Games that Aged INCREDIBLY well

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The first God of War and Ratchet and Clank, and the entire Jak and Daxter series suffer from an awkward stiffness to the controls. Don't even get me talking about the PS2 era GTA games.

I don't recall any awkwardness or stiffness in the 1st God of War's controls. They all control the same because of the fixed camera. I still find the 1st God of War the only good game in the series.

Things moved funkier. Kratos' turn speed was slower, his climbing was awkward, and a lot of the camera angles weren't that optimal. I still like the first one best, but the sequels ironed out all the mechanical kinks.

I recall the platforming and climbing (to a lesser extent) being issues. I don't recall the sequels really fixing the platforming much, maybe there was just less platforming in them. I still remember the Hades level with those turning spikes and walking across some 2x4 rafters or something like that. I found the combat in the 1st game the most fun just due to L1+X juggle move; yeah, it made the combat easier than the sequels but the series is no DMC or Bayonetta so fun is of the utmost importance over mechanics and challenge in a GoW game IMO.

 

[The Enquirer]

I think Timesplitters: Future Perfect aged incredibly well. Sins of a Solar Empire aged very well, granted most strategy games nowadays tend to since UI technology has advanced. Deus Ex: Human Revolution's graphics weren't ever really overly impressive but gameplay wise it's one of the few games I actually replay every few years. Mount and Blade Warband is another.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I recall the platforming and climbing (to a lesser extent) being issues. I don't recall the sequels really fixing the platforming much, maybe there was just less platforming in them. I still remember the Hades level with those turning spikes and walking across some 2x4 rafters or something like that. I found the combat in the 1st game the most fun just due to L1+X juggle move; yeah, it made the combat easier than the sequels but the series is no DMC or Bayonetta so fun is of the utmost importance over mechanics and challenge in a GoW game IMO.

The sequels definitely fixed the climbing, by giving Kratos a solid grasp and by limiting the amount of enemies you would encounter during wall climbs. And also just the improvement of the animation. In GoW1 you could find yourself falling to your death quite often if you performed a jump from one wall to the next when there were enemies around you. The hitboxes were a bit screwy like that. This is what made Hades such a pain; a blade could lightly graze your pinky and you'd be fucked.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I think Symphony of the Night has aged really, really well. I honestly can't find a Metroid-vania game I like better, and the game is nearly twenty years old.

Yeah, the translation was shoddy and the voice acting was laughable- but that's just part of the experience.

 

[hermes]

Okami

Spoiler

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Chess? Lol. Somebody already cited Tetris. Okay, seriously.

Tron 2.0

You know, in all the years I've been here, you're the first I've seen mention that game.

Anyway, in terms of graphics, I'd say: yes, definitely holds up fine. It does help that the TRON aesthetics already lend themselves well to it. Gameplay-wise, I'm not quite so sure, but it's been a long time since I've played it, so I'm not gonna make any kind of definitive judgment on it.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

Maybe its because of Ni Oh, I went back and played Onimusha and it still feels pretty great (imo)

 

[votemarvel]

If I had to pick one it would be Streets of Rage 2.

The game still looks good, plays incredibly, has characters that play differently enough that you want to go back through the game to try them. And that soundtrack, the soundtrack is simply awesome.

 

[gorfias]

Uncharted 3 is only 5 years old...

Haven't played in a bit but is it fair to write that Uncharted 2 is about as good and is 7 years old (2010).

In technology, even 3 years can be huge. The difference between Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider was about that long and I can see the difference.

Also, there can be tech leaps in the span of months. DX 12 is out now, processor speed is doubling every 18 months (Moorre's law). I have an HD 7970 with 3 Gig DDR5 that cost me $600 about 5 years ago. My other computer is now rocking an RX 480 with 8 Gig, double the power, $240.

So, 5 years on, with a whole new, much more powerful platform introduced to us, to see something this terrific? I'm impressed. (though, they can have my PS4 when they can pry it from ... y'know).

Since when is the Xbox 1 version on Rare Reloaded? You better not be rustling my jimmies.

It's Rare Replay!!! I have that! Paid $25: $15 on Amazon at this time! Supposedly from N64 version, not the Xbox remake.

OT: I mean... Uncharted 3 is rather new, isnt it?

See above...

Halo 3 hasnt aged a day, the artstyle is so nice.

Agreed, and a great game.

 

[iwinatlife]

Breath of fire 3 and Final Fantasy Tactics always hold up for me. Fire emblem The sword of flame and Sacred stones always good. Another Mention of heroes of might and magic 3 and a slightly more controversial mention of heroes of might and magic 5 that my girlfriend and I have played to death...actually it has been a few months probably time to start a new campaign.

 

[Necrozius]

Seconding Super Metroid for the SNES. The music, polished 16-bit graphics and intuitive controls combined to what I consider to be a perfect game.

 

[Supernova1138]

Also, there can be tech leaps in the span of months. DX 12 is out now, processor speed is doubling every 18 months (Moorre's law).

