Games That Have Aged Well (For You)

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

RE4 is a bit of an obvious answer, but only because it's true. It is hard to believe that this game is now 10 years old. It still feels like it's close to the cutting edge in gameplay and style.

Pretty much any Pokemon game is still as solid and fun to play as ever. That formula was all but perfected with Pokemon Red and Blue.

 

[Korenith]

Only played System Shock 2 for the first time recently and loved it so I'd say that holds up pretty good, despite the graphics looking dated. The creepy sound design is a real highlight as is the exploration.

The first two Oddworld games are both still excellent and still look pretty good too.

There are a lot of old 2D platformers which hold up well even by today's standards. Most of the 2D Mario games, Plok, Donkey Kong Country, the old Sonic stuff, Rayman, the decent X-men sidescroller I can't currently remember the name of. Actually quite a lot of the SNES/Sega Genesis era still plays nicely. It's the early 3D stuff (PS1/N64 era) which has aged about as well as chicken left out of the fridge.

 

[Alcom1]

MechWarrior 4 and its expansions has aged really well for me. Mech combat in that game is responsive and excellent. Graphics are dated but they also have a style to them, and in some ways the game looks better than the more modern MechWarrior Online. This game perfected the feel of piloting a massive war machine, and I love it for that.


MechWarrior 2 on the other-hand, has aged like chocolate milk. The Z-buffer doesn't work properly, the sound lacks proper fading with distance, the AI often acts legitimately confused, and basic visual effects such as weapons fire and explosions aren't visible half the time. Some of the issues are attributed to the Titanium Trilogy version. I would love to play the Ati 3d rage edition, but getting that thing to work is a pipe dream at best.

I still like it, but mostly out of nostalgia, an appreciation for game history, and the fact that it's kinda adorable and funny sometimes.

 

[Angelblaze]

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (I can't describe to you the hours spent, grinding, hoping, praying for cards)
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (AKA: 'Holy Cross 1-2 shots just about everything the game')
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (AKA: 'War, animu edition)
Super Smash Brothers 64 (My samus....just...my samus)
Time Crisis 2 (Machine Gun-ACTION)
*all* of the Kirby gameboy games (Thank you emulators!)

 

[baddude1337]

I have a few. And most of these are because of mods.

Rome: Total War. Hands down still the best of the Total War series. It was the first 3D total war Game too so it was pretty special. While the vanilla game hasn't aged quite as well in the graphics department, mods like Roma Surrectum look better than some of the more recent total war games and have fantastic gameplay. The AI is still as dumb as it's ever been, but it has the best battle engine of the series.

Dawn of War: A truly great RTS and the best 40K game they have made so far. All the races play similar but also each take time to master and each army caters to a different playstyle. The animations for the units are all still absolutely fantastic. Combine it with some race and update mods (The SM's haven't aged as well as the others) and it is even better.

Doom 1/2: This one is also mainly because of mods. Doom still plays pretty great, but it's the user made levels and mods that really make it fantastic. Mapsets like Back to Saturn X and mods like Weapon X, Guncaster and Project MSX make Doom play however you want it to play. Be it like a modern shooter with aiming, give you a Crysis style suit, or a shooter RPG where you play as a gun wielding dragon. Probably my favourite shooter of all time.

Half Life: Still the best story shooter out there. While the graphics have aged a bit, nothing mods can't fix if you want to. I always preferred the original to 2 as well, just something about it that I can't quite put my finger on makes it much better.

Resident Evil 4: Still the best action horror game there is. It's amazing how well it still holds up today. Especially when compared to 5 and 6, which weren't great to say the least.

Battlefield 2: Yes, another one because of mods. But Project Reality make it the best modern shooter, and Forgotten Hope the best WW2 shooter. Although online does work for these 2 mods, I only play the singleplayer, and the bots are surprisingly good. This one really is because of just those mods, ans Battlefield 2 itself hasn't aged all that well.

Call of Duty 1 & 2: Yes, CoD, it sucks bla bla bla. But the first 2 had some of the best WW2 Solo campaigns out there.

Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy: A Starship Troopers RTS that hardly anyone knows about. Despite being not all that well received, I personally love it. Commanding a small squad and killing loads of bugs, with an RPG system for your troops. That and the cool mech suits make it as fun as ever for me. It's now shareware I believe, so you can download and play it for free.

Future Cop: LAPD: Another one many haven't heard of, but very fun. Having a mech that can transform into a car is pretty cool, and the gameplay still holds up, both campaign and the strategy mode.

Starfox 64: My favourite childhood game. It was great getting this in my hands again when I got a 3DS. It's criminal they haven't made more yet. The gameplay is truly timeless.

Super Mario All Stars: Because Mario is fun and always will be. Period.

 

[UmberHulk]

Age of wonders: Shadow Magic- Honestly I prefer this game to Age of Wonders 3 even though AoW 3 is technically a better game.
System Shock 2: in my opinion this is still the best first person action rpg period.
Neverwinter Nights: one of my favorites despite its numerous flaws.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Most sprite based games have aged remarkably well. Particularly the Mario Platformers, and the 16-bit era JRPGs.

