him (that honestly is just sooo satisfying). But these are awesome moments stuck in an otherwise average game.

I went on to try MKII and then MKIII (which I had never played as a kid), and not only did they feel like they had the same problems, but I started to realize how bland and forgettable the cast of characters were. Over here, we have big-boobed leotard chick... and over here, we have another big-boobed leotard chick. And some dorky-looking cop guy. And another palette swap of a ninja. The characters really lack anything that gives them distinction and personality. I actually came to feel that the original game was the best of the bunch, because its flaws could, in a way, be excused by its feel being that of a cheesy, low-budget kung-fu movie. But by the second game, it was feeling like just a tired, uncreative fantasy campaign that wasn't sure if it wanted to be cheesy or wanted to be taken seriously. By the third game, I was ready to check out.

Bottom line, Mortal Kombat seriously does not hold up as well as I remember.

[Neb6]

CelticJobber's avatar reminded me of another one.

I used to love Mortal Kombat.

So with my newfound love for Fighters, I decided to go back and see how Mortal Kombat held up.

The result was... ehhh.... well, they were good for nostalgia, at least. But playing the original game again I just couldn't get over how seriously nonexistant the play mechanics were. The characters all had literally the same basic moves with no variety, differentiated only by their specials, most of which were pointless because you can win just about every fight by either jump-kicking repeatedly, crouch-kicking repeatedly, or uppercutting repeatedly. The game was clearly more about spectacle than anything.

Bottom line, Mortal Kombat seriously does not hold up as well as I remember.


Yup. Me too.

Definitely a game that didn't age very well. And I recall it looking so glossy when it first hit the arcades.