Moore's Law is pretty much dead at this point. It strictly speaking means every 18 months you get double the number of transistors onto the same size of die. That's not happening anymore because we're approaching the limits of how far we can shrink the transistors on silicon. Case in point it looks like Intel will now have four generations on 14nm because they are having so much trouble getting 10nm to work, it used to be Intel would only have two generations per process node. It's part of the reason why CPU advancement has more or less plateaued in the past 6 years and the only way to get big improvements on CPUs now is to add more cores and go onto a larger die. GPUs face a similar situation, but they aren't hurt nearly as bad as they are designed from the ground up for parallel computing vs. CPU tasks that are more serialized and where software developers have a hard time scaling that stuff across many cores.

As for DX12, so far it hasn't been very impressive, not that many games have supported it so far, and those that do often run worse than in DX11 mode without any real improvements to visual fidelity.

 

[BrawlMan]

If I had to pick one it would be Streets of Rage 2.

The game still looks good, plays incredibly, has characters that play differently enough that you want to go back through the game to try them. And that soundtrack, the soundtrack is simply awesome.

Figured someone beat me to it. No matter, what you say is all true, and I 100% agree.

Double Dragon Advanced

Devil May Cry 3

Viewtiful Joe

Resident Evil 4

Vectorman

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Guardian Heroes

Serious Sam

 

[Sonmi]

Going as far back as possible, Oregon Trail.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

-snip-

My Dad and I had a ton of fun with arcade racing games on the N64 and I agree that games like the Rush and Crusin' games from back then (while not pretty anymore) are still a ton of fun to actually sit down and play. Hydro Thunder was another favorite and I'm disappointed in past-me for not realizing that Arctic Thunder was released on the PS2 (I loved that game in the arcade)

It's going to be hard to not just point at Arcade and PC games (like Silent Scope and DDR from the arcade and PnC-Adventure games on the PC like Beneath a Steel Sky). The thing is I do strongly agree that if you can look past the artistic limitations of older hardware, games like Gauntlet Legends, Crazy Taxi, Super Punch*Out, After Burner, NBA Jam and many, many others are still a ton of fun to play and those are just the few that came to me off of the top of my head.

 

[MCerberus]

The Star Wars Trilogy arcade game.
N64 Pok?mon Stadium minigames and the early Mario Parties
The Total War series started going in other directions, so with all the "we finally fixed..." and later mechanics, Rome and M2 are still fun.
UT and UT2k4
Yoshi's Island
Golden Sun 1 & 2
The 2d Sonic games. Yah, the Genesis ones but also CD and some choice GBA games
Rogue Squadron 1 & 2 (3 was a misfire).

 

[dohnut king]

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Sid Meier's Pirates.

 

[gorfias]

Moore's Law is pretty much dead at this point. It strictly speaking means every 18 months you get double the number of transistors onto the same size of die. That's not happening anymore because we're approaching the limits of how far we can shrink the transistors on silicon. Case in point it looks like Intel will now have four generations on 14nm because they are having so much trouble getting 10nm to work, it used to be Intel would only have two generations per process node. It's part of the reason why CPU advancement has more or less plateaued in the past 6 years and the only way to get big improvements on CPUs now is to add more cores and go onto a larger die.

It's not as linear as Moore describes but in the 1990s we got the Pentium II, AKA the "Candy Bar" . The theory was pretty much what you write about 20 years ago. [Oh dear. I'm wicked old :-(]

I anticipate great things, even if things appear stalled at the moment. (Will Quantum computers ever meet the proposed possibilities?)

GPUs face a similar situation, but they aren't hurt nearly as bad as they are designed from the ground up for parallel computing vs. CPU tasks that are more serialized and where software developers have a hard time scaling that stuff across many cores.

I haven't seen the slow down there yet. And while GPUS are getting much faster, we're getting much more bang for the buck too. My HD 7970 w/ 8 Gig DDR5 cost $600. 5 years later, for $240, I got an RX 480 8 GB DDR 5.

The next big change over the next 10 years?

In the past, you had to pay, adjusted for inflation, about $150 for a good sound card. I can now get 5.1 surround sound from my mother board. I think we'll see an APU that can match the best CPU and GPU combos built into motherboards 10 years from now. Making this kind of power available to the masses is an advance as well. Game development will make better use of this power under such conditions.

As for DX12, so far it hasn't been very impressive, not that many games have supported it so far, and those that do often run worse than in DX11 mode without any real improvements to visual fidelity.

I'm liking it so far. And if I understand it correctly, AMD optimized its cards to work well with it going back as far as my HD 7970 (replaced twice over since) while the Nvidia GTX 5 (and 6?) series do not work at DX 11. And I think things will only get better as developers get used to working with it.

 

[CaitSeith]

Chrono Trigger (SNES version)

It's 16-bit JRPG done right:

- Interesting characters (except for the main one; he is pretty much a blank slate)
- Great main story, full of mysteries and twists
- Side-quests that develop the characters even further (both in strength and in narrative)
- Simple, yet deep combat (including different AoE special attacks and combos)
- Visuals and animations that effectively communicate the situation
- Seamless transition between exploring and starting a battle
- Player choices that have tangible effects on the story and the game's world
- Multiple endings
- Great music
- It ends with teenagers using the power of friendship to kill God

 

[CaitSeith]

I discovered the Serious Sam series recently and I fell in love with it.
The games look like garbage graphically speaking but the gameplay is fantastic.

I've heard of Serious Sam only because of the Talos Principle's easter eggs. What kind of gameplay is it?