Modern games are boring. NES is King.

[J-man]

Browsing this forum and finding that many people here share many views with me on things, I wonder if anyone else loves old-school games (NES, SNES), and is bored by new games (360, ps3, and such).

I am not sure why but new games bore the hell out of me yet I absolutely love games like Super Mario Bros 1-3, Mega Man 1-6, LoZ: A Link to the Past... N64 and PS1 are somewhere in between.

Maybe the fact that most new games are 3d has something to do with it. Maybe it's that new games try too hard to be realistic.

 

[Puffy]

I think I kind of agree with this. The only games I've played much in the last year have been RTS or games I have on my SNES emulator. I love Earthbound, and the Donkey Kong Country series too - no.2 is probably my favorite computer game. (:

It might be a nostalgia thing; I personally played SNES games when I was a kid, I moved on to PS1, PS2, etc, and I do enjoy them but they don't have the same "classic" feel I suppose.

Like, people bang on about the film Avatar, but that looked like trash to me. It doesn't compare with the simplicity of animation that doesn't really age as much. New, really advanced games are just a different experience, and in all honesty I still enjoy them, it's just that I don't have time to play them as much anymore, and when I do I tend to get too addicted. >_>

 

[jachian]

I agree. most mew games are boring. They are boring becuase:

1) 3d leaves little room or your imagination to work while playing.
2) New games are not challenging. They have dumbed down the game play.They have endless save points.
3) Most are all graphics no gameplay. most border on interactive movies.
4) Overall they are just badly designed.

And yes I love me some snes and genesis and Neo Geo games to death.

Hey.... are you interested in making and old school style game?......

 

[SpaceYeti]

I still play SNES games. There's certainly a difference, but the only significant differences are controls and graphics. The old days had it's fair share of crappy games, and modern games have a decent number of great games. To say one is superior is... strange. If I were forced to choose superiority, well, modern games have better graphics and interface (not counting the games which have notably bad button layout), so they'd have to win. I mean, yeah, Super Mario World and Super Mario Brothers 3 are classics, SNES had Final Fantasies and, yeah, there are definitely classics. To deny the merit of modern games (Portal, Rock Band, Dragon Age, etc) just because you have some strange preference for... for what, less buttons? Anyway, because you prefer older games, it doesn't mean modern games aren't good. In fact, I'd argue modern games, as evolving from older games, are superior, because they can more easily avoid what makes a game bad. I don't think that's true, as the media have evolved a lot and much of older game's problems simply no longer apply, but that's my point. It's all preference.

For example, many people praise a game or movie because of the awesome graphics, but let's face the facts; Given modern technology, a game has good graphics by default. It's to be expected. I don't care about graphics, I care about playability and constant in-game rules/laws-of-physics. Also, story and simple funness. Many people won't play games with bad graphics no matter how popular they were in their day or what it gave to the gaming world.

 

[Felan]

Meh SNES is too new. The really good games were 80's PC games like Wizards Crown, Starflight, Neuromancer, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Autoduel, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (not a 3d game), Balance of Power, NetHack, Masters of Magic, ELITE (3d before 3d was cool), Pirates!, Civilization (though they keep making new ones), Rise of the Dragon, Ultima, Wasteland, (I forgot the name but you were in microscopic sub and had to navigate to various places in the body do surgery, a la Fantastic Voyage).

[EDIT] Ooooo I forgot Robotropolis!!! That game was a blast!

Lots more games I'm not mentioning. Playing Wizard's Crown, Starflight, Masters of Magic, and Elite were some of my fondest memories.

There was Sega Genesis game I loved, Shadow Run I think.

 

[Auburn]

What if the newer games don't seem as fascinating, not because of their own merit but because of your own age? When you are small, you don't know much about reality and video games are a completely novel, fantastical, experience in contrast to the world around you.

You grow attached to these games the same way people becomes attached to their first toy or first favorite cartoon - because they had a deep impact on you as a child; all experiences have a deeper impact for children.

