Those were the good 'ole days...

[Nerf Herder]

Man, the more I think about it, the more I miss my old gaming days, back when I had my SNES and NES. Back then, I never cared what system was better than which. I also miss the old school games. These days, games have to be pretty, because we all know that now it's all about graphics. In my opinion, good graphics are a lot like spoilers (car spoilers): they look nice, but they aren't necessary. Back then, as long as it was fun I'd play anything. Didn't matter what system, didn't matter how pretty it looked. Maybe that's why I want the Revolution so much, because I want a return to old school. The fact of the matter is, this generation of gaming isn't about gaming anymore, it's all about making the sale, and it is quite depressing. Given, there are still good games coming out from time to time, but the focus is no longer on the games for the most part. It's more about how much money each company can make and how pretty they can make everything. And, in the case of some companies, it's simply a matter of how many games they can shove down your throat in one year.

So...anyway...lemme know where you guys stand on the subject. This is all opinionated too, so I wanna hear all takes on this. And if there's already a thread on this...well then, I apologize for wasting everyone's time.

[Jedi Mind Tricks]

For me, old school games like Super Mario World, Street Fighter, Sonic and Ghosts and Ghouls are just games that served their purpose back then.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are class games but thats my opinion.

On a side note; I can't wait for the Nintendo Revolution as well, I really want to try out the Earthbound series and Chrono Trigger.

[NashNinja]

I don't care how old a game gets. If I find it fun, then that's what matters to me. I don't need any complicated storylines of fancy graphics or anything like that, just something that won't kill me to play for a few hours. So, old, new, somewhere in between, whatever. The fun factor's what'll get me playing your game.

Overall, though, I'm a sucker for the classics, but I play plenty of the new ones, so don't think I'm like your grandpa on the matter.

[Kira Yamato]

I love to play the classics. Maybe that's why I bought the StreetFighter Anniversary special. But I loved Sonic 2 for sega and Super Maior Bros for Super Nes.

Don't get me started on the Streets of Rage series (sega) and TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (snes) :nuts

[meatpie]

For me, old school games like Super Mario World, Street Fighter, Sonic and Ghosts and Ghouls are just games that served their purpose back then.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are class games but thats my opinion.

On a side note; I can't wait for the Nintendo Revolution as well, I really want to try out the Earthbound series and Chrono Trigger.

ChronoTrigger is a classic.
You play that game now and you realise how crappy games have become these days..

It's truly a masterpiece. Infact, it's one of the best RPGs ever made.

Earthbound is funny game. It's different. Once again you realise how creativity has fallen to the pits ever since Playstation and X-Box came into the market.

The world the Sega and Nintendo once ruled was so good...

[Maestrogamer]

I totally agree!! Games are not what they used to be. I remember playing games on the original nes for hours and hours and really getting in to them. When I go back to those games now, they seem twice as hard then when they were new. I think todays games are more like interactive movies and don't really challenge us like the old games did.

[Minus617]

Those were all classic and thankfully when I'm bored I have my trusty emulator on my PC to play some of those classics like for example I d/l RiverCity Randsom the other day and man is that game still pretty fun. Nice game to pass some time with too.

[Luffy2692]

the thing i miss the most is that there are no new games. there all remakes now. i want to go back to when there were new games like "mario" or whatever you call it. lol

[Duy Nguyen]

I miss the good ol' days in which you go to any local arcade and you will see a huge crowd surrounding the Street Fighter machines...good times.

[meatpie]

Hmm yeah creativity has just gone down the drain...

And yes I still remember Streetfighter 2: world warriors.
Man and they were so cheap to play...

Now those arcade machines are bloody expensive.

[Balance]

Man, the more I think about it, the more I miss my old gaming days, back when I had my SNES and NES. Back then, I never cared what system was better than which. I also miss the old school games. These days, games have to be pretty, because we all know that now it's all about graphics. In my opinion, good graphics are a lot like spoilers (car spoilers): they look nice, but they aren't necessary. Back then, as long as it was fun I'd play anything. Didn't matter what system, didn't matter how pretty it looked. Maybe that's why I want the Revolution so much, because I want a return to old school. The fact of the matter is, this generation of gaming isn't about gaming anymore, it's all about making the sale, and it is quite depressing. Given, there are still good games coming out from time to time, but the focus is no longer on the games for the most part. It's more about how much money each company can make and how pretty they can make everything. And, in the case of some companies, it's simply a matter of how many games they can shove down your throat in one year.

