Standing the test of time: Replaying old games

Has there been a game you have played before that you were absolutely in love with and then replayed later to find out that in light of the industry's improvement with design/mechanics that the game is just simply not good?

Nope. Old games hold up.

I just finished a play though of Baldur's Gate 2 and Deus Ex recently. Plus, with gog.com, I'm in the middle of an Anachronox play through.

There have been a few, but that's more because *I* got older and my tastes/standards improved, rather than the game getting older. But many old games really do hold up.

Roller Coaster Tycoon is STILL FUCKING AMAZING.

Ocarina of Time. My nostalgia love for this game was huge but when I played it again on my 3DS I felt like it was overrated. Although that might be because a handheld can't compare to playing on a big TV. There are also games I hold very high but am scared to replay because I don't want to damage that feeling, like some SNES classics.

Most of the ones that I remember I remember for a reason. But some Playstation games are kind of rough to go back to, so I'd say stuff from the early 3D era can be hit or miss.

16 bit games are usually as good as I remember. Though stuff like Crash Bandicoot or Vagrant Story still kick ass as much as Sonic 2 or Super Mario World.

Star Fox 64 for me. I played it again a few weeks ago and was shocked at how annoying that game can be at times. Or maybe I'm just bad.

Other than that though, I usually don't keep games unless I feel like I'd go back to them at a later date & enjoy them.

Super Mario 64

The controls aren't as smooth as I remembered and the analog stick does not hold up well.

The first Max Payne.

doesn't really count since I first played it very recently but XCOM 3 is not really good huh?

TERRIBLE interface, instant kill/mind control face huguers used as bullets by the FIRST type of ennemie you encounter, obscure or straight up unplayable if you don't have the 200 page manual, completly useless psyonic powers, useless ground vehicules that can be destroyed by falling buildings, having to eyeball the drop zone for alien troops, etc. The list goes on and on but I'll just stop and tell you to play the new one instead.

If the game was originally good, it will still be good today. You have to approach it with the correct mindset, though. If you're expecting a 1998 game to have modern-day features, of course it's going to disappoint you. Take it for what it was back in the day.

That said, most 3D games are less tolerable than most 2D games as time goes by, if you ask me. Baldur's Gate or Diablo II? Perfectly playable today. Alone in the Dark or Tomb Raider? Uh...

Most good old games hold up- but some don't. Early 3d, polygonal tech based games sometimes don't. 
More in tune with your question though, yes. 7th Guest is a good example- imo. Was great when it released, but since I got older I realized the acting is really bad and cheesy. Although the puzzles are still good which I guess is what counts. This tends to be the case, though, with most FMV games in general- good or bad. 
 
It seems to me, 2d games tend to hold up really well, early polygonal stuff kind of suffers a bit, FMV games were always hit or miss anyway but the good ones the puzzles or game play holds up. I'm not sure yet how modern high budget games will hold up- i'm curious to see how that goes.

Mostly only games from the PS1 era that have really terrible graphics and frame rate.

I never really loved any of my non sports Genesis games, but I've been playing some of them recently and they don't seem to be holding up very well. Lots of simple platforming and the graphics aren't as good as I remembered them being. Funny how that works, isn't it? They were all practically cartoon quality in my mind's eye.

On the other hand I've been playing the old Tony Hawk games recently and they hold up just fine. I've been through Pro Skater on N64, Pro Skater 3 on PS2, and Pro Skater 2x, plus Underground 1 and 2 on Xbox and I've had a great time doing so. Next up I got Pro Skater 4 for PS2. Having said that, the PS1 version of 2 didn't click with me quite so much as 2x did.

I still love Super Mario 64, but the tasks aren't as... complex as I remember them being.

Also I hate to be a grammar nazi but you're misusing despite and it bugs me far more than I wish it would.

@pyromagnestir: appreciate it.

@cannonballBAM: No prob. However, is it bad that I let out and audible, soothed "Aaaaaah..." when I saw the fix?... I'm thinking it's bad.

Terminator 2 for NES. Fuck You Motorcycle Level, there was a trick to beating that level but I lost my patience to figure it out.

Most games I loved as a kid hold up, but one big exception for me is Phantasy Star 2. It was one of my favorites growing up. I tried to run through it again a while back and found it to be a real slog. The dungeons were just really monotonous and mind numbing, and it was way too grind heavy.

@pyromagnestir: Ha not at all. I think were allowed to help others so long as they don't respond like a jack ass.

I read the title as "RapeLaying old games".

I'm afraid to replay a couple games I really loved out of fear of that happening. At the end of the day though I'm a story guy and while the method that is used to tell the stories might not be as flashy, a games awesome story can hold the test of time much better then gameplay can in my eyes.

Goldeneye is nearly unplayable by today's standards.

I find that old games that I've played at the time still hold up, but old games that I have never played usually don't. I fucking love Ocarina of Time, but not Link to the Past. Even though, objectively, I can see that LttP is the better game.

Unreal was the third FPS I ever played, after Quake and Quake 2. It was beautiful, even on a 533mhz Celeron with an S3 Trio64. There where lights everywhere of all colours, water and plants, and even reflections (at 7fps). But most frustrating to me where the damn strafing Skaarj. I only ever managed to complete it with god mode on and by using 'allammo'; but that was ok as as weak as the story was, I just had to know how it finished.

I'd play it again, except for some of the infuriating parts, I still think it looks pretty good and there are high-res texture packs available for it.

I just did a quick search on YouTube and found a play-through as recently as 2009, so I might just watch some highlights from that.

But really, I'd love to see the game redeveloped, updated graphics to make the aliens more alien, and a fleshed out story to fit the atmosphere.