We are not children any longer, not as easily amused or impressed. The impact of new games cannot rival the impact older games had on our child selves.


That aside... I do agree overly realistic games miss the whole point of being a game - which is to escape reality into a fascinating world of possibility.

Nintendo has pretty consistently understood this and of the 3 main competitors, is the one who is most aligned to the true nature of gaming. Its games are less complex and more fun, and it pays more attention on the quality of riddles of the game than things like scenery.

They also constantly re-create their older games (i.e. Ocarina of Time for 3DS, Super Mario Bros. for DS) with those nostalgic reasons in mind. I'd say Nintendo is a much more Ne-Si company, while PlayStation & XBOX are more Se-Ni.

 

[typus]

Oooh, I had this awesome football game for NES where if you tackled your opponents on their side of the field well enough, they would lie in the same spot for the rest of the half. Their physical abilities to recover were strangely heightened when the rulebook demanded that they be...

The only game I've ever really gotten into (overlooking all those console games that I factually know that I played lots [eg Super Smash Brother, Mario Kart] but don't actually remember) is Counter-Strike 1.6, which is hardly new. But since I also enjoyed Modern Warfare 2 (and Guitar Hero 3 but it doesn't deserve an out-of-parentheses mention), it doesn't seem that age is the relevant factor. Rather, a definite skill component, competitive simplicity and a fast pace might be what attracts me.

 

[J-man]

I think the nostalgia factor may be a part of it for me, although I didn't have Mega Man or Link to the Past when I was a kid. Those games just have a NES/SNES feel to them.

To deny the merit of modern games (Portal, Rock Band, Dragon Age, etc) just because you have some strange preference for... for what, less buttons? Anyway, because you prefer older games, it doesn't mean modern games aren't good.

I have a strange preference for less buttons? Total straw man. Don't be a douche.

I don't recall saying modern games were not "good". I said I am bored by them. You imply that modern games are objectively "good". You can prefer modern games; I don't care. But there is no objective "good".

 

[SpaceYeti]

I have a strange preference for less buttons? Total straw man. Don't be a douche.

I don't recall saying modern games were not "good". I said I am bored by them. You imply that modern games are objectively "good". You can prefer modern games; I don't care. But there is no objective "good".

... I think you misinterpreted what I was saying. I don't have a preference for modern or old games. I'd just as soon play Shark! Shark! as I would Portal 2, with my favorite game ever, Mechwarrior 2; Mercenaries, being somewhere in-between the release dates of those two. I was guessing at the reason for your preference in a jocular manner. I don't know how that upset you, but it seems to have, and if so; sorry.

It appears we agree, though. I was never arguing the point that any sort of game is innately or objectively better than any other game. It's subjective, based on personal preference. I was simply expressing that I don't understand how someone could prefer older games instead of liking both. It seems if you like older games, it's because you don't care about graphics, in which case you'd like games for other qualities that don't rely on graphics, which older and newer games can easily both have.

 

[J-man]

I appreciate that you gave me a genuine apology (whether I deserved it or not). It seems that most apologies have bratty undertones and are thus not real apologies.

Re-reading your post I can see how you weren't necessarily trying to be a douche, it just seemed that way at first. I got the impression you were implying my preferences were 'strange' and thus less valid than otherwise, and I was irritated.

That could have escalated into an argument but you handled it well. Well played, sir.

 

[Awaken]

Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X - YouTube

 

[Dapper Dan]

OP, have you been paying much attention to the smaller-budget side of the industry? There's plenty of great 2D stuff being made that might tickle your fancy.

Edit: Also, Awaken, that was awesome.

 

[J-man]

Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X - YouTube

Good point.

Check this out (not yet released):
MegaMan X: Corrupted - Zero Skills - YouTube

OP, have you been paying much attention to the smaller-budget side of the industry? There's plenty of great 2D stuff being made that might tickle your fancy.

No, actually. I'm not aware of such a thing. What are some examples?