So...anyway...lemme know where you guys stand on the subject. This is all opinionated too, so I wanna hear all takes on this. And if there's already a thread on this...well then, I apologize for wasting everyone's time.

SNES did have a lot of charm to it, and I do realize the problem with the gaming industry trying to simply make the sale anymore... However, back in my SNES days I was too young to truly comprehend and appreciate the entertainment I got from videogames. Now I'm growing up in the "next-gen" era of gaming, and it wasn't until the PlayStation (the first one) that I began to realize that gaming is a pretty great hobby. Now we've moved onto the "current gen", with the passing of the Dreamcast (which I favored a lot), the release of PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube, and it feels like here that I've become a full-fledged gamer.

To me, since I got on the gaming bandwagon a little late, PlayStation 2 will probably be that SNES-type milestone of gaming that I look back upon as the golden age of gaming. It's not that I don't appreciate NES (never owned one personally) or SNES... It's just that this is where I got the same experience that older gamers got from the older consoles. I'll look back upon the Resident Evil series, Metal Gear Solid series, the newer incarnation of Nintendo classics (Zelda and Mario), etc.. as gaming milestones.

But as I mentioned before, gaming is suffering from publisher greed as games become more and more mainstream. Even the most talented of developers often look to sequels to find a few quick bucks, and sometimes it comes at the cost of the game losing some of its heart. The biggest example I can think of is Devil May Cry 2, which is self-explanatory in itself. Of course they bounced back with DMC3 (and some would argue that the bounce back was quite radical, given DMC3's difficulty level -- I don't necessarily agree, but it was definitely a step up from DMC2).

Ah, well, even some of the bigger developers like Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto pump out sequels to no end. Mario's still going strong under Miyamoto's watch, and Kojima just keeps jumping back on Metal Gear projects when he says he's gonna quit. Haven't been disappointed with either of their works, though.. so somtimes it can be a good thing.

Anyways, I think that covers all the points that this topic was supposed to discuss.

[Deimos]

Man, the more I think about it, the more I miss my old gaming days, back when I had my SNES and NES. Back then, I never cared what system was better than which. I also miss the old school games. These days, games have to be pretty, because we all know that now it's all about graphics. In my opinion, good graphics are a lot like spoilers (car spoilers): they look nice, but they aren't necessary. Back then, as long as it was fun I'd play anything. Didn't matter what system, didn't matter how pretty it looked. Maybe that's why I want the Revolution so much, because I want a return to old school. The fact of the matter is, this generation of gaming isn't about gaming anymore, it's all about making the sale, and it is quite depressing. Given, there are still good games coming out from time to time, but the focus is no longer on the games for the most part. It's more about how much money each company can make and how pretty they can make everything. And, in the case of some companies, it's simply a matter of how many games they can shove down your throat in one year.

So...anyway...lemme know where you guys stand on the subject. This is all opinionated too, so I wanna hear all takes on this. And if there's already a thread on this...well then, I apologize for wasting everyone's time.

Damn true. These really were the good old days. I miss them just as much.

[meatpie]

In response to Balance sama:

You've raised a very good point.

I want to add another point.

There is a reason why I like Nintendo more so than Sony or Microsoft...
Nintendo as a console and the in house games that they produce still has that old school feel to it. I don't know how to quite describe it but it's got that touch and feel that many recent games just do not have.

The old school way is all about gameplay, and it doesn't matter if the graphics is crap or not realistic because it's gameplay at the centre of the attention.

[n8dogg]

So what made Chrono Trigger the greatest RPG of all time? Several things, which many here in this thread don't seem to like.

1. Pretty graphics mean absolutely nothing to a game.

You may say that, but understand that Chrono Trigger was probably one of the best looking SNES titles ever made. Akira Toriyama's character designs were excellent, and the spriting was detailed down to the teeth. This fact was one of the biggest reasons for CT's success back in the 90s. Even people today who can't appreciate the grainy 8-bit or the 16-bit era can still play Chrono Trigger with ease.

2. The battle system is almost the same as the systems that TONS of RPGs use today. Time gauges? Seen it loads of times. Dual attacks? Even Mega Man X Command Mission, which wasn't a very good RPG, used multi character attacks.

