Games That Didn't Really Age Well

[8-Bit Master]

I'll agree about the early Playstation and Saturn games. They haven't aged well at all. Some of them are still fun to play, but almost all of them look like crap.

The N64's early titles have held up with more success. In my opinion Super Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Mario Kart 64, etc.... have aged beautifully.

[Gamereviewgod]

Well, I didn't like Mario 64 when it first came out, so I'd definitely pick that one as well.

Otherwise, Altered Beast. The voice, the detail! The terrible gameplay, the choppy scrolling!

[Ed Oscuro]

I disagree violently with all the posts before Vintagegamecrazy. One second while I get my blood up, please

Older system graphics really don't bother me...I didn't think the original Xtreme G (N64) looked very good at all when I tried it out a few months ago, but on the other hand I didn't feel out of place with it...eh

[Atarileaf]

Bubsy 3D

I think that falls under the "always was crap, always will be crap" category.

[Aswald]

Many Atari 2600 games, I'm afraid, even the ones we thought were really good when they first came out.

[Dr. Morbis]

I think that the games that shoot for realism, graphics-wise, don't age well at all compared to 'cartoony' games. As a result, in 10 years most of the N64 and PS1 library will look like junk due to the 3D realism that the designers were shooting for. An old-school example: Ice Hockey on nes has aged much better than Blades of Steel because BoS went for realism, Ice Hockey didn't. Both games are still a lot of fun to play, but BoS looks like crap while Ice Hockey shines (graphically) in my opinion.

[o2william]

I think that the games that shoot for realism, graphics-wise, don't age well at all compared to 'cartoony' games.

This is an excellent observation and one I completely agree with. I've noticed that games I used to think of as looking realistic now look cheesy, but "cartoony" games just look stylized.

As an answer to this thread, I nominate the Catacomb games, the extremely early FPS series from id. Catacomb Abyss 3-D was so new and exciting when it first came out, I literally played it for something like 14 hours in one sitting. But Wolfenstein and Doom improved on the genre so much, the Catacomb games seem pretty bland now. (I still like the time-stopper attack in Abyss, though.)

[Berserker]

For me, games on the N64 have stood the test of time a little better since they incorperated a little of the 3D accelerated smoothiness. Granted, the low resolution of the textures make things look pretty blurry, but I find it much more tolerable than the low-res pixeliness of the earlier playstation games.

And of course, good graphics will never make up for lame gameplay.

[Graham Mitchell]

For me, games on the N64 have stood the test of time a little better since they incorperated a little of the 3D accelerated smoothiness. Granted, the low resolution of the textures make things look pretty blurry, but I find it much more tolerable than the low-res pixeliness of the earlier playstation games.

And of course, good graphics will never make up for lame gameplay.

Agreed. N64 games held up due to the anti-aliasing. Does anybody else find the color palette a little wierd with the N64? The colors are really bright, and it does a disservice to games like Goldeneye and Castlevania 64.

[Ed Oscuro]

For me, games on the N64 have stood the test of time a little better since they incorperated a little of the 3D accelerated smoothiness. Granted, the low resolution of the textures make things look pretty blurry, but I find it much more tolerable than the low-res pixeliness of the earlier playstation games.

And of course, good graphics will never make up for lame gameplay.

Agreed. N64 games held up due to the anti-aliasing. Does anybody else find the color palette a little wierd with the N64? The colors are really bright, and it does a disservice to games like Goldeneye and Castlevania 64.

I thought the Depot level dark as can be, and some of the textures in the CV games were intentionally very bright (i.e. brass textures). Otherwise, it seemed pretty muddy overall to me. It's an effect I like, though.

[Richter Belmount]

Heh perfect dark was actually one of the few n64 games i play still (along with mischief makers)

[Iron Draggon]

The original Daytona USA for Saturn. What the hell were they thinking? Was it really that necessary for them to rush the release of the system and this game in particular as a launch title that they just had to release this obviously unfinished game at launch in an effort to sell more systems? Fortunately, the Championship Circuit Edition was released later to correct this huge blunder, but the damage had already been done. IMO, the release of Daytona USA in it's hyper-rushed unfinished state and the audacity to still charge $50 for it anyway, rather than just include it as a pack-in demo or something was very largely responsible for the Saturn never really catching on here in the US.

Sony wasn't that stupid, so when the PS came out a few months later and all the highly polished launch titles blew away the highly rushed launch titles of the Saturn, it was simply no contest. Sony was gonna kill Sega on brand recognition anyway, and they knew it, so they should've just taken their time and released the Saturn on the original planned release date instead of rushing it out the door several months early just to be first and pissing off pretty much everyone in the process. They shot themselves and all that they had worked so hard for in the foot with that blunder, and it only got worse for them after that. They did so much wrong and so little right that it boggles the mind why Sega of Japan didn't just disown Sega of America and revoke all their licenses. I'm sure that they probably wanted to do just that.

Sega of America passed on so many titles that were considered unpassable by both gamers and the press, starting with the last days of the Genesis and Treasure's awesome Alien Soldier for example, that it's a miracle they didn't end up having to get out of the hardware business before the Dreamcast was released. If they hadn't beaten everyone to market with that one too, they probably never would've sold any of them. But the Dreamcast was different, they actually had finally learned from most of their mistakes by then, but it was too little too late. Most people simply didn't trust them anymore, and that's why the Dreamcast failed too. So it's really all Sega of America's fault for screwing up everything for Sega of Japan. They became so arrogant after the success of the Genesis that they thought they could do no wrong, and that was their biggest mistake. They committed suicide, not hari-kiri, and Daytona USA for Saturn is just one example that proves it.

[racecar]

snks attemp at the 3d market, holy crap ! that was some freaky shit (fatal fury-wild ambition, samurai showdown (3d)

[racecar]

snks attemp at the 3d market, holy crap ! that was some freaky shit (fatal fury-wild ambition, samurai showdown (3d) .They have one(KOF) coming out for the ps2, snk should stick with 2D

[Ed Oscuro]

There were some KoF games/Fatal Fury stuff with 3D rendered backgrounds/title graphics thrown in. Ugh, those look bad too.

We'll have to see how that PS2 game turns out...heh.

[LiquidX01]

Battle Arena Toshinden...was an awesome series...but what went wrong?

God, I just beat that game again in minutes yesturday.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Battle Arena Toshinden...was an awesome series...but what went wrong?

God, I just beat that game again in minutes yesturday.

Hell I loved the soundtracks to the BAT series 1 and 2 especially, pretty solid stuff...but it's like Takara or whomever was in charge of it dropped it like a bad habit after part 3

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[alexkidd2000]

The 2nd Saturn Daytona was just as bad as the first. The pop-up was horid and the controls were nothing like daytona arcade. I remember feeling ripped harsh when i bought it.

[alexkidd2000]

And games that aged badly? Any FMV game on Sega CD haha.