Games That Didn't Really Age Well

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

FF7, The graphics suck compared to 8,9,10, X-2

runs
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Mazda F3A transmission specifications

[Daniel Thomas]

I'll have to reluctantly agree with the first Daytona on Saturn. It's practically the definition of ugly; but then again, it always was. The upside was that the gameplay was far better than Ridge Racer on Playstation, even though RR looked far better.

There's always that thrill of 20-car crashes (which you can never do in games anymore), but Saturn Daytona looks awful.

As for a PSX game that aged badly, how about Toshinden? Looked great, but played poorly; give me Virtua Fighter or 2D Street Fighters instead.

[Canadian Psycho]

Donkey Kong Country

Everyone was in awe of the graphics in that game in 1994. Now, bleh.

[Jasoco]

I disagree with DKC. It still looks beautiful now. So :P

I also think Star Fox still has a sort of coolness to the graphics. Sure, 64 blew it away, but the original is a classic and I would still love a port of it on a portable. Whether it's the GBA or the DS. (I'd prefer the GBA, but the DS would work too especially with the correct number of buttons. Question is what to do with the bottom screen.)

[Aswald]

I've noticed that games based on movies usually do not age well. This is probably because they rely on the popularity of the movie to sell.

[Jasoco]

I've noticed that games based on movies usually do not age well. This is probably because they rely on the popularity of the movie to sell.

GoldenEye 007 is still a kick-ass game today. And the Capcom and Virgin Disney games (Most of them) are becoming popular again because of Disney's special editions. (Aladdin is on October 10th! WOO HOO!! And the game follows shortly after.)

[Aswald]

What exactly do you do in Goldeneye?

[Mark III]

Virtua Fighter and Tekken are really hard to go back to now because of their primitive polygon graphics. I can't believe I used to think that looked good.

I find a lot of Sega Master System games have a lot more "flicker" than I remember when I had originally played them. Especially R-Type, the heart-snake in the second level is pretty much invisible from all the flickering.

[boatofcar]

MK, Primal Rage, just about any rendered (is that the right word?) fighting game like those look awful. I too disagree about Mario 64 though, I still think the game is beautiful.

[Famidrive-16]

yeah, i agree with the 3d comment. Hell the DKC games look great compared to early playstation and saturn titles.

also any game with photorealistic fighters (ie Mortal Kombat and way of the warrior)

[dethink]

In general, at least with me, it can be hard to get into a last-gen 3D game after getting spoiled by today's games. With 2D games we did see better graphics when we went from 8 bit to 16 bit but the games were still pretty much the same so stepping back to play a really neat sounding NES (like Super Mario 3) when you also had a Genesis or TG-16 wasn't that bad.

3D, on the other hand, is a totally different ballgame. Unlike 2D where stepping back usually meant less colors and maybe more slow down, going back a gen in 3D can mean clunkier characters and backgrounds, slower frame rates (which can skew a sense of reality: most notable in racing games where there can be a lack of perception in regards to speed) and environmental fogging or massive "pop up" (which can hinder gameplay by obscuring oncoming obstacles or enemies until you are right on them: good example is the first Turok game). Going from Burnout 3 to say Beetle Adventure Racing or 1080 Avalanche to the original 1080 is a massive night and day difference in visuals, handling and speed.

When I want to play the N64 and if I recently played the Xbox or Cube, I sometimes have to wait a day for the effects of whatever game I was playing wear off before I dive into that system's titles. Doesn't happen often but I have run into occasions where I sit down to Excitebike 64 and it feels as though I'm trying to speed through molasses.

i agree 100%...racers (at least non-arcade ones) and sports games seem to age the worst, as they're depended on the latest tech. realism is the point, and the point just can't be made on old hardware. the leap in physics (visuals not withstanding) from GT1/2 to GT3 renders the old ones unplayable. i used to think GT1 was SOOOO hard in some spots, and now it feels like ridge racer in comparison to 3. however, i can still throw down on outrun and pole position with no complaints.

any PS1 sports title looks like crap compared to the original madden and lakers vs. celtics on the genesis...

and then you had that jump from low-res to high res on the PS1. try going from ridge racer 4 to ridge racer revolution, and you won't even be able to tell what you're doing. i tried pulling out jumping flash the other day, and couldn't play it because the low-resolution was so headache inducing and counter productive to gameplay at this point...