3. The complicated storyline, which again is one of the "stupid" things that apparently games focus on too much these days. Chrono Trigger's storyline weaves in and out through TIME fer crissakes! In fact, I myself couldn't understand the story until I got to be about 12 years old.

It's not like EVERY game was brilliant back in the day. From my experience of playing emulators, I can see that there were plenty of terrible SNES and Sega games that suffer from the same problems of today. Movie licensed cash cows, unnecessary sequels, and ESPECIALLY rip-offs were rapant in the 90s. Games can't just survive on gameplay alone, although it's a major part of making a successful title. You've got to have the whole package. Pretty visuals, nice soundtrack, etc etc.

And I agree with Balance. I didn't really start seeing whether a game was good or not until I hit about 14. Heck, one of my favorite games in my early teen years was Beyond the Beyond!! Boy, was I stupid.

EDIT:

Can somebody name one game that had TERRIBLE visuals, but was completely awesome? And you have to keep it within the time period. Because if you don't, then the original Zelda could be an answer.

[Nerf Herder]

In response to Balance sama:

You've raised a very good point.

I want to add another point.

There is a reason why I like Nintendo more so than Sony or Microsoft...
Nintendo as a console and the in house games that they produce still has that old school feel to it. I don't know how to quite describe it but it's got that touch and feel that many recent games just do not have.

The old school way is all about gameplay, and it doesn't matter if the graphics is crap or not realistic because it's gameplay at the centre of the attention.

And that's exactly why I'll always favor Nintendo over the competition, because they still make games based on what counts, the gameplay. If only everybody else was like that...

[Orumitzu]

Amen, I hate the console wars. There is only one thing that matters to me in a game: GAMEPLAY. Many older games had more gameplay than 10 new games put together.

[Kiba_and_Pals]

Thats why yall need to get the revolution.

[theoneandonly]

yeah the times of NES, SNES and SEGA....well sometimes i play the ROMs on my pc..

[Insipidipity]

Yall forgot the Atari. ET baby!

[Ssj3_Goku]

basically i think the world of video gaming as of today is getting over flooded with idea's getting used over and over and blood and gore and peopel worring about graphics etc.

look how cool four swords for Gamecube is its great and alot of fun.

[meatpie]

In response to n8dogg: A game that had crappy visuals but a great game nonetheless?

We've been talking about a lot of console games but I would like to change the focus abit and talk about a PC classic.

It will have to be "quarantine" on the PC. It was awesome. You are taxi driver in this futuristic city that is full of crime and death. You you have gangs everywhere, drive by shootings every minute.

You had to missions and in between missions you had to make money from doing your normal taxi driver thing (taking people from A to B).

You had so much freedom in this game. If you felt like it you could just go for a drive in the city (or a drive by). Visit the weapons store and add a nother rocket launcher on your bonnet...

I've still got the game but too bad I can't play it anymore...It just runs too fast on my current computer.

[Heldensheld]

I had Nintendo 93. It had Super Mario but in 2D versions.

[Smooth Jazz]

Yea Im also all about the classics, actaully im looking at my trusty SNES as I write this post. I also care more for gameplay than anything else, but even I have to admit that visuals sweeten the deal. Its true that compared to today the graphics are nothing but regardless of how good the gameplay is, great visuals still really help. Ive got some great games for my Super, Mario World, Street Fighter 2:Turbo, Mario Kart, DKC1, DKC2 (my fav game ever), Pilotwings and of course best racing game ever Top Gear 2, etc but the point is even to this day I play them all, the only other system I own is the N64 and thats hardly ever touched.

[mgrace]

Commodre 64...... it's game only had 64 bit... but im telling you the amount of game play in one of those games was amazing...

I loved those games my favourite was Alice in Wonderland.. You may think I'm lame but it was a RPG Platform game.. Yeah it was awesome.. You traveled around eating pies to grow..... swam... walked... and YES talked to characters to get items.... these items could be used to help u like cakes.. parasole... and the hardest item to find the TOPHAT........ Took me many years to finish... and when I did I was so happy..... Only ever finished that game twice... ahhh memories...

[Nerf Herder]

Yall forgot the Atari. ET baby!

--_-- please tell me you're joking? ET was the worst game I ever played...but yeah, Atari freakin' rocked. I still have all mine and all my games for it.