 

[SnakeTrousers]

METAL GEAR SOLID

Shooting is a little awkward, but otherwise the game-play still feels remarkably smooth. I actually only played it for the first time a couple years ago, and was frankly blown away. Easily the best game in the series, especially story wise - the wordy exposition dumps and over-the-top silliness are still present, but to a much more palatable degree than in later entries.

SACRIFICE

The graphics are admittedly rather low-res but they're saved by stunning art design and fluid animation, and while the controls might feel a little clunky to some I feel right at home whenever I play it. Also, voice acting! A lot of old games have absolutely abysmal voice acting, and that's thankfully not the case here. The likes of Tim Curry, Paul Eiding, Brad Garret and others make this Sacrifice as enjoyable to listen to as it is to look at.


What's a good third one, uh... uh...

KLONOA

Really fun 2.5D platformer that makes good use of the 3D aspect. Simple controls and mechanics that are used in inventive ways, great level design and good art direction.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

4th gen SNES games have aged very, very well (better than 3rd gen I think). Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Kirby Super Star and the Donkey Kong Country Trilogy could all be yesterday releases for all I care. I imagine HD makeovers would make overworld maps a little more dynamic but whatever. Conversely a few SNES games haven't aged as well. The Star Wars Trilogy isn't very good. Also a whole bunch of licensed Disney games that I recall weren't even good by early 90s standards. I have a lot of fond memories about The Lion King and The Beauty and the Beast games, but the design was awful and often unforgiving.

Generally speaking I think 5th gen games have aged the worst. It was the early day experimentation on VG voice acting and "realistic" animation (whatever that means to you), but worst of all is the 3D camera handling.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Having just played it for the first time recently, Banjo Kazooie has aged incredibly well. The controls feel great, the visuals are good enough if you are familiar with N64 level graphics, and the music still sounds great. I'm really sad I never got it as a kid.

Star Wars: Rogue Leader. It came out early in the Gamecube's life cycle, and it still not only plays great to this day, but it still looks excellent visually. Update some of the textures just a little bit, and it could've come out last gen and no one would bat an eye.

I find some people say Ocarina of Time hasn't aged too well, but I would certainly disagree. However, my many playthroughs and fanboyism would never make me think it has aged poorly. Plus, there is the 3DS remake if one thinks the visuals have aged badly.

 

[Rack]

Zelda: A Link to the past. The art style held up really well considering it's getting on for 25 years old, it's packed full of secrets, has great puzzles and is all round way better than mainstream Zelda has been, for nearly 25 years.

Baldurs Gate 2. This is heavily caveated with "Since I am already familiar with D&D 2nd edition". Baldurs Gate 2 still looks better than most games released today, has tons of content and side missions and has a massive amount of variety in its combat. That caveat is needed however because 2nd edition (A)D&D is an obese dinosaur of a system that just feels horribly out of date.

Final Fantasy Tactics. Considering how amazing FF7 seemed at the time this is needed as contrast. It still looks lovely and I don't think the gameplay has ever been bettered, with the possible exception of Tactics Ogre.

 

[Maximum Bert]

To many to name but ones I still get a lot of enjoyment from would be FFVII which has aged graphically but still plays and feels exactly as I remember Crash Team Racing which has also only aged graphically (still the best karting game ever made) we should also be having a tournamnet of this game again in the next couple of months.

Games like Super Mario Bros and its sequels on NES and SNES havent aged a day same with Tetris and many puzzle games SF2 and its iterations still feel as good now as they did back in the day as well. Soul Calibur on DC and DOA2 have aged well as well but then they are not really very old so you would expect that.

 

[Cooperblack]

Just as good and just as pretty as the day they came out.

 

[deleted+75193]

DELETED

 

[Guffe]

I think some GameBoy(Advance) games, like the Pokemon and FireEmblem series. Mainly because they dob't rely on graphics, but the gameplay is the main thing. And that will hold up forever, such simple, yet challenging and fun game series!

 

[Callate]

I still have a certain affection for the original Command and Conquer and C&C: Red Alert. They're a little clunky in places (I think later RA's decision to replace the thief unit by giving the spy more functions was well considered), but at least there were a variety of workable tactics; it doesn't have the "NO TURTLING! BUILD TANKS, AND BUILD TANKS NOW! GO, GO, GO!" that some of the later entries in the series did.

And, god help me, I have a certain affection for the low-budget FMV cut scenes.

 

[aozgolo]

Legend of Mana for me is timeless, it's such an overlooked game, and for a game that came out on PS1, it still looks BEAUTIFUL thanks to it's choice of art style that just ages great. In addition to the amazing graphics and music, the gameplay I feel is top notch simply due to how much content there is. From your house alone you can raise monsters, grow fruits in a orchard, read encyclopedias on every item, enemy, location, and NPC in the game, craft weapons, armor, magical instruments, and companion golems, or train your apprentices. Beyond that you have tons of quests in gorgeous lands and really great characters and fun combat (although a little on the easy side).

I highly recommend it to anyone who loves action RPGs, pick it up on the PSN!