[stonic]

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[Anthony1]

I agree wholeheartedly with some of the takes, but I must say that I totally disagree with others.


For example, as cool as the old Atari 2600 games are, after playing them one time, just for the whole nostalga factor, then I don't really feel the need to play them again. Although I love the orginal Baseball game. The control you had when pitching the ball is really freaking cool. You could really fake people out with those pitches.

I think the games that absolutely aged the worst are the early polygon sports games. Like the first football and basketball and baseball and hockey, etc, etc, games that used Polygon players. When they first came out, they must have seemed really next level, but now, man they look like crap. Like the first Madden on the Nintendo 64. I remember when that game first came out, I thought it was totally awesome, but now it's so damn ugly. I will say however that people should try some of the first Playstation sports games that still used sprites. Especially NBA Live '96. Give that game a try. It used 2D sprites with 3D backgrounds. Same thing with Triple Play 97. 2D sprites and 3D backgrounds. The first two Maddens on the PSX also were Sprite based before going to polygons.


As for the Sega CD FMV games, I totally disagree. I think that those games are absolute classics now. Full Motion Video is totally dead, and nothing is going to bring it back, so these games no longer are a clear and present danger to the world of video games. You should really give Ground Zero Texas a try. Or Sewer Shark, or Night Trap. Those games are classics. I don't care what anybody says. Yes they are really corny, and really lame, but still very cool at the same time. They are cool in campy type of way.


As for Starfox and DKC, you must be smoking some very high quality crack. Those games are absolute freaking classics, and you should be ashamed of yourselves for thinking that!


Alot of people are talking trash about the early Playstation 3D games. I think you guys are totally wrong on this one. I'm absolutely loving the early Playstation right now. Even stuff like the first Twisted Metal and Toshinden. But I must say that I'm playing my early PSX stuff on a RGB monitor, and it's really cool to see these games in RGB. But playing a game like Ridge Racer is just awesome. The first Wipeout is amazing. You guys just need a RGB monitor.

[Brian_Provinciano]

In my opinion, none of the old 3D games have aged well, except for a few with REALLY good gameplay. I don't think they should've gone to the right to the Saturn/Playstation choppy 3D systems. There was still room for another next generation 2D console if it weren't for the PS pushing the 3D so much. I love solid, clear, colourful 2D graphics over choppy 3D any day. I would have loved to see a nice high resolution 2D console after the SNES.

[Ed Oscuro]

But playing a game like Ridge Racer is just awesome. The first Wipeout is amazing. You guys just need a RGB monitor.

I guess that shoebox I was using with colored string hung across it just doesn't cut it anymore, huh? Ha ha ha!

Anyhow, early PSX (early texture-mapped 3D games in general, actually) can be great fun if you can appreciate them.

@ Brian: Um...the Saturn did have a huge 2D library, and the PlayStation had CV:SotN.

The real problem, though, is that companies wanted to push 3D. The early 3D arcade games did pretty poorly, but their makers stuck by the concept all the same. Another issue is that there were a couple personal computers in Japan that could do perfect arcade ports, and while many of said ports were of late 1980s, early 1990s games, there really didn't seem like much more to be done. SNK stuck with their MVS/AES hardware, and added CD-ROM based systems.

In my estimation, we're better off as a result of the early 3D stuff, but that came with a price.

[Avenger]

pretty much every N64 game (bless its soul :P) and the first driver games

[fergojisan]

My sister and I got Human Cannonball in our first batch of 2600 games in 1981, and we played the hell out of it. But now I just can't stand it. We had Sky Diver then also. I went to my sister's for a party recently(I was the only over 30 person there), and she had the 2600 going, and those kids were rabid for Sky Diver. I couldn't believe it.

Ferg

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[Dire 51]

The majority of the 2600 games I used to play in the early '80s have lost a lot of their appeal. Some of them just aren't fun to play anymore.

[The Manimal]

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.

agreed.

also, blades of steel is very unrealistic in how the movement of the players is. you hit a player, and it is like bumper cars crashing.