[Luffy2692]

i think nintendo realizes how alot of people arent as satisfied with newer products and games. thats where theyre headed with the revolution and its new backwards compatibility with 20 years of nintendo. i cant wait

[CrazyMoronX]

Generally the older games, especially SNES games, own newer games hard.

FFVI owns every other Final Fantasy, FFVII and FFT come close though...

Seiken Densetsu III owns almost every other RPG period. And the graphics are nicer to look at than 75% of the games today.

Zelda II for NES and Zelda III for SNES were the two greatest Zelda games. III being the best.

Chrono Trigger... well it destroys Chrono Cross, and is seconded only to FFVI as far as best RPG of all time.

Mario III... BEST MARIO EVER.

[Meijin]

All I can say is...

EXCITEBIKE

[Nost]

Man the first mario kicked ass, 1984 i think it first came out, although it was much later that i first saw it, fun as hell though.

Any one else here ever have an amiga500? man those things rocked, the games kicked ass (old school piracy) and sega master system controllers pluged into them too! wow, i loved my amiga, i wish i had it now it was cool.

[meatpie]

--_-- please tell me you're joking? ET was the worst game I ever played...but yeah, Atari freakin' rocked. I still have all mine and all my games for it.

Which Atari are you guys talking about? The 2600?

Anyway...river raid was awesome. Anyone remember it?

[korican04]

I have games for the nes no one heard about (cause i couldn't afford the regular games) like caveman games, ish was hot.
The atari and commodre is old school none of these multi colored sprites, like mario for the nes.
The wars about the consoles actually started with the snes vs genesis, and it was huge, you were either a sega guy or a nintendo guy. And if you or your parents had the cash you had both.
But games like mario 3 in 1989 was 50 bucks! with inflation that's like buying a game now for 75 dollars.

[Nerf Herder]

The only games I don't miss were all the Wisdom Tree games. Y'know, the games that were total rip-offs of popular games done to stories from the Bible. Like Noah's Ark, which was a blatant rip-off of Wolfenstein, where instead of killing nazis you threw apples at goats with your sling-shot to put them to sleep. And to think these guys made a case against Nintendo and won...

But yeah, I enjoyed most anything aside from those...

[KAT_Ayanami]

Yeah man, SNES times were the best ever!! Such RPG and DBZ games wont be repeated again :(

(well, just wait for emus like I do :P)

[Casshern]

Especially RPGs were great these days. I still like to play Final Fantasy IV, V and VI, Shining Force I and II, Phantasy Star IV, Lufia I and II, Breath of Fire as well as Terranigma and these are just a few examples. I also love games like the Megaman and Megaman X Series, Samurai Showdown and the Turtles games.

[Nerf Herder]

I really enjoyed those top down style racers. Y'know, like Hot Wheels and Rock N Roll Racing...I dunno, they weren't excellent games, but I always had fun with them. I especially loved those old brawlers. BattleToads, Streets of Rage, Ninja Turtles. Did anybody play Joe and Mac? I loved that game, awesome stuff right there.

[n8dogg]

So far the only one to answer my question was meatpie. And I'm still not convinced that you don't need good graphics to make a great game. From looking at screenshots of Quarantine, I can see that it still looked pretty decent considering the time period it came out. Very similar to the standard FPSes of the nineties.

[Nerf Herder]

What about Shinobi? I mean...I know a lot of people hated the game, but I really liked it. Albeit all the platform jumping got a little tedious, I found it to be quite fun. And it was by no means the prettiest game on the PS2. I think the best looking thing in it was his scarf...but that's just my opinion, I dun think a lot of people really liked Shinobi.

[meatpie]

So far the only one to answer my question was meatpie. And I'm still not convinced that you don't need good graphics to make a great game. From looking at screenshots of Quarantine, I can see that it still looked pretty decent considering the time period it came out. Very similar to the standard FPSes of the nineties.

You want graphics that are worse than quarantine?

Ok...

Have you ever played the original pitfall?
I use to have it on my old atari 2600.

It was awesome...running around in the jungle, jumping over swamps with crocodiles.

Maybe a bit like prince of persia in the jungle?

[Wing-Zero]

i kept all my classics and play them every once and a while

[Luffy2692]

i dont have any of my classics... :sad thak god for the revolution though!