Never played Half-Life and I tried playing it a few months ago, got about 3 hours in before I just said fuck this because it just has aged so much since 1998. I understand how good it was but I just can't play it sadly.

I don't really have a problem playing old games: I'm really good at putting myself in the mindset required to appreciate gaming history.

I think it depends on whether (at the time of playing the game) you enjoyed it because of the spectacle, or because it's genuinely good. It can be easy to get the two confused. This is why I usually play through a game more than once. Most games are so short, it can be hard to tell.

Sonic Adventure 1 is an outdated pile of shit.

@CornBREDX: 7th guest has GREAT bad acting though.

But yeah, all those FMV adventure games are probably the games I spent the most time with that aged the worst.

D, 11th hour, 7th guest, tex murphy, black dahlia, etc.

Those and early polygonal games. I spent a weekend with no sleep playing battle arena toshinden back in the day and while I didn't love it I didn't hate it nearly enough.

Chances are that if a game's not good when playing it now, it probably wasn't particularly good to begin with anyway. A lot of games that people used to enjoy were played when they were kids, and kids don't often have a very refined taste when it comes to games.

I played through Metal Gear Solid on the PS1, but I could NOT get into Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes on Gamecube, and I hadn't played Metal Gear Solid 2 or 3 in the interim, so I wasn't spoiled by any improvements that may have been made in the sequels. In the same vain, I was very excited about Resident Evil 0, but I don't think I got off that damn train. Those games are just awkward.

American McGee's Alice. I loved that game passionately years ago, but what were once gameplay quirks I now find almost intolerable. The music is still much better than anything in the sequel though.

This is what I've been doing for the last 3 years, kinda. If we want to talk about games from our childhoods that don't hold up, an easy one for me is Donkey Kong 64. That game is the epitome of "collect 50 different items" made even worse by overly-large levels and an overabundance of crappy challenge barrels.

Final Fantasy VII. I tried replaying a couple years back for the first time since it came out and didn't get out of Midgar. What really was a transcendent experience in gaming back in the 90s is not so much today.

Someone else said Phantasy Star 2? Yes, that one as well. But nowadays if you run it on a emulator, you can hack the save states rather than grind, making it a much more enjoyable, incredibly short game.

Speaking of save state hacking. I think the biggest belly laugh I ever got out of a game was when I was playing Final Fantasy 1 with everyone max levels, max stats and Chaos - the final boss - ran away from me. Roll credits, I win... apparently.

I think nostalgia is usually strong enough to convince people that the games they used to love are still good.

Nope ... I like them for what they were and it is very unfair to rejudge them with today´s standars (are there any really? :P )

Most PS1 games are pure shite today.

Yes, a handful. But primarily, Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.

Morrowind. It's pains me in my heavy heart to say it but cannot play it again simply for that fact that 75% of your sword strikes miss.

I am unworthy to all of you. I'm scum.

In truth, new games are the end of a beautiful existence. The next gen will be the end of new gen next gen end. Try and be hard and play to be made as the games are gamed.

@Claude said:

In truth, new games are the end of a beautiful existence. The next gen will be the end of new gen next gen end. Try and be hard and play to be made as the games are gamed.

http://www.datgif.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/tom-baker-creepy-smile.gif

Shadowman is probably the oldest game from home consoles that I've tried going back to and enjoyed. It feels janky as fuck, but holds up relatively well. Don't get me wrong, when you compare it to something like Darksiders (which is basically where that genre went), it feels paleolithic, but I had a decent enough time playing it.

Games that hold up: Any 2D Zelda game, Majora's Mask, every Metroid game.

i barely have enough time to play new games let alone replay games that i have already played.

must be nice to have so much free gaming time

I believe PC games are especially susceptible to ageing poorly due to their emphasis on cutting edge technology.

Played Abe's Exodus recently and that game is still a fun game that it just makes me wish Oddworld Inhabitants would just make another Oddworld 2D puzzle platformer again.

@EVO said:

Goldeneye is nearly unplayable by today's standards.

False, me and a friend played through that game a month ago and then did some multiplayer. Game is made for turn about couch gaming

@DelroyLindo said:

@EVO said:

Goldeneye is nearly unplayable by today's standards.

False, me and a friend played through that game a month ago and then did some multiplayer. Game is made for turn about couch gaming

I played it with friends a few years ago and I found it controlled nowhere near as well as I remember it. But then again, I was using a controller that had played many games of Mario Party.

@EVO said:

@DelroyLindo said:

@EVO said:

Goldeneye is nearly unplayable by today's standards.

False, me and a friend played through that game a month ago and then did some multiplayer. Game is made for turn about couch gaming

I played it with friends a few years ago and I found it controlled nowhere near as well as I remember it. But then again, I was using a controller that had played many games of Mario Party.

It does control a bit like ass, but I think that was in large part to 10 year old broken controllers. Still had a great time playing it though

No, and actually I think I have the opposite thing going on where I like so many older games so much that newer games don't really compare. That's not to say I have some older-game-elitism or anything as I still enjoy newer games, just that through refinement I think a lot of titles lose their charm. I know Resident Evil and Armored Core both have "bad" control schemes, but the controls not being perfect at a nice bit of quirkiness to the games.

FF9 was still as great as I remembered it. I could play that game forever.

Recently played MGS3:Snakeeater, and it is still great. Now I am playing MGS2:Sons of Liberty. Knowing what I know about the series now, I can enjoy it more. The story is not as stupid as the first time I played it. I guess it depends on how the game holds up to games of today. Obviously something like X-men vs Street Fighter on the PS1 is going to look like crap, but games like River City Ransom and Sim City cannot be replicated due to their immense charm.

@EVO: I agree 100%.