Modern era or Classic era, which would you choose?

[Oobgarm]

In the vein of the recent “Classic vs. Modern gaming” threads, I pondered a scenario for a bit and I now present it for you to ponder as well.

Suppose that right now, you are given a choice to live in one of two alternate dimensions. A choice where you must choose one or the other. "I'll just stay here" is not an option. No cheating, no fence-sitting, a cut-and-dry ‘this’ or ‘that’. And you can’t change your mind once the decision has been made. You can either:

A. Live in a world whose videogames are comprised solely of 16-bit games and prior. Ranging from Odyssey to SNES. Arcade games included. Nothing more. Gaming will not evolve beyond that point. There are no homebrew developers making new games, and no hacks being produced.

B. Live in a world whose videogames are comprised of post 16-bit era games only. Arcade games included. Emulation is not an option. The current generation of consoles is the last to be produced. Production of new titles ceases on August 11, 2005.

By choosing one or the other, you have no knowledge of the other's existence. Modern gamers know nothing of past titles, and vice versa.

What do you choose? Do vote and enlighten us with your reasonings.

[Jibbajaba]

16-bit and prior. Easy Choice.

Chris

[Oobgarm]

Yeah, I chose that too. Everything is more open-ended. Too many finite games in the current crop.

I checked my Top 100 games list, and by making this decision, I see that I'm cutting out almost half of them.

I realize it's kinda silly to ask this question in a forum of retrogamers...but I'm more interested in finding out WHY people would choose what they did.

[allsport11]

16-bit and prior, better players back then. Not the overrated/overpayed bums they have now. ;)

[Half Cab Leroy]

16-bit and prior without a doubt.

[Mianrtcv]

16 bit and prior. Todays games are fine and well, but I can't help but think of the roar of the dragon on intellivision or getting hooked on Qix 5200 and a score of other games. I bought my colecovision while delivering the saturday paper many years back (garage sale, super cheap), I immediately got hooked on their driving controller. I remember buying Intellivision bump n jump and the counterperson screwing up and giving me the more expensive colecovision version.Those games just take more imagination on the part of the player. They did not have todays capabilities to load up on graphics, text or audio.

[classicb]

well it looks like I'm going against the grain on this one. I guess I even surprised myself a bit. I went with Modern. I picked modern because games now are what I always thought they would be like when I was a kid. I remember when I got my DC I actually had that same excitement I did when I was kid.

[underexposed+]

... 8-)

[classicb]

Dreamcast and prior, the newer systems don't interest me anymore

I don't think that was one of the options. He drew the line at 16-bit. Either way you go you're going to leave some great games behind but that's what makes the question fun.

[musical]

32-bit or higher. Yes I would miss Pac-Man and Asteroids and Space Invaders, but the PS1 had enough 2D goodness like Castlevania: SOTN and R-Type Final to satisfy those cravings.

And different from most people here, I *like* the 3D epics like Final Fantasy 7/9/10-2 and Zelda 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. Plus music games like DDR and Space Channel 5. I'd rather have those to play over-and-over.

[SpasticFuctard]

Post 16bit, hell I have most of the old games all twidged up on officially released compilation disks! Besides, I'm a PC gamer primarily and to leave behind such great titles as Baldur's Gate, Grim Fandango, Neverwinter Nights, City of Heroes just to name what I've been playing recently would make me very sad. I will miss Pirates! though, I hope Atari makes the cutoff!

SF

[Mr. Smashy]

Which side of the fence would the Sega 32X be on?

[Aussie2B]

Gah, too hard to decide. >_<

I could give up everything before NES, but I couldn't give up NES/Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Genesis, Neo Geo, and all that great stuff... However, giving up everything after 16-bit means giving up all my top favorite games like all but one tri-Ace game, Wonder Project J2, Tail Concerto, Goemon's Great Adventure, F-Zero X, and so much more... I could probably live without the current generation and Dreamcast, but there is so much good 32-bit and 64-bit stuff.

So, uh... I must have my Super Famicom, so I make the painful choice of making do with the first Star Ocean and Wonder Project J and all the other predecessors of my favorite games.

[Kroogah]

Post 16-bit. I've had more FUN with stuff past the SNES, though the SNES and everything before it has given me great times.

With post 16-bit, I still have Bemani, Tekken, NBA Street, Hot Shots Golf, 2D fighters on the Saturn, Smash Bros., Animal Crossing, THPS, Timesplitters, ONLINE GAMING....definitely post 16-bit.

Edit: Oddly enough, after posting that, I have the music from Chrono Trigger's Guardia Castle in my head. Someone trying to tell me something?

[Azazel]

I'd have to go with the classic era. Other than a few limited RPGs the 32 bit systems and up don't have as much to offer.

[Simply Dave]

I went with the classic era. I didn't even have to think about it. :)

[MegaDrive20XX]

SNES and Prior....back to a time when it wasn't mainstream...back to when the only time games were mentioned on TV was from a COMMERICAL.

And Game Magazines were everywhere..

when all I need is a 2 liter of soda...a handful of quarters...and a mix tape with some Metal mixes...

and even going back to the mid-80's...when people could say "Joystick" without making a stupid sex joke about it.

[bluberry]

I, too, am going against the grain with this one and will say modern. Considering all the decent compilation packs on the market... even without them, I've gotten way more playtime out of Devil May Cry and Gunvalkyrie then, say, Streets of Rage 2 or Magician Lord or something. Plus, there are still a lot of good 2D titles today, like Contra: Shattered Soldier, Metal Slug 3, Ikaruga, and Gradius V.

Where does Neo-Geo fall? I'm guessing the latter half since it's kind of 24-bit and it lasted until 2004...

[Cmosfm]

Post 16 bit!

2 reasons...

1. Todays games are awesome, without a doubt! I love a lot of games being released nowadays.

2. Already mentioned - Compilation disks! Most of the games I really love from the classic era are on compilation disks from the 32 bit era+

so it's post 16-bit for me.

GREAT topic, by the way. :)

[Retsudo]

SNES----------------NOW

[Azazel]

I'd still place Neo Geo in the classic era.