[retreat]

i got laughed at in a games shop the other week!
he asked me if i wanted to know more about the psp or playstation 3.
and i told him i only buy nintendo!
he laughed and said "ah so there's still some of you around then?"

i rememer having many arguements over why nintendo was better than sega. and oh how i laughed at sega's failed consoles!

~M~

[Nerf Herder]

I wouldn't necessarily call all of them failed consoles. True, I favored SNES over Genesis, 32X, CD, and Saturn...but the Dreamcast was a real piece of work. I really liked that thing, I wish it was still around. Or that Sega would come back to the console wars with a next-gen system. Ah, how I would love to see Nintendo and Sega going head to head again...those were indeed the good ole days.

[Smooth Jazz]

I hate to break it to you but the Dreamcast actually only had Sega's name on it the work was done by other companies.

[Nerf Herder]

But you can't deny the fact that Dreamcast WAS a good system. Sure, it coulda been better, but it was fun while it lasted. I still have mine, I play it from time to time. I really enjoyed Sonic Adventure.

[Kami-Sama]

well i will speak of this with my opinion of the gaming industry first and then go on:

Good old games are great, and even i find myself playing them, but some companies *cough* nintendo *cough* are taking advantage of this to get into the gamers pocket.

why do i say this??? lets look for example the recent GBA mario games...neither of them is original all of them are remakes and why do i complain about this????

first: super mario allstars..remember that ..for those of you who dont remember, that game featured 4 mario games in one, a good package by the way, now if one Snes cartridge can hold 4 mario games, how come they release each mario game in GBA cart (which holds much more space than snes cart) individually??... guess what money. i was going to buy yoshi's island for the gba and when they told me that it's prices was of a full GBA game i was shocked... why would i pay full price for a game that is: 1. pretty old. 2. pretty much the same, nothing improved, nothing added. 3 and can get for free.

this not only happened to yoshi's island but also happened to the original Mario bros. which is an outrage to me.

nintendo is just taking advantage of the gamers nostalgy and instead of developing something new, they just copy and paste an old game and try to sell it again, instead of doing the package special. like most of the midway and other company's collections.

that's why i'm hating the revolution... the only selling point of the system for now is the unknown game controller... and guess what?? backwards compatibility(sp), then again nintendo trying to cash out of gamers nostalgy...

dont get me wrong because i luv my old school games, but it pisses me off how nintendo takes advantage of this.

also i dont have a problem with the way games are going today, since is pretty much expected watching how technology works..back in the day you had to wait almost a year or more to get a convertion of MK, SF or any other arcade game.. now the wait is almost none, which is good to me...

also graphics doesnt make the game, but it complements it.... can you imagine having the same feeling playing MGS 1.2.3 with snes graphics....well i dont.

graphics are a tool...you can use it o dont,...you can cut wood with a knive but if you can have a chainsaw...is how company use this tool that is the problem... some company rely on it while other take advantage and improve their games with it.

[Smooth Jazz]

No doubt the dreamcast was a great system. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 anyone? Im just saying that for the system itself its nor really sega that should get the credit.

And about the copy and paste thing, yea I do kinda agree with you that is what Nintendo is doing but what do you expect when theyve got no third-party devellopper support. I mean because of the PS1 Sony gots huge back up, and well Microsoft just buys every company *cough* RARE *cough* Its crappy but this is the way it is, as companies Sony and Microsoft just have more cash to shove out than Nintendo every could.

[Insipidipity]

--_-- please tell me you're joking? ET was the worst game I ever played...but yeah, Atari freakin' rocked. I still have all mine and all my games for it.
Actually, I was joking. I just couldn't remember the names for the other games, but I still have them(its in the drawer in my parents room but my atari itself is broken)

[Nerf Herder]

Yeah, I kinda figured as much. Just givin' you a hard time d00d.

[Giant Enemy Crab]

Once I get a revolution I'll make sure to get that emulator that lets you play on other Nintendo systems.

[~ Masamune ~]

Yeah i miss the old days playing on my commodore 64 and then amiga (oh those games ownz). Then Nintendo,playing Zelda all day^^

But then again,it's the past and i couldn't be happier with games like KH,Final Fantasy series,Shin Megami Tensei,...............

[TheBlindHyuuga]

I brought my dreamcast that can play these NES and SNES emulators that I have to campus with me so I can still be nostalgic and play a lot of my favorites. I also brought my 64....got to love classic gaming